History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 86

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 86

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As one comes along the highway leading from East Acton to the Centre, he crosses a stream con- verted by a mill-dam just below into a long, shallow pond, which extends northward some distance. This is Nashoba Brook, and, although smaller than the other, is the most picturesque stream within the town.

Nashoba, from its source in Westford, comes down a long, winding valley into the meadows of East Acton. Where it enters Acton it is a quiet stream, flowing unnoticed through stretches of low land until it reaches the first mill, some two miles from its head-waters. At this place, where is a saw-mill, are found some rare bits, considered from a painter's point of view.

Three tributary brooks enter Nashoba within the territory of Acton. The first enters near the Carlisle boundary ; the largest, Nagog Brook, the outlet to Nagog Pond (this name is not Magog, but Nagog. The old Indian name is a good one) joins it a mile or so below the first mill-dam. Just below this is a smaller rivulet, which drains the meadows north and west of the Centre. The territory which lies between the first and third mills embrace the finest and most picturesque spots on the stream.

The old Jonathan Wheeler place, which is in this neighborhood, is particularly notable as being one of the most beautiful localities in the town. Just be- low the third mill the brook is crossed by a bridge a few rods south of the old Revolutionary bridge (now gone), over which the minute-men marched to Con- cord via the Strawberry Hill road and the fields. Still farther down the stream is the long pond first mentioned, with its wide reach of intervale on either side and picturesque surroundings of the old mill and dam which creates it.

Both our Acton brooks are tributary to the Assabet River, and nnite their waters with it just over the Concord line. Although, like other streams, ours are perhaps the most attractive in the spring and fall, vet no season will be found unattractive about them. Each has its peculiar charm, which, if noticed, can never fail to give pleasure to the observer. Each nook and corner in their vicinity will amply repay the effort made to visit them, and a spare hour spent about them is looked back upon with interest.

The pond region belonging to Acton is not exten- sive. There are only two small ponds -- Grassy and . Sinking Ponds-which are entirely within the town limits. Grass Pond is unique in having a singular sedgy growth about its margin, and is a pretty little sheet of water, famed for its lilies with pink-tinted leaves, which grow in great profusion.

Sinking Pond is a minute reproduction of Walden, as it used to be before the building of the railroad and the advent of the modern pic-nic ground. The water of this pond, which has no visible outlet or in- let, is very clear and pure. Scarcely any vegetable matter appears about its borders, and it is surrounded by a high ridge of scrubby sand-hills.

Nagog, of which Acton possesses the larger part, is the first lake in this section in point of size, its length being abont two miles and its width one mile. Its waters are quite clear and deep, and are broken only by one small island near the southern end.

There are many fine groups of trees about this sonthern end, which is wild and woody. Here are the greatest number of choice spots in early spring days, when the young leaves of the birches first green the wood, and the brilliant oriole hangs her nest on delicate pensile limbs over the water.

The shore on this side is fringed by quantities of blueberry bushes and is rocky, without a beach. Back from these the hills rise up in broad bush-grown swells to the highest point of Acton-Nagog Hill, as it is called.

The most vital and peculiar feature of our Acton landscape is found in its apple orchards. These are the most interesting part of the natural scenery here. Other towns, doubtless, share with Acton in this re- spect, but in none of them, in Middlesex at least, does the apple-tree reach such a picturesque state. The farmers do not think, many of them, that the chance and irregular groups of wild apples springing up beside the road, side wall, or in corners in the pastures, are worth consideration. However, there is no more beautiful combination of color in the land- scape than that offered by these trees in the time of their bloom.

Wild apples are proverhially famous for the deli- cacy and fragrance of their bloom, which is also of richer color than that of the cultivated varieties. Cultivated orchards, of course, are in greater number than these wild trees, and are rightly paramount in commercial importance. Although planted as they are in checker-board form for economy of space and ease of cultivation, nature early asserts her magnifi- cent arrangement and leans the trees in different di- rections. There is nothing commonplace about the apple-tree wherever found. Its limbs are crooked and full of surprising twists, and its spray, though coarse, is full of characteristic kinks. With the pos- sible exception of a few varieties, it never forms a regular cylindrical head, but with its growing years increases in the beauty of its irregular outline. The

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orchards are, in short, most typical of our rocky, hilly country, and are its crowning beauty.

