USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 26
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In consequence of this public censure of the inferior courts by so large and influential a repre- sentative body, a mob of fifteen hundred armed men assembled at Northampton during the last week of August, took possession of the court- house, and effectually prevented the sitting of the obnoxious courts at the time and place prescribed by law. The counties of Worcester, Middlesex, Bristol, and Berkshire were instantly in a flame.
During the next week forcible resistance was made to opening the courts at Worcester. Dis- affection had so widely spread itself throughout the ranks of the militia, that it could not be relied upon for offensive operations against the insur- gents. Thus, the first efforts of the chief magis- trate to rally the forces of the commonwealth for the suppression of these disorders were ineffectual.
In Middlesex, a county convention assembled at Concord on the day subsequent to that on which
171
ETENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY.
the Hampshire convention met at Hatfield, in which the same ideas were enunciated, and similar demands made upon the authorities. The Court of Common Pleas, which was to sit in Concord on the 12th of September, was especially numbered among the grievances of the people. Confidence felt in the high character for intelligence of the people of Middlesex County, and in the assurances made to him by many influential citizens that active steps would be taken to prevent a repetition of the outrages at Northampton and Worcester, induced Governor Bowdoin to refrain from calling out the militia ; or, rather, to countermand an order already issued to General Brooks for the purpose.
But these pacific measures on the part of the state authorities were by the insurgents construed to mean fear. On September 12 the court-house in Concord was taken possession of by about one hundred men, of whom Job Shattuck, of Groton, was the leader. These were joined by an equal number from Worcester and Hampshire counties, making the insurgents' aggregate force not far from two hundred men. At the same time a county convention of those who deprecated violent measures was holding its session at Concord. The efforts of these mediators proved abortive. Shat- tuck, in an insolent communication to the justices of the Court of Commou Pleas, forbade their enter- ing the court-house. At a later hour he notified the Court of Sessions that it might open for the purpose of adjournment only, but entrance to the court-house was refused. In this case, even so small a body as that led by Shattuck was able to carry its point, because armed and united in a defi- nite purpose. The courts were overawed, and the justices left the town.
The county convention of the 23d of August reassembled at Concord on the 3d of October. A petition to the General Court was voted, in which the old grievances were reiterated and new ones brought forward. On the 31st the session of the Supreme Court at Cambridge was protected by two thousand Middlesex militia. On the 28th of No- vember the Court of Common Pleas was also to sit in Cambridge ; and, as this court was the special object of the insurgents, precautions were taken to meet any demonstration that might be made. On the 27th a party under Oliver Parker marched into Concord en route for Cambridge. These were to have been joined by other bands from Worces- ter, but the expected reinforcements not arriving, Parker's men became disheartened, and dispersed.
Parker, Page, and Shattuck were subsequently taken prisoners, the latter only after a desperate resist- ance in which he received several severe wounds. Shattuck was condemned to suffer the extreme penalty of the law, but was afterwards pardoned. Like many of his followers, he had been a soldier in a worthier cause, and it was felt that in the present feverish condition of the public mind mag- nanimity was the wisest as well as the most humane policy to pursue toward these misguided men.
The insurrection did not by any means cease with its suppression in Middlesex, but was trans- ferred to the western counties, where it soon as- sumed a far more dangerous character. Early in December the insurgents assembled in considera- ble force at Worcester, where they posted guards, arrested such persons as they pleased, and billeted themselves on the inhabitants like an invading army. The courts having met, and adjourned without attempting to transact any business, the insurgents retired from the town. They next ap- peared, to the number of about three hundred, under command of Daniel Shays, at Springfield, where they again intimidated the justices, and pre- vented the lawful administration of justice.
Convinced that the hour for vigorous action had at length arrived, and having raised the means of equipping a force by voluntary contribution, - for the state treasury was, as we have said, empty, - 4,400 men, of which number 800 were from Mid- dlesex County, were raised, in January, and placed under the orders of the veteran General Benjamin Lincoln. This army rendezvoused at Roxbury on the 19th, and on the 22d marched into Worcester, where its appearance at once quieted any appre- hensions that might previously have been felt in regard to the intentions of the insurgents. In the mean time General Shepard quietly took post at Springfield with about 1,100 militia.
