USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Stoneham > History of Stoneham, Massachusetts > Part 8
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
.
80
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
room dedicated December 5, 1870, during the pastorate of Mr. Parkhurst, a man who possessed the force and push requisite to accomplish a great under- taking in the face of obstacles apparently almost insurmountable.
The Baptist, which is the youngest of the religious societies, was organized in 1870, and built the chapel which they now occupy the same year. Their pastors have been Rev. T. P. Briggs, who was ordained July 16, 1871, and resigned July 14, 1872 ; Arthur J. Hovey, ordained September 25, 1872, re- signed October 28, 1887 ; and J. W. McGregor, ordained May 31, 1888. It is expected the Baptists will soon build a fine new stone church in the southerly part of the town, upon the estate of the late Luther Hill.
The Catholics bought the old Universalist meeting-house, moved it on to Pomeworth Street in 1868, and occupied it till the completion of their pres- ent house of worship, which was completed in 1888. The Catholic pastors residing in Stoneham have been Rev. W. H. Fitzpatrick, from 1868 to 1875 ; and Rev. Dennis J. O'Farrell, from 1875 to the present time.
Twenty-five years have passed since the close of the great Rebellion. It seems hard to realize that to a large part of the people now living the events of the war are known only as matters of history or tradition ; that almost one generation has come and another gone since the opening events of 1861. Those were stirring times in Stoneham, and all who love the old town are proud to dwell upon her record. No town was more patriotic, none more prompt in hurrying to the front, or furnished more men in proportion to her population. Stoneham's company of minute-men having been engaged in the first battle of the Revolution, it was a remarkable coincidence that Captain John H. Dike's company, from the same town, on the same day of the same month, should have participated in the first skirmish of the Rebellion. At Lexington she was in the vanguard of the army which founded the Republic. At Baltimore and Washington she led the hosts that saved the Union. The conduct of Captain Dike and his men in a great emergency deserves more than a passing notice. The part they acted in the march through Baltimore has made the name of the Stoneham company historic. The Stoneham Light Infantry had been the military organization of the town for many years, and was Company C of the Seventh Regiment. The first proclamation had been issued by President Lincoln calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers. On Tuesday, April 16th, Captain Dike goes to Boston, presents himself at the State-House, and begs the privilege of calling out his company in obedience to the President's call. On his return home the men are notified to meet in the armory in the East School-house, where they assemble at 8 P. M., and unanimously vote that they are ready to start at a moment's notice. The night was dark and stormy, and Wednesday morning broke with a cold and hazy atmosphere, but the town was alive with excitement. Men were hurry- ing to and fro, and preparations being made for immediate departure. A messenger had been despatched from the Governor, who reached Captain
81
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Dike's at half-past two in the morning, notifying him to muster his men and report in Boston forthwith. These men were again summoned to meet in the armory at 6 A. M. New names were added to the roll, and the members dis- missed to make the last arrangements, and bid their final adieux. Those who witnessed the company's departure on that morning of the 17th of April can never forget it. The company met at the Town Hall, where prayers were offered, and a little before ten, in military array, they reached Central Square.
The people had assembled in a great multitude, wild with patriotic enthu- siasm. It was an occasion such as Stoneham had never witnessed. The company departed from the square amid the ringing of bells, waving of hand kerchiefs and tumultuous cheers. After reaching Boston, they marched to the State-House, where they received over-coats and other articles. A. V. Lynde, Esq., presented to each one of the commissioned officers a revolver. The company was assigned to the Sixth Regiment, commanded by Col. Jones, and the same afternoon they were en route for Washington. The commis- sioned officers of the company were : Captain, John H. Dike, First Lieut., Leander F. Lynde; Second Lieutenant, Darius N. Stevens ; Third Lieuten- ant, James F. Rowe ; and Fourth Lieutenant, W. B. Blaisdell. In addition to the officers there was one musician and a full complement of sixty men. No language of the writer could give so vivid a description of what occurred during the next few days as the following letter, written by one of the chief actors, Lieut. Lynde, who was in command of the company after Captain Dike was wounded in Baltimore :
"HEAD QUARTERS SIXTH REGIMENT OF I. M. V. M. "Senate Chamber, April 26, 12 M., '61 "MR. C. C. DIKE :
