USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The history of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 > Part 25
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George C. Woodruff was the son of Morris Woodruff and Can- dace Catlin, he was born December 1, 1805 and died November 21, 1885. Of him Charles B. Andrews said: "Erect in figure, and singularly robust; always of the firmest health; always at work and never seemingly fatigued; nothing in nature so typified him as an oak which has withstood every vicissitude of storm for a century of time". (Address before the Litchfield Bar). He served
HON. GEORGE C. WOODRUFF
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THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, 1851
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THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD
for several terms in the Legislature and represented this district in the 37th Congress in Washington. He did a great deal for the town through his constant public spirit; but he will be remembered perhaps chiefly on account of his extensive historical studies. Through these he affected everything that can at any future time be written about the town. He was astonishingly accurate in his researches, and the statements he has made, even in a minor way do not have to be verified, as do nearly all historical statements, even those of Kilbourne.
Payne Kenyon Kilbourne was ten years younger, having been born in 1815. From 1845 to 1853 he was editor of the Enquirer, and in 1859 he set up in type his own history. His historical inter- est was developed at an unusually early age. He had a very agree- able literary style, but he appears sometimes to have been hasty in his researches. The two men supplemented one another in an unusual degree, and between them covered the ground of Litch- field history, at least down to 1800, so thoroughly that little has been left for later investigation. Kilbourne liked the news value of his researches. He never misses an anecdote, and there are passages in his History which are not very relevant to Litchfield, but which make very good reading. He took his dates where he found them, without caring seriously if a minor slip did follow. George C. Woodruff, on the other hand, never passed a fact, which the best evidence obtainable did not corroborate. No trouble was too great if it led to increased accuracy.
Woodruff's History dates from 1845. The same year he com- piled his manuscript Genealogical Register of the Inhabitants of Litchfield, from 1720 to 1800. Twenty years later, he went over the whole ground again, to check up his results.
It is hard for us, who have been brought to an interest in local history, to realize what the publication of Woodruff's book meant. It directed the thoughts of a large number of people to their own town, with a tide of results of which the present Bi-Centennial is only a minor phase. Before this time there had been no Centennials. 1820 came and went without a word about the founding of the town. Yet within a year of 1845, fruits were already appearing, in the Marsh- Buel picnic. The families of two of the leading founders of the Town, John Marsh and John Buel, were very numerous. As to the Buels it is enough to quote from the tomb-stone in the West Cemetery, on the grave of Mrs. John Buel: "She died Nov. 4, 1768, aged 90; having had 13 children, 101 grand-children, 247 great-grand- children, and 49 great-great-grand children; total 410. 336 survived her".
A story is told of the number and prominence of these two fami- lies in connection with the old grist-mill at the foot of East Hill. The miller used to call any stranger who same to the Mill, Mr. Marsh; if surprise was manifested he would correct himself and say Buel, and seldom made a mistake.
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The reunion of the two families was held at the grove on the north east end of Bantam Lake, on September 3, 1846. A chart, showing the complete genealogies of the two families was prepared by George C. Woodruff, and a Historical address was read by Origen Storrs Seymour. The account of the day is given in the Litchfield Republican, September 10, 1846, while interesting reminiscences of it were given in the Enquirer for November 1, 1906, by the Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, D.D. A register of those present on the day was kept by Mr. Woodruff, which shows 581 names of descendants, and doubtless some others had to leave without being registered.
Of the Buel family, Capt. Salmon Buel may be mentioned here, as he lived to be over 100 years old. He celebrated his hundredth birthday on Sunday, June 9, 1867, by attending service at the Con- gregational Church, the large congregation rising as he entered, then uniting in singing the doxology to Old Hundred, after which was read the ninety-first Psalm.
In 1845, was held also the Centennial of St. Michael's Church, a historical Sermon being preached by Rev. Isaac Jones. This was printed in pamphlet form, with considerable other historical material relating to the early years of the church.
Payne Kenyon Kilbourne published his first historical work in 1851, a volume of Litchfield Biographies. These are concerned with the whole County, and only in part with our town; but they show his pleasant style and foreshadow his great work, the History of 1859.