The insurgents had succeeded in collecting, in the neighborhood of Springfield, nearly two thousand men under Day, Shays, and Parsons. Among them were a considerable number of old Continentals, who might be expected to fight with all the desperation which in their present treason- able attitude the leaders had persuaded them was the only way to safety. They resolved to capture the United States Arsenal, and, if possible, Shep- ard's command, before he could be reinforced by General Lincoln. Owing to want of co-operation among the insurgent leaders the scheme failed. Shays's column was the only one which advanced
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
against the arsenal. On its approach within mus- ket-range Shepard warned Shays that a further advance would be the signal for hostilities to begin. The rebels continued their march towards him, when Shepard opened fire with artillery, killing and wounding several of the insurgents. The remain- der broke and fled in the utmost disorder. Two days afterward, on the 27th, General Lincoln's advance entered Springfield, after a forced march.
Notwithstanding their repulse, the insurgents still remaining in the vicinity the united forces of the state immediately began a vigorous pursuit, which ended in the capture and dispersion of the largest body still in arms at Petersham during the first week in February. Smaller bands continued, however, to appear from time to time in the western part of the state, taking refuge in Vermont and New York when closely pursued. Some further collisions oc- curred between the state forces and the insurgents, and in the town of Sheffield happened the severest engagement of the whole insurrection. Having encountered each other here, the opposing bodies fired several rounds of musketry into each other before the insurgents gave way with the loss of two killed and thirty wounded. The insurrection now collapsed, after having shown extraordinary vitality, and a much firmer hold on the disaffected classes than it was at first believed possible. It was the first and last rebellion that has sullied the fair fame of the state of Massachusetts.
The insurrection exercised a salutary effect in directing the minds of the people to the reforma- tion of evils growing out of the unsatisfactory and anomalous relations existing between the federal and the state governments. It inaugurated a full and free discussion of those evils, not only by the legislature, but by press and people everywhere ; so that, notwithstanding a powerful opposition, at the head of which were some of the foremost men of the state, the present Federal Constitution was adopted by Massachusetts.
In his efforts to suppress the rebellion, Governor Bowdoin had the support of the best men in the state, among whom were Samuel Adams and James Sullivan. Adams and others feared the rise of an oligarchy, but they dreaded the levellers more, and therefore gave their consent to the rati- fication of the present Federal Constitution. On the other hand, the need of a stronger government prepossessed some minds in favor of the Old Mon- archy. Such opinions, though guardedly expressed, were actually broached in influential circles.
In 1789 Washington, then President of the United States, revisited New England, passing through the scenes of his former triumphs in Mid- dlesex County. His progress was a continued ovation. On his arrival at Worcester he was met by an aide-de-camp of General Brooks, then com- manding the Middlesex militia, who tendered a military escort as far as the limits of the county, and also a review of the county troops at Cam- bridge, through which place the president's route lay. With a modesty which did him honor the president would have declined the proffered military pageant ; but from the general who had so gallantly served under his orders throughout the War for Independence, to the humblest private soldier in the ranks, the desire to pay this homage was uni- versal, and would not be denied.
Escorted by a troop of the county light-horse, the president reached Marlborough on the 23d, where he dined, and Weston the same evening, where he passed the night. He had appointed ten o'clock, of the 24th, to meet his old companions in arms at Cambridge, and his punctuality was the terror of all those who surrounded his person. At eight o'clock in the morning he set out from Wes- ton, and at precisely ten he rode into Cambridge. The militia, having to march considerable distances to reach the ground, had not yet appeared in line ; but the president was here met by the lieutenant- governor of the state, Samuel Adams, and the executive council, who informed him that they were come in order to accompany his Excellency to the capital.
By eleven General Brooks had formed his troops, and shortly afterward the president rode down the line, receiving its salute as he passed. His Excel- lency has left his testimony to the excellent appear- ance of this fine body of men, with their general at their head. There was quite a sprinkling of old Continental soldiers in the ranks, and many an eye grew moist at the recollections summoned from the past by the presence of their beloved commander.