Dear sir :- Yours was received this A. M. For the first time we have got direct news from home, and I assure you it were gladly received. Last night at 7 P. M. the 7th Regt. N. Y. arrived and were quartered at the House of Representatives. That cheered us up considerably, but to-day, when the gallant 5th, 7th and 8th Massachusetts and the Ist Rhode Island arrived, the wildest enthusiasm prevailed, for it was refreshing to see familiar faces from the old Bay State. Previous to this we had been worked very hard for green soldiers, sleeping with, and at all times having with us, our equipments, but the men have done well, and have stood by each other like brothers. Now for our journey here. The papers give an account of our route to Philadelphia. From there I will try and give the particulars. Our muskets were loaded and capped before we got to Philadelphia. We left there at 2 in the morning, arriving at Baltimore at 12 M. Our company were in two covered baggage cars. We had stopped for about fifteen minutes and a crowd was gathering fast, when we discovered that the Colonel and Staff, together with seven campanies, had left their cars, and gone across the city. The men whose duty it was to draw with horses our cars across, were driven off and could not, and we proceeded to get out, fall in, four companies
6
82
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
in all, to march across, we having the colors in one of the companies. The companies were C, of Lowell on the right; Co. B, of Lowell, with the colors ; then came Co. C, of our town, Captain Dike, followed by Co. I, of Lawrence. Before we got formed we were taunted and spit upon and insulted in every way possible. After marching about ten rods, stones and brick-bats flew merrily, and the order was then given by Captain Follansbee, who com- manded the regiment, to double quick march. We had not gone more than ten rods before I saw a man discharge a revolver at us from the second story of a building, and at the same time, a great many were fired from the street. We got scattered a little, and I gave the order to close up in close order, solid column. Just then, Captain Dike being ahead, two of our men fell, one by a bullet from a pistol, and one by a brick-bat. I then ordered my men to fire, which they did, and I then gave the order to load and fire as we went. We got partly through the city, when we found them tearing up a bridge, and the street blockaded up with stone and large anchors, but we scaled them and kept up our courage. I kept around the colors and stood by them till they were at the depot, then helped put them in the cars. We were scattered very much, all trying to get into the cars. About ten rods from the depot I saw Captain Dike. That was the last I saw him. He being some way ahead, I supposed he had got into the forward cars. A great many of the cars were locked, and the windows closed, but the buts of the guns soon made a pas- sage into them. Every gun was pointed out of the window, and the rebels began to leave. While we were getting into the cars, we were showered upon with pistol balls, and they were unshackling the cars so as to leave some of us, but when we got right we soon stopped by stationing men on the platform and muzzles out of the windows. After helping put in the colors in company with the color-bearer, I got into the cars and they began to move very slow, . for the rebs had gone ahead and torn up the track. The police went ahead and we fixed the track and finally moved on to Washington. One word in regard to the police. Some of them were loyal, but what could they do when we were in the thickest of the fight. As soon as we got started I looked through the train to see who was hurt and who were missing, for we were awfully mixed up. I found upon examination that our Captain, James Kee- nan, Horace Danforth, Andrew Robbins and Victor Lorendo were left behind. The band did not get out of cars on the north side of Baltimore, and we did not know what had become of them till this morning when we learned that part of them had gone home, and a part of them were in New York. As soon as possible after getting to Washington, took means to find out in re- gard to those left behind, and found that Captain Dike was shot in the thigh, and was in good hands, but was told that they could not tell the names of the parties with whom he was stopping. James Keenan was shot in the leg, and Andrew Robbins was shot and hit with a stone, hurt very bad. Horace Danforth was hit with a stone and injured very severely, but all were in good hands, and well cared for. Communications by letter being cut off from Baltimore, I have not received news from there as well as I should had there been a mail, but have heard several times by men coming from there that they were cared for and doing well, but rumor said yesterday that A. Rob- bins and H. Danforth were dead. . I cannot tell, for it is impossible to write and nobody goes there. I shall do the best I can to hear from them and help them in every way. We got to Washington at dark, went directly to the Capitol, and were quartered in the Senate Chamber. The Pennsylvania Regiment was quartered in the southern wing, 350 men. Monday we took
CAPT. JOHN H. DIKE
LIEUT. LEANDER F. LYNDE.
