Asbury McCormick was born on the Sterling farm in Deer Creek Township, Carroll County, Ind., on the 2d of February, 1844. His mother, Matilda McCormick was a daughter of the venerable Thomas Sterling. Her death occurred in 1864. Dennis McCormick, his father, was a native of Montgomery County, Ohio, and died in Kokomo, Ind., from an injury received by the fall of a lumber kiln, when the boy Asbury was but two years old. Passing the years of his boyhood in the alternating duties of farm work and district school attendance, with two terms at the public schools of Delphi, at the age of seventeen, his youthful heart fired by the insult to the American flag in the attempted secession of twelve Southern States, on the 4th of August, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Capt. John B. Milroy of the Ninth Indiana Regiment Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front, there to endure fatigue and suffering with a heroic fortitude worthy of maturer years. His official discharge contains the following complimentary indorsement. "In battle, he disproved coolness, bravery and intelligence, and in every duty was prompt and faithful, proving himself the true man and soldier. (Signed) Thomas (_____), Company A, Ninth Indiana." He was present and participated in the following list of more important battles: Greenbrier and Buffalo Mountain, West Virginia; Green River, Kentucky; Pittsburg Landing and Stone River, Tennessee and Chickamauga, Georgia. At the battle of Stone River, January 1, 1863, he received a wound from a bullet striking him in the left side glancing off and passing through his left thigh. On the 21st of September, 1863, at the battle of Chickamauga, together with twenty-four other members of the Ninth Regiment, he was made a prisoner of war. Two days after the battle, and at night, they were taken in body to Belle Isle, thence to Smith’s Prison (opposite Libby), and from there to Danville, Va., where the winter of 1863-64 was passed without the luxury of even so much as a spark of fire. At this point they were separated, young McCormick, with several others, being conveyed to the prison at Andersonville – a prison made famous by reason of atrocities to Union soldiers. At Andersonville he remained six months. From here, under fire of Gen. Gilmore’s battery, he was taken to the Charlestown jail, thence to Florence, S. C., and back once through Charlestown to Savannah, and in the latter city paroled on the 30th of November, 1864. At Annapolis, Md., after leaving prison, his weight was ninety-eight pounds, a loss from his weight at the time of capture of about fifty pounds. Of the twenty-five Union soldiers who were made prisoners together only two (the subject of this sketch and Elias Minnick) came back to enjoy the land whose unity and liberty they fought so nobly to preserve. Indeed, but one lived to see the result of that terrible conflict, for Minnick died shortly after his return home. The others perished in Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville. After his parole, Asbury McCormick came home, and in April 1865, re-enlisted, entering Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Indiana Regiment as Orderly Sergeant, under Capt. Syl Berry. On the strength of his war record, recited on the back of his former discharge, aided by the recommendations of two officers, upon reaching Indianapolis, Gov. Morton commissioned him an Adjutant, in preference to eleven others, whose applications were supported by stronger recommendations. Two days before the regiment left the city, President Lincoln was assassinated. After a few months stay in the Shenandoah Valley, Harper’s Ferry and Winchester, Va., he returned with the regiment and was mustered out at Indianapolis in August, 1865.
Since the close of the war, although he assisted in building the steam flour mill at Rockfield, he has been mainly engaged in the lumber business, owning and managing now, in partnership with H. K. Stanffer, a steam saw mill.
He was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Holmes, daughter of Samuel Holmes, February 21, 1866. Two children, Vine and Anna, have been born to them.
In religion, Mr. McCormick, as well as his wife, are members of the Methodist Church – a faith handed down to them from their ancestors, the grandfather of Mr. McCormick having at one time been the Recording Steward in the district between Logansport and Crawfordsville.
In politics, he is a staunch Republican, and one of the active members of that party. He is also a prominent Odd Fellow, one of the charter members of the Rockfield Lodge, and has filled all the chairs of the subordinate lodge of that order.
Mr. McCormick, during the past few years, has been very active in the interests of survivors of Southern prison pens. If Congress ever passes a bill (and it should), pensioning ex-prisoners of the late war, a share of the credit will be due Mr. McCormick, for he has spent time and means in an endeavor to bring about such a result.
In business, Asbury McCormick is industrious, careful , and not wanting in capacity. He believes in integrity, and has therefore the respect of his associates. Socially, he is genial and agreeable, and makes and retains friends and friendships with a permanence we believe to be everlasting.
County Coordinator: Suzy Sprague suzyq.wa@worldnet.att.net