USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 43
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Nearby Was the 54th encampment of the French Army December 2-5, 1782 On its march from Yorktown Where its generous aid Helped to achieve American Independence
The following extract is from the diary of a French Officer presumed to be that of Baron Cromat du Bourg, Aide to Count de Rochambeau, taken from an unpublished manuscript.
June 14, 1781. I left Boston in the evening for Providence, and slept at Dedham, where I found the reinforcements of seven hundred men which came to convoy and were on their way to
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join the army ; for want of a bed I settled myself on a chair.
The soldiers mentioned as being in Dedham were those which came in the "Sagittaire," a ship of 50 guns, which arrived in Boston after a passage of eighty days, in June 1781. See Dedham Historical Register, Vol. XIII, No. 3.
PATRIOTS DAY. A legal holiday in Massachusetts which takes the place of the old-time Fast Day which it superceded in 1895. The anniversary of the Battle of Lexington was selected as Patriots Day because it marked the beginning and end of the Revolution. General Washington disbanded his army on April 19, 1783, exactly 8 years to a day after the Battle of Lexington. The first blood of the Civil War was shed on April 19th as well as in the revolution. As the Massachusetts troops marched through Baltimore on that fateful anniversary of the battle of Lexington, they were fired on by a mob. Exchange of shots followed which resulted in the first deaths in the War between the States. Fast Day was originally a day of fasting and prayer. It was so ob- served among the Pilgrims and the Puritans with two long church services and sometimes three. But in the generation following the Civil War, the day came to be an occasion of festivity rather than of fasting. Therefore the Legislature abolished Fast Day and legalized Patriots Day as the spring holiday in its stead. The one thing which, more than any other, brought about the change was the bicycle. The holiday was the opening of the bicycling season. Tens of thousands of men and women-"wheelmen" was the general term, sometimes traveling in "club" groups of scores of members and usually led by tandem pace-makers-took possession of the roads, instead of obeying the Governor's procla- mation calling them to attend church. There were loud denuncia- tions of these cyclists for wheeling at the mad speed of ten or twelve miles an hour along the highways, frightening horses and filling the air with dust. The cyclists refused to stay at home or go to church on Fast Day, so in order to prevent the violation of the reverent spirit of Fast Day it was changed to Patriots Day.
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CHAPTER XXVI
CIVIL WAR AND SPANISH WAR
FITHE firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 aroused the North to the danger of war. Dedham* was fired with patriotism. The sound of the fife and drum was soon heard in the streets. Men saw that they must soon go into the stern business of war. A call was issued on Friday, April 19th, for a meeting of citizens that evening in Temperance Hall to discuss the duty of the hour. The bringing of an American Flag into the hall was the occasion of an outburst of enthusiasm never before heard in Dedham. A roll was opened for volunteers to form a military company and forty-seven names were signed in a very short time. It was the first company raised in Dedham since 1842. The name of Warren B. Galucia was the first on the roll and that of Henry G. Gerritsen was the second. These are hardly the names of Dedham's first settlers, yet it is a pleasure to record that in every war, those of foreign lineage have stood side by side with the natives of old Dedham. At the Temperance Hall Meeting, the first "war meeting" of the town, a committee of twelve prominent citizens was appointed to take into considera- tion the means necessary to be taken in the present crisis. This committee voted to issue a call to the Selectmen for a town meeting to be held forthwith, and also asked that a suitable place for drilling be provided. The volunteers organized the first ** of the three companies furnished by Dedham during the war. On Saturday, May 4th, Henry Onion was made captain and Charles Whiting Carroll, first lieutenant. Captain Onion was a man in the prime of life, a skillful engineer, with the advan- tage of a West Point education. Lieut. Carroll was born in Dedham and educated in Dedham schools. He entered Dartmouth
* At the outbreak of the Civil War Dedham comprised in addition to its present territory the towns of Norwood, Westwood, and the Readville section of Hyde Park, having a population of about 5,500. At the close of the war in 1865 the population had increased to 6,500. During the war Dedham furnished 636 men in defense of the Union, more than ten per cent of the total population, a record of which every citizen should be proud. This quota was widely distributed in the infantry, artillery, and cavalry branches of the service with quite a contingent in the Navy and the signal corps of the United States Army.
