USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume III > Part 65
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Capt. Curtis* proved a good man for the position and was ; enthusiastically assisted in his difficult task by Richard Welton and Henry Merriman, who were elected lieutenant and ensign the following year, to succeed Arthur Hunt and George Merriman.
* Lucius Curtis was born in Waterbury in 1811. During the Rebellion (1862) he went as a corporal in Company C of the Fourteenth regiment of Connecticut volunteers, one of the oldest men in the regiment. but determined to help his country in time of need. He was wounded at Antietam, was honorably die- charged in 1863, and returned home to live to a ripe old age. In 1888 he removed to the home of his son George, at Schuylerville, N. Y., and died there in January, 1889. Four sons and a daughter survive him.
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Capt. Curtis was succeeded by Lieut. Richard Welton. Mr. Welton, a man of considerable property, was perhaps the most popular man in town. His stage route to Meriden was deservedly famous for its splendid equipment and good service. Whatever he put his hand to succeeded. The company had reason to congratulate itself when he took command. But in 1844 Capt. Welton became Col. Welton. Lieut. Merriman, backed by Ensign Charles T. Grilley, kept the company until W. B. Umberfield was elected captain in 1845. Daniel Judd and Henry Smith came in with him as lieuten- ant and ensign.
On September 16, 1845, Col. Welton held a review of the regiment n Waterbury. In its palmiest days it had paraded a good thousand nen, but now only 450 responded to the call, and after a parade and prayer by Chaplain Jacob L. Clark, the men were dismissed for linner. In the afternoon they were reviewed by Brig .- Gen. F. D. Mills, who bestowed much praise upon the Waterbury company, but nore upon that from Meriden. The fact was that interest was vaning. Naugatuck having been set off, the population of Water- ury was but 3393, and the young men here as elsewhere had too huch pride to have anything to do with a burlesque such as the militia had become. Col. Welton, finding that he had undertaken oo great a task in bringing the Twenty-second regiment up to its ld standard, resigned in 1846. Edwin Birdseye succeeded him and ras the last colonel of the regiment. The great change in the militia system of the state took place the following year.
Although Waterbury made no more returns of a company and ad no representation in the new Second regiment until 1854, the attalion company was kept up after a fashion under Capt. Umber- eld and Capt. Henry Smith, with considerable aid from Paymaster amuel Prichard, who was also called " captain."
As the Mexican war was not a war "to enforce the laws of the nion, to suppress insurrection or to repel invasion," the militia as ich could not under the law be ordered out. Consequently the resident made a call for twelve months' troops in 1846. The people Connecticut, having weighed the matter carefully, concluded that yet there was no necessity of their travelling that distance to ttle the quarrel, and did not respond with even as much alacrity they did in 1812. Early in 1847 a New Haven paper announced at Charles E. Moss had raised a company of seventy dragoons in is vicinity with the expectation that they would be accepted by e president under the new law for the Mexican war for twelve onths' troops. A meeting was called of those in favor of sustain- g the action of the government and to condemn the Wilmot pro
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viso. It resulted in a failure, the chairman of the meeting having opened it by declaring his approval of the proviso and his unwaver- ing hostility to the extension of slavery. The "dragoons " were the subject of considerable ridicule, one man describing them as
Those seventy hypothetical loons Called "Capt. Moss's stalwart dragoons."
In March, 1847, Lieut. Asa A. Stoddard came here and established a recruiting station in Washington hall for the United States infan- try. Then Capt. Lorenzo Johnson came and obtained ten recruits for the ten regiments that were to be in readiness at a moment's notice. Lieut. Stoddard's recruits left for Newport in April (with the only regiment New England raised), whence they sailed on May 28 in the steamer North Bend for Vera Cruz, to join Gen. Scott's command. Charles E. Moss, later a sergeant in the Third dragoons, was one of them. They were assigned to the Ninth regiment to serve under Brig .- Gen. Pierce of New Hampshire. The regiment showed great bravery at the storming of Chapultepec, being the first to mount the wall. It was in this war that Maj. Kingsbury won his brevet. Dr. A. N. Bell of Waterbury was a surgeon in the Gulf squadron. The enlisted men who went from here were:
Joseph Grilley (deserted), Lewis E. Grilley (died October 16), Manley Grilley (record of service not shown), Sergt. Edmund B. Gilbert (Goshen), and James Ranger (record of service not shown), all of Company I, Ninth infantry, enlisted! March 20, 1847; Henry R. Hatchett, Companies A and B, Ninth infantry, March 17. 1847, died September 17, 1847; Samuel L. Hickox (New Haven), Companies G and I. Ninth infantry, March 20 to December 6, 1847; George F. Hotchkiss (Cheshire). Companies G and I, Ninth infantry, April 19, 1847, to August 21, 1848; Charles E. Moss (Litchfield), Company K, Ninth infantry, transferred to Company E, Third dragoons and promoted sergeant, March 18, 1847, to July 24, 1848; Charles Phelps. Company E, Sixth infantry, March 18, 1847, to July 31, 1848.