On the 29th the president paid a visit to Har- vard College, the board of which had honored him with an address of congratulation and welcome. He was received in the president's house by Pres- ident Willard, who showed his distinguished guest through the buildings of the college. In going and returning to Boston, the president inspected the bridges recently erected between Boston and Charlestown, and between Charlestown and Mal-
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FIFTY YEARS OF PROSPERITY.
den, which he pronounced " useful and noble" structures, " doing great credit to the enterprising spirit of the people " of Massachusetts. His Ex- cellency subsequently visited Billerica, Lexington, and Watertown, where he lodged in a house, still standing, near the bridge over Charles River.
The district of Tyngsborough was incorporated in June, 1789. Burlington received its incorpora- tion ten years later, closing the catalogue of towns for the century.
During the year 1799, the attention of the gen- eral government having been directed to naval af- fairs by the hostile attitude of the French Republic, the United States purchased Moulton's Point, in Charlestown, for a dockyard. The purchase in- cluded about eighty acres, at a cost to the govern- meut of nearly $40,000. Twenty-three acres were acquired from three principal proprietors, Harris, Stearns, and Breed, at a cost of $20,000. Much of the site was covered by a marsh which has since been converted, by filling, into firm ground.
Historical from its intimate relation with the battle of Bunker Hill, the dockyard is yet more so from the number of famous ships that have been built and launched within its limits. The Frolic, Cumberland, Merrimack, Hartford, are names that adorn our naval annals with unfading lustre. The Frolic was captured by the enemy in the War of 1812; the Cumberland was sunk in Hampton Roads, in 1862, by the rebel ram Merrimack, with her crew at their guns. The Merrimack was the steam-frigate seized by the rebels and converted into an iron-clad ram of the same name. After sinking and disabling several of our most powerful wooden vessels, she was defeated by the Monitor, and the fleet at Hampton Roads saved from anni- hilation. The Hartford was the flag-ship of Ad- miral Farragut during the attacks on Mobile and
New Orleans. When the Cumberland went down, her topmasts showed above water with the Stars and Stripes still flying at the mast-head. The incident is referred to in Longfellow's beautiful ballad : -
" Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay, Still floated our flag at the mainmast head.
Lord, how beautiful was Thy Day ! Every waft of the air Was a whisper of prayer
Or a dirge for the dead.
" Ho! brave hearts that went down in the seas ! Ye are at peace in the troubled stream ;
Ho ! brave land ! with hearts like these, Thy flag, that is rent in twain, Shall be one again,
And without a seam !"
As a naval station, Charlestown began to assume importance during the War of 1812 with Great Britain. The navy, which Adams had founded, was still in its infancy, although the war with Algiers had carried its reputation abroad, and won for it respect at home.
The dry dock connected with the yard was completed in 1833, under the superintendence of Loammi Baldwin, civil engineer. To give éclat to the opening of this magnificent structure which had occupied six years in building, it was decided that the famous frigate Constitution, or Old Ironsides, as she was popularly called, should be the first ves- sel admitted. The event was fixed for the 24th of June. In the midst of a vast concourse of specta- tors, and in presence of the Vice-President, Mr. Van Buren, the Secretary of War, Mr. Cass, and other distinguished guests, Commodore Hull super- intended the entrance of the gallant ship into the dock. Here she was afterwards entirely rebuilt by Josiah Barker, the eminent naval constructor.
XXIII.
FIFTY YEARS OF PROSPERITY.
IN this chapter, which brings our history to the ever-memorable year 1861, we make no more than a brief reference to those events which by their importance demand fuller and more intelligent representation under special divisions. Manufac- tures, canals, and railways form these divisions ; the
first being the creator, the others the legitimate offspring born in obedience to the laws of demand and supply, which is the modern way of character- izing those wonderful discoveries science brings to the aid of man at the moment of his need.
The war with Great Britain, to which the Em-
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
bargo of 1807 was the prologue, finished with the bloody repulse of the enemy at New Orleans, January, 1815. It was emphatically " a war im- prudently engaged in, feebly conducted, rarely suc- cessful, very costly, perfectly sterile in diplomatic results, and, nevertheless, finally as useful to the prestige of the United States as fruitful for them in necessary lessons."
