USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Brimfield > Historical celebration of the town of Brimfield, Hampden County, Mass > Part 6
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Under the call for nine months' men in 1862, a com- pany of one hundred and one men was enlisted in the towns of Brimfield, Monson, Wales and Holland. Fran- cis D. Lincoln, of Brimfield, was elected Captain ; George HI. Howe, of Monson, First Lieutenant ; Lucius M. Lyon, of Wales, Second Lieutenant. They formed Company G, Forty-sixth regiment. They remained in camp in Springfield, from September 9 to November 5, 1862.
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WAR OF SECESSION.
They were ordered to Newbern, N. C., and arrived at their destination November 15; went on an expedition December 10, to Goldsboro, N. C., where they tore up the line of the Wilmington railroad, and burned the bridge ; returning then to Newbern, they were sent, March 26, 1863, to Plymouth, N. C., to repel an expect- ed advance of the confederate forces upon Washington, N. C. After an unavailing siege of eighteen days, the con- federates retired without any general engagement. June 23, the regiment was ordered to Fortress Monroe. Thence they were transferred, July 1, to Baltimore, and did patrol duty for a few days ; July 7, they were ordered to Maryland Heights; July 11, they were sent to the Army of the Potomac; starting at nine p. m., they kept marching night and day, till they almost reached the river at Funktown. When within fifty yards of the Po- tomac, the order came to return by shortest route to Massachusetts and be mustered out. They reached Springfield, July 21, 1863, jaded out with the fatigues and vexations of these marches, made as ordered, only to find at one time that they were not wanted, and at an- other that they might be of service, but were not to be allowed to fight. Four of the company died in the ser- vice. though none were killed in battle. The company acquitted themselves creditably, and their record as here given may well be regarded as an honor to the town.
One characteristic feature of the enlistments in Brim- field, was the quietness and business-like method in which they were conducted. War meetings, to rouse the patri- otie fervor of the citizens, were not needed. Their patri- otism they expressed in a different way, readily meeting every call for men or money, till the necessity had passed. The women were filled with the same spirit of individual devotion, and cheerfully, if tearfully, gave up husband, brother, or son, to the country's service. Busy hands
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
plied the needle to make various articles for the soldier's comfort, from the havelocks for protective head-gear, to the carpet slipper for ease and use in hospital wards.
The first action taken in town meeting was 1862, June 22, when the town voted to pay $2.00 per week to the wife, $1.50 to every other person in any volunteer's fam- ily, dependent upon him. The amount allowed for State aid. by act of May 23, was only $1.00 per week. As the war went on, and demands for men became more exact- ing, the bounties were increased. 1862, July 31, the town voted a bounty of $100.00 to every volunteer; and August 28, increased this to $150.00 to every one of the nine months' men. The town also voted special aid to sick and wounded soldiers; and in case of death in the service, voted to have the body brought to Brimfield for burial, at the expense of the town. When the draft was made, the town voted, 1863, September 22, to aid the families of all drafted men who should enter the service. 1864, April 4, the town voted $125.00 bounty, the limit allowed by law of March 18. A subscription by individ- uals reached the amount of $4,606.00, which was paid for bounties, and repaid by the town, 1865, May 31, un- der the provision of the statutes. The State aid, as it is called, furnished by the town to the families of volunteers, was, 1861, $250.67; 1862, $1,123.20; 1863, $1,704.77 ; 1864, $1.666.47; 1865, 81,108.00; in all, $5,853.11, for the five years of the war. Exclusive of this, the town raised for special war expenditures a total of $15,064.33, making the whole money expenditures of the town, $20,927.44. The total valuation of the town, in 1864, was 8661,000.00. At the close of the war, the liabilities of the town, mostly paid as they were incurred, were of so small amount, that they were all paid in two years' time. This fact is as worthy of honorable mention, as the readiness of the town to furnish promptly and pay
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SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
liberally the men demanded as its quota on the several calls.
