USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 28
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
Famous Army of Two Saved the Day-A most unusual part in the War of 1812 was played in Plymouth County by two young girls. It illustrates the defenceless condition of the Massachusetts coast towns but the native wit of these girls of 1812 was "sufficient unto the day."
In the historic Old South Church in Boston there is a Case No. 12, which contains the autographs of the celebrated American "Army of Two" in the War of 1812, and the story of this army, as follows:
WAR OF 1812.
During the War of 1812 the harbor of Scituate, Mass., was entered by two British barges, greatly to the terror of the inhabitants. There was no man-of-war to protect them nor any soldiers. Before the British barges reached the harbor they were seen from the lighthouse by two brave girls, Rebecca and Abigail Bates, who gave the alarm to the village. The inhabitants, not strong enough to oppose the British, hastened to hide their property. There were two large vessels laden with flour lying in the harbor and towards these the British went. The girls from the lighthouse saw the proceedings and thought something should be done, so Rebecca seized a fife and Abigail a drum and walking down the beach in the direction of Boston, got behind the sandhills out of sight of the British and then, turning round, marched toward Scituate fifing and drumming for dear life. The British heard the music, and without a minute delay, turned right round and went to sea again.
AMERICAN ARMY OF TWO
Abbie, the drummer, one of the American Army of Two in the War of 1812, drove from our shore two British barges, saved two vessels laden with flour from capture and crew from prison with Fife and Drum.
(Signed) Abbie Bates aged 82 Born in 1777- Scituate Harbor, Mass. Rebecca W. Bates-Born 1793 Aged 86
One of the American Army of Two in the War of 1812 who with her sister aged fifteen years saved two large vessels laden with flour and the crew from imprisonment with Fife and Drum, from being taken by the British off Scituate Harbor, Mass.
(Signed) REBECCA THE FIFER.
Literature, Oratory and Abolition Started-While the Middle West was having its wonderful development with the influence of the early
257
FROM COLONIAL PERIOD TO THE CIVIL WAR
settlers of Plymouth County one of the ingredients in the mixture, the beginning of real American literature took place. Plymouth County has a proud share in the literary footsteps. Just after the War of 1812 William Cullen Bryant wrote in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), "Thanatopsis," and other poems which are recognized as American literature of the better sort.
Benjamin Franklin, whose trenchant quill brought down the wrath of Cotton Mather, the fists of his older brother and the willingness on the part of ultra-conservatives to have him depart, forsook Boston for Philadelphia before the Revolution. He was the greatest American man of letters of the eighteenth century.
The beginning of American oratory was in Plymouth County. Dan- iel Webster was a resident of Marshfield when he served in Congress, his home being not far from that occupied by Governor Winslow of Pilgrim fame in a previous generation. Daniel Webster's reply to Robert Hayne of South Carolina who eloquently defended the idea of nullifica- tion in the Senate, is still regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. The peroration of that famous reply closed with words, almost as venerated as the closing words of President Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Webster's words were: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."
It was at this time that the anti-slavery movement had a real leader in William Lloyd Garrison, of Boston, whose voice in the interest of freedom was heard many times in Plymouth County, at Abington Grove and elsewhere. He was publisher of the "Liberator," the most influential anti-slavery paper. In 1833 slaves were emancipated everywhere in the British Empire. They had also been freed in all the Latin-American countries except Brazil. In 1833 Garrison and other Abolitionists formed the American Anti-slavery Society, but they by no means rep- resented the sentiment which prevailed at that time in this section. Mobs broke up their meetings, destroyed their printing presses and attacked their leaders. When meetings were held in this county, guards were posted to give warnings of the coming of people who could not be vouched for. Garrison was dragged through the streets of Boston and lodged in jail to keep him from the fury of a mob composed of the "best citizens."
When he began the publication of the "Liberator" he was a young printer very much in earnest but very much in advance of the times. He had an uncompromising conviction but no influence or capital to pro- mote his cause. Lowell depicts him thus :
In a small chamber, friendless and unseen,
Toiled o'er his types, one poor, unlearned young man. The place was dark, unfurnitured and mean,
Yet there the freedom of a race began.
Plym -- 17
258
PLYMOUTH, NORFOLK AND BARNSTABLE
John Greenleaf Whittier was the poet of the abolition movement. Wendell Phillips was its greatest orator.
