USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 15
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HISTORY OF ATTLEBORO
into camp at Boxford, September 18, 1862, the officers elected were as follows : Captain L. T. Starkey ; First Lieutenant F. S. Draper ; Second Lieu- tenant E. S. Horton; Sergeants H. A. Burchard, J. H. Godfrey ; Corporals H. S. Adams, S. G. Bassett. This company was organized as Company C. Forty-seventh Regular Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, at the muster-in on September 23.
The earliest draft in which the town was concerned took place in July, 1863, with one hundred and twenty-one names drawn from the four hun- dred and four ballots placed in the box, fifty-three of the names being ex- empted under the law. November 18 of that year, Captain Everett S. Horton was appointed recruiting officer for the Fifty-eighth Regiment of Infantry, and forty-nine men enlisted from here for that regiment, thirty- seven of them in Company C, with Captain Horton in command.
Thenceforth and to the end of the war, the town government and the townsmen conjointly mapped out and continued their own patriotic enter- prises such as those when the town meeting voted to refund money sub- scribed by the townsfolk for recruiting purposes; when it was voted to raise by taxation a sufficient amount of money to procure the quota of volunteers under the President's call of March 14, 1864; when the select- men themselves voted to act as recruiting agents in filling that quota, with H. N. Daggett, J. R. Bronson and George D. Hatch to assist them in the work. The number of men from this town who had enlisted for three years' service was 320, and the aggregate bounty paid them was $20,505.
From the first, the women of Attleboro proved their own deep and unfailing interest in the welfare work of the time, and as early as May 30, 1861, they offered their services in the preparation of clothing for the men departing to the front. Sewing societies were formed in all sections of the town for that purpose, and in North Attleboro they held their meetings in the hall of the Masonic building, and in East Attleboro in Union Hall.
When Company I, before referred to, had attained the desired quota of one hundred and five men, only nine were not of Attleboro. Their drill-ground was on the old "Tom French place," so-called, on the road from Farmers' to Robinsonville; and with the Seventh Regiment they went into camp at Taunton from June 12 to July 12, 1861. Thence they proceeded to Washington, and thereafter they followed and participated in most of the fortunes of the regiment so notably a portion of our country's military story, taking part in all the principal battles. Company I lost its valiant captain, Prentiss M. Whiting, at the battle of Chancellorsville, at which time Lieutenant William Wade took command. In July, 1864, with less than one-half of the original number in ranks, they returned to Attleboro, where they were given that hearty greeting that only the home-town can give its sons. In the spring of 1862 forty-five men from this town enlisted as members of Company C of the Forty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment, with Lemuel T. Starkey as captain, and Everett C. Horton as one of the lieutenants. The company shared in the various regimental fortunes re- corded in our military history.
While in the South, Captain Starkey resigned from his company, and he was succeeded in its leadership by Lieutenant Horton, the former con- tinuing in the service as a recruiting officer at Providence. He was the
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means of enlisting 1,084 men, both in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Company C was mustered out at Readville September 1, 1862.
Again, forty-two men from Attleboro were mustered into service in the Fifty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, on February 20, 1864, most of them in Company C, the regiment being mustered out July 14, 1865. Attleboro men in this regiment participated in the battle of the Wilderness, and some of them were confined in southern prison-pens. A number of men from this town were in Companies I and H of the Twenty- fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, enlisting in the fall of 1851. They took part in a number of the prominent fights; they were at the sieges of Forts Sumter and Wagner, and in the Morris Island campaign of 1863. The regiment shared with Grant's army the experiences of the fighting during the summer of 1864 and the spring of 1865, and it was among the first of the regiments to enter Richmond after the surrender of General Lee.
There were fifty-four men of Company H, Fourth Regiment Massa- chusetts Volunteers, over one-half of the company being men from this town. Enlisting early in August, 1862, they proceeded to camp, and on September 1 they were in Washington, and the regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at Yorktown, June 23, 1863. At the expiration of their service, they were mustered out June 16, 1865.
