Col. Elijah H.C. Cavins

Civil War Ancestor of George Marshall, Jr.

Elijah Henry Clay Cavins was born April 16, 1832, in Greene County, Indiana. He was the son of Col. Samuel R. Cavins, a veteran of the War of 1812, and Susan (Gainey) Cavins, and the fourth of thirteen children.

He was a descendant of sturdy colonial stock, both branches of his family having fought in the Revolutionary War. His father filled the offices of county recorder, auditor, and clerk. Elijah was reared in the city of Bloomfield, where he received a common school education, after which he graduated from the Indiana University law school in 1853. Returning to Bloomfield, he entered active practice and retired in 1906 having achieved eminence at the bar. He also became a Freemason in 1854 and was also a member of the York Rite of Freemasonry. He was married Sept. 23, 1855, to Ann M. Downing, who died in 1907.

At the first call for volunteers in April, 1861, he organized a company and was elected captain. This company became Company D of the 14^th Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry and went into the service in May, 1861.

Capt. Cavins was promoted to major Aug. 11, 1862; lt. colonel, Jan. 22, 1863, and was commissioned colonel May 13, 1864. He took part in every battle in which his regiment was engaged until the Battle of the Wilderness, having been sent home prior to the battle to assist the Governor in filling up the regiment’s ranks which had been greatly reduced by such battles as Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and more than sixty minor engagements.

At Antietam Col. Cavins had command of the 14^th and was wounded in the hand. At Fredericksburg he received another slight wound and ten holes were shot in his clothing. At Morton’s Ford, with a leave of absence in his pocket, received the day before, he commanded his regiment and the 7^th W. Va. Regiment, his horse being shot from under him in this engagement. In June, 1864, he and his regiment retired from the advance line and a few weeks later he was commissioned adjutant general and inspector general for the southern division of Indiana, in which position he served until the close of the War.

Col. Cavins became an ardent G.A.R. member of Lovell H. Rousseau Post

No. 326 in Bloomfield and was an officer in that body.

Col. and Mrs. Cavins were the parents of five children, of whom two survived him when he died on Sept. 11, 1910, and was buried beside his

wife in Grand View Cemetery, Bloomfield.

Submitted by Brother George Marshall, Jr.

April 29, 2001