USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 43
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CHAPTER III.
FALL RIVER IN THE REVOLUTION.
Our approximately true appreciation of the values of any age in Bris- tol County is not to be satisfactorily found in the superficial comparison of our own times with those of another; we shall best judge of former peoples and conditions as we learn more of the story of their day and that of their contemporaries. For we are prone to overlook the fact that many
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of those customs and manners that seem futile and unnecessary to us were part of the circumstances of an age as vital and serious to its inhabitants as our customs are to our own day. Devoted inquiry is able to make us possessors of much more knowledge of eras that we sometimes mistakenly name the "childhood of the race."
Revolutionary times in the Fall River-to-be-small village though it then was-completely engrossed the plans and energies of contending fac- tions. They were a living, resourceful, enterprising group of men and women who were just getting ready for their first conflict for nationality, and are not to be treated as mere channels leading to the present greatness of the nation. The War for Independence, as its purposes became more fully known and appreciated, lighted with its red glare the way to the end of an age, past former colonial and provincial times to another and a self-reliant régime. Let us share, if we may, and not as mere sight-seers, the recollections meagre as they are, of the Revolt in this section.
The Freetown-Fall River Revolutionary patriots were of the order of "embattled farmers," as were those at Concord and at Lexington, when it came to actual fighting and sacrificing much for the Independence that at first was mentioned, but not aloud. Before the actual summons to war, however, and just before the critical situation and the proximity of revolt was well comprehended, the town's general inclination was Tory-ward. Al- most to the last minute, there existed as weighty a dread of majesty as hatred of the taxation hardship; and the Loyalists up to the limit of patience were loyalists indeed, as all New England had been, only a little while before. It was to no small extent an indignant Freetown to whom came the news of the "tea party" of Boston harbor. The town was a long dis- tance from that effervescing centre of a rebellious population that within a short period had lost all fears of a tyrannical king, overseas. The de- layed and not thoroughly understood reports of uprising against authority were distasteful and repellent here. So loyal was the section to the already passing state of offensive rulership that a meeting was called January. 17, 1774, for the purpose of uttering denunciation of such occurrences as were taking place in the coastwise towns.
From today, as we look back upon the scene, we find ourselves able to excuse the town fathers and a large proportion of the townsfolk, indeed, for their action, simply because they were somewhat isolated from the forefront of the fearless forward movement of the older and the shore com- munities. The loyalist element, the stubborn holders-out for the abso- lute right of the king, were in all the towns, as in Taunton and Middleboro; but as in the cases of these towns the patriot party in Freetown was pro tempore unequal to the task of quieting or exiling the Tories. Thus it was that some of the townsmen got others of the townsmen together at the pro- test meeting of which Captain George S. Chase was the moderator, and as one of the results of the assemblage, deprecatory resolutions were adopted January 26, 1774, which went so far as adversely to criticise Boston for the part that it had been stated that town had taken in mob rule and riot. The committee who had charge of such resolutions and their presentation consisted of Thomas Gilbert, Abiel Terry, James Winslow, Jael Hathaway, and Jesse Bullock. They were a much disturbed group, for they feared the "vengeance of an affronted majesty," they being incapable of appreci-
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ating the highly advanced grade of what they believed to be the rebelry of the men of Boston, who were even then closer than they to approaching combat with a despot and a despot's soldiery. It was the last local stand of "loyalism."
Presently the radical change did take place, so that all were involved in the event of the hour. The fires of still greater patriotic ardor swept in full tide across New England, and no town or village escaped the flame-a flame destructive only to the tares and the chaff of an absolute monarchism as they choked the slowly growing gardens of colonial free- dom. And, far removed as we are from that hour, neither we nor present- day Britons have been able to discover mitigating circumstances for the loyalists or their claims during the latter part of the struggle against the omnipresent tax-gatherer. Those loyalists and their descendants have acknowledged the serf-like conditions under which the king had gradually placed his colonial subjects, by means of his unjust measures; but the loyal- ists then as a body were willing to bear and forbear all, that majesty might still remain enthroned. Democracy was to them an incredible principle anywhere to be maintained. "Long live the king" was a slogan never to be changed for another. But most of those who had exhibited signs of holding out against rising popular opinion in Fall River, soon heeded the ad- monitions of their neighbors and of their own common sense, and now, having news of the general and stubborn trend towards Independence, stood forth as one for the patriotic purpose and intent of the town.