Spanish-American War Service .- At the breaking out of the Spanish- American War, a company of infantry was located in Attleboro, and in June, 1898, by orders from the adjutant general's office, Captain George H. Sykes of that company was directed to recruit it to war strength, which was 106 men. The company was enrolled at Attleboro by the above- named officer, beginning June 22, 1898, and on June 30th proceeded to Bos- ton, where it joined the other companies of the Fifth Massachusetts Vol- unteer Militia, and was reviewed by the Governor, after which the regiment proceeded to South Framingham, Massachusetts, and went into camp. The company was mustered into the service of the United States as Company I, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, July 1, 1898, by Captain E. M. Weaver, U. S. A., the officers being: Captain George H. Sykes, First Lieu- tenant Charles A. Richardson, and Second Lieutenant Edward P. Coleman, and ninety-eight enlisted men. All the officers and a good part of the men were from Attleboro. Remaining in camp until September 11, 1898, the company and regiment left for Middletown, Pennsylvania, arriving there on the twelfth of September, and remaining at Camp Meade until Novem- ber 16, 1898, when they left for Camp Wetherill, Greenville, S. C., arriving November 18, 1898, remaining there until March 31, 1899, when they were mustered out of the service of the United States. Leaving for Boston on that date the regiment as a unit was reviewed by the Governor after which Company I left for its hometown, Attleboro. The company was in the United States service nine months. Its duty was chiefly training, with provost guard duty at Greenville, S. C. There were no casualties while in service.
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HISTORY OF ATTLEBORO
CHAPTER V.
ATTLEBORO IN THE WORLD WAR
Without any reservation whatever as to the resources of its institu- tions, its industries, its homes and its individual citizens, native or foreign- born, Attleboro accepted the call and the conditions of the World War. The unanimity of every organization for every wartime movement and need was the conspicuous feature throughout the two years of incessant activity in this small but loyal and devoted city. In its wholesale and generous gifts, in its mutual undertakings for rallies and drives, and in the cordial sympathies exhibited-with creed, class and color forgotten, the citizenship drew nearer together than ever for one cause. We stand in such close proximity to the event at this writing that scores of important happenings must be referred to just now, so vital were they to every household; but as the years bear us farther away from the scene, the leading qualities of the community that will not be forgotten and that will remain steadfast will be those of the city's practical patriotism and zealous team-work that helped save the day. With the unfurling of a new flag on the Common, and the pledging of Attleboro's loyalty to the President, the city, on April 2, 1917, four days preceding the opening of the war between this country and Germany, joined the concourse of New England cities rallying for the World War.
The "Attleboro Sun" gave voice to every occasion at all hours and for all war purposes, on four different occasions printing supplements contain- ing the names of those in service, and it is upon its complete reports of the wartime occurrences here that the essentials of this chapter are based. Flag-raisings innumerable at shops, churches and homes, were part of the outward display of the enthusiasm of the beginnings of the city's forward march into action. Company I, opening its recruiting tent on the Com- mon on April 2, with but little effort had enrolled 109 men into the service, the City Council directly voting one thousand dollars to provide for any local emergency defense required, and seven days afterwards, on April 9, the First National Bank wired Secretary McAdoo its subscription of $100,000 to any war loan. The first call for the formation of the State Guard was issued on April 13, and the local committee of Public Safety took the matter in charge and directed its success. At the outset, in order to encourage the then popular and increasingly necessary enterprise of war gardens, the "Attleboro Sun" at once gave the sum of one hundred dollars and fifty bushels of seed potatoes, and soon afterwards over 1200 citizens registered in the home gardens campaign, 475 children entered the local garden contests, and the City Council itself appropriated $500 to encourage the work of farmers. So early as April 25, it was announced that one- third of Attleboro's $3,000 share of the Y. M. C. A. war fund had been raised. Events followed in swift succession thereafter. On April 26, fifty- two men, under the lead of His Honor Mayor Harold E. Sweet, had enrolled themselves in the State Guard here, and two days later one hundred had enrolled, with Joseph H. Williams as their captain.
