W. H. Fisher, Jr.—Among the ex-soldiers of Johnson County, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is a citizen of Franklin, and is engaged in the meat business, on East Jefferson Street. He is a native of Johnson County, Ind., having been born four miles north of Franklin, on the old homestead, October 15, 1840. He is the third son of thirteen children—ten sons and three daughters—born to Capt. W. H. and Mary J. (Henderson) Fisher. Capt. Fisher was a native of Kentucky, born March 18, 1813, and was the son of Capt. James Fisher, who was an officer of dragoons in the Black Hawk War. His father was a soldier in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. Capt. W. H. Fisher came with his mother to Clark County, Ind., when about twelve years old. His mother was then a widow, his father having died about one year after the battle of Tippecanoe. He removed to Johnson County, in 1836, having been married in 1835. He followed farming until the breaking out of the war, and in August, 1862, enlisted in the Federal Army, and at the organization of Company I, of the Seventieth Regiment of Indiana Infantry, he was elected captain of the same, and served for nineteen months, when, after a severe spell of sickness, from which he could not rally, he resigned, and returned to the farm in Johnson County, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in September, 1885. The mother was also a native of Kentucky, and was born in February, 1818. She was the daughter of John Henderson, whose father was also a Revolutionary soldier. Probably no other one family in Johnson County has contained so many soldiers as the Fisher family. Not only were the grandfathers and father soldiers, but five sons of the present family served in the late war. They were: James, John and Thomas, members of Company F, Seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry; Joseph was in his father’s company (Company I, Seventieth Indiana), and our subject was a member of Company D, Seventeenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Mounted Infantry. Our subject enlisted and was ordered into camp May 15, 1861, and served until June 25, 1864, and during that time participated in thirty-one fights, and was in the hospital only one night. But his health was materially injured by long and constant service in the saddle. James was wounded at North Ann River, Va., from which death resulted. John was wounded at Port Republic in the knee, and in the second day’s fight in the Wilderness, lost his left arm. He lived until February 12, 1873, but his health was seriously impaired after the service. Thomas was fatally wounded at the Second Bull Run battle. Joseph went with Sherman to the Sea, and now resides in Iowa. Returning to Johnson County, our subject remained two years, and in 1866, went out to Iowa, from which state he returned to Franklin, Ind., in January, 1870, and engaged in the meat business. He was married in 1864, to Sarah J. Good, who was born in Tennessee, in 1840, and came with her parents, Abram and Martha (Green) Good, in 1841, to Indiana. To this union five children have been born.

Transcribed by Cheryl Zufall Parker

Banta, D. D. History of Johnson County, Indiana. Chicago, IL: Brant & Fuller, 1888, page 607.