The War Years Jericho Meeting And Its Community Randolph County, Indiana Surnames are: Blackledge, Coats, Cox, Davis, Wright, Peacock, Tomilson, Diggs, Keys, Finny,White, Marshall, Pickett, Peacock, Hill, Gray, Harris, Simonds, Pike, Mendenhall, Smith,Jessup, Lister,                                                          The War Years                     The Civil War had a tremendouseffect on the folks of the Jericho Community. This,in spite of the fact that the Friends Society repudiated war as a means of settling disputesand did not permit members to engage in war. Issues were a bit confused in the mindsof the folks of the Meeting. In the early forties, many members of the Societyat         Jerichoas well as other places had separated and formed a new Society, under thename Anti-SlaveryFriends, in protest against the soft attitude taken by the central organization againstslavery as an institution. Later, when the Indiana Yearly Meeting had modifiedits         attitude,more in line with the desires of the Anti-Slavey Friends, this organizationhad disbandedand returned to the fold.  After thebeginning of the war, it was difficultfor many ofthe younger members of the Society, and particularly those who were members inlittle more than name, to distinguish between the good purpose of doing away with slaveryand the bad one of using war as a means of accomplishing that good purpose.As aresult many Jericho boys enlisted for service. Below is a partial list of youngmen          whosenames were either on the Jericho membership list or who, through parentage or otherwise,came under strong influence of the Friends.                                         Jericho Men - Soldiersin the Civil War              Blackledge, Hiram      son of Charles B1ackledge                                         (notmarried till later)     Coats, Elihu                 son of Gabriel and Matilda Davis     Coats, Gabriel              son of Johnand Charity Wright     Cox, William M.          son of William B. and Margaret PeacockCox,     Cox, Gilbert L.             son of George and Zeuriah Tomilson     Cox. Olinthus               son of George and Zeuriah Tomilson     Gray, Elias                    son of Absalom and Margery Cox     Hill. Benoni                  son of Mathew and Fanny Diggs     Hill, Henry                    not certain     Marshall, William         probably in-law of Benjamin P. Keys     Peacock, Henry J.         not certain     Peacock, William H.     not certain     Peacock, Benjamin       son of John Joy and Ruth Cox     Peacock. Thomas          not certain     Peacock, Ashael            son of Jonah and Sarah Finny     Pickett, Alfred               son ofWilliam and Sarah White                                                                                     Of these men, two certainly died inthe war. These were Alfred Pickettand Ashael Peacock.William Marshall died of disease before the end of the war and was buriedfrom an armyhospital in Indianapolis.            There is a record of at least twoof these soldiers having acknowledgedtheir fault beforethe Meeting after returning from war. These were William M. Cox and Benoni Hill.William M. Cox made this statement before the Monthly Meeting:                      I have given way so far as todisregard the well known testimony of theSociety andborne arms, for which I am sorry, and have also accomplished my marriage contrary to theusage of the Society, all of which I ask the Meeting to pass by and continueme           undertheir care as my future conduct may deserve."                     On the whole, however, the minutesof the White River Monthly Meeting are singularlyfree from condemnation of the boys who had borne arms in defiance of the longestablished principles of the Society. Anxiety for their welfare was too recentand joy attheir safe return too real to leave much room for acrimony.            On the other hand, the WinchesterJournal of October 10, 1862, lists thefollowing men inWhite River and Wayne Townships as being conscientiously opposed to bearing arms.                                       Men ConscientiouslyOpposed to Bearing Arms                          (White River andWayne Townships)                   Gray. Simon*          Pickett, John ~•*          Harris, Job          Simonds, William A. J.          Pike, William*          Mendenhall, Thomas*          Smith, Alexander          Jessup, James          Lister, John*          Pike, Benjamin*          Smith, Nathan          Peacock, Elijah*          Peacock, William*          Cox, Elisha*