USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Leading business men of Fairfield County : and a historical review of the principal cities > Part 3
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
VIEW OF LONG ISLAND SOUND, FROM SEASIDE PARK.
The season of prosperity seems to have continued uninterruptedly until the Em- bargo Act in 1808, and the War of 1812 threw a damper on Bridgeport's commerce, at the same time that all the other New England towns were similarly afflicted. Although the citizens of Bridgeport achieved no conspicuously brilliant thing in the War of 1812, they maintained the cause of the country with patriotic devotion, par- ticularly on the sea.
At the close of the war, commerce revived, and the main facts of the succeeding half century are the rise and fall of the shipping trade and its supercedence by the increasing extent of manufactures.
Bridgeport soon came to have a fleet excelled in numbers and efficiency by few on the Sound. Considerable trading was done with New York, Boston, Baltimore and the West Indies. The West Indian trade, in particular, increased rapidly until about 1840, when it began to decline. One great benefit of this trade was the impetus it gave to the work of the coopers and millers.
In 1820 the population of the borough had reached eight hundred and twenty. In the following year, the government of Bridgeport was changed by legislative ·enactment, from that of the borough to the town, to meet the exigencies of its recent growth. The valuation of the town for 1820 was reported to be $24,701.
From this time on the advance of Bridgeport was rapid. The advent of steam- boats was one important item in the bringing about of this result. In 1824, a charter was granted to a steamboat company in Bridgeport, being the third one granted, up to that time, in the State; but it does not appear that the company went into active operation before 1832. On the 16th of April, 1832, the steamboat " Citizen," Cap-
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tain Brooks, began to make regular trips between Bridgeport and New York. Two years later, in July, 1834, the steamers "Nimrod," Captain J. Brooks, Jr., and " Fairfield," Captain Peck, were added to the line.
One of the early maritime ventures was whale fishing. This industry having proved so profitable in other New England seaport towns, Bridgeport decided to try her hand at it, and whaling vessels were sent to the North Atlantic and to the North and South Pacific on long voyages. The business prospered so for a time that in 1833 a firm, called the Bridgeport Whaling Company, was incorporated here with a capital stock of $100,000. Four vessels were owned and sent out by this company: "Harvest," " Hamilton," " Atlantic," and "Steiglitz." Whale fishing off Newfoundland did not prove so successful, and after a decade or two the entire business passed into oblivion, as better and cheaper materials for lighting came into. the market.
Many voyages to China and India were made by the old " skippers " of Bridge- port. Among the more famous of these old naval heroes were: Captain Ezekiel Hubbell, who sailed in all more than 245,000 miles upon the sea, and upon a large number of his voyages carried cargoes valued at over $100,000; Captain Henry Wilson, who sailed in all more than 370,000 miles, and Captain Isaac Burroughs, who made many voyages and owned a large number of vessels plying from this port, beside being one of the most prominent citizens in the town itself.
The population of the town in 1830 was rated at about eighteen hundred. In 1833, scientific arrangements were first made for supplying the town with water. Previous to that time it had been conveyed around the town in bored-out logs, a plan originally made by the Rev. Elijah Waterman. The Bridgeport and Golden Hill Aqueduct Company, formed in 1833, with a capital of $10,000, was one of the first in the country to apply scientific methods to the distribution of the water supply. They were succeeded by the Bridgeport Water Company in 1853.
In 1836, a new era was inaugurated in Bridgeport by the incorporation of the Housatonic Railroad Company. The movement which resulted in the railroad began in 1835, and was one of the earliest in the country. It was originally proposed to encourage traffic in the Housatonic Valley, by joining Naugatuck and New Mil- ford by a canal. In 1835, however, the citizens of the various towns and cities in the region decided that a railway would be much superior, and through the energetic efforts of Alfred Bishop of Bridgeport, it was decided that its termination should be made here.
