USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > The romance of Norwalk > Part 23
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sequence they had been instructed to travel only as far as Stamford by train, where they were to disembark and take the trolley to Norwalk. This they did, being met in Nor- walk by Mr. Cavanagh, and safely escorted to Union Park.
Upon arrival at the latter place, the good boarding lady was found in tears, unhappy because she had purchased 12 new beds for the girls and had made all necessary arrange- ments to board them, but could not take them in. There was nothing to be done except retrace steps, so Mr. Cavan- agh turned right about, putting on as good a face as pos- sible under the circumstances and promptly escorted the group of girls to his own home, where he proceeded to overwhelm his wife with the new company. Mrs. Cavan- agh recovered in short order, proved an excellent hostess, saw that the girls were given something to eat and gave them the run of the house. Someone started the piano and soon everyone was enjoying a sort of housewarming. All went well until it was nearing bed time, when it was discovered that none of the girls as yet had any baggage. Mr. Cavan- agh dug down into his wardrobe and managed to find no less than 12 nightshirts which the girls borrowed with much fun and hilarity.
So far so good and when it was discovered that another couple would board the girls, threats or no threats, worry seemed at an end for a while. The girls traveled in groups of four to the factory daily, each group being escorted by a man. Many remarks were passed by the crowds of strikers which followed the girls, but the latter were never touched.
Men strike breakers in the hat strike of 1909 in Norwalk did not enjoy such good fortune as did the women. They were never let alone, were followed by the union men every- where they went and were hounded by yells and sarcastic remarks. When opportunity permitted they were assaulted. However, the strike breakers were not slow to fight or pro- voke fights. Morning and night, crowds averaging 500 to 700 gathered at the C. and K. plant and followed the work- ers to their homes, sometimes contenting themselves with
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verbal combat, sometimes resorting to fists. There were many street brawls. Early in March three C. and K. work- ers were set upon by strikers in the vicinity of Cedar st. A friend dragged them into the front garden of the home of the late Mrs. B. M. Andrews, 46 West ave. Shortly, William R. Pennington, captain, now chief of police, arrived to restore order, while Dr. William J. Tracey treated the workers.
Some of the strike breakers had permits to carry revol- vers. Some hadn't. The late John Sculley of Monroe st., secretary of the union hatters, told police that two of the strike breakers were carrying revolvers without permits. They were arrested. During the tenth week of the strike, a crowd of 500 gathered at the C. and K. factory and com- menced milling around the hatters as they came from work. It was necessary to call Pennington who rescued several of the men from being trampled upon. And so it went. Every other night there was a battle of some sort on the streets of Norwalk, sometimes the fault of the strikers, sometimes of the strike breakers.
April 29, nearly 1,000 hatters gathered at the C. and K. to tell some of the former union men who had returned to work in the open shop, what they thought of them. Two of the workers, who had renounced the union because they needed work for their families, were followed up Main st. by hundreds of taunting strikers. It was found necessary for Mayor Francis Burnell of South Norwalk with Chief William Vollmer and Captain Pennington, upon reaching the scene in an auto, to stop the procession and disperse the strikers. Judge John Keogh, then corporation counsel, was in the car with the above three. Several were arrested for creating a disturbance.
Meanwhile, much had been happening at the hat shops. The first break of any sort in the strike occurred February 18 when Lamson and Hubbard of Boston agreed to use the union label. March II, the Wolthausen Co., Woodward ave., recommenced work. May 3 saw the institution of a
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new hat company on Raymond st., called the Superior Hat Co. August 13, a new hat factory opened in Day street, in a building formerly the home of an alcohol refinery.
The worst of the strike was now over. Many of the local shops had returned to union labor with the exception of the C. and K. Hat Co. Twenty-two factories in Dan- bury had reopened with union labor. In Norwalk, the strike came to no definite end. Some of the hat workers went to Philadelphia; others took jobs in Danbury; still others gave up hope of gaining their strike goal and returned to work in the local factories. As a result of the 1909 strike, the C. and K. has remained open shop.