In 1851, too, was held the County Centennial, which occu- pied two days, August 13 and 14. A volume of 212 pages was published after the celebration, which includes the speeches and a full account of the ceremonies. The most authoritative of the addresses was the Historical review of the century by Chief Justice Samuel Church, LL.D. He was a native of Salisbury, but became a resident of Litchfield in 1845 and remained here till his death in the autumn of 1854. His address was a valuable addition to the growing historical material of the neighborhood, especially as to the legal lights of the County.
Each of these events stimulated others; the next one being the Centennial of the North and South Consociations of the Congre- gational Church, which was held on July 7 and 8, 1852. Here again there was a historical address, delivered by the Rev. David L. Parmalee, pastor of Litchfield South Farms.
Four years later, in 1856, the movement culminated in the forma- tion of the Litchfield County Historical and Antiquarian Society, which after a while became dormant and then in 1893 was revived and re-organized as our present Litchfield Historical Society. At the meeting of organization held in the Court House on April 9, 1856, the Introductory Address was delivered by Gideon H. Hollister, who was then living in Litchfield and had just published his valuable History of Connecticut. The first board of officers included Seth
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P. Beers, President; George C. Woodruff, First Vice President; and Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, Secretary.
Seth P. Beers was a native of Woodbury. where he was born July 1, 1781. He was a graduate of the Law School. He held many public positions, including that of State's Attorney, and he served in four sessions of the State Legislature, of which he was consecutively Clerk and Speaker. His great service to the State, however, was as Commissioner of the School Fund, from 1824 to 1849. The School Fund was made up from the sale of the Western Reserve lands in Ohio, which then belonged to the State of Con- necticut. Mr. Beers visited these lands, making the journey mainly
by canal. He was a most successful administrator of these funds, which in his hands were increased from the original amount pro- duced by the sale of the lands in 1793-95 of $1,200,000. to $2,049,- 482.32. He also increased the revenue of the fund from $72,000. to $133,000. in round numbers.
"He was a self-made man and, mindful of his own early strug- gles, aided and encouraged many young men here and elsewhere to a successful career. Professor Henry A. Beers of Yale is his grandson". (Book of Days, p. 111). Mr. Beers had the interests of Litchfield always at heart, and at his death left a legacy to the Episcopal Churches of Litchfield, Bantam and Milton of $35,000.
The publication of Kilbourne's History in 1859 marks the climax of this Historical period. It summarized all that had gone before, and gave final form to what then seemed the completed story of Litchfield. After the writing of this book, there was nothing left for others to do but to quote from it. The gathering clouds of Civil dissension also led men's thoughts away from new researches. A great amount has been published in the last sixty years about Litchfield, but it is surprising how much goes back direct to Kil- bourne. Since the formation of the new Historical Society in 1893, however, a new direction has been given to local research, and the many able papers read before the Society from time to time have testified how fruitful the field still is.
After 1859 and before the War, there was celebrated one more anniversary in Litchfield, the Semi-Centennial of the Litchfield County Foreign Mission Society, 1861. In the years between the end of the War and the formation of the Historical Society, the chief event of this character was the celebration, on July 4, 1876, of the Centennial of American Independence, on which occasion George C. Woodruff delivered an admirable review of the period, concerned chiefly with the share our town had taken in the Revolution. It was very appropriate that Mr. Woodruff should end, as he had begun, this first period of the historical study of the town. The second period includes all the work of the members of the Historical Society, and is still far from complete. It embraces also valuable work done by members of other organizations, notably the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., and the Litchfield Scientific
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Association, which in 1919 was merged with the Historical Society.
In speaking of this period of Litchfield, the name of Origen Storrs Seymour is constantly in the mind. He did not take an active part in the historical movement, which we have chosen as the key-note of the time, beyond delivering the Historical address at the Marsh and Buel picnic of 1846, but his interest in such matters was always keen. He was born in Litchfield, February 9, 1804, was graduated at the Law School, was Speaker of the House of Representatives at Hartford, was a member of the 32nd and 33rd Congresses in Washington, and was Judge of the Superior Court of the State for eight years, beginning in 1855. In 1870, he was chosen Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors, and in 1873 he was chosen Chief Justice, which position he held till he reached the constitutional limit of age. After 1874, he served on many judicial and legislative Committees, the most important of which were the Commission to adjust the boundary line between this state and New York, and the Commission to simplify the methods of civil procedure in the state. The last public office which he held was a seat in the State Legislature, in 1881, the year of his death, being virtually unanimously elected thereto by his fellow townsmen. He died on August 12, 1881. He was married to Lucy M. Woodruff, daughter of Gen. Morris Woodruff, in 1830.
