Notes for James Harvey Phillips

1850 census Jennings, Scott Co., IN Household #74 page 196
John T. Phillips, age 31, farmer, b. NC
Emiline, age 25, b. IN
James H., age 7, b. IN
William R., age 5, b. IN
John A., age 3, b., IN

1860 census Jennings, Scott Co., IN page 1071 Household 1181/1147
John T. Phillips, age 41, farmer, b. NC
Emeline, age 35, b. IN
James H., age 17, b. IN
William R., age 15, b. IN
John A., age 13, b. IN
George A., age 8, b. IN

James married Viola Herrod on June 7, 1866 in Crothersville, Jackson Co., IN

1870 census Johnson, Scott Co., IN
#492/490
J. S. Phillips, age 26, farmer, b. IN
Viola, age 23, keeping house, b. IN
Lauretta, age 1, b. IN

1880 United States Census Marion, Jennings, Indiana Page Number 407A
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Harvey PHILLIPS Self M Male W 37 IN Farming --- ---
Viola PHILLIPS Wife M Female W 34 IN Keeping House IN IN
Etta PHILLIPS Dau S Female W 12 IN At School IN IN
John PHILLIPS Son S Male W 10 IN IN IN
Cora PHILLIPS Dau S Female W 7 IN IN IN
Sherman PHILLIPS Son S Male W 5 IN IN IN
Arville G. PHILLIPS Son S Male W 6M IN IN IN
John POLK Other S Male W 23 IN Laborer IN IN
Missowa PARADON Other S Female W 19 IN Teaching School IN IN

1900 census Jennings, Scott Co., IN sheet 10B
#210
James H. Philips, head, Dec 1863, age 56, md 34 yrs, IN/NC/IN, farmer
Viola H., wife, Oct 1845, age 64, md 34 yrs, 10 births, 8 surviving, IN/unknown/IN
William N., son, Sept 1883, age 16, IN/IN/IN, farm labor
Thomas C., son, Feb 1887, age 13, IN/IN/IN
Next to household of Francis N. Harrod, age 61

James died Sept 28, 1909 in Louisville, KY. Viola died on March 31, 1912 in Marion, IN

Excerpts from Phillips Family book written by John Phillips 1986 & Ken & Lucille Phillips 1994:
JAMES HARVEY PHILLIPS was born November 23, 1843 in Jefferson County, Indiana, near Old Paris. He signed his name "James H." but was called "Harvey." By 1850, the Phillipses had moved a couple of miles away to another farm, near Alpha in Scott County. But they maintained connections in Jefferson County and nearby Jennings County. Harvey grew to be five feet six inches tall, was light complexioned, and had light hair and blue eyes. On April 12, 1861, when he was 17, Southerners fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began. On July 23, 1862, Harvey joined Captain Levin Hudson's L Company of the Ninth Indiana Legion Volunteers, the home guard militia for nearby Jefferson and Jennings County. He was enrolled for 30 days in Jennings County and sent to Camp Morton in Indianapolis for basic training. The camp had been hastily laid out in a woods near town just after the war started. It was bounded by what is now 19th Street, Talbott Avenue, 22nd Street and Central Avenue. He probably got his first look at POWS there. There were more than 3,700 of them at the camp that summer, taken at Fort Donelson. Theodore Upson, a private in the regular army who arrived at Camp Morton in August 1862 wrote home: "This is a big camp and has been used before. The barracks have been cleaned and white washed so they are in pretty good shape."

