USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 30
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"Voted unanimously, That a bounty of one hundred Dollars be offered to each and every patriotic soldier who will volunteer into the service of the United States for the period of three years, unless sooner discharged, to fill the quota of twenty men required of this town."
Under the above vote twenty men, the town's full quota, were enlisted, and the sum of two thousand dollars was paid to the soldiers.
Soon after, a call was made by the President for nine months' men, and the quota of Lexington was thirty-one. The town, at a meeting called for the purpose, on the 29th of August, voted a bounty of two hundred dollars. This quota was promptly filled by enlisting thirty-two men, -five of them for three years. Under this vote the town expended six thousand two hundred dollars.
At a subsequent meeting, the town made ample provision for the support of the soldiers' families beyond what was allowed by the State, and requested the Assessors to abate the poll-tax of all soldiers in the service.
In addition to the sum granted by the town from time to time to pay the bounty for recruits, individuals subject to military duty, and others not subject to such duty, contrib- uted freely to the same object. All such sums, however, were reimbursed by the town, so that the cost of procuring sol- diers, except some incidental expenses, was ultimately paid by he town. Hammon Reed, Esq., Chairman of the Selectmen
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in his report in 1866, states the amount paid by the town for procuring soldiers during the rebellion, exclusive of the ex- penses of town officers, to have been $25,692. To this amount may safely be added, for the sum paid to the families of sol- diers, beyond what was reimbursed by the State, and for other incidental expenses, $1500 - making a gross sum of $27,192. The Selectmen also state that the town had furnished, includ- ing reënlistments, two hundred and forty-four soldiers, being nine more than the town's quota.
In addition to this there were organized two sewing- societies working for the hospitals, which sent forward a large amount of clothing and stores for the benefit of the sick and wounded. Lexington also furnished one hospital nurse, 1 whose services were scarcely surpassed by any of that class of self-sacrificing ladies, who submitted to every hardship and encountered every danger to relieve the sufferings of the pa- triotic defenders of our free institutions. As much true moral courage was required to brave disease in the hospitals as bul- lets in the field. Of the two hundred and forty-four soldiers and seamen, being nine more than her quota, that Lexington furnished, we believe not one brought any dishonor upon the town. And though Lexington at the commencement of the rebellion had no military company, and consequently her cit- izens could commence with no military prestige, yet their record was creditable to themselves and the place they repre- sented. Two 2 of our citizens entered the service as captains; one 3 as second lieutenant, and became a lieutenant-colonel; one 4 as a private and became assistant-adjutant-general, with the rank of captain; one 5 who went out a non-commis- sioned officer rose to be major and commissary of subsistence; one 6 who went out as a private rose to the rank of captain and major by brevet; and one7 who went out as a private rose to the rank of quartermaster. Several others became warrant officers while in service.
Such in brief is the military record of Lexington during the slaveholders' rebellion - and of this record no intelligent citizen need to be ashamed. Lexington has been true to her- self and true to the great principles of civil liberty. She has
1 Mrs. Mary von Olnhausen. (See Phinney Family, Vol. II. Also Adventures of an Army Nurse, Little, Brown & Co., 1903. Ed.)
2 Charles R. Johnson, and William Plumer.
3 John W. Hudson. 4 Charles A. Gould. 5 Loring W. Muzzey.
6 Jonas F. Capell. 7 George E. Muzzey.
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FROM THE YEAR 1830 TO 1867
contributed her share to sustain those institutions which re- sulted from the American Revolution, the opening scene of which was performed within her limits by her own citizens.
When the late unholy rebellion was substantially brought to a close by the capture of the rebel armies, and the people of the free States were filled with rejoicing at the glorious event, the nation was suddenly thrown into a state of consternation by the tidings of the assassination of our excellent President, who had, with so much wisdom and patriotism, conducted us successfully through the war; and as soon as the first feeling of surprise had subsided, the emblems of rejoicing were dis- placed by the insignia of mourning. The flags which were thrown to the breeze in honor of our victories were lowered half-mast as a token of the nation's grief; and the loud huzzas that were echoing through the air gave place to sighs and la- mentations; and the thousand bells which were resounding in joy and gladness ceased their merry peals, that they might toll in unison with the sad laments of the people. Everywhere throughout the free States a solemn silence reigned, and the whole community felt that the country had met with an irre- parable loss. All parties, with one accord, were ready to tes- tify to the worth of the departed statesman and to do honor to his memory.
