William H. Roose, Indiana's Birthplace: A History of Harrison County, Indiana (New Albany, IN: Tribune Company Printers, 1911), p. 63-64. Major Horace Bell was born in New Albany, December 11, 1830. When he was two years of age his parents moved to Harrison County and settled a short distance above the Town of Mauckport. In 1849, Major Bell went to California in search of gold. In January 1856, he joined the Walker army of occupation in Nicaragua and at the close of the war in 1857 he was in command of a battalion and was one of the eighteen left of the original 385. In 1858, his father and brother, Charles, were arrested and placed in jail in Brandenburg, Kentucky, on a charge of assisting slaves to escape. Because of the bitter feeling between the north and the south, there was no hope for their release. Horace and his brother, John, were called home from California and on a day when many of the citizens of Brandenburg were away attending a picnic, they went to Brandenburg, forced the jailer to open the doors and liberated their father and brother. The four ran quickly to their skiff and started to cross the river, but they were soon discovered and pursued. Horace stood up in the boat with a revolver in each hand and, by keeping up a rapid fire, he held the pursuers at bay until they reached the Indiana shore, when the chase was abandoned. Horace Bell returned to California in 1860, but in a short time he came back to Indiana and joined the Sixth Indiana Regiment at Camp Morton. On April 18, 1866, he was mustered out a major. After the war he went to Los Angeles and engaged in the practice of law. He is now one of the leading citizens of Berkeley, California.