USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leicester > Brief history of Leicester, Massachusetts > Part 10
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During the summer the Fifteenth and Twenty- first Massachusetts Regiments were enlisted. In the Fifteenth were from Leicester, W. II. Bergen, Simeon E. Ball, who died in the service at Poolesville, Md .; Henry Carpenter, in all the engagements from Ball's Bluff, in which the Fifteenth suffered so severely, to Gettysburg, in both of which battles he was severely wounded ; H. R. Dawson transferred to the Twentieth ; Chas. W. Clifford ; the three Davis brothers, Freeman wounded at Ball's Bluff, reinlisted in the Fifty-seventh Regiment and killed in the battle of the Wilderness ; William M. who returned from Libby prison and died; Alfred W., who died from wounds at the battle of An- tietam ; Charles A. Gleason, who was taken prisoner at Antietam and again in the Wilderness, and who was in Libby prison, Andersonville and Milan, where he died; Charles II. Gough, killed at Ball's Bluff, the first Leicester soldier who lost his life in the service; Maj. Church Howe, first in the Sixth Regiment and then in the Fifteenth, in thirteen battles; lieutenant quar- termaster in the Fifteenth Regiment, provost mar- shal at Harper's Ferry, and senior aide-de-camp to Major-General Sedgwick; Peter McGee; Sergeant John A. Richardson transferred to the Twentieth Reg- iment ; Samuel Slater ; Corporal Charles W. Wood in eighteen engagements, taken prisoner at Gettysburg and again at Petersburg, confined at Andersonville, Milan, Savannah, Albany and Thomasville. These men were, with few exceptions, sharers in the hard- ships, the battles and the sufferings of this historie regiment.
In the Twenty-first Regiment were James Bell, who, in the battle of Chantilly, becoming separated from his regiment and finding himself surrounded by the enemy, continued to fight single-handed and was shot. Horatio N. Barrows in five battles, wounded at An-
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tietam ; Edgar C. Felton, also in the Thirty-sixth and Fifty-sixth ; Thomas Ilurst, killed at Newbern ; John Hopkins, transferred to the Thirty-sixth and to the Fifty-sixth; James Lackey, also in the Thirty-sixth and Fifty-sixth, died of wounds received in the Wil- derness; Barney MeNulty, also in the Thirty-sixth and Fifty-sixth ; Wm. MeGrath, transferred to United States Cavalry ; Jesse S. Scott, musician, also in the Fifty-seventh ; Frank HI. Southwick, wounded at An- tietam; Wm. W. Scott, afterward asst. quartermaster at Chattanooga; Edgar Salisbury, wagoner.
John Graham was in the Signal Corps and also the First Frontier Cavalry. Jerome Bottomly, artificerand Andrew Crossley were in Co. C, Battalion United States Engineers' Troops, enlisting in the autumn of 1861, and serving three years. The company was recruited by Captain (afterwards Major-General) James B. Mc- Pherson, its first commander. They were engaged in all the varied duties of military engineers, laying out roads, fortifientions and defences of various kinds, and especially in building pontoon bridges, often in the face of the enemy. They assisted in building one across the Chickahominy and another over the James, each two thousand feet in length. They often acted as infantry. The names of seventeen battles of the Rebellion are inseribed on their colors.
