History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 44

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 44

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son, a Lowell lawyer, and Albert Rowsc and Lorin L. Dame, both Lowell men, hold the office of first licutenant. Lieutenant Damc was a graduate of Lowell High School and of Tufts College. The com- pany was very largely composed of Lowell men, but it was unfortunate in having in its ranks a large number of soldiers of fortune brought to the State by brokers for the sake of securing bounties. Accord- ingly before leaving the State and subsequently, about one-half of the soldiers deserted.

The company was ordered to Brashear City, in Louisiana, and did service in a great variety of placcs in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Flor - ida. It took an active and gallant part in the capture of Blakely, Alabama. The company served through the war and was mustered out of service August 4, 1865.

Upon the call of the government for 100 days' men, the Sixth Regiment, under Colonel Follansbee, enlisted for its third campaign, going into camp at Readville on July 13, 1864. On leaving the recruiting camp at Readville it was transported to Washington and sta- tioned on Arlington Heights, in Old Virginia. Their passage through Baltimore, so unlike that of April 19, 1861, was very gratifying to the regiment. Trea- son did not show its head. The regiment though suf- fering from the extreme heat of the season, enjoyed their magnificent position overlooking the city of Washington. The soldiers' duties were very light, and when off duty the time was improved by many in visiting Washington. Chaplain Hanson says: " When the weather was insufferable [from heat] we lay under our canvas roofs waiting and wondering if govern- ment had nothing for us to do."

On August 21st the regiment set their faces home- ward, having, however, before reaching home one more service to perform. On their way the soldiers of this regiment enjoyed for the fifth time the gener- ous hospitality of the city of Philadelphia.

On August 23d the regiment was stationed at Fort Delaware, " a fine fortification [on an island] mid- way between the New Jersey and the Delaware shores. Here the service consisted in keeping guard over the various posts in the island, and taking charge of the rebel prisoners gathered at this port. Here some of the officers were accompanied by their families and a delightful social condition was enjoyed. Even the free intercourse with the rebel prisoners was attended with pleasing incidents. The following testimony of Chaplain Hanson, relating to the hu- mane treatment of rebel prisoners by our government, affords a very vivid contrast to the infamous cruelties of Libby Prison and Andersonville: "The most im- portant event that broke the tedium of garrison life was the arrival and departure of prisoners. They usually came from recent battles, often wounded and sick and generally ragged and dirty ; and I have often seen them, when exchanged, receive shoes and cloth- ing from our officers, while the physical appearauce

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of those taken from the hospital was in great con- trast to those who came. Indeed, the food given them, both in quantity and quality, was excellent."

October 19th the regiment was relieved and em- barked for home. The campaign had been unevent- ful.

And here, without regard to chronological order, let us give a brief tribute of praise to a few patriotic and gallant men whom Lowell claims as her own.

Dudley C. Mumford, captain of Company G, of the Nineteenth Infantry, who enlisted from Lowell in July, 1863, as a private, and by his bravery rose to the command of a company, was killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, on May 31, 1864. In his company were thirty-two Lowell men.

John Rowe, in August, 1863, enlisted from Lowell as a sergeant of Company D, in the Sixteenth In- fantry, and rose to the captaincy. He died of his wounds in Libby Prison, August 13, 1863. He fell at Cold Harbor, in that most fearful carnage of the war.

Almost the only Lowell man in the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment was Lloyd W. Hixon, for- merly sub-principal of Lowell High School. Heacted as assistant surgeon until the close of the regiment's service.

In this regiment also was George Bush, son of Francis Bush, of the well-known firm of Bent & Bush, hatters,. on Central Street, Lowell. He was born in Middlesex Village (now Lowell), but enlisted from Boston, as second lieutenant, and rose to the captaincy of Company B. He was killed at Chan- cellorsville.

Captain Salem S. Marsh was the son of Sumner Marsh, who held a responsible position on the Boott Corporation under its agent, Hon. Linus Child, who was his brother-in-law. After leaving Lowell High School, young Marsh entered West Point, and grad- uated in 1858. He entered the regular army and was one of its finest officers. At the battle of Chancel- lorsville he was acting colonel of the Second Massa- chusetts Regiment, and in leading it into battle he displayed great coolness and bravery. He was in- stantly killed by a bullet, on May 1, 1863. A fellow- officer writes of him: " The army has lost one of its best leaders. Every officer and man deplores his loss."

