USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume I > Part 29
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It is only with this background that one gets what it meant when such men as Gideon Wells of the Times, Hon. John M. Niles, D. F. Robinson, James M. Bunce, Calvin Day, Thomas T. Fisher, Jonathan F. Morris, Mark Howard and ninety others subscribed $100 each to establish a republican organ with Faxon & Pierce as printers. William Faxon retiring, Joseph R. Hawley took his interests and was an editor of the Evening Press which resulted from this union of interests. The Press merged with the Courant in 1867, which paper had been federal, whig and republican but latterly had lacked "ginger." As told elsewhere, the Times con- tinued democratic, using every effort to prevent the impend- ing war.
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Another item of vital importance in history could be given in the one word "Unpreparedness." Till 1848 the law of 1639 had been in force-that every citizen, with age limit changed to ages between 18 and 45, must be inspected each year as to his supply of equipment and be subject to drill. The state latterly, in the period of Adjt .- Gen. Charles T. Hillyer of Granby, Adjt .- Gen. Joseph D. Williams (1855-1863) and Maj-Gen. James T. Pratt of Hartford and Rocky Hill, whose names are prominent in other parts of this history, had furnished a few flint-lock guns and the Federal Government yearly had allowed $200,000 towards guns for all states, an amount fixed in 1808 and not changed till 1860. In 1848 the militia numbered 53,191, infantry, artillery and heavy artillery, in six brigades of a total of 960 companies. The law was just coming in for distinction between active and in- active militia, those not enrolled as active or above age 35 to pay poll tax, and from this fund the actives would be paid $1.50 a day
PUTNAM PHALANX IN PARADE IN PARIS, 1926
Major Clifford D. Perkins at the head; Staff Adjutant, Captain E. C. Bigelow; Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Frank E. Soule; First Company, Captain George Webb, command- ing; Second Company, Captain Ernest Walker
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for three days' field service each year. The divisions were cut down to one, two brigades. The three days' tour of duty was marked by much display on the part of higher officers, the com- panies dressed in uniforms of their own selection for the most part and where there were uniforms. Headquarters usually were at some tavern and the drill field was nearby. Interest waned rapidly. At the outbreak of the war there were not enough or- ganized and equipped companies in the whole state to form one effective regiment, and that, too, though Governor Buckingham several weeks in advance of the President's call had issued a warning to be ready. The consequent expense in men and treas- ure was tremendous.
To keep in mind the men of the Revolution, to form a social club and to do honor to Hon. William H. Seymour on his return from Russia where he had been United States minister, 150 well known citizens met on August 9, 1858, and formed a military organization to bear the name of the Putnam Phalanx in honor of the hero of several wars in the previous century. Among those on the first roster were Alfred E. Burr of the Times, Pliny Jewell, Jr., Gen. C. T. Hillyer and Gen. J. T. Pratt, and the first commandant was Maj. Horace Goodwin (aged 71) with a staff composed of J. D. Williams, Asher Moore, E. B. Strong, Henry C. Deming, A. S. Stillman, J. B. Crosby, Otis Smith, A. M. Gor- don, D. P. Francis, Thomas Miner, W. J. Shany, Bruning Mance, C. T. Martin, and I. William Stuart. The uniform selected was patterned after that of General Washington, the guns were the old-time flint-locks and the tactics those of Baron Von Steuben. The greeting parade for Governor Seymour was a success, and since that time there have been parades on patriotic occasions here and in many states and cities where the "Puts" are highly honored. The organization was incorporated in 1877. In 1891 it went into an armory built for it at the corner of Pearl and Haynes streets, whence it moved in 1927 to its present armory on Washington Street. Especially good work has it done in collect- ing historical relics; those of General Putnam include his famous plow and saddle. Its roster of officers and men always has in- cluded the names of prominent citizens of this and neighboring towns, usually of middle age. During the wars since 1858 the
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phalanx has done escort duty and has given aid in every way it could.
The political campaign of 1860 was fiercely fought. An inci- dent of it was the first appearance of torches in night parades. The local company of which James S. Chalker was captain was large and especially well drilled. During a halt one evening in front of a store on Main Street one of the men went in and bought a piece of glazed cloth to put over his shoulders to protect his coat from the drippings of his torch. At the next parade the whole battalion was arrayed in brilliant capes of that material, and thus the famous Hartford Wide Awakes originated the cos- tume so popular in campaigns for thirty years thereafter. Lin- coln appeared here and spoke at the City Hall. He was a sur- prise to the people as he had been in New York, but he was the approved leader and it was the cause more than the man that the republicans had in mind.
