USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > The romance of Norwalk > Part 24
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In Greeley's "American Conflict" where the author speaks of that "grand burst of Stonewall Jackson with 25,000 men upon the exposed flank of the 11th Corps," the 17th Con- necticut is the only regiment specially noted and commended for its action.
After the battle of Chancellorsville the 17th encamped on the north side of the Rappahannock river until June, 1863 when it followed the Army of the Potomac on par- allel lines to the march of the enemy until their movements culminated in the battle of Gettysburg. Here the 17th dis- tinguished itself. Gen. Gordon, later a senator from Georgia, who was in command of the enemy's troops which charged upon the line of regiment at Gettysburg, meeting Lieut. Col. Allen when he was later in the Senate, learning that the Colonel was of the 17th of Connecticut, said to him that of all the trouble he ever had to force a retreat from any troops, he had the hardest work with the Seventeenth
PENNSYLVANIA
GETTYSBURG
MARYLAND
WHE TAM
BALTIMORE
WEST
HOPEWELL GAP MANTIOCH CHURCH
VIRGINIA
- CHAN
THOROUGH FARE
MANN'S
R.R.
WASHINGTON
GEORGETOWN
GAINESVILLE
DELAWARE
ZBARRETT
AD
FAL MOUTH
GERMANIA FORD
FREDERICK'S OUR
CHANCELLORS
POTOMAC R
RAPPAHANNOCK
VIRGINIA
RICHMOND.
YORK
JAMES
FORTRESS MONROE
JOHN'S ISLAND
FOLLY ISLAND
HILTON HEAD ,
GEORGIA
BALDWIN DUNN'S DAY
CHECK SONVILLE
FLORIDA ACOLANDER
EL ST. AUGUSTINE
PILATKA
WELAKNE SANDERS
ROUTE OF NORWALKERS IN CIVIL WAR Key will be found in Appendix.
1
. TP BALTIMORE
TENALLY TOWN
FORT-KEARNEY
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CIVIL WAR
at Gettysburg; that it didn't seem to know how to get away from its position, however strong the force attacking.
From the battle of Gettysburg, the regiment went by rail to Alexandria then to Fort Monroe, Virg., then to Folly Island, S. C., then to Morris Island, approaching Fort Wag- ner. While there, the men heard the first gun fired on Fort Sumter. Several of the regiment were killed by bursting shells.
February 22, 1864, the regiment went to Jacksonville, Florida, to St. Augustine, to Volusia, back to Jacksonville, over to Baldwin, thence to Magnolia and back to St. Augus- tine. June 1, 1865 found the 17th Connecticut again in Jacksonville, Fla. About the first of July it was ordered to take transport for Hilton Head to be mustered out of the service and at that post, on July 19, 1865, ended its duties as part of the Army of the Republic during the Civil War.
THOSE WHO ARE LEFT
John Batterson of Woodward ave., present commander of the Douglass Fowler Post, G. A. R., of whom mention was made a short time ago, was a member of Company F of Norwalk, 17th Connecticut Regiment, and experienced with the other soldiers the gruelling years of struggle in the Civil War already retold. Mr. Batterson, in speaking of the bounties offered by states, counties, towns and cities, said that it was considered no disgrace for a man to accept money for his enlistment. In Norwalk as in other communi- ties, the bounty was a necessity which the men left behind them to take care of the women and children while they were gone, no other provision having been made for de- pendents. Mr. Batterson was wounded once at the battle of Gettysburg, a discharge of shrapnel lodging in the back of his left hand. During his 3 and 1-2 years in the Civil War, Mr. Batterson ran across a number of Norwalkers who were fighting for the Union. One of them was John Tracey, father of Dr. William J. Tracey of 637 West
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ROMANCE OF NORWALK
ave. John Tracey, who with his family lived on Cobble Hill in Broad River, was a brick layer and as honest a man and as hard working a fighter as ever lived. He was beloved by his comrades for his cheerfulness and wit.
"Well I remember poor old Pat Purden, too," said Mr. Batterson in retrospection. "Pat had large feet, such large feet that the government found it necessary to construct for him a special pair of shoes as there were none in stock large enough. Pat's pals teased him slyly about the size of his feet and always said that if he were ever hit by the enemy, it would be in the feet. It so happened that at the battle of Gettysburg, the men, at one point of the en- counter, were required to lie flat on their stomachs on the top of a knoll, to shoot at the enemy which was fast sur- rounding them. One of the confederates, sneaking up from behind, caught sight of Pat's feet looming over the hori- zon, and took a pot shot at them. Private Purden spent quite a time in the hospital thereafter."
