Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 4, Part 49

Author: Hart, Albert Bushnell, 1854-1943, editor
Publication date: 1927
Publisher: New York, States History Co.
Number of Pages: 722


USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 4 > Part 49


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HEADLEY, PHINEAS CAMP .- Massachusetts in the Rebellion (Boston, Walker, Fuller, 1866)-A record of the services of the leading states- men, the military, the colleges, and the people, in the Civil War of 1861-65.


HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH .- Army Life in a Black Regiment (Bos- ton, Houghton Mifflin, 1900)-Recounts service in command of 1st South Carolina Infantry, composed of freed slaves.


HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH .- Harvard Memorial Biographies (2 vols., Cambridge, Sever and Francis, 1867).


HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH .- Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the War of 1861-65 (2 vols., Boston, 1895-1896)-The official State history. Vol. II has lists of officers and a bibliography; there is also an index to periodical literature on the subject by Mrs. F. W. Jaques, on pp. 609-734.


HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL .- Writings (13 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1892-1896)-See Vol. VIII, pp. 16-77, for "My Hunt after the Cap-


545


MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR


tain," the account of the search for his son, wounded in the battle of Antietam.


HOSMER, JAMES KENDALL .- The Appeal to Arms, 1861-1863 (N. Y., Harper, 1907).


HOSMER, JAMES KENDALL .- The Color-guard: Being a Corporal's Notes of Military Service in the Nineteenth Army Corps (Boston, Walker, Wise, 1864).


HOSMER, JAMES KENDALL .- Outcome of the Civil War, 1863-1865 (N. Y., Harper, 1907).


HOSMER, JAMES KENDALL .- The Thinking Bayonet (Boston, Walker, Ful- ler, 1865).


HOWE, SAMUEL GRIDLEY .- Letters and Journals (2 vols., Boston, Estes, 1906-1909)-Edited by Mrs. L. E. Richards. See Vol. II, chap. xv, for his work in war time.


HUDSON, HENRY NORMAN .- General Butler's Campaign on the Hudson (Boston, Cushing, 1883) .


IRWIN, RICHARD BACHE .- History of the Nineteenth Army Corps (N. Y., Putnam's, 1892).


JOHNSON, ROBERT UNDERWOOD, and BUEL, CLARENCE CLOUGH, editors .- Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (4 vols., Century, 1888-1889)- For the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers. KEYES, ERASMUS DARWIN .- Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events, Civil and Military (N. Y., Scribner's, 1885)-Maj. Gen. Keyes com- manded a corps in the Army of the Potomac.


LINCOLN, ABRAHAM .- Complete Works (12 vols., N. Y., Tandy-Thomas, 1905).


LIVERMORE, Mrs. MARY ASHTON RICE .- "Massachusetts Women in the Civil War" (HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH, Massachusetts during the War of 1861-65, 2 vols., Boston, 1895-1896)-See Vol. II, pp. 586-603.


LIVERMORE, Mrs. MARY ASHTON RICE .- My Story of the War (Hartford, Conn., Worthington, 1889)-Her narrative of four years' personal ex- perience as an army nurse and in relief work.


LIVERMORE, Mrs. MARY ASHTON RICE .- The Story of My Life (Hartford, Conn., Worthington, 1897)-Contains hitherto unrecorded recollections of her experience as an army nurse.


LYMAN, GEORGE HINCKLEY .- Historical Sketch of the Obstetrical Society of Boston in the War of the Rebellion (Boston, 1887)-Recounts services of individuals.


LYMAN, THEODORE .- Meade's Headquarters, 1863-1865 (Boston, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922)-Edited by G. R. Agassiz. A selection from letters written by Col. Lyman to his wife from the front.


MCCLELLAN, GEORGE BRINTON .- Mcclellan's own Story (N. Y., Webster, 1887)-The narrative ceases, Nov. 5, 1862.


MAHAN, ALFRED THAYER .- The Gulf and Inland Waters (N. Y., Scrib- ner's, 1883).


MASSACHUSETTS-ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE .- Annual Report (Boston, 1845 and later )-Reports of 1861-1866 contain reports of the Quarter- master-General, the Surgeon-General, and the Master of Ordnance.


