USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 12
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The journal of Major Christopher French, H. B. M., Twenty-second Regiment, published in the "Connecticut Historical Society's Collec- tions," vol. i., gives a lively representation of the manner in which the prisoners were kept, although occasional brief items in the columns of the " Connecticut Courant " present the other side of the picture. The fact that the officers, at least, were allowed to go to Middletown on Sun- days, where the Rev. Mr. Jarvis officiated after the manner of the Church of England, shows that they were allowed considerable liberty for a space of time. Major French and Ensign Moland escaped from the jail in Hartford, with the assistance of the Rev. Roger Viets, the Episcopal minister in Simsbury, who secreted them. Mr. Viets was severely pun- ished for this offence, and for holding a traitorous correspondence with the enemy.
Many tories from other parts of the State were incarcerated at Simsbury in the copper-mines, better known as Newgate. Toward the end of the war Congress entered into negotiations with the State of Connecticut for the use of the mines as a prison "for the reception of British prisoners of war;" but the peace put an end to the need of any such arrangement.
March 27, 1776, the committees of inspection of fifteen towns in Hartford County met at the State House to establish the prices of West India goods, so that the merchants should not take advantage of the scarcity, - West India rum to be sold at 38. 9d. per gallon ; molasses, 2s. per gallon ; coffee, 10d. per pound, etc.
When the Connecticut militia was organized into regiments in 1739, a number of the companies in Hartford County formed the First Regi- ment. At the beginning of the Revolution the First Regiment, Colonel Wyllys's, was formed of companies from Hartford (west side of the river), Windsor, Suffield, and Wintonbury. The Sixth Regiment, Colo- nel Belden, consisted of troops from Wethersfield and Glastonbury. The Fifteenth Regiment was composed of Farmington men, under the command of Colonel Hooker. The companies from East Windsor, En- field, Bolton, and Hartford (east side of the river) formed the Nine- teenth Regiment. Hebron and Marlborough men were in the Twelfth Regiment, and Simsbury men in the Eighteenth. The Twenty-third Regiment was drawn from Middletown and Chatham. In the autumn of 1776 another organization of the militia took place. Six battalions were despatched to New York, and the Second, under command of Colonel Fisher Gay, of Farmington, and the Sixth, under Colonel John Chester
86
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of Wethersfield, were largely composed of Hartford County men. The campaign of 1776, in and about New York, called into active service nearly all the Connecticut militia. The regiments on the west side of the Connecticut, and two from the east side, marched to New York under Oliver Wolcott as Brigadier-general, and at the same time the militia in the eastern part of the State was called to New London, and Suffolk, Long Island.
During the succeeding years of the war many such calls were made upon the citizens of Connecticut, when the alarm was raised that the British troops were about to attack some exposed point on our borders, as at Norwalk, Danbury, and New London.
Many privateers were despatched from Connecticut ports to prey upon the English merchant vessels, those trading with the West Indies, and others bringing supplies to the army, offering a rich and tempting prey. Advertisements frequently appeared in the " Connecticut Cour- ant," that a sloop was lying off Rocky Hill, waiting for " gentlemen vol- unteers," who were besought to take this easy means of making their fortunes. Captain Gideon Olmsted, of East Hartford, was a very prominent leader in these enterprises, and distinguished himself by his bravery and daring.
April 30, 1783, a formal celebration of the news of the signing of the Treaty of Paris was held in Hartford. The people hailed with joy the successful termination of the long and arduous struggle for inde- pendence, and gladly laid aside their weapons to practise the arts of peace.
IT would seem in order now to say a few words about the government of the County, and Mr. C. J. Hoadly, State Librarian, has kindly fur- nished the following notes on the subject : -
"An executive officer for the courts was of course necessary from the beginning, but he is first mentioned in our records by his title of Marshal, under date of June 15, 1659. The earliest law for appointing county marshals appears in the revision of our statutes printed in 1673, which gave that power to the county courts. During the interruption of the colony government by Andros, 1687-1689, sheriffs were ap- pointed for the four counties by the Governor and Council ; but on the re-assumption of the Charter the former order prevailed. At the May session of the General Court, 1698, it was ordered and enacted that the marshal of the colony should be called the High Sheriff, and the county marshal in like manner the county sheriff. The powers of the sheriff were enlarged by an act passed in May, 1724, and the appointment was vested in the Governor and Council ; the official term, as before, was at the pleasure of the appointing power, By the Constitution of 1818 the appointment was given to the General Assembly, and the official term was fixed at three years, removable by said Assembly. By a constitutional amendment adopted in 1838 a sheriff for each county was to be chosen by the electors residing therein, the term remaining as before. Formerly, and within the memory of some now living, the sheriff while in the execution of his official duty wore a sword, and at all public processions he was the marshal. Another duty
87
GENERAL HISTORY TO THE END OF THE REVOLUTION.
he performed was to walk before the Governor, bareheaded, carrying a drawn sword, when his Excellency proceeded to and from his lodging to the General Assembly."