The magnificent blooming tree is a perpetual re- proach to those who only consider it after its fruit is packed away in a cellar or in barrels ready for mar- ket. The abcundant growth of wood and orchard af- ford the birds sufficient protection and food to enable them to multiply without molestation in Acton. Consequently, our ornithological list embraces most of the species found in inland New England, with the exception of the sea birds, a few of which visit our ponds and brooks iu the early spring or fall. The large family of wood warblers in particular thrive here; the catalogue often comprises upward of twelve species and, doubtless, a more practical observer might extend the list.

In the flora, too, Acton offers particularly rich op- portunities. The varied character of the country af- fords protection to a surprisingly wide variety of plant growth. Among the trees we have nearly all found in Massachusetts. One, however, the true pa- per or canoe birch, is well-nigh extinct here, only a few scattered specimens remaining in town.

GAME IN ACTON .- The hills, woods, brooks and ponds of Acton have been noted from earliest dates for the frequent visits of the disciples of the gun and rod. The Indians for generations had the first chance on these grounds. We need not go to the books to be sure that they were in goodly numbers and in trim for luck among the fins, the furs and the feathers.

The apostle John, when he went on his missionary tours among the Indians, had to come to these parts, for he was sure to find an audience along the Nashoba waters and the "big brook." These Indians could sing. Eliot had good success in that line. Wilson relates that at their meeting "the Indians sung a Psalm, made Indian by Eliot in one of our ordi- nary English tunes melodiously." In 1689 there were twenty-four Indian preachers. In 1676 there were 567 praying Indians at Nashoba plantation.

James Spear, with his Indian choir, sung Psalms at one of Eliot's meetings May 14, 1654. There has always been something in the atmosphere or in the ground or in the spot in this vicinity congenial to music. We have heard fish and game stories among the veterans of our own day, and have heard them sing and whistle and blow their horns on their home- ward beat ; but those red men of the past, if they could speak, would easily silence these modern tongues.

The earliest records show that the brooks were once stocked with some varieties not now common.

Captain Daniel Tuttle's mother, Harriet Wether- bee, sister to Edward Wetherbee, Senior, used to go down to the brook, below the dam, and throw out shad and alewives in her day. They had at one time, on the Assabet, at Southeast Acton, a fish warden and fish weirs.

As early as 15th of February, 1739, there was an

article in the town warrant "to know whether the town will insist on Mr. Faulkner's opening his dam 30 days in a year, as ye law directs, where alewives and other fish pass in great plenty."

There used to be a deer's man appointed by the town to look after the deer and decide upon questions relating to the matter, which shows the deer were here. There have always been self-appointed private wardens to look after the dears, but these were bona- fide deer.

Men who hunt and fish for sport are noted for their quiet, modest ways, and it is difficult to get any state- ment from them on their luck, hut by hard pressing, a few items have been secured, which may be of in- terest to the public. Worse records even than these could be had, if the right men could be interviewed by the right man. They did not intend to have their names mentioned, and so are not responsible for the publishing of the inglorious tale of their life record :

Elnathan Jones: pickerel, 3000; perch, 3000; treut, 200 ; bass, 100 ; largest pickerel, 612 lbs. ; largest bass, 5 lbs. At one lucky trip the average weight of the perch, 11/2 lbs., several weighing 2 lbs. ; foxes, 30 ; gray squirrels, 200.

Hiram Hapgood in ten years: bass, 20; pickerel, 200; perch, 400 ; pouts, 100 ; crows, 1.

J. K. W. Wetherbee: bass, 10; pickerel, 1000 ; perch, 2000 ; pents, 2500 ; gray squirrels, 500 ; raccoon, 1 ; hawk, five feet across from tip te tip.

Swift Fletcher : pickerel, 3000 ; the largest number at any ene time, 167; pouts, 2500; bass, 100 (three weighing over 4 lbs., not one over 5 lbs.) ; foxes, 100; racceons, 7; ducks, 30; gray squirrels, 600; sold 105 skins one year for a robe for Captain Whitcemb ; partridges, 2000 ; rabbits, 1000 ; pigens, 400 ; Otter, 1.

Fifty years ago pigeons were abundant in the woods, and during some seasons made it lively for the hunts- men, who would have great sport in shooting them upon the wing as they flew in flocks over certain lo- calities.

