USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 41
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During the next quarter of a century the slavery question remained com- paratively quiet, owing to the admission of free and slave states in equal number. At the conclusion of the Mexican war in 1848, the United States came into posses- sion of a large expanse of country in the Southwest, to which the advocates of slavery immediately laid claim, and again the slavery question came up as a subject for congressional consideration. The passage of the compromise act, usually called the "Omnibus Bill," was held by the free-state people as a violation of the provisions of the Missouri Compromise, because it sought to carry slavery north of the line of 36° 30'. Four years later the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was passed, which added fresh fuel to the already raging flames. Its passage was the chief cause of the organization of the republican party, which opposed the extension of slavery to any of the new territory of the United States whatever.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860
In 1860 the newly organized republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as its candidate for the Presidency and the issues were clearly defined. Some of the slave states announced during the campaign that in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election they would withdraw from the Union. The people of the North gave little heed to these declarations, regarding them as so many idle threats, made merely for political effect. Through a division in the democratic party, Mr. Lincoln was elected and on December 20, 1860, South Carolina carried her threat into effect, when a state convention at Charleston passed an ordinance of secession, declaring that state's connection with the Union was severed and that all allegiance to the United States Government was at an end.
Mississippi followed with a similar ordinance on January 9, 1861 ; Florida seceded on January 10th ; Alabama, January 11th ; Georgia, January 19th; Louisi- ana, January 26th ; and Texas on February Ist. All these states except Texas sent delegates to a convention at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1861, at which a tentative constitution was adopted; Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected provisional president ; and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, provisional vice president of the Confederate States of America. They were inaugurated on February 22, 1861, the anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Conse- quently, when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4. 1861, he found seven states in open rebellion, with an organized government, in opposition to his admin- istration. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, the President, his cabinet and the people of the North generally, clung to the hope that a reconciliation could be effected and that the citizens of the seceded states could be induced to return to their allegiance. In that hope they were doomed to be disappointed.
STAR OF THE WEST
More than two months before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration the relations between the North and South were still further strained by the action of Maj. Robert
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Anderson, who was in command of the defenses of the Harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Major Anderson, about the beginning of the year 1861, secretly removed his garrison and supplies from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, because the latter could be more easily defended in case of an assault. The people of the South claimed that this move was in direct violation of an agreement with Presi- dent Buchanan, and the feeling was intensified when it was learned that Major Anderson, upon leaving Fort Moultrie, had spiked the guns there, rendering them useless. The northern press was practically unanimous in upholding Major Ander- son, and in demanding that additional supplies and reinforcements be sent to him at Fort Sumter. The persistent hammering of the newspapers of the North caused the war department to despatch the steamer "Star of the West" with 250 men and a stock of ammunition and provisions to Fort Sumter. While this vessel was passing Morris Island on January 9, 1861, she was fired upon by a masked battery and forced to turn back. In the official records, this incident is regarded as the beginning of the Civil war, though the popular awakening of the North did not come until about three months later.
FALL OF FORT SUMTER
Toward the close of March, 1861, General Beauregard, who was in command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, made a formal demand upon Major Anderson for the surrender of the fort. Anderson refused, but on April 11, 1861, seeing that his stock of provisions was running low and being uncertain of obtain- ing a new supply, he informed General Beauregard that the fort would be vacated on the 15th, "unless ordered to remain and the needed supplies are received." This reply did not please the Confederate commander, who feared that the new admin- istration would find some way of sending supplies and reinforcements to Anderson that would enable him to hold the fort indefinitely. In such a case, Fort Sumter would be a constant menace to one of the greatest of the Confederate strongholds. Beauregard called a council of his officers, at which it was determined to force Anderson to evacuate. At 3:20 A. M., April 12, 1861, Beauregard sent word to Anderson that fire would be opened upon the fort within an hour, unless in the meantime a promise that the fort would be immediately abandoned was received. Major Anderson ignored the communication and at 4:30 Capt. George Janes fired the signal gun from Fort Johnson, the shell bursting almost directly over the fort. A few seconds later a solid shot from the battery on Cummings' Point went crashing against the walls of Sumter. The war had begun.
Anderson's little band of heroes responded promptly and the cannonading continued all day. Late in the afternoon fire broke out in one of the casemates of the fort and the Confederates redoubled their fire, hoping to force Anderson's surrender. That was on Friday. Anderson held out against desperate odds until Sunday, the 14th, when he was permitted to withdraw from the fort with all the honors of war, even to saluting his flag with fifty guns before it was taken down.
