USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Danbury > History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 > Part 37
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Each gentleman responded appropriately, and after re-
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marks by Rev. Messrs. Stone and Robinson, the meeting closed.
The departure of Company K, Twenty-third Regiment, closes the record of Danbury's contributions to the army as companies.
The winter of 1862 and 1863 was uneventful. War and rumors of war were the only exciting events which stirred the sluggish life of Danbury. Occasionally a soldier direct from the front would come home to recruit his health, and over and over again would tell his story of life in the camp or on the battle-field. Anxious friends would inquire after the boys, and would be disappointed if he did not know personally of the where- abouts of each Danbury man in the army. The papers of that time were filled with letters from the army, and many a heart was made glad and relieved of a heavy burden by their publi- cation.
On January 20th, 1863, news was received of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Stone ; and on February 22d a memorial ser- vice was held in the Baptist church for him who had " fallen on sleep."
In the early part of March Adjutant Samuel Gregory, of the Twenty-third Regiment, came home, having resigned on account of prolonged ill-health. Adjutant Gregory received from Col- onel Holmes, commanding the regiment, a letter of thanks from the boys for the constant care he exercised for the welfare of the regiment, and expressing their sorrow that he was obliged to leave them.
Captain Moore, Sergeant Bronson, William O. Dauchy and Richard D. Taylor fell in the "baptism of fire" at Gettysburg, and the Fourth of July, 1863, was a sad day for Danbury. Her bravest and noblest sons had gone into this fight, strong in their bright manhood, and had come out leaving many of their com- rades dead or prisoners. The record of Captain Moore's com- pany shows its loss in that fight to have been the most serious sustained by any Danbury company in any one engagement. The company went into battle with forty-four members. Of these, eleven were killed outright or died shortly from the effects of the wounds. Eleven were otherwise wounded, and eleven were captured, leaving eleven survivors.
On July 27th a town meeting was called to make appro- priations from the town treasury for the support of the fam-
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ilies of such persons as might be drafted and enter the service of the United States Government under the draft ordered. The meeting was largely attended. Hon. D. B. Booth occupied the chair, and a resolution was offered providing that each man drafted or providing a substitute should be paid from the treas- ury of the town the sum of $300. This was not exactly the idea of the meeting. This would enable any drafted man to pay a substitute with the town's money. A substitute to this reso- lution was offered, which we copy in full :
" Resolved, That the town treasurer be and he hereby is authorized and directed to pay to the proper officer appointed to receive the same the sum of $300, for each person drafted from this town into the service of the United States under an act of Congress entitled ' An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces and for other purposes,' provided such person is not otherwise exempt from the provisions of said act ; or the selectmen be authorized to draw an order on the same treasurer for the sum of $300 for each man so drafted, and that all moneys now in the hands of the treasurer or collector shall be paid upon these orders, and are hereby appointed for that purpose.
" Resolved, That in case any person is drafted in accordance with said act and shall volunteer for three years or during the war, the treasurer of the town is hereby directed to pay to such person the sum of $300, instead of paying the same to the officers of the General Government for exemption.
" Resolved, That for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of these resolutions, the selectmen of the town are hereby ordered and directed to borrow a sufficient amount of money upon the credit of the town for said purpose."
A question of legality was raised, and finally it was referred to Mr. William F. Taylor, who said that his private opinion was that the appropriation contemplated would not be legal. But while the statute did not provide for such an act on the part of the town, it contained nothing expressly forbidding it. Other towns had made similar appropriations. The meeting then decided almost unanimously to take the risks, and the votes were passed.
For several weeks after this there was much discussion as to the legality of the meeting, many claiming that the meeting was attended and the votes passed by boys, non-voters, and strangers.
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Accordingly the selectmen called another meeting for August 29th. The Town Hall was crowded, and the meeting of great interest. After expelling all non-voters from the room, it was
" Voted, That there be paid to each of such volunteers here- after enlisting in the United service who are credited to the quota of this town, the sum of $300, provided that the number of said volunteers to whom said payment be made shall not exceed the quota of men called for and due from this town during the pres- ent war.