NORWALK HAT COMPANIES
During the past years in Norwalk, many hat companies have come and gone. Among them were: Straw Hat Co., formed by John P. Beatty and Dexter Dennis in 1873; Straw Hat Mfg. Co., organized by John P. Beatty and brother in 1857 and taken over by Arthur Wheeler in Sep- tember 1888, who manufactured the hats at 13 Butler st .; Hat Forming Co., Railroad ave., incorporated in 1874, Alden Solmans, being president; Volk Hat Co., corner of Raymond and Day sts., established in 1875, of which Christian Swartz was president after its reorganization in 1880; Hubbell and Barthol, established in 1880; Universal Hat Co., corner of Clay st. and Railroad ave., established in 1875; William B. Hubbell Co., 22 Woodward ave. formed in 1891; Hoyt Wolthausen & Co., Day street, es- tablished in 1895; Espenscheid Hat Co., incorporated in 1902; A. A. Hodshon and Co., 53 Railroad Place, estab- lished in 1898; J. C. Wilson and Co., Cross and South Main sts.
F. Berg and Co. went out of existence in 1929.
The year 1920 found a new hat company started in East Norwalk, started by D. L. Davis who had a capital of only $1,400. He commenced business in a little shack. In 1924, the firm was joined by A. E. Pope and at the time was
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doing a half million dollar business yearly. It has since gone out of business.
At the present writing, Norwalk has the following hat companies : Crofut and Knapp Co., organized in 1858, now has 1,500 employees, turning out 3,000,000 hats yearly. American Hat Co., Grand st., organized in 1922, employs 250; South Norwalk Hat Co., formerly the H. Goldman Hat Co., Inc., 50 Day st., December, 1928, 80 hands ; Level Hat Co., Inc., 85 Washington st., January 1, 1928, 75 hands; Norwalk Hat Mfg. Co., Wilton ave., 1922, between 100 and 200 workers, depending on season; S. J. Palinkos Co., Monroe st .; Rough Hat Co., Mulvoy st., formed 30 years ago, employs 110; Sabel Hat Co., Inc., 50 Day st., organized in New York in 1923, came to Norwalk in De- cember 1927, employs between 50 and 60. Hodshon-Berg Co. incorporated first of August, 1929, employs 300.
CIVIL WAR
CHAPTER XXVI !
Norwalk Responds With Volunteers Even Before Presi- dential Call-Local Companies at the Front-First men to Die-Trail of the "Fighting Seventeenth"-Few War- riors remain to Tell the Tale.
NORWALK, first in war, first in peace, and first in a good many other things, commenced raising men for the defense of the Union, at the outbreak of the Civil War, even before President Abraham Lincoln issued his memorable procla- mation, Monday, April 15, 1861, calling forth "the Militia of the Several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand," to serve for three months.
In some way, the news that the President needed men reached this city on the Sunday night before the proclama- tion. Early Monday morning, Eben Hill and his son Eben Hill, Jr., later successful manager of the Norwalk Iron Works, gathered together a group of young men, found a drummer and a fifer and commenced a parade of the streets of Norwalk, according to C. F. Hallock, brother-in-law of John Batterson of Woodward Ave. Mr. Hallock wrote an article on the Civil War which appears in "Norwalk 250 Years Ago." Taking along with them the Rev. J. J. Wooley of the First Methodist Episcopal church, who made the first war speech in Norwalk, the two Hills, father and son, and a band of volunteers, marched up and down the main streets of the city, gathering recruits as they went. Norwalk was wild with excitement.
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During the war, Norwalk sent nearly 1,000 men to the front, 800 being recruited from this city and about 200 local men going from other cities. Among the first local men to offer their services to the government were: Hon. Orris S. Ferry, at that time a member of Congress, and Hon. A. H. Byington. These two were in Washington, D. C., when war broke out and both enlisted in the Cassius M. Clay Guard in Washington, D. C., which organization patrolled the streets of Washington until relieved by the troops from the north.