There were many anti-slavery advocates and enthusiastic workers in Plymouth County and some of them were enlisted in the Underground Railroad Movement, as the system was called by means of which fugi- tive slaves, on their way to Canada were hid in the houses of agents or in secret places during the day, and at night carried in wagons to an- other "station" nearer Canada. When the slaves reached Canada they were safe, as slavery was prohibited in all the English dominions.
The anti-slavery men were greatly displeasd with their fellow-citizen of Plymouth County, Daniel Webster, when, in his seventh of March speech in support of a compromise offered by Henry Clay, he admitted that the complaints of the South about the difficulty of recovering run- away slaves were just, and declared that the North had failed to do its duty in this matter. One anti-slavery man said of this speech: "I know no deed in American history done by a son of New England to which I can compare this but the act of Benedict Arnold." Whittier expressed the anti-slavery indignation against Webster when he wrote:
Of all we loved and honored, naught Save power remains; A fallen angel's pride of thought, Still strong in chains. All else is gone; from those great eyes The soul has fled; When faith is lost, when honor dies, The man is dead.
Webster was accused of trying to curry favor with the South in the hope of winning the presidency.
So fallen! So lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore; The glory from his gray hairs gone For evermore!
Path of "Mayflower" Ice-Locked-Plymouth County was called upon to endure its most severe winter in 1844. Plymouth and Duxbury bay was frozen over and people in the seacoast towns had an opportun- ity to enjoy skating on salt water, which is unusual. Boston Harbor was frozen over as far out as Boston Light. Vessels could not enter the harbor and cargoes were discharged on the ice and transferred by teams to warehouses. There was a long period of intense cold, and con- siderable suffering resulted for those whose supply of fuel was meager or houses built suitable for the Old Colony climate but not for that of the North Pole.
In 1846 the Cape Cod Branch Railroad was incorporated. It was opened in 1848, from Middleboro to Sandwich, a distance of twenty-
259
FROM COLONIAL PERIOD TO THE CIVIL WAR
eight miles. It connected with Fall River and the Old Colony Railroad at Middleboro and was of great advantage to Plymouth County and Barnstable County alike. The number of passengers carried in 1849 was 66,825. The road from Middleboro to Sandwich cost $500,000, and the total cost with the connection to Hyannis, eighteen miles long, was $824,957.99. The cost of the road and equipment was less than $18,000 per mile, which was less than any other railroad in the State, and less than one half the average cost per mile of all the railroads in Massachu- setts at that time. The comparison with the cost of railroads at the pres- ent time is especially interesting. The Cape Cod population in 1850 was 33,979.
Typical Forty-niner-Plymouth County furnished its quota of ad- venturers in the gold rush to California in 1849. Some of the "Forty- niners" sailed around Cape Horn but others took the long trail by means of prairie schooners across the plains and through the Rocky Mountains. Such a man was the late Eben Holt, whose declining years were passed on the shore of Silver Lake in Pembroke.
Mr. Holt was a young man when the "Forty-niners" started for Cali- fornia, was engaged to be married, and had little interest in the wealth to be obtained through the "golden gate," but he had a chum who was seized with a longing to cross the continent and return wealthy. He finally persuaded Eben Holt to meet him at the cross roads, from which they were to start about midnight to walk many miles to take a train for the first part of their journey, carrying with them a few necessities.
Mr. Holt hastened to inform his fiancée that if she wanted to marry him she would have to make haste, as he was going to start the next day for California. The marriage was performed and Eben Holt started to join his chum in search of fortune and adventure in the Far West. Reaching the cross roads, the chum was absent. The young man waited until he was convinced that his supposedly enthusiastic chum had had a change of heart, then he started at a quick pace toward California. A few years ago he told the writer that he had made up his mind to go and, his mind once made up, he had no intention of quitting. This was a char- acteristic of Eben Holt, a characteristic of many another brave "Forty- niner" who were the first to participate in the adventurous days, such as never before or since have occurred in the United States, in "the glorious climate of California."
CHAPTER XIX BECOMES COUNTY OF ABOLITIONISTS.