April 2, 1864, Lieutenant Charles B. Wilder, of the steam frigate " Minnesota," was killed near Smith- field, Va. He commanded the respect and esteem of all. He was buried in Lowell with naval honors.

It would be impossible to tell how many Lowell soldiers died in the service during the Rebellion. Mr. Cowley, in his history of the city, gives the names of more than 500. How many, alas ! of this long roll of honor sleep in unknown graves. How many, who were just as brave as the few of whom we have made special mention, will have no record on the page of history. It is disheartening to reflect that the soldier's renown does not depend alone upon the gallantry of

his action and the purity of his patriotism, and that circumstances too often determine the measure of his fame. General Warren, who fell on Bunker Hill, has left an imperishable name, while thousands of equally gallant officers in this great Rebellion will have no record on the page of history. Even the de- feat on Bunker Hill has been transformed in the patriotic American heart into a glorious victory. The vast magnitude of the War of the Rebellion buries in oblivion the name and glory of thousands of gal- lant men. Their numbers are so great that it is sim- ply impossible for the pen to record their deeds.

With the mention, therefore, of only two of the sons of Lowell who have acquired a national fame, we will close our record of the brave men whom our city sent to the war.

Gustavas Vasa Fox was born in Saugus, Mass., June 13, 1821, and died in the city of New York, Oc- tober 29, 1883, at the age of sixty-two years. He was the son of Dr. Jesse Fox, who came to East Chelms- ford (now Lowell) in 1823, one year before Lowell was incorporated as a town. The son, who on com- ing to Lowell was only two years old, was educated in the public schools of the city. From the High School he entered, as midshipman, the United States Navy, his appointment having been obtained through the aid of Hon. Caleb Cashing. At the age of seven- teen years he was employed in naval service at various stations and on the coast survey. He took part in the war with Mexico until 1856, when he re- signed his commission with the rank of lieutenant, and became the agent of the Bay State Woolen Com- pany, of Lawrence, Mass.

Upon the approach of the Rebellion, in 1861, he was summoned to Washington by Gen. Scott, in con- sultation upon the sending of supplies to provision the garrison of Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, S. C. An expedition for this purpose was planned, but was forbidden by President Buchanan. President Lincoln, upon coming into office, approved of the enterprise, and an expedition, under Lieut. Fox, was, with due despatch, sent forth. But before it had reached its destination the rebel batteries from the shore had fired upon the fort and it had surren- dered.

Lieut. Fox, having gained the confidence of the President, was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under Secretary Welles. This office he held until the close of the war. During these four years of severe trial of his powers his services were ex- tremely valuable. A member of Mr. Lincoln's Cabi- net says of him : "Fox was the really able man of the administration. He planned the capture of New Orleans and the opening of the Mississippi, and, in general, the operations of the navy. He had the honor of selecting Farragut, and was often consulted by Grant. He performed his duties with no view to any interests of his own."

After the war he was sent, as a representative of

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our Government, to Russia, to congratulate the Em- peror, Alexander II., upon his escape from assassina- tion, and this visit resulted in the purchase of Alaska.

Subsequently Capt. Fox became the agent of the Middlesex Woolen-Mills, in Lowell, and for several of his last years he was partner in the firm of Mudge, Sawyer & Co., in the city of New York.

He was a man of unsullied honor and exalted worth. His name will never be left unrecorded in the history of our nation.

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER .- For biography of Gen. Butler see Bench and Bar.

Nor were the citizens of Lowell who did not enter the " ranks of war" wanting in generosity and patri- otism. Every appeal from the country met with a prompt and hearty response. Especially were the ladies of the city inspired with the tenderest sympa- thy and the most generous devotion.

The following quotation from Mr. Gilman's " His- tory " gives us a concise statement of the home-work of the people of Lowell, even in the first weeks of the war : " The several banks tendered loans of money to the State. April 27 [1861] the Soldiers' Aid Asso- ciation was organized-Nathan Crosby, president ; S. W. Stickney, treasurer, and M. C. Bryant, secretary. The ladies entered heartily into the work of supply- ing the soldiers with articles needed for their comfort and convenience. The record of this association is honorable to all connected with it."

