USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Conway > History of Conway (Massachusetts) 1767-1917 > Part 16
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The building itself is befitting to its purpose. It is laid out for use and beauty and permanence. It is built in thoroughness, without stint of money. It shows the craft of the finest of all outward arts; and its lines in the lasting stone are firm and graceful. Its appointments within are tasteful, well ordered, and ample. Our state is adorned and enriched throughout by beautiful buildings, devoted to the same public uses, and bearing often similar personal memorials; but there are few among them that can be at all compared with this in appropriateness and completeness of elegance. Unlike to some costly structures the building befits its place, and the eye will soon learn to rest upon its strong and shapely lines as if it were itself a part of the wide surrounding natural beauty in the midst of which it stands. The building answers to its design.
The library within will correspond also to the wise and generous purpose of its giver. The collection of books will be choice and sufficiently large. It will be well arranged and cared for and maintained. And it will be free to all for use.
Books themselves belong naturally with memorial uses. Writings are things of remembrance. With a few visible signs they hold the whole story of the life of man. Letters are the chief memorials of our human state. They are the main record- ing instruments and depositories of all that man has known or believed or imagined concerning himself and concerning the range of universal being in which he is placed. Here upon these lettered shelves are the records of man, and the records of the things before man was. Here are the histories of the earth and the heavens. Here are the prophecies of the paths of the stars. Here upon these pages are the lights of kindling suns, and the shadows of the suns that have faded and that are to fade. Here about us are the living men of the earth, full themselves of memory and forecast. Here are the philosophers speaking of
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the things accounted by them eternal. Here are the orators stirring the hearts and bending or stiffening the purpose and the will. Here are the poets, awakening newly and forever the sentiments, the hopes, the imaginations that never die. Here are the souls of men, in their sadness, their fears and their con- cerns, in their affections and sympathies, in their weakness and their courage, their aspirations and their faith-mortal, but human and laying hold on immortality. It is a vast assemblage of moving and animating companionship.
Into this association with all the recorded life and thought of mankind the people of these surrounding households, and all that shall come after them in future times, are to be here invited to enter. It is a benefit of immeasurable value which is thus brought within their reach.
It is not necessary that all or the most of those that use this library should ever read all or any very large proportion of the books that it will contain. The quickening power of books may come of a few as truly as from many. For special purposes many are needed, volumes of reference and volumes of treasured facts and conclusions in many departments of knowledge. But for the inspiration and hope of life, not many. And of great books for such ends there are in fact but few. I do not know but one might find in a hundred volumes, the work of thirty men, the most of what is greatest and best. There is a pleasure and a use in a far wider range and variety. But the busy men and women, young or old, in these households, need not any of them miss the main advantage of this ample furnishing. They may be straitened for time, but they can take from these shelves enough for all the most needful stirring and widening of the mind, and for solace and rest and strength of heart. The keepers of this library will help, we may be sure, so far as they have occasion, in the selection of books to be read. And it may be expected that the teachers in our schools and the pastors of our churches, and all the wise men and women indeed among us, will be ready with aid to the same end that these stores of reading may be most effectively used.
The library will be an attractive feature in our town. It will be a center of much life and thought. It will have its pleasing social uses. The new books will be watched for and talked of.
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The young people will be here. I do not suppose that these rooms themselves are intended to be places of resort, exactly, for conversation. But I presume that outside the doors these younger people will be allowed to speak in low tones, conversing altogether-as in Conway they naturally would-upon literary or patriotic themes. Perhaps they will be setting out early to add themselves to this collection with poetry and romance. It is likely that there will soon be set apart a shelf for Conway authors, and in time an alcove. I suppose a beginning might even now be made. In many ways and more and more the building will have a great place in all the life of the town.
Mr. Field has made wise provision for the continuing main- tenance and care of the Memorial Library. Nothing that generous sagacity could suggest has been left undone. He himself will perform in the presence of this assembly the signifi- cant act by which this building will pass into the keeping of the appointed board of trust. His gift will be received with most grateful appreciation. It will bring long-continuing benefits to the people of our town. It will carry to distant times its testi- mony to his own filial affection, to his public spirit, and to him- self. And it will make return, we trust, in abundant satisfac- tions, that will still more enrich his own life and that will abide with him forever.