On May 15, Attleboro was called upon to register 1,687 men in the first draft, and William J. Fountain was the first man in that draft. The
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draft registration here totalled 6,253, which included 2,443 on June 5, 1917, 185 in June and August, 1918, and 3,625 on September 12, 1918. There were 388 from here accepted into service at camps. All told, 412 were passed here for general service, thirty-eight were passed as remediables, 152 for limited service, and 252 were disqualified. For dependency, 954 were deferred; for agricultural reasons, twenty; and for industrial reasons, forty- one. On June 22, 1917, diplomas were awarded high school boys who had entered the service, namely : Howard W. Mattison, Charles E. Miller, Fran- cis E. Williams, and Irving B. Robbins. On June 28 the Red Cross cam- paign raised $36,150 in the city and $60,000 in the district.
The big feature of July was the parade of the Fourth Regiment, with the members of Company I and 186 draft registrants in line; and a month .afterwards, on August 10, came the farewell supper at the armory, when the company was given a reception, more than 3,000 people being in attend- ance. On August 17 the company departed for Framingham, when a check for $1,000 was given them, and the City Council voted $1,000 for soldiers' dependents. On August 22 it was announced that one hundred local men with Company I had merged with the Ninth Regiment to form the 101st Regiment, and only fourteen men of Company I were left in the Fifth Massachusetts. As these and each quota thereafter left the city they were generously remembered by the citizens.
During September, the Public Safety Committee was at work raising a $500 local war fund, and on November 20 the Y. M. C. A. raised its local quota of $10,000 with over $2,200 coming in at the last meeting. On Decem- ber 7 it was given out that the K. of C. fund had gone to a higher amount than $600 for its $2,500 fund; and December 20 it was $3,000. It was on December 5 that the post office here started its thrift stamp sale; during Christmas week $1,108 in war stamps were sold, and up to February 26, 1918, the amount had reached $7,387. During the first part of 1918, Judge Brady was named head of the local legal advisory board, and Doctors Hewitt, Murphy, Conro and Reed were appointed on the local medical ad- visory board. ,
Now it was that Attleboro recorded perhaps the most terrible winter in all its experience, with the mercury ranging from fifteen to twenty degrees below zero the first week of February, with coal and food shortage, and with "heatless, meatless and wheatless" days and lightless nights. The winter was hardly over when on March 9 occurred the $125,000 fire at the "Daily Sun" plant and the Odd Fellows block. Nevertheless, on April 3 the city celebrated with a parade the ratification of the prohibition amend- ment by the Legislature; and on May 20 the war chest campaign opened, with an objective of $125,000, and in two days the sum of $75,423 was raised : on May 28 the war chest total was given as $143,000.
On May 31, a service flag was presented to the city by the special aid guard; and on June 26, there occurred a war savings stamps boom, with band concert, when $45,000 in pledges were received. On July 24, Captain J. H. Williams was made major, and Lieutenant Holbrook was appointed captain of Company M in the State Guard, which company went into canıp at Framingham, July 30. Mayor Harold E. Sweet was then second lieu- tenant of the company. On August 2, the community labor board was appointed, consisting of S. M. Einstein, G. K. Webster and J. H. Crowell.
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Then came the influenza, with the closing of the churches and all public gathering-places, and the barring of public funerals; the city battling with eight hundred cases in October. There were eighty-four deaths from influenza here. On Monday, November 11, the city celebrated the announce- ment of victory, and on November 15 the sum of $53,055 was given from the war chest to the United War Work fund. The city's own honor roll on the Common was dedicated December 3, and thirty-three gold stars were placed there on December 25.