Harvey was mustered out August 26, 1862. Presumably he and the rest of the Legion were on call the duration of the war. He almost certainly was called to duty in July 1863 when Confederate General John Hunt Morgan seemed certain to attack Vernon up in Jennings County. On Saturday January 2, 1864, neighbor Sarah Bovard recorded in her diary that her husband went "to James Tobias to see when they will have to go to camp and see if they can get the bounty in Jennings County. If they can't, they won't go." On January 4, 1864 Harvey and brother Riley apparently went to Columbus, up in Bartholomew County, for induction into the regular army for three years. (Various dates are given for their enlistments and musters. One set of records gives Riley's first muster as February 23 and Harvey's as March 12.) Each got $220 bounty, with $80 due upon discharge. They enlisted in Captain Jabes Tobias' Company K of the new 120th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The regiment rendezvoused at Columbus and was mustered March 1 with Colonel Richard F. Barter in command. Harvey and Riley found three other Phillipses in Company K. Privates Thomas J. Phillips Jr. and Melville Phillips, teenagers from Paris, were sons of Thomas J. Phillips Sr., who had been killed in 1851 by a falling tree. Their grandfather was Philemon Phillips, who was somehow related to Harvey and Riley's late grandfather, Thomas H. Phillips. So Harvey and Riley probably were second cousins to young Tom and Melville. Private James R. Phillips of Crothersville was also in the company. Among Harvey's friends and neighbors in the company were Sergeant Alexander Shepherd, Corporals William T. Spear and William M. Robbins, and Privates James M. Arbuckle, John H. Rogers, John D. Clemmons, Andrew H. Morrison, Algan M. Whitsitt, James C. Whitsitt and Isaac Mayfield, plus Sarah Bovard's husband James.

Private Upson noted in his diary how clothing was distributed in another Indiana regiment and it probably was typical of most, if not all: "We had quite a time with our uniforms. Every one was given a suit, hat, coat, pants and shoes - also shirts and drawers. If they fit, all right; if not, we had to trade around till we could get a fit as they are in different sizes. The drawers are made of Canton flannel. Most of the boys had never worn drawers and some did not know what they were for and some of the old soldiers who are here told them they were for an extra uniform to be worn on parade and they half believed it. The shirts are rather coarse and scratchy and the sox - well, I think I shall wear the ones I brought from home and have Mother knit me some more when they are worn out. As to the shoes, they are wide and big enough, goodness knows! No danger of cramped feet with them! They may be very good but surely they are not very stylish." During training and equipping in Indianapolis, the men quickly fell prey to the usual camp infections. Young Thomas J. Phillips became Company K's first casualty March 9. On March 13, 1864, Harvey was promoted to corporal. When the 120th, 123rd, 124th, 128th, 129th and 130th regiments were equipped and ready to go. Brigadier General Alvin P. Hovey left Chattanooga, Tennessee, to come to Indianapolis to take charge of them. Hovey, a former judge of the Indiana Supreme Court and U.S. attorney, was a "political general," a pro-war Democrat commissioned by Lincoln. On March 20, Hovey's six regiments - they made a division - were sent to Louisville, probably by train. The 120th, which was in the First Brigade of Hovey's division, then was shipped by train to Nashville, Tennessee, where it was equipped for active duty. On April 5, the 120th moved out toward the front to join its corps, marching more than 200 miles east, across the Tennessee River to Charleston, an East Tennessee village on the Hiwassee River near the North Carolina and Georgia borders. There, Hovey's division became the First Division of the Twenty-third Corps of the Army of the Ohio. The Army of the Ohio, which occupied East Tennessee, was commanded by Major General John M. Schofield, a West Point graduate of 1853. At 32, he already was so bald, plump and bewhiskered that he resembled a professor, which he had been, at Washington University in St. Louis. He wore red underwear and chewed tobacco. His little army was, and much of the time would remain, a one-corps army often referred to as "Schofield's Twenty-third Corps." When the fighting started, though, Schofield usually was far to the rear. General Jacob Dolson Cos was his battlefield commander. But one private probably spoke for all when asked what corps he belonged to. He answered: "Corps, what do you mean what corps? 1 belong to Sherman's army." William T. Sherman ran all of the western armies top to bottom, seldom delegating authority. He carried his headquarters in his pocket and traveled light. He had little baggage, few aides, few changes of uniform and transported his dirty laundry by wearing it. He sat on a cracker box when he ate his rations, scorned chains of command and minimized paperwork, often declaring, "I'm too red-haired to be patient." He had trouble being patient that April. He and his 100,000 men were awaiting marching orders from back east. They were to march on Atlanta whenever General Ulysses S. Grant got his men ready to march on Richmond.

