USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Peabody > History Of Peabody Massachusetts > Part 9
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The supply proved inadequate to the needs of Salem, and the water from Wenham Lake, introduced in 1869, took the place of the old aqueduct water to a large extent in Salem. In 1873, the town of Peabody bought the aqueduct from the company for one hun- dred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and the town authorities have since greatly improved the facilities for supply, and have increased the head by the con- struction of pumping-works and a large tank or stand-pipe on Buxton's Hill, the top of which is one hundred and eighty-four feet above mean high-tide. The cost of the high service was eighty-five thousand dollars, and the town has expended in all on its water-works about two hundred and ninety thousand dollars. By judicious management on the part of the water board, the income from the use of water has more than paid for the cost of maintenance and the interest on the cost of the water-works, while the town has the free use of one hundred and sixty-three hydrants for fire and other purposes. The service is highly efficient, and the quality of water furnished as fine as any in the State.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
PEABODY-(Continued).
South Danvers-The Civil War.
THE new town of South Danvers began its corpor- ate existence in 1855, with a population of about six thousand, a territory of about fourteen square miles, and with thriving manufacturing interests firmly es- tablished. The valuation .in 1856 was two million nine hundred and forty-four thousand nine hundred dollars. In spite of the depression of the times before 1860, the town had gained both in valuation and pop- ulation, the population in 1860 being six thousand five hundred and forty-nine, and the valuation three million six hundred and thirteen thousand four hun- dred and eight dollars.
There is little of the eventful to chronicle in the his- tory of the town until the time when the fall of Sum- ter startled the land, and President Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand men for immediate emer- gencies. Then the old time spirit of patriotism which inspired the Minute men of Lexington and the de- fenders of Bunker's Hill flamed up with ardent en- thusiasm. Forty-two of the citizens of the town started on the first call; nine members of the Salem Zouaves, formerly the Salem Light Infantry, under Capt. Devereux, starting on Thursday morning, April 18th, to join the Eighth Regiment, and ten men in the Mechanic Light Infantry, Capt. Peirson, and twenty-one in the City Guards, Capt. Danforth, in- cluding four commissioned officers, setting out on the following Saturday to join the Fifth Regiment, under Col. Lawrence. One South Danvers man enlisted in the New York Fire Zouaves, and one in the First Iowa Regiment. The following are the names of those who responded to this first hurried call as given by the town records ;
Salem Zouaves, Company H, Eighth Regiment.
Privates.
Moses Shackley.
David G. Lake.
Leonard D. Cobb.
Geo. B. Symonds. Henry Symonds. Sullivan J. Wiley.
Wm. F. Wiley. Daniel Bruce, Jr. Frank Plumer.
Salem Mechanic Infantry, Company A, Fifth Regiment. 2d Sergeant, James H. Estes. 2d Corporal, David N. Jeffries.
3d Corporal, John W. Hart.
Privates.
Elbridge H. Hildreth. Dennison T. Moore. Wm. W. Stiles.
Samuel H. Buxton. Henry W. Moulton. Albert J. Crane.
James Poor, Jr.
City Guards, Company H, Fifth Regiment.
1st Lieutenant, Kirk Stark. 2d Lieutenant, Wm. F. Sumner.
3d Lieutenant, Geo. H. Wiley. 4th Lieutenant, John E. Stone.
2d Corporal, John A. P. Sumner.
Privates.
B. Hardy Millett.
David H. Pierce. Jolın W. Lee.
Wm. F. Guilford.
Oliver Parker. C. G Marshall, Jr.
John G. Estes.
George O. Hart.
Henry O. Merrill.
James W. Kelley.
Wm. Tobey.
Samuel Wiley.
Thomas[G. Murphy.
Thomas B. Kelley.
S. W. Williams.
Geo. H. Peart.
1024
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
Beside these there were about twenty members of the Salem Cadets and Light Artillery who held them- selves in readiness to start at a moment's warning.
!
On Thursday evening, April 18, a crowded meet- ing was held in the Town Hall to discuss the events which so profoundly stirred the community, and to adopt measures for raising money to fit out volunteers and to provide for the families of those who left home on such short notice for the defense of their country. The deepest feeling was shown as the speaking pro- gressed, and a subscription paper started at this meet- ing realized the sum of three thousand dollars. A committee was appointed to consider the expediency of forming a military company in South Danvers, and a report was made at the same meeting recom- mending the enrolment of two companies, one for immediate service and another to enter upon a course of drill to become a home guard or to enter the Fed- eral service whenever they should be required.