That wide-awake institution, the Special Aid Society of American Pre- paredness, opened its Attleboro branch March 29, 1917, the officers being : Chairman, Mrs. Eliza Brown Daggett; vice-chairman, Mrs. Harold £. Sweet; secretary, Mrs. Mary C. Ford; treasurer, Miss Elsie M. Dearborn. This organization became a chapter of the American Red Cross, October 9, 1917, with jurisdiction over this city as well as the towns of Norton and Seekonk, and its membership attained to the number of 5,395. The Special Aid Guard, a military organization of sixty-four young women, was started April 25, 1917, by the chairman, Mrs. Daggett, and by Captain Thomas Williams, which company cooperated with the Red Cross Chapter, through . out. The captain of the Guard was Mrs. Ethel Hollis; first lieutenant. Elizabeth Sherwood; second lieutenant, Mrs. Marion Sykes Flagg. The activities and the chairmen of the various departments were as follows: Knitting, Mrs. E. D. Gilmore, with a total production of 9,054 articles : surgical dressings, Miss Harriette L. Wilmarth, with total of 128,225 articles ; hospital supplies and comforts, Miss Elizabeth F. Wilmarth, chair- man, total 129,631 articles ; sewing, Mrs. James L. Wiggmore, 3,448 hospital and refugee garments, and 800 army kits; drives for Belgian clothing, Mrs. P. J. Cummings, two drives conducted, and 12,000 pounds collected and shipped ; nurses, Mrs. P. J. Cummings, sixty nurses enrolled for various needs and calls ; motor corps, Mrs. Ralph P. Kent, number enrolled, forty- two; home service, Mayor Harold E. Sweet, total number of calls made upon families of soldiers and sailors, 308; number of workers, eight; educa- tional classes, Mrs. Harold E. Sweet: home nursing, four classes; first aid to injured, three classes, and one class in foods and nutrition; War Chest drive, house-to-house canvass, Mrs. H. M. Daggett ; Liberty Loan, women's committee, Mrs. H. M. Daggett. Christmas packages also were sent to men in service overseas in 1917 and 1918; and school children made refugee garments for children, and story-books and puzzles for convalescent soldiers.
From the beginning of events to the close of the war, the committee of Public Safety was at work on the local fields, each member serving without compensation. The original committees as appointed by Mayor Harold E. Sweet, March 26, 1917, being as follows: Executive and finance, chairman, Major George H. Sykes; vice-chairman, Edward A. Sweeney, secretary and treasurer, C. J. McClatchey ; E. D. Gilmore, T. E. McCaffrey, Sr., W. I. Tuttle, Hon. Harold E. Sweet. Recruiting committee, chairman, Captain F. L. Northup; O. P. Richardson, Sr., S. M. Holman, Jr., E. W. Rhodes, W. E. Gorman, G. C. Holbrook. Industrial survey, chairman, W. J. Luther; F. T. Chase, J. B. Pineault. Transportation, chairman, C. L. Rogers ; J. E. Anderson, J. V. Curran. Home Guard, chairman, J. H. Will- iams: Captain C. A. Richardson, E. V. Sweet, L. E. Baer, R. T. Hodge.