The war was viewed with aversion, almost with hostility, by the people of Massachusetts. A few troops were raised for service on the Canada fron- tier, and in the then remote regions now constituting the states of Ohio and Indiana.1 A few militia responded to the call of the executive of the state to fortify the more important and exposed seaports. But perhaps the most curious aspect this unpopu- lar war was made to take resulted from the stimu- lus it gave to manufactures, which until now had been insignificant in Massachusetts, but which sprung into vigorous existence at the moment the importation of British goods was stopped by it. So far the war proved a blessing in disguise. The commerce of Massachusetts was destroyed, but her manufactures arose on its ruins.
The dozen years comprised between 1813 and 1825 constitute the era of manufactures bounded by the enterprise of Francis Cabot Lowell and oth- ers at Waltham, and by the rise of Lowell. From 1830 to 1840 was the era of railways, as from 1786 to 1830 had been that of canals, bridges, and turnpikes. The year 1844 was the era of the magnetic telegraph, inaugurated by a distinguished son of Middlesex, Samuel F. B. Morse.
Morse was born at Charlestown, April, 1791. He was the son of Rev. Jedediah Morse, minister of the First Congregational Church, who is some- times called the father of American Geography. Inclination rather than genius led him to adopt painting as a profession ; but it is not by art that his name will live. There is little reason to sup- pose that Morse approached the invention of the recording telegraph through a long series of experi- ments, or by a protracted scientific study of the singular agent he was to make so obedient to his will. The seed chance dropped there quickly ger- minated in his mind. He began his own experi- ments where others ceased theirs, or were baffled ;
1 The 4th United States infantry regiment was wholly raised in New England in 1808. It fought gallantly, under Harrison, at Tippecanoe, and was surrendered at Detroit. The remnant of the regiment reached Boston in 1812, and was quartered at Charlestown.
and within a few years from the time he had first witnessed, in a lecture-room, the working of an electro-magnet connected with a battery, had pre- pared his first model of a recording telegraph. Other inventors were slowly developing ideas of
S. F. B. Morse.
their own, but Morse at once grasped the simplest and most practicable methods, and fairly outstripped them in the race for fame.
While enterprises destined to effect such marked changes in ways of travel, in methods of communi- cating public or private intelligence, in developing our own manufactures, were in progress, other events connected with the social aspect of the time demand relation at our hands.
In 1834 there happened within the present limits of the city of Somerville an event which threw all New England into violent commotion. This was the destruction of the Ursuline Convent, situated upon Mount Benedict, by a mob assem- bled for the purpose, who, after giving the inmates time to depart, fired the building, and prevented any effort to quench the flames.
Considering such an act of lawlessness as to-day impossible, it is difficult to conceive a public opin- ion that either justified or silently approved it ; but it is nevertheless true that the growth of a public sentiment which should tolerate the establishing of Catholic institutions was exceedingly slow in New England. There was no thought of molesting
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FIFTY YEARS OF PROSPERITY.
churches, but by the middle class private religious honses, secluded from the public gaze and the public oversight, were regarded with distrust and aversion.
With such prepossessions it was not difficult to aronse the impetuous, unreasoning, or lawless into a state of exasperation. Still, had this conflagra- tion on Mount Benedict been simply the act of a mob, we should have little to say of it : it was the inaction of the authorities, fully warned as they were of the attempt, that truly indicates the con- dition of popular opinion. A feeble effort to disperse the mob was indeed made; but, being unaccompanied with any means for its enforce- ment, the rioters paid no attention to it whatever.
The immediate cause of the outbreak was the spreading of reports that some inmate or inmates of the convent were detained contrary to their own will, or had been abducted to prevent the inter- position of friends in their behalf. These reports were soon exaggerated into greater cruelties in their passage from mouth to mouth, until the ex- citement reached fever heat. The credulous and the ignorant, who believed the rumors true, were very soon persuaded that the destruction of the convent would be less a violation of law than an assertion of popular justice. Threats were openly made to burn the nunnery. Placards were even posted in the streets of Charlestown fixing a time for the attempt. Both passed unheeded; but on the night of the 11th of Angust, 1834, the torch was applied, and the convent and ontbuildings con- sumed. Four to ten thousand people witnessed the disgraceful affair.
