USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 20
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While the town was concentrating a large portion of its energies on the monument project other items of interest were transpiring as well. In January of 1850 for instance, for the first time in its history, the town passed the thousand dollar mark on the school appropriation. It voted eleven hundred. In May the town valuation was printed for the first time and distributed among the voters. In September a deposition by Bradley Stone relative to the part taken by Isaac Davis at Concord Fight was ordered spread upon the town records.4 Early in 1851 a vote was passed to "build a tomb to deposit dead bodies in the winter" and later rescinded. In April Rev. Woodbury was instructed to oppose the contemplated division
1 Now the residence of Mr. Robert Young.
2 The site of his house now identified by field stone marker is just east of Woodlawn Cemetery.
3 Joseph Reed lived on a homestead in back of Will's Hole and the quarries in North Acton.
4 Appendix XII.
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of Middlesex county. Also in the same year the town authorized the printing of eight hundred copies of the speech of Rev. Woodbury before the Massachusetts legislature and the proceedings of the Davis Monument celebration.
It was in 1851 also that Acton made its first move with respect to the then unforeseen but approaching Civil War a decade in the future. The fugitive slave law had passed in September of 1850 in spite of the wildest opposition of the Free Soilers and the abolitionists. The strategy of the South on this issue was to be proved bad in the light of subsequent events. They should have realized that the one hope for slavery was to let the North forget about it instead of perpetually rubbing it in by hunting run- aways through Northern streets and countryside. Even Emerson, the serene philosopher who had advised the abolitionists to love neighbors more and black brethren less, wrote in his journal, 'This filthy enactment was made in the nineteenth century by people who could read and write. I will not obey it, by God!'1
Four months after the passage of the slave law, on the 20th of January 1851, Acton decided to speak its mind on the subject and chose Abraham Conant, John Fletcher, Dr. Charles Tuttle, Silas Hosmer, Joseph W. Tuttle, Peter Johnson and Hinckley Bowers as a committee to prepare a set of resolves for presentation at a future meeting. These resolutions, after some considerable debate concerning the deleting of the term "cut throats" and other pithy idioms were finally passed and ordered to be printed in as many papers as the committee thought best in order that the attitude of the town might be publicly known.
'WHEREAS, the United States Congress at its session in 1850, at the bidding of the slave holders, and apparently for the promotion of slavery, enacted a law for the recovery of fugitive slaves which deprives the accused of those means of defense which the constitution allows to the most aban- doned villian in the land and is so manifestly iniquitous and unconstitutional as to create doubts in the minds of lovers of freedom as to their duty in sustaining such law.
And, whereas, public opinion is the expounder of all laws enacted by an elective government. Therefore we, the citi- zens of Acton feel it our duty to express in this public man- ner our views of this, as we believe, unjust and despotic law.
Therefore resolved that we, sons of the Puritans and de- scendants of that patriotic band who with Capt. Isaac Davis and other kindred spirits on the 19th of April 1775 made the first organized resistance to the armed power of 1 The Growth of the American Republic, Morison & Commager, v. 1, p. 606.
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the mother country while attempting to enforce oppressive laws in that war which led to the independence of the United States Feel it to be a duty we owe to the memory of our Fathers that we owe to ourselves, to our descendants and to our Country and to our God, to record our solemn protest against said laws.
Resolved that although we justify our fathers in their re- sistance to the oppressive acts of the Government of England, we could not be understood as advocating forcible resistance to our Government or any of its despotic laws, believing there is still power with the people at the ballot box to cause their rights to be respected and to affect the repeal of all unjust and oppressive laws and when selecting men for our rulers if we had more regard for principles than for party and when depositing our ballots if we would be guided more by the dictates of reason and the welfare of our race than by designing politicians and a corrupt party press we should have less reason to complain of unjust laws and less fear of losing our liberties.
Resolved that the act for the recovery of Fugitive Slaves with its summary process, its irresponsible tribunals, its violation of habeas Corpus and jury trials, its disregard of ordinary rules of evidence, and its temptations to bribery is an abomination without a parallel in the annals of our government.
