Frank Peterson, Spanish American War Veteran

I have always felt this man was something special. He used to walk the neighborhood in Decatur when I was a kid. Lived with his daughter, Norma Roland. Frank Sheldon Peterson (uncle to my grandfather,  Cal Fuller Peterson.

Frank Sheldon Peterson was born in Decatur, Adams Co., Indiana on April 2, 1876. He served in the Spanish-American War as a member of company B, 4th Regiment, Indiana National Guard, which had been organized in Decatur on June 7, 1889. In April, 1898 Peterson was serving as corporal. The company mustered at Camp Mount, IN on April 26, 1898. After a rigid examination, and the addition of 25 men to the company’s rolls, the regiment was put on active duty May 12, 1898, and left by rail May 16, for Camp Thomas, at Chicamauga park, GA, arriving there May 18. On July 28 the regiment left Camp Thomas under orders to proceed to Puerto Rico. On July 30, at Newport News, VA the orders were countermanded, and on August 21 the company proceeded to Camp Hamilton, Lexington, KY. Nov. 9 it left for Columbus, GA, arriving Nov. 11, 1898. On January 15, 1899, the regiment was ordered to Matanzas, Cuba, where they were united Jan. 27, and went into camp. The regiment remained there until march 27, when it was ordered to Savannah, GA to prepare for disbanding. The regiment arrived in Savannah on march 29, 1899, and the men were discharged from active Federal service on April 25, 1899. Most of the company returned to Decatur on May 5, 1899, and Mayor A. P. Beatty prepared a heart-warming speech which he planned to give at the courthouse steps after the train arrived. But when the train finally got there, the men all scattered to be with their wives and families, and the speech went undelivered. When he died at the age of 93 on July 12, 1969, he was the lone surviving Spanish-American War veteran in Adams County. He was usually by the podium at the annual Memorial Day program. On Oct. 19, 1901 he was married to Elizabeth Leyse, the daughter of Durs Victor and Flo Sowers Leyse. She was born Feb. 24, 1880 in Wells Co., IN. She died Nov. 19, 1951. He served as Decatur town marshal, and later he was a watchman for the Holland-St. Louis Sugar Co., and custodian of the South Ward School and the Adams County highway Garage. He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Indiana Athletic Association. For many years he served as a baseball and softball umpire. He died in Decatur, IN July 12, 1969. She died 18 November 1951 in Decatur. They had seven children.