USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Cape Cod, the right arm of Massachusetts : an historical narrative > Part 19
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the term of grace had expired the $4000 was paid, and a receipt given, by which the British commander guaranteed the safety of the salt works and the town "during the present war." Signed by Richard Raggett, Captain. The payment of the taxes for this contribution was in some cases resisted, and legislation had to be resorted to in order to legalize the proceedings. The inhabitants were severely eritieised for their action in this matter, but contended that as the general government had left them in a defenceless condition, they were impelled to do the best they could to avert the destruction of the town.
A similar demand to that made upon the towns of Eastham and Brewster was also made upon Orleans, with the offer of a guarantee of safety and protection in case of compliance. The demand and proffer were immediately rejected. Attempts were made by the enemy during the fall to land, but they were as often driven back. About the middle of December, the British frigate Newcastle was ashore near Orleans. It was necessary to throw overboard a number of spars before the vessel was extricated from her dangerous position. These the people on shore destroyed. Dec. 19, a four-oared barge from the Neweastle entered Orleans harbor and took possession of sch. Betsey, and sloops Camel, Washington and Nancy. On board the former were placed a midshipman and nine men; two of the vessels being aground, they were set on fire, but the flames were extinguished by the inhabitants. The Betsey was got under way, and the midshipman being unacquainted with the coast put the only American on board in charge of the vessel, upon his promise to carry it to Provincetown ; but he ran the craft ashore on Yarmouth beach, where it was recaptured by the inhabitants, and the crew made prisoners and sent to Salem. The Camel arrived in Provincetown,
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several unsuccessful attempts being made to recapture it. A barge containing arms, with two men, drifted ashore in Orleans, and the men gave themselves up as prisoners .* During the operations the militia of the town repaired to "Rock Harbor," the scene of the events, in considerable force, and resisted the approach of the foe, in an engage- ment, in which one or more of the enemy were killed. This skirmish was styled the " Battle of Orleans," and sixty years afterwards the participants, or their surviving widows, obtained, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1855, and a subsequent statute, warrants of 160 acres of public lands, as a pension bounty, for their service in this affair.
Threatening demonstrations were, during the fall of 1814, made upon the town of Barnstable. The militia was called out and assistance sent for from the neighboring towns ; several companies were under arms there two or three days, but the enemy did not make the attempt. The war party, or friends of the administration, complained that the state government was lukewarm and negligent of the safety of our people. Collector Green, who, for the loss of his seat in Congress in consequence of voting for a declaration of war, had been recognized by President Madison by an appointment as collector of customs at Barnstable, in his correspondence with Gen. Dearborn, complains of the action or non-action of the state authorities and suggests measures for defence and the procurement of arms.t He also addressed remonstrances on this point to the authorities in Washington, who were unable to furnish the facilities needed here. Capt. Simeon Kingman of Orleans also made an ineffectual effort to obtain arms and equipments of the state authorities.
*Boston Centinel, Dec. 28, 1814.
+Collector Green's Letter Book.
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The lack of sympathy in the objects of the war, although it was professedly waged to vindicate the commercial and maritime rights of the nation, prevented organization for warlike enterprises in some of the towns, and embarrassed the efforts to that end in the others. Thus the war measures were languidly pursued, and the spirit, which actuated the fathers of the Revolution in resistance to the mother country, was not revived in the war of 1812-15. But there were exceptions to this rule. Among the descendants of the men of 1776-'83, and especially those who inherited the adventurous instincts of the contemporaries of Paul Jones and his associates, business considerations and political influences could not obliterate the old desire to meet Great Britain on the sea, where she had been most aggressive and defiant. The fishermen resorted to the privateers and some of them enlisted in the naval service. For years after the war, was sung the song commemorative of the valor of our tars, and of their aversion to British aggression, commeneing :
"Ye Parliaments of England, ye Lords and commous, too,
Consider well what you're about and what you mean to do; You're now at war with Yankees, I'm sure you'll rue the day, You've roused the sous of liberty in North America."
The literary execution of these stanzas was hardly up to their patriotism, but the latter could not be safely challenged. Privateering, too, turned out a profitable business. Capt. Reuben Rich of Wellfleet, who, with two others, fitted out a vessel under a letter of marque, captured an East Indiaman the first day out ; brought the prize to Boston, and realized $17,000 for his interest when ten days from port .* Four men from Brewster were in the brig Reindeer of Boston, Capt. Nathaniel Snow of Truro, commander. They fell in with a fleet of East Indiamen bound to England, but owing to the strength of the convoy did not attack. Subsequently
*Rich's Truro.
