USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fall River > Centennial history of Fall River, Mass. : comprising a record of its corporate progress from 1656 to 1876, with sketches of its manufacturing industries, local and general characteristics, valuable statistical tables, etc. > Part 24
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Thirty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh regi- ments of infantry ; also for the Fifth and Sixth Batteries of Light Ar- tillery, Second and Third regiments and First Battalion of Heavy Artil- Icry ; and for the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth regiments of cavalry. Besides the above, Fall River men also served in the Regular Army, Gen- eral Service, Signal Service, and in regiments from Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Illinois. Four hundred and ninety-seven men from Fall River also served in the United States Navy. In the short-term service the city fur- nishcd companies C and D, Third Regiment (9 months), also a number for the Eighth, Forty-third, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth Regiments, (9 months) ; for the Sixty-first Regiment (1 year) ; Company D, Sixteenth Regiment (100 days) ; Fifth Unattached Company (90 days) ; Twenty-first Company (100 days) ; and also men for the Fifth, Fifteenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-fourth Unattached Companies (100 days).
The amount of money appropriated and expended by the city on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was one hundred and seven thou- sand eight hundred and twenty-eight dollars, and three cents ($107,828.03). The sums of money raised and expended by the city during the years of the war for State aid to soldiers' families, and which were repaid by the Com- monwealth, were : In 1861, $7,262.25 ; in 1862, $29,771.67; in 1863, $36,- 476.10; in 1864, $34,000 ; in 1865, $20,000. Total amount, $127,510.02.
The city was fortunate in having for municipal officers, as well as in other places of power and trust, men of high integrity and undoubted patri- otism. During the whole war, the city government was especially active in striving to promote the public weal. Its members workcd hand in hand with the soldiers, encouraging them with words of sympathy and cheer, and by many tokens of material aid. The mayor, through the entire crisis, was Hon. E. P. Buffinton. He was thoroughly acquainted with, and commanded the confidence of the people. His labors were incessant and untiring. Ready in emergency, quick to note the public pulse, a kcen observer of men and things, he controlled the masses, and imbued them with his own blunt, un- swerving loyalty. He was emphatically the friend of the soldiers, doing all within his power, as chief magistrate, to provide for their needs and to further their interests. Large in stature, his heart corresponded to his physical pro- portions. His private generosity was as unostentatious as it was unstinted. His services to the city and to the nation were great, and deserve lasting remembrance. The aldermen during the years of the war, all of whom were substantial and trustworthy citizens, and steadfastly cooperated with the mayor in his labors, were: In 1861, George H. Eddy, Nathaniel B. Borden, Asa Pettey, Jr., John Mason, Jr., James Ford, Job B. Ashley ; in 1862, Joseph
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Borden, Nathaniel B. Borden, Asa Pettey, Jr., John Mason, Jr., James Ford, Job B. Ashley ; in 1863, Samuel Hathaway, Joseph Borden, Nathaniel B. Borden, Benjamin Covel, Charles O. Shove, Walter Paine, 3d; in 1864, Weaver Osborn, Joshua Remington, Nathaniel B. Borden, Daniel Stillwell, Walter Paine, 3d, Philip D. Borden; in 1865, James Henry, Joshua Rem- ington, Nathaniel B. Borden, Daniel Stillwell, Walter Painc, 3d, Philip D. Borden.
The member of Congress from this district during the war, and to whom the city is as largely indebted, perhaps, as to any onc man, was Hon. James Buffinton. Mr. Buffinton enlisted as a private in Company "A," Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, at an early hour of its organization, and positively declined to be elected to any office therein. He took part in its preparatory drills and movements, marching in the ranks, and went with it when it was mustered into service. At Camp Brightwood, Washington, he was appointed adjutant of the regiment, under Colonel Couch. He performed the duties of his position until the fall session of Congress in 1861, when his constituents demanded his discharge, and the resumption of his seat in Congress. The first mayor of Fall River, and an old resident, he was thoroughly informed concerning the city and its surroundings. The work done by Mr. Buffinton for his soldier constituents was enormous. He was the friend and counsellor of them all. In camp, in hospital, in field, he watched over them. He gave to them without stint, time, labor, money, and unbounded sympathy. When the hills around Washington were white with the tents of the nation's de- fenders, and when the mails were overflowing with correspondence to their homes, Mr. Buffinton would, after a hard day's work, sit far into the night, until perforce his hand refused longer to write his name, franking the thou- sands of soldiers' letters brought to him. In every way in his power, he gave comfort and cheer. His influence smoothed rough places and overcame obstacles. Many of the enlisted men and officers from his district were sons of his old friends, and he was to them, away from their homes, at once a father and companion.