Marshall Field then made formal presentation of the library in these words :-
I am exceedingly gratified to see so many of the citizens of Conway here to take part in the dedication of this building. It is now fifty years since I left you, but I have never lost interest in the town or in its inhabitants. It is now my privilege and great pleasure to present this token of my friendship, as I now do, in memory of my father and mother; and to you, Mr. Hunt, in behalf of the trustees, I deliver the deed of the property, the endowment fund and the keys, with the hope that the library will give pleasure to all the inhabitants of Conway, that it will be a power for good and a lasting benefit to this community.
Mr. Field was greeted with long-continuing applause.
Rev. Eugene F. Hunt responded in behalf of the trustees and of the town.
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ADDRESS OF MR. HUNT.
To say that one rarely has the high privilege accorded to me to-day, is to speak very far short of the truth. Many of our towns have received library buildings at the hands of friends, but I do not know of another the recipient of such a princely gift as this we now accept in trust. The building itself, in material, in architecture, in finish, as a work of art, is, as you intended it should be, the finest of its size in New England. The endowment is abundant to meet all necessary expenses for care, repairs, and the purchase of books for an unlimited term of years to come. The 6,000 volumes already upon the shelves have been so care- fully selected that they have the approval of the best librarians in the country. This, in a word, is the legacy you leave to your native town, in memory of your father and mother.
And what does all this mean, such a building, such an endow- ment, such a collection of books? Emerson has said, "Give me a book, health and a June day and I will make the pomp of kings ridiculous." And Mrs. Browning has declared, "No youth can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books." But best of all, is the motto you, sir, have given us and caused to be placed in full view as we enter the building, "He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, or an effectual comforter."
Any number of beautiful things might be said about the gift and the thoughtful generosity that prompted it, all of them true, but the genuineness of gratitude, the extent of appreciation, are always best shown not by what we say, but by what we do.
After the provision you have made, it goes without the saying, that the work about the building and in the building and every way connected with the building will be religiously attended to, so that we shall always be in a presentable condition whenever you and your friends may come, as we hope you often will come. This, of course, is not a mark of gratitude, any more than the faithful performance of any other task for which one is paid, is a mark of gratitude. It is simply plain duty. But there are ways in which our feelings can be shown, our appreciation declare itself. The pains we take with our other public buildings and their surroundings, with our homes and their surroundings; the care to make our streets and little squares attractive; the attention
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we give to Our schools, that our youth may become intelligent readers and lovers of books; the effort we put forth to interest all classes in this varied, extensive, and choice collection, so that "free to all" shall have a meaning; the careful, conservative, impartial management of the affairs of the library-these things will best reveal the genuineness of our gratitude, the full extent of our appreciation.
With a hope, sir, that all these conditions will be so fully realized, that in years to come you will look upon this as one of the best investments you have ever made, with a determination that this shall be so, as far as the supervision of the trustees goes, we receive in trust for the whole town, without distinction, this beauti- fully constructed classic building, with its well equipped library.
Mr. Avery extended the thanks of the trustees and the community to Mr. Coolidge for the satisfactory manner in which, as one of the architects, he had superintended the construction of the building.
Rev. William F. Avery offered the prayer of benediction.
The assembly then marched in procession with music to the tent where caterer Barr of Springfield had prepared ample and choice supplies of food. More than twelve hundred people were gathered about the tables here spread.
The bearing and manner of Mr. Field throughout the day were altogether unostentatious and altogether dignified. This attracted attention the more in that it was meant to attract none. It remains in the minds of the people of the town and of all that were gathered on that day that the most pleasing and the most significant feature of the occasion was not the costly library and its equipment, but the man himself-quiet, self- composed, and strong-by whom the gift was made. It is a grateful office here to record this universal satisfaction with Mr. Field's own personal bearing, and to prolong its remembrance.
It has been brought to mind, also, in connection with Mr. Field's care for his native town, that whenever a man from Conway called upon him in his place of business, he would find space even in the most crowded days for courteous greetings and friendly inquiries. Mr. Field was not a man of business only. He was a man of memories and friendly instincts. And thus his own memory abides in friendliness and honor.