On April 24th a call was issued to the patriotic ladies of South Danvers to meet at the vestry of the old South Church to take measures for making gar- ments for soldiers. Donations were solicited of money, flannel, yarn, etc., old linen and cloth. This was the beginning of the " Ladies' Soldiers' Aid So- ciety," an organization which co-operated with the United States Sanitary Commission and other agen- cies for relieving the necessities of the soldiers dur- ing the whole war, and which, during the war, dis- pensed over three thousand four hundred dollars in money, besides large contributions of clothing, one hundred blankets and other supplies. The society also conducted one of the tables at the great fair of the Sanitary Commission at Boston in 1863, at which about seven hundred dollars was realized for the cause. Mrs. Henry Cook was for a long time the ac- tive and efficient president of the society. The so- ciety was disbanded October 11, 1865, after nearly four years and a half of enthusiastic and vigorous effort.
The first legal town meeting on the war was held May 21, 1861, when two thousand dollars was appro- priated for the aid of families of soldiers, and a com- mittee was appointed to solicit subscriptions to com- pensate the members of Captain Bancroft's company for time spent in drilling, many of them being me- chanics and workmen dependent on their earnings for support.
The enthusiasm of the times spread among all classes. Drill clubs were organized for instruction in military tactics. In accordance with the recommen- dation of the town committee, a company called the Foster Guards, under the command of Captain S. C. Bancroft, was enrolled and uniforms and equipments were procured. The company went into camp at Camp King, near Tapley's Brook, on the 29th of June, 1861, and about a fortnight afterward went into the State Regimental Camp at Lynnfield, Camp Schouler, where it became Company B of the Seventeenth Reg- iment, commanded by Colonel Hinks.
On the 4th of July, 1861, a flag was raised on a new flagstaff in the square. Benjamin Goodridge, who had been an officer of the old Danvers Artillery, assisted by the surviving veterans of the War of 1812, John Price, B. D. Hill and Edward Hammond, raised the flag, and Mr. Goodridge made a brief speech ; Hon. A. A. Abbott acted as president, and delivered an eloquent address ; and the school children sang a patriotic song, beside music by the band and a glee club. The Foster Guards and some of the fire com- panies were present, and the scene was one of the most characteristic of the early days of the war.
' A considerable number of South Danvers volun- teers joined the Essex Cadets, and on July 22d the company marched from camp at Winter Island to South Danvers, where they were entertained by a collation in front of the old South Church, and a sword was presented to Lieutenant F. W. Taggard. The company was mustered into the service the same day, and formed part of the Fourteenth Regiment, which went to the front August 7.
On the 31st of July the Mechanic Infantry and City Guards returned to Salem, and on the next day the Salem Zouaves arrived. A public reception was given to the returning volunteers. The enthusiasm was great, and the bells were rung incessantly for six hours at a stretch, while one hundred and fifty rounds were fired by the Light Artillery during the day.
The drill club of young men, under Captain R. S. Daniels, Jr., began in September to organize for the purpose of forming a company for active service, but this purpose was not carried out till the next year.
A number of South Danvers men enlisted in the summer and fall of 1861 in the Ninth Regiment, and there was a good representation from the town in the Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Regiments, while there were South Danvers men in the First, Second, Eleventh, Twelfth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and in some other organizations, besides enlistments in the Navy.
During the first six months of the war, more than three hundred men enlisted from the town.
At a town meeting held on Friday evening, October 5, 1861, 85,000 was voted for the relief of those depen- dent upon the volunteers ; $1,000 was voted to be used in any emergencies where those authorized may think proper, and $2,500 for the support of the poor.
The Wizard, a weekly paper, edited by Fitch Poole, and containing many of his characteristic and humor- ous sketches, was full of information on war topics, and from time to time published many letters from soldiers.
The work of the Soldiers' Aid Society continued to increase, and the various religious societies organized their forces in further assistance to the cause. The church sewing society were busied with knitting socks for the soldiers, and in one of their consignments of articles was a large number of mittens made by the school children.
1025
PEABODY.
The first recorded death of any citizen of the town in the war was that of Daniel Murray, who lost his life in the famous engagement with the Merrimac. He was an officer on board the "Cumberland," was wounded and went down with the ship on the 7th of March, 1862.
On the 1st of July, 1862, President Lincoln issued his call for three hundred thousand men. Enthusi- astic war meetings were held in the Town Hall on July 11 and 25. At a special town meeting July 21, 1862, it was voted to give a bounty of $150 to each man who enlisted as part of the quota of the town. To provide funds for the payment of this bounty, it was decided to borrow $12,000, and a committee was appointed to obtain a loan on the notes of the town at six per cent. At the adjourned town meeting, July 31, it was announced that Eben Sutton, a citizen of large means and patriotic spirit, was ready to lend the whole amount needed at five and a half per cent. A committee of five from each school district was chosen to co-operate with a committee chosen at a general meeting of citizens in obtaining recruits. The three years' quota of seventy-five men was filled by the last of August.