Resolved that the apparent compromise and agreement between the advocates of chattel slavery and the monied interests in sustaining the Fugitive act and kindred measures should be a stimulus to all lovers of Freedom and the rights of man in uniting to sustain all measures which tend to advance the cause of human liberty and maintain our in- alienable rights.
Resolved that a compliance with the act for the recovery of Fugitive Slaves would be in opposition to all our cher- ished ideas of the Declaration of Independence, our Bill of Rights, and our moral duties as accountable beings and that we would sooner suffer the pains and penalties that might be inflicted upon us for refusing it our aid than be guilty of hindering a Fugitive from oppression in regaining and sustaining that liberty which we believe to be of more value than gold.
Resolved that as friends of liberty and well wishers for the peace and prosperity of our country we believe that a rigorous enforcement of this law instead of cementing our
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bond of Union and stopping all agitation on the subject of slavery will and should awaken the friends of human rights to increased activity and that our duty as lovers of our country and our race should impel us to use all the means in our power for the repeal of this as we believe un- wise and wicked law.
It will be recalled that at the time of the dedication of the monument the Davis Guards figured in the exercises. This local militia company had its inception at the seventy-fifth anniversary at Concord in 1850. At that time a large company from Acton was organized to represent the minute men of the Revolution. They were officered by Colonel Winthrop E. Faulkner as captain, and Daniel Jones1 and James Harris as lieutenants. The distinctive features of their uniforms were a flannel blouse and a canteen with 1775 stenciled on it. Their guns were heterogeneous in style and some looked old enough to have been at the original Concord Fight. According to Fletcher the contents of the canteens, judging from its potentcy, must have been of later date.
The marching of this company was so highly praised that the result was a reawakening of military interest. As a result, on April 19, 1851, Company E, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, known as the Davis Guards, was organized and thrived for many years. The promptness with which the Acton company responded to Lincoln's call for volunteers in 1861 was primarily due to the existence of the Davis Guards.2
Colonel Winthrop E. Faulkner was the first captain. Its other commanding officers until the outbreak of the Civil War were Captains Daniel Jones, Rufus Holden, Moses Taylor, Daniel Tuttle, Aaron Handley, and again Daniel Tuttle who was com- manding in 1861.
Apparently the second meeting house was used by the military as a makeshift armory for several years since the records show that Tristram Edwards received five dollars and fifty cents for opening "the hall for the soldiers" twenty two times during 1854.
The South Acton post office was established on December 17, 1851 with Ezra C. Rodimon as first postmaster.
By 1852 the national scene had become increasingly confused politically, over and above the situation in 1848. In consequence personal allegiances were continually shifting due to the chang- ing attitudes of the several candidates. As a consequence Acton, in November of that year, cast 117 votes for Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candidate, 91 votes for John P. Hale, the Free Soil
1 Son of Capt. Silas Jones, who commanded the Davis Blues in Boston in 1812.
2 W hen organized in 1851 the company mustered 229 officers and men.
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candidate, and 48 votes for the Whig nominee, Gen. Winfield Scott.
Mention has been made previously of the amount of drinking prevalent during this era. An item bearing on that point occurs with respect to the town warrant for May 4th of 1853. It was the custom for all the liquor in the town to be sold through a town agent. The question at issue was whether or not this agent should make an itemized report of the amount of spirits sold each year and to whom sold. The article was dismissed. Ap- parently the electorate was in a dismissing mood. An article seeking the establishment of a high school suffered the same fate. This is the first mention of a proposed high school in the town records. The actual realization was some thirty years in the future.
By this time it was becoming obvious that the railroad, with all its advantages, was not an unalloyed blessing. Fatalities were all too numerous. On October 30th, 1847 two Acton men were killed at Athol by the collapse of a new bridge,1 another had lost his life on the Charlestown Branch,2 and two more had been hit and killed at Hapgood's crossing. Upon two occasions the selectmen had been instructed to meet with the officials of the Fitchburg Railroad to discuss means for diminishing the hazard. On September 22, 1853 it was voted to have gates installed.