Norwalk sent men to the first regiment which was raised in the state of Connecticut, according to Mr. Hallock. This regiment was known as the First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and was recruited mainly from the volunteer militia, to serve three months. The regiment was mustered into service, 780 strong, April 24, 1861, and was the first regiment to ascend the Potomac. In it were, from this city: Theodore Benedict, Thomas D. Brown, George D. Keeler, Thomas Hooton, Morris Kransynky, William C. Murphy, James Reed and Howard Wheeler. In the second regiment, there seems but one man from here of whom there is any record, Samuel C. Barnum.
The Third Regiment was raised in Norwalk, Bridgeport, New Haven, Danbury, New Fairfield, Hartford, Meriden, Norwich and Stamford. The regiment was mustered into service in May 1861 for three months with 750 men. Company A was composed almost wholly of Norwalk men, the officers being: Captain Douglass Fowler after whom the local G. A. R. post and auxiliary are named; First Lieu- tenant Gilbert Bogart, Second Lieutenant Stephen D. Byx- bee, First Sergeant James L. Russell. The Third took part in the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. General Keyes in his official report said: "The gallantry with which the Second Regiment of Maine and the Third of Connecticut Volunteers charged up the hill upon the enemy's artillery . and infantry, was never, in my opinion, surpassed." David
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O'Connor of Company A, this regiment, according to Mr. Hallock, was the first soldier from Norwalk to be confined in Libby Prison. He was captured during the battle of Bull Run and remained in prison for ten months.
An additional call for men having been sent forth, Con- necticut furnished another regiment and in that regiment were 25 from Norwalk. Among them was Moses A. Hill. Hill was afterwards promoted to a captaincy and he served with credit on the staff of General Burnside. Later he was a major. The Fifth Regiment was organized in the summer of 1861 and entered the service with Orris S. Ferry of Nor- walk (U. S. Senator) as colonel, Historian Hurd tells us. Fifty-four men from Norwalk were included, among them being : Colonel Orris S. Ferry, Chaplain George W. Lasher, Captain Alfred A. Chinnery, Lieut. Charles A. Reynolds, Lieut. Stiles G. Hyatt, Lieut. George F. Selleck and C. F. Hallock, father of Mrs. J. E. Stevens.
FIRST TO DIE
Nathaniel S. Wheeler of Company E of this regiment was the first enlisted man from Norwalk to die in the service, he coming to his end at Sandy Hook, near Harper's Ferry, Va. The first to be killed in battle were: Color Sergeant Elijah B. Jones, Corp. Oliver S. Brady and Private Owen Murphy, all of Norwalk, who lost their lives at the battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia. Sergeant William A. Ambler was wounded in this battle. The Sixth regiment boasted 52 men from Norwalk. The soldiers saw a great deal of fighting and later it was deemed an honor to say "I belonged to the Sixth of Connecticut." Lieut. James Hooton of Nor- walk, one of the 25 local men, who enlisted in the Seventh Regiment, was instantly killed in battle on James Island. Other Norwalkers who were killed or died in this regiment were: James L. Allen, Oscar Smith, Theodore B. Benedict and John T. Byxbee.
The soldiers in this regiment were in both the siege of Charleston and the siege of Petersburg. Forty-eight from
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Norwalk served in the Eighth Regiment, Conn. Infantry, among them being Lieut. Col. P. L. Cunningham, Chaplain J. J. Wooley, form'er pastor of the South Norwalk M. E. church; Captain Douglass Fowler, Captain James L. Rus- sell, Lieut. M. L. Pelham, Lieut. Thomas S. Weed, Lieut. Justus T. Crosby, Lieut. Anthony R. Canfield. Among those in the regiment from Norwalk who were killed or who died were: M. S. Lyon, John Cockefer, Stephen H. Ferris, Charles E. Merrill, Peter Monehan, Peter Pound, Henry C. Taylor, Thomas E. Richmond. In the Ninth Regiment were two men from Norwalk. This regiment was known as the "Irish Regiment." In the Tenth Regiment were 14 from here; in the 11th, four; in the 12th, 39. The local men who died or were killed were: Stanton Babcock, Sergt. Henry M. Prowitt, Corp. Samuel Clark, Sergt. George Maculess, William B. Hurd, James L. Brundage, Henry Vanderbilt, John Youngs.
