James Richard Slack

James Richard Slack was born September 28, 1818, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was educated in Newton, Pennsylvania and moved to Delaware County, Indiana with his parents at the age of nineteen. He worked on his father’s farm, was a schoolteacher, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 on his twenty-second birthday and then moved to Huntington, Indiana. His funds amounted to six dollars, and his possessions were limited to the clothes he was wearing. Slack served as county auditor from 1842 to 1851 and served two terms in the state senate. He was unsuccessful in a bid for Congress in 1854. He was commissioned colonel of the 47th Indiana Infantry December 13, 1861, and commanded a brigade under John Pope at New Madrid and Island No. 10. Slack served at various locations in district and post commands. He participated in the White River expedition and the battle at Yazoo Pass. He commanded a brigade of Hovey’s division of McClernand’s XIII corps during the Vicksburg campaign then spent the remainder of the war in the Department of the Gulf. He played a minor role in the Red River expedition; was in command at Thibodeaux, Louisiana, a portion of that time in command of a division of the XIII Corps. Slack was present in the campaign against Mobile, including the capture of Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely, and the city of Mobile itself. On November 10, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and was brevetted a major general on March 13, 1865. Slack was mustered out of service January 15, 1866, and returned to his law practice in Huntington. He was appointed to the bench of the newly created Twenty-eighth Judicial Circuit by the governor and elected to the same position in 1872 and 1878. In 1880, he ran for Congress, but was defeated. James Slack died July 28, 1881, of a heart attack while visiting in Chicago. He was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Huntington.

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