John Monroe Littlefield
Company C, 12th Indiana Cavalry
Great-grandfather of Donald B. Littlefield
John Monroe Littlefield was born September 12, 1842 at Mongo, LaGrange County, Indiana to Ambrose Monroe Littlefield and Hannah Emerson.
On December 5, 1863, he enlisted at Kendallville, Indiana in Captain Williams’ Company C, 12th Indiana Cavalry. On April 30, 1864 he was to the non-commissioned regimental staff as Commissary Sergeant.
Littlefield was promoted to regimental Quartermaster Sergeant on June 12, 1864, and was again promoted on May 23, 1865 to 1st Lieutenant and regimental Quartermaster.
About May 5th, the 12th Indiana Cavalry left Camp Mitchell at Kendallville, Indiana and proceeded to Camp Shanks at Indianapolis. The regiment left for Nashville, Tennessee on May 6th. At Shepardsville, Kentucky, the mounted companies received cavalry arms. The regiment was then assigned to railroad defenses from Decatur, Alabama to Paint Rock, Alabama.
The 12th Indiana lists action in Alabama, at Vienna on July 8, 1864; Flint River on July 25; Paint Rock Station on July 30; and Moore’s Hill on August 11. In September, companies C, D, and H remained stationed at Huntsville, Alabama to participate in its defense. These companies subsequently joined the rest of the regiment at Tullahoma in November 1864. The regiment proceeded to Murfreesboro, Tennessee and took part in the battles of Wilkinson’s Pike and Overall’s Creek.
In February 1865, the regiment was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Military Division of West Mississippi. It proceeded to New Orleans, Louisiana and in March left for Navy Cove, Mobile Bay and participated in the the Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, March 26-April 9.
The 12th Indiana Cavalry reported to General Grierson on April 17, 1865 and participated in a raid of over 700 miles through Alabama, into Georgia, and then back to Columbus, Mississippi, where it arrived in May 1865.
The six companies at Columbus were eventually ordered to Vicksburg, Mississippi arriving on November 2nd, and being mustered out on November 10, 1865.
John Monroe Littlefield died of a pulmonary embolism on January 28, 1923. He was buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Stugis, St. Joseph County, Michigan.