History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 64

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 64

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In the fall of 1775 the troops in General Putnam's division, occupying Cambridge and a portion of the present territory of Somerville, were posted very nearly as follows : Colonel Patterson's regiment, at the base of Prospect Hill, at the work near Union Square, called Fort No. 3; General Heath's regiment, at the Putnam Avenue work, called Fort No. 2; Colonel Phinney's regiment, at the works north of Fort No. 2, on Dana Hill; Colonel Scammon's regiment, at the Riverside work, called Fort No. 1; Colonel William Prescott's regiment, at Cambridge; Colonel Glover's regiment, at Cambridge; Colonel Frye's regiment at Cambridge; Colonel Bridge's regiment, at Cambridge ; Colonel Woodbridge's regiment, on the Charlestown road to Menotomy, west of Prospect Hill; Colonel Sargent's regiment, at Inman's Farm.

General Washington at first took quarters at the President's house, on the college grounds, one room having been reserved for the President ; but this ar- rangement was not satisfactory, and after remaining but four days he removed to the Vassall house.

Once or twice, between the battle of Bunker Hill and the evacuation of Boston by the British, there was skirmishing in Cambridge between parties of the opposing forces. General Heath, in his "Memoirs," mentions the following: "November 9th. At the top of high water, the tide being very full, some Brit- ish Light Infantry, in boats, came over from Boston, and landed on Lechmere's Point; the centinels on the Point came off; the alarm was given; and several hundred Americans forded over the Causeway, in the face of the British, the water at least two feet deep. The British, seeing the spirit of the Americans, al- though they were very advantageously posted, made a precipitate retreat to their boats. Three or four

186

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Three companies of this regiment-A, B and F-were recruited in Cambridge. On December 4, 1862, he was promoted to be major, and on July 16, 1863, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-Eighth which he commanded for the most of the time during the rest of the war, as its colonel was absent. For som- time he was, as senior officer, in command of the Third Brigade, Second Division of the Nine- teenth Corps. In the battle at Opequan Creek, Sep- tember 19, 1864, he was severely wounded and was mustered out in July, 1865.

A contemporary writer has described Colonel Rich- ardson's bearing while in the army in the following words :

" The entire absence, in this officer, of that pomp assumed by many of the Eastern officers, and which was seldom found in the Western regi- ments, together with his desire to make the duties of the rank and file as agreeable es was compatible with good discipline, and his euperior military acquirements, had won the attachment of his regiment."

And again of his conduct at Mansura Plains :

" Lt .- Col. Richardson left the ambulance in which he had been obliged to perform the greater part of the march, put himself at the leud of the (Third) Brigade, and manœuvred it over the field of hattle as coolly and with as much skill as when on the parade-ground at Camp Kearney."

A proud hour of Colonel Richardson's life it was on the day when the shattered remnant of his regi- ment, after the close of the war, passed through the streets of Cambridge, escorted by military and civic organizations, welcomed by all the people, with old and young alike assembled to do it honor. The Cambridge Chronicle, of that date, says :

"It was a magnificent ecene as the procession passed from Broadway to North avenue, and through the square. The profusion of flowers among the military escort and veterans, the gaily caparisoned horses of the marshal and his aids, the tall figuro of Cul. Richardson, mounted on a splendid charger, bowing his acknowledgments on either hand, the proud bearing of the veterans, their torn and shot-riddled colors-all combined to make a display worthy of transfer to canvass."

Subsequently, Colonel Richardson accepted a com- mission as first-lientenant in the Regular Army, and was assigned to dnty with his regiment in the South- west. His knowledge of law, however, soon secured him a detail as judge advocate, and later, upon re- signing from the army, he was appointed judge of a local court in Texas, where, in the city of Austin, he has since resided. Beloved, respected and honor- ed, no name stands higher on the martial roll of Cam- bridge than that of James Prentiss Richardson.

The first-lieutenant of the company, Samuel E. Chamberlain, had, when quite young, seen service in the Mexican War. On November 25, 1861, he was commissioned captain of. a company in the First Massachusetts Cavalry ; major October 30, 1862; lieu- tenant-colonel March 5, 1864; colonel of the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, July 26, 1865 ; and was dis- charged October 31, 1865, with the brevet rank of brigadier-general. When leading a detachment at Kelly's Ford, March 17, 1863, he received a painful and dangerous wound from a bullet which entered his

left cheek-bone, and which was long afterwards taken out from between his shoulder-blades. With charac- tistic pluck he soon returned to his post and continued to perform valuable service until his discharge, on the date above given.