Judge Seymour came to the bar at a time when it was strongly represented throughout the County. The lawyers here at that time were Phineas Miner, Seth P. Beers, Asa Bacon, Jabez W. Huntington, Truman Smith, and David O. Sanford.
There remains a final aspect to be considered in our study of the changes which passed over Litchfield about the middle of the last century. This was the Mining craze. It seems to us to-day as though hardly any place could be found offering less opportunity for mining than Litchfield, and yet all sorts of undertakings were launched here. It looks almost as though, the legitimate means of commercial enterprise having in great part failed with the centralizing of the manufacturing establishments in the valleys, the methods of quackery were resorted to in the hope of drawing some commercial profits from the town. It is fortunate that most of these schemes were undertaken by outsiders. It was at any rate appropriate that one of these strange speculations should have been launched by the great American circus man, P. T. Bar- num. He purchased a farm in the Pitch about 1848, together with many mining rights, and began to dig for copper. Two shafts were sunk, besides $10,000., or so Barnum claimed, when the opera- tions failed, and the creditors took over the property. In 1902, Thomas A. Edison sent two mining experts to look at the site, but they were wiser than Barnum and did not recommend operations here.
John T. Hubbard, who has made a full study of the various mines and mining ventures in Litchfield, in a lecture before the Litchfield Scientific Association, December 13, 1905, told of an
CHIEF JUSTICE ORIGEN STORRS SEYMOUR
JUDGE LEWIS B. WOODRUFF
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earlier effort to obtain mineral in the Pitch. This was the New England Exploring and Mining Co. It had a capital stock of $100,000., but never achieved anything beyond running a tunnel into the hillside south of the Pitch road.
The belief in the value of Litchfield's mineral resources was hard to down. In Kilbourne's History, we find this hopeful spirit, characteristic of the period, well expressed, p. 249: "In other parts of the town miners have met with better success. About two miles north-east of the village, a shaft has been sunk 25 feet in depth, by Albert Sedgwick and John W. Buell. The vein or lode is 14 feet in width, composed of pure quartz, with a slight mixture of felspar. In this vein is found a very pure grey Copper Ore, yield- ing by analysis 791/2 per cent. of copper. A bevel has been driven 140 feet, which when completed, will intersect the vein at 50 feet in depth. In this vein are also found great quantities of small pure garnets, which are as yet too small to be made valuable as articles of commerce. This vein, bearing nearly a north and south direction, can be traced for a distance of three miles. Half a mile from this location, was recently found an old shaft, fifteen feet deep, which is supposed to have been sunk long before the Revo- lution. This has been cleaned out, and sunk thirty feet upon a small vein of iron and copper running together. The quantity of copper found is not yet sufficient to render the digging profitable, the mine having been but partially developed.
"The lands of the Connecticut Mining Co., on Prospect Moun- tain, promise an abundant return for funds invested and labor performed. Disinterested parties, who have visited these mines, and others who have analyzed and smelted their copper, nickel, and silver ores, pronounce the percentage of pure metal to be much greater than that of some of the celebrated English mines. The enterprise in this company deserves and will receive a rich reward". Surely no prospectus could yield much better promise than this formal statement of Kilbourne. Judge Hubbard adds, however, "As 10 per cent. is a paying ore, it is unfortunate that Mssrs. Sedg- wick and Buell did not mine more of their 791/2 per cent. ore".
Another venture of these two enterprising men carried them to the land now owned by the Connecticut Junior Republic, where they sank a shaft 45 feet deep in the woods west of the buildings. Nothing was found in the shaft beyond Iron pyrites.