The office of County Commissioner came into existence in 1838, when the General Assembly passed a law appointing two county com- missioners annually, who, with the judge of the county court, were to form a county court.1 In 1841 the number of commissioners was in- creased to three, and they are now appointed, one each year, by the General Assembly, for the term of three years each. The members of the legislature for Hartford County, in caucus, nominate the Commis- sioner to be elected, and he is then voted for by the General Assembly, and generally the action of the caucus is indorsed. The county taxes are laid by the representatives from Hartford County. The commis- sioners have charge of the county property, and are given powers in relation to the removal of deputy sheriffs, the county taxes, and licenses, and they appoint the county treasurer.
The county jail is perhaps the most important institution under their care. The site of the first jail, built in 1641, was on the north side of State Street, covering probably the present Market Street and the lot just west of it. For over one hundred years the jail stood on this spot; but in 1754 William Pitkin, Thomas Welles, Jabez Hamlin, and Joseph Buckingham, in behalf of the county, sold the largest por- tion of the " Prison land " to John Lawrence, and "the whole body of said old Prison and prison house, with all the materials and appurte- nances thereof," to Daniel Edwards. The workhouse had been placed, about 1727, on the highway now Pearl Street, and the jail was removed to the same location. A deed dated in 1771 calls Pearl Street "the highway that leads from the Court House to the County Gaol ; " and in 1774 sundry prisoners for debt petitioned the General Assembly that the jail limits might be enlarged as far east as the Court House, repre- senting that they " labor under many Inconveniences, hardships, and disadvantages . . . By Reason that the Gaol is in so retired and back part of the Town, so seldom frequented by any Inhabitants of the Town," etc. A new jail building was erected on the same lot, the pres- ent corner of Trumbull and Pearl streets, in 1793, and was occupied for that purpose until June, 1837.2 In 1835 a lot at the lower end of Pearl Street was bought of William H. Imlay, and a new building erected the following year, which was occupied until 1874. Land was bought on Seyms Street in 1873, at a cost of $35,582, and before the end of 1874 the new building was completed and occupied. The cost of the new jail was $175,898; entire cost of land and building, $211,481.22. The old lot on Pearl Street, near the river, was not sold until January, 1882, when it was bought by the ÆEtna Life Insurance Company for $23,000. In connection with the jail on this lot may be mentioned an interesting historical incident, - the detention there and trial of the " Amistad " captives, an occurrence which aroused great interest among the Antislavery agitators in the country. June 27, 1839, the schooner " L'Amistad" left Havana for Puerto Principe, with a cargo of slaves
1 The county court was abolished in 1856. See page 110.
2 Occupied later by the well-known printers and publishers, Case, Tiffany, & Co., until it was pulled down to make way for the present building of the Case, Lockwood, & Brainard Company.
88
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
fresh from Africa. These slaves at the first opportunity rose in revolt and killed the whites, except two, whom they reserved to navigate the vessel to Africa. The two white men gradually altered the ship's course, so that in August she was off Long Island, and the negroes landed on the beach at Culloden Point, near Montauk. Here they were seized by the United States brig " Washington," Aug. 26, 1839, and brought to New London. M. Calderon, the Spanish minister, in the absence of an extradition treaty, asked the surrender of the ship and cargo as an act of international comity, and President Van Buren, supported by the advice of the attorney-general, determined to grant the request. On the 14th of September the fifty-three negroes were brought to Hartford to await their trial before the district court of the United States for the district of Connecticut. Seth P. Staples, an ardent Abolitionist, Theodore Sedgwick, Jr., of New York, and Roger S. Baldwin, of New Haven, were counsel for the negroes, and gained a verdict in the district court. In November they were remanded to New Haven, the district attorney having appealed the case to the circuit court. The Administration was so confident of the result, that a United States vessel was ordered to New Haven to convey the blacks to Cuba; but the case was carried to the Supreme Court, which gave final judgment, March 9, 1841, that the negroes having been kidnapped from a foreign country were not bound by treaties with Spain, but were free men. They were taken to Farm- ington, where much attention was paid them and instruction given them, and they were finally returned to their own country.