In the summer of 1862 the Thirty-fourth Regiment was organized. Leicester contributed to it the fol- lowing men : Edwin N. Adams, transferred to the Twenty-fourth Regiment ; Henry H. Bowman, first in Third Battalion Rifles, in seven engagements ; Alexander Benway, John A. Barr, Joseph R. Brooks, Frederick S. Blodgett ; Corporal Henry Converse in nine engagements ; Timothy P. Griffin, principal mu- sician; Edwin Holden in sixteen engagements, wound- ed at Fisher's Hill; Edwin Hoyle, wounded and a prisoner six months at Andersonville; Lincoln L. Johnson died at Harrisonburg, Va .; Sergeant Alfred James in eight engagements, wounded at Fisher's Hill ; Franklin B. King, Lient. Ira E. Laekey, Mat- thew Malloy, Corporal Rufus H. Newton, in sixteen battles, wounded at Winchester, and severely at Petersburg ; Frank Pollard, Michael Rice, in fifteen engagements, wounded at Petersburg; Corporal James Rawdon, died of wounds; Lieutenant Walter W. Seott in ten engagements ; John Shean, Henry Southwick, Corporal Henry E. Williams, wounded in the battle of Piedmont, a minie-ball passing through the left arm, through the body, and lodging in the right arm, captured and taken to Libby prison. John Sherman, James Sherman, Owen Smith, also as Leicester soldiers, Joseph P. Morse, from Worcester, and Norris Morse, of Spencer. The regi- ment left Worcester August 15, 1862. It served principally in the Shenandoah Valley, under Gener- als Sigel, Hunter and Sheridan, until March, 1865, when it formed a part of the Army of the James until the surrender of Richmond. Some of these men were with Sheriden at the time of his famous
"ride." They participated in the various forced marches, raids, skirmishes and battles of that heroic commander, as well as in the later battles of the war.
The duties of the town officers during this and suc- eeeding years were very arduons and perplexing. No pains were spared to fill each new order for men. In July, 1862, the town was called upon for forty-five men as its quota of the three hundred thousand called for by the President. In anticipation of the order a meeting of the citizens was held in the Town Hall on the evening of the 14th day of July. It was a rainy night, but the attendance was large, and stirring ad- dresses were made by the elergymen and several other citizens of the town. It was voted expedient to pay liberal bounties, and the selectmen were requested to open a recruiting office and call a legal meeting forthwith. The next day a guarantee subscription of $1,000 for bounties was secured. On the 22d a com- pany of thirty-two Spencer volunteers passed through town, escorted by the Spencer and Leicester fire companies and the Leicester Cornet Band. They halted a few minutes before the cottage of the vener- able Dr. Nelson, who briefly addressed them. The town-meeting was held on the 26th of the same month, and it was unanimously voted to pay a bounty of $100 to all volunteers who had already enlisted or who should enlist under this call ; that an additional bounty of $50 be paid to all who should remain in the service longer than one year ; and an extra bounty of $25 to any who should enlist before the next Monday, at 9 o'clock, P.M. The meeting was adjourned to the evening, when patriotic addresses were made by several gentlemen. On the 28th a mass-meeting was held, but the process of filling the quota was ditlienlt and slow. It was not completed when another call was issued for three hundred thousand men, to serve nine months. The town was ordered to furnish sixty men. On the evening of the 18th of August another war-meeting was held in the Town Hall. It was large, and proved to be the most stirring and eventful of those remarkable assemblies. John D. Cogswell, chairman of the Board of Seleetmen, presided. Ad- dresses were made by various prominent citizens. The chairman, in a few earnest words, urged all who could to enlist at onee, and then placed his own name at the head of the list. Sixteen came forward at once, in the words of the Worcester Spy, "amidst the cheers and enthusiasm of the large number of ladies and gentlemen, who remained to a late hour." Among the number was the Rev. William F. Lacount, pastor of the Methodist Church in Cherry Valley. The quota was filled in a few days by volunteers. " Among them," as was truthfully stated in the Spy. "were the present and former chairmen of the Board of Seleetmen, and many of the enterprising young men from the best families of the village. The in- dustrious mechanic left a prosperous business, the minister his people, the collegiate his college class, and the husband and father the comforts and pleasures of
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home to unite in putting down speedily this wicked and savage rebellion." Before August 30th fifty had volunteered, all but four of whom became members of a company reernited from Spencer, North Brook- field and Leicester, of which JJohn D. Cogswell was captain, and' T. M. Dnnean, of North Brookfield, and Lyman A. Powers, of Spencer, lieutenants. On Sep- tember 18 the company thus formed eame together in the Town Hall, where the Leicester ladies served a collation, long remembered by these men in the subsequent days of army rations. Addresses were made by citizens and officers of the company, which was conveyed to its camp on the Agricultural Grounds in Woreester, preceded by the band, and escorted by the Union Fire Company. It was finally assigned, as Company F, to the Forty-second Massachusetts Regi- ment. They sailed on the 4th of December under sealed orders. After a long, stormy and perilous voyage, they reached New Orleans the 29th of December, where they served under General Banks. They were in no battles, but were engaged in arduous guard and picket duty.