Every Town Furnished Its Contingent of Men in Answer to Every Call Made by President Lincoln-Oldest Militia Company in the State Responded from Halifax-The Martland Band from North Bridge- water Joined the Fletcher Webster Regiment at Fort Warren-Abing- ton Then the Largest Town, Furnished More Than A Full Regiment Before 1865-Men Older Than Military Age Formed Coast Guard at Wareham-Grand Army Post in Kingston Honors Service of Martha Sever, A Volunteer Nurse-Plymouth and Hingham Companies Were Without Captains When First Call Came But Both Made Immediate Response-Marshfield Pledged Its Last Dollar and Last Man-Origin of "John Brown's Body" and Great Popularity of the Song.
A few months ago, the writer of this history examined in the Con- gressional Library at Washington, District of Columbia, the original manuscript written by General Ulysses S. Grant which was transmitted to General Robert E. Lee, demanding "Unconditional and immediate surrender." It was also the privilege of the writer to examine, in the handwriting of General Lee, his acknowledgement that the terms pro- posed by General Grant were "most generous," and the other writing which passed between those two, opposing generals of the Civil War, in the closing days of the great rebellion. Written in the field, here and there a word erased or interlined, with no thought on the part of either man that their words, much less their handwriting, would be scrutinized more than threescore years later by anyone who goes to the Capital city of the Union which was being preserved, these documents give a personal touch that inspires and thrills. The student of today feels the impulse of both the North and South.
More than seven thousand treatises, containing varying viewpoints relating to the struggle of two opinions, denominated North and South, are available for perusal in the Library of the War Department at Wash- ington or in the archives of the American libraries. "The Radicals of the South cried: 'No Union without slavery!' The Radicals of the North replied: 'No Union without liberty!'" The Northern Radicals were right. Upon the great issue of free homes for free men, a President was elected by the free states. The South appealed to the sword, and raised the standard of revolt. "For the first time in history the oppres- sors rebelled."
The struggle was between two factions of a peace-loving people. It was not the love for the art of war which induced either side to spring -
262
PLYMOUTH, NORFOLK AND BARNSTABLE
to arms but the mistakes made by our fathers had not been corrected. Four millions of human beings were in chains and those who enslave others cannot themselves be free.
The Old Plymouth Colony had its abolitionists, the true patriots who, like their great leader, William Lloyd Garrison, were in earnest, would not equivocate, would not retreat a single inch and would be heard. Acting on the impulse of justice, the boys of the Plymouth County towns, their hearts beating to the martial strains of the national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner," found their way to the enlistment stations and volunteered to join the sweeping line, under floating banners, which was the answer contained in the words "We Are Coming, Father Abra- ham, Three Hundred Thousand Strong."
The oldest militia company in the state was in Halifax, a company chartered by John Hancock in 1792. As soon as President Lincoln made his call for volunteers, the entire company caught the next train for Boston and was one of the first companies to assemble on Boston Common for which it was complimented by the Boston press, in recog- nition of the fact that some of the boys left their work and, literally without taking leave of their families closed up the ranks, that every man should be in his place, under command of Captain Joseph Harlow. This same company, in the War of 1812, had marched forth with equal promptness, under command of Captain Asa Thompson, familiarly known as "the tall captain." He stood six feet and six inches in his stockings and several members of his company measured more than six feet. It is related that the people assembled at the bridge at South Boston to see the company pass over and cheered as the wooden bridge responded to the rhythm of the tall and erect farmer boys from one of the smallest towns in the state.
When despatches were received April 15, 1861, announcing that Fort Sumpter had been fired upon, and that President Lincoln had issued a call for seventy-five thousand three months' men, the militia companies of Plymouth County were ready. Governor John A. Andrew of Massa- chusetts, ordered the commanders of the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth regiments of Massachusetts Militia to report with their com- mands on Boston Common the following day. The Standish Guards, a military company organized in 1818, named in honor of Captain Myles Standish, the first military commander in Plymouth Colony, was with- out a captain. It was in charge of First Lieutenant Charles C. Doten, at that time a merchant, aged 28.
When the train left Plymouth the next morning at nine o'clock, he had nineteen of his company with him. Others were picked up at Abing- ton and in Boston ; a large number of others were on hand the following morning, when the company embarked on the steamer "S. R. Spaulding."
263
BECOMES COUNTY OF ABOLITIONISTS
Two members of the company were detailed for recruiting service and when the steamer departed from Boston for Fortress Monroe April 18, there were sixty men to answer the roll call.
