SPOONER, Benjamin F., soldier, born in Mansfield, Ohio, 27 October, 1828; died in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 3 April, 1881. At the beginning of the Mexican war he enlisted in the 3d Indiana regiment, and was chosen 2d lieutenant. After serving in General Zachary Taylor's campaign he returned home, studied law, and practised in Lawrenceburg, holding the office of prosecuting attorney of Dearborn county for several years. At the beginning of the civil war he became lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Indiana regiment, with which he fought at Philippi and Laurel Hill, and he afterward held the same commission in the 51st Indiana, with which he was present at Shiloh and the siege of Corinth. He then resigned and returned home, but was soon made colonel of the 83d Indiana, and took part in the engagements around Vicksburg, the battle of Mission Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign, receiving a wound at Kenesaw mountain that necessitated the amputation of his left arm. He then served on a military commission till his resignation in April, 1865, and on 13 March of that year was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general of volunteers. He was United States marshal of the district of Indiana till 1879, when failing health compelled him to resign.