The following quotation from Mr. Cowley's " His- tory " well describes the part enacted by the ladies : " On Feb. 26, 27 and 28, 1863, the ladies of Lowell held their famous Soldiers' Fair, to replenish the funds of the Sanitary Commission. About $5000 were realized by this fair, which was the second of the kind during the war, St. Louis, the Queen City of the West, having held the first. $5000 raised by this fair, $3000 collected through the aid of the Soldiers' Aid Association, $4000 contributed to the Boston Sailors' Fair of 1864, numerous smaller sums col- lected and distributed through other channels, and innumerable contributions of clothing, shoes, etc., all combine to attest how faithfully and how efficiently the ladies of Lowell served their country in her most perilous hour."

The course pursued by the City Government of Lowell during the Rebellion is very concisely ex- pressed in the following extract from the inaugural address of Mayor J. G. Peabody, before the two branches of the City Council, Jan. 1, 1866 :

"The part taken by our city in the struggle for national existence has been such as to leave us no regrets, except for the loss of our brave sons who have fallen in the conflict.

" The following is an abstract of the number of men furnished by our city under the several calls of the President, and the expense of recruiting the same, including the city [but not State and national] boun- ties :

" April 15, 1861. Call for 75,000 men for three moutlis. Lowell furnished 223 men at a cost of $596.08; average cost, $2.67.

"May 3, 1861. Call for 50,000, and July 1st, call for 600,000 mcn. Our quota under these calls was 2098 men, for three years. The number recruited was 2390, at a cost of $65,681.78 ; average cost, $27.48.

"Aug. 4, 1865. Call for 300,000 men for nine months. Our quota was 235. We enlisted and furnished 557 men, at a cost of $22,162.25; average, $35.78.

"Oct. 17, 1863. Call for 300,000. Our quota was set at 288 men. And Feb. 1, 1864, a call was issued for 500,000. This was understood to include the previous call. We furnished 211 men, at a cost of $902.30; average cost, $4.27. The report of the Adjutant- General, Jan. 1, 1864, stated that we had at that time a surplus of 179 men.

"July 18, 1864. Call for 500,000. Our quota, 627. We furnished, including 196 navy recruits allowed, 998 men, at a cost of $147,549.11; average cost, $147.94.

"Dec. 19, 1864. Call for 300,000 men. Number en- listed 132, at a cost of $17,039.55; average cost, $129.08.

"Of the volunteers for 100 days, Lowell furnished 252 men, at a cost of $143.80; making the whole number standing to our credit, 4763 men, and the whole cost of recruiting and bounties, $254,074.87. In addition to this we have expended for uniforms, equipments, interest on State aid paid, and other inci- dental expenses of the war, exclusive of the Ladd and Whitney monument, the sum of $39,141.02, mak- ing a grand total of $293,215.89."

CHAPTER XI.

LOWELL-(Continued).

THE PRESS.

M. CHEVALIER, a distinguished Frenchman, who visited Lowell in 1835, remarks in one of his pub- lished letters : "In Lowell, reading is the only re- creation, and there are no less than seven journals printed here."

While this remark of the learned traveler is not literally true, still it is true that in the early days of our city there was remarkable intellectual activity. This is clearly indicated by the great number of pub- lications which issued from the local press. In- dividual churches even had their special organs, and every phase of thought and sentiment sought expres- sion through the public journals of the day. One after another, most of these publications, having ful- filled or failed to fulfill their mission, have disap- peared and arc almost lost to memory.

And here, upon the threshold of my notice of the

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newspaper press of Lowell, I desire to express my ac- knowledgment of the great and most valuable aid I have received in my work from two of my houored friends, Alfred Gilman, Esq., and Z. E. Stone, Esq., of this city. Mr. Gilman, the secretary and main pil- lar of the Lowell Old Residents' Historical Association, is a born journalist and antiquarian. Among his many valuable contributions to the history of our city, he prepared, seven years since, an excellent and exhaustive article upon the " Newspaper Press of Low- ell," to be read before the Old Residents' Association. This article has saved me many a tedious hour of search in the records of the past, and to its author I give my sincere thanks. A brief biographical notice of Mr. Gilman will be found in my record of the post-office and postmasters of Lowell.

Mr. Stone has devoted his life to journalism. He is the Nestor of the craft. In ability and character he holds the highest rank in his profession. He is an indefatigable student and collector of the journals of our city. He has very kiudly put into my hands his great list of the newspapers of Lowell, which for many years have been accumulating in his library. It is difficult to tell precisely how many different papers this list contains, for it is often difficult to tell how great a change in the title or ownership or editorship of a paper constitutes a loss of its identity. Some would find two papers where others find only one. But I have examined the papers collected by Mr. Stone, and I judge that there are forty-seven different publications. But Mr. Stone's collection embraces only a part of the list of about seventy-nine papers now to be noticed.

