Originally known as Cloud's Town, this community was incorporated in 1832 as Vienna and prospered as a market town before the Civil War. On May 29, 1864, the 12th Indiana Cavalry under Lt. Col. Alfred Reed seized the town, built a stockade, and named it for General Peter J. Osterhaus. The hit-and-run tactics of Confederate Col. Lemuel Mead and Lt. Col. Milus E. (Bushwhacker) Johnston led Union officers to retaliate by burning Vienna to the ground on December 15, 1864, leaving only the Masonic Lodge and the Post Office/Tavern. By 1883, Vienna had returned to its pre-war size and was reincorporated as New Hope.