The pigeon-stands were quite common, where, by nets and proper baiting, they could be caught in large numbers.

The stocking of Nagog Pond a few years since by the town with bass has introduced a new variety in the fishing sport.

On the 1st of July, when the permit is issued for trying the luck on these delightful waters, there is a decided fish smell in this vicinity. The most sober men in town-deacons, ministers, lawyers, justices of the peace, senators and representatives-doctors-the moderator himself-may be seen rigging their poles and reeling to and fro-with their lines, if per- chance, they may strike the spot where they are sure of a prize.

Just watch the justice a moment. He is leaning over the boat. He hears the click of the reel as his line spins out through the ruffled waters. What are all his cases in court now ? There is only one case on the docket just now, and that must have all the nerve and muscle. You may laugh at him and call him a fool, and off his base ; but the question fairly holding the court is, bass or no bass.

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THE 19th OF APRIL, 1861 .- Again the historic day returns, rich with its patriotic memories. We hail its presence as we would that of an old and endeared friend come back to the family hearthstone. It re- calls events which should never be forgotten while the government remains or its annals stand upon the imperishable record.

In the War of the Revolution, without the 19th of April, there might never have been the 17th of June, and without the 17th of June there might never have been the 4th of July, and without the 4th of July the stars and stripes would never have floated o'er land and sea to the joy of many generations. To the citi- zens of Acton and vicinity this day has been for over a hundred years, of all other days in the year, the most marked. Its yearly advent has been celebrated with new and old rehearsals of what occurred at the North Bridge at Concord, with the ringing of bells, the firing of salutes, the parade of military, orations, bonfires and general glorification. The old patriots who were at the bridge in 1775, when Captain Davis fell at the head of his command, have told it to their children and their children's children. The monu- ment which stands upon the village green is but an embodiment, in solid native granite, of the sentiment which has thus been alive among these hills and val- leys for over a hundred years.

When the telegram came to Captain Daniel Tuttle, on the evening of April 15th, to have his company report the next morning at Lowell, armed and equip- ped for war service, it found a response prompt and earnest from every man.

Though scattered in different towns, and not ex- pecting the summons, the bells were rung in the night, messengers sent in all directions post-haste, equipments forwarded, carriages procured, overcoats provided-for it was a cold, cheerless April night- and at 7.30 o'clock on the morning of April 16th, Captain Tuttle was able to report to Col. Jones, of the Sixth Regiment, his whole command ready for duty.

Farms, shops, stores, homes, families, friends, plans, had been left behind in an instant, and they were on their way to destinies which none could foretell. They had played the soldier on the parade-ground in peaceful days, in holiday attire. It now meant busi- ness. The country was in a death-struggle all at once. Its very capitol was in danger of capture or destruc- tion by rebel hands.

Captain Daniel Tuttle was born February 14, 1814, on the heights which overlook the village and town, one of the oldest of a large family of children. His father, Francis Tuttle, Esq., was for a long time an officer and influential citizen of the place. The cap- tain was elected to command the Davis Guards in the years 1855, 1857, 1859, 1861. He was twice postmas- ter. He was forty-seven years old at the outbreak of the war, and exempt by age from military duty. He was a Breckenridge Democrat in the preceding can- vass for the Presidency against Lincoln. He had at

the time a large farm on his hands, a wife and numer- ous children-some of them young.

At the opening of a new season, and with all his cares so pressing, it seemed impossible for him to leave; yet when the summons came there was but one decision. When seated in his wagon, just as he was about to leave, he said to family, neighbors and townsmen, as a parting word, "God take care of you all."

In those dark, ominous moments of suspense, the appearance of the old Sixth Regiment in Boston, in the early morning after the evening's summons, and its steady march down Washington Street, with knap- sacks, overcoats, flashing bayonets and beating drums, on their way to the seat of war, and the cheering and almost frenzied crowds which accompanied every step, was a scene which it is worth a life to witness. No one not present can know the enthusiasm of that occasion.