On the fourth of August the President issued a call for 300,000 men for nine months. War meetings were held in the town on August 24th and 29th. Captain Robert S. Daniels, Jr., announced his readi- ness to enlist as one of a nine months' South Dan- vers Company, and other prominent citizens came for- ward and offered their services amid the greatest en- thusiasm, including one gentleman far beyond the age at which he could be required to serve-Mr. James Perkins.
At a special town meeting held August 25, 1862, a bounty of $100 was authorized to be paid to each volunteer who should enlist for nine months' service in the company then being recruited by Captain Daniels. At the same meeting the following resolu- tions were passed :
" Resolved that the Citizens of South Danvers desire once more to pledge their fidelity to the sacred cause of American union, and their unalterable determinatien never to falter in their efforts to maintain its integrity and perpetuate its blessings ; that they will not measure their legal obligations nor pause to inquire whether they have done more or less than their neighbors; but that, like their fathers in Revolutionary days, they will do all they can, to the extent of the means with which God has endowed them, in behalf of the cause of Constitutional government and the salvation of their beloved country.
" Resolved, That South Danvers, expressing in her municipal capacity the feelings and wishes of her individual citizens, hereby declares her hearty appreciation of the patriotism of her sons who have enlisted, and are now enlisting, to serve in defence of the Union, and faithfully pledges her fostering care in time of need of the families of her brave soldiers, and her lively gratitude for the services and her blessings upon the lives of those who, in serving their country in the hour of danger, confer en- during honor upon their native or adopted town ; their names will illu- mine her annals, and be handed down in affectionate remembrance to future generations."
Among the volunteers in Captain Daniels' company were two of the school teachers of the town, Mr. Wm. L. Thompson, of the Peabody High School, and Mr. Geo. F. Barnes, of the Bowditch School. In April,
1863, there were said to be thirty-two members and two teachers of the High School in the service.
One hundred and one of Captain Daniels' company were from South Danvers, and the town took the deepest interest in the company, which included in its ranks many representatives of the most esteemed families of the place, some of whom had made great sacrifices to go, giving up honorable and lucrative positions or business connections.
On the 10th of September, 1862, the company went into camp at Wenham, and it was escorted by a grand parade of the people of the town, among which marched the surviving members of the old Danvers Light Infantry, organized in 1818, Robert S. Daniels, the father of the captain of the new volunteer com- pany, being captain of the old company. Fire com- panies in uniform were in the procession, and the pu- pils of the schools whose teachers had enlisted marched or rode in line. A carriage bore the three Dartmoor prisoners, and Abner Sanger, the venerable abolitionist, and Ralph Emerson rode with these veterans of 1812. The old Danvers Light In- fantry attracted great attention on the march to the depot in Salem. The new company was enrolled as Company C, of the new fifth regiment.
The battle of Antietam was of great interest to the town's people, as two of their townsmen were killed and three wounded at that engagement.
For some months, although the interest in the war was unabated, there was a remission of the activity in enlistments and patriotic meetings. At the draft, on the 10th of July, 1863, at Salem, 109 names of South Danvers men were drawn ; of these 69 were exempted, 21 furnished substitutes, 12 paid the fine of $300, and only 7 actually entered the service.
A great war meeting was held on October 28, 1863, to promote enlistments under the call for three hun- dred thousand men issued October 17. On Octo- ber 17 the South Danvers Union League was formed. Other war meetings were held on Decem- ber 1, December 3 and December 28, and on January 4, 1864, at which time fifty-four men had responded to the last call. On February 1, 1864, a new call for two hundred thousand men was issued, and renewed efforts were made to induce enlistments which resulted in filling the quota of the town. In spite of the large number of men already sent and the continued drain on the resources of the town, every call for men was met with a manly and deter- mined spirit; the call for five hundred thousand men July 18, 1864, was responded to by the enlistment of one hundred and thirty-eight men, a surplus of forty- nine, and for the whole war the town had a surplus over its quota. The following statement from a table compiled by Amos Merrill, Esq., from official sources, gives the statistics of enlistments. The method of computation of quotas and surplus was by reducing all enlistments to the basis of three years, one man for three years counting as three men for one year.