" Voted, That the selectmen be and they are hereby author- ized to draw an order on the treasurer of the town for the sum of $300 in favor of each man who shall be drafted from this town into the service of the United States, under an act of Congress entitled ' An Act for Enrolling and Calling out the National Forces and for other Purposes' (and shall be sworn into the ser- vice of the United States), or shall procure a substitute to the acceptance of the Board of Enrolment.
" Voted, That a sum not exceeding $1000 be and hereby is appropriated from the treasury of this town to be expended by Edgar S. Tweedy, Waters F. Olmstead, Frederick S. Wildman, and Orrin Benedict, at their discretion, for the purpose of sup- plying the necessary wants of the families of such persons in indigent circumstances as have died, or are now in their country's service from this town, and the committee shall receive no com- pensation for their services.
" Voted, That the selectmen be and are hereby authorized to borrow such an amount of money as shall be necessary to carry the foregoing votes into effect.
" Voted, That the selectmen be instructed not to draw any orders on the treasurer under the votes passed July 27th, 1863."
On August 9th, 1863, its term of service having expired, the Twenty-third Regiment left New Orleans, and arrived in New Haven on the 24th instant. The two Danbury companies be- longing to this regiment reached home early the next morning. Owing to their unexpected arrival, no formal reception had been prepared, but later a public welcome was given them in the form of a picnic at the old camp-ground in Redding, now Putnam Park. The attendance of soldiers was not so large as could have been wished for-many were waiting in New Haven for their final pay ; but there was a goodly representation from Danbury,
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Bethel and Georgetown companies, and addresses were made by Lieutenant-Governor Averill, Rev. A. N. Gilbert and Messrs. Farnum and Judd, of Bethel.
For the benefit of the sick and disabled soldiers the ladies of Danbury had always shown themselves interested. On Septem- ber 9th and 10th a fair was held in Concert Hall by Danbury ladies for this purpose, and the gross receipts, including money contributed, were $1217.19. Of this $924.59 were net profit. This sum was disposed of as follows : $700 were sent to the United States Sanitary Commission in New York, and the balance was contributed to the Soldiers' Aid Society of Danbury. This society also held an entertainment in December, the prominent feature of which was an old-fashioned kitchen. The net receipts of the affair were $150.
In October Rev. E. C. Ambler, Chaplain of the Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, was in town, and on the 25th of that month the Methodist church was packed to hear his story of prison life. It was a vivid, graphic, and truthful nar- rative of his experiences while in the hands of the enemy, and his sentiments of patriotism and loyalty were several times applauded, despite the place and day.
The summer of 1863 passed in Danbury with nothing but the draft and the battle of Gettysburg to relieve the strain on the nerves of the people. There was no movement for recruiting, no parades, no drills. The people quietly waited for the end, which they were confident was now near at hand. Gettysburg was pronounced the decisive battle of the war, and it was believed that the South could not much longer present a resistance to the Government forces.
On Saturday, August 29th, Captain G. M. Southmayd pre- sented the sword he had carried when in service in the Eleventh Regiment to Lieutenant John Sniffin, of that regiment. When the captain resigned from the service he said to his men, in order to stimulate them to the largest exertions in the line of duty, that he would present his sword to the private who should first receive a commission. Lieutenant Sniffin was in town on the 29th, and agreeable to promise, Captain Southmayd presented him with the sword.
On Wednesday evening, September 30th, a public meeting, largely attended, was held in Concert Hall, and was addressed
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by Dr. Samuel T. Seelye, of Albany, a native of Bethel. His subject was the " Condition of Our Country," and a very fruit- ful topic it was at the time.
The most exciting event in the fall of 1863 was the draft. It occurred in October, but it had been hanging over Danbury for a long time, occasioning the liveliest kind of distress to many people. The names were drawn by John Waters. The number enrolled for the draft were 712. The number required were 215. The drawing took place in Bridgeport, on Tuesday, October 13th, and the result was awaited with intense anxiety by our citizens, but it was a misery that had plenty of company.