** The first company became "Company F" of the Eighteenth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Volunteer Infantry. They camped at Readville and left for the seat of war on August 26, 1861.
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College at the age of nineteen, from which he was graduated with honors. He was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in March 1861. He was among the first to enlist in the Dedham Company, although he had entered only a few weeks before on his chosen pro- fession. Early in October 1861, Capt. Onion resigned, and on October 29, 1861, Lieut. Carroll was made captain of Company F, 18th Mass. Volunteers, and Fisher A. Baker was elected 1st lieutenant. Capt. Carroll was a gallant soldier and ever mind- ful of his men. He remained in command of his company until mortally wounded at the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862 and died three days later. The Dedham Company suffered severely in this engagement; seven men were killed and many severely wounded of whom several died. Of the forty men from Dedham who took part in the battle only fourteen came out un- hurt.
The town in May 1861 authorized the Treasurer to borrow $8,000 under the direction of the Selectmen; a portion to be used, by a committee of one from each school district, in furnish- ing an equipment of clothing to the Dedham Company of Volun- teers, and also in payment for their time and expenses in drilling ; the balance to be used in aiding the families of the volunteers.
Dedham provided the volunteers with a neat uniform of gray with blue trimmings, made by the women of the town. The company was armed with altered flint lock muskets borrowed from the town of Canton. The company at first drilled in the streets to the delight of the boys but during the latter part of May took up their abode in the large building of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. Here they had comfortable quarters and on pleasant days the old training field was again the scene of uniformed soldiers.
The members of the Company and the townspeople were very much interested in its success. Nothing was countenanced that was not for the best interests of the Country and the military discipline of the new recruits. The following incident related by Lieutenant Amasa Guild occurred before the company was actually organized. While the men were drilling one day it began to sprinkle and one of the men, quite a slick looking chap, put up his umbrella, which he happened to have with him. A murmur of disapproval ran through the ranks, and he was ordered by Captain
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Onion to put it down or leave; he chose the alternative and dropped out amid the jeers of the men. The story went about town creating much comment and he was "hung in effigy" on one of the button-wood trees on the Shuttleworth estate (where the Historical Society Building now stands) with a large placard attached, reading: "The man with the umbrella." Occasionally the Company marched through the streets of the town attracting much attention, especially from the small boys, who had their own company and would try to hitch on behind. To entertain the Company a grand ball was given one evening in the upper hall of the Agricultural building and most of the townspeople were present. The company gave an exhibition drill and then came dancing and refreshments. Many of the Company were from the South Parish, so they were invited by the people of South Dedham to come up and have a good time. A day was set apart and the Company was met at the outskirts of the village by a procession of firemen and citizens with a band to escort them into the village where they had a rousing reception with booming of cannon, etc. While the men were marching through the streets a gun prematurely exploded, blowing off a man's hands. This most unfortunate accident added a tone of sadness to the fes- tivities of the day. A patriotic meeting, however, was held and a contribution was taken up for the injured man's family.
As in all preceding and succeeding wars, the women of Ded- ham were not idle. In accordance with a notice given in the churches the preceding day, a large company of women gathered in the vestry of the First Church on Monday, April 22, 1861, for the purpose of preparing clothing for the troops. So earnest were they in their work, that before 12 o'clock the next day nearly a hundred flannel shirts had been made, sixty of which were immediately sent to Governor Andrew and the balance kept for the Dedham company. The women continued their work with enthusiasm, which kindled the interest of others. A report of their work says that the young did cheerfully what at other times might have been distasteful; the aged and infirm lent their aid; the children made pincushions and bags, and even the sick asked for something to do and gladly hemmed a handkerchief or towel while lying on their beds. Mrs. Guild, who was ninety years old on July 4, 1861, when a girl of five or six years, knitted
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stockings for the soldiers of the Revolution; in October 1861, she finished knitting seven pair of stockings which she sent to her two grandsons in the service in Virginia. Early in the Civil War the military spirit invaded the schools of Dedham. Most of the men teachers joined drill clubs or companies and the boys of the High School, for a year or two, spent most of their recesses in the company drill, the master acting as captain as far as he was capable. The lower hall of the school house, and the ample playground, served as a training field.
