USA > Connecticut > New London County > Groton > Groton, Conn. 1705-1905 > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
1. Lieutenant J. Alden Rathbun, enlisted April 20, 1861, Rifle Company C, Second Regiment Conn. Vols., re-enlisted in Eighth Conn. Vols., wounded and discharged. Served 3 years and 3 months.
2. Robert Palmer Wilbur, enlisted April 20, 1861, Rifle Company C, Second Conn., discharged. Served 3 months.
3. James Harvey Alexander, enlisted August 5, 1861, Company G, Eighth Conn., wounded and discharged August 21, 1862. Served 1212 months.
4. Sergeant Thomas Williams Comstock, enlisted July 21, 1862, Company H, Fourteenth Conn., discharged July 1, 1865. Served 2 years and 11 months.
5. Corporal Charles Henry Rathbun, enlisted July 25, 1862, Com- pany C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged June 16, 1865. Served 2 years and 10 months.
6. Horatio Nelson Fish, enlisted July 25, 1862, Company C, Twenty- first Conn., died of wounds received in rifle pits in front of Peters- burg, July, 1864. Served 2 years.
318
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
7. Corporal Chauncey Francis Wilcox, enlisted July 29, 1862, Com- pany C, Twenty-first Conn., died in the service. Served 5 months.
8. Sergeant Thaddeus Pecor, enlisted August 5, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged with company. Served 2 years and 10 months.
9. Nathan Avery Starr, enlisted August 5, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged with company. Served 2 years and 10 months.
10. Orderly Sergeant Ezra Lafayette Tibbitts, enlisted August 6, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged July, 1865. Served 2 years and 11 months.
11. Orrin Darrow Barker, enlisted August 6, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., killed in battle. Served 1 year and 9 months.
12. Principal Musician Elias Brown Brewster, enlisted August 6, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged with company. Served 2 years and 10 months.
13. Lyman Green, enlisted August 6, 1862, Company E, Twenty- first Conn., killed. Served 1 year and 9 months.
14. Thomas Edwin Miner, enlisted August 6, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged. Served 2 years and 11 months.
15. 1st Lieutenant John Frederick Randall, enlisted August 7, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., resigned August 11, 1863. Served 1 year.
16. James T. Batty, enlisted August 7, 1862, Company C, Twenty- first Conn., discharged. Served 2 years and 10 months.
17. Elias Nelson Davis, enlisted August 8, 1862, Company E, Twenty-first Conn., died in service. Served 7 months.
18. Cyrus James. Pease, enlisted August 8, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., killed. Served 1 year and 9 months.
19. Wait Wells Wilson Ridabock, enlisted August 11, 1862, Com- pany E, Twenty-first Conn., discharged. Served 2 years and 11 months.
20. Lieutenant Charles E. Rice, enlisted August 14, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged May 1, 1865. Served 2 years and 812 months.
21. William Henry Chapman, enlisted August 20, 1862, Company C, Twenty-first Conn., discharged. Served 2 years and 11 months.
22. Chauncey Dutton Rice, enlisted September 1, 1862, Company H, Twenty-sixth Conn., discharged August 17, 1863. Served 1112 months.
23. Captain Jedediah Randall, enlisted September 3, 1862, Twenty- sixth Conn., died of wounds received at Port Hudson. Served 9 months.
24. 1st Lieutenant Simeon Gallup Fish, enlisted September 3, 1862, Company K, Twenty-sixth Conn., discharged August 17, 1863. Served 1112 months.
25. Corporal John Green Packer, enlisted September 3, 1862, Com- pany K, Twenty-sixth Conn., discharged August 17, 1863. Served 1112 months.
26. John Griswold Rathbun, enlisted September 3, 1862, Company K, Twenty-sixth Conn., discharged August 17, 1863. Served 1116 months.
27. John Stark Tufts, enlisted September 8, 1862, Company K, Twenty-sixth Conn., (wounded) discharged August 17, 1863. Served 1112 months.
28. Sergeant Horace Clift, eslisted September 8, 1862, Company K,
319
CIVIL WAR
Twenty-sixth Conn., discharged August 17, 1863. Served 111/2 months.
29. Robert Andrew Stewart, enlisted January 4, 1864, Company F, First Conn. Heavy Artillery. Served 1 year and 912 months.
30. Elias Williams Watrous, enlisted January 4, 1864, Company G, Eighth Conn., died of wounds. Served 4 months.
31. Sergeant Amos Ryley, enlisted February 5, 1863, Mounted California Battalion, Second Mass. Cavalry, discharged July, 1865.