In 1848 the militia of Connecticut had attained its greatest num- ber, 53,191, of whom 1704 were riflemen, 1575 artillery, 508 heavy artillery and 692 cavalry. There were 960 companies divided into - six brigades. The condition of affairs throughout the state was practically the same as we have seen in Waterbury. Realizing the need of a radical change, the General Assembly in 1847 decided to make two classes of all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five (later forty-five), namely, the active militia. and the inactive or enrolled militia. The commutation or poll tax was fixed at one dollar (later two dollars), which entitled the citizen ; to exemption from service. Duty for at least three successive days was required of the soldiers, the state to pay them $1.50 a day. There was to be but one division with two brigades, four regiments
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to each brigade. The First, Third, Fifth and Seventh regiments of Hartford, New London, Tolland and Windham counties respectively formed the First brigade, and the Second, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth of New Haven, Litchfield, Middletown and Fairfield counties the Second brigade. All ununiformed and most of the uniformed infantry companies were disbanded, the Waterbury companies being legally abolished in 1848. The uniform was as follows:
A dark blue, double-breasted coat, edged with white cassimere; turn-back and skirt linings of white; silvered buttons; black beaver cap, seven and a half inches high with lacquered sunk top seven and a half inches in diameter; a band of black patent leather encircling the bottom of the cap; a black patent leather peak; a silver bugle with the number of the regiment and surmounted by a gilt eagle; a plume of white feathers; a chin strap; trousers of sky-blue with white stripes.
The Second regiment, Col. Nicholas S. Hallenbeck of New Haven, was made up of companies in this vicinity, including one from Wol- scott, but Waterbury had no formal representation. The number of companies was again reduced in 1850 to ninety-nine, with 2904 men, and once more in 1852 to fifty-eight companies, 2045 men.
Early in 1854 there was a meeting of prominent young men to discuss the formation of a new military company. John L. Chat- ield and Chandler N. Wayland, as a committee from the meeting, olicited men for a company, and a petition was duly forwarded o headquarters. Col. John Arnold of New Haven commanded the Second regiment of the Second brigade, to which this company esired to be attached. About September I this military "corps " egan to assume shape under the name of the American Rifle com- any. The rifle was adopted in spite of arguments in favor of the husket, which was the old smooth-bore, firing buckshot; the rifle red a bullet. The petition being granted, the organization became company H of the Second regiment. The special name chosen nally was City Guard. The first regular meeting was held Sep- ember 22, 1854. Organization was completed on November I, in emperance hall, by the election of the following officers:
Richard Hunting, captain; John L. Chatfield, first lieutenant (recently a lieuten- it in the Derby company); Aner Bradley, Jr., second lieutenant; Rufus Leonard, ird lieutenant; sergeants, Richard Allen, James M. Colley, James E. Wright, imothy Guilford; corporals, George W. Cheney, William A. Peck, George Doolit- :, Hanford E. Isbell; musicians, C. B. Merrill, Henry Chatfield, Dennis Chatfield. enjamin P. Chatfield was treasurer; Chandler N. Wayland, clerk, and Alexander ine, armorer.
, Hunting, Edmund Jordan, B. P. Chatfield, Alexander Hine and ichard Allen had served as a committee to secure the drill room; S. B. Beales and Marcus Coon as a committee on printing the by-
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laws. The members elected at a previous meeting, October 4, were Timothy Guilford, Rufus Leonard, F. A. Warner, I. G. Fardon, Jr .. Henry B. Platt and Aner Bradley, Jr .; at the next meeting, October 13, Chauncey B. Webster, Charles Espe, James E. Wright and Louis Young were taken in, and the men had their first experience in drill. At the last meeting before formal organization the new mem- bers elected were: John C. Eggleston, Phineas D. Warner and Wil- liam Scott. Thus the company started out with a goodly number. in addition to which there were forty honorary members who were to pay five dollars a year. Expenses were paid by renting the drill room they had leased, the name of which was soon after changed to Military hall.