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The principal appointments made by the executive committee included Committee on Food Production and Conservation, chairman, Joseph L. Finberg ; Eliza Brown Daggett, Caroline S. Holden, Lewis A. Fales, Samuel Slocomb, Joseph M. McEvoy, Thomas K. Bliss, John E. Anderson. Fuel committee : Chairman, Miles L. Carter; C. J. McClatchey, J. E. Anderson. Soldiers' and Sailors' information, chairman, E. A. Sweeney; Marion L. Sykes, Eliza B. Daggett. Registration of unemployed men and enrolling men for shipyards: Ralph C. Estes, Esq. Patriotic assimilation, liberty chorus and local correspondent Massachusetts Bureau of Immigration, Rev. Charles H. Pennoyer. Non-war construction: M. F. Ashley, Walter O. Lochner, Karl H. Hyde. Merchants' representative for Attleboro, T. E. McCaffrey, Jr. Christmas buying, W. O. Lochner. The office of the chair- man, Major George H. Sykes, was a sort of clearing house for war activi- ties in the city, and under the direction of the Public Safety Committee, Company M, Fourteenth Regiment of the State Guard was organized. A. petition of the names of those interested in this work was presented to the Governor, and after an inspection, physically, by Dr. D. V. Baker of Brookline, assisted by Doctors Charles S. Holden, Ralph P. Kent, Frederick Murphy, Wilfred E. Rounseville, Joshua W. Clarke and A. C. Conro, and by Colonel E. H. Eldridge of the Inspector General Department of Massa- chusetts, the men were mustered in for two years, June 26, 1917, as Com- pany 90, Massachusetts State Guard, and at a later date was assigned to the Fourteenth Regiment as Company M. Upon the recommendation of this committee, the following-named officers were appointed: Captain Jos- eph H. Williams; First Lieutenant George S. Holbrook ; Second Lieutenant Maurice A. Wheeler. The members of the company were:
Albert C. Allen, Frank C. Abbott, Albert H. Aubrey, Russell E. Alger, Harry A. Burtwell, Wilfred Berry, Harold D. Baker, Albert J. Brander, Algie G. Burnham, W. E. Byron, Fred H. Brander, Arthur Bates, Sidney C. Burton, Samuel R. Byers, William H. Bates, Charles G. Croteau. Lamont M. Clark, Charles H. Card, Arthur N. Crosby, John J. Coughlin, Daniel B. Cameron, Walter W. Cook, Irving E. Caswell, William F. Durrell, Harry B. Dyer, Walter E. Delano, Joseph Dumont, Lloyd Elliott, Samuel M. Einstein, Stephen L. Ford, Luke B. Farrell, Joseph F. Fuller, Walter E. Gorman, Ernest D. Gilmore, Harry J. Goodale, Edward L. Gowen, Raymond M. Horton, Harold E. Hillman, Robert J. Hewes, Jr., Harry Holbrook, Samuel M. Holman, Jr., Ernest A. Jost, Henry Johnson, Fletcher Kerkhoff, George E. Lincoln, Leonard I. Lamb, Lewis S. Chilson, Donald C. Morse, Michael J. Mulkern, Nelson J. Matthews, David J. McMurray, Frank P. McNamara, Raymond N. Nerney, Robert W. Parting- ton, Ralph H. Parmenter, Lawrence Perry, William P. Reynolds, Daniel J. Spillane, Maurice W. Spillane, Harold E. Sweet, Charles H. Shepard, William E. Sweeney, Jason Sharon, Ezra Smith, George H. Smith, Edward L. Skinner, William H. Smith, Earl L. Townsend, Charles Thomae, Peter Watters, Frank E. Wakefield, Harold C. Walker, R. H. Wilson, Napoleon J. Watters, David Watters.
Major Sykes was appointed inspector of the Fourteenth Regiment, in- specting each company at its home town and at the camp at Framingham. With Edward A. Sweeney also, he was appointed on the State committee for recruiting. At the principal rally held in Attleboro June 20, 1917, a number of men were recruited, who served with great honor in France, taking part in battles and making the supreme sacrifice on fields that are considered to be the turning-point in the war. Under the committee's super- vision more than $2,600 were raised in behalf of the Halifax disaster relief fund in December, 1917. By their direction, the sixteen four-minute
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HISTORY OF ATTLEBORO
speakers were started upon their rounds, and they provided 180 cars during the eighteen days of the influenza crisis.