"What measures should be taken in our deplorable circumstances?" was the universal query that was raised, and forthwith steps were initiated. to confer with other towns concerning probabilities for any next move. It was too country-wide a query to be discussed in Fall River alone, so that preparations were set on foot for a union of discussion of the towns. And it thereupon came about that a committee from this town went up to attend that first unforgetable county convention at the court house in Taunton, in confessed protest against tyranny. Zephaniah Leonard, many of whose descendants live throughout the county, was the presiding officer of the gathering-Zephaniah Leonard, a justice of the Court of Common Pleas. There and then they determined to oppose "to their utmost all il- legal and unconstitutional measures which have been or hereafter may be adopted by the British Parliament or the British ministry." That declara- tion, in accord with the specific expression of all colonial townsmen, voiced the revulsion of feeling in Fall River against oppression. And the men who had the honor of thus uttering the appeal of the town at the court- house on September 28, 1774, were Dr. John Turner, Thomas Durfee, Captain Ambrose Barnaby, Nathaniel Morton and John Hathaway. These represented the spirit of the town, and they came home bringing with them the great resolve of their county courthouse congress to maintain the jeopardized rights of the colonists.
In its turn, then, came the Lexington Alarm, and the response on April 19, 1775, was unanimous here. The names of the thirty-one men who, under Captain Levi Rounseville, answered the call, are always worth repeating-a brave company, who in the face of unknown perils sanctioned what the loyalists naturally had called rebellion. These were the Revolu- tionary men of Fall River: Lieutenants Samuel Taber and Nathaniel Mor-
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ton; Sergeants John White and Consider Crapo; Corporals Joshua Law- rence and Seth Hillman; Privates Philip Taber, Uriel Pierce, Benjamin. Lawrence, Abiel Cole, Consider White, Jesse Keen, Jacob Benson, John Clark, John Braley, Percival Ashley, Ichabod Johnson, Michael Ashley, Seth Morton, Jeff Sachems, Israel Haskell, Louis De Moranville, Abram Ashley, Charles -De Moranville, Aaron Seekel, Abner Haskins, Benjamin Runnells, Thomas Rounseville, Peter Crapo, Joseph Hacket. And with these well on their way, there were soon afterwards others joining the county regiments here for service in the field, and especially at Rhode Island. And the town did not forget these or their families, for at one of the enthusiastic town meetings of the time (that of May 10, 1775), a vote was taken in which it was declared that the town would take care of the families of the men enlisted in the service. Our Civil War and World War resolves to similar effect were not innovations.
It was a popular thing, then, and a general precautionary measure, too, to form committees of correspondence, inspection and safety; and such a committee was the ruling civic body of the time in this township. The Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776, and the town was stirred to new patriotic action when, at a town meeting of July 15, that year, Fall River declared itself in favor of the paper that severed our rela- tions with the mother country, expressed in a set of resolutions as intrepid of spirit as that shown in any of the towns to the north. The resolutions, as drawn up by Major Joshua Hathaway, Colonel James Winslow and John Hathaway, declared that "We are ready with our lives and our for- tunes to support the General Congress in declaring the United American colonies free and independent of Great Britain"; and finally, with the appeai "to ye Supreme Governor of the world for our sincerity in the declaration." Many who now had been signers of approval of the Fall River document had been Tories up to the last minute-they had been reluctant to relin- quish a life-long adherence to the "old régime." But Loyalists and their friends must up and away, and times and manners must change, as in all .
the history of the universe. So we of these times are witnesses to the passing of a régime that the colonists themselves might never foresee, and the coming of an era that many now are reluctant to accept. Captains Ambrose Barnaby and Levi Rounseville had been Tories up to the final call, but presently they had become Americans, and they and their descend- ants have remained Americans true and tried.