A very important edifice, built for the county uses, is the handsome County Building 1 on Trumbull Street, opposite the foot of Pratt Street, begun in the spring of 1882, and completed January, 1885. The land was bought of Dr. G. B. Hawley and the Hon. Marshall Jewell at a cost of $51,725, and the whole building and lot cost, in round numbers, $260,000.
The "Temporary Home for Dependent and Neglected Children," established in 1883, is under the care of the County Commissioners. This Home was first opened in Bloomfield, but was removed in Novem- ber, 1885, to East Hartford, where the house known as the " Deming place," on Burnside Avenue, has been rented for three years, with the privilege of two more.
Mary . Talcott,
1 See page 111.
CHAPTER V.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
BY JOHN C. KINNEY.
THE wave of patriotic wrath which like a cyclone swept through the Nation in the spring of 1861, in response to the first guns of the Great Rebellion, penetrated no more loyal region than the towns and villages of Hartford County. The heart of Connecticut throbbed as strongly and as warmly as that of Massachusetts, although with the inefficient militia system then prevailing in this State the response to the Nation's call for help was less prompt than that of our sister Commonwealth. It was, however, only a delay of a few days until, from the swarming thousands of volunteers from every corner of the State, three regiments of ardent men could be organized, uniformed, armed, and given a little rudimentary instruction.
So far as the popular enthusiasm in the work was concerned, the story of one town is the story of nearly all, the outward demonstrations varying in degree with the size of the town. Everywhere the news of the shots at Sumter came as an electric shock, bringing to the hitherto incredulous the unwelcome assurance that the Union could be pre- served only by the shedding of blood. Everywhere the first shock was followed by such a demonstration of love and devotion to the Union as the Nation had never witnessed or dreamed of. Party lines were lost sight of ; the stars and stripes blazed forth on every hill-top, from every farm-house and church-spire ; pulpits were made more sacred by being covered with its folds. The patriotic enthusiasm was contagious, and for a time at least the few who were out of sympathy wisely kept out of sight. Few then doubted the righteousness of the cause or its speedy triumph; and doubtless it was the impulse given to loyal sentiment at this time that had much to do in arousing the feeling which would tolerate no compromise that involved a disruption of the Union.
In New Britain a great war-meeting was held on the evening of " Battle Sunday," - the first Sunday after Sumter was fired upon. Resolutions to support the Government were unanimously passed ; a list of volunteers was begun, headed by Frank Stanley (afterward shot dead at Irish Bend, Louisiana) ; and V. B. Chamberlain,1 a young law- yer, and afterward a gallant soldier, presented to the audience, accom- panied by a thrilling speech, a handsome portrait of Major Anderson, the Sumter hero, encircled with a laurel-wreath prepared by a New Britain lady. The vast assemblage rose to its feet with the wildest demonstrations of patriotic devotion, presenting such a scene as the little city had never before witnessed on a Sunday evening or any other evening. This was the first regular war-meeting held in the county,
1 Afterward captain of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers ; captured inside Fort Wag- ner at the first assault on it ; at present (1885-1886) treasurer of the State.
90
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
although nearly every church service in the State on that never-to-be- forgotten Sunday might with propriety be called a war-meeting.
It was not until the next day that the President's call for seventy- five thousand three months' volunteers was received, under which the quota for Connecticut was a single regiment. How the call was re- sponded to the present generation will never forget. In four days the First Regiment was in camp at New Haven, the Second was ready within a week, the Third was in camp in Hartford in two weeks, and within three weeks Governor Buckingham had been tendered the ser- vices of fifty-four companies. The First Regiment contained three companies from Hartford, in each of which there were men from other towns in the county. The anxiety to get into the ranks then was as great as it was to keep out of them two or three years later. Men came from miles away to beg the privilege of enlisting, some of them being credited to the places of enlistment instead of to the towns where they resided. On this account, and because the town records as a rule are exceedingly incomplete, it is not possible to give to cach town all the credit that is its due, either for men furnished or for money expended.