64%
1026
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
Statement showing the number of men furnished by the town of South Danvers from April 16, 1861, to April 30, 1865.
Previous to the draft of July 10, 1863, the following enlistments were made to the credit of South Dan- vers :
Fifth Regiment (three months). 28
Eighth Regiment (three months). 12
First Iowa Regiment (three months). 1
New York Fire Zouaves (three months). 1
Total .42
Salem Cadets at Fort Warren (six months) 13
Seventh Regiment, Co. B (six months) 3
-
Total 16
THREE YEARS' MEN.
First Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 5
Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 5
Ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 29
Eleventh Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 2
Twelfth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 3
Fourteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 55
Seventeenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 88
Nineteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, .48
Twenty-second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers ... 9
Twenty-third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 34
Twenty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 21 Twenty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.
Thirtieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 1
Thirty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 2
Thirty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 1 Thirty-ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 45
Fortieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 11
Saunders' Sharpshooters.
Wentworth's Sharpshooters 7
First Battalion ... 2
Second Maine 2
Fourth Maine ..
Fourth Battery 7
Fifth Battery
I
Tenth Battery.
1
Total. 390
Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers (nine months) .. 88
Product of draft of July 10, 1863 :-
Served in person 7
Furnished substitutes. 21
Paid commutation fee. 12
-
Total 40
One hundred days' men furnished. 38
Quota of March 14, 1864, for seven hundred thous- and men, including calls of October 17, 1863, and February 1, 1864, amounted to one hundred and fifty- two :
Credit product of draft of July 10, 1863 40
Credit Naval Enlistments. 11
Credit Re-enlistments of Veterans. 36
Credit New Enlistments Army 63
Credit product of draft of May 10, 1864. 3
153
Less surplus carried forward. 1
Total .152
Quota of July 18, 1864, for five hundred thousand men 92 Less error on former call at State House corrected. 3
Total 89
Credit surplus on former call of March 14. 1 Credit substitutes furnished by enrolled men 7 Credit Enlistments in July, Army 50
Credit Enlistments in July, Navy. 2
Credit Enlistments in August, Army. 21
Credit Enlistments in August, Navy 3
Credit Enlistments in September, Army
2
Credit Enlistments in October, Army. 3
Credit Enlistments in November, Army. 12
Credit Enlistments in December, Army 4
Apportioned at Naval claims, 3
the State House, ? Allowance for Navy at large. 30
Total
138
Deduct Quota.
89
Surplus .. 49
By reducing the above one hundred and thirty- eight men to three years of service for each man, and adding thereto the town's proportion on call of De- cember 19, 1864, for three hundred thousand men, the above surplus was extinguished, and a quota assigned of eight (8) men.
Quota under call of Dec. 19, 1864. 8
Credit Enlistments in January, 1865 3
Credit Enlistments in February, 1865. 7
Credit Enlistments in March, 1885. 1
Credit Enlistments in April, 1865 2
Total. 13
Surplus April 30, 1865, in number of men 5
Years of service of the thirteen men, viz., five for three years
and eight for one year, [reduced to three years of service] .. 73%
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF MEN FURNISHED.
Under call of March 14, 1864, including product of draft of July 10, 1863, viz., forty men ... .. 152
Under call of July 18, 1864, including thirty men, the town's proportion of navy at large apportioned at State House ...... 138
Under call of December 19, 1864. 13
Total.
303
Three years' men furnished prior to draft of July 10, 1863 ... 390 693
Number of one and three years' men furnished, including
product of draft of 1863, and 30 men navy at large ap- portioned at the State House
693
Nine months' men furnished. 88
Six 16
Three 4
42
100 days'
38
877
TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF MEN FURNISHED AND THE AMOUNT OF BOUNTY PAID UNDER EACH CALL.
Date of Call.
Bounty paid by
town.
Bounty
subscrip-
Total
am't of
bounties
TotalNo.
men fur-
nished.
En listed
for 3 yrs. 2 Y.
1 Y.
9 M.
| 3 M.
April 16, 1861.
42
May 3, 1861. 2
June 17, 1861.
314
314
May 28, 1862. 1
July 14, 1862.
$10,950 8,800
$10,950 8,800
73 88
88
October 17, 1863.
February 1, 1864. March 14, 1864.
1,155
1,155
July 18, 1864.
11,225
$19,130
30,355 1,775
13
-
$33,755
$19,280
$53,035
744
The above table does not include the following :
Product of draft of July 10, 1863. 40
Products of draft of May 13, 1864. 3
Naval apportionment under the call of July 18, 1864 33
Six months' men.