Mr. Batterson also recalled Henry Allen, first lieutenant, captain, then lieut. col. in Company F, the 17th regiment, in which Batterson himself served. Allen was beloved by his fellow soldiers. He looked after their every need and Bat- terson says that when there were no rations left, he made it his business to find something for them to eat, from some- where.
In Norwalk today there are two posts with their auxilia- ries, which stand as permanent monuments to the brave men who risked their lives in defense of the country during the Civil War. They are the Douglass Fowler Post, Grand Army of the Republic, South Norwalk, and Buckingham Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Norwalk. The first named was named in honor of Col. Douglass Fowler of Nor- walk who died on the Gettysburg battlefield. His body was never found, although it is known he fell there. The second was named in honor of Governor William Alfred Bucking- ham of Connecticut, the state war governor.
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There remain in this city today, the year 1929, the follow- ing Civil War veterans :
In Douglass Fowler Post, G. A. R .;
John Batterson, 132 Woodward ave., 3 and 1-2 years' service, Company F, 17th Connecticut Regiment. Now post commander.
Charles E. Foster, 32 Church st., New Canaan.
Madison Davis, 40 Ohio ave.
Benjamin F. Howe, II Van Zant st.
Joseph J. Hoffman, 37 Tierney st.
W. M. Farrington, Cove ave.
Christian Swartz, 272 West ave. Joseph Welsh, Concord st.
George W. Roberts, Fitch's Home for Soldiers, Noroton. Company G, 28th Conn. Infantry.
William H. Lockwood, Roton ave.
In Buckingham Post, G. A. R .;
Andrew Geddes, 201 Main st., Company L. First Conn. Cavalry.
Samuel McGowan, 4 Newtown Terrace, Company B, 12th Virginian Volunteers and Co. H. 7th, N. J. Volunteers. George A. White, 6 Girard st., Co. F, 8th Conn.
George W. Raymond, 17 Byington Place, Co. D, 7th Conn., died in August, 1929.
What tales these men can tell! One ran away to enlist twice before he was 20; another tramped the battle-ridden highways with an Indian; a third shot snipers from atop a train. Benjamin Howe of II Van Zant st., of the Douglass Fowler Post, 82 years old, October 9, 1929, was a private in Company C, 69th regiment, New York infantry, and was wounded in Petersburg, March 25, 1864.
Samuel McGowan of 4 Newtown Terrace, 84 on August 31, enlisted first of all in 1862 when he was not quite 16. At that time he was in Company B, 12th Virginians. He re- enlisted in 1864 in the 5th New Jersey, on his 20th birth- day, being so anxious to get back into the army that he left his home at 4 a. m. before any of the members of the
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family might rise to stop him and walked five miles to a recruiting station. He remained in the 5th New Jersey, until transferred to the 7th New Jersey, Company H, where he was at the close of the war. He was in the siege of Petersburg. Mr. McGowan is well-known in Norwalk where he was for 50 years connected with the Putnam Hose Co.
Christian Swartz, 272 West ave., past department com- mander, Douglass Fowler Post, No. 48, G. A. R. and oft times referred to as "Norwalk's Grand Old Man," enlisted during the last year of the war at the age of 18. His regi- ment was in the Black Hills; therefore he was kept on post duty at Fort Snelling, a member of a company that guarded enlisted and drafted men to their regiments in the south. "The real guarding of the men took place between Louisville and Chattanooga which was infested with guerillas," said Mr. Swartz. "After leaving Louisville, we stopped every five miles to learn if it was safe for the train to go through and if not, we were posted on top of the cars with two men at each end of the coaches to be ready for any emergency. We took no prisoners as we were not allowed to leave the coaches and were ordered to shoot on sight any one at- tempting to molest the train."
Andrew C. Geddes, 201 Main st., Buckingham Post, en- listed December 15, 1863, at the Gazette building, this city. . He served in Company L, the First Connecticut Volunteer Cavalry, was first sent to a New Haven training camp, then to Baltimore and from there to the front. A descendant of the renowned Indian maiden, Pocahontas, was in the same company with Mr. Geddes. The Indian, who had a name similar to Ousa Oula, taught the men many Indian horsemanship and scouting tricks. A wound in his left ankle Mr. Geddes received on May 5, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness. The next day, while scouting, he was cap- tured at Gains Church, Virginia, and spent the next seven months and seven days in the Andersonville Prison, An- dersonville, Georgia. He recalls the menu there consisted
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chiefly of bones. Later, Mr. Geddes was transferred to Florence, South Carolina. Until December 12, 1864, he was paroled at Charleston. Then, after the exchange of prisoners, he went to an Annapolis hospital by steamboat. On June 16, 1865, he was discharged.