In the 13th Regiment were 14 from Norwalk. This regiment, organized in November, 1861 enjoys the distinc- tion of having been in the service longer than any other Connecticut organization. The 14th Regiment which con- tained 24 Norwalk men was mustered into service August 23, 1862. In the 15th Regiment were three from Norwalk; in the 16th none. The 17th Regiment was a Fairfield County regiment with two whole companies from Norwalk, one from Darien and one from New Canaan. Of the part which this heroic regiment took in the Civil War we will speak later. In the 18th and 20th regiments were none from Norwalk; in the 2Ist was Dr. James Barbour of this city; in the 22nd, none from here. This was the last of the regi- ments recruited for three years' service.
The 23rd, the first of the six regiments for nine months' service, left New Haven for New Orleans, November 17, 1862. Norwalk had only two men in this regiment, but those two suffered enough for an entire company. Camped in a mud-hole near Jamaica, Long Island, in a week's rain storm; sent to New Orleans in old ship hulks fit only to be
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burned; shunned by paymasters for months, kept in service one year or even two instead of nine months and confined in rebel prisons for months at a time, no soldiers endured more indignities than they. In the 24th, 25th and 26th Regiments, this city had no men. In the 27th, Norwalk had 14 men. Among the dead from this community were William L. Bodwell, killed at Gettysburg, and Wilbur Nash, killed at Fredericksburg.
NEARLY DROWNED
The 28th regiment was the last of the regiments for nine months' service. It left New Haven in November, 1862. Norwalk was well represented in this regiment, Company G being made up almost wholly of men from this city. Among those who gave their lives were George Beers, Ben- jamin F. Hanford, Thomas F. Dowd and John Roach. The regiment embarked for Louisiana aboard the "Che Kiang." Part of the 23rd Connecticut was also on this steamer. One thousand four hundred men were crowded into quarters fit for 800. On the way down the steamer ran into a terrific storm and battled with furious waves for 12 hours. During the night an officer sent the intelligence : "We shall never see another sunrise; the vessel cannot stand it much longer." The vessel did, however, and finally reached port in safety.
Among the Norwalkers in Company G of the 28th regi- ment were: Corporal Charles Doulens, (father of Deputy Sheriff Edward B. Doulens), Sergeant George Raymond, (father of D. W. Raymond and LeGrand Raymond), Charles Marvin and one Roberts. With the four was Robert Morehouse of Westport. They were all in the battle of Fredericksburg together, where Doulens was wounded. He was a corporal on the staff of Major General Frederick Burnside. Sgt. Raymond was the last man to leave Port Hudson, Virginia, before it was blown up. This charge was rated as one of the most desperate during the Rebellion
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but, "in that holocaust of fire not a man in that noble legion shrank from his duty." Raymond and Doulens became firm friends for life after meeting in the regiment. The 29th Connecticut was the first regiment of colored troops raised in this state and Norwalk was represented by 27 men. In the 30th Conn. Colored Regiment, Norwalk had no soldiers.