Sherman's men loafed, raced their horses, ran footraces and gambled. Nighttime coon hunting, though forbidden, was popular. But privates got only $13 a month, so gambling stakes were small. Drunkenness was no great problem, at least among enlisted men, because the commissary sold liquor only to officers. Soldiers sometimes made their own fizzless "champagne" by mixing water, corn and molasses, then fermenting it in molasses barrels. Sutlers, of course, abounded, selling at outrageous prices: lemons 15 cents, cheese 40 cents a pound and whiskey $1 a pint. Among other things, the army gave each man a light woolen blanket and $52 a year for clothes. Apparently many men bought rubber ponchos, which not only supplemented the inadequate blanket, but made an excellent "gaming table," when chalked into squares or whatever. Popular games included chuck-a-luck and Honest John. The Indiana troops - they were "great Ramblers," some said - were good at finding food in nearby woods. They'd eat not only the blackberries but the thorns, other soldiers joked. The soldiers sometimes took torches into the woods at night, blinding robins, doves, wild turkeys, even frogs, so they could pluck them up to eat. The frogs, the soldiers said, were "so big they bleated like lambs."
The men were great coffee drinkers. The army distributed it in whole bean form so that suppliers couldn't adulterate it. Putting quart pails of the beans on flat stones, the soldiers used their musket butts to pulverize the coffee so it could be fed into coffee mills. The throb of the musket butts, followed by the aroma of fresh coffee, were sure signs of life around camp every morning. Every soldier had a tin canteen, covered with a wool cloth, that held three pints of water. If somehow he had more than one such canteen, he threw the older one into a fire so that it would become unsoldered. The resulting two halves made fine dishes and handy tools for digging. Moreover, one piece made a good washbasin and the other piece a good skillet when mounted on a split stick. Going a step further, he could use his bayonet to stab holes in one piece; the result: a perfect grater for corn fritters.

Finally, Grant telegraphed that he's moved against Lee. Sherman's bluecoats began to move out, 99,000 strong. They were to be in position Tuesday May 3, 1864. May 4, the day Federal troops crossed the Rapidan in Virginia, was to be the jump-off day. Moving southward under Sherman were General George Thomas' 61,000-man Army of the Cumberland, General James McPherson's 24,000-man Army of the Tennessee and Schofield's 14,000 Army of the Ohio. Schofield's men had 28 cannons and, in all, the armies had 254 pieces of artillery. On Monday May 2, 1864, the 120th Indiana moved out with its division. Schofield rode the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad from Knoxville as far as Cleveland, Tennessee, where the tracks forked. The right fork ran on into Chattanooga; the other ran south to connect with the Western & Atlantic at Dalton, Georgia, just behind Confederate lines. At Cleveland, Schofield met his troops, most of whom had marched from the Knoxville area. When he led them southward along the left-fork tracks to Red Clay, just inside the Georgia line, they found why the village was called Red Clay. When dry, the powdery soil deviled their nostrils; when wet, or even damp, it was as slick as ice. "Old Prayer Book" Oliver Howard, the one-armed general who commanded Thomas' Fourth Corps, which was starting from Loudon, Tennessee, remembered: "Rations, clothing, transportation and ammunition came pouring in with sufficient abundance, so that when orders arrived for the next movement, on the 3rd of May, 1864, my division commanders . . . reported everything ready. This very day Schofield's column, coming from Knoxville, made its appearance in Cleveland. There was now the thrill of preparation, a new life everywhere. Soldiers and civilians alike caught the inspiration." By Sherman's orders, the marchers carried only "five days' bacon, 20 days' bread and 30 days' salt, sugar and coffee; noting else but arms and ammunition." When chaplains asked about taking Bibles, he told them: "Bibles and tracts are very good in their way, gentlemen, but rations and ammunition are much better."

Adjutant Fenwick Hedley of the 32nd Illinois remembered: "Each man carried his gun and accoutrements, 40 rounds of ammunition in his cartridge box and 160 more in his pockets, knapsack or haversack. His blanket and light rubber blanket were made into a long roll, the ends tied together so as to admit of being carried upon the shoulder. The roll generally contained an extra shirt, a pair of socks and a half section of a 'dog tent,'which, when buttoned to the half carried by a comrade, made a very fair shelter for two men. The provision issued to the soldier was a much abridged ration, but it brought up the total weight of his burden to a good 30 pounds or more, no light load to carry for days at a time, in all weather, and over all kinds of roads. He had a three-days' supply of hard bread and fat pork, and this was to last from seven to 10 days in case of necessity." The two-piece white "dog tents" - which obviously evolved into "pup tents" - had been objects of derision when introduced in the fall of 1862. Until then, soldiers had used Sibley tents, which slept 20 to 22 men "spoon-fashion." Now, each soldier carried half a tent, his half being about four by six feet. At night he found another man with a compatible piece and they buttoned the pieces together, put them on a ridgepole and staked down the ends and sides. The result was a space six by seven, reasonably comfortable for two men. The four-month, 120-mile campaign was to be virtually one continuous running battle. It rained much of the time and supply wagons were unable to keep. up with the troops. That meant half-rations much of the time, when troops were not astraddle the railroad. A soldier in the 86th Indiana wrote home: "We march sometimes night and day, and our habits are so irregular and universally fatiguing that every one feels dull and tired. No advance was ever made by a very large army so rapidly as this."