Coincident with the movement for the railway, a city charter was granted to Bridge- port-a suggestive incident. Thus in 1836 Bridgeport began its career as a city and became possessed of its first railroad company. The new city showed its appre- ciation of the latter by making a loan to it of $150,000. This was the first experi- ence Bridgeport had had with a debt, and at first several misunderstandings arose in regard to the payment of the interest and other collateral items, but the citizens 'soon " saw the point," and became glad to make a small sacrifice for the general good. Beside Alfred Bishop, Wm. P. Bushnell, Wm. H. Noble, Jesse Sterling and other prominent citizens were deeply interested in the new railroad. The road was com- pleted and opened as far as New Milford in 1839, but the present line was not entire- ly completed until 1844. In 1845 a charter was granted to the Naugatuck railroad and in 1848 the trains began running as far as Winsted. Timothy Dwight of New
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
Haven, and Wm. P. Burrall, Philo Hurd and Alfred D. Brittain of Bridgeport, were among the chief movers of this enterprise.
The New York and New Haven railroad, which had been chartered in 1844, also commenced running trains through Bridgeport in 1848. Bridgeport men had an im- portant influence in the beginning of this great enterprise, which has never been in- terrupted. Wm. P. Burrall and Stephen Tomlinson, both of Bridgeport, were mem- bers of the original board of directors, no other city in Connecticut having more than one. Alfred Bishop of Bridgeport was the chief contractor and builder of the entire road. Wm. D. Bishop, son of the former, was for many years president of the road, and contributed a large share toward its prosperity. At the present time Bridgeport has two directors of the road: Hon. Wm. D. Bishop and Hon. Nathan- iel Wheeler; and superintendent: Mr. John T. Moody.
The importance and benefit to the city of the great railroad lines can perhaps be partially estimated by the census, the population of Bridgeport having risen from 1,800 in 1830 to 4,570 in 1840, and 7,558 in 1850.
During the decade from 1850 to 1860 there was another rapid advance, the city almost doubling its population and reaching the number of 13,299. Many of the manufacturing industries were established during this period.
As the clouds began to gather before the breaking of the storm, the citizens of Bridgeport made preparation for the struggle which all thoughtful men recognized as imminent. The troubles in Kansas, and the expedition of John Brown caused great excitement. As the elections of 1860 drew near a number of active supporters of the South and slavery made themselves prominent in the city, but they received nothing but opprobrium from the great majority of the people. With the elec- tion of Lincoln the resolution of all but a few was finally made to stand by the Union.
Immediately upon the announcement of the fall of Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, the patriotic spirit burst forth in great mass meetings and assemblies for volunteer- ing in answer to the call of the governor. Mayor D. H. Sterling and Wm. H. Noble were two of the chief leaders of the " Union spirit." At the mass meeting held on the evening of the day news of Fort Sumter's fall arrived, seven thousand dollars was raised on the spot in behalf of volunteers and their families. A few days later the city officially set apart ten thousand dollars for this purpose. The enthusiasm and excitement increased hourly. In the First Connecticut Volunteers Regiment, collected immediately at New Haven, Bridgeport was represented by a complete company called the " Bridgeport Rifles," Captain John Speidal. In the Third Regi- ment, recruited a few days later, Company D, Captain Frederick Frye, was composed of half Bridgeport men and the rest from other parts of Fairfield County. These regiments immediately marched to the defence of Washington. In the battle of Bull Run they were in the front of the line and were the last to retire, with unbroken ranks, an unexcelled rear guard. Capt. John Speidal was made a Lieutenant-Colonel for gallant service in the battle that day, and particularly recommended for honorable mention. When the brave volunteers returned home to Bridgeport in August 1861, they received a most enthusiastic welcome. All now perceived that the struggle would be a long and bitter one. A large majority of the returned soldiers re-enlisted, and many new volunteers came forward.
Meanwhile there were a few so-called "peace " men in Bridgeport who endeavored
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
like blind men to stem the tide. The Bridgeport Farmer was one of the most ram- pant upholders of the "anti-war doctrines" in the State. By several strong edito- rials, wishing the rebels success and approving their actions, it drew upon itself the hostile attention of the city, with the exception of a few hesitating sympathizers. So bitter did the Farmer become that at last, excited and exasperated, a large crowd took possession of its office, ruined the type, paper and presses, and by " hooting, groaning and insulting" its recreant editor, Mr. Morse, whenever he appeared in publie, induced him after a few days to take a hurried leave and join his South- ern friends, via Canada.