In Congress, Mr. Buffinton's course was far-seeing, sagacious, patriotic. He was not gifted with the graces of oratory, and he was seldom heard on the floor of the House; but he had great personal influence and magnetism. Dignified, affable, of commanding presence, intimately acquainted with the prominent men of the time, he seldom failed in accomplishing the things he undertook. Quick to discern, he was prompt to act. He had the quiet per- sistency, the calm self-possession, that achieves success. Sprung from the good old Quaker stock, that so moulded and shaped events in the early his- tory of Fall River, Mr. Buffinton inherited many of the qualities of his
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ancestry. He was like them in his methods and habits. The teachings and examples of such men as Oliver Chacc, Sen., Edmund Chacc, Scn., Danicl Buffinton, and other Quaker settlers herc, had left their impress on him ; and, although he had grown away, perhaps, from the tencts of their religious faith, the virtues inculcated in his early training steadfastly remaincd. At the capital, Mr. Buffinton's counsel was much sought by the leading men, and for years he was a colleague of many of the most prominent statesmen of the country. With them he put forth every endeavor for the suppression of the rebellion and preservation of the Union he loved. Citizens and soldiers of Fall River and of New England have abundant reason to cherish his worth and honor his memory, for he gave the best years of his life to the service of his city and his country, and at times, moreover, when that service was fraught with difficulty and peril.
At one of the public meetings held here, it was resolved that " our old men contribute of their substance and our young men tender their services." This resolution was fully carried out. The elderly men did contribute abun- dantly of the sinews of war, and the young men went forth to fight the battles. The old families, the Bordens, Durfees, Chaces, Buffintons, Davols, were public-spirited and patriotic. They were ready in every emergency with material as well as with moral aid. As a representative man, Colonel Richard Borden was prominent in all loyal endeavors. His influence was as great as his generosity was unbounded. Advanced in years, engrossed in the charge of large manufactures, he nevertheless always answered the numerous calls upon him in his country's behalf. Quiet and retired by nature and disposition, domestic in his habits, his frequent presence at the public assemblages was hailed with enthusiasm. His house was the abode of hospitality, open to statesman, executive, officer, soldier, alike. Fall River, by reason of its pro- minence as a steamboat connection between New England and New York, was a great centre of transportation. Many regiments from various States passed through the city on their way to or from the capital. Colonel Borden, as agent of the steamboat company, was always ready with his boats at the demand of State or Government officials, and he acquired a reputation far and widc as a prompt and excellent business man.
His private liberality was very large. The soldiers' monument in Oak Grove Cemetery was presented by him, and his deeds of generosity to soldiers and their families were manifold. A rare old man, his memory will ever be green in the hearts of those who knew him.
No allusion to Fall River in the Civil War would be in any sense com- plete without referring to the noble part acted by her clergy. One and all they were intensely patriotic, and the churches were fortunate in being pre-
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FALL RIVER IN THE CIVIL WAR.
sided over by men of vigorous loyalty. Especially is the city indebted to the services of Rev. Eli Thurston and Rev. P. B. Haughwout. Mr. Thurston's voice was heard on every public occasion. Who that listened to him can for- get his ringing utterances! Strong, logical, incisive, both in thought and speech, he dealt scathing blows at the rebellion and the causes whence it came. His church was always kept, so to speak, attuncd to the key-notes of patriotism and duty. He manifested an interest in cvery public act. A great reader of the press, in the crises of peril hc haunted the periodical stores to obtain the latest news. He liked to read the New York Tribune, and the stirring appeals of its editor, Horace Greeley, whom in the strong and forcible qualities of his mind Mr. Thurston much resembled. The New York papers were then received the day after their publication, and the Saturday's issue did not arrive till Sunday morning. Mr. Thurston's copy was left at his house, and he used to state in private conversation that he could not resist the temp- tation to look it over before the morning sermon. But oftentimes the reading so worked upon him, that he had to discontinue the practice, in order to keep his mind calm and free for the duties of the day. Brave preacher of the gospel of truth, champion of liberty, defender of freedom, with him faith has indeed given place to sight.
