Eli Lilly was an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to serve with him in the 18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery. He was later promoted to major and then colonel, and was given command of the 9th Regiment Indiana Cavalry. Lilly was captured in September 1864 and held as a prisoner of war until January 1865. After the war, he attempted to run a plantation in Mississippi, but it failed and he returned to his pharmacy profession after the death of his first wife.
Colonel Eli Lilly in 1885
A photo of Lilly's first laboratory building in 1876 with Lilly and his son Josiah K. Lilly Sr. on the right side of the doorway
An 1886 drawing of Lilly's plant on McCarty Street
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Indianapolis, the largest outdoor memorial in Indiana
Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical chemist and Union Army veteran of the American Civil War for whom the company was later named.
An assortment of Lilly's throat lozenges from a 1906 sales book
Josiah K. Lilly Sr. (1861–1948), second company president
Eli Lilly and Company's Corporate Center in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2019
David Ricks, Lilly CEO since 2016