The regiment in 1855 was composed of ten companies, one of which belonged to Waterbury. On May 25, 1855, the company paraded for the first time in uniform. There were forty names on the roll, but only twenty-five men turned out, " many being debarred from equipping themselves for the present in consequence of the disarrangement of the times." With a military organization to help it out, the town planned a monster Fourth of July celebration. The company, with new plumes added to its uniform, and headed by Merrill's band, led the procession to a lot on Grove street "at the head of Willow," where there was to be a grand balloon ascen- sion. Although the ascension was a failure, the people got consider- able enjoyment out of the soldiery. But the endeavor was earnest and general to make the militia something more than a party of holiday excursionists. In 1854 the state allowed $100 a year for armory rent to each company. The law in 1856 allowed an encamp- ment for each brigade of from two to three days, reduced to one day by act of June 24, 1859. Camp Ledyard, at New Haven, on September 5, 6 and 7, 1855, was Company H's first camp.
An epoch in the history of the company and of the town was the election of Lieut. John L. Chatfield to the captaincy on March 28, 1857. Capt. Hunting, who had done so much toward organizing the company, and Lieut. Wright both having resigned, Aner Brad- ley, Jr., was elected first lieutenant, Timothy Guilford second and Martin B. Smith third. The sergeants were Marcus Coon, Frank C. Buckland, H. N. Place, F. A. Spencer; corporals, C. F. Church, H. L. Snagg, John W. Hill, H. E. Isbell. The regulation banquet was enjoyed at the Scovill house, and the members of the company gave to Capt. Hunting a loaf-cake, also a "beautiful hard-rubber, gold-headed cane," and to Lieut. Wright "a rich pearl-handled knife." This epoch was followed closely by another, when the still far-off rumblings of war, laughed at by some, were full of portent
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to others. The women of the city, whose encouragement had already been inspiration for the men, had resolved to give tangible evidence of their interest. To this end they had procured a beau- tiful silk flag adorned with rich gold trimmings. On one side, in letters of gold, were the words: WATERBURY CITY GUARD, and on the other: PRESENTED BY THE LADIES OF WATERBURY. The presenta- tion was made through Dr. P. G. Rockwell, after the annual parade on May 28, and the response came from ex-Capt. Hunting.
At the suggestion of Lieut. A. Bradley, the first general celebra- tion in Waterbury of Washington's birthday was made on Febru- ary 22, 1858. The City Guard fired the national salute at sunrise under the direction of Marcus Coon, raised the flag on the liberty pole on Centre square, and gave a parade in the afternoon and a ball in the evening, with the never-to-be-omitted supper. In August, 1858, Hardee's tactics were introduced .*
On the occasion of its fifth annual ball, February 18, 1859, the company presented to Capt. Chatfield an Ames sword of the finest workmanship. It was lost at Fort Wagner, where Col. Chatfield received his fatal wounds, July 18, 1863. On May 30, 1859, First Lieut. Aner Bradley resigned and received a gold-mounted ebony cane from the members of the company. Second Lieut. Timothy Guil- ford and First Sergt. Marcus Coon were promoted to fill the vacan- cies thus created. Mr. Bradley prepared an historical sketch of the militia of the early part of the century. During the following winter assistance enabled the company to procure uniforms for all the men. For some time now there had been talk of changing from nfantry to artillery and just before the call for troops in 1861, Com- pany H, infantry, became Company B, artillery, making two artil- ery and seven infantry companies in the regiment.
MAJOR JULIUS J. B. KINGSBURY.
Julius J. Bronson Kingsbury, the second son of Judge John Kingsbury, was born October 18, 1797. As there was no school in Waterbury of a higher grade than a district school, he was sent iway from home to pursue his studies. In 1819 he obtained hrough the influence of David Daggett, then a member of Con- ress, an appointment as cadet at the Military academy at West Point. He left West Point in regular course in 1823; was attached
* The first tactics known to the early militia were those of Col. Humphrey Bland, an Englishman,. lopted in 1743. These were followed by the " Norfolk Militia Exercise," "ordered by his majesty," in 1764, id continued in general use till 1775. The system of Baron Von Steuben was adopted in 1779. The next lange was not made until 1824, when Darrow's tactics were prescribed, to be followed in turn by Scott's, ardee's, Casey's and Upton's.