Mr. Haughwout was a worthy compeer of Mr. Thurston. Quick in action, intense in thought and speech, he too was highly strung to loyalty. He was always eloquent in behalf of his country. He could brook no delay. He was often impatient at men and things. Like Joshua, he would have commanded circumstance and compelled success. He had an intuitive per- ception of the country's danger, and his historical learning and great research often led him far in advance of the experience of the hour. The eloquent words he uttered in pulpit and on the rostrum will long be remembered. He appealed to every loyal emotion; he kept to glowing heat the fires of patriotism ; his sentences were breathing brilliant heart-throbs, animated with love for country and devotion to the cause. He, too, has gone to his reward. The other clergymen were also strenuous in devotion. Rev. Mr. Adams, Rev. Mr. Snow, who afterwards became chaplain in the Third Mass. regi- ment, Rev. Mr. Chapman, and others, performed well their parts. The Catholic priest, Rev. Edward Murphy, was unsparing in his efforts. His people were taught the strict line of patriotism. Having lived here almost a generation, Father Murphy, as he is lovingly called, was really a father to his flock. He loved his people and was loved by them, and he held them with firm, unwavering hand to the path of duty.
The women of Fall River during the struggle were worthy of the city and of the cause. They were constant with their help and loving work.
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As early as April 27th, 1861, a ladies' sewing society was organized. For six weeks the members met daily, working from morning until evening, and afterwards they usually eame together one afternoon in each week. Many other meetings were held for work and consultation, and several ladies did their work for the society at their own dwellings. Mrs. Richard Borden was the president, Mrs. Avis Ames, vice-president, and Miss A. C. G. Canedy, secretary. The Committee of Arrangements comprised twenty-two of the prominent ladies of the town, and the society retained its organization from April 27th, 1861, to July 28th, 1865, with some change in its offieers, although Mrs. Borden remained its president during the entire period. Miss Caroline Bor- den, the treasurer, Mrs. Ames, Mrs. William Munday, Mrs. S. Angier Chace, Mrs. Mary A. Brayton, Mrs. Mary Young, Mrs. Foster Hooper, Mrs. Mary Durfee, and many other ladies rendered valuable services. The society received during the time of its existence $3347.76 in cash, which was properly expended for materials to be made up for the soldiers. Among the artieles furnished were 200 soldiers' uniforms, 231 bed-saeks, 131 bed-quilts, 365 bed- comforters, 87 blankets, 355 sheets, 262 pillows, 307 pillow-cases, 167 cushions for wounds, 90 dressing-gowns, 380 eotton shirts, 292 flannel shirts, 284 shirts, 209 drawers, 1164 pairs woollen hose, 1365 handkerchiefs, 2246 towels, 5589 yards, 323 rolls, I box and 4 bundles of bandages, 127 boxes of lint, and a great number and variety of other articles, ineluding pin-cushions, wines, jellies, pictures, newspapers, books, etc., ete. These articles were generally sent to the front through the agents of the Sanitary and Christian commissions. A great number of valuable donations were sent to Portsmouth Grove Hospital, in Rhode Island, only a few miles south of this city, including a Thanksgiving dinner. In November, 1863, a fair was held at the City Hall, extending through several evenings, in the management of which the ladies were very successful. A children's lint society was also kept up during the war, alter- nating its meetings at the different homes of the children. On the whole, the patriotic devotion of the ladies of Fall River was worthy of great praise.
In the space devoted to this chapter but a general idea can be given of the part Fall River took in the eivil war, and it has only been the intention to touch upon the salient points and features of the history of the city during the momentous struggle. The unwritten experience of good deeds done by city and citizen alike is a part of the common heritage. The names of the brave men who went from this eity at their country's eall, the aets of heroism they performed, the sacrifices they made, the wounds they suffered, the glo- rious deaths they died, may not be recounted here. These will live in the hearts of their posterity, and are memorials more enduring than any chiselled in granite or sculptured from marble.
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FALL RIVER'S "WEST END."
FALL RIVER'S "WEST END."