Various companies have been incorporated to do mining in the town, chiefly on Prospect, but it is not worth the space to say much about them. Yet one likes to linger on such possibilities as The American Mining Co., with a capital stock of $100,000., for its Litchfield mine, this company being located at Windsor, Vermont, in 1850. Then there was the Litchfield County Mining and Quarrying Co., incorporated by the state Legislature in 1860, with a modest capital of $300,000.
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In 1860 also the Connecticut Mining Co., obtained a very favor- able charter from the Legislature. They bought two mining rights on Prospect Mountain and issued $200,000 of stock, much of which was successfully placed in Philadelphia. This was the company of which Kilbourne thought so well. Later the stock was increased by another $200,000; buildings on the Mountain were constructed; and offices opened in the present brick building of Woodruff and Woodruff. In a prospectus, the promoters compared the mines to Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. But quarrels arose within the company, as the monies raised were apparently not all put into the mines. To-day nothing remains to show, but a rather deep mud- hole.
In 1864, the Nickel Mining and Smelting Co., was organized under the laws of the State of New York, with a capital of $600,000. They purchased the rights to mine on the west slope of Prospect Mountain, and evidently were concerned with actual min- ing rather than with the sale of stock. Some nickel was indeed taken out of the mountain, and it is said that it was sold to the Government and used to make the nickel cents which were in cir- culation before the nickel five-cent piece was placed in use. Event- ually, the venture shared the fate of the other Litchfield mines.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CIVIL WAR.
The changes which we have traced in the development of Litch- field, were never more marked than in the contrast between the days of the Revolution and those of the Civil War. In both wars Litchfield gave of her best; but the martyrdoms of the Prison Ship in the Revolution were only one side of the picture; there were also the romantic adventures of Col. Tallmadge, the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the elder Wolcott, the melting of the bullets, the capture of Ticonderoga by Litchfield-born Ethan Allen, the stores in the village streets, the passing of troops on their dapple greys, and of long munition trains. It was a period of suspense and excitement, but the excitement was always stimulating. In the Civil War, there was little but the sus-
pense. Litchfield was too far from the seat of war to be directly involved, and the young men, whom she sent in hundreds as they were called for, fought and died without the glory of any historic personal achievement. Their names are treasured as heroes on our monuments in the Center and in Northfield; but they do not appear in the histories. The service was all the greater because it was so inconspicuous, just a unit in the vast operations of General Grant.
In the Revolution, Litchfield had sent 504 men into service, while in the Civil War our Honor Roll only includes 280 names, besides 44 men who enlisted and yielded to the temptation so uni- versal in this particular war and deserted. The difference in numbers is partly accounted for by the greater population of Litch- field in the Revolution, when our territory included an extra thous- and inhabitants in South Farms; it is also partly accounted for by the inclusion in the Civil War Roll only of the men who actually were residents of Litchfield when they enlisted, while the Revolu- tionary Roll includes also those who were connected with the Town before the War or afterwards.
It is not possible to estimate how many Litchfield men died in the Revolution. We know that, out of 36 men taken prisoners at Fort Washington, only six survived, but probably this was the only engagement where large losses followed. In the Civil War, approximately 77 men died in the service, from wounds, disease or other causes. Of these 52 names are on our monument, and the remaining 25 have been obtained from the Record of Connecticut Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, published by the author- ity of the General Assembly, 1889. The proportion of deaths
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among the Litchfield men was therefore very high, and testifies to their gallant action.
From the declaration of War, enlistments began from the Town; but it was not till after the close of General Mcclellan's disastrous Peninsula Campaign in 1862, when President Lincoln issued his memorable call for 300,000 more men, that a concerted effort was made here or elsewhere to stimulate enlistment on a large scale.
Appropriations to cover supplies for all volunteers and sup- port for their families, when needed, were made by the Town from the earliest dates of the War. The first appropriation made was of $5,000. on May 2, 1861. This was to be expended according to the judgment of a Committee consisting of Jason Whiting, William F. Baldwin and Philip S. Beebe. On November 23, 1861, a Town Meeting was held to instruct this Committee more in detail, and it was voted to give each volunteer a bonus of $7. at the time of his being mustered in. On January 20, 1862, it was voted to continue payments for the support of soldiers' families, subject to a refund from the State.