CHAPTER IX. MILITARY HISTORY. BY REV. CHARLES STANLEY PEASE. THE REVOLUTION.
The military history of Conway began with the struggle for American Independence.
The inhabitants at Boston, under the leadership of Samuel Adams, had voted to appoint a "Committee of Correspondence consisting of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the Colonists, and of this province in particular, as men, as Chris- tians and as subjects; and to communicate and publish the same . to the several towns."
During the year 1774, the town officials of Conway received a communication from the Boston Committee of Correspondence and at the first town meeting thereafter on the 5th of August, the matter was acted upon. Lieut. Thomas French, Deacon Samuel Wells, Robert Oliver, Nathan Gould, and Consider Arms were elected a committee to prepare a suitable answer to the letter. The town meeting was adjourned without action to the latter part of the week in order to allow the committee time to prepare suitable response. Four days after the first meeting the com- mittee reported at a special town meeting called for the purpose as follows: "At a legal town meeting of the inhabitants of Conway held on the first day of August, 1774, Lieut. Thomas French chosen moderator. After having read and considered the letters sent us from Boston respecting the rights of the colonies and of the infringement of those rights, we fully agree with you that these rights and privileges are invaded, and of this province in particular. We shall join with you in all lawful and salutary measures for the recovery of those inestimable privileges wrested from us and firmly to secure those that remain; for we are sen- sible that should we renounce our liberty and privileges, we should renounce quality of men and the rights of humanity. We freely pay our proportion of money desired by the General Court in order to the support of the Honorable Committee of Congress greatly relying and depending on their resolutions." The town
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clerk, Oliver Wetmore, was instructed to send the report of the town's action to the Boston Committee of Correspondence. At this same meeting, Consider Arms was selected to represent the town at the Provincial Congress to be held at Concord the fol- lowing month. The first week of September another special town meeting was called and a committee of thirteen was selected to correspond with the other towns of the province with regard to obtaining their liberties. The committee consisted of Deacon Samuel Wells, Deacon Joel Baker, Lieut. Thomas French, Jonas Rice, Oliver Wetmore, Cyrus Rice, Consider Arms, Robert Oliver, Jonas Dickinson, Israel Gates, Josiah Boyden, Elisha Clark, and Alexander Oliver and they were also empowered to regulate the town with respect to mobs for the space of fourteen days. They were requested to lay before the town further articles in relation to the fast approaching crisis. As matters began to present a more threatening aspect the selectmen were directed to provide two barrels of powder and lead and flints for a town stock of ammunition. At the March town meeting, 1775, it was voted to allow the minute men one barrel of powder and lead and flints to be in readiness when they are called upon to march to Boston in defense of this country. Also that the town would provide forty bayonets and the same number of cartridge boxes. The town also voted to pay to each soldier $40 out of the treasury on their being called on to march. The selectmen were instructed to see that the above resolutions were fully carried out. The second Tuesday in April, the town selected Capt. Daniel Dunham as delegate to the Provincial Congress at Concord .. He was also selected as the delegate in May following. On the morning succeeding the battle at Lexington the Massachusetts Committee of Safety sent a communication to the several towns in the state as follows: "We conjure you, by all that is dear, by all that is sacred; we beg and entreat you, as you will answer it to your country, to your consciences, and above all, to God Himself, that you will hasten, and encourage, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form the army; and send them forward to headquarters at Cambridge with that expedition which the vast importance and instant urgency of the affair demanded."