In closing the account of local soldiers in the Civil War, let it be said for Norwalk business men that when the "boys" returned, most of them were given back their old jobs, while a concerted effort was made to find work for those for whom there were no places. In memory of the Norwalk men who served in the Civil War, the soldiers' monument, Flaxhill road and West ave., was dedicated October 20, 1900. The inscription on the face reads :
"Erected by the Grand Army of the Republic and Citi- zens of South Norwalk, in memory of her loyal sons, 1861- 1865."
PEACE AND PROGRESS
CHAPTER XXVII
Bucket Brigades Give Way to Hose Companies-Horse Cars Followed by Electric Trolleys-Lockwood Estate Is Show Place of Community-First Reservoir is Built- New Water Works Bring Pure Water to City
PEACEFUL days in Norwalk followed the close of the Civil War. No sooner had the veterans returned from the front than the families took up the threads of their lives where they had hurriedly dropped them at the first blast of the bugle, and normalcy returned to the community. Once more the brains and brawn of the town were turned to civic progress rather than to guns and gunning. Fire companies were formed for town protection; street rail- ways were inaugurated to speed transportation; water works were built to provide the community with pure water.
FIRST FIRE COMPANIES
Bucket brigades, when pails of water passed from hand to hand, were the only known means of putting out fires ; hand engines which were pulled through the streets by men or horses; steam engines which ushered in the dashing, heart- thrilling days of the new era in fire equipment; and motor trucks-the Norwalk fire department has lived through them all. The year 1861 found two fire companies already es- tablished in Norwalk. The companies worked separately in their own territories. Today, the city's fires are taken care of by a centralized department with companies in various sections of the city, George W. Bogardus being the
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fire chief. William J. Powell is deputy chief in the first district; Charles A. Volk, deputy chief in the second dis- trict; and Frederick Wheeler, deputy chief in the third dis- trict. A captain heads each of the following companies : Putnam Hose company and Old Well Hook and Ladder company at the Central Fire station on Franklin st .; the Hope Hose company on Commerce st .; the Mayflower Hook and Ladder and Hose company on Van Zant st .; the Phoenix Engine company, and the Pioneer Hook and Ladder company on Main st .; the Rowayton Hose Co., Rowayton ave.
The history of the Norwalk fire department dates back to the days of the bucket brigade, when many a good old farmhouse was burnt level with the ground because pails of water passed from hand to hand comprised the only resistance offered the flames. Hand pumps followed some time after the buckets. Like mad the members of the volun- teer companies ran down the street, dragging their hose carts and hand pumps behind them, when the great iron hoop, struck by a brawny citizen, clanged forth news of a fire. The hoop, broken on its lower curve to force a ringing sound, which was in early use here, may still be seen on the "vil- lage greens" of small villages in the back country.
December 2, 1858, Norwalk made a big step forward in its fire protection methods, when $2,000 was appropriated for one or more fire engines and other equipment to be used for the organization of an efficient fire department. The money went to purchase an engine, a hose cart, 500 feet of hose and 22 feet of suction pipe. On December 15 of that year, the Phoenix Engine Co. was organized with Robert Crauford as foreman. The first "steamer" arrived December 31. Not proving satisfactory, it was sent back and three months later, a new one arrived. An engine house on Water st., (now Commerce st.), was then constructed and some time later, the present engine house on Main st. "The Silk Stocking Company" was the name given to mem- bers who organized the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co.,
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January 26, 1861, but the men appeared to have been hard workers in spite of what they were called. The first fore- man was A. H. Wilcoxson.
At the present time, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co. is housed with the Phoenix Co., on Main st. Itai; a service ladder truck. The Phoenix Engine Co. has a La France pumper, a Barker machine with supply of extra hose and a La France pump on Water or Commerce st. In the two companies together there are 14 paid men and about 150 volunteers. Albert Heinie is captain of the Pioneer and Ernest Layden of the Phoenix.