The newspapers of forty to sixty years ago are of smaller size generally than those of to-day, having uniformly four pages, each about fifteen by twenty inches. They contained very little local news, and evidently employed in their compilation no one cor- responding to the modern reporter.

In examining MIr. Stone's file of papers oue is forcibly impressed with the evidently brief existence of most of them. Of the forty-seven which I have ex- amined, about two-thirds were marked " Vol. I.," and I judge that one brief year was the full average limit of the existence of most of them. This whole file of' extinct journals is little more than a sad record of failures and disappointed hopes.

We will first direct our attention to the history of the newspapers which are now published in our city, and then briefly notice those which no longer exist, the lives of most of which were prematurely cut off.

The Lowell Journal is the oldest paper now pub- lished in Middlesex County. It has often changed its name and place; it has absorbed many other papers ; it has outlived many rivals; it has had many pub- lishers and many editors ; it has had its full share both of good fortune and bad ; but it still lives and retains its identity and its high respectability.

We are toid that under the name of The Chelmsford

Courier its first number was printed by Wm. Baldwin, editor, in Middlesex Village, now a part of Lowell, bearing the date of June 25, 1824. The following extract from the diary of Dr. John O. Green is interesting at this point : " 1824, June 24. First number of our Chelmsford newspaper brought round to us." How the doctor could receive on the 24th a paper dated on the 25th will be easily explained by the reader who knows "the way they had " of dating newspapers. This little falsehood of dating a paper "ahead," which, indeed, is not yet out of use, was an ingenious device in those old days of slow transition for making what was really stale appear fresh and new.

The office of the Chelmsford Courier was in a small one-story building standing opposite the site of the old meeting-house.

On May 20, 1825, Rev. Bernard Whitman became ed- itor of the paper, Mr. Baldwin remaining as publisher. Mr. Whitman was the Unitarian clergyman who offic- iated in the meeting-house, referred to above, which stood near the head of the Middlesex Canal.

The office of the paper having been burned in the first year of its existence, it arose, Plicnix-like, out of the ashes on June 28, 1825, under the name of the Chelmsford Phoenix, with the scriptural motto : "But to do good and to communicate forget not."

In September, 1825, E. M. Reinhart became publisher of the paper, but iu the November follow- ing J. S. C. Knowlton purchased it of Mr. Reinhart, and in 1826 the Phoenix becomes the Merrimack Jour- nal. When the name " Merrimack" was given to the paper it was supposed that when East Chelms- ford should become a town its name would be " Mer- rimack." Very soon, however, the name "Lowell " was given it, at its christening in the spring of 1826, and in 1827 the paper took the name of the Lowell Journal. In 1831 it came into the hands of John R. Adams, an attorney-at-law, at the cost of $1800. Mr. Knowlton had removed to Worcester, where he estab- lished the Worcester Palladium, and became sheriff of Worcester County.

Mr. Adams engaged E. C. Purdy, of Somerville, as editor, who, for a short time, issued a daily Journal, the first number appearing Sept. 17, 1831.

In May, 1833, John S. Sleeper, editor of the Exeter News- Letter, purchased the Journal, but in February, 1834, he became editor of the Boston Journal, and Charles H. Locke succeeded him as editor of the Lowell Journul.

In 1834 the publication of this paper was for a short time suspended, but in 1835 the Journal was united with the Mercury, and for one year the new paper is styled the Journal and Mercury, but subse- quently the Lowell Journal.

The Mercury, here referred to, was a Democratic paper, edited by Rev. Eliphalet Case. Having been purchased by Mr. Leonard Huntress, it was made a Whig paper, much to the disgust of its Democratic editor.

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The Lowell Courier was started by Messrs. Huntress & Knowlton Jan. 6, 1835, as a tri-weckly paper, and has ever since been published in connection with the Journal. At the present time the Courier is published daily under the title of the Lowell Daily Courier, and the Journal is mainly made up of articles taken from the Courier, and is published under the title of the Weekly Journal.