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WAR OF 1812-15.
they captured six prizes, from which they took such part as they wished, and burned the others. Five men from Eastham were in privateer Brutus, Capt. Austin, from Boston. They, too, had a number of engagements and took several prizes .* Capt. Winslow L. Knowles of Eastham engaged in this service with pecuniary success. Some of the sailors of the Cape enlisted in the naval branch, in which they did good service. John Cook of Eastham was one of the crew of the flag-ship of Com. Perry in the battle of Lake Erie. Two Harwich men were of the crew of U. S. frigate Constitution, when it captured the British frigate Guerriere.
The restoration of peace to Europe led both the United States and Great Britain to desire a termination of war, which had almost wholly grown out of complications originating in the great conflict of arms beyond the Atlantic ; and after protracted negotiations, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, Dec. 24, 1815, on the part of the United States by Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Jonathan Russell, James A. Bayard and Albert Gallatin. Singu- larly, nothing was said in the treaty about the impressment of seamen, the only remaining subject of contention ; but the practice was ever after discontinued by the British commanders, in agreement with a tacit understanding with the British commissioners. Peace at almost any price, short of absolute surrender, was a welcome boon, and the results of the war, on the whole, were favorable to the development of the commercial and maritime interests, in which the people of this county were almost wholly engaged. The prisoners from Dartmoor and Halifax, of which the county had many, were released; those held by our authorities
*Pratt's Eastham. Their names were Sam'l Freeman, Jr., Capt. Nath'l Snow, Joseph Snow, Josiah Smith, Matthew H. Mayo.
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were sent home; the great military establishments were discontinued ; and the sailor, farmer, artisan and mechanic, no longer hampered in their pursuits by the presence of armed soldiery, hailed with gladness the welcome advent of Peace !
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1812-1815.
1812. Oct., Congregational society, Chatham, voted to enlarge the meeting-house and increase the uumber of pews .- An act passed by the Legislature to protect the lobster fishery of Provincetown.
1813. The First parish, Sandwich, in 1811, dismissed the pastor, Rev. Mr. Burr. The society, by a very large majority, voted for the dismissal, while the church sustained the pastor, by an equally large vote. The pastor brought action for his salary, and to decide whether the church or the society controlled the temporalities, i. e., the funds, records, etc. The Supreme court this year sustained the society, which retained possession of these. 159 persons therenpon seceded, and formed the Calvinistic Congregational society, retaining Mr. Burr for their pastor. Rev. Ezra S. Goodwin succeeded Mr. Burr as pastor of the First Congregational society. This case served as a test in subsequent actions growing out of the division between the Orthodox and Unitarian Congregational bodies in this state, which occurred about this time, the prevailing party in this case being of the latter faith .- March 21, Rev. Caleb Holmes of First parish, Dennis, died, aged 33.
1814. Rev. Joseph Haven invited to the First parish, Dennis .- Nob- seussett Pier Co. in same town incorporated.
1815. Wellfleet Manufacturing Co. incorporated, with capital of $6,000, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woolen yaru. - Rev. Jotham Waterman was dismissed from East parish in Barnstable, aud was succeeded by Rev. Oliver Hayward .- Sept. 23, a great gale swept over that part of the county contiguous to Buzzard's Bay. The tides were the highest ever before known, exceeding the memorable gale of 1635. Trees were uprooted, salt-works destroyed, vessels driven from their moorings and landed high upon the shore, and vegetation in many places destroyed. Had the tide risen 15 inches higher, it would have swept over the Cape. Lower down on the Cape it was much less severe and destructive.
CHAPTER XV.
FROM THE WAR OF 1812-15 TO SOUTHERN REBELLION.
Industrial Revival-Commercial Development-The Hersey Estate divided-Breakwater constructed at Hyannis-Burning of the County Building-New Court House-Second Centennial Cele- bration at Barnstable - Destructive Gale of 1841 - Principal Legislative Enactments-Obituary notices -Local events.