Their . march down Broadway, New York, was a repetition of the same scene, only on a grander scale, and in a city whose citizens were not supposed to be so largely in sympathy with the soldier. The appear- ance of the old Sixth Massachusetts in their streets, made up of all parties, and with each man's life of- fered for sacrifice, united the divided city, and they became as one man in saying "The Union shall be preserved." The passage through Philadelphia was in the night, or there would have been another repe- tition of the same boundless cheer and God speed the right, from the surging crowds of that ever loyal city.

Baltimore was reached on the 19th of April. It was the North Bridge of division between the contending sections of the land. The city overflowed with bitterness, and cursing against the Union, and the men who came to defend her.

" On this morning," says the historian, " the streets were filled with a scowling, angry mob, as the cars, eleven in all, containing the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, rolled into town. The cars were drawn by horses across the city from one railroad to another. As they penetrated farther into the city the crowd be- came more dense, and the faces grew blacker with hate. Stones, brickbats and all kinds of missiles were thrown through the windows of the cars. At first the soldiers bore it patiently and without resist- ance, until all but two of the cars reached the station. These two, separated from the others, were surrounded by a yelling crowd, that opposed their passage. The officers consulted and concluded to disembark the men and march them in solid column to the station. The brave fellows went on through a shower of stones, bricks and scattering shots.

" At last, just before they reached the station, the colonel gave orders to fire. The soldiers discharged their guns among the crowd and several of the mob fell dead or wounded. The troops reached the station and took the cars. The scene that ensued was terrific. Taunts, clothed in the most offensive language, were

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hurled at the troops by the panting crowd, who, breath- less with running, pressed to the windows, presenting knives and revolvers and cursing up into the faces of the soldiers. Amid such a scene the Massachusetts regiment passed out of the city, having had four of their number killed and thirty-six wounded.

"On this very day, the 19th of April, eighty-six years before, the first blood shed in the war of the Revolution had stained the grass in front of Lexing- ton meeting-house, and on the Concord plains.

"On the second anniversary, long to be remembered, the first blood in the Civil War flowed in the streets of Baltimore, shed from the veins of the descendants of these early patriots."

THE DAVIS GUARDS received at home, on their return, Aug. 10, 1861. The Davis Guards arrived at South Acton at about 8.30 o'clock, Saturday morning. A large crowd had collected to welcome them home. After cordial greetings a procession was formed and proceeded to the Centre in the following order : Col. W. E. Faulkner, chief marshal, assisted by Henry Wilder, James Wetherbee and John H. Sanborn ; National Band of Worcester ; Union Guards, Capt. A. C. Handley, 50 men ; Liberty Guards, Capt. S. Willis, 40 men; Drum corps; Hayward Guards, Capt. Daniel Jones, 62 men; Lowell Brigade Band (this band barely escaped with their lives at Baltimore); Davis Guards, Capt. David Tuttle, 52 men; Concord Artil- lery, Capt. Prescott, 54 men ; Detachment of Concord Artillery, with field-pieces, Capt. M. Hobson, 12 men ; Chief Engineers of Concord Fire Department ; Hook- and-Ladder Co., Charles Stowell, foreman, 10 men ; Independent Engine Co., Jonas Melvin, foreman, 60 men.

A little out of the village a procession had been formed, under the direction of Samuel Hosmer, Esq., of the citizens of Acton and the adjoining towns, awaiting the arrival from Sonth Acton.

Upon the arrival of the military they formed in the rear, and were thus escorted into town. Upon the arrival of the procession in town it gathered around the speaker's stand, when prayer was offered by the chaplain, Rev. Alpha Morton, after which Dr. John M. Miles, in behalf of the town, welcomed them in an eloquent address. This was responded to in be- half of Capt. Tuttle, by Dr. Harris Cowdrey.

Col. Faulkner made a brief address to the audience. About 12.30 o'clock the companies formed into line, and marching to the monument, three cheers were called for and heartily given for the American flag, and at the same time a new, beautiful banner was run up to the top of the monument by Willie Boss, from which poiut, as if by magic, it sprang into the air, the band playing the " Star Spangled Banner." Hon. Charles Hudson, of Lexington, then delivered a very able address.

· After an intermission of an hour, sentiments were offered by the toast-master, O. W. Mead, Esq. Brief addresses were made by Rev. James Fletcher, of Dan-

vers (a native of Acton), Hon. E. W. Bull, George Stevens, Esq., John White (a member of Davis Guards, who fought under the stars and stripes in Mexico, who is an Englishman, but when the order for marching came, volunteered to go with the Davis Guards), Hon. James M. Usher, of Medford, George M. Brooks, Esq., of Concord, Capt. Phelps, of Lex- ington, aud Lieut. Bowers, of the Concord Rifles.