All through the war Dedham kept "the home fires burn- ing," and on holidays and birthdays the men in the field were remembered with gifts and dainties. In December 1861, it was proposed to send a New Year's dinner to Company F. Two boxes were sent on the morning of December 28, containing 30 turkeys, 100 pounds of plum pudding, 100 mince pies, crackers, cranberry sauce, pickles, and so forth. But the war, itself, went
on. Sunday, August 30, 1862, was a lovely, cool summer day; the largely attended services of the several churches were hardly half through when messages arrived bringing news of the great battle of Bull Run with calls for surgeons and hospital supplies, as the wounded were being brought from the front in over- whelming numbers. The announcement was made by the minis- ters in the several churches in the village; the services were abruptly brought to a close and the congregations dispersed to their homes; and men, women and children vied with each other in this Christian work of furnishing and forwarding supplies. No services were held that afternoon in any of the churches. The Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society promptly assembled and all through the afternoon, assisted by willing volunteers, these women were busy in this God-like work. The scene is sympathetically described by Joseph H. Lathrop in "Dedham in the Rebellion." "Who can speak of the feelings of those ladies who on that Sab- bath afternoon, while picking lint or rolling bandages or packing delicacies for hospital use, each realizing that perhaps her band- age and lint might be used on her own loved one or that her jellies might cool the fevered lips of some wounded friend!" The time for preparation was short, for a special train loaded with hospital supplies was to leave Boston at 5 o'clock that
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afternoon, and Dedham's contribution must be aboard. No time was lost; many hands made labor light, and before 4 o'clock two teams loaded with 26 cases filled with underclothing of all kinds, bandages, lint, jellies, cordials and other supplies, under the charge of George F. Fisher, were on the way for the waiting train. No such day had ever before been seen in Dedham. Dr. Henry F. Aten of Dedham left that night for Washington, and three days later Dr. John P. Maynard started for the front to meet the demand for surgeons.
A second company was raised in Dedham, which went into the 35th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry. In its second engagement at Antillam Creek, September 17, 1862, five of the Dedham Company were killed and six badly wounded. A third company* raised in Dedham saw service in the 43rd Regiment Massachusetts Infantry. In the terrible assault on Fort Wayne, South Carolina, July 18, 1863, led by Colonel Robert G. Shaw, one Dedham man in the ranks, John H. Bancroft,, gave up his life. Dedham had thirty commissioned officers in the Civil War. Thomas Sherwin went out in the 15th Regiment and later be- came adjutant of the. 22nd Massachusetts Infantry. He was severely wounded at the battle of Gaines Mills and was promoted to major for gallant action on the field. Subsequently he became lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the regiment and when mustered out of service was brevetted brigadier-general. His brothers, Henry and Edward Sherwin, served in the Navy. In the Lathrop family three brothers were in the service. John Lathrop was the captain of the Dedham company in the 35th regiment; Julius M. Lathrop, a captain in the 38th Massachusetts regiment, was killed at the battle of Cane River. Joseph H. Lathrop served in the 43rd Massachusetts Infantry, and afterwards became adju- tant and captain in the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. In 1890 he contributed to the Dedham Historical Register a history of "Ded- ham in the Rebellion," which ran through many numbers. No fuller history of Dedham's part in the war will ever be written. The Damrell family, with the Sherwins and Lathrops, had three brothers in the service. William S. Damrell served through
* Dedham was also represented in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 28th, 39th, 42nd, 44th, 54th, 57th, 58th and 59th Massachusetts Volunteers.