84
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
the oath of allegiance to the United States. It was administered by Maj. McDowell. We have marched up to the President's house, passing in review before President Lincoln, Gen. Scott, Wm. H. Seward and Simon Cameron. To-day at 12 M. the 5th and 7th Massachusetts Regiments arrived and marched to the Patent Office, where they are quartered. The 8th Massachu- setts are in the Rotunda and old Senate Chamber, very much used up with marching, and going without sleep and provisions, but our men are doing all in their power for them. Say to all our Stoneham friends that the men be- haved like men as well as soldiers, and attend to their duties cheerfully, and are ready if needs be to rally at a moment's warning around the colors of 6th Regiment, and under the stars and stripes there to protect our glorious Union against any odds and at all hazards. We all unite in sending good news to all inquiring friends, and will endeavor so to act that none of them shall ever be ashamed to own that they had friends in the time of need in the Stoneham Light Infantry.
Yours truly, "L. F. LYNDE, Lieut. Commanding."
The town was full of patriotic ardor. The first company having departed for Washington, fifteen additional Stoneham men joined Company F of the Fifth Regiment, under command of Captain David K. Waidwell, and at once another company was organized by Captain, (afterwards Colonel), J. Parker Gould, known as the "Grey Eagles." This last company comprised, besides the officers, seventy-seven men from Stoneham, and became Company G of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, were attached to the Army of the Potomac and served for three years, sharing in the reverses and victories of that grand army. They were at the Second Battle of Bull Run, at Antietam, at Thoroughfare Gap, Chantilly, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, Chancel- lorsville, at Gettysburg and the Wilderness. Before leaving for the seat of war they earned a high reputation which they afterwards fully sustained on a score of battle-fields. Here it may be well to pause for a moment and briefly recall the life and services of Colonel Gould, for he stands out in clear relief as the representative of almost an ideal soldier. Descended from John Gould, who has been described as one of the first settlers of Charlestown End, and bearing a name which for two hundred years was one of the most reputable in the town, he was born on the 15th of May, 1822, the son of Jacob and Phœbe Catherine (Parker) Gould. His early advantages were not of the best. Attending in his boyhood the local schools, he learned the trade of a shoemaker and saved money, with which he obtained an education at the Military University of Norwich, Vermont, where he graduated with honor and was employed for some time after his graduation as an instructor. Teaching at times in Stoneham and Wilmington, he acquired and pursued the profession of a civil engineer, following his avocation in Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, but always keeping his resi- dence at the old home in Stoneham. He had been repeatedly honored by his native town, filling many positions of responsibility and trust, having twice represented her in the General Court, and having earned for himself the
85
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
reputation of a high-minded Christian gentleman. So, when the war came on, he seemed peculiarly fitted ty education and character to fill the position in which he was placed. Raising and drilling the company of "Grey Eagles," so-called, in the spring and early summer of 1861, and joining with his com- pany the Fourth Battalion at Fort Independence, which was the nucleus of the Thirteenth Regiment, he was promoted to a majority before leaving for the front. His appointment wis said, at first, to have been resented by the members of the Fourth Battalion, who looked upon themselves as a crack organization, and felt that it was rather an intrusion upon their rights to place over them a major from another company; but as time went on, and the men were called into action, they learned to know his soldierly qualities and noble traits, and he soon had earned for himself the sobriquet of the "fighting major." It was a saying among the men on the eve of a battle, "We know who is to be our commander now, and he commands no man to go where he is not willing to go himself." After having been engaged in seventeen or eighteen skirmishes and battles he was ordered home to recruit a new regi- ment, the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, of which he was appointed colonel. A second time he left for the seat of war, at the head of over a thousand men ; in April, 1864, joined the army of General Grant, and participated in the battles of the Wilderness. Some idea may be formed of the campaign when it is remembered that the Fifty-ninth, on arriving at Petersburg, had become reduced to about one hundred officers and men, all told, and Colonel Gould was left in charge of the brigade. His health at this time had become very much impaired on account of his privations and labors ; still he retained command of the brigade until the evening before the explosion of the mine at Petersburg, when he was relieved by General Bartlett. Although relieved of his command on the 29th of July, on the next day he took the field in the fatal advance on Petersburg, commanding the left of the brigade, and while standing on the brink of the mine was struck by a ball in the leg and carried from the field. His leg was amputated, and, contrary to his desire, he was removed within less than three weeks from City Point to Philadelphia, where he died the morning after his arrival, on the 22d of August, 1864. His name is now borne in this town by Post 75 of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he has left a record filled with the gratitude, the pride and the affection of his townsmen, and a name which deserves to be cherished by those who shall come after us for generations to come.
The men, as they shouldered their muskets and left behind them their wives and children, must have felt that they were consigned to the patriotic care of the mother town; that responsibility was to be shared by those who went and those who remained ; and recognizing their responsibility, the town voted in 1861 "that the selectmen be instructed to furnish all necessary sup- plies for supporting the families of members of the military formed and form- ing in this town, with the understanding that no person thus assisted shall be
COL. J. PARKER GOULD.