Outside of the personal enlistment of the Revolutionary soldiers, the nearest that the battles of the war approached Fall River was an actual fight that took place within the town limits itself, of which Colonel Joseph Durfee, graphic writer of the event, has told in full, and that is fre- quently quoted from as being the only extant authentic Revolutionary story and diary of this immediate territory. It appears that the British were continually threatening the Bay towns, even Freetown itself, so that Colonel Durfee found it necessary to form a guard for the safety of the townspeople, and the store of the ironworks company wharf was made use of as a guardhouse. Thence, on May 25, 1778, Samuel Reed, a member of the town guard, saw the boats of the enemy approaching. Hailing them, and receiving no reply, he fired a shot in their direction. That aroused the town, and everyone was soon under arms. Advancing, the enemy began
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firing with large guns, resulting in a retreat of the townsfolk. On the way the guard removed some planks that had been placed across the stream, and here Freetown turned and gave battle to the pursuers. The small guard it is stated, handled the enemy roughly, so that the latter decided to make a retreat, though they left behind them a wounded and a dead sol- dier. We quote from a portion of Colonel Durfee's statement :
The wounded soldier left by the enemy, before he expired, informed me that the number of the enemy who attacked us was about 150, commanded by Major Ayres. When they landed, they set fire to the house of Thomas Borden, then nearly new; they next set fire to a grist mill and saw mill belonging to Mr. Borden, standing at the mouth of Fall River. These buildings I saw, when set on fire. When the British troops retreated, as they were compelled to do, from the shots of our little band of volunteers, they set fire to the house and other buildings of Richard Borden, then an aged man, and they took him prisoner. We pursued them so closely in their retreat that we were enabled to save the building that they had last fired. The British were frequently fired upon, and not a little annoyed by the musketry of our soldiers, as they passed down the bay in their boats on their retreat.
Mr. Richard Borden, whom they took prisoner, was in one of their boats. Finding themselves closely pursued by a few American soldiers, who from the shore poured in their shot and balls upon them as fast as they could load and fire, and finding them- selves in danger from the musketry of these few brave whigs who pursued them, they ordered Mr. Borden, their prisoner, to stand up in the boat, hoping that his comrades on the shore would recognize him and desist from firing upon them. But this he refused to do, and threw himself flat in the bottom of the boat. Mr. Borden was obstinately silent to all the questions which were asked him; so that, not being able to make any profitable use of him, they dismissed him in a few days, on parole.
The site of this event was marked by a bronze tablet erected by the Quequechan chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, May 25, 1899, on the southwest corner of City Hall. The Sons of the American Revolution have marked the graves of a number of the Revolutionary soldiers, thus: In the North Steep Brook burying-ground, Captain James Simmonds and Ben- jamin Weaver; in the North burying ground, Colonel Joseph Durfee, Thom- as Durfee and Robert Irving; in the Oak Grove cemetery, Ephraim Boomer, Elisha Caswell and Benjamin Peck.
The toryism of a Gilbert or a Valentine of Assonet and Freetown dis- appeared, its former place of prominence lost in the new political rulings; while the town swung into line with all New England and former colonial townships, to become a vigorous industrial community that not many years later should lengthen its lines and borders to welcome the polyglot modern city as we know it today.
CHAPTER IV.
FALL RIVER IN CIVIL AND SPANISH-AMERICAN WARS.
We follow on in their turn through the consecutive periods of the war-travail of the nation, at length to recount how the city of Fall River rose to the occasion and answered the call in 1861. The struggle for an independent State, and against tyranny of whatever name and kind-that is war ethics, whether of the stone age or our own. Therein is seen the reason of the war story taking precedence of any other in our histories, from the beginning of things down to the very times in which we are living-the outcome of wars dictating what all our institutions, our govern-
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ment, our manner of living shall be like. Yet war is a monster, and except in the Middle Ages of castellated towns, few communities have ever found themselves absolutely prepared for its approach. We think we prepare sufficiently today, but every war is furnishing elements of destruction that we had not foreseen. But, loyalty of high degree and patriotism of ap- proved standard furnishing means for preparedness, Fall River was as ready as any of her sister cities and towns to send forth her sons to battle in the Civil War.