Upon arrival at Fortress Monroe, the Plymouth company was at once embarked on the U. S. S. "Pawnee" to destroy the Norfolk Navy Yard. On the 22nd it was mustered into the United States service. As it was without a captain, First Lieutenant Charles C. Doten was chosen captain. Otis Rogers became first lieutenant, and William B. Alexander, second lieutenant.
Captain Charles C. Doten was well known to the present generation, as for many years he was editor of the "Old Colony Memorial" and later curator at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. He was one of the finest men who ever carried a sword or pushed a pen. A quarter of a century ago, when the writer was in the employ of Captain Doten, the latter was re- minded of the prompt response made by the Halifax Company to the call of Governor Andrew. A merry twinkle, so well remembered by all who knew him, came into the eyes of the captain as he responded, "Yes. but I got my company on that same train and had them on the train first. You see the train started from Plymouth, and Halifax was more than ten miles up the track."
Eight days after the attack on Fort Sumpter, there was a notable gathering of patriotic people of North Bridgewater, now Brockton, in the vestry of the Church of the New Jerusalem, for the purpose of forming a new military company to respond to the call for volunteers to put down the rebellion. Dr. Alexander Hitchborn presided and more than one hundred men volunteered to make up the company, with Dr. Hitchborn as their captain. The company became Company F, Twelfth Regiment, under the command of Colonel Fletcher Webster of Marsh- field, son of Daniel Webster. It left North Bridgewater at nine o'clock in the morning of April 29, 1861, with eighty men in line. The Twelfth Regiment was organized at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. The roll of Company F, corrected at Fort Warren, after receiving some recruits, showed the company was made up of one hundred and nine men. The town of North Bridgewater also furnished for the Twelfth Regiment, Martland's Band, under Bandmaster William J. Martland, with twenty musicians. The band was mustered out of the service May 8, 1862. The band is still in existence, although its honored leader many years ago passed away. The present leader is Mace Gay who has been the bandmaster forty-seven years.
North Bridgewater also furnished Company I, First Regiment, Mas- sachusetts Cavalry, which was recruited by Captain Lucius Richmond. This company left for Camp Brigham, Readville, September 11, 1861. It was a part of the Third Battalion, which left the State December 29,
264
PLYMOUTH, NORFOLK AND BARNSTABLE
1861, and had its first experiences in battle at Pocotalgo, South Carolina. More about the Civil War experiences of North Bridgewater men is found under the history of Brockton, the present name for the town, which is Plymouth County's only city.
The town of Abington sent more than a full regiment to the front. A company, representing the old town, was one of those to answer the call within twenty-four hours. The town furnished two lieutenant- colonels, three majors, twelve captains, seven first lieutenants, twelve second lieutenants, and, in all, 1,138 men. This notable record is fitting for the town in which the abolitionists held their spirited meetings in Island Grove. It was in this same cradle of liberty and justice, under the towering pines, that the returning soldiers were given a reception by the town after Lee's surrender and "for the first time since man has kept a record of events, the heavens bent above and domed a land without a serf, a servant or a slave."
One of the earliest official acts of the town of Wareham after war was declared was to choose a military committee to form a coast guard of sixty-four persons, from the age of forty-five to sixty, leaving the men usually regarded as of military age to volunteer into the regular arms of the service. The town records show that Wareham furnished three hundred and fifty men for the war, which was a surplus of fifteen over and above all demands.
Colonel Schouler in his "History of Massachusetts in the Civil War" says: "Every town in Plymouth County furnished its contingent of men upon every call made by the President during the war, and each had a surplus at the close of the rebellion, which in the aggregate amounted to five hundred and twelve men."
Pembroke furnished one hundred and sixty-seven men for the Civil War, which was twenty-nine more than enough to fill its quotas. Of this number five served in the navy. Those killed or who died in the service numbered twenty.
Kingston has the honor and distinction of having the only Grand Army Post in the country named for a woman. Martha Sever Post, No. 154, Department of Massachusetts, Grand Army of the Republic, took the name of a brave and patriotic Kingston girl who was a volun- teer nurse, and died while nursing the sick and wounded soldiers in the army. Her grave is beneath a sheltering evergreen tree in the Union Cemetery and above it flutters the stars and stripes, placed there every Memorial Day by comrades who thus recognize her devotion, in the exercise of which she gave her life. Several years ago, when the mem- bers of Martha Sever Post had been reduced to two comrades, able to attend meetings, the late John T. Thompson and Amasa Lincoln, the regular meetings were carried on by these two comrades and records
265
BECOMES COUNTY OF ABOLITIONISTS
made of them, which elicited the commendation of the department officers. The only living member of the post is Amasa Lincoln but there has been no surrender of the charter. One of the last surviving members of the post was the late Captain George H. Bonney, who was in command of the Halifax Company after its return from the Civil War. He died later than Comrade Thompson but was a long time in feeble health and unable to attend the post meetings.