87
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
taken to the almshouse. That the members of the military company recently formed be allowed the sum of twenty dollars each per month till the 4th day of July next, unless they should be called into active service before that time." Again on June 3d, the town voted "that the selectmen be instructed to make all necessary provisions for the families of all persons belonging in town who have enlisted for military service." The patriotic ardor of the citizens which prompted them to fill the various quotas of the town continued till the end of the war, and the town itself was no less patriotic in encouraging and support- ing the men who went to the front. The reverse of 1861 at Bull Run, and the small progress made by the Union cause during that year, made it neces- sary for the Government to call out the reserve power of the whole North to meet the exigences which faced the country in 1862. To a people less cour- ageous and determined, the prospect was indeed a gloomy one. No substan- tial impression had been made upon the successful progress of the Rebellion, and to the faint-hearted it almost seemed as if the fate of the nation was sealed. As the historian of future years studies the history of the war, and grasps the motives and purposes, and discerns the springs of action which furnished ultimate success and victory, he need hardly go beyond the annals of a single New England town, and no better representative of the class exists than Stoneham. There was no abatement of the demand made upon her resources and no faltering in the spirit to meet the demand. On August 26, 1862, it was voted "to appropriate and pay to the Stoneham Infantry Com- pany the sum of forty hundred dollars as a bounty to said Company, provided said company of not less than forty men enlist into the service of the United States as the town's quota, under the call of the President of the United States, for three hundred thousand militia to serve nine months, and accepted and sworn into said service, said sum to be paid by the selectmen as soon as they are sworn in." This was the same organization that had joined the Sixth Regiment and marched through Baltimore, though most of the mem- bers were new men. The company was officered by Captain Darius N. Stevens, First Lieutenant Samuel C. Trull, of Stoneham, and Second Lieu- tenant Frederick Cochran, of Methuen. Forty of the members were from Stoneham, and most of the others from Lawrence and Methuen. They became Company C, of the Fiftieth Regiment, Colonel Carlos P. Messer. Perhaps in no company from Stoneham were so many old residents represent- ed as in this. The beautiful autumn days spent in camp at Boxford, linger as delightful memories in the minds of many who were then full of the hopes and enthusiasm of youth. The day when they shouldered knapsacks and muskets, marched to the train, sped on to Boston, formed in the streets, bade adieu to their friends and left the old Boston and Worcester depot for Allen's Point in New York by way of the Sound, is one never to be forgotten. And their arrival at the great metropolis on a cold and dismal morning, breakfast at the barracks, camp on Long Island, running of the guard, the
88
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
evenings in the city, the embarking on the steamer "Niagara" from Brooklyn, which sprung a leak and caught fire off Delaware breakwater, the trip up the river to Philadelphia, its kindnesses and hospitalities, the re-embarking on the "Jennie Lind," and the voyage down the Atlantic by way of Fortress Monroe and the Gulf of Mexico to the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi, and the sail up to New Orleans and Baton Rouge-all these, after a lapse of nearly thirty years, seem like a romance of adventure. The Fiftieth Regi- ment was in the command of General Banks, participated in the siege of Port Hudson, and formed part of the army, which, in conjunction with Gen- eral Grant at Vicksburg, opened the Mississippi. Vicksburg surrendered on the 4th of July, 1863, and Port Hudson a few days later. Although Com- pany C enlisted for nine months, they were in the service nearly a year, arriving home in August, their return being like a triumphal progress from Cairo through the West. upon whom were showered the hospitality of an en- thusiastic and generous people all along the route.