But what tested and proved the patriotism of the people was not the impulsive springing to arms in April, 1861, when many thought a three months' campaign in Virginia would end the war, but the subse- quent facing reverses and disappointments, and meeting the repeated calls for men and money during the sad four years which followed. The men who, immediately after Bull Run, enlisted for three years or the war, were chiefly men who had counted the cost ; and so it may be said of the great mass of all the subsequent enlistments. The only men of whom the county or the State had reason to feel ashamed were the professional bounty-jumpers, who during the last year or so were hired as substitutes by men who stayed at home and voted town-taxes to pay for their exemption. Many such names of deserters are found on the rolls under the head of recruits ; and it is remarked with satis- faction by the Adjutant-General of the State at the close of the war, that these men were not natives of the State.
The population of Hartford County by the census of 1860 was 89,962, and that of New Haven County, 97,345. The quota of Hartford County under the various calls, and estimating on the basis of the three years' standard, was 9,594. The number of men actually furnished from the county, not including the three months' men, was 11,791, or, reduced to the three years' standard, 10,632, - a surplus of 1,038 three years' men, or more than one full regiment. In this estimate no account is made of the 536 three months' men sent from the county in response to the first call for help, and before any quotas were assigned. These make a total of 12,327 men enlisted from the county, or nearly one quarter the entire number furnished by the State. And in this statement no record is made of the many from the county who served in the navy, or who for various reasons enlisted elsewhere, and were not credited to their homes.
To compare the record of the county with the remainder of the State, it must be remembered that the total quota of the State under all the calls was 41,483 three years' men, and that the State actually furnished the equivalent of 48,181 three years' men. Had the re- mainder of the State contributed men in the same ratio to population
91
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
that Hartford County did, the number of three years' men sent into the field would have been over 53,300, or more than 5,000 in excess of the number actually furnished.
The following table gives the number of men furnished by each town so far as the official records show : -
Three months Volun-
QUOTAS.
MEN FURNISHED.
teers.
Nine months.
Nine months
equivalent in
three years.
Three years.
Total three
years,
Nine months.
Three years
equivalent.
Three years.
Total.
Surpins over Quota.
Hartford
321
520
130
3,778
3,908
598
150
3,897
4,047
139
Avon
0
16
1
79
83
18
4
95
99
16
Berlin
5
33
8
199
207
14
4
239
243
36
Bloomfield .
1
31
8
135
143
46
11
145
156
13
Bristol .
0
67
17
311
328
50
13
371
384
56
Burlington
0
15
4
115
119
13
3
116
119
0
Canton .
21
43
11
238
249
50
12
284
296
47
East Hartford
1
50
12
294
306
40
10
304
314
8
East Granby .
0
16
4
74
78
24
6
87
93
15
East Windsor
11
47
12
262
274
68
17
283
300
20
Enfield .
19
60
16
321
337
80
20
425
445
108
Farmington
11
56
11
298
312
54
14
346
360
48
Glastonbury
3
58
15
293
308
67
17
344
361
53
Granby .
2
34
8
142
150
6
1
187
188
38
Hartland
0
16
4
77
81
27
7
82
89
8
Manchester
12
47
12
253
265
11
3
318
321
56
Marlborough .
0
10
2
54
56
1
0
89
89
33
New Britain
60
97
24
516
540
5
1
644
645
105
Rocky Hill
8
19
5
99
104
19
5
107
112
8
Simsbury .
14
33
8
194
202
25
6
253
259
57
Southington
6
59
15
314
329
19
5
368
373
44
Sonth Windsor
2
24
6
143
149
27
7
161
168
19
Suffield .
4
59
15
317
332
75
19
365
384
52
West Hartford
7
29
7
143
150
45
11
153
164
14
Wethersfield .
6
41
10
218
228
57
14
236
250
22
Windsor
2
46
12
187
199
71
18
184
202
3
Windsor Locks
20
34
9
148
157
36
9
162
171
14
Totals .
536
1,566
392
9,202
9,594
1,546
387
10,245
10,632
1,038
.
Hartford alone furnished one tenth of the three months' troops from Connecticut, and about one twelfth of the three years' and other soldiers. Although the State at that time retained its two capitals, Hartford was the seat of the government when the war began, as it was during the most eventful two years,-1863 and 1865. Here Governor Buckingham made his headquarters when the first call for help came from Washing- ton ; and here he found a hearty patriotic support during all the dark days of the terrible struggle. Within five days from the firing of the first gun at Sumter the bankers of Hartford tendered to the governor a loan of half a million dollars, and nearly three hundred men had volunteered for the service.