In the new regiments which were now immediately formed, Bridgeport was rep- resented as follows: Sixth Regiment by Major John Speidal, and Company I, Captain Thomas Bondren; Seventh by Capt. Gray, and part of Company I; Ninth by Lieutenant-Colonel Richard F. Gibbons, Major Frederick Frye, and Company D, Captain Thomas C. Coats; Twelfth by Company I, Captain J. W. DeForest.
That a more appreciative conception of what Bridgeport accomplished in the war may be gained, only those engagements will be referred to in which her "boys" participated.
The earliest fighting was met with in the Sixth and Seventh Regiments, which were ordered to the coast of South Carolina in the fall of 1861, and did some desper- ate and honorable fighting around Charleston.
The Ninth Regiment being sent to Louisiana, the gallant officers and men in it from Bridgeport had a splendid opportunity to display their valor in the hard-fought battles around New Orleans. The Twelfth also played an important part in these operations.
Some severe fighting was done by the Sixth and Seventh in Florida during the . early part of 1862. Captain Gray, of Bridgeport, received honorable mention for distinguished gallantry in several desperate battles.
Although Bridgeport had responded generously to the calls made upon her for men already, when the great call of President Lincoln for more soldiers was issued in July, 1862, she even surpassed her former efforts, showing an increase in zeal and devotion though the black cloud of defeat was then hanging over the country. In the Fourteenth Regiment, enlisted during the mid-summer of '62, Bridgeport sent out Company A, Captain James D. Merritt. The Seventeenth, Bridgeport's " dar- ling regiment," was enlisted at the same time, exclusively from Fairfield County. The city was largely represented in Company D, Captain William H. Lacey; Com- E, Captain Henry P. Burr; Company G, Captain James G. Dunham; Company K, Captain John J. MeCarty.
Colonel William H. Noble, the gallant Commanding Officer of the Seventeenth, and its Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles Walter, were two of Bridgeport's most honored citizens. About this time Bridgeport came to be called "the Banner Town of the State," having furnished seventy men more than her quota-a total of eight hundred and fifty out of an enrolled militia of sixteen hundred. The Seventeenth Regiment was quartered in a fine position at Sea-Side Park, called "Camp Aiken." When it left for the field, September 3, 1862, a very large concourse of people from all parts of the county had come to the city, and after Governor Buckingham had reviewed the regiment, it was given a most enthusiastic "send-off " by the assembled people.
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
In its ranks, as a private soldier, marched Elias Howe, Jr., of Bridgeport, the inventor of the sewing machine, and manager of large industries in the city.
Bridgeport also sent out a goodly representation in the Twenty-third (raised in November, 1862): Company D, Charles W. Hall, and Company I, Captain William H. May, being largely from this city. It was also represented in Company K, Twenty-fourth Regiment. The two last-named regiments were immediately dis- patched to take part in General Bank's expedition to the extreme South.
The first fighting done by the Bridgeport men in the Fourteenth Connecticut was at the battle of Antietam, where they displayed distinguished valor. . They were under fire for thirty-six hours, and a large number of men were lost. In the desper- ate charges, quick marches and counter-marches under the deadly artillery fire, and more dread yet the long standing still under it, they won a reputation for coolness and bravery which was maintained throughout the war. For the first time, Bridge- port had to mourn heavy losses, for many noble heroes of private rank, who had helped to build up her prosperity and adorned it by honorable lives, had fallen, ne'er to gladden again the hearts of the sufferers at home.
In the battle of Fredericksburg, having won a most honorable name for reliability in danger, the Fourteenth Connecticut was sent forward among the first in that terrible charge, where the Union men were mown down like wheat. Again did the publication of the reports, and the "black list " cause many sad hearts in Bridge- port.
The Seventeenth were employed during the fall and winter of '62 in maintaining the defensive works about Washington, a most distasteful task to men chafing to take part in the great struggles which were deciding the fate of the nation.
The Ninth and Twelfth, with their quota of Bridgeport men, were meanwhile · performing distinguished services in the engagements in Mississippi, under Grant, leading up to the siege and fall of Vicksburg.
It is a fact worthy of mention that after the battle of Antietam, the soldiers of his regiment being in need of money, and not having been paid off, Elias Howe advanced the thirteen thousand dollars due them.