They were mustered out of service August 20, 1863. A public reception had been arranged for them on their return, and tables were set in the Town Hall, but they were so much worn by their hardships in the malarial regions of New Orleans and so many were ill that the purpose was abandoned.
In this regiment were thirty-eight men from Leiees- ter,-Albert M. Adams (who afterward enlisted in the Second Iowa Cavalry ; was captured in Tennessee by Hood's army December 17, 1864, while on a charge; taken on foot to Meridian, five hundred and ninety miles, through mud, and over frozen ground, the last half of the way barefoot; thence in stock ears to Andersonville, thenee to Macon, Ga., thence to Al- bany, Ga., thenee on foot to Thomasville, Ga., thence by rail to Baleluin, Fla., thence on foot to Jackson- ville, "arriving under the Star Spangled Banner April 29; 1865"), George Adams, Sergeant Bramley A. Bottomly, Corporal Charles B. Brown, Henry Biseo, Moses Bagley, Captain John D. Cogswell, Albert W. Cargell, Corporal James H. Croome, Clark K. Denny, Lewis W. Gates, George D. Hatch, Edward W. Ilubbard, Henry E. Holbrook, William H. Haven, Charles S. Knight, John Craft, Rev. William F. La- connt (pastor of Cherry Valley M. E. Church, who acted a part of the time as chaplain and the rest as hospital nurse), Franklin M. Lamb (musician), Charles M. Marsh, Horatio P. Marshall, Peter MeArdle, George Morgan, Albert S. Marsh, George Mann, Thomas Nolan, Martin Procter, Thomas H. Robinson, George M. Roberts (afterward lieutenant in the Six- tieth Regiment), William C. Sprague, Charles Sander- son, William J. Sprague, Corporal George L. Stone, Thomas S. Snow, Orderly Sergeant Joseph A. Titus, (afterward lieutenant in the Sixtieth Regiment), Charles H. Warren, Corporal Charles H. Woodcock, Eli Wrigglesworth (also in the Twenty-ninth Regi-
ment). Albert M. Goulding, Warren E. Howard and John F. Kibler (first in the Fifty-first Regiment), en- listed in the Forty-seeond Regiment, in its second term of service for one hundred days.
July 13, 1863, fifty-two men were drafted from Lei- cester. Some of them paid the commutation fee of three hundred dollars or furnished substitutes, while others were, for various reasons, exempted, so that it is believed that none of them entered the service. This was a time of unusual excitement. The riots in New York and threatening demonstrations in other places encouraged resistance and awakened apprehensions. Whatever of disloyal feeling existed in town then found expression in protests and the encouragement of discontent. Information was re- ceived of threats to gain possession of the enrollment list, or burn the office where it was kept. The office was consequently guarded several nights by armed men, and the town, to some extent, patrolled. The danger may have been exaggerated, but the facts illustrate the feverish condition of the publie mind at this time.
In November, 1863, the Rev. Mr. Coolidge re- ceived leave of absence from his church, and spent about two months with the Army of the Potomac, in the service of the Christian Commission. In all the years of the war the women vied with the men in loyal serviee. Every call for help met a prompt re- sponse, and there were many meetings for sewing and the preparation of hospital supplies, while the children made " comfort bags," furnished with sew- ing materials, for the convenience of the soldiers. In all this work, Mrs. Billings Swan, whose great regret was that she had not sons who were able to go to the war, was a conspicuous leader.