32. Isaac Denison Turner, enlisted October 26, 1861, Company C, First Conn. Cavalry. Served 1112 months.
The Selectmen's report for the year ending August 31, 1891, notes that the board on making inquiries as to the number of men called for and the number furnished dur- ing the Civil War received the following statement :
War Department Record and Pension Division
Washington, March 27, 1891.
The records show that the quota of the (Groton) 11th sub dis- trict Third Congressional District of Connecticut, under the calls of the President of February 1, 1864, March 14, 1864 and July 18, 1864, was 253.
The credits were as follows, viz .:
New recruits, 249
Veterans, 41
By Draft, 37
Total, 327 Leaving a surplus of 74
Twenty-eight of the veterans mentioned above were re-enlisted in the Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
There appears to be no district record of quotas and credits in the Third Congressional District of Connecticut prior to May 31, 1864.
By authority of the Secretary of War
T. C. Ainsworth, Major and Surgeon U. S. Army.
Groton's expenditures for war purposes were $79,436.89, the largest amount with the single exception of Norwich paid by any town in New London County.
CHAPTER XV
TRANSPORTATION
T HE FIRST HIGHWAY in Groton was laid out in 1652, in order to give the settlers on the east side of the town direct access to New London. It ran through Pequonnoc and remained merely a pent way from Fort Hill to the east until 1709, when it was opened by the town as a reg- ular highway. There was a ferry at either end of this road, that at Groton maintained by Cary Latham, the one at Mystic by Robert Burrows. As late as 1769 we find the following record :*
"An act for starting and regulating the fare of Packers Ferry, over Mistic River:
"Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same-That the fare of said Packers Ferry shall be as follows, viz .:
Foot man.
For man, horse and load Two pence Three farthings
Lead horse
Penny farthing
Ox or meat kine.
Two pence
Sheep, hogs and goats. One farthing per head
Wheel carriages in proportion, as is already by law fixed.
"This act was passed in Ninth year of George III."
The Groton Town Records show the layout of the road as follows :
"Groton, July 5, 1709. Wee whose names are under written, being selectmen of said Groton, have laid out a road for people to pass and repass beginning at the hill usually known by the name of Fort Hill, from whence the country road is started, from thence easterly through 'Leaftenant' John Fannings land, on the northern side of his new dwelling house, over the brook, and so from thence through the common land to land now in possession of * Mystic Pioneer, January 25, 1862.
320
£
321
TRANSPORTATION
Mr. Burrows, and from thence by marked trees through said Burrows' land into Mystic Ferry.
"We say laid out by us selectmen
"James Morgan "Samuel Fish "John Morgan."
The Pioneer* gives some further light upon this layout : "In 1717 the highway from Fort Hill to Mystic Ferry was defined with more care, so as to secure a town landing at Mystic Ferry. This landing and this highway were 'bounded on the east by Mystic Salt River, on the north by the two acres of land granted J. S. Bill so running west- ward to the common land, bounded on the South with land of Robert Burrows, which land his father, John Burrows aforesaid, gave him . . said highway is twelve rods wide at the salt water and the same width throughout.
"John Morgan "Jonn. Starr Selectmen "Wm. Morgan
"This gave a spacious avenue from the Ferry, extend- ing in a straight line over the hill westward. What a pity that public domain has been lost to the present generation. The several town commons reserved in various part of the town of Groton were sources of much dispute in town meet- ings and among neighbors. Everybody was disposed to infringe. Some cut the timber to sell again, which the town prohibited; others fenced in and occupied these lands, and even built on them, and, notwithstanding warnings and ejectments, not a few gained possession. Thus our high- ways and town landings have been constantly passing into private hands."
Up to the year 1819 a scow boat was the means for cross- ing the Mystic River at Packer's Ferry. Before that time the ferry had fallen into disuse, the traffic preferring to take the longer route via Head of Mystic than to undergo the in- convenience and uncertainty of the water passage. In the
* March 5, 1862.
£
322
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
spring of 1818 steps were taken looking towards the build- ing of a bridge and the following records show the result :
"To the Hon. General Assembly of the State of Connecti- cut to be holden at Hartford in said state, on the second Thursday of May, next.