When the telegraph flashed the news of Sumter's fate through the loyal states of the North, all hope of bringing about a peaceable settlement of the differences between the two sections of the country was abandoned. Party lines were oblit- erated in the North ; political controversies of the past were all forgotten in the insult to the flag ; and there was but one sentiment-The Union must and shall be
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preserved. On Monday, April 15, 1861, the day following the evacuation of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued the following
PROCLAMATION
"Whereas, the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law :
"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the Laws, have thought fit to call forth, and do hereby call forth, the militia of the several states of the Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations and cause the laws to be fully executed.
"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the state authorities through the War Department.
"I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to main- tain the honor, the integrity and the existence of our National Union and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already too long endured.
"I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistent with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.
"And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.
"Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraor- dinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Consti- tution, convene both houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve o'clock. noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.
"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this 15th day of April, A. D. 1861, and of the Independence of the United States, the 85th.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"By the President :
"W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."
ANSWER OF MASSACHUSETTS
On April 15, 1861, the same day the President's proclamation was promul- gated. Gov. John A. Andrew received a telegram from the war department ask-
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ing him to forward 1,500 men to Washington, or wherever they might be ordered. The order was transmitted to the various militia commands of the state and the next morning the troops began pouring into Boston. The first to arrive were three companies from Marblehead, of the Eighth Regiment. Then came the companies of the Fourth Regiment from Norfolk, Plymouth and Bristol counties. They were quickly followed by the Fifth Regiment and by six o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th three regiments were ready to go, while new companies were forming in all parts of the state. Such was the response of the Old Bay State to the first call for men to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States when threatened by secession.
The Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts militia, was commanded by Col. Abner B. Packard of Quincy. As soon as he received the call he sent word to all the . company commanders to assemble their men at once and report on Boston Common at noon on the 16th. The captains of the companies sent messengers to the men and 'at the appointed time practically the entire regiment was in Boston, but the meeting place was changed to Faneuil Hall instead of the Common.
Company D of this regiment was composed chiefly of citizens of the Town of Randolph. It was organized in 1855 as the Randolph Light Infantry, with Hiram C. Alden as its first captain. When the order for mobilization was issued on the afternoon of April 15, 1861, it was discovered that this company had no commissioned officers, so the order was sent to Sergt. Hiram F. Wales, who spent the whole night in notifying the men, with the result that "every man was at his post" on the following day. Upon reaching Boston, Horace Niles was elected captain ; Otis S. Wilbur, first lieutenant ; Hiram F. Wales, second lieu- tenant.
Company F was a Foxboro organization, which had been in existence since it was first formed under the act of January 22, 1776. At the time the first call for troops was issued in 1861 it claimed to hold the oldest charter of any military company in the state. David L. Shepard was captain in April, 1861 ; Moses A. Richardson, first lieutenant; Carlos A. Hart, second lieutenant. Alvin E. Hall, a Foxboro man, was sergeant-major of the regiment.
Company H came from Quincy. Of this company Franklin Curtis was captain; Edward A. Spear, first lieutenant ; Benjamin F. Meservey, second lieu- tenant. This company was known as the Hancock Light Guard, so named in honor of John Hancock, while the Foxboro company bore the name of the War- ren Light Guard, as a tribute to Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill.
The Fourth Regiment was ready to start for the front on the 16th, but no transportation could be furnished until the following day. The men spent the night in Faneuil Hall and on the 17th left for the seat of war-the first regiment to leave Massachusetts. At Fall River the regiment embarked upon the steamer "State of Maine" and late on the 17th arrived in New York. The vessel was not properly ballasted and Colonel Packard telegraphed Governor Andrew for instructions. The governor replied: "If the captain says he can carry your men, go on. Massachusetts must be first on the ground." After a little delay in ballasting the boat, the journey was continued and on the 20th the regiment reported for duty at Fortress Monroe.
Vol. I-22
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
WHAT THE TOWNS DID
Seven of the Norfolk County towns have been organized since the close of the Civil war, viz .: Holbrook, Millis, Norfolk, Norwood, Plainville, Wellesley and Westwood. Their military history is therefore embraced in that of the towns from which they were taken.
Bellingham's first act was to appropriate $2,000 for the purpose of fitting out and drilling the men who enlisted. In July, 1862, the town offered a bounty of $100 to every man who would volunteer, until the quota of seventeen men was obtained, and ten dollars additional to every one who enlisted within ten days. The following month came the call for volunteers for nine months and the town offered a bounty of $200, those enlisting for three years to receive $700. In September, 1862, the sum of $5,000 was voted to pay the town's volunteer soldiers. Early in the year 1865, only a short time before the close of the war, the town expended $1.000 in caring for the families of men in service. Out of a total of 169 men subject to military duty, the town sent thirty-three men into the army.
