Pleasant Adam Hackleman

Pleasant Adam Hackleman was born November 15, 1814, in Franklin County, Indiana. His father had served as a major in the War of 1812. Hackleman married Sarah Bradburn on October 31, 1833, and together they had seven daughters. Although a farmer after his marriage, he began to study law and passed the bar in May 1837. He then moved his family to Rushville, Indiana where he began to practice law. Hackleman became Judge of Probate Court of Rush County (1837 – 1841) and, in August 1841, was elected to the House of Representatives in the General Assembly of Indiana. Later, he would serve as clerk of Rush Circuit Court. Hackleman was elected Whig candidate for Congress in the fourth congressional district in 1847 and again as a Republican candidate in 1858. Both bids for office were unsuccessful. He served as a delegate to both the National Republican Convention in Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and to the “Washington Peace Conference” – a failed attempt to avert the pending Civil War. On May 20, 1861, Governor Morton appointed Hackleman as colonel of the 16th Indiana Infantry. The 16th Indiana was ordered to Harper’s Ferry and was the first Western regiment to pass through Baltimore after the First Battle of Bull Run. Upon reaching Harper’s Ferry, the regiment was attached to a brigade under the command of General N. P. Banks, which was commanded by General J. J. Abercrombie. In October 1861, the 16th Indiana was involved in the battle at Ball’s Bluff. Hackleman was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on April 28, 1862. He was ordered to report to General Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee and, once reporting to Tennessee, was assigned to command a brigade of General Thomas A. Davies’ division of the Army of West Tennessee. His brigade consisted of the 52nd Illinois, 2nd and 7th Iowa, and the “Union Brigade” which consisted of pieces of the 8th, 12th, and 14th Iowa, and the 58th Illinois. On the morning of October 3, 1862, Hackleman was riding up and down the lines of his troops at the battle of Corinth, in an attempt to rally his men, and received a gunshot wound that would prove to be fatal. The ball passed through his neck from right to left, leaving him hardly able to speak. Pleasant Adam Hackleman’s final words were, “I am dying – but I die for my country.” He died in a hotel room five hours after being shot. He was buried in Rushville.