The second lieutenant was Edwin F. Richardson. Like Colonel Richardson and General Chamberlain, he, too, re-entered the service, receiving, on October 1, 1861, a commission as first lieutenant in the Twenty- second Massachusetts. Subsequently he gave up his commission, but soon after enlisted as a private, became a sergeant and received a mortal wound in battle May 18, 1864. He lingered in great agony until May 26th, when he was released by death. His body lies buried in the soldiers' lot in Cambridge Cemetery. Lieutenant Richardson was very popular with the members of the company, and his name is warmly cherished in the memory of its survivors and by all who knew him. Of the members of the company, the venerable Rev. Lucius R. Paige says, in a note to his " History of Cambridge : "-" As nearly as can be ascertained, the whole number re-enlisted, with only two exceptions; twenty-seven of them received com- missions, and twenty-one were killed in battle or died of wounds and disease contracted in the serv- ice." A glorious record !

And glory there was gained, too, by other Cam- bridge men among the thousands which Cambridge sent to the front, of whom about two hundred were commissioned officers.

Mr. Paige gives the following list :

Brigadier-Generals, Henry L. Eustis, Charles Russell Lowell ; Brevet Brigadier-Generals, Samuel E. Chamberlain, Charles F. Walcott; Col- onels, P. Stearns Davis, Norwood P. Hallowell, Albert Ordway, Edmnud Rice ; Brevet Colonel, James B. Smith ; Lieutenant-Colonela, William W. Bullock, Jeremiah W. Coveney, J. Durrell Green, William H. Lounsbury, George A. Meacham, David P. Muzzey, James P. Richard- son, Samuel W. Richardson, Albert Stickney ; Majors, Ezra P. Goukl, C. Frederick Livermore, Charles C. Parsons, Heory L. Patten, John T. Richards, Atherton H. Stevens, Jr. ; Brevet Major, Charles J. Mills ; Captains, Thomas II. Annable, Thomas O. Barri, Joseph H. Baxter, James B. Bell, George N. Bennett, Robert T. Bourne, Jobn T. Burgess, Richard Cary, Charles H. Chapman, Joseph H. Clark, J. Warren Cottoo, Lewis S. Dabney, Alexander J. Dallas, George H. Dana, James T. Davis, Horace Dexter, Edward G. Dyke, Charles W. Folsom, William H. Gertz, Joseph A. Hildreth, Arthur Hodges, George F. Holman, Henry A. Homer, Henry P. Hoppin, Samnel D. Hovey, William G. Howe, Al- pheus Hyatt, Willium H. Jewell, Edward B. P. Kinsley, Leodagar 21. Lipp, Roger S. Littlefield, Frederick A Lull, John W. McGregor, Sam- uel Mckeever, Robert Ii. Newell, William J. O'Brien, William Plumer, Josiah Porter, Thomas R. Robeson, J. Emery Round, Taylor P. liund- lett, John S. Sawyer, George A. Schimitt, J. Lowis Stackpole, George II. Taylor, Levi P. Thompson, George O. Tyler, Charles C. Wehrun, Henry C. Wells, Thomas R. Wells, Edward E. White, William H. Whitney, John B. Whorf, Jolin Wilder, John C. Willey, Andrew Wilson, John T. Wilson, J. Henry Wyman ; Brevet Captain, Benjamin Vaughn ; Sur- geons, Alfred F. Holt, Anson P. Hooker, Alfred A. Stocker, A. Carter Webber ; Assistant Surgeon, Henry O. Marcy ; First Lieutenants, Jolin S. Allanson, William B. Allyn, John Bigelow, George W. Booth, Wil- liam S Buck, Isaac H. Bullard, John H. Butler, A. L. Chamberlain, Daniel H. Chamberlain, Frederick Chandler, William H. Clark, Theo- doro Collamore, Marcus M. Collis, John H. Conant, George H. Cope- land, Calvin A. Damon, Henry C. Dana, Charles M. Duran, Gerald Fitzgerald, Charles F. Foster, John C. Gaffney, Thomas L. Harmon, John C. Heymer, Charles V. Holt, George H. Iloward, Eli P. Kinsley, Thomas J. Langley, Jamies R. Lawrence, Edward M. Livermore,

187

CAMBRIDGE.