Braintree was one of the first towns in the county to respond to the call for troops in 1861. The Braintree Light Infantry reported at Boston on April 16, 1861, and was mustered in as Company C, Fourth Regiment, with Cephas C. Bumpus. captain; James T. Stevens, first lieutenant ; Isaac P. Fuller, second lieutenant. It accompanied the regiment to Fortress Monroe the next day. At a town meeting on April 26, 1861, the sum of $1,500, "or such part thereof as might be necessary," was appropriated for the relief of soldiers' families. Without following in detail the numerous appropriations made for bounties and aid for soldiers' families, it is sufficient to say that during the war the town ex- pended a total of $27.930.51, exclusive of the sum later refunded by the state. The town furnished 508 men to the army and navy under all calls.
Brookline's contribution to the army and navy was 610 men. Col. Theodore Lyman of this town was an officer on the staff of Gen. George G. Meade. On the memorial tablets in the town hall are the names of seventy-two men who were killed in action or died of wounds or disease while they were in the service of their country. Figures are wanting to show how much the town expended for bounties and soldiers' aid during the war, but it is well known that Brook- line did her part.
Canton furnished 350 men for military service, which was twenty-three in excess of her quota. The total population in 1860 was 3,342, hence it may be seen that more than ten per cent answered their country's call. At a meeting held on April 29th it was voted "to provide all suitable and necessary aid to families of volunteers living in the town." How much was expended under this somewhat indefinite order it would be impossible to say, but the total amount of money raised and expended for military purposes and aid was $30.415.71, of which the state afterward refunded $13,020.75. Thirty-five of Canton's sons lost their lives during the conflict.
Cohasset was represented in the Fourth Regiment, the first to be ordered to the front, and from that time until the last call for volunteers she was ready with her quota. Three commissioned officers and 187 enlisted men were the town's contribution to the army and navy, and the total amount of money raised
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and expended was $33.330.61, though $15.928.74 of this was afterward refunded by the state.
Dedham had no militia company in April, 1861, when President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 men, but the young men of the town lost no time in organizing one, in anticipation that a second call would be made. In August, 1861, this company was mustered into the United States service as Company F. Eighteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The officers of the company were: Henry Onion, captain; Charles W. Carroll, first lieutenant; Fisher A. Baker, second lieutenant. Nine Dedham men were enrolled in Company H of the same regiment. From that time to the close of the war, the muster rolls of the army bore the names of 672 Dedham men, and the town raised and expended a total of $136,090.81, of which the state subsequently refunded $51,000. The tablets in the Memorial Hall bear the names of forty-seven who sacrificed their lives upon the altar of their country. Of these forty-seven twenty-nine were killed in action or died of wounds.
Dover was one of the smallest towns in the county in population and wealth in 1860, but she sent forty-four volunteers into the army and made generous appropriations for the care of soldiers' families, though the exact amount of these appropriations cannot be ascertained. Sixteen of the forty-four volun- teers that went out from Dover never returned to their homes.
Foxboro, as already stated, furnished a company to the Fourth Regiment --- the first to leave the state. But the town did not stop with that one company. A number of Foxboro men were enrolled in the Eighteenth Infantry, which was mustered in for three years on August 27, 1861, and the town was also repre- sented in the Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Seventeenth, Twentieth, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty- second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth, Forty-seventh, Fifty- fourth, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Infantry ; the Second. Third and Fourth Cavalry ; and furnished nineteen men to the artillery arm of the service. Eleven Foxboro men served in the regular army, two in the navy, and it is known that twenty citizens volunteered in organizations in other towns and were not credited to Foxboro as they should have been. The amount expended for bounties and enlistment expenses was $21.742.48, in addition to which over seven thousand dollars were raised by private subscription.
Franklin did not get in on the first call for troops, but under the second its quota was twenty-three men and thirty-six responded. On the announcement that only twenty-three were wanted, one of the extra thirteen answered : "Well, we will all go, if we have to go on foot and alone." The thirty-six men became part of Company C. Forty-fifth Regiment, of which Lewis R. Whitaker of Franklin was commissioned second lieutenant. A similar thing happened under the call of August, 1862, when the town's quota was thirty-four and forty-three enlisted. Altogether. 218 Franklin boys "wore the loyal blue." Individual citi- zens gave liberally to the bounty fund and to aid soldiers' families, and the town was not niggardly in its appropriations, though just how much was appro- priated cannot be learned.