The citizens of Conway promptly responded. All arrange- ments had been made in anticipation of the expected summons
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and on April 22, Capt. Robert Oliver led forth the following "Minute Men": Ebenezer Allen, Caleb Beals, Lamberton Cooper, Daniel Davidson, Reuben Dickinson, Jonathan Dunham, Abel Dinsmore, Gershom Farnsworth, James Gilmore, John Goodale, Matthew Graves, Robert Hamilton, Jason Harrington, Josiah Horton, Ebenezer Hart, Aaron How, Sherebiah Lee, Malachi Maynard, Daniel Newhall, Thomas Nutting, Alexander Oliver, Aber Packard, Joseph Rice, Benjamin Whitney, and Jonathan Whitney. Abel Dinsmore and Jonathan Whitney served as sergeants. Both became captains in the Continental Army. Gershom Farnsworth and Aber Packard were corporals and Alexander Oliver was the clerk of the company. The men reported for duty at Cambridge where they were assigned to a regiment commanded by Col. Samuel Williams of Warwick. Other enlistments followed throughout the war as men were needed. Dr. Rice in his review of the first century of the town, the second chapter of this book, tells us that every able-bodied man took some part in the war for longer or shorter periods. Records of enlistments were not carefully kept by the town and the exact number is not known. The following names are taken chiefly from the published state records of Massachusetts soldiers and sailors in the Revolutionary War: Job Abbott, William Abbott, Amos Allen, Ebenezer Allen, Lucius Allis, Elisha Amsden, Isaac Amsden, Simeon Amsden, John Attset, Joseph Attset, Selah Baldan, William Bancroft, Solomon Bard- well, Samuel Barnes, Moses Bascom, Caleb Beals, Jon- athan Belding, Selah Belding, John Bond, John Boyden, Josiah Boyden, Simeon Bigelow, Edward Burgess, Walter Boardman, Patrick Brown, Samuel Brown, Jonathan Bruce, Daniel Butter- field, Thomas Cathcart, Richard Caton, Moses Childs, Judah Clark, Corp. Samuel Cooley, Sergt. Lamberton Cooper, John Crittenden, Lieut. Benjamin Crockett, Joseph Cross, Sergt. Daniel Davidson, Maj. James Davis, Elias Dewey, Eli Dickinson, James Dickinson, Corp. Joel Dickinson, Reuben Dickinson, Corp. Jonathan Dunham, Capt. Abel Dinsmore, Lieut. Abiather Eastman, Corp. Gershom Farnsworth, Sergt. William Farns- worth, Prince Freeman, Capt. Thomas French, Israel Gates, William Gates, Corp. John Gilmore, James Gilmore, Alexander Glover, John Goodale, Fifer Nathan Goodale, Solomon Goodale,
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Matthew Graves, Samuel Gray, Lieut. Robert Hamilton, Jason Harrington, Josiah Horton, Corp. Solomon Hayward, Ebenezer Hart, Aaron How, Jaazaniah How, Solomon Howard, Christo- pher Huntress, Joseph Huxford, Eber Isbel, John Kelley, Shel- burne Lawrence, Jeremiah Leach, Sherebiah Lee, James Lock, Henry Lovejoy, William Mallery, William Marble, William Merrill, Oliver May, Malachi Maynard, Asa Merritt, Simeon Merritt, Isaac Nelson, Daniel Newhall, Thomas Nutting, Lieut. Alexander Oliver, Maj. Robert Oliver, Corp. Aber Packard, Ephraim Paine, Lieut. Joel Parsons, Thomas Purdie, Jonas Rice, Joseph Rice, Luke Rice, Joseph Toby, Ebenezer Tolman, Elipha- let Wells, Bela Wetmore, Benjamin Wheat, Benjamin Whitney, Capt. Jonathan Whitney, Samuel Wilson, James Wing, Josiah Wing, John Wright, and Samuel Wright.
We do not need to repeat what has been so well told by Dr. Rice regarding the contentions with the Tories, the financial difficulties, and Conway's connection with the Shays' rebellion. Capt. Abel Dinsmore, minute man and leading patriot, became so much involved in the insurrectionary disturbances following the war that his arrest with Shays and others was ordered by the governor of the state. After the rebellion those who had partic- ipated in it returned to their farms and thereafter conducted themselves as law-abiding citizens. At the first annual town meeting following the close of the trouble and for some years afterwards, the newly elected town officials were required to take a specially worded oath of allegiance to the state and nation.
THE WAR OF 1812.