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as lieutenant to the Second regiment of infantry, and ordered with a detachment of troops to Sault Ste. Marie at the outlet of Lake Superior, to assist in building Fort Brady. Here he remained three or four years, under Maj. (afterward Col.) Cutler, during which time he married Jane C. Stebbins of New York, sister-in-law of Capt. Walter Bicker, also of the Second regiment. Next, he was ordered. with a detachment, by sea, to New Orleans and Nacogdoches. Afterward he was stationed for a time at Mackinaw and Fort Gratiot. During the Black Hawk war in 1832 he was in Chicago. attached to the commissary department, and saw much hard and dangerous service. While there-Chicago being then in its infancy -he purchased for $700 about thirty six acres of land on the North branch of the Chicago river, near its junction with the South branch, and about two acres across on the south side of the Main river, the latter tract in the heart of the present city, and the former but a little way distant. The land is still in the possession of the family, and is of great value. He was afterward at Fort Niagara. Still later, during the disturbances on our northeastern frontier, he was stationed at Hancock barracks, Bolton, Me. Thence, after the breaking out of the Seminole war, he was ordered, with his command, to Tampa Bay, Fla. There he remained three years (with the exception of a short interval), and his constitution was so broken by the combined influence of climate, exposure and fatigue, that he never recovered. On his return to the north, he was stationed at Sackett's Harbor, and afterward, a second time, at Fort Brady. He left this last post early in 1847, to join Gen. Scott before Vera Cruz. He assisted in the capture of that place, and was more or less engaged in all the battles which occurred on the march to the City of Mexico. For his good conduct in one of the engagements near the city, he was brevetted. Throughout the campaign he acted as lieutenant-colonel of his regiment, though he was at that time only a captain.
While in Mexico, Capt. Kingsbury was attacked by a severe brain fever, which seriously threatened his life. When he had recovered sufficient strength, Gen. Scott sent him home on sick leave. In December, 1848, having partially regained his health, he was ordered with a part of his regiment to California, and remained there nearly two years. While there, he was promoted and trans- ferred to the Sixth regiment. He returned home in the summer of 1850, but too much out of health to be fit for duty. He spent the next two years in Washington and with his friends at the east, on sick leave. He then started to join his regiment at St. Louis, but was detained at Detroit by illness, and was compelled to spend the
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winter there (1852-3). While there, owing to some misunderstand- ing with the War department, not involving his integrity or honor, his name was stricken from the army roll. Conceiving himself to have been unfairly treated, he declined to make any explanation, or to hold any communication with the department. Before his death, however, he settled all his accounts with the government and received a balance which was found due him. He died in Washing- ton, when on the point of leaving for the east, on June 26, 1856.
MAJOR JULIUS J. B. KINGSBURY, U. S. A.
Iis remains were brought to Waterbury, and he was buried here, ccording to his expressed wishes, in the old burying ground by he side of his father.
Maj. Kingsbury was a brave and skillful officer, always equal to ne duties imposed upon him. He was for nearly thirty years con- ected with the army, and though sometimes charged with indo- ence and procrastination in matters of detail and routine service, e was active and efficient in the field and was ever distinguished y honorable conduct. He lost his health and ruined his constitu- on in the public service. He left a widow, who died January 16, 392, a daughter Mary (since dead), who married Capt. Simon B
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Buckner, of the United States army, afterward general in the con- federate service and governor of Kentucky, and a son, Henry W., who was killed at Antietam, while in command of the Eleventh Connecticut volunteers. His eldest son, Julius, died in California in 1850.
CAPT. REUBEN HOLMES.