Charles A. Longfellow, James J. Lowell, Alphonso M. Lunt, Timothy McCarty, William McDermott, Lebbeus II. Mitchell, William Mullett, James Munroe, Isaac H. Pinkham, John H. Rafferty, W. Carey Rice, Darius P. Richards, Edwin F. Richardson, Ezra Ripley, William A. Robinson, Nathan Russell, Jr., Frank N. Scott, Jared Shepard, Goorge B. Smith, George W. Smith, Charles B. Stevens, Frank E. Stimson, William B. Storer, Humphrey Sullivan, Robert Torrey, Jr., Emory Washburn, Jr., Charles P. Welch, Austin C. Wellington, William L. Whitney, Jr. ; Second Lieutenants, Leonard C. Alden, Pardon Alny, Jr., Rudolph N. Anderson, John V. Apthorp, Charles P. Blaisdell, George L. Bradbury, Amos W. Bridges, Josepb P. Burrage, Edward F. Campbell, Howard Carroll, William M. Cloney, George Cole, Daniel G. E. Dickenson, Lowell Ellison, George A. Fisher, Thomas J. Fletcher, Nathan G. Gooch, James B. Hancock, Stephen S. Harris, Harrison Hinkley. Henry C. Hobbs, Andrew J. Holbrook, George M. Joy, Henry B. Leighton, John McClintock, Edmund Miles, Daniel S. Parker, Wil- liam L. Putnam, Hiram Rowe, George P. Small, William H. B Smith, Williamı A. Tarbell, William H. Tibbetts, Payson E. Tucker, Oliver H. Webber, Nathaniel S. Wentworth.

Nary .- Rear Admiral, Charles H. Davis ; Assistant Surgeons, William Longshaw, Jr., Henry S. Plympton ; Assistant Engineer, John M. Whittomore.

The name of Lieutenant John Read is added.

During a portion of the years 1862 and 1863 a camp of rendezvous and instruction for recruits was maintained on the open lot of land lying partly in North Cambridge and partly in West Somerville, and was designated as "Camp Cameron." Barracks were erected, aud a large number of men were quar- tered here at different times. Bounty-jumpers, how- ever, were afforded too good an opportunity to leave, and it was finally abandoned for Port Independence in Boston Harbor, from which it was more difficult to desert. On one occasion, at least, during the war, it was deemed prudent to put a guard over the mu- nitions of war stored in the arsenal, which, until quite recently, stood on Garden Street, and also over the powder magazine at "Captain's Island." This duty was performed largely by Harvard students, who were thanked by the military authorities.

Nearly three hundred and fifty Cambridge men, of whom about thirty-five were officers, died in the ser- vice. On Cambridge Common stands their monu- ment, the corner-stone of which was laid by the mayor and City Council, June 17, 1869. Its inscrip- tion is as follows : "THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF CAMBRIDGE, WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE INSCRIBED, DIED IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, IN THE WAR FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE UNION. TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF THEIR VALOR AND PATRIOTISM, THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE CITY, A.D. 1869-70." The names appear upon eight tablets, headed by that of Charles Russell Lowell, than whom, at no time and in no country, did braver officer draw sword,-a fit leader of this immortal band.

At the present time Cambridge has two militia companies of infantry, which are both designated by the letter B,-one called the "Massachusetts Guards," attached to the First Regiment, and the other, styled the "Cambridge City Guard," attached to the Fifth Regiment. The former has its armory in the city building at Central Square, Cambridgeport, and the latter's armory is in the city building at Brattle

Square in Old Cambridge, Besides the members of these two organizations, many Cambridge citizens are enrolled as members of different organizations of the State militia, chiefly in the First, Fifth and Ninth Regiments of Infantry, the First Corps of Cadets, the First Battalion of Light Artillery, the First Battalion of Cavalry and in the Signal and Ambulance Corps of the two brigades. The armo- ries furnished by the city are among the very best in the State, and since the introduction of rifle practice as a part of the training of the State force, the city has furnished an excellent rifle range, with barrier and targets of the most approved description. The present range was constructed but a little over a year ago at Cider Mill Pond, on the Belmont line, where a firing shed, with all necessary appointments for heating, etc., was built, so that the militia are able to Use the range at all seasons of the year.