"One alarm only. Run like hell. Don't stop for noise." Such was the controlling principle of the Old Well Hook and Ladder Company No. I, organized March 6, 1874. W. H. Jones, who afterwards acquired considerable fame as a fire fighter, was the first foreman. For some time the Old Well company was housed on Haviland st. In 1912 it moved into its new home, the central fire station on Franklin st. At the present time, it is quartered there with the Put- nam Hose Co. The Putnam Hose Company was organized June 9, 1875, with D. E. Merrill as foreman. Samuel Mc- Gowan, well known Civil War veteran of Newtown ter- race, fought fires with the old "Put Hose" for 50 years. During a fire in a Washington st. building he was severely injured and was incapacitated for six months. Under Chief McGowan's direction, the fire alarm system was established in South Norwalk. The original home of the company was on Union st. In 1882 the company moved into the building which now houses the Putnam school on Franklin st. Then in 1912 with the Old Well it moved into new quarters, the Central fire station on Franklin st.
This station has a La France city service truck, a 750 gallon pump, a Barker hose and chemical machine acquired in 1913; a service car for fire alarm work and for carting supplies; and a chief's car. There are 18 paid men con- nected with the Central fire station and about 150 volunteers.
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Harry Kraemer is captain of the Old Well and Stanley Tallmadge is captain of the Putnam Hose.
In the East Norwalk railroad station house, the May- flower Hook, Ladder and Hose Co. was organized May 16, 1887, thry, ih the efforts of Harry Rider, then station agent. It was originally a bucket brigade. September 1, 1887, the building which now houses the George's Home bakery at 42 Van Zant st., was the home of the Mayflower. In Febru- ary, 1906, the company moved into its present quarters, 56 Van Zant st. At the present time the Mayflower Hook, Ladder and Hose company has four paid men and about 130 volunteers. The equipment includes a La France pump- er, a Barker combination chemical. The captain of the Mayflower company is Stephen O'Brien.
The formation of the Rowayton Hose company followed a very bad fire in Rowayton. In the winter of 1902, the Charles Thomes store building on the site of the Nehemiah Knox place, Rowayton ave. and North st., was burned to the ground.
The fire broke out in the middle of the night. Many remember the mad rush to save the place and also to save the Old John Brundage home across the street. The latter is still standing, the Rowayton bucket brigade having saved it with the assistance of Chief D. William Harford and a group of South Norwalk firemen who rode down to Roway- ton on a special trolley at I in the morning. They carried with them on the trolley, their fire fighting apparatus. Soon after the fire Benjamin DeKlyn, now deceased, gave to the village the two wheel pumper which was then on his estate and 600 feet of hose. The Rowaytonites then got together and November 9, 1902 the Rowayton Hose Co. was formed. Edwin L. Stevens was the first chief. For a while the pumper was kept in a barn at the rear of the Earl Thomes place on Rowayton ave. Later the Hose Co. took up new quarters in the boat house at the foot of North st., rented from Captain Charles Lowndes for $7 a month. If the quarters were not pretentious, the bell was, for it
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stood atop a tower nearly 40 feet high. The bell and tower had previously held forth on the dock at Roton Point, to announce the arrival and departure of excursion boats.
In 1905 the Hose Company erected its own building on Rowayton ave. The lot was purchased from Captain E. H. Smith. The two wheel pumper gave way to a supply wagon transformed from a grocery wagon. In 1910 another ap- paratus replaced the supply wagon. In 1922 a Ford truck was secured. Two years ago the present pumper was ac- quired. Moses Rackett is the present captain of the Roway- ton Hose Co. Just as a joke, the Reliance Hook and Ladder Co. was organized in Rowayton, April 27, 1903, a few months after the Rowayton Hose Co., by a group of the "boys" who found the town dull. A year later, March 23, 1904, when the company was incorporated, it took the name of the Reliance Fire Co. In 1905, the company built itself a house. The Rowayton Library at present occupies this building.
April 13, 1924, after 21 years, the members of the Re- liance Fire Co. met and decided that the village of Roway- ton was not large enough for two fire companies. Since the Rowayton Hose Co., showed every disposition of desiring to continue in service, the Reliance decided to leave the field clear and forthwith disbanded. Upon disbanding, the hose carriage and hose was presented to Neville Bayley at Roton Point, he being in need of some sort of fire protection at the time. It is still in his possession. The rest of the Re- liance equipment was given to the Rowayton Hose Co. One might well wonder what Rowayton ever did with two fire companies, and how they functioned. As a matter of fact, when the bell tolled a fire, both companies rushed to horse, mounted and dashed off to the blaze, fought side by side, and returned together when the fire was over.
The Hope Hose Co., which is one of the oldest companies in the city has always occupied the building in which it is now housed, 20 Commerce, or Water st., as it was once called. The building was erected shortly after the organi-
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zation of the Phoenix Engine Co., December 15, 1858. When a new steamer arrived for the company, April 5, 1859, the engine house on Commerce st., later occupied by the Hope Hose, was built. At the present time the Hope Hose Co., has a La France Pumper No. I, five paid men and about 130 volunteers. Sylvester Brotherton is captain of the company.