MASSACHUSETTS-ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE .- Record of the Massa- chusetts Volunteers, 1861-1865 (3 vols., Boston, 1868-1870)-The rec- ords of desertions are in many cases erroneous, and have been cor- rected by the Office, with the intention of publishing a corrected edition. MASSACHUSETTS : OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL .- Files in this office contain muster-in and muster-out rolls of State troops, enlistment rolls, monthly reports of companies, casualty lists, abundant hospital records, practically complete records of bounties paid by Massachusetts. MERRIAM, GEORGE SPRING .- The Life and Times of Samuel Bowles (2 vols., N. Y., Century, 1885)-Gives the comments of the editor of the Springfield Republican.


-


546


MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR


MILES, NELSON APPLETON .- Personal Recollections and Observations, Em- bracing a Brief View of the Civil War, and the Story of his Indian Campaigns, with Comments on the Exploration, Development and Progress of our great Western Empire (Chicago, Werner, 1896)- Illustrated by Remington and other artists.


MILES, NELSON APPLETON .- Serving the Republic; Memoirs of the Civil and Military Life of Nelson A. Miles (N. Y., Harper, 1911)-Con- tains his story of service in the wars of 1861-1865, 1898, and Indian campaigns 1866-1895.


MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS .- Papers (14 vols., Bos- ton, 1881-1918).


MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES .- Journal of the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting ( Phila., 1885 and later). Monument to Robert Gould Shaw, its inception, completion and unveiling, 1865-1897 (Boston, 1897).


MOORE, FRANK, editor .- The Rebellion Record: a diary of American Events, with Documents, etc. (11 vols., N. Y., Putnam, 1861-63; Van Nostrand, 1864-1868)-Vols. X-XI and supplement (published in 1869) contain documents only.


NICOLAY, JOHN GEORGE, and HAY, JOHN .- Abraham Lincoln; a History (10 vols., N. Y., Century, 1890).


PALFREY, FRANCIS WINTHROP .- Memoir of William Francis Bartlett (Bos- ton, Houghton, Osgood, 1878)-Major General Bartlett's service has been commemorated by a statue on the Massachusetts State House grounds.


PARSONS, EMILY ELIZABETH .- Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons (Bos- ton, Little, Brown, 1880)-Consists mainly of letters written from various military hospitals, 1862-1864. Edited by Theophilus Parsons. PARTON, JAMES .- General Butler in New Orleans, 1862 (N. Y., Mason, 1864).


PEARSON, HENRY GREENLEAF .- The Life of John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts, 1861-1865 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1904). PORTER, DAVID DIXON .- The Naval History of the Civil War (N. Y., Sherman, 1886).


REYNOLDS, GRINDALL .- A Collection of Historical and Other Papers (Pri- vately printed, Concord, Mass., 1895)-See pp. 245-267 for "My Memo- ries of Concord in the Great Civil War" and pp. 268-281 for "A Fort- night with the Sanitary Commission."


ROE, ALFRED SEELYE .- Monuments, Tablets and Other Memorials Erected in Massachusetts to Commemorate the Services of her Sons in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (Boston, 1910).


ROPES, JOHN CODMAN .- "Memoir of Charles Deven, LL.D." (Mass. His- torical Society, Proceedings, Vol. XXVII, pp. 104-117, Boston, 1892) -- A brief account of the military and civilian career of Brig. Gen. Devens, to whom Worcester erected an equestrian statue.


ROPES, JOHN CODMAN .- "Memoir of Charles Devens, LL.D." (Mass. His- nam's, 1894-1913).


SCHOULER, JAMES .- History of the United States under the Constitution (6 vols., N. Y., 1894-1899)-See Vol. VI.


SCHOULER, WILLIAM .- A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War (2 vols., Boston, Dutton, 1868-1871)-Adjutant General of Massachusetts. Contains an abundance of material, with many inaccuracies of detail. SHANKS, WILLIAM FRANKLIN GORE .- Personal Recollections of Distin- guished Generals (N. Y., Harper, 1866).