On May 7, 1864, Lieutenant Lawrence D. Young of General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate Army of Tennessee stood looking out from atop wind Rocky Face Ridge 85 miles north of Atlanta. He was to remember: "We could see extending for miles the enemy's grand encampment of infantry and artillery, the stars and stripes floating from every regimental brigade, division and corps headquarters and presenting the greatest panorama I ever beheld. Softly and sweetly the music from their bands as they played the national airs were wafted up and over the Summit of the mountain. Somehow, some way, in some inexplicable and unseen manner, 'Hail Columbia, 'America' and the Star-Spangled Banner' sounded sweeter than I had ever before heard them, and filled my soul with feeling I could not describe or forget. It haunted me for days, but never shook my loyalty to the Stars and Bars or relaxed my effort in behalf of our cause." As he looked down that May 7, the Army of the Ohio, on his right, was a long blue line along the Cleveland road, stretching into the haze of Tennessee. Its columns had passed Red Clay and were approaching Varnell Station at the head of Rocky Face Ridge. Now, the preparations over, Sherman sent Thomas' Army of the Cumberland headlong against the west face of the Confederate entrenchments near Dalton. Schofield's army passed into the head of the valley east of the ridge and hit the Confederate right slightly from the rear. But these were only diversions. Sherman sent McPherson's army on a flanking march to the right, through Snake Creek Gap.

Howard remembered that "Schofield kept Johnston's attention at the east and north." Army maps prepared from Schofield's documents show Hovey's division in the center of the Army of the Ohio's lines on May 8 and 9. Hovey's men then were ordered toward the left flank, then finally put in reserve. McPherson bungled the whole operation; after marching through the gap, he mistook the small Confederate garrison at the town of Resaca for a major force. He and his men backed off. Finally Sherman ordered Thomas and Schofield to take their armies down the narrow road through Snake Creek Gap, too. Early on May 14, 1864, the Federals started through the gap toward Resaca. But the main Confederate army got there first and dug in. Howard remembered watching the Federals fall into line for the campaign's first pitched battle: McPherson's army was on the Union right nearest the river, Thomas had two corps toward the center "and then the brave young officer. Cox, commanding the Twenty-third Corps, against a storm of bullets and shells, swung his divisions round to follow the bend in the enemy's line. I watched the operation so as to close upon his left [with the Fourth Corps]. The air was full of screeching shells and whizzing bullets, coming uncomfortably near, while line after line was adjusting itself." Quartermaster Thomas J. McClure of the 120th Indiana recorded that on the 15th, "the regiment took a conspicuous part in this battle, and, in conjunction with its division, gallantly charged and routed the enemy." After two days, the battle of Resaca ended; Sherman's flanking marches once again had forced Johnson's Confederates to fall back toward Atlanta. The bluecoats entered Resaca the morning of the 16th.

(The Civil War raged on for another year...In Ken Phillips' book, Pages 39 -49 were omitted from John's book written in 1986. Ken states that those pages contained mostly Civil War history with little or no mention of the Phillips family members.)