Reuben Holmes, son of Israel and Sarah (Judd) Holmes, was born in Waterbury, February 11, 1798. While a boy he was distin- guished for great activity of body and mind. He entered the mili- tary academy at West Point in June, 1819. He maintained an ex- ceptionally high standing there, never having been numbered lower than fourth on the merit roll of his class at its annual examinations. While at the academy he was assistant professor of drawing for one year, and of mathematics for one year, and when he graduated in June, 1823, delivered the valedictory address. He was immediately commissioned as second lieutenant in the Sixth infantry, United States army, and was ordered to join his regiment, then stationed at Council Bluffs. The route lay through the lakes to Green Bay; thence up the Fox river, and down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, thence across the country to his destination. On the Fox river the Indians were somewhat troublesome. One night, after the party had camped, they gathered in large numbers about them and com- menced the war dance. The men were terribly frightened, expect- ing a bloody skirmish, if not a general massacre; but Holmes, tak- ing a sergeant and a file of men, started for their camp. He left the men a short distance in the rear, out of sight, with orders to come up if any difficulty ensued, and then proceeded to the chief and demanded the reason of their dancing the war dance. The chief answering in an insolent strain, Holmes seized his rifle and tried to discharge it. He succeeded after a short scuffle, tied the Indian's hands behind him, and returned with his prisoner to the men, who had not dared to show themselves. The Indians were informed that any hostile demonstration would be followed by the immediate death of their chief, and there was no more trouble from them. When crossing the country from the Mississippi to the Missouri river, the party lost the trail, wandered about until their provisions were gone, and were compelled to eat their dogs.
Lieut. Holmes was stationed at Council Bluffs for four years. When the Black Hawk war broke out, in 1832, he obtained leave of absence and went up the Mississippi river, with the troops, as a volunteer. Soon after his arrival in the enemy's country, he was elected and served as colonel of a regiment of Illinois volunteers. He was subsequently appointed one of Gen. Dodge's aides, and was
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spoken of by him in the highest terms. Gen. Dodge sent him down the river for supplies for the army. On his return, on the steam- boat Warrior, forty miles above Prarie Du Chien, the party fell in with hostile Indians, with whom they had a severe conflict. Holmes was the senior officer, but the troops were under the imme- diate command of Lieut. James W. Kingsbury. Their little force,
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onsisting of fifteen soldiers, six volunteers, three passengers, two ischarged soldiers and the crew of the steamboat, had to ontend with at least 300 savages. After twenty-five of the ndians had been killed and more than fifty wounded, they re- reated. The battle lasted two hours. Gen. Atkinson, in his offi- ial dispatch to Gen. Scott, made honorable mention of Holmes for
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his conduct in the affair. On his return from this expedition, he was promoted to a captaincy in the dragoon service. He went immediately to Louisville, opened a recruiting office and raised a company of dragoons. While in Louisville he was attacked with cholera, but after a partial recovery took his company to Jefferson barracks, ten miles from St. Louis. Here he had a relapse, and died November 4, 1833. He was buried in Jefferson barracks, and a monument was erected by his companions in arms. Capt. Holmes was undoubtedly a man of genius, enterprising, chivalrous and brave.
COL. RICHARD WELTON.
Richard Welton, the eldest son of Col. Bela and Polly (More- house) Welton, was born on Buck's Hill, January 7, 1820. His father died when he was five years old, but his mother, who was a woman of courage and energy, carried on her large farm with suc- cess and gave her two boys the same training and education as fell to the lot of the children of the neighborhood. As soon as Richard was old enough he assisted his mother, and by the time that he was eighteen years he was practically manager of affairs, although his mother never relinquished the veto power. He was not more than twenty-two or twenty-three when he decided that he could do bet- ter in the village than on the farm. He came to the centre, and ere long his mother, having rented the farm, came also and built a house on East Main street. Soon after his coming he began driv- ing stage, and before long was driving the Meriden stage for Ben- jamin Fuller. He was popular among the young men,-took an inter- est in military affairs and rose rapidly to the colonelcy of the Sec- ond regiment. About this time he bought out the stage line. Some question was raised about a legal-tender payment for the property. so he went to Meriden on horseback in the night and returned to Waterbury before midnight, bringing gold enough with him in a bag to make the necessary payment. (This gives one some idea of the business limitations of Waterbury at that date-about 1845.)
In those years the town was growing fast and business increas- ing. The railroads had not reached us, but their influence was felt. Immense stages, with six horses each, ran twice a day each way between here and Meriden, besides the old line to New Haven. On one of these stages the colonel would sometimes stow between thirty and forty passengers, and putting a trusty one at the brake, would seat himself on the dashboard and drive his six-horse team over Southington mountain in splendid style. He was cautious, too, and never met with any serious mishap, but, as he said, "You'd got to know where to let out and where to pull in." He had a sort of rustic humor and a quaint way of saying things, which made the
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