Of the 215 selected to do honor to the town in the struggle for the Union, 120 were excused because of physical infirmity, or being the support of parents or young children dependent upon them, or getting a substitute, the last-named class greatly pre- ponderating.
Four days after the draft, on the 17th, the President issued a call for 300,000 more troops. This was a call for volunteers, and was in addition to what had been conscripted or were to be under preceding calls. A volunteer army was preferable to a drafted force, and having shown the people that it was in deadly earnest about getting troops, the administration believed enough would volunteer and get a bounty rather than to run the chance of being compelled to go without any compensation, to fill the call.
But the call was a thunder-clap to Danbury, which had already contributed so largely to the Union Army, and there was a fear among those who had survived the draft that such difficulty would be met in filling the quota of the town with volunteers as to necessitate another conscription.
The volunteering, which was designed for the benefit of the depleted ranks of regiments already in the field, did not advance with any degree of the desired rapidity, and on Wednesday evening, December 15th, two months after the issue of Mr. Lin- coln's call, a large assembly of our citizens took place in the basement of Concert Hall, to devise means to hasten the enrol- ment. L. S. Barnum was chosen chairman of the meeting, which resolved to go to work to raise money for bounties, and appointed Edmund Tweedy, James S. Taylor, and A. N. Sharp to dispose of the fund to the best advantage.
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A committee of one in each school district was appointed to solicit subscriptions, and the amount collected was $3670. At this time some thirty volunteers had come forward, and it was doubted if the above sum would be sufficient to induce enough more to enlist to fill the town's quota under the call before January 5th following, which was the limit for the same.
The remainder of the year 1863 passed quietly in Danbury, there being little of war interest beyond the possible draft tran- spiring in the village.
On October 9th six members of Company C, Seventeenth Regi- ment, arrived in Danbury on a twenty-four-hour furlough from Governor's Island. They were exchanged prisoners, captured at Gettysburg, and were on their way to the regiment, then located in South Carolina.
On Wednesday evening, December 9th, an entertainment was given in Concert Hall for the benefit of the Soldiers' Aid Society, and the amount netted was $150.
On December 20th the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society completed its second year of existence, and made a report showing some- thing of the work it had done. The report gives the following list of articles gathered and sent in that time :
Twenty-nine large boxes of hospital supplies and six kegs of pickles have been sent to the New York City branch of the Sanitary Commission.
Two boxes of supplies and two kegs of pickles to the Colum- bian Hospital, Washington, D. C.
One box of supplies to the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, Port Royal, S. C.
One box of supplies to the State Hospital, New Haven, Conn.
Two boxes of supplies to the United States Hospital at An- napolis, Md.
The following is a partial list of articles sent : 3247 rolls of bandages ; 110 pounds lint ; 93 bedquilts ; 605 cotton shirts ; 65 new woollen shirts ; 240 pairs cotton drawers ; 72 pairs new woollen drawers ; 96 under-jackets ; 69 dressing-gowns ; 171 sheets ; 316 pillow-cases ; 21 woollen blankets ; 601 pocket- handkerchiefs ; 448 towels ; 98 woollen mittens ; 59 pairs slip- pers ; 211 pairs cotton socks ; 110 pairs new woollen socks ; 80 coats, vests, and pants ; 182 pounds jellies ; 20 bottles of wine ; 50 pounds dried fruit, besides corn starch, soap, farina, broma,
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wheaten grits, pincushions, reading matter, and many other useful articles of which no special account has been kept.
The year of 1864 dawned unhappily upon Danbury. It is doubtful if January, 1861, was more surcharged with gloom. As intimated in the last paper the call for troops was not heartily responded to. About everybody who thought he could go to the war had gone. Volunteering appeared to be out of the prospect entirely. The town looked for its supply to fill the quota and save drafting to the hiring of men at market prices. The market price was beyond the reach of most people. In New York $1000 was appropriated for each recruit. This had a bad influence on the market here. A man who enlisted simply for the money would take the highest price offered, of course, and was not particular to count on the quota of Connecticut if he could get more by enlisting from New York.