"The subscribers, inhabitants of said state, respectfully represent : That many of them live about three miles south of the public highway leading from Groton Ferry to Ston- ington Borough and Rhode Island. That at and near Pistol point, so-called, on the East and West sides of Mystic river are many worthy and respectable people. That there is considerable trade, commerce and daily intercourse between the Inhabitants living on each side on said River. That said Pistol point is a place of Trade, commerce and Fishing and a thriving little village: That there was formerly by the General Assembly of the State liberty granted to Joseph Packer, now dead, to keep the Ferry over the River at sd. Pistol point, but that said Ferry has been for some years entirely abandoned, and discontinued. That there is con- siderable travelling from the east Side of sd. River to New London and also from the west side to Rhode Island and that in order to accomplish the objects of Intercourse afore- said it is now necessary to travel around the head of sd. River through a rough and bad Road, a distance of about Seven or Eight miles farther than it would be, could there be some convenient mode of crossing the River near sd. Pistol point. That at the head of the navigable waters of sd. River, which is near the Store and wharf of Ebenezer Dennison & Nathaniel Clift of sd. Stonington there is a suitable and convenient place for the erection of a Bridge over sd. River. That there is a public highway established and leading across sd. River a few rods southerly of the place mentioned.
"Wherefore your petitioners pray this Assembly to in- quire into the facts aforesaid either by yourselves or a com- mittee appinted for that purpose, and upon finding the same true to grant provision and liberty to your petitioners to erect a bridge across and over sd. river the northody
-
OLD BRIDGE. FIRST CENTRAL HALL
ALE YOUR
IFTREAM
FIRST IRON BRIDGE. SECOND CENTRAL HALL
-
SECONE CION BRIDGE
323
TRANSPORTATION
line of which shall extend from the north side of Ebenezer Dennison & Nathaniel Clift's wharf in sd. Stonington in New London County on the East side of said River to the south side of the dwelling house of Ambrose H. Grant in Groton in New London County on the West side of sd. River, and also to appoint a suitable committee, to lay out suitable and convenient ground for the building of an abut- ment and a cause way or highway to and from said Bridge over and across the lands of the heirs of John Wolfe, Am- brose H. Grant, Jed. Randall and Amos Tift so as to inter- sect the old road between the dwelling houses of George Ashby and Lemuel Burrows, a distance of about Thirty-six rods, and also to lay out similar ways from the East side of said River from the store and wharf of Nathaniel Clift and Ebenezer Dennison over their lands to intersect the old highway near the dwelling house of Jeremiah Haley, a dis- tance of about Twenty rods all to be done at the expense of your petitioners, with privilege to levy and collect rea- sonable toll from travellers who may cross said bridge, or in some other way grant relief and they as in duty bound will ever pray.
"Dated at Stonington this 24th day of March, 1818.
"Ebenezer Dennison "George Haley "Nathaniel Clift "A. H. Grant "Jeremiah Haley "Manasah Miner "Wm. Stanton"
In accordance with this petition hearings were given by the Legislature and a charter was granted, under which the Mystic Bridge Company was organized with a capital of twenty-five hundred dollars and a contract was made with Nathaniel Canada and Samuel Green for the construction of a bridge substantially on the layout of the above petition, the only variation being the opening of a street through the orchard of Jedediah Randall connecting the new street
trên++
324
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
with the New London road. The approaches to the bridge were to be of gravel and stone, the wooden structure to be two-hundred and thirty feet in length with a draw open- ing in the middle twenty-six feet in the clear. The work was to be completed by May 1, 1819, and the price was to be twenty-four hundred dollars.
In 1841 the bridge was rebuilt by Colonel Amos Clift. The first and second structures each had a draw that was raised to permit of the passage of vessels, but in 1854 Mr. Henry Latham again rebuilt the bridge and a draw was constructed that rolled to one side. In that year the towns of Groton and Stonington purchased the interest of the bridge company for eight thousand dollars and the tolls were abolished and the bridge was made free. This third structure served the purpose of the community until the close of the Civil War. The building of many large ships at that period emphasized the inadequacy of the draw and the difficulty of passage coupled with the poor facilities for manipulating the draw led to a demand for a new and better bridge. In September 1865 a committee consisting of Charles H. Denison for the town of Stonington and Reuben Heath for the town of Groton reported that they had entered into an arrangement with A. D. Briggs of Springfield, Massachusetts, for the construction of an iron bridge at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. This bridge was to have a central pier of stone with an opening of fifty-five feet on either side. With the exception of the floors the whole structure was to be of iron. The work was to be completed by December 1st, but the usual delays in securing ratification of the committee's report, &c, delayed the work and it was not until the following May that work was be- gun. The bridge was finished and the first vehicle passed over it September 4, 1866. During the previous year West Main street had been improved by the widening of the "little bridge" so called and by the setting back of the old buildings on the south side to conform to the present line of the street. The bridge was built a few feet north of the old structure, thus giving a straightaway passage.