Mrs. Nelson, wife of the senior pastor of the First Congregational Church, although seventy-five years of age, labored unremittingly, and encouraged others to do the same. She knit one hundred pairs of stoekings for the soldiers, and enclosed a note in the hundredth pair to the soldier who should receive it, to which she received an answer.
On the 21st and 22d of February, 1865, a fair was held in the Town Hall. Governor Emory Washburn was president, and made an opening address. The amount realized was $2636.07, which was equally di- vided between the Sanitary and Christian Commis- sions and the Freedmen's Aid Society.
In the Massachusetts Fifty-seventh Regiment were James Ackley, wounded at Spotsylvania, first serving in the navy, under Admiral Farragut on the Missis- sippi River, at the capture of New Orleans; William H. Anthony, shot at the North Anna, and killed by a charge of grape while being carried from the field ; Freeman Davis, first in Fifteenth (wounded at Bull's Bluff'), killed in the Wilderness ; Oliver Gosler, died of wounds near Petersburg; Phineas L. IIol- brook, wounded at North Anna; Edward A. Hawes, Emerson B. Lacount, musician ; Patrick HI. Mann-
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ville, enlisted at fifteen years of age, killed at the battle of North Anna ; Henry C. Maloney, died in the service ; Joseph B. Winch, Sergeant Horace S. Pike, wounded at Petersburg; Jesse S. Scott, principal musician ; Charles W. Gleason.
Hiram Streeter was also a member of this regiment. When friends endeavored to dissuade him from leav- ing his wife and young children, he said : "I have decided that it is my duty to defend my country, if I die in so doing." IIe enlisted, and after participating in the battles of the Wilderness and North Anna, was killed by a minie ball, before Petersburg, June 17, 1864.
In the Sixtieth Massachusetts Regiment, one hun- dred days' men, stationed at Indianapolis, were Corporal Alonzo W. Bond, Franeis A. Bond, Aaron T. Cutler, Lewis R. Dowse, William Graham, Johu T. Gongh, Lieutenant George R. Roberts, Lieutenant Joseph A. Titus, Henry L. Watson and Alphonso Woodeock.
In the Second Regiment was Edwards D. Farr, wounded in the foot at Cedar Mountain, twenty-four hours on the battle-field; came from it on crutches made with a pen-knife ; died of the wound in the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had suf- fered amputation. In the Tenth were Silas Bereume, wounded at Fair Oaks, re-enlisted in the First Con- nectient Cavalry, taken prisoner at Ashland, in Libby Prison, Andersonville, Savannah and Milan ; James E. Bacon, William Conway, who died in the service. In the Eleventh was George McDonald, missing after battle in the Wilderness.
In the Twelfth were the brothers Charles B. Fris- bee (in fifteen battles, wounded at Antietam) and Albert Frisbee (in all the engagements of the regi- ment till taken prisoner at Gettysburg, in prison at Belle Isle, Libby and Andersonville, where he died. Their brother, William, was in an Ohio regiment, and was wounded in Georgia. Lovell P. Winch was in the Thirteenth; John Denny, in the Nineteenth ; Henry R. Dawson, in the Twentieth. John Lord was in the Twenty-second, killed at the battle of Chicka- hominy. Lieutenant John Minor was in the Twenty- eiglith ; also Jesse Pollard, who was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run, and also at Secessionville, S. C. Eli Wrigglesworth was in the Twenty-ninth. In the Thirtieth were Sergt. Aaron Bowman (in all the battles of the regiment till his death at Baton Rouge, La.), Henry S. Thayer (who died at New Orleans), and James H. Whitney (who died in Mississippi). Captain Thomas Burt was in the Thirty-first; also in a Connecticut regiment ; assistant provost mar- shal at New Orleans. Alexander II. Fairbanks and George E. Sibley were in the Sixty-first, and James H. Knight in the Sixty-second.