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the war as a captain in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry. Horace S. Damrell, who was a sergeant in Company H of the 18th Massa- chusetts regiment, lost his life March 7, 1862 at the age of nineteen years. Andrew N. Damrell, a graduate of West Point served in the engineers corp during the war. He was advanced to the grade of Colonel on the retired list April 23, 1904. Promi- nent among the men of Dedham who held various positions in the navy was Gersham J. Van Brunt, who made Dedham his home for many years. He was a native of New Jersey and entered the service from that state. When the Civil War broke out he was in command of the United States steam frigate "Min- nesota", the flagship of the fleet that reduced the forts off Hat- teras and later took part in the blockade at Hampton Roads. It was while the "Minnesota" was at Hampton Roads that the Confeder- ate ram "Merrimac" created consternation by attacking the fleet. The "Congress" and "Cumberland" had already been sunk and the "Merrimac" was headed for the "Minnesota" when the much- heralded "Monitor" put in an appearance and in a few minutes had disabled the "Merrimac" and revolutionized the naval architecture of the world. Capt. Van Brunt was promoted to Commodore-the highest rank it was then possible to reach in the service.
The women of the town had organized on October 21, 1861, the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society which had monthly meetings until the close of the war. They received more than $3,000.00 in contributions and furnished, as far as information can be had, 7,967 articles largely of apparel during the war. Norwood (then a part of Dedham) had its Ladies' Soldiers' Auxiliary, which rendered a valuable service. £ No statistics, however, are pre-
served.
A great wave of patriotism swept over the North in the early years of the Civil War which found a curious expression in "war envelopes" which were intended to voice the sentiments of the people and for a brief time illustrated the history of the war, but as legitimate publications, issues were soon given up. Some shrewd publishers, however, soon commenced the publication of war envelopes in small editions, utilizing old cast-off cuts, any- thing emblematic of country or patriotism which they expected collectors would buy. Finally the purpose of the publishers dawned upon the collectors and their publication ceased.
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The first legal town meeting to act upon matters relating to the war was held in the Town House on the evening of May 6, 1861. The meeting was literally packed. The Hon. Waldo Col- burn was chosen moderator. At this meeting it was voted "that the families of citizens who have enlisted, or shall enter for service under the United States, shall not want during their absence; that every volunteer for each day spent in elementary drill be paid one dollar and fifty cents from the 26th day of April until the company is accepted by the State; that each man be furnished with a good serviceable and substantial outfit; that the town treasurer be authorized to borrow for the above pur- pose $10,000." A committee of eleven was chosen to carry the · above vote into effect. It was also voted that each volunteer be paid $10 per month in addition to the pay from the Government for three months from the time of the companies' acceptance by the State. It was further resolved that "the town of Dedham is fully sensible of the momentous issue in our National affairs and by her appropriations today has evinced her patriotism and loyalty to the constitution; she pledges herself to stand by the volunteers and protect them and their families during the war." Residents of Dedham made a voluntary War Loan to the town in 1864 of $1,170.50 which was collected by John Cox, Jr. Later this sum was reimbursed to the contributors. It was early re- solved by the citizens of the town that those that remained at home should furnish "material aid" to those that went forth to defend and protect our interests and institutions. The town faithfully carried out this resolution. The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the town* on account of the war (exclusive of state aid) was not less than $81,000. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during the war for state aid was $38,326.38. Besides this amount $16,200.00 of "town aid" was distributed, no part of which was reimbursed by the Commonwealth.
A detail from the Dedham camp on July 6, 1861, went to Readville and pitched the tents to be occupied by the forthcom- ing soldiers on this great training field. This detail of Dedham
* The Selectmen stated February 1, 1866 that there had been paid from the town treasury, since April 1861, for liabilities incurred on account of the war a sum not less than $81,000.