1
325
TRANSPORTATION
"Nov. 29, 1669-Left. Avery, Mr. Rogers, James Morgan Senr. and John Morgan chosen to lay out the Kings high- way between Norwich and Mystic."*
The exact date of the layout of the old road from Groton to Old Mystic via Center Groton has not been ascertained. It was without doubt the old Indian trail that led from the land of the Narragansetts to that of the Pequots, and had been in use by the natives for many years before the advent of the whites. In a deed from William Stark to Rev. Val- entine Wightman, dated Sept. 6, 1707, ** of the house and land used for so many years as a parsonage for the Bap- tist ministers (still standing) reference to this old path is made as follows: "Beginning at a beech tree marked on four sides standing on the East side of a run of water, by an old Indian path, from thence running westerly by the said path and marked trees into a small red oak tree marked on four sides stand on the top of ye hill near the old path from New London to Stonington" &c. This grant also included a "right of way two rods wide to the Common or highway."
The people of Stonington had much trouble in locating the continuance of this road across their town ;; at one time it even threatened the division of the town, but in Groton only one attempt has been made, so far as we know, to change the layout, and that was in 1818 when the turnpike company diverted the road between Center Groton and Burnett's Corners in order to avoid the steep declivity of Stark's Hill. In 1763 crowds thronged this old highway en route to Center Groton to hear the famous Whitefield, who spoke to the assembled multitude from a platform thrown out from the second story of the house of Rev. Jonathan Barber. Tradition has handed down accounts of the passage of a part of Washington's army over this road in 1776 on the way from Boston to New York.
In 1785, Congress having ordered that the mails should
* History of New London, Caulkins, ed. 1860, p. 143.
** Groton Town Records, Vol. 1, p. 29.
+ History of Stonington, Wheeler, p. 112.
326
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
be carried in stage coaches, the General Assembly directed the several towns through which the stage routes ran to put the highways and bridges into good condition. Much opposition was manifested to the outlay of public money for the use of private mail stage companies, and it was many years before all the objections disappeared.
"An old highway* was the Fort Hill road running north from the head of Palmer's Cove and joining the New Lon- don highway near the Merritt House on the top of Fort Hill. It was relaid in 1733 and again in later years. 'At a proprietors meeting held in Groton October 27th, 1733 Voted-That Ensign Wm. Morgan Sr., John Avery and Sergt. John Avery and Sergt. John Wallworth shall be a committee to lay out an open highway four rods wide from the head of Nawayunk Cove, up fourt Hill to the South Contary Road .- Groton Town Meeting Book No. 9, p. 6.'"
Two years later a road was completed from Center Groton to the meeting house at the center of the North society.
"Few people probably are aware ** that the original road on top of Fort Hill ran directly north from the (old) town house building (instead of northeast as now) and joined the New London and Mystic highway fifteen rods west of Charles Morgan's house. The road then crossed the high- way and led up to an old pent way, which later became the Flanders road. An old stone wall bounded the east side of this very old highway but otherwise there is no trace of any road there to-day. The Groton Records, however, prove such a way existed in 1737 (Vide Groton Records, Book 4, p. 133.) The highway as it runs at the present time from the (old) town house to the New London and Mystic road was laid out between 1737 and 1757.
"The Pequonnoc road at that time ran westerly by Charles Morgan's house and on over to Pequonnoc village."
The road from New London Ferry to Preston was laid out Dec. 30, 1730.1
* History of the Fanning Family, Brooks, 1905, pp. 616-17.
** Ibid, p. 619.
# Spicer Genealogy, p. 28.
327
TRANSPORTATION
"Order for the lay-out of the principal highway leading from Center Groton to Preston town line in 1723 :*
"We the subscribers being Selectmen for this year Anno Dom 1723 do appoint Mr. Ralph Stoder to assist Mr. Joshua Bill to lay a particular highway fore Rod wide from the meeting house to the pine swamp Road for the North people of the Town to come to meeting and also to make satisfaction to all the proprietors which the said way is laid out through their land which satisfaction is to be made in Common or undivided land we the sd. Select men having sufficient power to lay out any particular ways when it is wanting in our town.
"Groton October ye 24. 1723
"Joshua Bill "Sam'l Lester "John Avery "Nichs Street
"Selectmen.
"Entered Recd. Oct. ye 24, 1723.