Sumter was fired on Friday, April 12, 1861. "Battle Sun- day," when Sumter was abandoned, was a day of deep solemnity. There were street meetings as well as stirring services in the churches. Political distinctions were forgotten. Editor Burr still held out against coercion but in the manly tone of one much respected. Gideon Welles was in Washington as Lincoln's secre- tary of war and William Faxon was his chief clerk. William W. Eaton alone declared that no soldier should pass through this state southward except over his dead body, and in that hour of his excitement he was called a "fire-eater." Liberty poles were springing up on every village green throughout the county and state. Had Lincoln's first call (April 15) been for twice 75,000 men, those who could not get in under the quota by the actual call would have filled it. The governor's call was issued April 16. In his editorial room, Hawley drafted a paper, signed it, passed it to Albert W. Drake of Windsor and to Joseph Perkins of Hart- ford who signed it and before night the list for Rifle Company A was complete. George S. Burnham, who had been captain of the Hartford Light Guard, was chosen captain, Hawley first lieu- tenant, Drake second. The first of these was to become colonel (of the Twenty-second) ; the second, major-general by brevet and the third, colonel (of the Tenth) before his death in 1862. The formal enlistment papers were not made out till April 18. Mean-
GIDEON WELLES
(1802-1878) Of Glastonbury and Hartford. Editorial writer on the Times and Lincoln's Secre- tary of the Navy
GENERAL ALFRED H. TERRY (1827-1890)
Of Hartford and New Haven. Colonel Seventh Con- necticut Volunteers; Major-General volunteers in Civil War. Brigadier-General, U. S. A., in Indian campaigns
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time on April 16, Capt. John C. Comstock of the Light Guard had enrolled most of his men as Infantry Company A, William H. Hoffman and George S. Gouge lieutenants. On the 19th, Ira Wright as captain and Justin H. Chapman and Daniel C. Rod- man as lieutenants had enlisted the men for Infantry Com- pany B. On the 20th Windsor Locks, Enfield, Thompsonville, Simsbury and other towns had contributed Infantry Company C, under Levi N. Hillman and Stoddard E. Horton of Windsor Locks as captain and first lieutenant. From New Britain, under date of the 20th, came Capt. Frederick W. Hart, captain, and Lieutenants William G. Cunningham and Oscar M. Butler with Company G, in which were several Farmington and Southing- ton men. The other companies were from Meriden, Bridgeport, Waterbury and Danbury.
Service was to be for only three months under the then law for militia in putting down an insurrection. Most of those who had not followed the history as here outlined, and did not know the South, believed that three months would be long enough and 75,000 men sufficient. Such optimism was in contrast with the grimness of 1775. The Legislature not being in session the gov- ernor could get no appropriation, but already he had pledged his own money and in four days after the call the companies from Hartford were in rendezvous camp for the First Regiment in New Haven. Daniel Tyler of the Regular Army quickly accepted the colonelcy, Burnham was made second in command, Hawley captain of his company. Burnham was given command May 10 when Tyler was made brigadier. In New Haven, the first quar- ters were the college buildings. On May 13 the regiment was in camp at Washington and General Scott was exclaiming, "Thank God, here is one regiment all equipped for service and even with transportation."
On the next day arrived the Second Regiment commanded by Alfred H. Terry of New Haven, grandson of Maj. Nathaniel Terry of Hartford. Its companies were from New Haven and other towns, including Company H of Hartford which had been Rifle Company D of the old First Militia, under Capt. James W. Gore and Lieutenants Jesse H. Lord and Charles H. Scott, en- listments dated April 23. Eight companies had Sharps rifles; the others, the Springfields. The President's call was for only
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one regiment from Connecticut but the disappointment of the men, not a few of whom had bid as high as $50 for a place in the ranks of the first companies, had caused Buckingham to secure the acceptance of three. Buckingham was already being looked upon much as Washington looked upon Jonathan Trumbull. This permission was obtained, the Third came to rendezvous camp in Hartford May 9, on the Albany Avenue fair grounds. After re- ceiving its colors from the governor in person at the State House, it started for Washington May 23. Infantry Company A, which had been Rifle Company A in the militia, was commanded by George N. Lewis with John Brennan and Lucius B. Bolles as lieutenants. Company E had been Rifle Company E in the state organization-Capt. John A. Nelson and Lieutenants Harry Finnegass and William Wright. The three regiments were brigaded under Tyler.
