Colonel Sion S. Bass, 1827-1862

by Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County

The roar of cannon could be heard by the men of Buell’s advancing army although they were still many miles distant from the battlefield. Hour after hour, the men of the Thirtieth followed their commander southward through swampland to Savannah, Tennessee. Boats ferried them from that city across the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing. On the morning of the seventh, the Fifth Brigade, which included Colonel Bass’s regiment, was ordered into battle as a replacement for General Rousseau’s brigade, which had undergone murderous fire in defense of the road leading from the landing to the battlefield. The Thirtieth was engaged in mortal combat with the enemy. Confederate artillery to the right, left, and center maintained a continuous fire which inflicted heavy casualties. Colonel Bass led his regiment into battle and encouraged the men by his presence. Three times he led them impetuously against the foe; thrice his men were repelled. Yet at each command of its gallant Colonel, the Thirtieth again moved forward.

Suddenly, the Colonel’s horse was wounded and became almost unmanageable. Colonel Bass dismounted to examine the wound. Just as he reached the ground, he was struck in the upper thigh by a musket ball. Nevertheless, he soothed his horse, remounted, and continued to fight. He rode calmly among his men and exhorted them to still greater efforts. But soon he became faint and could no longer sit in the saddle. The wound was a mortal one, but death did not come immediately. Colonel Bass was carried from the battlefield to a Tennessee River steamer and transported to Paducah, Kentucky. He passed away at St. Mark’s Hospital in that city a week after he had been wounded. His wife, mother, and brother were present at his bedside.

After news of his death reached Fort Wayne, a meeting was called at the courthouse for the purpose of paying due honor to his memory. A committee of fifteen was appointed to meet the remains at Peru and to act as an escort to Fort Wayne. Mr. W. H. Withers proposed the following motion which was adopted:

“RESOLVED, that while the remains are passing from the cars to his late residence, and during the funeral ceremonies of the lamented Colonel Bass, this meeting requests that all secular business be suspended, that the bells of the city be tolled, that the flags be hung at half-mast, and that the business houses of the city be closed during the funeral obsequies.”

Another committee was appointed to draft resolutions expressing the loss sustained by the country and the community in the death of Colonel Bass. On April 21, 1862, these resolutions were published in DAWSON’S DAILY TIMES AND UNION:

Colonel Bass was struck by a musket ball....

“RESOLVED, That the death of Colonel Sion S. Bass, distinguished alike for his social qualities, his noble and unselfish impulses, his stainless morality in private life, and his ability, humanity, and gallantry as a soldier, is a severe affliction to the community in which he lived. It is a calamity to the officers and privates under his command, for their confidence in him as a leader was equaled only by their love for him as a man. And it is a heavy loss to the country which he served and to the cause which he had so heartily espoused.

“RESOLVED, That our grief for the death of Colonel Bass is aggravated by the reflection that perhaps he and thousands of other Federal soldiers who were slain or wounded in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing might today be standing with arms in their hands. They might still be ready to do battle in their country’s cause had it not been for the apparently inexcusable and unparalleled neglect of the commanding generals in not using those precautions against a ‘surprise’ which are always used by trustworthy commanders at the head of armies in the presence of active and powerful foes. Courage is only one qualification for a commander; to personal bravery there should be united military science and skill, vigilance, prudence, and self-control. Whenever it shall be discovered that any general in command of Federal forces is deficient in those indispensable qualifications, it is the imperative duty of the Administration to relieve him of his command.

“RESOLVED, That, as Indiana has given without stint her noble and cherished sons to the nation to aid in crushing a monstrous and causeless rebellion, and as their blood has been freely shed on nearly every battlefield where success has attended the Federal arms, she has a right to demand and will demand that those who are still at their posts shall not be unnecessarily sacrificed through the incompetency or carelessness of commanding generals.