SHAW, ROBERT GOULD .- Correspondence ( Privately printed)-He was colo- nel of the colored troops, 54th Regiment M. V. M.


SOLEY, JAMES RUSSELL .- The Blockade and the Cruisers (N. Y., Scrib- ner's, 1883).


STILLÉ, CHARLES JANEWAY .- History of the United States Sanitary Com- mission, Being the General Report of its Work during the War of the Rebellion (Phila., Lippincott, 1866).


547


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY


Synopsis of the Military Services of Brigadier General and Brevet Major General Edward W. Hinks-An undated pamphlet of the late 'sixties. TIFFANY, FRANCIS .- Life of Dorothea Dix (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1892).


TOWNSEND, EDWARD DAVIS .- Anecdotes of the Civil War in the United States (N. Y., Appleton, 1884)-The author was acting Adjutant- General of the Army.


UNITED STATES-ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE .- Medals of Honor Awarded for Distinguished Service during the War of the Rebellion (Wash- ington, 1886).


UNITED STATES-NAVY DEPARTMENT .- Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion (30 vols., Washington, 1894-1922)-General index was issued in 1927.


UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION .- The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army; a Succinct Narrative of its Works and Purposes (N. Y., 1864).


UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION-NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S AUXIL- IARY ASSOCIATION .- Annual Report (3 vols., Boston, Prentiss & De- land, 1863-1865).


UNITED STATES-WAR DEPARTMENT .- Official Army Register of the Volun- teer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861, '62, '63, '64, '65 (8 vols., Washington, 1865)-See Part I, "New England States." UNITED STATES-WAR DEPARTMENT .- Bibliography of State Participation in the Civil War 1861-1866 (Washington, 1913)-See pp. 256-338 for the Massachusetts section, comprising State publications, works about military organizations, and books concerning local participation in the war arranged by names of towns.


UNITED STATES-WAR DEPARTMENT .- The War of the Rebellion: a Com- pilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (70 vols., Washington, 1880-1901)-An atlas to accompany this work was issued in 1891-1895.


WALKER, FRANCIS AMASA .- History of the Second Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac (N. Y., Scribner's, 1886).


WARD, Sir ADOLPHUS WILLIAM, PROTHERO, Sir GEORGE WALTER, and LEATHES, STANLEY, editors .- The Cambridge Modern History (13 vols., Cambridge (Eng.), University Press, 1907-1920)-See especially Vol. VII.


WARE, EDITH ELLEN .- Political Opinion in Massachusetts during Civil War and Reconstruction (Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law of Columbia Univ., Vol. LXXIV, No. 2, N. Y., Columbia Univ., 1916).


WEEDEN, WILLIAM BABCOCK .- War Government, Federal and State, in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana, 1861-1865 (Bos- ton, Houghton Mifflin, 1906).


The newspapers and weekly and monthly periodicals of the period reflect public opinion and contain many accounts of personal experiences in the field. Files are available at most public libraries and in college libraries. Being unindexed, they are difficult to use, unless the date of the desired event is available.


HISTORIES OF MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS


Nearly every military organization sent to the front by Massachusetts has been celebrated with one or more special histories of its services in the field. The list includes :


548


MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR


MASSACHUSETTS LIGHT ARTILLERY


1st, 2d, 3d, 9th, 10th Batteries.


MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY


1st, 2d, 3d, 4th Regiments.


MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY


1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 32d, 33d, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42d, 43d, 44th, 45th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 51st, 52d, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th Regi- ments.


LOCAL WORKS ON THE CIVIL WAR


Much valuable material on the part of Massachusetts in the Civil War is to be found in the numerous local histories and lists of soldiers and sailors. A nearly complete file of these works may be found in the State Library in Boston; and most of them are in the Boston Public Library, the Harvard College Library, the Library of Congress, and other large collec- tions. Copies of the material pertaining to the individual towns and cities presumably will be found in the libraries of those places. The following list is arranged alphabetically by towns, the name of the author or institu- tion responsible for the volume, and the date of publication :


Abington


ABINGTON


(1862)


WALKER (1882)


HOBART


(1866)


Berkshire County


Acton


ACTON


(1890)