F ROM the termination of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, the industrial activity of the people of Cape Cod again revived. Manufactures, during the continuance of the struggle, had been initiated and pursued with some degree of vigor and success, here as in other parts of the country, but before much capital or effort had been expended, the reverses which overtook this industry in all sections of the country deterred the people of the Cape from entering largely into the business. The genius of our citizens was so largely of a maritime cast, and their habit of looking to the sea and the counting-room as the theatre of their efforts and exertions, has been so ingrained in their natures, that it has for a century been found a difficult matter to divert their energies in the direction of manufactures and the arts. Commerce and the sailing of ships had their seasons of reverses and of success- ful achievement, but from the close of the war of 1812-15
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to the opening of the Southern Rebellion, may be counted as the most memorable and satisfactory period in the industrial development of Barnstable county. The reputation of our ship-masters and merchants who were of Cape Cod origin in the chief cities stood at the head of the column in all business enterprises with which they were engaged. It is only necessary to recall such names as Sturges, Bacon, Sears, Brooks, Swift, Collins, Lombard, Hallett, Nickerson, Kenrick, Baker, Crocker, and many others, merchants and master-mariners of renown in Boston, New York and Baltimore, to emphasize this assertion. It may be justly said of them that they were the peers and rivals of the most enterprising in the land, for at least half a century, in which the United States and Great Britain contended for the mastery of the sea. This period may, therefore, be regarded as the most auspicious epoch in the industrial history of Cape Cod, though its annals, in accordance with the oft-quoted maxim, while prosperous, were uneventful and unexciting. The narrative of events, however, was not without many episodes of interest, and in the succeeding pages these transactions will be narrated in the order in which they occurred.
In 1816 the Congregational churches of the county petitioned for, and obtained permission from, the legislature, to sell their several and collective shares in the Hersey estate. This property lies about a mile eastward of the court house, and was devised by the will of Dr. Abner Hersey, in 1786, to the thirteen Congregational churches then existing in the county, for the dissemination of a certain character of religious literature. Dr. Hersey was a man of peculiar intellectual order. With much vigor of judgment, he was also a confirmed hypochondriac. He came to Barnstable from Hingham, as the successor of his
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FROM WAR OF 1812-15 TO SOUTHERN REBELLION.
brother James, who died in 1770. He was not then considered, either by education or acquirements, particularly well fitted for the position of medical practitioner. But he had something as good as education, great native sense and sagacity and the power of application and acquisition of knowledge. He soon became the leading medical man on the Cape. He travelled on a regular circuit, and his times of coming found scores of sufferers awaiting his advent, with patrons at all the important centres and cross-roads in the region. His manners were brusque and imperious. At the close of his life he began to take precautions about his own health. He lived sparingly, and took much care to avoid exposure to damp and cold weather. He had leather curtains to his sulky, and in winter wore a leather cloak made of sixteen calf skins. His bed was covered with a large number of milled blankets, and on retiring he would turn down a considerable number, according to the weather. His garments were cut after a fashion of his own. He was capricious and uncertain in his moods, but a just and benev- olent man, as well as a good manager in financial matters, having in his practice accumulated what was in his time regarded as a good fortune. In his will he bequeathed £500 to Harvard college for the endowment of a professorship of physic and surgery, and the remainder of his estate, after the decease of his wife, to the thirteen Congregational churches in the county, proportioned to the amount he had obtained in each of the parishes. The proportion reduced to 56ths was as follows :
East Precinct, Barnstable, 7-56ths
West
5-56ths
Falmouth, 4-56ths
Sandwich, 4-56ths
West, or First Precinct, Yarmouth, 6-56ths
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East, or Second Precinct, Yarmouth, 4-56ths
North, or First, Harwich, 4-56ths
South, or Second, Harwich, 3-56ths
Church in Chatham, 4-56ths
" South Eastham, 5-56ths
" North Eastham, 3-56ths
" Wellfleet, 3-56ths
" Truro, 4-59ths
This estate, which was appraised at £3998: 9: 10, was to be managed by the deacons of the several churches, the income to be devoted to the purchase and dissemination of theological books, such as Dodridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion," Evans's sermons on "The Christian Temper," Groves's "Discourses on the Lord's Supper," and Dodridge's discourses on other subjects of a theological nature. The deacons used to hold an annual meeting at Mrs. Lydia Sturgis's tavern, in Barnstable, which seldom lasted less than two or three days, and as they lived well, and were not stinted in drinks and diet, in days when conviviality was no detriment to the character of a professor of religion, and the travelling expenses of the thirteen absorbed a considerable sum, the income of the estate after a few years left but little margin for the purchase of religious books. The legislature was therefore called upon, at the end of thirty years, to interpose, and an act was passed to authorize the sale of the property, and, after compromising with the heirs, to divide the remainder among the several churches ; which was eventually accomplished.