Then, on July 3, 1862, came the Proclamation of Governor Buckingham, urging the State of Connecticut to raise a minimum of seven new Regiments. The response of Litchfield County was an entire Regiment, of which we shall speak at length presently.
Another result of the Proclamation was the immediate increase, at a Town Meeting on July 25, 1862, in the Bounty for each volun- teer from $7. to $100. The payment of these bounties upon enlist- ment caused some men to volunteer for no purpose beyond obtain- ing the bounty, and was one of the causes, though only one, of the many desertions throughout the army, of which it has already been seen that Litchfield was also a victim.
Besides the call for 300,000 men for three years or the dura- tion of the War, President Lincoln now made another call for 300,000 men for nine months' service. To meet this call, the Litch- field bounty was increased at a Town Meeting on September 8, 1862, to $200. for each volunteer, previous volunteers receiving the differ- ence between this sum and their former bounties.
On March 3, 1863, Congress passed the Conscription Law, assign- ing to Litchfield a quota of 40 men. At a Town Meeting, July 25, 1863, it was voted to appropriate and borrow the sum of $12,000., and to pay $300. towards each man who volunteered or was drafted to fill this quota of 40 men. This was America's first experience with the draft law, and it was not popular. "Great, strapping men, who before the war had always boasted of their bodily puis- sance, and who were never suspected, before or since, of having any other disease than a rush of pusillanimity to the heart, came limping and hobbling into town, and with touching earnestness inquired for the office of Dr. Beckwith, who was dealing out cer- tificates of exemption from military duty to the mob that day and
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night besieged his doors". (Vaill, Nineteenth Connecticut Volun- teers, p. 15). The provision that substitutes could be provided by drafted men, under certain restrictions, does not require detailed explanation here.
Another quota of 60 men was called for from the town, as a part of President Lincoln's call in January 1864 for 500,000 men; and again in November 40 men were called for. These appear to have been the last men raised by the draft in Litchfield, though volunteers were at all times encouraged, though not as generously as before, owing probably to the fact that the draft machinery greatly facilitated obtaining the necessary men. The payments voted at different times to different groups of men were as follows: Jan. 18, 1864: $50 .; Feb. 18, 1864: $80 .; March 28, 1864: $100 .; Aug. 1, 1864: $500 .; and Nov. 22, 1864: $150. At the close of the War, the injustice of such varied bounties was recognized, and on July 8, 1864, it was voted to pay to each Litchfield soldier or his family, excepting of course the deserters, a further sum wherever necessary to bring the bounties received up to a minimum of $200. This vote, however, was repealed at a special Town Mecting called for the purpose on August 5, 1865 and we do not find that any further effort was made to equalize the bounties. The total cost of all the payments was upwards of $50,000.00; some part of which was repaid by the Government, under the Conscription Law. The net cost to the Town, of the payments and bounties, was in the neighborhood of $31,000.00.
We are fortunate in having two histories of the Litchfield County Regiment. One was written soon after the War by Theodore F. Vaill, who was Adjutant of the Regiment, and pub- lished by him in 1868: History of the Second Connecticut Volun- teer Heavy Artillery; Originally the Nineteenth Connecticut Volun- teers. It is a volume of 366 pages, and is considered one of the most accurate of the regimental histories of the war. It is now out of print and exceedingly rare; we have heard of only three copies being preserved in the town of Litchfield. It was therefore appropriate for the Litchfield County University Club to bring out a new history by Dudley Landon Vaill, a son of Adjutant Vaill, entitled The County Regiment, 1908. This has liberal quotations from the earlier book, and puts the material into modern form. We quote the following account of the formation of the Regiment from the volume of Adjutant Vaill, pp. 9-16:
"On the 22nd of July, 1862, the people of 'Mountain County' gave authoritative expression of their spirit and purpose in a County Convention at Litchfield, at which resolutions were unanimous y passed declaring that an entire regiment should be raised within the county, and urging the several towns to offer a bounty of $100. to each volunteer. The Convention also unanimously recommended Lev- erett W. Wessells for the Colonelcy, and requested the Governor to rendezvous the new regiment at Litchfield. The project of raising
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