In the light artillery, in the heavy artillery and in the navy, Norwalk also placed her men during the Civil War. She had 16 men in the First, Second and Third Conn. Batteries of Artillery and 22 in the Second Heavy Artillery. In the navy were Edward G. Bishop, Joseph Skidmore, Captain George R. Bailey and Lewis E. St. George. The latter who lived at 274 East ave., died in Norwalk, June 24, 1929. Captain George R. Bailey, since dead, father of the present Henry O. Bailey of 10 Couch st., was an Ensign on board one of the northern steamers which blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, for two years. Captain Bailey was the founder of the Springwood settlement of Norwalk. He it was who purchased large sections of land in this dis- trict and built homes which formed a nucleus for the present settlement. Up to that time there had been nothing beyond Lowe st., except swamps. The countryside was pretty, though, being wooded, hilly and full of springs, thus the name-Springwood.
The name Whistleville, by which this section is often known, was acquired during the time when the trains ran flat on the ground through Norwalk, and tooted loud and long when approaching the Monroe st. crossing, at the en- trance to Springwood. Speaking of the Springwood section of Norwalk, to Michael Olean, 202 Flaxhill road, must go the credit for having converted the land now comprising Lexington ave., from a swamp into livable property.
But to return to Norwalk in the Civil War; Among the officers commissioned by President Lincoln was Major Gen- eral William T. Clarke, a citizen of Norwalk, and who served with distinction on the staff of Major General Mc- Pherson, who was killed at Atlanta, July 22, 1864. The
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following Norwalk citizens served in New York regiments during the Civil War: George H. Waterbury, William H. Bates, George I. Buxton, William Cockefer, Lewis W. Doty, Edward H. Fitch, James B. Hoyt, Charles G. Hyatt, Gould J. Jennings, Philo Johnson, John F. Lovejoy, John M. McLean, William E. Montgomery, Samuel B. Sher- wood and Stephen Maning. Justice Disbrow served in Ohio; Edward Holley in New Jersey; Frank B. Smith in Illinois ; William R. Green and John O'Connor in New Jer- sey.
"FIGHTING SEVENTEENTH"
Those who love to pore over the records of the deeds done by Norwalkers during the War of the Rebellion, will find their greatest interest centering around the 17th Regi- ment of Connecticut, two whole companies of which were raised in Norwalk, and one in Darien and one in New Canaan. Norwalk had to her credit in the regiment no less than 198 enlisted men. In an hour of national gloom and disaster, the 17th, the first localized regiment in the state and known from the start as the Fairfield County Regiment, was organized. William H. Noble of Bridge- port was commissioned as colonel on July 23, 1862.
In less than 30 days after the call the 17th could have marched 1,000 men to the front. Nor had it been an easy matter to sign up soldiers. Pay was poor and uncertain, not more than $11 or $12 a month at best, and that only when the government happened to have the money. What was more, small provision was made for the families left behind. True, the state offered $5 monthly to care for the dependents of each soldier, but that $5 proved to be but a pitiful sum when divided between the needs of a wife and six or eight children. In order to encourage enlistments in Norwalk in the 17th, Legrand Lockwood of this city, one time millionaire and owner of the present Mathews property on West ave., opposite the Armory, offered a new ten dollar bill to every soldier who signed up. Ten dollars was quite
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a sum of money in those days and the offer had its effect. In three days, Company F of the 17th was completely raised in Norwalk, with Enoch Wood as captain. One of the most enthusiastic of the younger soldiers in this company was John Batterson of 132 Woodward ave., pres- ent commander of the local Douglass Fowler Post, G. A. R., who tells his story a little later.
Among the Norwalk men in the 17th who gave their lives during the war were the following: Lieut. Col. Douglass Fowler, Lieut. Col. Albert H. Wilcoxson, Sergt. Edwin R. Smith, Corpls. Thomas D. Brown, James Waterworth, Wil- liam W. Westlake; privates, Henry H. Aiken, George B. Hendrick, John W. Jackson, Calvin Nobles, George O. Tut- tle, Henry Burns, Joseph H. Armstrong, Lewis Arnold, Nelson Beach, John W. Metcalf and William Smedley.