Medfield furnished eighty-two men for the army and navy and appropriated at different times a total of $5.571 on account of the war. Private subscriptions for the relief of soldiers' families amounted to nearly as much more. The first
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volunteer from Medfield was Allen A. Kingsbury. The morning after the news of the attack upon a Massachusetts regiment by a mob at Baltimore, Maryland, he went to Chelsea and enlisted in a company that was being organized there. Of the eighty-two men who went out from Medfield, fourteen never returned.
Medway, which then included the present Town of Millis, sent 384 men into the ranks from the beginning to the end of the war. In 1862 a town meeting adopted a resolution to have prepared an accurate record of each soldier credited to the town. This was about a year before the Commonwealth of Massachusetts began the work of compiling complete data regarding the state's volunteers, and it is believed to have been the first action of the kind taken within the state. As a result of this resolution, Medway has a brief biographical sketch of every soldier she sent to the field under the various calls of the President-a total of 384, including a small number of reenlistments. The town also furnished money to relieve sick and disabled soldiers, pay bounties to volunteers and care for the families of those who enlisted.
Milton's war records are unfortunately scant, both with regard to the number of men furnished and the amount of money appropriated for military purposes. H. B. Martin some years ago collected the names of 157 volunteers credited to Milton, but it is a well established fact that at least one hundred Milton men enlisted in organizations outside their town and their enlistments credited else- where. Louis N. Tucker, regarded as the best drill-master in Boston at the breaking out of the war, was a Milton boy, as was also James S. Reed, the best drill-master in San Francisco. After preparing hundreds of raw recruits for real service these two men went to the front themselves. One died upon the field and the other was wounded.
Needham kept step with the other towns of the county, both in men and money. From first to last the town is credited with having furnished 308 men, distributed through twenty-seven infantry regiments, four regiments of heavy artillery, five regiments of cavalry, three field batteries and the navy. On April 29, 1861, it was voted that fifteen dollars per month be paid to each volunteer from the town, for a period of six months. At the same meeting it was decided to establish a "military committee." to assume general supervision of the forma- tion of a company, render such assistance as may be required to those having charge of procuring volunteers, investigate the condition of soldiers' families, etc. The committee was composed of E. K. Whitaker, C. B. Patten, Calvin Perry and Benjamin G. Kimball. Some changes were made in the personnel of the com- mittee, but it remained in existence until the close of the war and exercised a general control over the expenditures of appropriations, etc.
Quincy was the banner town of the county, both in the number of soldiers furnished to the army and the promptness with which the town responded to every call for volunteers. At the beginning of the war the population was about six thousand seven hundred, of whom probably twenty-two hundred were capable of bearing arms. Of these, 954 entered the army or navy-over forty per cent of those liable for military duty. About fifty thousand dollars was appropriated by the town or raised by subscription for military and relief work.
Mention has already been made of Randolph's part under the call of April 15, 1861, and how Sergeant Wales worked all night to notify the members of the Randolph Light Infantry. Under the call of July 4, 1862, for 300,000 men
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for three years or during the war, sixty-two citizens of Randolph placed their names upon the muster roll of Company E, Thirty-fifth Infantry. Upon the organization of the company Horace Niles, who had served as captain in the Fourth Regiment during the three months' service, was chosen captain; Jona- than W. Ingell, first lieutenant; William Palmer, second lieutenant. Captain Niles died on September 27, 1862, of wounds received at the battle of South Mountain on the 14th. Altogether, the town, which included the present Town of Holbrook, furnished 919 men, though several of these should have been credited to Milton. Eighty-one of those who went out never came back. No statistics are at hand to show how much money Randolph paid in bounties and in relief work, but in this respect the town was not a laggard.
Sharon's enrollment was 127, really a few more than the town was required to furnish. In addition to this, several patriotic citizens employed soldiers at their own personal expense. Appropriations were made from time to time to pay bounties and provide for the families of those who were at the front.
Stoughton's story of the part she played in the Civil war is soon told. She furnished fifteen commissioned officers and 507 enlisted men to all branches of the military service, and expended $119.524.67, but of this amount the town afterward received from the state the sum of $39,652.12. The muster rolls of Stoughton's soldiers were destroyed by fire a few years after the war.
Walpole furnished 115 men for the three years' service, thirty-one men for nine months, twenty-one joined the navy, and when the call for 100 days' men came toward the close of the war, eight citizens of the town responded, making a total of 175. Besides this number a few Walpole men are known to have enlisted in regiments credited to other states. David W. Lewis, a Walpole man, was a captain in the Ninth Vermont, and Henry L. Godbold was a first lieutenant in the First Pennsylvania Artillery. The town also did its share in appropriations of money for military purposes and the relief of soldiers' families. On the memorial tablets in the town house are the names of those who died in service.
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