The 19th of April, a day dear to every citizen of Lexington, was set apart for the funeral solemnities at Washington; and the people throughout the country were invited to observe the day in some appropriate manner. The people of Lexing- ton assembled at the Church of the First Parish, which was suitably draped in mourning, and appropriate services were performed in the presence of a large and sympathizing assem- bly. Rev. L. J. Livermore, assisted by Rev. Mr. Savage, conducted the devotional exercises; Rev. William T. Stowe delivered an appropriate address; Charles Hudson, from ac- quaintance with the deceased, spoke of his personal character and moral worth; and further remarks were made by Rev. Caleb Stetson. The occasion was one of peculiar interest, and the assembly retired with a full sense of the nation's loss.
We cannot close this part of our history without recogniz- ing the hand of God in the trying scenes through which we have passed. Not only the result of the rebellion, but the
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means employed, show an overruling Providence. Slavery, the foul blot upon our national character, had become so in- terwoven into the texture of Southern society and had so far demoralized the Southern heart that nothing but some great convulsion in the social system could wipe out the stain. Under God this crying evil has been the great instrument of eradicating itself.
Whoever reads the history of this rebellion aright will see an all-wise Providence restraining the ambitious designs of unprincipled men, and turning their base instrumentalities against them. Their bloody massacre at Fort Pillow, by which they fondly hoped to dissuade the blacks from enter- ing the army; their more than savage cruelty at Belle Isle and Andersonville, by which they hoped to thin the ranks of the Union armies by starving their prisoners to death, or so re- ducing them to skeletons that they would be unfit for service if exchanged, only aroused the indignation of the lovers of our free institutions, and called our brave men to the field. Yes, the innocent blood wickedly shed at Fort Pillow cried from the ground against them; and the feeble moans of our starving prisoners in those wretched pens, under the very eyes of the rebel government, were heard on high, and drew down the withering frowns of the Righteous Ruler of the universe.
On the other hand, the Lord raised up a man to guide the nation through this fiery trial and bring this war to a happy termination. In ABRAHAM LINCOLN we had the statesman, the patriot, and the Christian ruler, that the crisis demanded - a man of the people, who knew their wants, feelings, and sentiments, and who was ready at all times to carry out their views, agreeably to the genius and spirit of our admirable form of government. If we were asked, who put down the rebellion, we could answer in the very language of the Pre- amble of the Constitution, "We, the people of the United States." The people have put down the rebellion agreeably to the genius of our government, by the agent of our own choice, the Heaven-appointed Lincoln. Nor does this detract from the worth of the man or the value of his services. On the con- trary, it shows that his talents, his integrity, his abiding trust in an overruling Providence exactly fitted him for the crisis, and so enabled him to work out a mighty deliverance for his people.
The American people with one accord have denominated
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FROM THE YEAR 1830 TO 1867
GEORGE WASHINGTON, the "Father of his Country," and admiring nations have confirmed the designation. And the future historian, when he narrates the events of the late rebel- lion, will place ABRAHAM LINCOLN in the same galaxy of illus- trious men with Washington; and as the former is the ac- knowledged "FATHER," so the latter will be the admitted "SAVIOR OF HIS COUNTRY." The names of WASHINGTON and LINCOLN will go down to posterity, and their memories will be cherished by every lover of freedom and equal rights. Wash- ington, in pure patriotism, and with Christian fortitude, labored to resist the encroachments of foreign tyrants and to build up free institutions in his native land; Lincoln, with like patriotism and fortitude, labored to repel the assaults of do- mestic traitors and to defend these institutions, so that the land of his birth might enjoy the blessings of perpetual and universal freedom. And though Lincoln, by the order of Providence, had no opportunity to participate in the impor- tant work of organizing our civil institutions, he enjoyed the privilege of blotting out the only foul stain which deformed the work of our fathers. Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipa- tion, which burst the bonds of slavery and set four millions of human beings free, reflects the highest honor upon his charac- ter, and will mark an epoch in the world's history as impor- tant as that of Magna Charta or the Declaration of Inde- pendence.