Immediately after organization, the 17th Regiment pitched camp in Seaside Park, Bridgeport, with the follow- ing officers : Colonel, William H. Noble of Bridgeport; Lieu- tenant Colonel, Charles Walter of Bridgeport; Major, Allen G. Brady; Adjutant, A. H. Wilcoxson of Norwalk, who was in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg where he distinguished himself by coolness and daring. He was pro- moted to be captain of Company I and afterwards to be lieutenant colonel of the regiment. He was mortally wounded at Dunn's Lake, Florida, and died afterwards at Tallahassee while a prisoner.
The regiment, leaving unnamed the towns which contri- buted in small numbers, received its quota from the follow- ing sources :
Company A, all from Norwalk, excepting 18 men from Wilton; Company B, all enlisted from Stamford and Darien; Company C received 58 men from Danbury, from Bethel 16, from Ridgefield 12; Company D, 44 from Bridgeport, 17 from Monroe, 9 from Huntington; Company E re- ceived 51 from Westport, 25 from Newtown, 14 from Bridgeport, 10 from Weston; Company F, almost all from Norwalk, with the exception of 14 from Wilton; Company
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G, Ridgefield 53, Bridgeport 23, Redding 20; Company H, mostly from New Canaan; Company I, mostly from Greenwich; Company K, 35 from Bridgeport, 35 from Fair- field. The captain of Company A of the 17th Regiment was Douglass Fowler of this city, after whom the Douglass Fowler Post, G. A. R., was named. Fowler was a captain in the three months' service, afterwards captain in the Eighth Connecticut; promoted to be lieutenant colonel for gallantry at Chancellorsville and killed in the first day's battle at Gettysburg. With Captain Fowler was Ist Lieut. John McQuhae, 2nd Lieut. John W. Craw, 2nd Lieut. C. Fred Betts.
The captain of Company F was Enoch Wood of this city who raised his company in three days from nothing to 102 men. He resigned in March, 1863, because of ill health and was succeeded by Lieutenant Henry Allen of Nor- walk. Allen was afterwards promoted to be major and lieutenant colonel of the regiment which position he held at the close of the war, his three predecessors having been killed or mortally wounded in action. Other officers in the company were: Captain C. Fred Betts, Ist Lieut. William S. Knapp, 2nd Lieuts. William A. Kellogg, Charles E. Doty, George W. Shaw.
Oftimes with empty knapsacks, dry throats, sore wounds and threadbare clothing, the 17th Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers fought through the Civil War and left behind it a trail of glory. There is in Norwalk today, only one, who lives to tell the tale. He is John Batterson of Wood- ward ave., of whom mention has been made before. Briefly, let us follow the travel of the 17th Regiment and inciden- tally the trials and sufferings of the 198 Norwalk men who were staunch members of its ranks.
September 3, 1862, the regiment left the camp at Sea- side Park, Bridgeport and took rail for Baltimore. From Baltimore, the men went to Washington, D. C., then to Georgetown and then to Gainesville, Vir. From here the regiment marched to Hopewell Gap and Antioch church,
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then on to Chantilly, and then commenced a seven days' march as reserves for Burnside's movement on Fredericks- burg. £ The next stop was Bacon's Race Course Church where the terrible cannonade of the conflict at Fredericks- burg was distinctly heard. On the men kept to Falmouth where they were ordered back to camp at Stafford Court House. Here the 17th which had saved its rations in going down, gave a supper to an Ohio regiment which had eaten up its own. The Ohio boys never forgot this.
From the courthouse, the regiment marched to Belle Plain, back to Stafford Court House for winter quarters. April 26, 1863 the men moved westward to Hartwood church. The following night the Rappahannock was crossed and then the Rapidan. About 5 in the next afternoon, the battleground of Chancellorsville was reached. In the battle that followed, Norwalk lost many brave sons. Col. Noble was shot in the arm and later returned to his home. Lt. Col. Charles Walter of Bridgeport died from a head wound. The 17th suffered a loss of 120 killed, wounded and missing.
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