Berlin


BERLIN (1870)


FLETCHER


(1890)


HOUGHTON (1895)


HOWLAND


(1907)


Bernardston KELLOGG (1902)


MERRILL


(1880)


Billerica


SMITH


(1901)


HAZEN (1883)


Amherst


Bolton


AMHERST COLLEGE (1905)


CARPENTER & MOREHOUSE


(1896)


Boston


Andover


BOSTON (1867)


ANDOVER


(1867)


BOSTON (1877)


RAYMOND


(1875)


CHAUNCY HALL SCHOOL


(1866)


Arlington


CITY COUNCIL (1863)


CUTTER


(1880)


CULLEN (1889)


PARKER


(1907)


GREEN


(1912)


Ashburnham


HOWE (1910)


ANONYMOUS


(1887)


KING'S CHAPEL (1870)


Athol


MAVERICK CONG. CHURCH


(1894)


CASWELL


(1899)


NORTON


(1866)


TOOMEY & RANKIN


(1901)


Attleborough


DAGGETT


(1894)


Avon


AVON (1900)


Barnstable County . DEYO


(1890)


THAYER (1877)


Barre


(1876)


PATTEE


(1878)


Bedford


Bridgewater


BROWN


(1891)


HOOPER


(1880)


Boxborough HAGER (1891)


Boxford


PERLEY (1880)


Braintree


ADAMS


(1891)


BARRE


SOLDIERS' FUND ASS'N (1862)


LORING (1867)


Amesbury


Belchertown


ANONYMOUS (1885)


Acushnet


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 549


KINGMAN


(1866)


SMITH SMITH


(1897)


Brighton


(1909)


WHITNEY


(1866)


Dunstable


Brimfield


NASON (1877)


BRIMFIELD


(1879)


Easthampton


Bristol County


EASTHAMPTON (1869)


HURD


(1883)


LYMAN


(1866)


BORDEN


(1899)


CHAFFIN (1886)


Brockton


KINGMAN


(1895)


Brookline


Essex


BRIGGS


(1896)


CHOATE (1868)


WOODS


(1874)


Essex County


BOLTON


(1897)


HURD


(1888)


BROOKLINE


TRACY


(1878)


Byfield


Fall River


EWELL


(1904)


EARL (1877)


Cambridge


Fitchburg


STEARNS


(1905)


EMERSON (1887)


PAIGE


(1877)


WILLIS (1866)


CAMBRIDGE


(1870)


WILLIAMS


(1869)


Canton


CANTON


(1894)


CANTON


(1882)


Framingham TEMPLE (1887)


SWIFT (1897)


Franklin


Charlestown


BLAKE (1879)


CHARLESTOWN (1872)


Chelsea


Freetown


ANONYMOUS (1902)


RAYNOR & PETITCLERC (1885)


Clinton FORD (1896)


Gloucester


PRINGLE (1892)


BIGELOW (1898)


Concord


(1867)


PIERCE (1879)


REYNOLDS


(1895)


Great Barrington


TAYLOR (1882)


Conway CONWAY (1867)


Danvers


Groton


GREEN (1897)


RICE


(1874)


Dedham


DEDHAM HISTORICAL


REGISTER


(1893-1896)


DEDHAM


(1869)


DEDHAM


(1887)


Deerfield


(1896)


Hanover DUDLEY & SIMMONS (1910)


Dorchester


HANOVER (1878)


DORCHESTER


(1868)


Hardwick


ORCUTT


(1893)


PAIGE (1883)


FOWLE


(1906)


Harvard


Douglas


NOURSE (1894)


EMERSON


(1879)


Hatfield


Dover


WELLS (1910)


Foxborough FOXBOROUGH (1878)


Cape Cod


FRANKLIN POST No. 60, G. A. R. (1909)


CHELSEA (1880)


Cheshire


Gardner


HERRICK (1878)


Cohassett


Goshen BARRUS (1881)


Connecticut Valley SYLVESTER & OTHERS


(1879)


Greenfield GREENFIELD GAZETTE (Feb. 1, 1892) THOMPSON (1904)


DANVERS


(1895)


