www.usgennet.org/usa/in/county/orange/svobits29.htm#cavetj Orange County Obituaries (Indiana) CAVE, THOMAS J. Springs Valley Herald (November 21, 1940) Death Notice Thomas J. Cave, 96, last surviving Civil War veteran in Orange County passed away quietly Monday night at eleven o'clock at his home on College Street. "Uncle Tom" had been in failing health for several months and gravely ill several days before death ended his long life. Mr. Cave was the last surviving member of the Basil B. Decker Post here. He enlisted with the 18th Indiana Infantry and saw active service in several important battles in the Civil War. He was widely known in Orange and surrounding counties and enjoyed a great circle of friends and acquaintances who mourn his passing. Death brought to a close the long life of this man who had become as familiar here as the material landmarks of the town. His friendship and interesting stories of the Civil War era will long be remembered. His demise brings to a close the connecting link between this generation and that of the 1860s. Funeral services were held at the home Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock. Interment will be made in the Ames Chapel cemetery, with W. V. Ritter & Son in charge. He is survived by a son, W. W. Cave and two daughters, Mrs. Belle Wells and Mrs. Clark Hill, all of French Lick. --------------------- Springs Valley Herald (November 28, 1940) Obtuary THOMAS J. CAVE Cave, son of John and Sarah Kearby Cave, was born in Dubois County, Indiana, September 11, 1844. John Cave was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Thomas Jefferson Cave, the father of John, came to Indiana in 1816 and entered land in Dubois County, along what was then known as the Buffalo Trail and which is now known as State Road 56. A few miles from where his father located John Cave and Sarah Kearby founded a home in 1830. Into this home Thomas as born and lived as a boy in a family of seven children, he being the youngest. His opportunities for an education were limited and the first schools which he attended were subscription schools and of short duration. On the farm he learned some valuable lessons in the school of experience, amid the primitive surroundings of the pioneer life of that day. At the age of thirteen he was bereft of his father and from that time, he was thrown largely upon his own resources. Some years later his mother was married to Matthew Kirkland. In this home were seven stepbrothers and sisters, among them was Mary Christina, who later became his wife. At the age of sixteen, he answered the call of President Abraham Lincoln to defend his country's flag and enlisted in the 18th Indiana Infantry where he served more than four years, until the dis- banding of the Union Army. During the first three years of the war he was under the command of General U. S. Grant of the Western Division of the Army. He survived many conflicts in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and other states which included Champion Hills, Black River and many others, culminating in the siege of Vicksburg which ended July 4, 1863. After this his regiment saw active service in Georgia and the southeastern states and was later trans- ferred to the Eastern Division of the Army under the command of General Phil Sheridan. This campaign was also noted for many severe conflicts. He was in the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, when Sheridan made his famous ride from "Winchester Twenty Miles Away" and turned the fleeing Union forces back to a victorious ending. In this battle his oldest brother, William W. Cave, was wounded from which he died later in a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He sustained another severe loss in this struggle, a member of his company and boyhood friend, was reported missing and was never heard from after that battle. After he was mustered out of service at Darien, Georgia, he arrived home in September, 1865, a few days before reaching his twenty-first birthday. Soon after his return from the army he became engaged in farming. On February 17, 1867 he was married to Mary C. Kirkland. This marriage was severed by the death of his companion, after a life of almost 71 years together, on Christmas Day, 1937. To this union four children were born, one son and three daughters, three of whom survive him. Stella went to her crowning in 1915. He moved to Orange County in February, 1873 to land that is now a part of the Country Club Golf Course. He retired in 1913 and moved to French Lick where he resided until his passing, with a continuous life in this community for almost three score and ten years. For many years in connection with his farming interest, he was engaged in various other enterprises, which included saw milling, grist mill, also the practice of law. He was the oldest member of the Orange County Bar. He became well known as an auctioneer which line he followed for many years. On account of his varied activities, he formed a wide acquaintance and perhaps in his active life knew as many people as any one of his day within his county and those adjoining. The lack of educational opportunities in early life did not deprive him of acquiring knowledge. He was an inveterate reader and became well informed on current topics and all matters of general civic interest. He possessed an engaging personality and easily made acquaintances. He had a natural bent toward politics and was notable among those of his acquaintance as unwavering in his convictions. He was positive and unyielding in what he believed to be right. This attitude was accentuated, no doubt in large measure, to his Civil War experience and the years of Reconstruction, which followed. In his religious beliefs, he was likewise positive and uncompromising. In his early life he united with the United Brethren Church at Hillham, Indiana and several years ago his membership was transferred to the French Lick Methodist Church where he was faithful in support and in attendance until his hearing became impaired. His varied experiences in life made him an interesting and entertaining conversationalist, and his reminiscences were many and quite vivid. His life extended from the days when men and women wore homespun into a new day of rapidly changing scenes and events. Through it all he never lost interest in life about him and in the world, this interest, remaining with him until just a few days before his going. A number of years ago, he became the sole survivor of the local Basil B. Decker Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and later he became the lone survivor of his regiment of the Civil War. His death takes from Orange County its last soldier of that great struggle. He lived a long and active life and fell asleep November 18, 1940 with a span of life covering 96 years, two months and seven days. The three surviving children are W. W. Cave, Mrs. Belle Wells and Mrs. Isis Hill, all of French Lick, also seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Besides these, a large number of other relatives with an almost unnumbered list of friends and acquaintances, all of whom will miss him greatly. Submitted by Tom Agan.