In the first issue of the Courier, January 6, 1835, Messrs. Huntress & Knowlton, in their prospectus, say : "In politics we are Whigs. Andrew Jackson [then President] is the open and avowed chief of a political party, and therefore we are opposed to the perpetuation of his factious and partisan rule."

The Courier was published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at three dollars per year. In June, 1836, it was changed from an evening to a morning paper. Mr. Huntress was its editor from 1836 to 1839, when he was succeeded by Robins Dinsmore, a lawyer from Ver- mont. Mr. Dinsmore was not popular, being accused of writing too long editorials. He retired in 1840, after a short service, employing in his valedictory the following philosophical language : " As I have been severely accused of writing long and dull editorials, the present paragraph will be brief, and will probably be the most satisfactory to the public I have ever written, --

'I have not loved the world Nor the world me, But let us part fair foes.' "

Mr. Dinsmore, however, continued to reside in Lowell and engaged in editorial work.

In August, 1840, William O. Bartlett, brother of Dr. Elisha Bartlett, first mayor of Lowell, became editor of the Courier, but retired in April, 1841, on account of ill health, and Mr. Huntress became sole editor. In May of this year the paper became again an evening paper, and as such has continued to the present time.

In May, 1841, Daniel S. Richardson, one of the ablest lawyers in our city, became editor of the Cour- ier, and held the position less than one year, his pro- fessional business demanding his entire care. In his valedictory is the following :

"Do boldly what you do, and let your page Smile if it smiles, and if it rages, rage."

We have appreciated the poet's advice, leaning to- wards the smiling page, however.

In December, 1841, Mr. Huntress sold out to Wil- liam Schouler, who began his management of the pa- per on a very liberal scale, employing William S. Robinson as a Washington correspondent, and also publishing a weekly letter from New York. Mr. Schouler was a man of superior talent, but he seems to have been somewhat disappointed in the success of his enterprise. He withdrew his Washington corre- spondent, and in one issue of his paper says, despond- ingly : " We have been enabled thus far to pay our debts, and this is about all." The defeat of his fa-

vorite, Henry Clay, by James K. Polk, in the Presi- dential canvass of 1844, greatly disappointed him. On July 1, 1845, the tri-weekly became the Daily Courier. In 1847 Mr. Schouler sold the Courier to James Atkinson, and Messrs. Atkinson & Robinson became its editors, while Mr. Schouler became cditor of the Boston Atlas. From 1847 to 1849 Leander R. Streeter was employed as editor, and from 1849 to 1853 John H. Warland, who was one of the most brilliant writers ever employed ou the editorial staff of the paper.

Meantime Mr. Atkinson sold the paper, in 1850, to Samuel J. Varney. Charles Cowley, LL.D., was em- ployed as editor in 1853, and in 1854 was succeeded by John A. Goodwin, who had been editor of the Lawrence Courier. Mr. Goodwin was succeeded, in 1855, by Benjamin W. Ball. In 1860 Z. E. Stone and S. W. Huse purchased the paper of S. N. Merrill, to whom Mr. Varney had sold it, and Homer A. Cook became its editor. Mr. Stone succeeded Mr. Cook as editor in November, 1860.

In September, 1867, Messrs. George A. Marden and Ed. T. Rowell purchased the paper of Stone & Huse, and still, after twenty-two years of enterprise and success, are its proprietors.

GEORGE A. MARDEN was born in Mont Vernon, N. H., August 9, 1839, being the son of Benjamin F. and Betsey (Buss) Marden. His ancestors were of the pure New England type, inured to a life of self-reli- ance and labor. Very early in life Mr. Marden learned the trade of his father, who was a shoemaker, a trade upon which he relied in future years as the means of securing to himself a liberal education.

From the age of ten to that of sixteen years he was busily occupied in working at his trade and in farm- ing, together with fitting for college in Appleton Academy at Mont Vernon, now known as the Mc- Collom Institute. He entered Dartmouth College in 1857, and though by teaching and other labors he de- frayed almost the entire expenses of his college course, he graduated in 1861 with a high rank as a scholar.

At the time of his graduation the War of the Re- bellion had just begun, and there was an urgent call for the services of patriotic young men. In Novem- ber of that year Mr. Marden enlisted in Company G, Second Regiment of Berdan's United States Sharp- shooters, and when mustered into service he received a warrant as second sergeant. He served with his regiment under General McClellan in the Peuinsular campaign in 1862, from Yorktown to Harrison's Landing.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 44

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226