The Civil War .- The Boys in Blue and the Boys in Gray, who long since have forgiven one another, began to be out-and-out foes with the firing upon Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861. There was no more actual readi- ness for a prolonged fight here than anywhere else, and no one was able to foretell, except in the manner of warm-hearted boasting of making a short affair of it, how long the trouble would last. But the call to arms was heard and answered in Fall River; and the war meeting that was con- vened at City Hall April 19, 1861, was the most inclusive and provident of any that was being held in New England at that hour. For by acclam- ation, the assemblage adopted resolutions as reported by Dr. Foster Hooper, to the effect, broadly, that the "government of the Union shall be maintained"; specifically, that "the city government be requested to appro- priate the sum of ten thousand dollars, in aid of those who might volun- teer, and for the support of their families; and that each volunteer be paid the sum of twenty dollars per month from the city treasury, in addition to what he is paid by the government."
Hon. James Buffinton, the city's first mayor, and unwavering friend of the soldier and sailor, was present, as he was at all similar gatherings; and Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden, no less staunch a friend to the enlisted men, read the call for the meeting, and was elected its chairman. He inaugur- ated the activities of the day in his opening address, and he was ably seconded by Hon. James Buffinton, Dr. Foster Hooper, David Anthony, John Westall, Robert T. Davis and Walter C. Durfee, members of the city government and merchants of the community. The Common Council com- mittee, to whom the resolutions of the meeting were reported, were on the alert, and the following order was adopted by the city government:
That to each of our citizens who may join a military company of our city, or- ganized according to law, pledged to render military service whenever and wherever required, whether by authority of the State or the United States government, there be paid from the city treasury the sum of fifteen dollars for outfit when such company shall be mustered into service; and thereafter, for a term not exceeding three months, fifteen dollars a month, the latter to be applied for the support of the family or depend- ents, as the soldier may direct; and if, at the expiration of the service, a balance, or the whole, shall remain unpaid, then payment to be made to the soldier in person, or his legal representative; these payments to be made in addition to compensation that may be realized from the United States government.
The city appropriated the sum called for-ten thousand dollars-and immediately, there was organized every means and enterprise to promote the progress of the enlistment of Fall River young men for the Civil War service. Recruiting offices were opened day after day; officers detailed for the purpose urged, through harangue and public address, enrollment into the ranks; while societies of women combined their various forces to work for the one cause.
FALL RIVER IN CIVIL AND SPANISH-AMERICAN WARS 319
Governor John A. Andrew was applied to from Fall River, this being the third request in the State of that kind, that the city might form mili- tary companies for systematic procedure to the front, though the city did not delay an hour while awaiting legal leave to supply men and munitions of war. Lieutenant John Cushing, Mexican War veteran, was one of the most active in the enlistment project, and through his efforts a company was soon in process of formation; while no less energetic in the movement to raise troops was Captain Chester W. Green, later to be made a lieuten- ant-colonel, who organized a rifle company. Shortly, the two companies were ready, and Mayor E. P. Buffinton made application to the State to On June 11, 1861, there-
furnish for the companies two hundred muskets. fore, there were mustered into the service the two local companies, A and B of the Second Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, the regiment being in command of Colonel Darius N. Couch of Taunton, afterwards a brigadier- general, and Lieutenant-Colonel Chester W. Green of Fall River. At about that date, also, a third company was formed whose services for the time being were not required, and disbandment followed. In September, an- other company was in process of formation, and this organization was afterwards mustered into active service, a bounty of fifteen dollars being authorized to be paid to each of its volunteers.