The sole advantage derived from this outrage- an outrage in the last degree cowardly, since the inmates of the convent were only defenceless women and children - was the immediate and eminently healthful reaction in public sentiment by which it was followed. So fully and unmis- takably was this sentiment expressed, that there can be no doubt the natural exasperation of Catho- lics was allaved by it, and reprisals upon Protestant churches prevented. Under the wise counsels of their bishop, Fenwick, they exhibited remarkable forbearance, but it was long before the bitterness engendered by the occurrence passed away. Until recently the ruins were a conspicuous object to travellers crossing the Mystic, but they are now nearly obliterated, presenting only heaps of un- sightly rubbish to the eye of the wayfarer.
In 1842 Bunker Hill Monument was completed.
The event was considered one of national impor- tance. Indeed, the completed structure represents the offering of a nation, and is a remarkable exam- ple of the truth that where men fail in carrying out an object that appeals wholly to pure and patriotic sentiment, women invariably succeed. Mount Ver-
Bunker Hill Monument.
non, Bunker Hill, and the Old South Church are so many monuments to the women of America.
For a comprehensive résumé of the history of the present monument, we have no more appro- priate language than that of Hon. G. W. Warren in his annual address to the Monument Association, made in 1862.
" On the 17th of June, 1823, the Bunker Hill Monument Association was first organized. In two years from that day the young patriotic soci- ety had obtained the means to acquire to itself a large part of the field of the battle of Bunker Hill, and to lay, with imposing ceremonies, the corner- stone of the monument. In 1843, just twenty years from its organization, - the great work lav- ing been completed by popular aid alone, - the association, with equally imposing ceremonies, and in the presence of the whole executive govern- ment of the nation, and of patriotic and official personages from every state, inaugurated one of the grandest monuments to one of the grandest objects of commemoration in the world."
William Tudor of Boston, the accomplished scholar, was the first to draw public attention to the building of a memorial on Bunker Hill, com-
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IIISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
mensurate with the importance of the event it was forever to celebrate. He pursued the subject until the sympathies and co-operation of many distinguished citizens were enlisted. This action resulted in some preliminary steps being taken. In November, 1822, Dr. John C. Warren, nephew of the general, purchased three acres of land on Bunker Hill, thus securing a site for the proposed monument. A meeting of those friendly to the enterprise was held at the Merchants' Exchange in Boston, in May, 1823, which resolved itself, under an act of incorporation passed June 7, 1823, into the Bunker Hill Monument Association. Daniel Webster presided at the first meeting.
The consideration of a plan for the monument
Lafayette.
was committed to Daniel Webster, Loammi Bald- win, George Ticknor, Gilbert Stuart, and Wash- ington Allston. Some fifty plans were submitted. The first committee having failed to make a de- cision, a second, composed of H. A. S. Dearborn, Edward Everett, Seth Knowles, S. D. Harris, and T. H. Perkins, eventually adopted the obelisk offered by Horatio Greenongh and modified by the taste and judgment of Loammi Baldwin. Solo- mon Willard was the architect and superintendent. On the 17th of June, 1825, the anniversary of the battle, the corner-stone was laid in the presence of General Lafayette, then the nation's honored
guest, and of some forty survivors of the battle, whose appearance was greeted with the loudest acclaims of a multitude of spectators. The cere- mony of laying the corner-stone having been con- ducted with the impressive Masonic rite, Mr. Webster addressed the assembled people. In the course of his remarks the orator thus beautifully expressed the purpose of this or any national monument :-
" We wish, that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hitler, may behold that the place is not undistinguished, where the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish, that this structure may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event, to every class and every age. We wish, that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. We wish, that labor may look up here, and be proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish, that in those days of disaster, which, as they come in all nations, must be expected to come on us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong. We wish, that this column, rising towards heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object in the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming ; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and part- ing day linger and play on its summit."
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