Individual towns had been carrying the financial burdens and furnishing many of the uniforms, the women in groups doing the sewing, till the May session of the Legislature enacted legislation which stood with little change throughout the four years, allowing $30 a month for each man, $6 for the wives and $2 for each child. It also directed that 10,000 men should go into training to be ready for the next call. As in the Revolution, however, there was to be no time for training; only, in this in- stance, the opposing armies were about equally unfit. The one day of Bull Run was to be the "officers' training camp." Before that day of terrible lesson, Hartford men were to be the first
notable victims. Col. Elmore E. Ellsworth of the Ellsworth Zouaves, who was shot May 24 while tearing down Confederate colors on an Alexandria hotel in full sight of the Capitol, was the grandson of John Ellsworth of Hartford. Capt. James H. Ward, the distinguished naval officer who had helped found the Naval Academy and who had organized on the Potomac the first flotilla, was killed at Acquia Creek June 27. His father was Col. James Ward of Hartford, commissary-general of the army in 1812.
July 16 the Connecticut brigade was the vanguard of the army pushing toward Richmond, and finding the enemy at Bull Run Creek Tyler advised advance in force. But the army was not ready. By the 21st when the engagement began, Washing- ton spies had informed Longstreet of his peril and Johnston had been called to the field with 18,000 men. Theoretically neither
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GENERAL JOSEPH ROSWELL HAWLEY (1826-1905)
Editor of the Courant. Raised first company in Hartford for Civil War; Colonel, Seventh Connecti- cut Volunteers; Major General; Governor, 1866-67; United States Senator, 1881-1905
SOLDIER
PATRIOT
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FEUERAL
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JOSEPH
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HAWLEY BRONZE MEMORIAL AT THE CAPITOL MAIN ENTRANCE
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side should have been there since neither had had training. But war laughs at the untrained. Victory was with the North, thought the Connecticut men till they caught their first glimpse of the rush toward the bridge to the capital. They kept their ranks firm, as though mindful of Putnam and Chester at Bunker Hill. In his report General Tyler said:
"At 7 o'clock Tuesday evening I saw the three Connecti- cut regiments, with 2,000 bayonets, march under the guns of Fort Corcoran in good order, after having saved us not only a large amount of public property, but the mortification of seeing our standing camps fall into the hands of the enemy."
The few good companies of the militia had furnished the backbone of the three-months regiments; the men from Bull Run were now to furnish the backbone for the three-years forces. In - this state over 500 of them became commissioned officers. Some of the waiting men went to Meriden and farther down the line to join the cavalry and the light batteries, among them Capt. W. E. Riley and Lieut. W. Gedney Bunce (later the great artist) for the First Cavalry. Edward W. Whitaker, corporal in the company Hawley raised, was lieutenant-colonel of that regiment and brevet brigadier. The Fourth Infantry which had been ready but could not get in under the first call was immediately reassembling, in Hartford, around Col. Levi Woodhouse of the Mexican war and was forming the famous "First Heavies." When Woodhouse resigned in August he was succeeded by Capt. Robert O. Tyler of the regular army who was to continue after the war as brevet major-general. Thomas S. Trumbull, who had risen from sergeant-major to be lieutenant-colonel in 1864 and in 1865 succumbed to disease brought on by overwork, was con- sidered by artillery authorities to be one of the best officers in that arm of the service. He was a graduate of the Harvard Law School and was practicing law in New York when he came here to do his "bit." Of other Hartford officers, L. G. Hemingway was to become major; H. H. Pierce, major and to remain in the army, and C. M. Robbins, captain in the colored troops. Sur- geon W. W. Skinner of Windsor Locks was to be brevet lieuten- ant-colonel. C. H. Owen, who was detailed to Tyler's staff, was to be brevet captain after his disabling wound at Cold Harbor.
Another group of turned-back companies was assembling at
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Colt's Armory to form Colt's Revolving Rifle Regiment under the command of Samuel Colt who had his commission as colonel, but as they were not willing to go into the Regular Army, the plan was abandoned; the camp was removed from Colt Meadows to the corner of Bond and Webster streets and the Fifth Infantry was organized under Col. O. S. Ferry of Norwalk who in 1862 was succeeded by Maj. George D. Chapman. Frank D. Lane and William S. Coggswell became majors, H. S. Smith adjutant and E. V. Preston quartermaster. E. E. Marvin of Rockville, later to be one of the most prominent Hartford citizens, was captain of a company. The Sixth, assembling in New Haven, had Com- pany B, men of Hartford and neighboring towns, under Capt. B. F. Prouty, and G of New Britain under Capt. John Tracy.