"The road laid out under this order is supposed to be that leading from Center Groton North to the Preston line, leading to and over the present so called Meeting House Hill, and by the Bill Parsonage to the then Pine Swamp near the town line of Preston, and past the Pequot Reser- vation. This highway divides pretty nearly the town of Ledyard into two equal parts."
A road running from the New London road through Flanders over Stark's Hill was built in 1748. At first only a narrow pent way, it was re-laid Nov. 5, 1802, and is a much traveled way.
We cannot give in detail the dates of opening of all the roads in the town but will mention a few of the more im- portant ones. The road from Mystic to Burnett's Corners was built in 1818. The Noank road was opened in 1830, the river road between Mystic and Old Mystic in 1853, the road from Groton to Eastern Point a little later. The road from Groton to Gales Ferry was a bone of contention for
* History of Ledyard, Avery, p. 273.
0
328
GROTON, CONN. 1705-1905
years, and by vote of the town the selection were directed to call no more meetings regarding it. An appeal to the courts, however, resulted finally in favor of the petitioners and the road was built. Judge Potter writes :* "About this time (1858) the fever for road building ran high, producing the short O. T. Braman (river) road made necessary as it was supposed by the completion of the railroad across the lower part of the town. These were followed by the Alden Fish road, the Giles Haley road, the Solomon Chap- man (north) road and the Gore Lane street. . The road from Pequonnoc Meeting House to the railroad station was provided for. West Mystic Avenue (built before the war) and the Eastern Point and Bindloss cross road fol- lowed. Two short roads at Noank and the Pequot Hill road came next. The Walker cross road at Groton Bank, the Forsyth shipyard piece, the Bank street at Mystic River soon followed. The short connection link from Town Clerk Avery's south and the ice house and Daniel C. Brown road in 1878 have been followed by Monument and Cen- tennial streets at Groton Bank. The Raymond Lamb road by and over Stark's Hill and the short ready-made Asa A. Avery road complete the chapter on highways" (to 1882).
The roads in the early days of the settlement were not roads in the modern sense of the word, but mere cart paths, the only vehicles in use being ox carts. Most of the travel was on foot or horseback. A man fortunate enough to own a horse rode to church on horseback with his wife and small children seated on a pillion behind him, the older children walking-in some cases many miles -- and until well within the nineteenth century it was no uncommon thing in warm weather for a young woman to walk barefoot through the rustic ways leading to the house of God, carrying her shoes and stockings in her hands, to be put on when near the meeting house, in order that she might present a proper ap- pearance in that sacred place.
Peter Avery (1764-1845) is said ** to have "owned and'
* History of New London County, 1882, pp. 434-5.
** The Averys of Groton, p. 98.
r
1
:
329
TRANSPORTATION
used the first wagon or chaise that appeared in Groton, and it was regarded as much of a curiosity as the first locomo- tive engine that ever appeared here."
Boats and canoes in the creeks and rivers and alongshore transported most of the heavy merchandise. The evolution of its transportation facilities would be a history of the town itself. Packet sloops ran regularly-or as regularly as wind and weather permitted-between Mystic and New York up to the time of the Civil War. The captains of these sloops acted as factors for the merchants of the town and it was quite the common thing for the sloop captain to be entrusted with the necessary funds to purchase a load of merchandise for his return voyage.
These sloops also carried passengers and in an old ac- count book preserved in the family of Captain Elisha Rath- bone may be seen the passenger lists of the sloops "Eliza" and "Mystic" in 1834-7 which cover the names of a large part of the inhabitants of Mystic at that time. The "Active," the "Apollo," the "Emily" and the "Motto" were the last of the sloop packets, which disappeared about the close of the Civil War. An anonymous writer has left the following interesting account of a journey from Mystic to New York by sloop in 1817:
"Stonington June 9, 1817.
"Having waited nearly a fortnight for an opportunity to go to New York, at length engaged a passage in the Sloop 'Ranger,' Captain Silas Beebe, who was bound to Philadel- phia via New York. According to his arrangement and cal- culation-having taken his cheese, shad and mackerel on board, we set sail from Randall's wharf at 5 p. m., wind south-east. Beat down the river against the last part of the flood tide and anchored in the turn of the channel at Nawayunk. Captain B. went on shore to get his stores. We had three on board as passengers, Mr. Thos. Well's wife and his son Benedict. Rain falling in torrents. At six o'clock Captain B. returned, got under way and beat across the flats into Ram Island Channel and anchored. The weather being very thick, the wind heavy and the rain fall-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.