The following description of the principal street and residences of Fall River, about the middle of the fourth decade of this century, is from a paper prepared by one of our older citizens some years since. It embodies his recollections and impressions of those early days, and will doubtless bring to mind many pleasant memories to a few now living, as well as convey some rather surprising information to those younger in years.
Every considerable city or town has usually its West or Court End, so called. Fall River once had a West End. But who, at the present day, walking through Central Street would imagine it was ever the Court End of the town? Let us take a walk down this avenue, noting on either hand the stores, residences, and their occupants as we pass toward the river.
At the south-west corner of Main and Central streets was "Cotton's Corner," so called. The store on this corner, owned by John S. Cotton, was the store of the place. The shelves were well filled with a mixed medley of goods-ribbons, tapes, galloon, needles, pins, cambrics, muslins, sheetings, shirtings, factory checks, molasses, butter, cheese, flour, spices, powder, hard- ware, ox-yokes, plows, stick-baskets, and various other goods-all ready to supply the townspeople and " over the pond-ers." Behind the counter stood the very obliging clerk, John B --- , his face full of smiles, ready to antici- pate your every want. In front of the store was the market-stand, where the wagons from the country might be seen at early dawn, well supplied with the substantials of life.
On the opposite corner (where is now Durfee Block) was B. W. Chace's store, filled with domestic goods, groceries, crockery, and hollow-ware, where the ladies went to get a new bake-pan, or cover, should the old one be cracked, and where friend Chace was ever ready to give directions how to boil the covers in lye to prevent their cracking. In those days a cracked bake-pan cover, a leaky tea-kettle, and green, round pine-wood were the greatest evils of housekeeping.
Passing westward, the eye was first caught by a building whose basement was used for many years as the Congregational meeting-room, and next by Dr. Durfee's brick-front drug-store, where the Doctor greeted all with a smile and a welcome, while his genteel and polite clerk, H. R --- , stood behind the counter to supply customers with pills, or plasters, or whatever they wanted most. Then came the stately residence of Major Durfee, kept as the crack hotel of the place, where the upper ten secured a temporary home. Across the street was the house of Esquire Ford in which Aunt Dorcas kept
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FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
a lady's shop, where the ladies of the town got all their fine fixings, and found their hearts' desire in things tasty, unique, or antique. Next was I. & D. Leonard's paint-shop. They were the only persons then in town to make the houses shine inside or out. Close by was Messrs. Wileox & Wardwell's tin-shop, and then S. & J. Smith's meat-market, where the best of steaks were sold for 6} eents per pound, and thought high at that. The fish-market was nearly adjoining, so that within a few fcet could be obtained fish, flesh, or fowl suited to every appetite. After the Dunbar House eame that of Mr. Horton, who kept a stoek of West India goods, and whose daughters were the belles of the place. When he died he possessed quite a competenee, and from the proceeds of his estate was built, in the old burying-ground, a fine tomb, the first ever ereeted in this vieinity.
The next structure ( Burroughs') was kept as a genteel boarding-house for the overseers, engravers, and elerks of Robeson's Print Works. No gentleman could get boarded for less than two dollars per week, and no lady for less than a dollar and a quarter.
Crossing the street, and stepping a short distance northward, we enter Stone Lane, on the westerly side of which were several stone cottages, mostly used as boarding-houses for those working in the satinet factory of Samuel Shove & Co., later J. & J. Eddy, and the machine-shop and cotton-mill of O. S. Hawes & Co. A little further along, on the easterly side, was the resi- dence of Aunt Hannah Durfee, in which several young men boarded, who, becoming sometimes a little too boisterous in the exuberance of youthful spirits, were quieted with the threat of being reported to her brother, the Major.
Still further westward, on the north side of Central Street, was a neat little cottage occupied by S. K. Crary, Esq., town elerk, publie instructor, and a prominent eitizen in other relations. Next eame another small eot- tage ; but not so small were the occupants, for the united weight of the two heads of the family was something over a quarter of a ton.
On the south side of the street, standing a little in from the sidewalk, was the Methodist mecting-house, a fine, commodious wooden structure, where gathered weekly erowds of waiting souls to hear the stirring words of truth from the lips of Father Taylor. Occasionally he might be seen leading a band of joyful converts down to the river's edge, there to receive the saered rite of baptism.
