John Baptist Inman

A photo of John Baptist Inman. Born in Ohio in 1848, he moved with his parents Rev. Thomas Eddy Inman and Mary Ann Crouse to Minnesota Territory in about the year 1856. He served as a Drummer Boy during the Civil War in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. After the war, He was a Telegraph Operator in Fargo, Dakota Territory, and was the 2nd in line to pass word of the Custer Massacre to Washington, D. C. He later was the Head of the Western Union telegraph Office in Springfield, Illinois. In 1898, He organized a company of men from Illinois into a part of the United States Signal Corps, serving as its Captain during the Spanish-American War. He would later serve as the Illinois Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a precursor of the American Legion, and in 1925, he was elected to serve as National Commander. After his retirement from Western Union, he served as the Custodian at the Memorial Hall i the Illinois State Capital. The Memorial Hall was a museum and repository to collect and preserve Illinois regimental battle flags and other Civil War Memorabilia. He died at Springfield, Illinois in 1929.