George Armitage was in the First Cavalry; Henry J. Biggs in the Second Cavalry, also John Trim, Lewis Gosler, Dennis S. Quinn. In the Third Cav- alry, John Crogan, Eugene Esehman ; in the Fourth
Cavalry, David Dawson, bugler; Thomas Doyle, first in the Fifty-first Infantry, died of wounds at Magno- lia, Florida ; in the First Frontier Cavalry, Rodney W. Greenleaf.
In the Second Heavy Artillery, James Flannigan, Andrew Stowe, who died at Andersonville, and Charles L. Cummings, also in the Fifty-first Infantry ; in the Third Heavy Artillery, John Crogan.
Edward May, paymaster in the naval service. Joseph Doran was also in the naval service.
In addition to those named are the following men who enlisted in the quotas of other places-in what regiments is not known : Dexter Austin, John Brooks, Andrew Clark, John Darling, Charles Fay, Michael Fritz, Patrick Henry, E. Hastings, James Morgan, John L. O'Brien, Owen Rice and IFugh Hopkins.
In addition to those who enlisted from town were men who were purchased as recruits from other places. Some of these are known to have done good service ; of others little is known. In the Second Heavy Artil- lery were William Ilenry Harrison, James Lowell, Edward MeKay, John McDonald, Walter Stone. In the Second Massachusetts Regiment were Richard Lynch, John Maller and Edward Shandley. In the Veteran Reserve Corps, Oliver Santum and Corporal Edward Kendall. In addition to these were Patrick Dowd, of the Fifty-sixth; Alexander HI. Fairbanks, of the Sixty-first ; Samuel Slater, of the Fifteenth and Twentieth; James Scott, of the Fifty-eighth ; James Smith, of the Twenty-seventh ; Rodney W. Greenlief, of the First Battalion, Frontier Cavalry, William H. McGregor, also of First Battalion, Fron- tier Cavalry, and Corporal George H. Lancaster, of the Third Ileavy Artillery.
The following is a list of the names of recruits pur- chased by the town whose designation and history are unknown : Wm. Adams, Lewis L. M. Arnold, Jas. Barnes, Antoine Bownett, Jesse Croslin, Mark Colman, James Delany, Michael Demsey, John Doyle, Eliakim H. Eaton, Jas. Edmanson, Joshua H. Eldridge, Jno. F. Farrell, Henry Hastings, John F. Kenniston (un- assigned recruit), James Leary, John L. Labene, William II. Leighton, Cornelius Leary, David G. Lambert, John Lee, Albert L. Loud, John Lindsey, Geo. S. Little, Wm. J. Lord, Patrick Lynch, Edw. L. Limminson, Stephen Lynch, John Lindsey, John Mullen, James Miller, Shubal Mayo, John Mooset, Sawney Nelson, William Ottevall, Owen Rice, Wm. Reese, Owen Smith, Henry Stewart, Samuel Stewart, Samuel Taylor, Edward Vaughn, George Varnum, Charles Vose, Edward Cottey, George Donnelly, Thomas Graves, Martin MeBride, Osear B. Phelps.
Eleven of the recruits are recorded as deserters. Their names are omitted from the roll of honor. With all the pains taken to make the list of soldiers com- plete, there are doubtless inevitable omissions.
The highest rank to which a soldier attained in the service is given in the lists. Some enlisted for other towns. The number of battles in which a soldier
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vas engag -_ all sulle ! unknown.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the town furnished three hundred and twenty men for the war, of whom two hundred and forty-eight were in three years' regiments. Six were commissioned officers. Dr. John N. Murdoek and T. E. Woodcock furnished substi- tutes. The military expenses of the town were $42,- 653.28, of which $12,383 were, however, for State aid. A league of enrolled men was organized in the snm- mer of 1864, which raised $4,400 for the purchase of reeruits, and $2,960 were raised by citizens not liable to a draft.
Considerable sums were also raised for the Sani- tary and Christian Commissions. Throughout the entire war the women were untiring in their interest and labors for the relief of the suffering soldiers.