On the north side of the street stood the smithy and dwelling of Father Healy. The smithy was one of the institutions of the day ; and especially was the house well manned, since the injunetion laid down in Gencsis I : 28 had been faithfully obeyed by Father Healy and his consort. But a short distance
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SETTLEMENT OF STATE BOUNDARIES-1862.
off was the hotel of Captain Sanford, furnishing entertainment for man and beast. The captain was a frank, open-hearted man, and studied well the wants of his numerous customers. For their social enjoyment, he built a ten-pin alley under a row of apple-trees in his orchard west of the house, where they exer- cised their athletic powers without molestation.
Across the street was the Marshall Warren house, a large, square dwell- ing overlooking the harbor and the mouth of the crcek, the descent to which was short and abrupt and not always free from danger.
A few years later, near the junction of Central and Main streets, Mr. Samuel Shove built a large, showy drug-store, with enormous bow-windows, and from these at night shone forth with dazzling lustre the globes of vari-colored waters. This was the store resorted to by the young men of the place for their supplies of the best Spanish-American cigars and mint- drops. Then, too, came the famous store of Messrs. Lovell & Durfee, filled with the choicest groceries to be dealt out to the élite of the West End by Cotton's custom-drawing clerk, the smiling and ubiquitous J. B -.
Such were the residences and attractions, such the style, of Fall River's " West End " in 1834.
SETTLEMENT OF STATE BOUNDARIES-1862.
The territory embracing the present city of Fall River was included in that part of New England subsequently known as Plymouth Colony. Its charter was granted in 1629, and by it onc half the waters mentioned as the Narragansett River formed her western limit. The first charter of Rhode Island, granted to Roger Williams in 1643, did not conflict with the claims of Plymouth, but. a succeeding one issued by Charles II., in 1663, extended some parts of the eastern boundary of the former three miles to the east and north-east of Narragansett Bay. Plymouth immediately took measures to secure her rights, and, on the report of a special commission appointed by the king, her claims were confirmed.
Until 1740, the boundaries of Plymouth, as established by her original charter of 1629, were recognized as the truc boundary between Massachu- setts and Rhode Island. In that year, however, Rhode Island sought to have the question reopened, and a commission appointed by George II. ren- dered a decision which was immediately appealed from by both provinces. The award, nevertheless, was confirmed by the king in 1746. The lines thus decreed were run ex parte by Rhode Island. Massachusetts, having good reason to suppose that the boundaries had been marked in accordance with
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the decree of the king, took no measures to have them examined until 1791, when, on account of renewed difficulties, the ex-parte lines of Rhode Island were properly examined, and found in every case to infringe upon Massachu- setts territory.
One of the decrecs in the king's award mentioned "a certain point four hundred and forty rods to the southward of the mouth of the Fall River,' from which a line was to be run three miles towards the east, forming the northern boundary of that part of Rhode Island. In measuring this four hundred and forty rods, the ex-parte commissioners of 1746 " measured round .a cove or inlet, and followed the sinuosities of the shore" until they reached a point from a quarter to a half mile further north than if the same distance had been measured in a straight line. From this point they extended the three-mile line, running it through the southern part of the village of Fall River at the old Buttonwood Tree, so called, on Main street, a little north of the present line of Columbia Street. No definite decision of the question in dispute was reached at the time, and in 1844 another commission was ap- pointed, which in 1848 made a report to their respective legislatures.
In a matter so seriously affecting the interests of Fall River, it was deemed expedient to appoint a committee, consisting of Rev. Orin Fowler, Dr. Foster Hooper, and Dr. Phineas W. Leland, to petition the Massachu- setts Legislature not to allow any settlement of the boundary line less advan- tageous than that granted by George II. in 1746. This committee claimed, and gave good reasons therefor, that George II. designed that the point from which to run the three-mile line should be 440 rods in a direct line from the mouth of the Fall River. They showed that in making these measurements as they had, "the Rhode Island commissioners added to their State a thickly- settled territory with about 1500 inhabitants, and a taxable property valued at nearly half a million of dollars, when, if the measurements had been made in straight lines, not only would the design of George II. and his commis- sioners have been carried out, but Fall River would have been brought within the bounds of one State, with no danger of its thickly-settled territory being again placed under a divided jurisdiction." In consequence of these represen- tations, the Massachusetts Legislature refused to ratify the decision of the commissioners of 1848, and, by agreement of the two States, the question was referred to the United States Supreme Court.
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