Groveland


HOWARD (1865)


Hamilton PERLEY (1888)


Hampden County COPELAND (1902)


SHELDON


Grafton


CONCORD


Florence SHEFFIELD (1895)


(1892)


Easton EASTON (1882)


550 MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR


Haverhill


ANONYMOUS


(1879)


MEDFIELD TILDEN Medford


(1887)


Hawley


ATKINS


(1887)


BROOKS & USHER (1886)


Hingham


BURR & LINCOLN


(1876)


HINGHAM


(1893)


Holden ESTES


(1894)


Hubbardston


Mendon METCALFE (1880)


STOWE


(1881)


Middleboro


BISBEE


(1876)


WESTON (1906)


PERLEY


Lancaster


(1879)


NOURSE


(1889)


Milton TEELE (1887)


PALMER


(1905)


Nahant LODGE (1882)


WADSWORTH


Nantucket MACY (1880)


HYDE


(1878)


Needham


CLARKE (1912)


PALMER


(1904)


New Bedford ELLIS (1892)


EMERSON


(1888)


SAWYER


Lexington


HUDSON (1868)


CURRIER (1902)


Lincoln


Newburyport


LINCOLN


(1905)


BAYLEY & JONES (1906)


Longmeadow


CREASEY (1903)


LONGMEADOW


(1884)


CURRIER (1909)


Lowell


Newton


ANDREW


(1861)


NEWTON (1864)


COBURN


(1920)


SMITH (1880)


COURIER-CITIZEN CO.


(1897)


COWLEY


(1868)


McPHETRES


(1864)


Ludlow NOON


Lynn (1875)


NORTH BROOKFIELD


(1886)


LEWIS & NEWHALL


(1890)


TEMPLE (1887)


NEWHALL (1876)


North Weymouth NORTH WEYMOUTH


(1869)


WELLMAN


(1895)


Northampton KNEELAND (1894)


MATTAPOISETT


(1907)


Northfield TEMPLE & SHELDON (1875)


Manchester LAMSON


(N. D.)


MANCHESTER


(1888)


Marblehead ROADS


(1897)


Marlborough BIGELOW


(1910)


Marshfield


Pelham


MARSHFIELD


(1866)


PARMENTER (1898)


RICHARDS


(1901)


Pembroke


Maynard


PEMBROKE (1890)


HUDSON


(1891)


Pepperell


Medfield


SHATTUCK


(1877)


Ipswich (1888)


Middlesex County HURD (1890)


MARVIN


Milford BALLOU (1882)


Lanesborough


Lawrence


Lee (1880)


Lenox


Leominster


Newbury (1889)


Norfolk County HURD (1884)


North Adams SPEAR (1885)


North Brookfield


Lynnfield


Mattapoisett


Oxford DANIELS (1892)


Palmer TEMPLE (1889)


Paxton BILL (1898)


(1875)


Medway JAMESON


Melrose (1886)


Goss (1868)


Goss (1902)


Huntington


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 551


Pittsfield


PITTSFIELD


(1872)


SMITH


(1876)


Plainfield


DYER (1891)


Plymouth


Tyngsboro TYNGSBORO (1894)


PLYMOUTH (1866)


Uxbridge CHAPIN (1881)


Plymouth County HURD (1884)


Wales GARDNER (1866)


JENNINGS


Waltham


WALTHAM (1893)


UNDERWOOD


Warwick


BLAKE (1873)


EATON (1874)


Watertown


Richmond


S. A. R. AND G. A. R.


(1907)


PALMER


Wayland HUDSON (1891)


ROCHESTER (1879)


WAYLAND (1871)


Rockport MARSHALL & OTHERS


(1888)


ROCKPORT


(1866)


Westborough


DE FOREST & BATES (1891)


PERLEY (1888)


Royalston


BULLOCK (1865)


Rutland


HODGMAN (1883)


REED


(1879)


Westminster


HEYWOOD (1893)


HUTCHINSON & CHILDS (1877)


OSGOOD & BATCHELDER (1879)


WESTON


West Roxbury


(1878)


Shirley


(1883)


Somerville


HUNT (1907)