As in the case of the drives of our own times for men, service and money, the year 1862 witnessed performances in that regard that were com- paratively as intense and successful. Rev. Elihu Grant, pastor of the Brayton Methodist Episcopal Church, much interested in military affairs, as at one time he had been a student at West Point Academy, gave his attention to the task of the formation of Company C of the Third Regi- ment. He was one of the capable clergymen of the day who here and there were leaving their pulpits, temporarily, for the war camp and field, and by unanimous consent he was made the captain of the company that he had been the means of forming. Company D was also organized at the same time, and Andrew R. Wright, no less indefatigable patriot, was appointed to its captaincy. As in all other cities and towns throughout the land, Fall River citizens were exhibiting their appreciation, in part, of the patriotism of such leaders as these by the popular method of presentation of swords; and it was at a noteworthy meeting at City Hall, September 9, 1862, that Captains Grant and Wright were thus honored. All this re- newed activity, and these incidents as stated, were the direct result of the call of President Lincoln in 1862 for 100,000 more men, and therefore, a bounty of one hundred dollars for three years' enlistment was recom- mended at the public meeting held at Fall River City Hall, July 11, that year. "At any cost of men and money" was the expression of Fall River people at another public meeting, August 14, when impassioned speeches were made in behalf of redoubled efforts for the cause of the union of states-and money and men were to be had from now on, as the result of a popular vote at this date, the sum of one hundred dollars being raised by subscription to be added to each soldier's bounty. Again on Septem- ber 1, 1862, the city government itself voted a bounty of two hundred dollars for each volunteer for service of nine months. The city also pro- vided two memorable days for these companies-one upon their departure, when everything was done to cheer up the rank and file; another upon
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their return, June 17, 1863, with parades, addresses of welcome and a banquet.
As ever before and since, the drafts were expected, the first taking place at New Bedford, July 22, 1863, when the names of 405 Fall River men were drawn from a total of 1404; in the second draft, May 19, 1864, the names of 82 men were drawn; on June 13, there were 63 names; on July 6 there were 24, and on July 27 there were 20 names. City-wide was the welcome home that was given Company G, Fifty-eighth Massachusetts regiment, Captain Martin Braley, April 5, 1864, and like honors were accorded Companies A and B upon their arrival. But no greater ovation was given any event than that which took place when the news of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee was announced, and when every section of the city vied with each other to prove the genuineness of its gratitude and satisfaction.
The total of 1770 men were furnished by Fall River to carry on the war for the Union, the city's population in 1861 being 14,026, and of the number of enlistments there were 497 for the navy. The different regi- ments in which the men from this city served were as follows: In the three years' regiments of Massachusetts Volunteers there were: A and B of the Seventh, G of the Twenty-sixth; many from F and G, of the Fifty- eighth; groups of men for the Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Sixteenth, Sev- enteenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, Twenty- fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty- third, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh regiments of infantry; Fifth and Sixth batteries of light artillery; Second and Third regiments and First Battalion of Heavy Artillery; First, Sec- ond, Fourth and Fifth regiments of cavalry; as well as in the regular army, general and signal service, and in regiments from Rhode Island, Connecti- cut, New York and Illinois. In the short terms service, too, there were Fall River men in Companies C and D, Third regiment (nine months) ; in the Eighth, Forty-third, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth (nine months) ; the Sixty-first (one year); Company D, Sixteenth, (100 days); Fifth Unattached (90 days) ; Twenty-first (100 days); also men for the Fifth, Fifteenth, Eighteenth and Twenty-fourth Unattached companies (100 days). The first Fall River soldier to die in the war was Nathaniel S. Gerry, a private in Company A, Seventh Regiment of Volunteers; and the first commissioned officer to die during the war was Lieutenant Jesse D. Bullock, who succumbed June 25, 1862, to wounds received at the Battle of Fair Oaks. The Soldiers' monument at Oak Grove cemetery bears the names of 163 men who died in the service.
Liberal was the appropriation of money, liberal for those times, indeed. The city itself appropriated and expended on the war's account, exclusive of the State aid, $107,828.03; and the total amount raised and expended by the city during the war for State aid for soldiers' families, and repaid by the State, was $127,510.02.
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