.. 16
100 days' men
.. 38
130
1 Including amount paid by enrolled men not drafted, for substitutes.
109 105
77
1 |27
December 19, 1864.
1,625
150
the
paid by
tion.1
paid.
-
109
August 4, 1862.
1027
PEABODY.
Adding this number to the total of the table, there is a discrepancy of only three men between the table and the statement above given. The irregularities of enrolment during the earliest months of the war make it extremely difficult to arrive at entire exact- ness in these statistics.
The following list contains the names of the citi- zens of the town who died in the war, as contained in the marble tablets at the entrance of the Town Hall, which were headed with the inscription :
"In commemoration of the patriotic services of the citizens of this Town who died in defence of the Liberties of their Country in the Great Rebellion."
AGE
AGE
Capt. Samuel Brown (3d) .......... 24
Daniel Murray. 36
Lieut. Charles B. Warner ......... 27
George W. Nason 18
Orlando E. Alley ... 29
Theron P. Newhall. 35
Robert Andrews ... ... 30
Paul Osborn .25
William Andrews, .. 24
Oliver Parker. .. 23
Sampson W. Bowers. 49
George H. Pearte. 19
Leverett S. Boynton ... 25
James Powers 25
John Price 3d. 31
Jonathan Proctor. 51
Leonard Reed. 42
Richard H. Roome. 19
James Byrne. 39
Lewis P. Clark
22
Meses Shackley 21
John Costello. 22
Albert Shepard. 30
William H. Shore 22
Donald Sillers 44
William Sillers. 20
Charles H. Sawyer. 23 Thomas Campsey. 20
Benjamin A. Stone. 20 Jeremiah Donnovan 18
John Fitzgibbon 22
Alfred Friend.
32
John Stott 30
Frank Gardner.
22
Horace C. Straw 44
Terrence Thomas. 20
Charles W. Trask 25
George H. Tucker. 32
No. of Persons establish- em-
Capital.
Value of
ments. ployed.
product.
Boots and shoes
2
31
$9,000
$32,000
Building.
3
28
25,000
106,000
Carriages and wagons.
2
20
27,000
40,350
Clothing.
1
1
200
12,000
Corks ..
1
22
6,000
18,309
Food preparations.
1
5
1,100
5,000
Glue.
2
70
125,000
99,200
Grease and Tallow
1
5
4,000
14,750
29
768
638,370
3,042,387
Machines and machinery.
2
13
9,000
36,300
Metals and metallic goods.
3
6
3,800
5,300
Printing and publishing.
2
10
6,500
12,564
Printing, dyeing and bleaching
1 196
200,000
800,000
Soap and candles
1
12
6,000
37,434
Tobacco
2
8
2,700
6,750
Totals.
53 1,195
1,063,670
4,268,344
There were, in 1880, three hundred and forty-three persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, and the val- ue of agricultural products was one hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and fifty-seven dollars.
The valuation of Peabody in 1887 was :-
Personal estate
$2,685,850
Real estate
.. 4,501,050
Total 7,186,900
The town of Peabody has continued the process of development begun half a century ago, and has be-
CHAPTER LXXV.
PEABODY-(Continued).
The Town of Peabody.
AT the close of the war the population of the town had diminished from that of 1860, and was six thousand and fifty.
The valuation was $3,819,766. Manufacturing had been carried on in most of the branches in which the town is active; the times of business ac- tivity succeeding the war, largely increased the vol- ume of manufactures.
In 1868, by an act of the Legislature, passed April 13, the name of the town was changed from South Danvers to Peabody, in honor of George Peabody, who had given so largely to the town for library and educational objects. The change was not without some opposition, and was not at the expressed desire of Mr. Peabody ; but twenty years of customary use have familiarized all with the change, and it cer- tainly serves to give prominence to the name of the town's benefactor, and at the same time to make the locality known to some who have known Mr. Pea- body as a benefactor of other cities and regions.
The leather industry continued to be the largest department of manufacturing, and many of the tan- ners and curriers lost heavily, as a result of the great fire in the business district of Boston, November 10, 1872. The blow was a severe one to some of the old- est and strongest firms, but most of the manufactur- ers rallied from its effects, and continued to operate the tanyards and currying shops. A large amount of leather is produced yearly, including calf skins, kip and grain leather, harness leather and sole leather. The manufacture of morocco and sheep skins is also of considerable importance.
The following statistics from the census of 1880 give the condition of the productive industries of the town at that time. There has probably been an in- crease in most of the manufactures since that time, and some wholly new manufactures, among which is a metallic thermometer-factory employing twenty- one workmen, have been established since that census was taken.
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