Colonel Sion S. Bass, 1827-1862

At the time of the War Between the States the name of Colonel Sion S. Bass was well known in Fort Wayne; today few citizens of the Summit City recall his heroism. Only a bare outline of his life can be constructed from the meager information available. Grace Leslie Dickerson, grandniece of the Colonel, assembled most of the material for this biographical sketch. Supplementary details were found in the Fort Wayne newspapers of the Civil War years.

The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Mrs. Dickerson and other members of the Bass family. This biography is presented in the hope that the life and sacrifice of Colonel Bass, Civil War hero, will become more familiar to his fellow citizens.

Not many years ago, the Fort Wayne post of the Grand Army of the Republic was an active organization. Today that post, named for Sion S. Bass, is no longer in existence. His name, as well as Civil War terms like Shiloh, United States Volunteers, and Copperhead, has almost lost its significance for the average citizen.

The honorable causes espoused and defended in the tragic Civil War were championed by many men of heroic stature—men worthy of the unstinted admiration and respect of each succeeding generation. These were the soldiers who acquitted themselves honorably in fighting for the causes they believed just. Colonel Sion St. Clair Bass, a successful young man who could have avoided military service, was one of the many who gave their lives in the struggle.

Colonel Bass was born on a farm near Salem, Kentucky, on January 6, 1827. He was descended from a line of early settlers in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Kentucky. In 1805, at the age of three, Sion’s father had been taken by his parents from Virginia to the wilderness of Christian County, Kentucky. Sion’s mother, Jane Todd Bass, who had come with her family from Charleston, South Carolina, was also an early pioneer in the bluegrass country. In Kentucky, Sion’s father acquired large areas of farmland and became prominent in local affairs.

The young Sion enjoyed a normal, happy childhood with his brothers, John and Jerden, and his sister, Emily Jane. The children helped to till the fields and performed their daily household chores. Their most exciting diversions were holiday journeys to nearby Paducah where they could watch the barges and steamboats on the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. The children were educated in the schools of Kentucky. Sion, the eldest, later attended Bartlett’s College of Commerce in Cincinnati.

After his graduation in February, 1849, Sion followed his mother’s advice and came to Fort Wayne. Jane Bass believed that Fort Wayne, already a thriving town, would offer good business opportunities for her sons because of its favorable location at the confluence of the three rivers. Chicago, she believed, would soon grow too large. In Fort Wayne, Sion found employment with the great western fur traders, Ewing, Chute, and Company, and soon became a trusted confidential agent of the firm. In this position, he became acquainted at first hand with the dangers and privations of frontier life.

Very little material can be found concerning his private life in Fort Wayne. It is recorded, however, that he married Eliza Bayles, and that they were the parents of two daughters, Georgia and Beverly. And we do know that the young man was a devout member of the Episcopal Church.

In 1853 Sion became a member of Jones, Bass, and Company, which manufactured iron products. In 1857 the firm was sold to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad. In September of the same year, Sion Bass formed a partnership with William H. Jones. The partners established a new foundry and machine shop along the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad and the Wabash Railroad. In 1858 a partnership, which had been formed by Edward Force and Sion’s brother John, leased the plant. And the following year, the plant was sold to the Fort Wayne Machine Works. The activities of Sion Bass cannot be traced from the completion of the sale negotiations until the onset of the War Between the States.

In 1861 the Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor signaling the outbreak of bitter civil strife. Drafting of men for military service was not practiced in the United States at that time; both sides relied upon volunteers to fill their fighting ranks. Sion Bass found himself in a dilemma; he was torn between his fond attachment for the South, where he had spent his childhood and early youth, and his loyalty to the North. Because of his southern background, many Northerners did not trust him. Besides, he was the sole breadwinner of his family; his wife and two children were wholly dependent upon him. He could have refused to face the issue; he could have continued his daily routine as a civilian in the North. But his firm conviction of the moral wrong of slavery and his desire to fight for the Union overcame all his reservations. In response to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers, he enlisted in the Union Army.

On September 12, 1861, Sion Bass received his appointment as colonel of the Thirtieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, which was then being recruited. By September 24, the quota for the regiment had been filled, and the Thirtieth was organized at Camp Allen in Fort Wayne. Although he was himself untrained for military service, Colonel Bass entered upon the task of disciplining and training his raw recruits with such energy and devotion to duty that he soon won the praise of his superior officers.

On October 2, the Thirtieth Indiana left Camp Allen and traveled to Indianapolis by special train on the Wabash Railroad. The train stopped en route at Peru, Indiana, where the ladies of the town met the regiment at the depot and provided an excellent dinner. This act of kindness, although not possible under the strict army regulations of our day, was typical of the spirit of the times and was much appreciated by the hungry soldiers.

The Thirtieth remained in camp at Indianapolis only for a few days. During this time, the men underwent further training; arms, uniforms, and accouterments were issued to them. The unit was then ordered to proceed to Kentucky. On October 13, 1861, the regiment was assigned to the Fifth Brigade, Second Division in General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. For the next few months Colonel Bass and his Thirtieth Indiana Regiment marched with Buell’s army but saw little action.

The anxiety which his family felt for him is shown in the following letter written by his mother to her younger son John:

Salem, Lexington County, Kentucky November 29, 1861