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1852 - JAMES & JANE (Galloway) RANKIN
George LaForge, father of Andrew, was a
native of Michigan, as was also his mother,
both having been born in Detroit, which city
they made their home during the greater
part of their lives. Like the majority of
lads born and reared under similar circumstances, the early life
of Andrew LaForge
was without tragic situation or incidents
worthy of note and, having had no marked
bearing upon his subsequent career, it need
not be mentioned specially in this connection. Sufficient it is
to say, however, that
his childhood and youth were principally
spent in the country amid scenes and influences calculated to
awaken his latent
powers and, being endowed with an inquiring mind which early led
him to form correct conceptions of duty and responsibility,
he made the most of his opportunities and
while still young formed well defined plans
for his future. Reared on a farm near his
native city, he continued tilling the soil until
the breaking out of the great rebellion, when
he laid aside the implements of husbandry
and with true patriotic fervor offered his
services to the government in its time of
greatest need.
Mr. LaForge's military career, of four
years' duration, covered the entire period
of the Civil war and was characterized by strenuous and thrilling experiences which
if narrated in detail would far transcend the
limits of this brief review. He entered the
service November 1,1861, enlisting in Company B, Fifteenth
Michigan Infantry, and
in due time by succession rose to the rank
of captain, besides filling for a considerable
period the office of adjutant, in which capacity he
distinguished himself by especially
brilliant and effective service. His regiment's most marked
experience in actual
warfare was under the matchless leadership
of the brave McPherson, of the Fifteenth
Army Corps, and he was in close proximity
to the gallant general when the latter met
his death at Atlanta, Georgia. It is a matter of history that
the rebels who killed McPherson were captured by the Fifteenth
Michigan, which regiment bore the brunt of
fighting in the above bloody action, as it did
in a number of other battles during the campaigns in which it
participated. After the
death of General McPherson it was Mr. LaForge's good fortune to
serve under General
John A. Logan, who led his command to
victory on many sanguinary and hotly contested fields, and
subsequently he was with Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea,
thence to Washington where he took part in
the Grand Review, which proved such a
fitting close to the war.
The first battle of note in which Mr. LaForge participated was
Shiloh or Pittsburg
Landing, where he received a painful wound
in the left shoulder. Though suffering
very much from the injury, he refused to
leave the field and ill the evening called the
roll of his company as usual besides attending to all the other
duties coming within
the province of the office which he then held.
He shared with his comrades the fortunes
and hardships of war in the twenty-one
regular battles in which the regiment took
part, to say nothing of numerous skirmishes
and other minor engagements, and when he
was mustered out of the service it was with
a record undimmed by dishonor.
On July 22, 1864, during the battle of
Atlanta Mr. LaForge distinguished himself
by an act of bravery which merits more
than passing notice. While riding between
the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps
General McPherson was struck by the missile
which terminated his life and immediately
thereafter General Logan took command and
ordered the men forward to fill a gap before
the enemy had entrenched themselves behind a line of hastily
constructed earth
works. Mr. LaForge, as sergeant major,
was some distance in advance of the regiment, but had not
proceeded very far until
he saw what he supposed to be a white flag
floating from along staff in the enemy's
works. Taking this to mean capitulation,
he at once accelerated his steps for the purpose of receiving
the surrender, but on a
nearer approach what was his surprise to see
instead of a signal of yielding only a white
regimental flag on which was some kind of
an emblem or device not discernable from
any considerable distance. Meanwhile the
men had halted and the enemy were withholding fire to ascertain
what the purpose
of the intrepid Federal officer might be,
some of them laughing the while, in which,
as he advanced closer, not a few of his own
men joined. In this dilemma he wished very
much to turn about and run, but putting the
best face on the matter possible and thinking that the enemy
might perhaps capitulate,
he boldly mounted the breastworks and
without further ado peremptorily demanded
their surrender. Taken aback by the boldness of the demand and
thinking discretion
the better part of valor, the Confederate
commander, Major Pierson, stepped forward and placed in Mr.
LaForge's hands
the identical banner which a few minutes before he had taken for
a flag of truce. By
this bold and daring movement the line of entrenchments was soon in possession of the
Federals, together with seventeen officers
and one hundred and sixty-seven men, who
yielded themselves prisoners. A number of
years afterwards an ex-Confederate officer,
in an article on "The National Tribune,"
referred to this action of Mr. LaForge as
the most signal act of bravery and daring
he had witnessed during the war.
At the expiration of his period of service
Mr. LaForge returned to his native state
and on November 29, 1866, was married to
Miss Mary Rankin, daughter of James and
Jane (Galloway) Rankin, the father a
pioneer lumberman of Elk Rapids,
where he
began business as early as 1852. Mr.
Rankin was long prominent as a manufacturer of lumber and from
1852 until the
panic of 1857 did a large and thriving business in partnership
with his sons, William
and John, operating during that time two
mills at Elk Rapids near where the
Riverside House now stands. The former of
these sons, a well known and highly successful business man, was
drowned at the
age of twenty-five, the shock of which event
so wrought upon the father as to break the
latter down and cause him to retire from
business. The elder Rankin had extensive
landed interests in various parts of Michigan, from which he
received a large income,
but later he disposed of these and his mills
and moved to Detroit, thence retired to a
farm near Big Rapids on which he spent
the latter years of his life. One of his sons
became a prominent and influential business
man of Detroit and another, James Rankin,
has for the last fifteen or sixteen years been
identified with the industrial interests of Elk Rapids.
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