On Monday April 17, 1865, a beautiful warm spring day, Sherman set out from Raleigh to begin peace talks with Johnston. As he boarded a train, a telegrapher brought him a message dated April 15 from Secretary of War Station in Washington, D.C.: "President Lincoln was murdered about 10 o'clock last night in his private box at Ford's Theatre in this city ..." That night, Sherman ordered Raleigh's streets cleared and confined his troops to their camps. Then he sent them a bulletin telling about Lincoln; fearing his soldiers would riot and burn Raleigh, he emphasized that the Confederate armies were not implicated in the assassination. The soldiers generally took the news quietly. Private Charles Cornell of the 11th Iowa was arrested for remarking that "Old Abe should have been shot three years ago," and a Union officer shot one of Raleigh's citizens for a similar comment. When a small mob of bluecoats set out to burn Raleigh, General Logan, sword drawn, blocked their path and saved the town. But Stanton's hysteria was amplified by northern newspapers: With Lincoln dead, Sherman had thrown in with Johnston. The western armies and the Confederate would unite in an unstoppable march on Washington; Sherman had agreed that slavery would continue in the south; Sherman had purposely let Jefferson Davis slip through North Carolina with $ 13 million to $15 million in bullion. The New Haven Journal in Connecticut insinuated that Sherman had had a hand in Lincoln's assassination. The New York Times and Chicago Tribune suggested Sherman was insane. A Times correspondent in Washington telegraphed his editor in New York that the cabinet had discussed the possibility that Sherman and his armies would try to seize Washington. General Henry Halleck added to the chaos by wiring Thomas in Nashville to disregard Sherman's orders. General Wilson of Sherman's cavalry received a similar message, and so did the Army of the Potomac's generals in Virginia. Even more mysteriously, the Army of the Potomac sent troops into North Carolina to occupy Greensboro, lest Sherman got there first. Uncle Billy's rage was monumental; he would quit the army and leave the county. Grant, with orders from Stanton to fire Sherman, arrived in Raleigh April 24. Grant calmed Sherman, scorned Stanton's orders, and two days later Sherman, Schofield and Howard got Johnston to agree to terms similar to those Lee approved. The war had ended for the 120th Indiana. McClure remembered that after the surrender on the 26th, the regiment "then marched to Raleigh, and was placed on provost duty while the whole grand army of General Sherman encamped in the country round." On April 30, 1865, Schofield's men lined Raleigh's streets and watched the rest of Sherman's army march off toward Washington, D.C., for a "Grand Review" down Pennsylvania to the White House. (Just two weeks earlier, many politicians had feared such a march; sanity had prevailed.) On June 10, the 120th Indiana got its marching orders; it left Raleigh for Charlotte, North Carolina, where it spent three months. The stay there didn't agree with Corporal William T. Spear of Company K, one Harvey's neighbors back home. About June 20, Spear began to suffer breakbone fever, which eventually disabled his left leg. J. Marshall "Neeley, the regiment's surgeon, treated him but the leg troubled Spear until 1881, when it caused his death.

After the review, Sherman messaged his men, saying "our work is done." and most of the western legions began to pass into history. On August 1, the Twenty-third Corps was discontinued. That month the 120th Indiana was reassigned to Greensboro, North Carolina. Then, finally, on August 21, the 120th was ordered back to Raleigh for garrison duty. Finally, on January 8, 1866, Harvey was discharged. So were brother Riley, William Spear, William Robbins, Isaac Mayfield and the last remnants of Company K. When Harvey was mustered out in Raleigh, he had two months pay coming. He apparently owed $14.32 on his clothing account, but the government owed him $80, including his final bounty installment. When he got back home, he and Miss Viola Estle (perhaps Estelle) Herrod got a marriage license in Brownstown, Jackson County, Indiana. John B. Robertson, the clerk of the Jackson County Circuit Court, signed it. Then on June 7, 1866 Harvey and Viola were married in Crothersville, Jackson County, by Alexander Kennedy, "minister of the gospel." Viola had been born to Samuel Herrod and the former Sarah Cain October 5, 1845.