KIMBALL (1897)


NASH (1885)


Southborough


WEYMOUTH (1869)


SOUTHBOROUGH


(1867)


Springfield


CRAFTS (1899)


GREEN (1888)


TEMPLE (1872)


SEDGWICK (1867)


STEBBINS (1864)


Stoneham


Winchendon


MARVIN (1868)


Sturbridge


Winchester


WINCHESTER (1865)


Sudbury


Worcester


HUDSON (1889)


HATHAWAY (1896)


SUDBURY (1897)


MARVIN (1880)


Sunderland


O'FLYNN


(1910)


DELANO (1882)


WORCESTER (1875)


SMITH (1899)


Sutton


BENEDICT & TRACY (1878)


Worcester County


Swampscott


HURD (1889)


THOMPSON


(1885)


WORCESTER COUNTY (1862)


Taunton


Worthington


EMERY (1893)


RICE & OTHERS (1874)


Tewksbury


Yarmouth


PRIDE


(1888)


SWIFT


(1884)


Westfield


LOCKWOOD


Westford (1922)


Salem


Weston (1865)


Saugus (1890)


LEWIS & NEWHALL


CLARKE WEST ROXBURY


(1871)


CHANDLER


Weymouth


Whateley


Stockbridge


Wilbraham


STEVENS (1891)


GLEASON (1873)


Wellesley


BENTON (1894)


Rowley


Rochester


(1904)


Quincy (1890)


Reading (1866)


Provincetown


Townsend SAWTELLE (1878)


Truro RICH (1883)


DEVENS STATUE COMMIS- SION (1907)


CHAPTER XIX


MASSACHUSETTS IN RECONSTRUCTION (1865-1871)


BY FREDERICK W. DALLINGER. Member of Congress


MASSACHUSETTS ANTISLAVERY SENTIMENT (1831-1861)


The beginnings of Massachusetts sentiment against slavery have been described in an earlier chapter of this volume. For years any, Massachusetts man who espoused the cause of the Negro and undertook to criticize the Southern slave power was certain to suffer social ostracism, in a community whose material prosperity was felt to be dependent in no small degree upon friendly relations with sister States, the inhabitants of which believed human slavery to be a divine institution. Gradually, as a result of the persistent agitation of the small but courageous band of early abolitionists, antislavery senti- ment grew in the States, although the political power long remained in the conservative element, of which the great Whig statesman, Daniel Webster, was the acknowledged leader. The Mexican War raised the issue of increase of slave terri- tory and of future slave States, and the Massachusetts Sena- tors and Representatives voted against bills for raising troops and money for its prosecution. The question of the status of slavery in the territories was reopened and the settlement of that question by the Compromise of 1850, with its new Fugi- tive Slave Act, resulted in large accessions in Massachusetts to the ranks of the Free-soilers, who were opposed to any further extensions of slavery. As elsewhere related, the Free-soilers, under the leadership of Henry Wilson, formed a coalition with the Democratic party in 1849-1850, resulting in 1851 in the choice of Charles Sumner for United States


552


553


MASSACHUSETTS IN CONGRESS


Senator to succeed Webster ; and Sumner remained an uncom- promising advocate of equal rights for the American negro till his death in 1874. In 1855 Henry Wilson was chosen as the second radical Senator from Massachusetts. The newly formed Republican party, with its platform of 1856 declaring against the further extension of slavery, swept Massachusetts by a great majority. In January, 1857, Sumner was triumphantly reelected to the Senate.


Such was the status of Massachusetts when the election of 1860 resulted in another sweeping Republican victory in Massachusetts; and the choice of a solid Republican delegation to the House of Representatives.


The Civil War commenced in April, 1861, and within the first few months a Massachusetts general in the field, Ben- jamin F. Butler, attained great publicity and popularity at home by refusing to return fugitive slaves to their Virginia owners on the ground that they were "contraband of war." In Congress the Massachusetts delegates were solidly for the war. In July, 1861, they supported the act confiscating property used for insurrectionary purposes, including slaves. December 16, 1861, Senator Wilson of Massachusetts intro- duced a bill for the immediate abolition of slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia (with a provision for compensation to loyal owners), which was enthusiastically supported by Sumner "as the first installment of the great debt which we all owe to an enslaved race." All of the Massachusetts members were re- corded in its favor. It was approved by President Lincoln on April 16, 1862.