Were these pages intended to epitomize the acts of general legislation, in which our own people were intimately interested and concerned, it would be expected that they would record the passage of the tariff acts and the Missouri Compromise measures, which agitated the public mind in
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FROM WAR OF 1812-15 TO SOUTHERN REBELLION.
those days, here as in other parts of the country ; but this does not seem to be called for in a narrative of local events. Two measures of importance to the Cape were, however, enacted by the legislature in 1821, the incorporation of the first banking institution in the county, at Falmouth, with a capital of $100,000; also of the Salt Manufacturing Co. of Billingsgate Island, capital $50,000.
By an act of Congress of 1826, an appropriation of $10,600 was made for the construction of a breakwater for the protection of shipping in Hyannis harbor, which has been followed by several additional appropriations since that time, for extensions and repairs. It has added much to the value of that harbor and the security of shipping.
The expiration of Mr. Monroe's administration and the accession of John Quincy Adams to power were the events of public importance in 1828, and in the political struggles which accompanied those events, Cape Cod citizens were actively identified. The establishment of a manufactory of flint glass, at Sandwich, this year, inaugurated by far the most important manufacturing industry which ever existed in the county.
The upper towns of the county, particularly Falmouth and Sandwich, were, in 1828, saddened by the loss of a vessel returning from Charleston, S. C., with some thirty young men, merchants and artisans, who had spent the winter season in prosecuting their business in South Carolina. This year was a peculiarly afflictive one for Truro, particularly, and to all the Cape towns, many of the young men going down beneath the treacherous waves.
The burning of the county house, at Barnstable, on the night of October 22, 1827, was an event which may rank as a calamity of the first importance to the business and family interests of the county. This building was occupied
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CAPE COD.
for a registry of deeds, registry of probate, and an office for clerk of the courts. The fire was discovered from his chamber window, by Rev. Henry Hersey, the pastor of the East church and society, about 11 o'clock at night, and he immediately gave the alarm. Fortunately, several young gentlemen were at Crocker's hotel, enjoying a social evening, and immediately went to the spot, and by their efforts and those of Mr. Hersey succeeded in rescuing a large number of volumes from destruction. The court records were nearly all destroyed, together with 93 folios of records of deeds, numerous deeds left for record, and vols. 29, 44 and 46 of the probate records. All the rest of the probate records were rescued by the efforts of these young men .*
The legislature of the succeeding year did all that could be accomplished to rescue from oblivion the records destroyed by the fire in the county building. By the act of January 16, .1828, an extra term of the court of Sessions was authorized to take measures for the erection of a county building, in consequence of the late destruction by fire ; and by another act, approved March 10, it was made the duty of the selectmen of each town to cause to be recorded all deeds for conveyance of real estate lying in their respective towns, which should be brought them for that purpose, and which bore date not more than forty years back and had been recorded in the registry of deeds of the county before the 3d of October preceding, the said books then to be deposited in the office of the register of deeds, and to be as effectual in law as the first records destroyed by fire. The time for receiving these conveyances was afterwards extended to the first day of May, 1829. The
*From Mr. Eben H. Eldridge, the last survivor of the party, the foregoing account was obtained by the writer. He gave as his associates, Messrs. Henry Hersey, Josiah Hinckley, Jonas Whitman, Eben Bacon, Mr. Parker of Boston, and two or three others.
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FROM WAR OF 1812-15 TO SOUTHERN REBELLION.
result of this legislation was the collection of many important papers, embodied in thirteen large volumes.
In 1832-3, a new court house was erected in Barnstable, under the direction of the county commissioners, Messrs. Samuel P. Croswell, of Falmouth, Matthew Cobb of Barnstable and Obed Brooks of Harwich. It is built of granite and is fire proof. J. & J. Taylor of Plymouth were the contractors. It has twice since been enlarged. The old bell on the former court house was removed to the cupola of the new. It was cast, apparently, in Munich, and bears the inscription, " Si Ders pron bus qvis contra nos 1673." "If God be with us who can be against?" This bell has an interesting history. In 1702, Capt. Peter Adolphe was cast away upon our shore, his body recovered, and buried in Sandwich. His widow, in grateful acknowledgment of the act, presented the citizens this bell, which for thirty years hung in the tower of the old meeting-house. In 1756 the bell was sold to procure another and larger one, the county of Barnstable being the purchaser. It is not now used, being preserved as a relic in the office of the clerk of the courts.