Harvey became a farmer near Alpha in Scott County. He and Viola had 10 children: Margaret E., Laura Etta, John B., Julia A., Cora M., James Sherman.Orville G., Eva P., William H. and Thomas C. Margaret and Julia died young. Harvey's pension documents list the following children alive in 1898, along with their dates of birth: Laura E., born June 9, 1868; John B. born September 21, 1870, Cora M. born March 14, 1873; James S. born October 8, 1874; Orvill G. born December 16, 1879; Eva P. born August 17, 1881; W.M. born September 10, 1883; and Thomas C. born February 25, 1887. Several of the children - like their father and uncles - didn't use their first names, so there's confusion about their full names. Family records show that Harvey and Viola raised a son "Mell," which apparently was William's nickname, When his father died in 1881, Harvey served as estate administrator. On October 7, 1897, Harvey appeared before T.C Burgess, clerk of the Bartholmew County, Indiana, Circuit Court to file a "Declaration for an Original Invalid Pension." He told Burgess that he'd never filed for one before. Harvey, then 44, said he was three-fourths disabled by two illnesses contracted while in the Union Army. He blamed his disablement on a march from Resaca, Georgia, to Atlanta in July or August 1864. He said that during that march he suffered digestive problems "brought on by hardships and exposures incident to camp life and field duties."

It remains a minor mystery why Harvey would have been marching from Resaca to Atlanta in July or August. We know from Riley's pension records that Company K was in the battle of Atlanta July 22, so, assuming that the company remained intact, we can eliminate the possibility that the company made the march in August, or anytime after mid-July. There seem to be two ways to explain Harvey's march:
1) He was with garrison troops in Resaca. But why wouldn't he have arrived by train? We know the confederates burned the bridge at Resaca the night of May 15-16. But federal accounts show that rail service was restored as far as Adairsville by May 23. Had Harvey been left behind to, say, help guard during the bridge repair, he would not have marched "to Atlanta" then. He would have marched to Kingston, or thereabouts.
2) More likely, Harvey was confused about dates and confused his friends who verified his statement. Even Sherman had trouble remembering dates of specific battles. Harvey said that since leaving the army he'd lived in Jennings, Jefferson and Scott counties, that he was a farmer and had been before joining the army, J.H. Shepherd and Harvey's brother Addison Phillips witnessed the declaration. Harvey said he lived in Alpha in Scott County and that he'd hired Downer (?) & Prather of North Vernon, down in Jennings County, to help him with his claim, so it's not clear why he filed in Bartholomew County. Brother Addison had moved there in 1883, so perhaps that had something to do with it.

On November 24, 1887, James M. Arbuckle, 41, of Six Mile, Jennings County, appeared before a notary in that county. James said he'd served in K Company and that Harvey had contracted liver problems in July or August while marching from Resaca to Atlanta and that Harvey had contracted scurvy marching to Clifton in January 1865. On December 15, 1887, another veteran of Company K, William M. Robbins, 46, of Cana, Jennings County, appeared before a notary in Jennings County. He said he knew that Harvey had suffered digestive problems in July or August 1864 while marching from Resaca to Atlanta. Further he corroborated Harvey's other problem, saying that he contracted "scurvy, or what was then known to us, bone fever," a short time after the Battle of Nashville, during the march from Nashville to Clifton. Robbins said Harvey had suffered ever since. On December 20, 1887, the Bureau of Pensions requested the adjutant general of the army to verify Harvey's medical problems. The adjutant general's office reported that the regimental surgeon had treated Harvey in July and August 1864 at Atlanta - apparently he had the date wrong because the Confederates still held Atlanta in those months - and January 1865 at Cliftpn. On July 8, 1888, Harvey's neighbor James Wiley Spear, 57, of Alpha appeared before a notary who omitted noting his county. Jim was the eldest brother of the late William Spear, who'd served with Harvey. Jim's daughter Mary had married Harvey's brother Addison. Jim, who didn't serve in the army because one of his thumbs had been accidentally shot off, swore that he'd known Harvey "from boyhood" and that the "healthy young man" who went away to war returned "greatly broken in health." Spear said Harvey had "a swarthy look," "seemed greatly emaciated" and "is at least three-fourths disabled for manual labor..."