The effort of the town had been directed to raising a fund sufficient to secure enough of these men to fill its quota. To this end appeals through the local press were made to the citizens, and canvassers were appointed to go about and solicit contribu- tions from those liable to military duty.
Enlisting had been rather lively at the opening of December, but it died out materially before the month closed, and during the first week in January there were but twenty enlistments in the district embracing the counties of Fairfield and Litchfield.
The quota of Danbury, as estimated at this juncture, was one hundred. Up to that time forty names had been secured, leav- ing sixty to raise. And the prospect for getting them and sav- ing another draft looked exceedingly slim. It was almost im- possible to secure substitutes at any price, and the fund the town held did not warrant paying a very high price.
On January 5th, the limit of the time provided wherein the State should pay $300 bounty to every volunteer expired, but Governor Buckingham issued a proclamation on the 2d extend- ing the time to the 15th.
On January 14th a town meeting was held to accept and pay the amounts expended in securing volunteers under the call of the October preceding. The bill presented was $2899. It was referred to an auditing committee, who reported at a meeting on the eighteenth which voted to pay the same.
The expenses to the town for the sixty volunteers that had
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been so far obtained under the last call was at the rate of nearly $50 a man. This was in addition to the State and national bounties.
On February 1st there came another call for 200,000 more men, to be got by draft if not filled on March 10th following. How much distress this intelligence added to what already ex- isted our readers can imagine.
In the first week in March the Adjutant-General of the State visited Washington to examine the records of the War Depart- ment as relating to the contributions to the armies from this State, and on comparing them with his own made the gratifying discovery that Connecticut was entitled to 1000 more men than it had been credited with. This not only made up its deficiency under the last calls, but left a small surplus over to be credited to those towns which had more than filled their quotas. This did not relieve the towns which had not filled their apportion- ment from the possibility of a draft, but it staved off the prob- ability. As Danbury was one of these it breathed freer in the first week of March than it had expected to.
The spring of 1864 passed quietly in Danbury. There was less of military movement, and consequently less of excitement than during any spring of the war. The draft that had been so long dreaded did not take place. It was called for March 10th. On that date Danbury had secured in recruits and the previ- ously drafted or their substitutes 160 men. The quota of the town was 176, and there were but 16 to secure to fill the quota. These were obtained shortly after by volunteering.
The month of June opened lively in the matter of enlistments. There was an impending call for more troops.
On Monday evening, the 13th, a meeting was held to devise means to raise volunteers. It was a matter of some doubt at this juncture as to the condition of the town toward its quota. If the re-enlisted volunteers were credited to the towns whence they originally went, Danbury would have an excess over the past quota of forty-six, which would apply to its apportionment in the coming call. If they were not thus counted for the towns, but applied on the State at large, then the town would be forty behind. It was subsequently settled that the re-enlisted men should apply to the town.
The meeting was largely attended. A committee of five were
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appointed to devise means for filling the quota on the last and impending call. The number enrolled at this time was 1147.
The committee recommended that an appropriation be made for the securing of volunteers, and a vote was passed author- izing the selectmen to borrow on the credit of the town, at not over 6 per cent interest, a sum not to exceed $5000, to be appro- priated by them in paying the expenses in filling the quota of the town under the anticipated call of the Government.
On July 4th the dreaded proclamation was issued. It called for 500,000 men. Fifty days were allowed to fill this call by volunteering. All deficiency after that limit was to be made up by drafting.
Under the call Danbury's allotment was 215 men. Deducting a surplus of 48 men, in excess of past quotas, there remained 168 men to be secured.
On Saturday, July 30th, a town meeting was held to further arrange for the enlistment of men. Several resolutions were presented, but only one was acted upon, and that was rejected. The resolution in question appointed a committee to ensure ex- emption, at the expense of the town, to every man subject to the draft who shall pay into the town treasury the sum of $50.