There were about three thousand people present. The route of the procession was handsomely decorated with flags and mottoes, as was also the new store of James Tuttle & Co., at South Acton. Over the ar- mory, " Davis Guards not afraid to go ; " in the town- house, "God defend the right ; " on the monument, "Union, Davis, Hosmer, Hayward ; " at Capt. Daniel Jones', " Welcome home ; " at Lieut. J. Blodgett's, "Honor to the brave ; " at Hon. John Fletcher, Jr.'s, "First to go ; " at E. S. Buffum's, "Safe return ; " over J. Fletcher & Sons' store, "Through Baltimore."

A detachment of the Concord Artillery fired a na- tional salute on the arrival of the Guards at South Acton, also as the procession reached the centre of the town.

THE CIVIL WAR.1-The existence of a military company in Acton at the outbreak of the Rebellion was of great advantage to the town.

In 1850, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of Con- cord Fight, a union celebration took place at Con- cord, in which the inhabitants of Acton took part. A large company from Acton represented the minute- men of the Revolution, officered by Colonel Win- throp E. Faulkner, as captain, and Daniel Jones, the son of Captain Silas Jones, who commanded the Davis Blues in Boston in the War of 1812, and James Harris as lieutenants. They wore a flannel blouse and carried canteens with 1775 stenciled on them as uniform, and armed with guns of no particular stand- ard, though some of them looked old enough to have been at the original Concord Fight; but the contents of some of the canteens, judging of its potency, was of a later period.

The marching of this company elicited warm en- comiums from military men present, and the result was a reawakening of interest in military matters in Acton and the permanent organizing of Company E, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, known as the Davis Guards, the following winter.

Colonel Faulkner was the first captain of this com- pany, and its other commanding officers till the out- break of the Rebellion are here given : Captain Dan- iel Jones, Rufus Holden, Captain Moses Taylor, Cap- tain Daniel Tuttlle, Captain Aaron C. Handley, and again Captain Tuttle who was still at its head in 1861.

In obedience to General Order No. 4, issued by Governor Andrew, January 16, 1861, requiring the militia of the State to be forthwith put into a state of efficiency, this company practiced at drill every

1 From an address by Luther Conant, Esq., before the Grand Army.

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week during the winter and recruited its ranks to be ready to answer any call. On the 19th of January, at a meeting of the field officers and company com- manders, at the American House in Lowell, it was unanimously voted to tender the services of the Sixtlı Massachusetts Regiment to the Governor and Legislature when such services shall become desir- able for purposes contemplated in General Order No. 4.

On the 23d of January the Legislature proffered to the President of the United States such aid in men and money as he he may require to maintain the au- thority of the National Government. This resolution was forwarded the same day to the President.

The result of this act of volunteering was that the Sixth Regiment was the first regiment called, and General Butler was the first to receive a commission as a general officer of volunteers.

Many have never been able to understand how a regiment from Massachusetts should have reached Washington in advance of nearer States.

The circumstances of the transmission of the order are given somewhat in detail. The proclamation of President Lincoln calling for 75,000 men, and convok- ing an extra session of Congress was dated April 15th, but did not reach Boston until the 16th and was not received at Albany nntil the 17th, receiving from the Governor of New York on the 19th the response by telegram to the President that the Seventh would start for Washington that evening.

On the 15th of April Governor Andrew received a telegram from Senator Henry Wilson announcing the call for troops.

The Governor at once issued his Special Order No. 14, commanding the colonels of the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth Regiments forthwith to muster their commands in uniform on Boston Common, and sent it by special messengers. Colonel Jones, who was in Boston, received his order first, took it to Brigadier- General-Butler for regular transmission and issued his orders the same day by telegraph to the Lowell and Lawrence companies of the Sixth and took the four o'clock train on the Fitchburg Railroad to carry the order to the companies in Acton and Groton to assemble in Huntington Hall in Lowell on the morn- ing of the 16th at seven o'clock-uniformed and ready to proceed to Washington.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 86

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