The names of Leicester men are on the rolls of twenty-eight Massachusetts regiments, and others en- listed in other States and in the regular army. At least thirty-three died in the service ; eleven were in Rebel prisons, of whom seven died. The sons of Leicester were in over a hundred battles.
The premature announcement of General Lee's surrender occasioned such a thrill of joy as had not been experienced since the close of the Revolutionary War. The bells were rung, cannons were fired, and responses were heard from surrounding towns. News of the actual surrender arrived on the morning of the 10th of April, and was followed by the firing of can- non and the ringing of bells, and in the evening by the playing of the band and a general illumination. The terrible revulsion came on the 15th, with the tidings of the assassination of President Lincoln. The feeling here, as elsewhere, was intense ; every other interest was forgotten, business was suspended, the bells were tolled during the afternoon, and ministers laid aside their preparation for the next day, unable on that memorable Sabbath to speak upon any other theme than that which alone inter- ested the people. On the day of the funeral the bells were tolled and services, attended by people from all parts of town, were held in the First Church. " It was a large, sad audience."
During the morning service, on the 14th of May, a message was brought to the church containing the news of Jefferson Davis' capture, and the welcome fact was announeed from the pulpit.
CHAPTER VIII.
LEICESTER-(Continued.)
MISCELLANEOUS.
Individuals and Residences-Physicians- Lawyers- Items of Interest-Bury- ing-Grounds -Post-Offices-Fire Department-Taverns -Libraries-Cherry Valley Flood-Histories-Celebrations.
INDIVIDUALS AND RESIDENCES .- In a sketch so brief as this there can be special mention of only a few of the many persons who are worthy of such notice. To some of these referenee has been made in other connections.
The Earle families generally resided in the north- east part of the town, where they erected substantial homes, some of which are still an ornament to that neighborhood. They were so numerous that in 1812, when Rev. Dr. Nelson visited the Northeast School on examination day, he found that of the forty pupils present, twenty-one were grandchildren of "Unele Robert " and "Aunt Sarah" Earle. Ralph Earle, the ancestor of the Leicester Earles, eame to town in 1717 from Freetown, Mass. Ile became a large land- owner and the head of a family, members of which, in their different generations, have had more than a local reputation. Among these, Ralph, his great- grandson, takes special rank as an artist. Ile made full-length portraits of Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, and others in Connecticut, and portraits of " many of the nobility and some of the royal family" of England. For a time he was under the instruction of Benjamin West in London, and he was made a member of the Royal Academy in that city. He painted the battle of Lexington and other battle- seenes of the early period of the Revolution, which were engraved. ITe has the distinction of being the first historical painter of America. A landscape view of Woreester, taken from Denny Hill, is now in the possession of Deacon C. C. Deny. His brother, James Earle, was also a painter of "considerable eminence." IIe was married in London, but died in Charleston, S. C., on a visit to Ameriea. Thomas Earle, grandson of the Ralph who came to Leicester, was a mechanic of remarkable skill. His home was on Bald Hill, in Cherry Valley, opposite Olney's factory. Ile planted rows of sycamores in front of his house on the day of the battle of Lexington, three of which are still standing. A musket of su- perior quality and beautiful finish, which he made for Col. William Henshaw, is preserved in good condition. Gen. Washington so much admired it that he ordered one like it for himself. Mr. Earle made the gun with great care, and when it was completed he loaded and primed it, placed it under water to the muzzle over night, and in the morning discharged it at the first pull of the trigger. He afterward shouldered it and carried it on foot to General Washington in New 1 York.
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Thomas Earle, the son of Pliny, born in Leicester and edneated at the academy, was, in 1840, candidate of the Liberty party for Vice-President, with James G. Birney. He was an able editor and an influen- tial writer in opposition to slavery. Ilis home was in Philadelphia. Ile is described as " a man of pow- erful intellect," "enlarged views," "of warm and generous impulses," "a philanthropist whom oppres- sion could not swerve; a politician whom polities could not corrupt; 'and a Christian whom seet could not cirenmseribe.' " Notices of other members of this family will be found in the History of Worcester.
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