In the battle on the Pocotaligo River, Florida, where gallant fighting was done by the Sixth and Seventh Connecticut Regiments, Lieutenant-Colonel John Speidal, who commanded the former, was severely injured, and Orderly Sergeant Robert B. Gage, of Bridgeport, after displaying heroic bravery, was killed.
The Seventeenth found its first chance for showing its devotion to the country at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863. Here they offered spirited resistance to the masterly flank movement made by General Stonewall Jackson, which decided the battle. A terrible slaughter was made of the men, and eighty were taken prisoners. Heroic Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Walter was killed in the first charge, and Colonel Noble received a severe wound, yet remained on the field as long as he could see to manage his horse, when he had to be taken to the rear.
The Fourteenth were engaged in the heavy fighting of the following day, May 3d, and again suffered severely. This was the third great blow which fell upon the anxious hearts and homes in Bridgeport, and to add to the general grief a large number of its citizens were among those who were marching " on to Richmond " as prisoners of war.
Bridgeport was represented in the battle of Gettysburg by her men in the Four-
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teenth and Seventeenth, who proved themselves again worthy of the highest praise. The Seventeenth was one of the first regiments thrown forward as skirmishers, on the first of July. Though outflanked and overpowered, they maintained their advance position until recalled by their Corps Commander, General Howard. They then occupied a position in the very center of the long Union line. During the second of July, the Seventeenth lay quietly but with heroic fortitude under a tremendous. artillery fire, losing a large number of men. The same dread story was repeated the following forenoon, but in the afternoon came the crucial contest. When that ever- memorable charge up the hill, under General Pickett, broke against the Union line in its very center, the men of the Seventeenth Connecticut were among the heroes- who met the tide of Confederacy at its highest flow, and saved their country by making an invincible bulwark of their own breasts. Nothing in the history of the world surpasses the heroic valor displayed on both sides there, and naught can hinder the citizens of Bridgeport, now that we are a united country, not only from honoring, according to their worth, their own brave fellow-citizens present in the decisive battle of the war and the decisive point in it, but also from remembering with tenderness their brave opponents.
The Fourteenth were stationed a short distance to the left of the Seventeenth, and were not surpassed in steadiness or fortitude by any regiment on the field. It had lost a large number of men, among whom were several of Bridgeport's most. honored and most mourned citizens.
The Seventeenth had attested its devotion by the loss of more than half its num- ber. Never before in the history of Bridgeport, had the angel of death passed through and laid so many homes in deepest mourning for martyred loved ones. Col. W. H. Noble, who had been obliged to go home on a furlough after the battle of Chancellorsville, in his anxiety to share in the danger of the struggle with the regi- ment, returned five days before the furlough expired, just in time to lead his men in the most desperate and decisive fighting of all on the third day.
During the important campaigns around the Mississippi River in the summer of 1863, Major Fredrick Frye of the Ninth, and Captain William H. May of the Twenty-third, were especially active and rendered most valuable services.
The Sixth and Seventh Regiments, still together, had meantime been seeing fur- ther dangerous service in Florida and South Carolina. A particularly desperate battle was fought at Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor. Here Andrew Grogan, a private from Bridgeport, gallantly rescued Colonel Chatfield of the Sixth, who had been severely wounded within the fort itself which had been partially captured by a charge unsurpassed in bravery during the war. For his services Andrew Grogan was promoted to a Lieutenantcy. During this same charge, Lieutenant Stephen S. Stevens, of Bridgeport, one of the most admired and loved of all the officers in the corps, was slain.
The Seventeenth arrived and joined the other two Connecticut Regiments on Folly Island, just off Charleston Harbor, about the middle of the series of bloody but unavailing battles in which it soon became an important participant. In con- sequence of the terrible fighting which they had undergone, the various State Regi- ments had to be repleted by a draft in the fall of 1863, to which Bridgeport cheer- fully responded. In the meantime, those at home had not been unmindful for the warriors in the field. The ladies of Bridgeport had been particularly active in pro-
BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
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HOSPITAL BUILDING.