On August 8, 1888, Harvey appeared before a notary in Scott County to swear he couldn't get documentation of his illnesses from his former officers. He said he'd been unable to locate Lieutenant Wilson and Captain James Tobias had died. (William P. Wilso.n of Paris had been a second lieutenant in Company K). He asked that "comrades' evidence, already on file, be taken in lieu of commissioned officers' as the best-obtainable evidence." He said his comrades were his "mess mates and had good opportunity to know the facts." That same day, John J. McCartney, 51, of Deputy, Jefferson County, appeared before a notary in Jennings County. John didn't serve in K Company but had know Harvey "from boyhood," and reiterated most of the things that Spear had said. When Jim Spear died in 1890, Harvey was the estate's administrator. It probably was a murky and thankless labor. Jim Spear's father Ephraim had died intestate in 1857, leaving his heirs with questionable titles to their lands. Now Jim had done the same thing. To make matters worse, a suit involving old Ephraim's estate was still in court when Jim died. In June 1891, Harvey, acting as administrator, asked the Scott Circuit Court to partition Jim's land; the defendants included Harvey's brother Addison and sister-in-law Mary Jane. On July 8, 1892, Robbins appeared before a notary in Jackson County and said Harvey contracted rheumatism on or about January 15, 1865 at Clifton. He said Harvey "was taken down suddenly with inability to move about, having apparently lost the use of himself; was placed under care of Doctor Isaac Mayfield, who was a member of the same company and hospital steward of the regiment. Phillips was still in bad condition when he was mustered out. . . and has ever since been afflicted ..." Robbins said he'd seen Harvey "at least once each month since our army service ..." On October 18, 1892 , John D. Clemmons, 45, of Oard Springs in Scott County, appeared before a notary in Jackson County. He said he served in K Company of the 120th with Harvey "the whole term of said organization . . " He corroborated Harvey's illness at Clifton, saying Harvey suffered "stiffness in back and limbs with inability to move about and complained of his bones aching. He was placed under care of Doctor Isaac Mayfield and excused from duty time after time during balance of his term of service and was in bad condition when mustered out of service . . . and he is still in bad condition ... by reason of rheumatism and shortness of breath ..."

In 1896, this biography appeared in the Scott County section of Presidents, Soldiers & Statesmen";
James H. Phillips was born in Jefferson Co., Ind., Nov. 23, 1843, and was a son of John T. and Emeline (Coatney) Phillips, long since deceased. He was wedded in Crothersville, Jackson County, Ind., June 7, 1866, to Viola E, Harrod, who was born in Jefferson County, Ind., Oct. 5, 1845. Her father, Samuel Harrod, is deceased, as is also her mother, who before marriage was Sarah Cain. Ten children have blessed this union: Margaret E., Laura E., John B., Julia A., James S., Orville G., William H. and Thos. C. Our subject was engaged in farming and was 19 years of age when he entered the service from Jefferson Co., as a private in Co. K, 120th Ind. V. I., 1st Brig., 23rd A.C. He was in due time promoted to Corp. and so served in the Atlanta campaign, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Spring Hill, Columbia, Franklin, Nashville and Goldsboro. He did not receive his honorable discharge till Jan. 1866, at Raleigh, N.C. His brother William, served in Co.K, 120th Ind. V.I. His father also enlisted in the Union army but was discharged on account of disabilities. His great grandparents served in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. Comrade Phillips and wife are members of M.E. church; he also belongs to Ridlen Post, No. 275, and A.F. & A.M., he may be addressed at Alpha, Indiana, near which place he is engaged in farming.

Harvey's great grandfather Phillips remains unidentified, but his apparent maternal great grandfather, Michael Courtney, served in the 12th Virginia Regiment of the Continental army. On January 4, 1896, Isaac Mayfield, 83, of Randolph, Riley County, Kansas appeared before a justice of the peace there to help Harvey get his pension. Isaac, who swore he served with Harvey in K Company until promoted to hospital steward of the 120th Indiana in Nashville, said he often acted as a physician. He said he treated Harvey for "brake bone fever" in August or September 1864. Isaac said "the symptoms were great pain in the legs and sometimes other parts of the body. This pain was intermittent; it would last two to four hours each day and quinine would have no effect. I found nothing I could think of, but acomite, that would have any effect. After we returned home I treated him and a number of the other boys for chronic rheumatism from the years 1865 to "78, at which latter date I left the state ..." Isaac attributed Harvey's problems to "exposure during his service in the army." On January 20, 1896, Harvey appeared before a notary in Scott County and swore: "I am unable to furnish testimony of medical treatmenfrom 1878 up to present time. I was treated ... by Doctor Samuel Coryell of Crothersville, Indiana, from 1878 to 1890, the date of death of said Doctor Coryell, since which time I have relied upon and used patent medicines..." Harvey asked that neighbors Samuel Chandler and J J. McCartney be allowed to vouch for him, and also submitted the document from "Doctor Isaac Mayfield." On January 22, 1896, Samuel F. Chandler, 58, of Alpha swore an affidavit for Harvey in Scott County. Like McCartney and Spear, Chandler hadn't served with Harvey but had often observed his difficulties. On April 9, 1896, McCartney swore an affidavit for Harvey in Jefferson County. Its tone was similar to McCartney's earlier document, but added that Harvey "complains that it is hard for him [to] sit down or raise up, I don't think he is able to do but little manual labor and think he is badly broken down."