The Seventh rendezvoused at New Haven under the command of Colonel Terry who, on his appointment as brigadier-general, was to be succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hawley, and he by Capt. D. C. Rodman of Hartford who never recovered from his wound at Fort Wagner and died in 1881. In this regiment also were Captains D. G. Francis of Hartford, Valentine B. Cham- berlain of New Britain and L. C. Sutliff of Southington. The Eighth recruited at Camp Buckingham in Hartford under Col. Edward Harland of Norwich; the Ninth and the Ninth Battalion, Irish, at New Haven. J. A. Nelson and D. C. Warner of Hart- ford and J. W. Graham of Berlin were captains. Of the Tenth, which was mustered at Camp Buckingham in September, A. W. Drake was lieutenant-colonel and succeeded Colonel Russell. He died of consumption in 1862. John L. Otis of Manchester was colonel from March in 1863 and brevet brigadier. Maj. Henry W. Camp, son of Rev. Henry B. Camp of Hartford and member of the storied Yale crew of 1859, every member of which was an officer in the army, including Owen already mentioned and J. H. Twichell who was to be pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, was to meet a glorious death at Petersburg and his name be preserved in one of the finest classics of the war, the "Knightly Soldier," written by Chaplain Henry Clay Trumbull of his regi- ment and his city. P. W. Hudson of Manchester was one of the captains. The Eleventh was a Hartford regiment with many members from surrounding towns. Griffin A. Stedman, Jr., Trin- ity '59, a man of wealth and high culture who had given up his Philadelphia law practice to come back here and get into the serv-
CAMPFIELD MEMORIAL
Statue of General Griffin A. Stedman on Campfield Park, indicating Rendezvous Camp for Civil War Regiments
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ice, was major and became colonel after Colonel Kingsbury was killed at Antietam. His brevet as brigadier-general reached his quarters at Petersburg August 5, 1864, the very day he was killed. J. H. Converse of Windsor Locks, killed at Cold Harbor, was a major in this command. Nathan Mayer was surgeon.
The Twelfth was the "Charter Oak Regiment." It was or- ganized here in the early winter of 1861-2 for the New England Division which General Butler desired for his New Orleans cam- paign. Henry C. Deming, Yale '36, the democratic orator and mayor whose intense loyalty had caused him to be made speaker of the House, put aside his earlier views about a war and accepted the colonelcy. The duty Butler gave him in Louisiana was that of mayor of New Orleans. On his return in 1863, he served two terms in Congress. George N. Lewis was lieutenant-colonel. J. C. Kinney of Darien, after the war a Courant editor, postmas- ter and major of the Foot Guard, was a first lieutenant in the Thirteenth, assembling in New Haven. N. W. Perkins of New Britain commanded a company in that regiment.
A camp of instruction at Annapolis was promulgated in Washington in May, 1862. The call was for 50,000 to be trained. The Fourteenth was to be one of the regiments. Before the 50,000 could be raised, however, reverses had made it necessary to call for 300,000 for immediate service and three years. Bucking- ham's appeal was reminiscent of Jonathan Trumbull's. Promptly recruits came in at Camp Foote in Hartford and the Fourteenth's ranks were filled with men who were to see more fighting than those of any other regiment. Adjutant Theodore G. Ellis of Hartford went through the grades to the colonelcy in October, 1863, brevet brigadier in 1865. Capt. Samuel Moore of New Britain was promoted to be major and then, in 1862, lieutenant- colonel. Levi Jewett of Windsor Locks was assistant surgeon. J. E. Blinn of New Britain was one of the bravest captains. What that regiment did at Gettysburg alone is enough to give it high place in Connecticut annals. The Fifteenth, assembling in New Haven, went to the front closely on its heels. In general the rendezvous of regiments in Hartford was at what is now marked as Campfield Memorial Grounds, to be described later.