Brimfield was among the first towns in Massachusetts to ereet a Soldiers' Monument. The vote appropriating $1,250.00 for this, was passed on motion of Capt. F. D. Lincoln, 1866, March 12. The monument, a well pro- portioned granite obelisk, eighteen feet high, was dedi- cated, 1866, July 4. It stands on a grassy mound, made for it in the east end of the militia parade ground, in the open space east of the park, and nearly in front of the hotel. It is surrounded by a tasteful iron fence, enclos- ing a grass plot of elliptical shape, the gift of S. C. Her- ring and Elijah T. Sherman of New York. The shaft bears in front, the inscription, " Our Country's Defenders in the War of the Rebellion; " on the other three sides are eut in raised letters the nineteen names, whose death in their country's defence is thus honorably commemo- rated.
" And not alone for those who died a soldier's death of glory ; For many a brave, heroic soul had sighed its mournful story, Down in the sickly wards and cots, where fever's subtle breath Had drained the life-blood from their hearts and laid them low in death."
The support of the poor was, under the legislation of the early colonial times, made a charge upon the town. While Brimfield people have never been very rich, they have been prudent and thrifty, and there have been very few so poor as to come upon the town for support.
" In faith or hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity."
With all the faults chargeable upon them, the New Eng- land Puritans were generous as well as just. They were not so entirely isolated that vagabond pauperism could not thrust itself upon them, nor so highly favored that helpless poverty was a thing unknown. They, from the
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
first, treated their poor with kind consideration. and if economy has always been a prominent element in their discussions ns and measures, it was not because they were niggardly in this, but because they were prudent in all things. Public charity has never been administered as a thing to be desired; it has never been withheld as a fa- vor begrudged. This is evident from the first action of the town. 1746, March 10, - to raise €25 towards the sup- port of Thomas Green, Sr., for one year, if he liveth so long." The next year the question was raised " whether "
the town would take some law of old Doctor Green," de- cided in the negative, and in 1751, November 28, the town "paid £14 10s. to the Greens towards the mainte- nance of their father." Such accounts of moneys paid to help support relatives are not infrequent in the town rec- ords. The fundamental principle, in the care of the poor, has never been disregarded, that thriftlessness must be discouraged, every attempt at self-help approved and aided. Under the early legislation a " settlement " was gained by peaceable residence. The burden of pau- per support was increasing fast just after the close of the Revolution. Every stranger coming into town, was liable to be warned off by the constable, from prudent careful- ness, lest he should become chargeable on the town. In 1842, the town purchased the place where Betty Mont- gomery lived, rather than allow a residence to be gained by one whom they might have to support. Expense incurred in the care of transient persons was at first reimbursed from the province treasury, as now from the State. Residents of other towns were taken by the constable to the town where they belonged. From 1807 to 1836, the support of the town's poor was voted to the persons who would contract for the care of them by families, or individually, at the lowest rate. In 1836, the town purchased the farm and buildings that formerly belonged to David
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THE POUND.
Hoar in Dunhamtown, to be occupied for a poor-house. It was sold the next year to residents in that neighbor- hood, and 1837, February 9, the farm now occupied by the town, south of the center village, was purchased of Lemuel Chandler, for $4,000.00. The money was the town's proportion of the $37,460,859.97 in the United States treasury, distributed to the several States, by act. of Congress, January, 1836. Additional land was pur- chased in 1850. A new house was built in 1851, at a cost of $1,300.00. A new barn, in 1863, cost $1,042.22. The town has voted to enlarge the present buildings, and measures are now in progress to complete the improve- ments contemplated.
Where cattle are allowed to run at large there will occasionally be stray beasts, that must be restrained from doing damage. Every town was required by law to main- tain a pound. Sometimes the towns appointed certain barn-yards to serve this purpose. At the first town meet- ing in Brimfield, it was voted to build a pound, but vot- ing is not necessarily building. The first one was located 1746, on what is now the north-west corner of the park. south of the present school-house. It was repaired in 1759, but in 1762, a new one was built of stone. forty feet square, by Mr. Noah Hitchcock, on what is now the park, opposite George Hitchcock's small house. The town refused to pay for " what Mr. Hitchcock calls a pound," and the refusal to accept his work rankled in Mr. Hitchcock's mind; 1775, he presented his bill for $3 Gs. Sd. with interest for twelve years. The location of the present pound. north of the church on the Warren road. was fixed, and the work was done in 1811.