The five Liberty Loan campaigns were among the most enlivening events of the war here at home, with every organization and individual in the city as partakers in this most practical feature of citizenry service. Clarence L. Watson was the chairman and Walter O. Lochner secretary of the committees for the different drives, Attleboro exceeding its quota in every drive. The first Liberty Loan campaign here was planned May 24, 1917, and in less than one month, on June 15, it was announced that $50,000 had been subscribed over the quota of $900,000, and that the total number of subscribers was 2,064. During the course of this first drive, Mayor Harold E. Sweet opened the "Dollar Down Club," and the directors of the First National Bank bought $135,000 in bords, in addition to the bank's $100,000. The second Liberty Loan campaign began and was carried through with renewed zeal, the work starting on October + and ending November 9, with more than 1,800 subscribers, the city taking $1,340,350, cr $335,000 more than the minimum amount. During this drive the First National Bank took $100.000 in bonds and the S. O. Bigney Company offered to pay a tenth part of all the bonds its employes purchased. A big rally marked the beginning of the Third Liberty Loan campaign, April 5, 1918, and on May 20 it was announced that there bad been 2.200 purchasers of bonds, and that Attleboro was the first city in the county to go over the top, with its final total of $1,021,600. It was during this third drive that S. M. Einstein offered on April 19 to buy as many bonds as the entire city might purchase on that day, when the First National Bank took $267.850 in bonds, and the Attleboro Trust Company $100,000. And, to cap this climax, there were two thousand people in line in the city's Liberty Bond parade. In the "Fighting Fourth" Liberty Loan campaign, the city's quota was set at $1,168.000 on September 14, and on October 19 ir was stated that the city's total was $1, 406,200, the subscription being $267,850 over the quota. In spite of the epidemic handicaps, the sum of $828,500 was brought in the first day, and on October I7, the city cele- brated with two parades as the quota was reached. In the "Finishing Fifth" loan that began April 18. 1919. the total amount subscribed to Mar 12 was $899.550. or $50.000 over the quota. A victory parade was held with the rally for the loan. April 21, with General McRoberts as the speaker.
The activities of the Attleboro War Chest were a centre of war-time attraction, the organization for that successful effort taking place May 20. 1918. the officials being as follows: President, T. S. Carpenter; vice-presi- dent. J. L. Sweet; treasurer, E. H. Brown : secretary, W. O. Lochner; execu- tive board: T. S. Carpenter, chairman; Louis A. Anderson, John J. Coady. Mrs. H. M. Daggett. Louis A. Duquoy, Joseph Finberg, Walter L. Gardner. John J. Hodge. C. P. Keeler. T. O. Mullaly. E. A. Remington, T. G. Sadler. Hon. Harold E. Sweet. J. L. Sweet. Mrs. J. L. Wiggmore, Joseph L. Will- iams. The disbursing board consisted of Harold E. Sweet, chairman; T. S. Carpenter, John J. Coady. John R. Curry, Louis A. Duquoy. Joseph Fin- berg, Ernest D. Gilmore. N. G. Larson, T. G. Sadler. Later Judge Philip E. Brady was elected to take the place of John J. Coady, deceased. The campaign committee: T. S. Carpenter, chairman; J. L. Sweet, E. A. Rem-
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ington, S. H. Garner, H. M. Fiske, secretary. The object of the association was to provide efficient ways and means for raising funds in this city to help win the war, and to disburse and apportion such funds among the leading war relief agencies. The campaign for funds opened Sunday even- ing, May 19, with the presentation of Rossini's "Stabat Mater", under the joint auspices of the K. of C. and the Y. M. C. A. The publicity committee, consisting of S. H. Garner, chairman; J. J. Coady, George C. Harrison, William L. King, R. H. Marden, E. D. Rhind brought out many unique stunts in advertising. These committees and their aides waged a most satisfactory campaign; securing pledges and cash amounting to $144,000, divided among 7,900 people. In 1923, with the War Chest as an inspira- tion and incentive, a Community Chest was organized-all charitable organ- izations receiving benefit therefrom in one drive.
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