The company known as the "Cambridge City Guard" dates its existence from the year 1873, when Mr. John C. Sylvia and others of North Cambridge petitioned the Governor for leave to form a military company in Cambridge, to be attached to the volun- teer militia. The petition having been granted, a sufficient number of men were mustered into the ser- vice on April 8, 1873, and on the same day George A. Keeler was elected captain, and the company was assigned to the Fifth Regiment as Company "L;" but during the next month the letter was changed to "K," and in December, 1878, the letter was again changed to "B," by which designation it has since been known. Captain Keeler, at the time of his election, was a very young man to hold the position, having hardly more than attained his majority; but, having been trained at school in military drill, and possessed of a dignified presence and a rare control over men, his company was one of the best in the regiment. In the year 1875, under Captain Keeler's command, the company participated with the Fifth Regiment in the centennial observance of the hattles of Lexington and Concord, passing over much the same territory as did Captain Thatcher's company a hundred years before, and also in the observance of the centennial anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. On this last occasion the company entertained as its guests the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues of Norfolk, Va., many of whose memhers had fought on the Confederate side during the War of the Rebel- lion, and which, during the war, as a hattery of light artillery, had performed distinguished service. The Norfolk company brought with them, as their guests, General (since Governor) Fitz Hugh Lee, of Vir- ginia, and other eminent citizens of the South, and were hanqueted in the evening by the Cambridge company at Porter's Hotel, at which Governor Emory Washburn and other leading citizens joined with the members of the company in welcoming their guests. Many eloquent speeches were made, and on the fol- lowing day the Virginians were driven about Cam-

188

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

bridge and vicinity by the members of the Cambridge company, and were given a dinner at the Prospect House in Waltham. On the 19th the visiting organ- ization was escorted to the Norfolk boat by the City Guard, in whose honor the visitors used one of their field-pieces in firing a salute as they sailed away from the wharf.

In July, 1875, Captain Keeler resigned to attend to his private concerns; but it is interesting to note that this excellent officer re-entered the military ser- vice of the State in the following year as a member of the First Corps of Cadets, in which he served for two years. In July, 1886, he again entered the mil- itia as guidon sergeant of the First Battalion of Cav- alry, was appointed adjutant on September 3d of the same year, and on January 10, 1889, he was appointed by Brigadier-General Peach, commanding the Second Brigade, captain and aide-de-camp upon his staff. This position Captain Keeler held until the begin- ning of the present year, when he was appointed by Governor Brackett colonel and assistant inspector- general upon the staff of the commander-in-chief. After the resignation of Captain Keeler, the company elected its first lieutenant, William L. B. Robinson, captain. Captain Robinson remained in command of the company until March, 1879, when he resigned, and the company elected as its commander First Lieutenant William A. Bancroft. Captain Bancrott commanded the company until he was elected colonel of the regiment February 7, 1882. On the 20th of the same month First Lieutenant Thomas C. Hen- derson was elected captain. Captain Henderson re- signed after holding the position for about a year, and on March 12, 1883, First Lieutenant Charles H. Cutler was elected Captain. Under Captain Cutler's command, the company entered a prize drill at Hingham, and obtained the first prize of $100, and in the winter of 1883-84 a fair was held by the com- pany for the purpose of raising funds, which resulted in putting nearly $1600 in the company treasury. At the inspection of the company made in the spring of 1884 by the inspector general of the State, the company was marked first in the regiment. Soon after this inspection Captain Cutler resigned, and Captain Henderson was again elected company com- mander. While Captain Henderson was a second time in command, the company went to New York at its own expense on the occasion of the funeral of General Grant, and formed a part of the military escort.

On February 21, 1887, during the time of the street railway strike, in obedience to a precept issued by the mayor, the members of the company were called to its armory and held in readiness to suppress dis- order in case of need, disturbances having broken out previously in different parts of the city. The services of the company were not needed, however; but the promptness with which the members of the company and also those of Company B of the First

Regiment, who were likewise called upon, responded, was recognized both by the mayor and also by the commander-in-chief in general orders. Captain Hen- derson having been elected a major of the regiment, he was succeeded by First Lieutenant Samuel T. Sinclair, who was elected captain June 11, 1888. During Captain Sinclair's service as commander, the company went to New York with the regiment, which had been detailed, on account of its military proficiency, as escort to the State delegation at the centennial observance of the inauguration of Wash- ington as the first President of the United States. Captain Sinclair resigned November 21, 1889, and was succeeded on December 2, 1889, by First Lieu- tenant Richard W. Sutton, who had formerly served in the ranks of the company as private, corporal, ser- geant and first sergeant, but who had been sergeant- major and afterwards adjutant, and who, at the time of his election as captain of Company B, was pay- master'of the regiment. A thorough tactician and a good disciplinarian, with a long experience in the service of the militia, Captain Sutton has already proved himself to be an able company commander, and to-day the company maintains a high standard of efficiency.