Bridges were not always to be found at the crossing of brooks. Just before Monson was incorporated as a town. some of the inhabitants petitioned for a bridge over ". Chickuppee Brook ;" averring that " the place where
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
the Road is Now, is Soe bad, that it is Morally Impossi- ble to get over with a horse." The old Bay Path cross- ing the river at King's bridge, continued on in Brimfield past Powers', thence east over the hills, coming out on the Warren road at Fiske Cutler's. The bridge over the Chicopee, mentioned in the resolve of the General Court, cited previously, on page S. is the upper or easternmost bridge. The bridge, where now is an iron bridge, on the road to Palmer, was built by subscription, in 1783.
The first stage coaches that ran through the town be- longed to the Hartford and Worcester line, coming into the village by the road from Wales over Haynes' hill, and passing on to Brookfield by Sherman's Pond. From 1807 to 1825, turnpikes, with their vexatious toll-gates, were established, on the main routes of travel, laid out on the most direct course over steep hills and through rough valleys. None were ever built through the town, though in 1807, the representative to the legislature was instructed to advocate the building of one from Stur- bridge to Palmer, as the most direct route from the valley of the Blackstone to Albany. The nearest turnpike was that from Hartford to Worcester, passing through Hol- land.
The Boston and Albany railroad was opened from Bos- ton to Worcester, 1835, July 3; to Springfield, 1839, October 1; to Greenbush, 1841, December 21. It is said to have been opposed by the people of Brimfield because the use of steam would diminish the value of horses and the price of oats. This story must be apocryphal, for no record can be found to verify it. The town subscribed in 1872, $25.000 towards building an extension of the road operated by the Hartford and Erie Railroad Com- pany from Webster to Southbridge, hoping to secure railroad connection with Palmer. But Southbridge peo- ple were too anxious to be the terminus of a road
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HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, ETC.
rather than a station, and voted against the project. The route is perfectly feasible ; it is an important link, and will probably be built in the not distant future.
Blazed trees, marking the bridle-path, uneven and crooked, were the first beginnings of the roads in town. Highways were " laid out," but very imperfectly " work- ed." The cart and bar, not the plow or seraper, were the tools used for the roads. Stumps of trees, burned for clearings, encumbered the roads and disfigured the fields. Not till 1797 are courses and distances recorded. Much trouble arose from the indefinite location of roads,- "across land of Joshua Shaw, where there is the best going."-" leading from a big rock in the line of said Joshua's plain lot to a black oak staddle over a squeachy place." The town-street was laid out eight rods wide, other roads six and four. Encroachments were almost unavoidable, and much trouble occasioned, also, by fre- quent alterations. A petition for changing the road at the foot of Danielson hill, 1749, March 14, " because of the Untollerableness of Travailing there," was granted, reconsidered, allowed, neglected, discontinued, renewed, set aside, granted again. 1794, May 15, a committee was appointed with authority to make all the highways of the uniform width of four rods, except the Tower hill road, and sell to the owners of adjacent lands the strips taken from the highway. 1738, May 19, the town voted that the highways shall be mended by a rate. €50 was voted for this purpose, and the highway surveyors were made the collectors of the highway tax, each man hay- ing the choice of paying the money or working it out. This has been the custom ever since with the exception of the two or three years, when the town was divided into ten highway districts, and contracts made with individ- uals to keep the roads in repair for five years for a spec- ified sum annually. Working out the highway tax
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
became, like doing military duty, an occasion for jollity rather than for fatiguing toil. Rough jokes were cracked while the ways were being made smooth. The pail ( not a small-sized pitcher) of cider was expected to be forth- coming at every house as the long string of yoked oxen and sled. with plow attached, made a path through the winter snow. Since 1872, the legislature has required the road tax to be assessed with the other taxes of the town.