About the same time that Co. C of the Fiftieth was being organized, forty- two Stoneham men joined the Thirty-third Massachusetts Regiment, Col. Maggi. The officers were, Captain James F. Rowe, Captain Hiram P. Mars- ton, Lieut. Archeleus Welch, Lieut. Sidney L. Colley and Lieut. Charles H. Barry. These men experienced much hard fighting. After being engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg they were ordered to the Southwest, participate in the battle of Lookout Mountain and joined the army of Gen. Sherman in his march to the sea. In 1864 Captain Francis M. Sweetser raised a com- piny for 100 days, represented by sixty-six Stoneham men. They performed garrison duty most of the time in and about Baltimore. Marshall P. Sweet- ser was first lieutenant and Moses Downs, Jr., second lieutenant. In Febru- ary of the same year twenty-nine other sons of Stoneham joined Col. Gould' Fifty-ninth Regiment, passed through the terrible campaign of the Wilder- ness and the closing year of the Rebellion. There also appears 189 Stone- ham names upon the muster roils of the various regiments, battalions an batteries of the State in addition to those already mentioned. Between 400 and 500 soldiers from the town served during the war, although she wa credited with more than 500, from the fact that several of them enlisted more than once. Some idea may be formed of the alacrity with which men eniiste when it is remembered in the latter part of 1862 Stoneham had already fur- nished 269 men, about sixty more than were required of her at that time. The following list of those who were killed and died in the service, while not, perhaps, complete, is believed to be substantially correct :
KILLED.
William H. Richardson, 5th Mass. Regt., Co. F (three months), accidentally shot; died July 7, 1861.
George O. Berry and John E. LeClair, 13th Regt., Co. G, Antietam, September 17, IS62. Joseph H. Wheeler, Ist Regt. Heavy Artillery, Petersburg, Va., June 18, 1864.
89
HISTORY OF STONEHAM.
Charles H. Carr, 22d Regt, Co. E, Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862. Philip O. Buxton, 33d Regt., Co. D, Lookout Mountain, Tenn., October 29, 1863. Wm. Mahan, 33d Regt., Co. D, Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. John Nolan, 33d Regt., Co. D, Dalton, Ga., May 25, 1864. Leonard S. Whittier, 59th Regt., Co. A, Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, 1864. Jeremiah Murphy, 59th Regt., Co. E, Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, 1864.
DIED IN THE SERVICE.
William B. Smith, 8th Light Battery, September 1I, IS62.
John L. Hovey, 3d Regt. Heavy Artillery, June 11, 1865.
Henry Burt, 2d Regt. Mass. Cavalry, June 3, 1865.
William H. Heath, surgeon 2d Infantry ; died at Chattanooga, August 23, IS64
Charles A. Whittier, 13th Regt., Co. G, wounded at Antietam; died at Chambersburg, Pa., September 27, 1862.
Otis W. Pinkham, 33d Regt., Co. D, Brook Station, Va., May 16, IS63. Nathan Starbird, 33d Regt., Co. D, Washington, D. C., January 12, 1863.
Walter B. G. Gray, 33d Regt., Co. D, at Stoneham, August 23, IS64.
Aaron A. Green, 33d Regt., Co. D, at Beverly Ford, Va., June 6, IS63.
Joseph LeClair, 33d Regt., Co. D, Resaco, Ga., May 15, 1864. Warren V. B. Tibbetts, 33d Regt., Co. D, Fairfax Court-House, March 15, 1863. Oliver Wheeler, Jr., 33d Regt , Co. D, Alexandria, Va., Nov. 10, IS62. Hiram George, 59th Regt., Co. F, Danville, Va., August 20, 1864. Peter McClusky, 59th Regt., Co. G, Alexandria, Va., October 10, 1864. John O'Brien, 59th Regt , Co. G, steamer "Baltic," October 16, 1864. Charles Peterson, 59th Regt., Co. G, Readville, Mass., Oct. 23, 1864.
Clement Pocket, 59th Regt., Co. G, City Point, Va., August 21, IS64. Samuel I. Dodge, Ist Co. Sharpshooters, Oct. 19, 1862.
Isaac B. Cowdrey, 2d Co. Sharpshooters, Yorktown, Va., April 30, 1862. George W. Young, 2d Co. Sharpshooters. York, Pa., October S 1862.
When men sacrificed their all in sacrificing their lives, it seems almost in- vidious to select a few for words of eulogy, unless they occupied exceptional positions ; but there were some cases that seemed peculiarly distressing. Those who knew Willie Richardson, a bright, active, joyous boy, full of life and spirits, the pet of his family and friends, who was the first victim shot by the accidental discharge of a revolver, will remember what a sad shock was felt by the entire community when the report came of his wound and his death, and with what regret and tears he was followed to the grave. And then the Whittier brothers-Charles dying from wounds received at Antietam in 1862, and Leonard, killed at Spottsylvania Court-House almost two years later-furnish an illustration of what grievous sorrow the war imposed upon some housel olds. Both of them upright, promising young men, the two old- est sons, who made a record which deserves to be gratefully cherished by their townsmen for all time to come, as they shall read of the part taken by their town in the great events from 1861 to 1865. The illustrious names of
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.