Sept. 3, 1839, was celebrated, in Barnstable, under the most favorable auspices, the second centennial of the incorporation of the town. It was also made a county affair; everything combined to give it the absorbing interest and importance which it attained. There was an imposing parade of soldiery. Prof. John G. Palfrey delivered an address, which contained many things that have since often been quoted, as they were then admired and applauded. Hon. Nymphas Marston presided at the dinner, Hon. Henry Crocker was chief marshal, Gov. Edward Everett made one of his most eloquent and polished speeches, and Chief Justice Shaw, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Hon. William Sturgis and other natives of the town added to the interest of the occasion by
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happy after-dinner efforts. Fire-works and a grand ball were the attractions of the evening.
An act was passed by the legislature of 1839, annexing part of Eastham to Orleans. By these successive divisions of territory, the old and once important town of Eastham has been gradually shorn of her former proportions, until she is now next to the smallest town of the county in respect to population.
The great gale and storm of Oct. 3 and 4, 1841, was one of the most memorable and appalling in its results ever experienced here. Its victims were chiefly the crews of vessels engaged in the fisheries. When the gale commenced there was a large fleet on Georges Bank. They made sail for the Cape, but the strongest canvas was torn to shreds. Some of the vessels succeeded in getting into the bay and running ashore on the beach. Others were driven on Nantucket shoals, and still others were foundered at sea. The scenes which followed were of the most heart-rending description. Fifty-seven lives were lost of citizens of Truro, 10 of Yarmouth, and 20 of Dennis.
That the period from 1830 to 1860 was one of great industrial energy and development for the county, not only upon the sea, but among the business men and enterprises on the land, is made evident by the number of legislative acts, incorporating or authorizing important fiscal institu- tions, and opening facilities for trade and commerce. These statutes show the evolution of business methods, from the primitive to the modern systems. Among these acts the most important and representative were: The Institution for Savings in Barnstable, incorporated January, 1829 : Fishing Insurance Company of Provincetown ; incorporation of Proprietors of Bass River Lower Bridge; authorizing the towns of Chatham and Orleans to open a passage through
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FROM WAR OF 1812-15 TO SOUTHERN REBELLION.
Nauset beach in Chatham for the improvement of Chatham harbor, 1832; the Barnstable County Mutual Fire Insurance Company at Yarmouth, incorporated March 2, 1833; capital stock of Barnstable Bank in Yarmouth, increased the same year ; Falmouth Academy incorporated March 7, 1835 ; Union Insurance Company, Provincetown, and Truro Breakwater Company, for the purpose of forming an artificial harbor, incorporated in 1835; Truro Academy, incorporated 1840; authorizing the Wharf and Harbor Company of Dennis to construct and maintain a breakwater and improve the harbor at Sesuit Creek; authority to construct a highway and bridges across Pamet, Hopkins's and East Harbor Creeks, in Truro, 1841; Marine Insurance Company in Chatham, 1842; Marine Insurance Company of Provincetown, incorporated ; Barnstable County Agri- cultural Society, incorporated March 15, 1844; Equitable Marine Insurance Company, incorporated 1845; Cape Cod Branch Railroad, incorporated 1846, (name subsequently changed to the' Cape Cod Railroad) ; Manomet Iron Company, Sandwich, incorporated 1847; Hyannis Packet Insurance Company, Sandwich Savings Bank, Truro Wharf and Breakwater Company, to be constructed near Pond Landing, Provincetown Marine Railway, incorporated 1847 ; capital of Barnstable Bank, in Yarmouth, again increased this year; the county commissioners authorized to lay out a highway and build a bridge across East Harbor, in Truro, from the end of Beach Point to Provincetown, 1849; Cape Cod Association, Boston, organized May 12; Seamen's Savings Bank, Provincetown, incorporated; permission granted to Cape Cod Branch Railroad Company to extend the road from Sandwich, Barnstable and Yarmouth to Hyannis, with increase of capital stock, 1851; Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, and Barnstable Bank granted
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