Nephew Ray Phillips, a son of Addison, remembers: "The family visited Uncle Harvey and Aunt Viola in Scott County on July 4, 1908, and Uncle Harvey wanted me to shoot his Civil War rifle that stood in the comer of the kitchen, with the bayonet still attached, but my mother wouldn't let me. Harvey left the rifle to Virgyeisman, his grandson. Virgil died in 1923 in Kokomo. Later his widow was remarried and I've lost track of the rifle." About September 23, 1909 "Doctor A; May" of Crothersville took Harvey to St. Joseph Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, for surgery. Harvey died in the hospital September 28, 1909. The body was sent back to Scott County and buried September 30 in the west lot of Wesley Chapel Cemetery three miles east of Crothersville. Harvey's parents are buried in a nearby lot. On October 2, 1909, Viola, then 63, appeared before a notary public in Jackson County to try to collect her widow's pension under the veterans laws of April 19, 1908. She said she was the former Viola E. Harrod, that she lived "near Austin" in Scott County and that her address was R.F.D.#2 Austin. She had forgotten the full name of the minister who'd performed her wedding; he was listed only as "Kenneday." She related Harvey's war record, said he'd been granted certificate #418.561, that he'd died September 28, 1909 and that she'd given George W. Bard of Crothersville, Indiana, $10 to help with her claim. Albert May and Fred Kovener witnessed her declaration. Viola swore a general affidavit that day, too. She reiterated information from her declaration, but stated further that Harvey "was afflicted with some incurable disease and was under the treatment of Doctor A. May of Crothersville, who took him to St. Joseph Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky, where he was operated upon and he died in said hospital on the 28th day of September 1909." The same day that Viola appeared, William F. Stewart, 76, and Martha J. Stewart, 75 appeared before a notary public in Jackson County to help Viola with her claim. William and Martha, who lived in Crothersville, said they weren't related to Harvey or Viola but that they'd known them even before they became Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. The Stewarts said that neither Harvey nor Viola had ever been married to anyone else, that Harvey had served only in the 120th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, "except in the Ninth Regiment Indiana Legion Volunteers, known as home guards." Fredrick Kovner, 55, an undertaker in Crothersville, appeared that day, too. He said Harvey had been taken to Louisville about September 23. The undertaker said he was notified of Harvey's death September 28, that he went to Louisville at once and that he took the body to Wesley Chapel Cemetery, where it was buried September 30.

Nephew Ray Phillips remembers that Viola moved to Marion, Indiana, to live with her daughter Etta Wiesman's family at 1638 West Second Street. Ray says she "fell and broke her hip at Etta's house and was never out of the house again." Viola died March 31, 1912 and was buried with her husband in Wesley Cemetery. On September 30, 1912, the pension agency ended her pension claim. Her last payment of $12 was made Feb. 4, 1912. Apparently Harvey owned the land his father had owned, or at least nearly so. Scott County's land owners index of 1889 showsJ.H. Phillips owned land in section 15 of Johnston township and in sections 7 and 17 of Jennings township John T. had owned land in section 15. One of Harvey's descendants, Marilee Gardner ofScottsburg, Indiana, writes: "I have a little foster daughter. Since I live alone I am a volunteer foster parent for a juvenile delinquent center in Jeffersonville for southern Indiana. Her grandmother in Franklin, Indiana, gave her an old piece of junk - an old banjo, which she had gotten years ago at a yard sale near her home. It had my great grandfather Harvey Phillips' name in the drum head. Daddy said he [Harvey] had picked it up in Georgia when in Sherman's march to the sea or Atlanta, Georgia. Grandmother's brother John Phillips moved to Franklin and his daughter Vivian Green lived close to this elderly lady. Coincidence!"