There were one hundred and fifty-three men in the Civil War Army and Navy credited to Kingston and of this number sixteen were killed or died in the service.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lieutenant James M. Sampson of Company C, Fourth Regiment of Infantry, held the positions of town clerk, treasurer and collector of taxes of Lakeville, positions which he had held since 1859. In August, 1862, he resigned these offices and volunteered as a private soldier in the company of which he later be- came lieutenant. Commissioned as second lieutenant, September 13, 1862, ten days later he was mustered into the United States service, on duty in a camp of preparation and instruction in Lakeville. In Decem- ber, 1862, he left with his company and regiment for the Department of the Gulf, arriving at New Orleans February 7, 1863. He soon after participated in the expedition against Port Hudson, and also in the battle of Bisland, fought April 12, and Franklin, April 14, 1863.
While participating in the defense of Brashear City, June 23, 1863, Lieutenant Sampson was taken prisoner and carried several hundred miles to Camp Ford. After thirteen months as a prisoner he was paroled, exchanged and honorably discharged from the service August 9, 1864. In 1883, another generation of voters again elected him town clerk, treasurer and collector of taxes. He was one of eighty-five men from Lakeville to serve in the Union Army. The town also furnished nine men in the navy. This branch of the service had its fascinations for several boys whose age would not permit them to enlist before the war closed. Among them was Jones Godfrey, who, as acting third assistant engineer, was, October 20, 1866, ordered to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The following year he was placed upon duty at the naval engine workshop at Washington, District of Columbia. He was graduated from the Naval Academy in June, 1868, was immediately appointed a third assistant engineer and ordered to duty on board the U. S. S. "Sagamore" on a cruise to the Pacific Ocean. He also served on several other armed vessels, among them the "Saginaw," that was wrecked on the reefs; the "Nantasket," on board of which he cruised among the West India Islands; and the "Kansas," employed in carrying a surveying party to Greytown. He afterward returned to Lakeville, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1877.
266
PLYMOUTH, NORFOLK AND BARNSTABLE
Marion furnished about one hundred men in the Civil War, including twenty-three seamen. Three of the latter were officers. Four soldiers died in the service. At the close of the war the credit to the town was ten in excess of all demands.
About forty represented the town of Rochester.
There were several Hanson men who were members of the old Halifax Company which responded to the call of Governor Andrew received during the night of April 15, 1861. There were seventeen who answered the first call for three months, twenty-five who volunteered for nine months, eighty-five three years' volunteers, thirty one year volun- teers, six one hundred days' volunteers, and three who served in the navy. Twenty died in the service.
Duxbury, being one of the coast towns, furnished several men for the navy. The town furnished two hundred and thirty-six soldiers and seamen and thirty-five of them died in the service.
Mattapoisett was incorporated as a town four years before the break- ing out of the rebellion, previous to that time being one of the villages of Rochester. The new town furnished two hundred and fifteen soldiers and seamen, of whom eighteen died in the service.
The first meeting in Hanover, to act upon matters relating to the war was held May 4, 1861. She furnished about two hundred men, nearly one-eighth of her population. At the end of the war she had a surplus to her credit of twenty-two over and above all demands. Han- over paid in bounties $25,000, and in State Aid (refunded by the state) during the war, $12,859. In the election of 1860 about eighty-five per cent of the votes cast for president were for Abraham Lincoln. At the meeting held May 4, 1861, already mentioned, it was voted to raise $500 "in aid of the families of volunteers that have or may enlist from this time;" two hundred and fifty dollars "to provide uniforms for such volunteers," and five hundred dollars to pay them for drilling, "before leaving for the seat of war." A company of Hanover men was organized that same month by Loammi B. Sylvester and others. This became Company G, of the Eighteenth Regiment and served with the Army of the Potomac.
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.