The year 1861 would prove to be a very eventful year for the young Eli Lilly. On January 31, 1861, a marriage license was issued to the 22-year-old Eli Lilly and his local sweetheart, Emily Lemon. Shortly after his marriage, Eli opened the door of his first drugstore, which was located on the southeast corner of Greencastle's Courthouse Square. This building was later destroyed in the fire of 1875 and was replaced by the present one.
The Lilly Drugstore was a modest enterprise, and by April of 1861, when President Lincoln called for volunteers, patriotic Lilly answered the call of duty. He closed his drugstore, joined the Putnam County Rifles, and was soon drilling the young soldiers who had come from the homes and farms of Putnam County, Indiana towns and villages, and the campus of DePauw University and Wabash College. They trained on Greencastle's Courthouse Square, and on July 23, 1861, Lilly marched his 21st Regiment of Indiana Volunteers up historic Washington Street and on to Indianapolis. Here they were ordered east to Baltimore, and Eli Lilly was at the same time promoted to the rank of Lieutenant under General Lockwood.
But by November of 1861, Lilly was back in Greencastle to see his newborn son, Josiah Kirby Lilly, and his young wife, Emily. He had also come to request Governor Oliver Morton to authorize him to organize a Hoosier Artillery Battery. Governor Morton signed the orders commissioning the 18th Indiana Battery of Light Artillery and authorizing Eli to recruit 156 men. In early 1862, Lilly resigned his commission with the 21st Regiment and returned to Greencastle.
Then on July 9, 1862, recruiting posters again sprang up all over Putnam County, the old Lilly Drugstore was again designated as the Volunteer Headquarters (see poster opposite), and Lilly's Hoosier Battery was organized. On August 24, 1862, this Battery was mustered into service with Lilly as Captain and ordered south to Louisville.
Under General Rosecrans, the 18th Battery took part in the battle at Hoover's Gap: then in late 1863 and early ?64, Lilly's guns played crucial roles in the campaigns at Chicamauga, Thompson's Cove, McMinnville and Farrington. Captain Lilly was one of the first Union officers to enter Chattanooga after its capture.
In April of 1864, Lilly, now a Major, returned to Greencastle to help organize the 9th Indiana Cavalry, which he led in the last year of the war. He was promoted to Colonel in 1865 and, after being released as a prisoner of war, was honorably discharged shortly after Lee's surrender in April 1865.
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