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men has the honor of being the first to occupy tents on the Read- ville camp grounds, soon to be known as "Camp Brigham." On Monday July 8th, the several companies went into camp at Read- ville. The soldiers were escorted from Agricultural Hall by a procession composed of the several fire companies and citizens of the town headed by the Dedham Brass Band. Other companies mnet at Readville in September, 1861, at Camp Massasoit. Later the camps at Readville were united under the name of Camp Meigs which became the principal camp of assembly and instruc- tion in Massachusetts. The grounds were flat and well adapted to drilling but in wet weather were muddy and in the winter season bleak and cheerless. The barracks were great barn-like struc- tures of wood with sleeping bunks on either side. The field staff and company officers were quartered in small buildings. The camp had a chapel for religious services and a hospital for the sick. Camp Meigs was a place of great interest to visitors, es- pecially for dress parade which was held every afternoon. At times visitors were counted by the thousands, and on special oc- casions extra trains were run from Boston. The most memorable event in connection with this camp was the leaving on the after- noon of May 28, 1861, of the 54th Regiment of colored soldiers, under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw for Hilton Head, N. C.
Governor Andrew had long cherished the idea of forming a negro regiment in Massachusetts but received little sympathy from the military authorities in Washington or Massachusetts. The proclamation of emancipation January 1, 1863 opened the way for the organization of such a company. The military ren- dezvous was at Readville. Here was assembled two negro regi- ments, the fifty-fourth and the fifty-fifth. The Confederates had publicly proclaimed that no quarter would be shown to the offi- cers or men in such a regiment. So in the selection of officers, who were all white, Governor Andrew was careful to select those who had a good record of previous military service. In selecting Colonel Robert G. Shaw he took a man who had seen arduous service as a captain in the Second Regiment. He was a man of the highest character and descended from a well-known Boston family. As it has been truly said, to accept a commission in such
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a regiment demanded a degree of moral courage beyond that ex- pected of an officer in any other service. One of the captains in the regiment was William H. Simpkins, whose name is inscribed upon the tablet of the beautiful memorial on Boston Common, as having fallen in the assault upon Fort Wayne July 18, 1863. William H. Simpkins was "a sweet-faced, curly-headed boy" who attended as a pupil the Dedham High School for three years. In addressing the commander, Governor Andrew said, "I know not, Mr. Commander, when in all human history to any given thou- sand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory as the work com- mitted to you." The raising of the regiment was regarded as a dangerous and doubtful experiment; by some persons as a wicked one. History, however, records their patriotism and valor. Col. Robert Gould Shaw was born and lived in West Roxbury, only a few miles from Dedham Village. He is thus described by Major Higginson at the time he took command of his regiment: "I first saw him one evening in our camp at Brook Farm, a beautiful, sunny haired, blue eyed, gay and droll and winning in his way."
During the Civil War the ball rooms of Dedham hotels were often the scene of military display. After a review by Governor Andrew of Colonel Robert G. Shaw's Fifty-fourth regiment of colored troops at Readville, a grand ball was given in the evening ät the Norfolk Hotel by the soldiers of this famous regiment.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a lot in Dedham Village Cemetery where the soldiers who died in the Readville Camp (sixty-four in number) are buried. The monument bears this inscription :
Erected By the State of Massachusetts In memory of Soldiers who died At Readville during the War 1861-1865
Dedham furnished-as far as records show-six hundred and thirty-six men to the army and navy during the Civil War of whom seventy lost their lives. Of this number twenty-five were killed in action. About one-tenth of those who represented Ded- ham were killed or died from wounds or disease; forty men re-
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ceived wounds which were not fatal and sixteen were taken pris- oners. Of the entire number of soldiers from Dedham rather more than one-fifth, as nearly as can be ascertained, held posi- tions, either as commissioned or non-commissioned officers at the time of their leaving the service. Dedham soldiers were engaged in the leading battles of the war as follows: Gaines Mill, Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Shepardstown, Gettysburg, Freder- icksburg, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Rappahannock Station, Mine Creek, Battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Cane River, La.
In the navy Dedham was represented, among others, by the gallant Commander Gersham J. Van Brunt, who served so val- iantly on the frigate "Minnesota," employed in the blockade serv- ice of Hampton Roads. Subsequently he was entrusted with the superintendency and equipment of the expedition to New Orleans under General Banks. Commander Van Brunt died in Dedham, December 17, 1863.
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