50th IN Infantry

50^th INDIANA INFANTRY REGIMENT

Irvin S. Ford, and his twin brother William, was the sons of Erastus and Polly Ford. They were born in 1839 in Indiana. Irvin joined Company E, 50^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment in October 1861. He was 21 years old, 6 feet tall with hazel eyes, of fair complexion, and light hair.

In December they went to their camp of instruction at Bardstown, Kentucky. That spring Irvin got sick and was sent to a hospital, at Nashville. In June 1862, the regiment was unassigned railroad guard duty from Bowling Green, Kentucky until September.

They served along the Louisville and Nashville railroad line, and the Nashville and Chattanooga line. A large body of Confederates attacked once a detachment of twenty men. After three hours of fighting, the Union soldiers retreated with eight dead after wounding eighteen.

In September, the Regiment marched to the relief of the siege of Munfordville, Kentucky. On the 20^th, Companies A, B, D, F, and H were captured, paroled, and sent to Indianapolis, Indiana, and did duty there in parole camp until November 1862, when exchanged. Irvin's company was not captured.

A reunited Regiment left for Jackson, Mississippi in November, and operated in West Tennessee against General Nathan Bedford Forest. The Regiment was assigned to the 16th Corps under General J. Sullivan's division. They fought Forrest at Huntingdon, Tennessee for a whole day December 31, 1862. At Parker's Crossroads near Jackson, they captured five hundred prisoners and seven pieces of artillery.

Irvin was promoted to corporal. In February, March, and April 1863, he was sick again, and sent to a hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. From there he was sent home to Indiana to recover.

Irvin was promoted to sergeant in December. He re‑enlisted March 1864; but this time, he joined Company B as regimental color bearer. Upon leaving his old company, he was charged $2.50 for the loss of a Springfield bayonet. During April, the regiment engaged in the following battles: Antoine and Terre Noir Creek on the 2nd; Prairie D'Ann from the 9th to the 13th; Camden and Liberty Post Office the 15th through the 18th; Red Mound on the 19th; and Jenkins' Ferry, Saline River on the 26th. The Regiment returned to Little Rock in September, where it remained on garrison duty until January 1865.

Irvin went on veteran's furlough in Indiana for July and August of 1864. It was a welcomed respite. He had been sick a lot and was weak from too much forced marching.

In early January 1865, the Regiment marched for ten days with General Carr's expedition to the Saline River and returned to Little Rock. In February, the unit left Arkansas on transports, and joined General Canby's army besieging Mobile, Alabama. The Regiment participated in the Siege of Spanish Fort in March and April, and was present for the capture of Mobile, April 10, 1865.

The Unit was consolidated in May with the 52^nd Indiana Regiment and occupied Mobile until mustered out of service September 10, 1865. Irvin returned home by boat up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Back in Indiana, Irvin, his brother, William, and a future brother-in-law went to Kansas where he farmed until 1886 when he make the Oklahoma Land Rush, setting near what is now Enid, Oklahoma where he died in 1913.