In 1852 Mr. Luke Blanchard, then aged twenty four, moved into Acton from Boxborough. His arrival, through his own personality and those of his son and grandson, which will be treated in the proper chronological context, effected the business history of the town for a century. He developed into an astute and successful trader whose interests extended far beyond the local scene. He was the grandson of Calvin Blanchard who was at Concord Fight and Bunker Hill, and a grand-nephew of Luther Blanchard, fifer in Davis's company.
It was because of his relationship to these Revolutionary heroes that he erected to their memory in 1895 the memorial stone that stands on Prospect St. and marks the farm from which they, and Abner Hosmer, started for Concord.3
During these years the pot was boiling all the while relative to the matter of temperance and the sale of strong liquor. Each year there would be an article in the warrant seeking to restrict
1 Benjamin King, age 30; also a man named Huntoon, age 27.
2 Edmund Hosmer, age 36, May 5, 1843.
3 The two Blanchard boys lived on the old family homestead which at that time was in Stow (Boxborough was incorporated in 1783). They were so- journing at the Hosmer home while learning the stone mason's trade. Calvin in particular was a huge man and performed prodigies of strength in the erection of the breastworks on Bunker Hill.
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the dispensation of spirits and each year it would be dismissed. Finally in April of 1854 the temperance contingent won their first real victory when it was voted to revoke the existing licenses of the liquor agents and to appoint as many store keepers as would pay five dollars for the privilege of selling with the proviso that they sell for "medicinal, chemical, and mechanical purposes only."
At the same meeting Acton expressed its opinion on national affairs by taking under consideration the proposed repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 whereby slavery was to be pro- hibited above 36° 30' north latitude. The point was that the . South, having readily agreed to the idea in 1820, was finding that it was working to its disadvantage in the matter of available territory. In 1820 it had seemed a good idea to the South to permit Maine to offset Louisiana, and later to balance Arkansas against Michigan, but before long, with Iowa and Wisconsin seeking admittance and Kansas and Nebraska rapidly being settled, the South found itself without bargaining power and hence desired repeal.
On this issue the voters of Acton passed the following resolves: "Resolved that the legal voters in the state of Massachu- setts in town meeting assembled most earnestly protest against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, not merely because it violates a solemn compact but because it shakes the confidence of the great masses of the people in our re- publican form of legislation and is an attempt to extend and perpetuate slavery in territory now free.
"Resolved that the congress of the United States is sin- cerely and earnestly requested to pass no bill for the territorial government of Nebraska without the proviso of the Missouri Compromise excluding slavery from the said territory.
"Resolved that the town clerk send a copy of these reso- lutions to each senator and representative of Massachu- setts in the United States congress.
This action, taken together with the town's previous stand respecting the Fugitive Slave Law, put Acton in the anti-slavery party without possibility of misunderstanding.
Ever since the formation of the Davis Guards in 1851 the question of finding a town hall and an armory, or a combination of both, had come before one town meeting after another with- out success until 1857. In April of that year it was voted to hire the lower part of the second meeting house as an armory, the town to receive half the armory rental and the trustees of the
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first parish the other half. It was further decided to extend the rental period to ten years provided it could be obtained for not more than sixty dollars per year and if in addition the town could have full control of the same.
Not only was the matter of the armory a pressing one but the time had come as well for the town to have offices for the selectmen. Consequently the voters went on to instruct the selectmen to either hire the meeting house as voted above or make other provision for transacting the town business.
Presumably the plan mentioned above was carried into effect with sufficient success so that in May of 1859 a decision was reached to purchase the building for a town house. This became a fact and the papers were passed sometime during the summer. In October it was voted to take out insurance for an amount between twelve and fifteen hundred dollars. A month later it was decided to repair the roof and the belfry, sell the pews and the pulpit and apply the proceeds toward fixing the upper part as a town hall. Thus ended all connection of the meeting house of 1807 with religious affairs.