During the past fifteen years the policy of the State military authorities has been to disband organi - zations which have fallen below the standard of efficiency, and that has been kept so high that many a company which formerly would have been consid- ered far above the disbanding limit has found itself outside the militia by reason of orders issued from the State Headquarters. Although subjected to many a rigid inspection, it is believed that at no time since its organization in, 1873, has the Cambridge City Guard been found by the State authorities in such a condition as to its military efficiency as to suggest the possibility of its disbandment. And the same can also he said, since the transfer to Cambridge, of its associate company, to which the following relates :-

In the year 1873 Captain Austin C. Wellington, of the Boston "Tigers," was elected major of the First Battalion of Infantry of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, consisting of his own and three other com- panies. Major Wellington at once took steps to im- prove the efficiency of his battalion, which he after- wards made famous in the militia for the high stand- ard it reached, and as a part of his plan it was determined to transfer one of the companies, the " Washington Light Guard," to Cambridge, where a better class of men would enlist and where the com- pany would receive financial assistance from the citizens. After enough Cambridge men had been mustered in to make a majority of its members, the company voted, under the provisions of the militia law, to change the location of its armory from Boston to Cambridge. This removal of the company was approved, its name was changed to the " Massachusetts Guards" and on January 23, 1874, the company chose as its cap-

189

CAMBRIDGE.

tain, Levi Hawkes, than whom no man in Cambridge is better qualified for the position, as his manage- ment of the company showed, could have been found. Captain Hawkes was one of the members of James P. Richardson's company, and afterwards enlisted, August 19, 1861, in the Eighteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, in which, as private, corporal, sergeant and sergeant-major of the regiment, which last posi- tiou he had held for some time previous to the expi- ration of the regiment's term of service, September 22, 1864, he gained an enviable reputation for his soldierly qualities. Unsurpassed as a drill-master, familiar with military routine and a strict diciplina- rian, he might have been a failure as a militia officer, because of the conditions, so different from those to which he had been accustomed in the army. But like a thorough soldier, he grasped at once the needs of a militia company, and during the five years and nine months in which he continued in command he never gave the military authorities nor the citizens of Cambridge cause to bestow anything but praise upon his management of the company. When, after a long term of service, the demands of his private bus- iness induced him to resign, it must have been with the consciousness of duty well performed. An ideal citizen soldier, sustaining the martial character in war and in peace-one in the long line of militia captains of whose character and of whose services Cambridge has had no reason to feel ashamed. After the resignation of Captain Hawkes the company elected, on November 3, 1879, the first lieutenant, William E. Lloyd, of Arlington, captain. Captain Lloyd resigned February 26, 1881; the company's next commander was Captain Albert F. Fessenden, elected March 30, 1881. Captain Fessenden was one of the youngest captains in the militia, but proved to be a most capable company commander, and the company, during the two years in which he was in command, maintained its high standard of excellence. Captain Fessenden resigned on April 25, 1883, and was succeeded by First Lieutenant William L. Fox, who was elected captain on April 30th of the same year. While Captain Fox was in command of the company the First Regiment was designated by the commander-in-chief for instruction in heavy artil- lery drill, and in this branch of duty Captain Fox was the pioneer in the regiment. Captain Fox resigned on January 10, 1884, but afterwards joined another company in the regiment, was appointed its first sergeant and soon became its commander, was transferred to a third company of which he became the captain and in 1888 was transferred to the Fifth Regiment as captain of Company H. Captain Fox holds a high place as a drill-master in the militia and is well known in Middlesex County as an instructor in military drill in the schools of several cities and towns. First Lieutenant Harrison G. Wells was elected captain of the company on January 21, 1884, and administered its affairs so faithfully and capably

as to receive warm praise from Colonel Wellington, the regiment's untiring commander, whose activity in behalf of his regiment was then at its height. Captain Wells resigned July 11, 1885, and was suc- ceeded by First Lieutenant Frank W. Dallinger, the present commander, who was elected captain on the 20th of the same month. Captain Dallinger had enlisted in the company, but so diligently did he apply himself that he mastered a knowledge of his duties in a surprisingly short time and has come to be one of the most active officers in the militia. Well known throughout the State as commander of his company and as a member of the military committee of the Legislature, under him the company has per- formed its part in the tours of duty which have made the First Regiment famous beyond the borders of the Commonwealth-at the funeral of General Grant in New York in 1885, and at Philadelphia in 1887, where the regiment, by virtue of its attainment to the first place in military excellence, was detailed by the commander-in-chief as escort to the Massachusetts delegation at the Centennial observance of the adop- tion of the Federal Constitution.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 64

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034