The first Hartford company was started, April 17, by Joseph R. Hawley, Albert W. Drake, and Joseph Perkins, in the office of the " Evening Press," of which Hawley was editor. Before sundown a minimum had enlisted, and at a great war-meeting held in the evening
92
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the company was filled. George S. Burnham, Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Regiment Connecticut Militia, was chosen captain ; Hawley, first lieutenant ; and Drake, second lieutenant.1 Before going into camp Captain Burnham was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the regi- ment, and Hawley became captain, and so continued during the three months' campaign.
From this time until the close of the war Hartford was busy in the work of furnishing men and supplies.
Of the thirty-five regiments or batteries sent into the field by Connecticut, fifteen rendezvoused in Hartford. To the list of generals, active or brevet, Hartford County furnished the names of Hawley, Tyler, Stedman, Whittaker, Ellis, and Otis. On the death-roll there are the names of hundreds buried in Hartford, while scores sleep in unknown graves or on Southern battle-fields. The limits of a single paper will suffice to give only the briefest mention.
The following regiments rendezvoused in Hartford, and started thence to the field : the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Fourteenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, and Twenty-fifth. The regiments commanded by Hartford County men were as follows : -
First Infantry. - Colonel George S. Burnham, of Hartford (succeeding Colonel Daniel Tyler).
First Cavalry Squadron. - Major William H. Mallory, of Hartford.
First Heavy Artillery. - Colonel Levi Woodhouse, from May to August, 1861 ; Colonel Robert O. Tyler, of Hartford, to Jan. 19, 1863.
Fifth Infantry. - Colonel George D. Chapman, of Hartford.
Seventh Infantry. - Colonel Joseph R. Hawley, Hartford (succeeding Colo- nel Alfred H. Terry 2) ; Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel C. Rodman.3
Tenth Infantry. - Colonel Albert W. Drake,4 South Windsor (died in service) ; Colonel John L. Otis, Manchester (brevet brigadier-general).
Eleventh Infantry. - Colonel Griffin A. Stedman,5 Hartford (promoted to brigadier-general ; killed in action).
1 Hawley became brevet major-general ; Drake died in service as colonel of the Tenth Connecticut Volunteers ; and Perkins, who enlisted as a private, was afterward colonel of a United States colored regiment.
2 Colonel Terry (now Major-General Terry of the Regular Army), although a resident of New Haven, is a Hartford man by birth and long descent, tracing his ancestry through Major Nathaniel Terry, fourth Mayor of Hartford, to Dr. Thomas Hooker and others of the first settlers.
3 Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel C. Rodman (Seventh) was a native of New Hampshire, but a long-time resident of Hartford. He was one of the earliest volunteers of the State, going into the service as lieutenant of Company B, First Regiment, three months' troops. Return- ing from Bull Run, he recruited a company for the Seventh, of which he later became major and lieutenant-colonel. When the first assault at Fort Wagner was decided upon, Rodman was selected to lead, being given four companies of his regiment as a storming column. A brilliant charge was made, but the support failed, and Rodman was terribly wounded. Two ribs were crushed by a fragment of shell, and a rifle-ball shattered his left leg. It was at first supposed that his injuries were fatal ; but he had a strong constitution, and after three months absence he again took the field. Before leaving Hartford he was presented an elegant sword by the leading citizens. He never regained his full health, and his death, which occurred Oct. 9, 1881, was caused by the injury to his lungs, and was preceded by years of pain. After the war he was for several years pension-agent for the State. He was a man of strong character and greatly beloved by his old comrades.
4 Albert Waldo Drake, born in South Windsor in 1834, was graduated at Yale ; with Joseph R. Hawley he raised the first volunteer company in the State, and served during the three months' campaign; he assisted in raising the Tenth Connectient Volunteers, and went to the field as lieutenant-colonel, being advanced to the chief command on the death of Colonel Russell, Feb. 8, 1862. Drake died of quick consumption June 5, 1862, aged twenty-eight.
5 Brigadier-General Griffin A. Stedman was born in Hartford, Jan. 6, 1838; he was gradu- ated at Trinity College in 1859, and after reading law for a year entered the office of Mr. S. H.
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