With the influx of Europeans under the pressure of famine abroad and labor shortage at home it became necessary to take some action relative to the qualifications for voting. In 1857 a proposition was before the people of Massachusetts seeking to amend the state constitution in order to make a literacy test for voting mandatory. On this issue Acton voted in favor of the amendment 64 to 43. Two years later another amendment read as follows:
"Shall a foreigner be compelled to reside in the U. S. two years after receiving his naturalization papers before he may vote or hold office?
Although this carried in Acton by 39 to 28 it did not pre- vail throughout the state in general. As might be expected those sections where a foreign vote was already appreciable went heavily in the negative. Even in Acton where foreigners at the time were scarce the closeness of the vote indicated that many felt that to tack on two more years after the five normally re- quired was a bit too stringent.
In 1858 a shoe shop was built in West Acton by Oliver C. Wyman and operated by him until his death in 1885. He was succeeded by William Mott, father of Otis Mott, who now lives in the village at the age of ninety eight. In this same year Mr. Charles Robinson built a hall for the use of the Universalist Society which was its place of meeting for ten years. After the Civil War it became known as Grand Army Hall and served
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as a
general meeting place; housing the Lyceum and the Catholic Mission until the erection of the present Catholic church.
We will here record several diverse but interesting items that belong to the year 1860. They indicate that although the political atmosphere was getting tense the details of. town business went on about as usual.
In March it was voted that the school committee hereafter consist of seven members, one from each district. Furthermore the school report for the year emphasizes the need for a high school. Despite this early agitation of the matter realization was to be delayed a quarter of a century.
Another vote that will appeal to the humor of the present day reader has to do with dogs. It appears that certain persons were greatly disturbed because of the existence of the dog license. Realizing that it was hopeless to get a vote of repeal an attempt was made to have the town refund pro-rata all moneys remaining in the hands of the town treasurer after damage done by dogs had been paid. Believe it or not the vote passed.
In addition the old meetng house, which had recently been transformed into a town hall, was provided with seats, lights, and stair railings.
In the latter part of the year the selectmen and the town clerk were commissioned to purchase a safe for the preservation of the town records.
By the autumn of 1860 the four year old Republican party, which had been in 1856 an organization of crusaders under the leader- ship of the explorer John C. Fremont, had learned rapidly and was under the control of seasoned and alert politicians. Con- sequently Abraham Lincoln received the presidential nomination on the third ballot; not because of his surpassing merits, which no one yet suspected, but as a matter of political strategy. His humble birth, homely wit, and skill in debate would attract the same sort of northerners who had once voted for Jackson; and no one else could carry the doubtful states of Indiana and Illinois that had gone to Buchanan four years before.
The Democratic convention in Charleston split on the slavery question. Stephen A. Douglas was the logical candidate and had he been nominated he would undoubtedly have been elected. The cotton states delegates demanded a plank in the platform specifi- cally stating that "slavery was right". Failing to get anything so clear cut, and obviously politically dangerous, they stalked out of the convention. This left Douglas with insufficient votes to obtain the nomination. Therefore the convention adjourned to
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Baltimore where, with new delegates, he became the official choice of the Democratic party.
The seceders held a separate convention which nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, on a platform of slavery extension and, with that in view, the annexation of Cuba.
A fourth party, newly formed on the spur of the moment, and designating itself as the National Constitutional Union, nominated Senator Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln asserted this group to be made up of the "nice exclusive sort" of Whigs who hoped to persuade the electorate to forget everything of the past and unite in brotherly love. Strangely enough this nebulous idealism appealed to sufficiently many persons to capture one eighth of the electoral vote.
As might be presumed the facts just related set the stage for one of the most vicious and hectic campaigns in the history of the nation. It was common knowledge that war hung on the result, certainly if not immediately then eventually. The South- erners had made it amply clear that they would not remain in the Union if a purely Northern party elected its candidate.1
Needless to say the impact of events upon every town and state was tremendous. In Acton, Abraham Lincoln (Republican) polled 186 votes; Stephen Douglas (Democrat) had 113; Bell, the Constitutional Union candidate secured 23; and John C. Brecken- ridge, the other Democratic nominee had 3, one of which was undoubtedly cast by Capt. Daniel Tuttle, a most positive char- acter, who was to bring repute to Acton within a few short months.