HORSE CARS
Dashing up and down the railroad tracks between Nor- walk and South Norwalk, the first horse drawn street car operated in this city in the year 1862 gave the Norwalkers real thrills. The early cars were much smaller than the pres- ent ones, were none too steady "on their pins" jerked the passengers along on grinding wheels and offered none of the comforts of the present day electric trolley riding. Tales of reckless racing between horse cars on the railroad tracks; of bitter enmity between two local street car lines, The White and the Red; of gallant conductors who did shopping and errands of all kinds for the patrons along their route, pro- vide fine color for the early history of our Norwalk street cars.
Superintendent Thomas MacLean of the Norwalk office of the Connecticut company offers some interesting side- lights on the first horse drawn vehicles in this community. In a talk given before the local Kiwanis, some time ago, he said :
"The first car in Norwalk was in the year 1862 and was operated from Water st. (now Commerce) by two horses over the Norwalk-Danbury Steam road tracks to the South Norwalk Station, which was then at South Main and Wash- ington sts. While the steam road train was making a trip to the hat city, this car, by means of a spur track ran onto and over the steam road tracks down past the Pine Island cemetery to the South Norwalk station. This continued for about a year, when a single track was constructed on
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West ave., with a switch located near the armory and horse cars operated on West ave., until the advent of the electri- cally driven car about the year 1892.
"This line was known as the Red Line, and later another company constructed and operated another line from Broad River over East ave., to South Main st., South Norwalk, known as the White Line. There was great rivalry between these two companies, especially as both had to use the same piece of single track on Wall st., and on several occasions when a passenger alighted from a train at South Norwalk station and inquired for a Red Line car, the crew on the White Line would tell him they never heard of such a line.
"Later the Red Line extended its tracks to Winnipauk and the White Line extended its tracks to Roton Point. In those days, service on West ave. was every 20 to 25 minutes and about half an hour was consumed for the half trip. Some of the cars in those days had oil lamps inside for light, and straw on the floor to keep the passengers' feet warm. A strap extended along the floor of the car with one end around the driver's ankle, so that a passenger wish- ing to have the car stop, would reach down and pull this strap." It seems that not for long did the street cars run on the railroad tracks for under date of July 18, 1862, there appears in the town records, a vote to the effect "that the town will allow the Norwalk Horse Railway Co. to construct a railway over and upon the public highways of this town agreeable to their Act of Incorporation."
For many years the Norwalk Horse Railway, later known as the "Red Line' 'had everything all to itself, enjoyed a fine reputation and earned good profits. In 1889, June 13, the Norwalk Tramway Co., later known as the "White Line," applied for permission to run a street car line into East Norwalk from South Norwalk. E. J. Hill was president of the company. The line was to run from the west side of Washington st. bridge, along "Fort Point road, Van Zant ave., East ave., to the borough line." No sooner had the White Line been inaugurated than there was trouble for
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the intense jealousy between the White and the Red fostered continual battles over rights of way, city privileges, per- mits and leases.
Following the introduction of electricity into the street railway systems in Norwalk in 1892, service improved, cars ran oftener, made better time and served a far larger territory. Today, the Connecticut Company efficiently serves the city. In the Norwalk branch of the company there is a staff of 66 employes, Thomas MacLean being superintend- ent. There is a total of 20 cars on the road, including those on the Norwalk to Stamford line and two on the Bridgeport line. Norwalk, South Norwalk, Broad River, Cranbury, Winnipauk, East Norwalk, Rowayton are all serviced from the Norwalk branch of the Connecticut Co.
LOCKWOOD ESTATE
Prosperity smiled, in the spring of 1869 on one of Nor- walk's best known and most influential citizens, Le Grand Lockwood, whose estate, midway between Norwalk and South Norwalk, was the showplace of the community. But the smile had changed to a hollow laugh by the fall of the year, when Wall street's "Black Friday" September 24, 1869, brought to Mr. Lockwood, sudden ruin and ulti- mately, death. Long since has the Norwalker lain in his grave, but the property which still houses his palatial home, remains as beautiful as when he and his well loved wife trod the velvet grounds many years ago. Today, the property is generally known as the Mathews' estate, and is that en- trancing section of ground, some 32 acres in size, which lies on West ave., directly opposite the Norwalk High school and the Armory.
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