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
viding for their every want. Their society for aiding the soldiers was formed in April, 1861, immediately after the President's first call for troops, and is universally acknowledged to have been the first association of its kind in the country. In August, 1861, the organization was completed and called the " Ladies' Soldiers' Relief-Society." Its first President was Mrs. Woolsey G. Sterling, who was succeeded by Mrs. Daniel Thacher. During the whole course of the war, Miss Lydia R. Ward was its devoted Secretary. In the first year of its existence the cash receipts were $2,618.21. In addition many thousand articles were sent to the soldiers, and one hundred and forty of their families were assisted with food, clothing and fuel.
In the winter of 1863-4, this society conceived and executed the idea of filling a ship with vegetables and other provisions and sending it to all the Connecticut Regi- ments within reach of the Atlantic coast. This noble plan proved eminently suc- cessful, bringing health and joy to many of the soldiers needing and longing for such nourishment. Few local societies in the country were more active in devising and more generous and skillful in carrying out plans for the bodily and mental refresh- ment of the soldiers. The city itself was not inactive. There was contributed in all during the whole course of the war, considerably over $200,000, for the expenses of the government and aid of the soldiers. The good done by the various sources through which the citizens manifested their love toward the soldiers is inestimable.
The sturdy veterans from Bridgeport had a furlough in the early part of 1864, and came home for a short respite and rest. It would be vain to endeavor to describe their reception. After a few weeks of happy reunion, they returned with steadfast hearts to the final grapple with the enemy. The majority of the Bridge- port soldiers were now united, in their various regiments, under Grant and went through one of the most celebrated campaigns in history. The Wilderness, Spott- sylvania Court House, Cold Harbor came and went in rapid succession, quickly thin- ning their ranks and leaving aching hearts all over the country. The Fourteenth particularly distinguished itself again for gallant services. After Petersburg and Richmond were invested it maintained its honorable standing through heavy losses to the very end. Captain William H. Hawley, of Bridgeport, one of the noblest and most admired men in his army corps as well as at home, was slain August 25, 1864, during a gallant charge made by the Fourteenth. The Sixth, Seventh and Ninth were now honorably engaged before Petersburg, the Twelfth was still in the Missis- sippi Valley and the Seventeenth on the coast of South Carolina. Bridgeport lost another of her most honored citizens in Lieutenant Franklin Bartlett, of the Four- teenth, who was shot in the lines before Richmond, February 5th, 1865. Lieutenant Bartlett was very highly esteemed by both his officers and men and had been recom- mended for a captaincy.
The Sixth and Seventh Connecticut were engaged in the brilliant operations resulting in the capture of Fort Fisher, under General A. H. Terry, January 13, 1865. For their gallantry, the Bridgeport soldiers in connection with the other brave Con- necticut veterans, received the thanks of Congress and the nation.
During the masterly campaigns made by General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, Bridgeport was represented in the Ninth and Twelfth Connecticut Regi- ments, both of whom fought with invincible bravery in the battle of Cedar Creek.
Some very spirited fighting was done during the winter of 1863-4, by the Seven- teenth Regiment under Colonel Noble, who was now in charge of a brigade. By a
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number of skillful marches through the State (Florida), Col. Noble succeeded in maintaining the Union interests with great success.
During one of these dangerous excursions, Lieutenant Henry Whitney Chatfield was instantly killed in a hand to hand struggle with the enemy. He was dearly loved in the army, where his bravery and noble character had attracted much atten- tion, and no death was more generally or deeply mourned at home. For distin- guished services, Captain William L. Hubbell of the Seventeenth, from Bridgeport, was now promoted to be the major of the regiment. Another officer who attracted and received honorable mention for his gallant conduct in the campaigns around Petersburg was Adjutant Wm. B. Hincks of the Fourteenth, from Bridgeport.
Colonel Noble had the great misfortune to be captured by a band of rebel guer- rillas, December 24, 1864, while going from Jacksonville to St. Augustine. In spite of strenuous efforts made by his men to rescue him, he was imprisoned first at Talla- hassee, Florida, then at Macon, Georgia, and finally in the dreadful misery of Ander- sonville. His imprisonment was a great loss to the brigade he commanded in East Florida, and to all the Union interests in that part of the State. He was not released until April, 1865, and then was detained some time before he was able to rejoin his troops in Florida a short time before their muster out. Of the Seventeenth Regi- ment, which he commanded, the report of the Adjutant-General of Connecticut says, " the superiority of which in intelligence, morale, courage and endurance was not found in the army."
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