John Love was born on January 9, 1820, in Culpeper County, Virginia, to Richard and Eliza Love. His father died when he was eleven years old. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1837, and he graduated four years later. He received a commission as a brevet 2^nd lieutenant in the 1^st United States Dragoons. He served in present-day Kansas in the mid-1840s, and he was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in June 1846. He took part in the Mexican American War.

 

He married Mary F. Smith on October 10, 1849, and their daughter Mary was born around 1855. He resigned from the army on February 1, 1853, and settled in Indianapolis, Indiana. He earned a living as a railroad contractor and “speculator.” By 1860, the family owned $67,000 of real estate and $9,000 of personal property.

 

He remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. He served as a major on General Thomas Morris’s staff, and he later became a major general in the Indiana militia. He helped oversee Cincinnati’s defenses from September 1862 until January 1863, when he resigned from the militia. He returned to duty in July 1863 to defend the state against Confederate general John Hunt Morgan.

 

He subsequently worked as a real estate broker and an agent for the Gatling Gun Company. In 1880, he became a manager of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. He died in Indianapolis on January 29, 1881.

 

Image: John Love (courtesy Wikicommons)

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