We, of this generation, are so accustomed to the easy use of postal facilities, that we can hardly imagine how limited was the possibility of postal communication in olden times. Until 1755, the mail between New York and Boston was carried in the winter only once a fort- night. There was no post-office between Worcester and Springfield, till 1805, when Seth Field was appointed postmaster at Brookfield. The great postal route from Boston to Albany lay north of Brimfield. The mineral springs of Stafford were the chief inducement to bring travelers from Boston, westward, through the town of Brimfield. In 1797, the mail stage left Boston tri-weekly at eleven o'clock A. M. ; Worcester, three A. M. ; reaching Brookfield the second day, ten A. M. ; and Springfield two P. M. The rates of postage were six cents per half ounce for one hundred miles; twelve and one-half cents, one hundred and fifty miles; twenty-five cents for four hun- dred miles and over. In 1822, stages left Boston for Albany, by way of Northampton and Springfield, on alter- nate days, at two A. M. Stephen Pynchon, the first post- master in town, was commissioned September 5, 1806. Hle held the office till his death, when Marquis Converse was appointed, 1823, February 19. After him came, 1842, February 17, Otis Lane ; 1845, February 17, Asa Lincoln ; 1850, January 3, H. F. Brown; 1852, May 1, George C. Homer; 1853, June 25, N. F. Robinson; 1861, May 4,
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POST-OFFICE.
Silas C. Herring; 1867, April 16, HI. F. Brown. The post-office was first kept at Squire Pynchon's house. Afterwards it was kept at the hotel. A box two feet square held all the mail for many years. For a short time it was kept in what is now the selectmen's room. Since 1867, the office has been where it is now. The post- office at. East Brimfield was established 1858, and Major Erastus Lumbard appointed postmaster. For a short time there was a post-office established at Fosket's Mills, for Parksville. The mail was at first brought to Brim- field once a week from Brookfield. The people of Hol- land and of Wales came to Brimfield post-office for their letters. Charges varied from twelve and one-half cents to thirty-seven and one-half cents for letters. When the weekly newspapers came to be impatiently expected, a special messenger was hired to bring them from Warren, where the stage coach from Worcester or Springfield, brought and left them. In 1823, the stage from Providence to Springfield began running through Brimfield. In 1832, the Worcester and Hartford Citizens' Line of stages was established. It was well patronized, as many as eleven stages a day sometimes passing through the village. It was an enterprise in which the various towns took great interest, and through Postmaster General Hill, it was made a post route. It encountered great opposition from the Eclipse Line passing through Sturbridge. Fares were reduced so low that passengers were carried between Hartford and Worcester for a dollar, or a dollar and a half. This line continued to run till the Western railroad was opened between Worcester and Springfield.
In 1848, a daily stage running from Warren to Stafford brought the mail to Brimfield. When Fitz Henry Warren was in the post-office department at Washington, 1848-50, the stage and mail route from Palmer to Southbridge was established by Capt. A. N. Dewey, of Palmer, which
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
is still continued. This gave the people the advantage of a daily mail from New York, several years before War- ren or West Brookfield had such facilities.
What is now the Park was originally land laid out for the Springfield road, six rods wide. The road used to run close by the houses on the south side; or rather, they were built directly on the line of the highway. General Eaton proposed changing the traveled path farther north, so as to give, as now, room for door-yards and sidewalks. The road, which ran zigzag across the plain, was then straightened. The road north of the Park was set back farther by the purchase of land from Jonathan Charles, 1792. The wide space thus left open was the parade ground of the militia, and a favorite rendezvous for " gen- eral muster." In 1805, when the first meeting-house was torn down, the trees in the common were sold at auction for $10. It is supposed that they were oak trees, irregu- lar and unsightly. The treeless common, cut up in every direction by cart paths, was a most unattractive place for many years. In 1852, it was voted that such of the citi- zens as might associate themselves together, might have the privilege of fencing the common, setting out trees, laying out walks, leaving a passage open across from Alfred Hitchcock's to the Warren road. Col. John W. Foster, at that time residing in town, drew the plan. All classes interested themselves in the project ; money was contributed, and the Park Association organized to grade and ornament the Park substantially as it is to-day. Now a new fence is needed, and it is hoped that the Association, with the help of the $300 voted by the town last Spring, will soon provide a neat and durable iron fence.
The present Cemetery is, with additions, the burying- ground laid out 1720, June 20. The Cemetery. or Lumbard Lot, as the land adjoining it was called, and from which it had been taken, was reached by a lane, now the com-
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THE CEMETERY.
mencement of the Wales road, by the store of J. T. Brown. Access was also had to the cemetery on the east. by a lane from the Sturbridge road with a bridge across the brook. The present road to Wales, passing by J. T. Brown's store, was not laid out till 1822. In 1845, the cemetery was enlarged by the purchase of land on the south, and in 1860, by purchases on the east and south. The town has always manifested a commendable interest in keeping the burying-ground in a seemly condition. In 1750. it was cleared and fenced by subscription. In 1764, C4 was appropriated to fence it with posts and rails. 1781, a stone wall was built. At first, the usual custom was to appoint some one to take charge of it, who had for compensation what feed it afforded. 1806, it was enacted that no cattle should be allowed to graze in the cemetery. Never was it true of our Brimfield an- cestry-
" They dared not plant the grave with flowers, Nor dress the upturned sod, Where with a love as deep as ours, They left their dead with God."