A renewed attack on slavery followed. A bill prohibiting slavery in all the Territories, on all government properties, and in all vessels on the high seas was passed. By this bill Representative Thomas of Massachusetts contended that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without compensation, was so far forth abrogated.


MASSACHUSETTS IN CONGRESS (1861-1863)


These measures were the declaration of the North that Congress, in which most of the slaveholding States were not


554


RECONSTRUCTION


represented, had constitutional authority to move against slavery. Massachusetts Senators and Representatives who voted for their enactment were fully committed to the consti- tutional doctrine of the right to abrogate slavery by Federal statute as a war measure. This may be considered the first sweeping measure of reconstruction of the Union on an anti- slavery basis. The list of their names includes former Dem- ocrats, Whigs, Free-soilers, and Republicans. It is as follows : Thomas D. Eliot, of New Bedford; James Buffinton, of Fall River ; Benjamin F. Thomas, Alexander H. Rice, and Samuel Hooper, of Boston; John B. Alley, of Lynn; Daniel W. Gooch, of Melrose; Charles R. Train, of Framingham; Charles Delano, of Northampton, and Henry L. Dawes, of Pittsfield. Of these Alexander H. Rice was later to become governor of the State, and Henry L. Dawes was destined to have a long and honorable career in the United States Senate.


In the Senate, Sumner introduced and supported bills of the most radical character, providing for the confiscation and emancipation of the slaves of persons engaged in rebellion, the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, and the abolition of the domestic and foreign slave trade. Very early he also laid down his theory of "State suicide," which later became a hotly contested issue in the congressional reconstruction policy. As early as February, 1862, he urged that the seceding States had forfeited their sovereignty. "Call it suicide, if you will, or suspended animation or abeyance, they have practically ceased to exist."


Sumner's term would end in March, 1863. Hence the Democrats and Republicans, with the support of the in- fluential Springfield Republican, formed a People's Party and nominated Judge Charles Devens for governor. At the Re- publican State Convention, September 9, 1862, Richard H. Dana, Jr., who was opposed to emancipation, offered a resolu- tion opposing Sumner's reelection. A counter resolution was adopted by an overwhelming vote, approving the conduct of the two Senators from Massachusetts and nominating Sumner as a candidate for reelection by the incoming legislature, as "a statesman, a scholar, a patriot and a man of whom any republic in any age might be proud." Governor Andrew, and the Republican State ticket and a solid Republican delegation


CONTEST WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON 555


in Congress, were elected in November, 1862, by a large ma- jority, and Senator Sumner was again triumphantly returned to his seat by a vote of 227 to 47 in joint convention of the legislature.


Supported by such a vote of confidence, the Massachusetts Senators and Representatives enthusiastically joined in the resolution submitting to the States the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6. It finally passed the House, January 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56. Thus, so far as Congress could accomplish it, slavery was forever abolished throughout the United States and in every place subject to its jurisdiction. There remained, however, the problem of the status of the Negro freedman; and inextricably bound up with it, the entire question of the reconstruction of the Southern States. In the settlement of these matters, involving the struggle between President Johnson and Congress, Massachusetts was destined to play a very prominent part.


CONTEST OPENED WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON (1865-1866)


The break between President Johnson and Congress com- menced on May 29, 1865, when Johnson issued his proclama- tion for the organization of the State government in North Carolina, the right to vote for State officers being limited to those possessing the franchise on May 20, 1861. This was followed by similar proclamations with reference to Missis- sippi, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida on June 13, 17, 21, 30, and July 13, 1865, respectively. Al- though George Bancroft, the historian, who drafted President Johnson's message to Congress of the following December, declared that the public sentiment of the country was behind the President, Wendell Phillips and the antislavery poet John Greenleaf Whittier, were loud in their denunciations; while Sumner told Secretary Welles that the President's policy was "the greatest and most criminal error ever committed by any government."




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