The meeting adjourned one week for a further consideration of the subject. At this meeting two votes were adopted. The first authorized the selectmen to fill the quota in the way deemed best ; the second empowered them to borrow such sums of money as they found necessary to carry out the provisions of the first vote.
One week later the selectmen decided to pay $300 to the family of each volunteer or substitute, or to the man himself if he had no family.
On Monday, August 22d, a third town meeting in the interest of the momentous subject of filling the quota was held. In this gathering definite sanction was given to the paying of bounties, and the bounties themselves were defined. It was voted to pay every man who enlisted for one year the sum of $500; to every man who enlisted for two years, $600 ; and to every three-year volunteer, $700. It was further voted to empower the selectmen to borrow a sum not to exceed $100,000 to pay these bounties, and was still further voted to appropriate $10 for the expense of conveying each recruit to the place of rendezvous.
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It will be seen by this record of several town meetings how the approach of the draft stimulated the zeal of citizens, and opened the town's pocket.
Owing to this liberal action of the town, volunteering started up with spirit, and on Monday, September 12th, the quota was filled and the draft averted.
On Saturday, the 17th, a town meeting was held to provide for anticipated Government calls for troops, and it was voted that the selectmen recruit one hundred more men. At a subse- quent meeting it was voted to furnish substitutes for those who paid into the treasury $100, and loaned the town for six years on interest the amount required to secure such substitute.
This ends the record of 1864. With the exception of the fight against the draft, which was certainly lively enough, the year passed in Danbury in a remarkably quiet manner.
The last year of the war opened dully for Danbury. Through the month of January there was absolutely nothing happening either here or in the field to stir the sluggishness of the village. The first ripple came on February 1st, with a statement from the agents appointed by the town to secure volunteers.
On the last call by the President for troops the quota of Dan- bury was figured to be about 130. The agents reported on Feb- ruary 1st that they had secured 40 recruits and 10 substitutes. Besides this number there was a surplus of 12 from the call which preceded the last, making a total of 62. This would leave a balance of 68 to obtain to fill the then determined quota. The recruits cost $143.65 each.
In the town meeting on the 22d of the preceding August very large bounties were voted to encourage enlistments. On Feb- ruary 13th another meeting was held, and it was voted to in- crease the bounty for two years' and three years' men $50 beyond the sum fixed at the August meeting. Resolutions were pre- sented at the same meeting to give each drafted man who served $800, and $500 to each man who furnished a substitute. The former was tabled for future action, and was adopted at a meet- ing held on the 18th. The latter was rejected.
Whether it was in the natural order of war events, or whether it was the act of the Danbury town meeting in generously putting forth such immense bounties, will never, perhaps, be known, but it is true that almost immediately
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after this meeting the South showed marked evidences of col- lapsing, and a few weeks later the break began in the surrender of General Lee's army. Those who might have enlisted for three years and received the $750 bounty would have had no service in the field, and it is not likely they would have had to leave the State.
No more army movements were made in town. The drum- ming up of recruits, the fighting between the taxpayers over the bounties and other accessories to recruiting, the appeals to patriotism-all died away and became entirely lost.
Saturday morning, April 15th, the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received here, and brought the same shock it carried to every community in the North. The bells of the churches were solemnly tolled. Flags were draped with crape and hung at half mast, and many places of business and residences put on mourning before the day closed.
The next evening, Sunday, the congregations of the several churches assembled in the First Church, and addresses com- memorating the virtues of the dead man and mourning his loss were given by the clergy.
At the hour of the funeral in Washington, at noon Wednes- day, the 19th, the people of Danbury were called upon by the warden of the borough, J. Amsbury, to put their places of busi- ness and residence in mourning, so far as was possible, and to close all places of business from 11 A.M. until 3 P.M., which was done.
A funeral service was held at the First Congregational Church, and Bishop Williams conducted a special service at St. James' Church.
Although the war was now virtually ended, there was much work yet to do by the troops, and it was not until the middle of the summer that the regiments in which Danbury had companies began to return. No public demonstration greeted them as they straggled home, but each found a hearty welcome awaiting him.
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