In the Massachusetts gubernatorial election John C. Andrew (Republican) polled 104,527; Erasmus D. Beach (Douglas Democrat) had 35,191; Amos Lawrence (National Constitution- al Union) had 23,816; and Benjamin F. Butler (Breckenridge Democrat) obtained 6000.
It is a point of interest that Butler, who was a famous anti- slavery general and declared that the slaves were contraband and could be freed by military orders, and was probably the most detested Union commander throughout the South with the
1 Morison & Commager, The Growth of the American Republic gives the following information for the election of 1860.
Candidates
Popular vote
Electoral vote
Lincoln
1,866,432
180
Douglas
1,375,197
12
Breckenridge
845,763 72
Bell
589,586
39
These figures include no popular vote for South Carolina, where Breckenridge electors were chosen by the legislature. In the other states that eventually seceded the popular vote was Breckenridge 736,592, Bell 345,919, Douglas 72,084.
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possible exception of Sherman, should have been the candidate of the wing of the Democratic Party that was all for expanding slavery into the rest of the territories.
Governor Andrew was inaugurated on January 5th 1861 and in his speech on that day he made it plain that he believed that war between the North and the South was imminent. He advised an immediate inquiry as to whether, in addition to the active volunteer militia, the dormant militia, or some considerable portion of it, should not be placed on an active footing. In. addition he communicated on that same day, by special and trusted messengers, with the governors of the other New England states, urging them to likewise take inventory of the available man power. Their replies were favorable and thus on the first day of his governorship Mr. Andrew placed himself in confi- dential relations with his neighboring executives, an act that was to prove exceedingly beneficial to all concerned in the future.
On January 16th, eleven days after his inauguration, he directed the Adjutant-General to issue General Order No. 4 as follows:
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
Head-Quarters, Boston, Jan. 16, 1861.
General Order No. 4
Events which have recently occurred, and are now in progress, require that Massachusetts should be at all times ready to furnish her quota upon any requisition of the President of the United States, to aid in the main- tenance of the laws and the peace of the Union. His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief therefore orders, -
That the commanding officer of each company of vol- unteer militia examine with care the roll of his company, and cause the name of each member, together with his rank and place of residence, to be properly recorded, and a copy of the same to be forwarded to the Adjutant- General. Previous to which, commanders of companies shall make strict inquiry, whether there are men in their commands, who from age, physical defects, business, or family causes, may be unable or indisposed to respond at once to the orders of the Commander-in-chief, made in response to the call of the President of the United States, that they be forthwith discharged; so that their places may be filled by men ready for any public exi- gency which may arise, whenever called upon.
After the above orders shall have been fulfilled, no
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discharge, either of officer or private, shall be granted unless for cause satisfactory to the Commander-in-chief.
If any companies have not the number of men allowed by law, the commanders of the same shall make proper exertions to have the vacancies filled, and the men prop- erly drilled and uniformed, and their names and places of residence forwarded to headquarters.
To promote the objects embraced in this order, the general, field and staff officers, and the Adjutant and act- ing Quartermaster General will give all aid and assistance in their power.
Major Generals Sutton, Morse and Andrews will cause this order to be promulgated throughout their respective divisions.
By command of His Excellency John A. Andrew, Gov- ernor and Commander-in-chief.
William Schouler, Adjutant-General
From the day that the order was issued a new spirit and zeal imbued the volunteer force. Applications came from all parts of the state for permission to raise new companies. The general posture of opinion was parallel to that contained in a resolution passed at this time in the legislature to the effect, "that it is the universal sentiment of the people of Massachusetts, that the Presi- dent should enforce the excution of the laws of the United States, defend the Union, and protect the national property;" and that to this end the state "cheerfully tenders her entire means, civil and military, to enable him to do so."
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