The Sixteenth above all regiments learned what it was to be rushed into battle even before it could get its full equipment to- gether after its very speedy recruiting in its Hartford camp. It
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was an exceptionally fine body of men. Frank Beach, graduate of West Point and son of George Beach, frequently mentioned in this history, was the colonel; Frank W. Cheney of South Man- chester the lieutenant-colonel; George A. Washburn and Henry L. Pasco of Hartford were successively majors, and J. B. Clapp (Wethersfield) and Herbert Landon adjutants. Dr. A. S. War- ner of Wethersfield was surgeon. Most of the companies were from Hartford, one from Enfield and Suffield, one from Canton and vicinity and one from Bristol, Capt. Newton S. Manross of which town had just been appointed professor at Amherst and was one of the most promising officers. The regiment leaving here August 29, 1862, was thrown into the fearful battle of An- tietam September 17. Cheney was incapacitated by the wounds he received and was succeeded by John H. Burnham. In that en- gagement the Fourteenth lost Captain Blinn of New Britain, and the Sixteenth, Captains Samuel Brown of Enfield, F. M. Barber of Manchester, John L. Drake of Hartford and Manross of Bris- tol, besides many enlisted men from towns in Hartford County.
Of the other three-year regiments, Hartford gave three com- panies to the Twentieth, led by Col. Samuel Ross who won rank of brevet brigadier. C. M. Talcott of New Britain was adjutant, following James B. Burbank of Hartford who later went as a pri- vate in the Regular Army and continued therein, with brevet major of volunteers in 1865. Many men from county towns east of the river went in the Twenty-first. Under the call for 300,000 nine-months men in August, 1862, all of the companies except * one were from the county, assembling at Camp Halleck in Hart- ford under the command of Col. George S. Burnham, Lieut-Col. Ellsworth N. Phelps of Windsor and Maj. Herman Glafcke of Hartford. Jonathan S. Curtis was surgeon. In the Twenty- fourth, assembling at Middletown, there was one Hartford com- pany. The Twenty-fifth, Col. George P. Bissell, drew almost en- tirely from Hartford County and vicinity, mustering in here in the fall. D. H. Stevens of Glastonbury as lieutenant-colonel was succeeded by M. C. Weld of Hartford, and Maj. M. E. St. John of Simsbury by Thomas McManus of Hartford. H. C. Ward of Hartford was lieutenant-colonel of the Thirtieth and colonel of the Thirty-first (colored). Richard E. Holcomb of East Granby was colonel of Butler's First Louisiana and was killed at Port Hudson.
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In the navy, besides Secretary Welles were Lieut .- Comman- ders Francis M. Bunce and Edward Terry, grandson of Nathan- iel, and Henry Howard Brownell of East Hartford, the poet, secretary of Admiral Farragut. In the Regular Army J. Hart- well Butler of Hartford was brevet-major. At General Terry's great victory at Fort Fisher, for which he received promotion and the special thanks of Congress-and where the Sixth and Seventh and a portion of the First Heavy Artillery were in the van of the assault-Paymaster R. H. Gillette of the navy, son of Senator Francis Gillette of Hartford, was killed by the explo- sion of a magazine.
Based on three years' service Connecticut sent out 48,181 men or 6,698 more than her quota, without reference to the last call when Connecticut was asked for none. Of this total Hart- ford County furnished about one-fourth. The state had about 80,000 voters and about 50,000 able-bodied men on the militia rolls in 1861. The total casualties were 20,572. Readers of war history know that the Hartford contingents were in the hardest engagements, and, largely because of the capture of many of the Sixteenth at Plymouth, had more than their proportion of prison experience.
The county was generous in voting money for support of soldiers' families and also, following the old custom, for bounties till bounty-jumping and attendant deserting became scandalous. It frowned upon the purchase of substitutes except when it was apparent that a man could not be spared from duties at home. There had not been even the beginning of the science of man- power which were to be seen in the World war, nor was there organization in the production of material. Colt's, Sharps' and the concerns from which they drew for equipment were running day and night, which makes it more remarkable that Hartford County was able to send so many. Of bounty-jumpers and de- serters, the adjutant-general in his final report was glad to re- mark that none of them was of Connecticut origin; mostly they were "professionals" from other states. Comparatively little was heard in this section about the enforcement of the draft, so re- pulsive to American sentiment except in a community where there are evaders. Of rioting there was none; of "copperheads," or democrats who proclaimed the war a failure, there were few.
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Irish and Germans made up most of the alien class and, with the English, their patriotism was most creditable.
Chaplain Twichell was wont to tell of an incident when his regiment was bivouacing alongside of an Irish command and he
met the Catholic chaplain looking for a place to rest. Mr. Twichell threw himself on the ground and called the priest to share his blanket with him. Soon after Mr. Twichell could feel the priest shaking with laughter. This aroused his curiosity. "I'm laughing," replied the priest to his inquiry, "to think what the saints are saying as they look down and see a Catholic priest and Protestant clergyman sleeping out here under the same blanket !"
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