The declaration of war in 1812 did not meet with Conway's approval and in that year Elisha Billings and John Bannister represented the town at a peace convention held in Northampton. Yet in July, 1812, a petition was circulated in town of which the following was the preamble: "Whereas the United States are at present engaged in a war with Great Britain and a united support of the National Government has become more than ever necessary in order that the war may be terminated by a happy and honor- able peace; and whereas a conspiracy is believed to exist to sepa- rate the states and thus to involve the country in a civil war. Now therefore, we do solemnly pledge ourselves to our country
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individually that we will do all in our power to support the national government, that we will obey the orders of the President of the United States, when called upon to do it, to support the laws; and that we will discountenance and oppose any attempt to dissolve the union." This petition was signed by one hundred and forty-three citizens. In 1814 England having threatened to devastate the Atlantic coast, Governor Strong of Massachu- setts issued a call for the state militia. Several Conway men went in the Hampshire regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Longley of Hawley and Maj. Asa Howland of Conway. They saw no fighting, however, and soon returned in peace to their homes.
During all this period and for many years afterwards military training was given to all of military age. Lists of citizens as we find them in church and town records during the first century show many titles of army officers won for the most part on the local training grounds. In 1845 the town voted to sell its "guns and munitions of war" at public auction.
THE CIVIL WAR.
Fort Sumter capitulated on April 14, 1861. The following day President Lincoln issued a call for troops. Governor An- drews of Massachusetts had been anticipating for weeks some such emergency and within three days dispatched three regi- ments to Washington. Town meetings were held everywhere as soon as they could be legally called. In Conway the selectmen posted warrants on the 23d of April and the meeting was duly held on May 1st. Dr. E. D. Hamilton was chosen moderator and, according to the purpose of the meeting, a committee was appointed to secure the enlistment of soldiers. The following citizens were chosen by ballot to serve on this committee: Edward Burke, Rev. G. M. Adams, Dr. E. D. Hamilton, John Ingham, and Gurdon Edgerton. It was voted to furnish each volunteer with an outfit not to exceed twenty-five dollars and to pay him six dollars a month for the period of a year. Soldiers' families were to receive, at the discretion of the committee, from six to ten dollars a month for their support.
Forty-two of the Conway young men volunteered the first summer. They enlisted principally in three regiments, viz .: the 10th and 31st Infantry and the 1st Cavalry. All were three-
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year regiments and saw hard service. The 10th Regiment was recruited in the five western counties and went out under the command of Col. Henry S. Briggs of Pittsfield, who was sub- sequently promoted brigadier general for gallant conduct on the field. The 10th Regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac and participated in all of the great battles fought in that locality including Gettysburg. The 31st was also a Western Massachusetts regiment, at first designated as the "Western Bay-State" Regiment. It was raised under orders from General Butler, who sailed with this regiment from Boston and selected it as his bodyguard in the occupation of New Orleans. It was actively engaged in opening the lower Mississippi River. The 1st Regiment of Cavalry was recruited at Readsville, Mass., and like the 10th Infantry was assigned to the Army of the Potomac.
The year 1862 was perhaps the darkest year of the war. All summer the tide of battle appeared to be against the North. The president in July appealed for three hundred thousand troops and a month later called for three hundred thousand more. Conway held a special town meeting on July 23, when it was voted unamimously "that the selectmen be, and hereby are instructed to offer and pay the sum of one hundred dollars to each volunteer from town not exceeding our quota." This bounty was increased in January, 1865, to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Fifty-seven men from Conway enlisted in 1862 in response to the appeals of President Lincoln. Eight enlisted in July in the 37th Regiment, recruited at "Camp Briggs," Pittsfield. Nine went to recruit the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry already in the field. Thirty-four enlisted in the 52d Regiment recruited in September at "Camp Miller," Green- field. The 52d Regiment was commanded by Col. H. S. Green- leaf of Shelburne Falls and was composed almost wholly of men from Franklin and Hampshire counties. Nearly all of the Con- way men went into Company D under Capt. F. M. Patrick. Captain Patrick soon resigned because of a severe illness and was succeeded by Lieut. Horace Hosford also of Conway. Oliver P. Edgerton of Conway became 2d Lieutenant, and four Conway men served as corporals in the same company. This regiment was assigned to the Department of the Gulf and with the 31st assisted in opening the Mississippi River.
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