The cemetery has been frequented rather than neg- lected. Of late years, the keeper has been appointed by the Selectmen. He is expected also to attend at funer- als, and have the charge of all matters pertaining to the burial of the dead. A hearse was first purchased in 1804. The cemetery is laid out in plots, which any one needing for any member of his family can have assigned to him on application to the Selectmen. and approval by them. In the older portions still stand the antique tombstones that
" With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
" Implore the passing tribute of a sigh. -
It is said that before 1776, one-fifth of the men of Massachusetts had been engaged in active military service.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The organization of the people for military purposes was Very complete. as is indicated by the great number of military titles. In earlier times. all the inhabitants from sixteen to sixty years of age were enrolled as militia. In 1810, the law called out all between eighteen and forty-five. Every town that could furnish sixty men formed a company. Any smaller number united with some other town. Ten companies formed a regiment. One flank company, on the right of the line. was an in- dependent company of grenadiers or riflemen. There was also one company of artillery, one troop of dragoons, or horsemen. The militia companies were required to drill four days each year, besides the annual review or general muster. The companies chose their own officers. and at first those who were ambitious of political distinc- tion found their way to it through the militia elections. But the commingling of all classes, reputable and disrepu- table, and the increasing prevalence of drunkenness in connection with training-day, made it obnoxious and dis- graceful. It was felt to be demoralizing as well as bur- densome. Training-day found many too sick to appear, and physicians' certificates were presented in testimony of unfitness for military duty. Fines were paid, and inde- pendent companies organized. The ununiformed militia received various opprobious epithets. " floodwood," " barn- yard cadets." Many remember the fantastic appearance of the company as they gathered for a May training at Ephraim Fenton's. One man had a codfish bone trimmed with onions for a plume, and another wore the clothes of the biggest man in town. stuffed out with hay. The whole system became farcical in its operation, and by the legislature of 1842, was abrogated entirely.
The earliest record of the division of the town into two militia companies, east and west, is in 1774. For several years these trained regularly a half day each week. After
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MILITARY AFFAIRS IN OLDEN TIMES.
the war of Independence, the military spirit long sur- vived. Brimfield parade-ground was a favorite field for regimental musters. Regimental officers met for business and instruction. Parson Reaves, of Holland. for a long series of years, was the Chaplain. Many now remember him and his wig, as he appeared for duty and for dinner. As it was a custom for the officers to furnish a treat on receiving the compliment of an election, ability to pro- vide handsomely for such occasions was a leading qualifi- cation for a militia officer. A death-blow was struck at the whole system when the legislature passed a law mak- ing it a penal offence to " treat."
The Brimfield Rifle Company, an independent light infantry company, was recruited and organized April. 1828, through the efforts principally of Cyril R. Brown, Alured Homer and Erasmus Stebbins. It was to be an- nexed to the 5th Regiment. Ist Brigade, 4th Division Massachusetts Militia. The first captain was C. R. Brown. He served in the militia over twenty-nine years. The last captain was Solomon Homer. Others were Alured Homer, Eaton Hitchcock, John Newton, Fitz Henry Warren, and Solomon Homer. It was disbanded November 3, 1810. During the eleven years' continuance of the organization, one hundred and forty-six persons in all were connected with it. An occasion of special remembrance was the pre- sentation of a flag to the company by a few ladies of the town, who made Miss Mary W. Foster, now of Palmer. their spokeswoman for the time.
Who that was not an eye-witness can fittingly describe the glories of training-day and general muster ? If the company were simply to meet for training, it was in the afternoon. But if general muster was at a distance, the order would often direet the men to assemble in front of Bliss' tavern, before sunrise. Thither, with half opened eyes, they hastened. There was no uniform. Every one
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