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1832 – 1848
The Black Hawk War predates the town: The St. Joseph Iron Company's townsite on the south bank of the river was platted in 1833; the Black Hawk War was fought in 1832. Mishawaka therefore has no Black Hawk chapter of its own, and none is printed. The county's chapter — the militia alarms along the St. Joseph and the recollections Timothy Howard's county history preserves — belongs to the county frame and is carried in South Bend's record, where it stands at its documented size.
The Mexican War likewise raised no Mishawaka company: Howard's history names thirteen men of St. Joseph County who served in the war with Mexico; they went as individuals scattered through other commands, not as a company from this town, and no Mishawaka roll of that war exists to print. The thirteen are the county's, carried in the county record. Mishawaka's war record proper opens in April 1861, with the whole county rising at once — Chapman records that when the news of Sumter came, "the excitement in South Bend, Mishawaka, and, in fact, all parts of the county was intense," and brass bands escorted the first volunteers to the general camp wherever they could be raised.
Sources:
- Timothy E. Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1907), the county's Mexican War names and Black Hawk frame.
- Charles C. Chapman & Co., History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1880), ch. VII, the county in the war, opening passages.