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CHAPTER XII
FROM THE YEAR 1867 TO 1912
A Period of Transition - Centennial of the Battle - New Town Hall - Railroad Development - Savings Bank - Water Supply - Parks - Fire and Police Protection - Electric Railway - Patriots' Day - Public Buildings - Hayes Fountain - Street Development - The Town Meeting.
WITH the year 1868, to which Mr. Hudson brought the His- tory of Lexington, there closed a distinct era in the United States, and there began a new period of expansion in trade, in manufacturing, in world-knowledge, and in political ideals, which in forty-five years has brought this country to a height of prosperity unimaginable in 1860, to a concentration of vast wealth that has raised many profound social and political questions, and to a cosmopolitanism that is bringing in its train many complex problems.
While Lexington, during this period of nearly half a century, has maintained its rural and semi-rural character, while its manufactures are proportionately little greater than they were in 1868, it has nevertheless been deeply influenced by these great national changes, and is doubtless soon to be confronted with many new questions growing out of its near- ness to Boston, brought almost to its doors by the develop- ment of cheap and rapid methods of transportation. The period 1869-1912 may properly be called, therefore, an era of transition from the time when Lexington was a small rural community to the time when it will be, inevitably, a closely built suburb of one of the largest cities in the United States. In this period of change the town has been confronted with questions of education, transportation, water supply, build- ing, lighting, removal of wastes, and consequently of in- creased taxation, that have brought grave responsibilities to her officials, and have presented many perplexing problems to the consideration of her town meetings.
Moreover, because of these national and local changes, the homogeneity which characterized to an unusual degree the citizenship of the town during its first hundred and fifty
HAYES MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN AND "MINUTEMAN "
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FROM THE YEAR 1867 TO 1912
years of corporate life, has largely disappeared. Not only has the single church governed by the town meeting given place to a number of religious organizations, but there has devel- oped also a wide range of commercial and social interests. Because of this, there has arisen, at times, some divergence of views - fortunately only temporary - between those re- siding in the centre of the town, and conducting their business affairs there or in Boston, and those living away from the centre, and dependent mainly upon agriculture.
Almost surrounded by richer and more rapidly growing towns, with Boston only ten miles away, and with all those communities spending large sums upon education, roads, and other public utilities, Lexington has been forced into many expenditures necessary to maintain a healthy civic growth, but burdensome upon the taxpayers, and, in the eyes of those who secure little immediate benefit from them, superfluous. Therefore, if, to one familiar with local history, there seem to have been many controversies, those have had their origin not in any unusual pugnacity on the part of the citizens, but rather in the peculiar conditions surrounding the town's development.
A somewhat minute examination of the town records since 1868, and of the debates in the town meetings, would be of the highest significance to the student of economic history; but such a method would be out of place in a volume which can and should be mainly, if not solely, a mere chronicle of events. During the period since the Civil War there has been in Lexington, however, only one event of national importance -- the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. With that exception, therefore, this addition to Mr. Hudson's History can be little more than a record of occurrences, each comparatively small in itself, but together bringing about changes of lasting importance in the life of the town.
The close of Mr. Hudson's volume left Lexington at the moment of beginning to recover from the strain and stress of the Civil War. Many of her sons and some of her daughters had taken active part in that fearful struggle; and practically all the citizens not at the front had bent their energies to such grave home problems as those of taxation, the raising of sup- plies, the furnishing of comforts, and the furthering by patri- otic meetings and in other ways of the Union cause. Active as
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the people of Lexington had been in upholding the Federal armies, they realized that with the coming of peace there should be brought about as rapidly as possible a re-cementing of the people of the North and South. They saw in the ap- proaching centennial of the Battle of Lexington an opportu- nity to further this healing process by stimulating patriotism towards the whole nation, in contradistinction to that sec- tional patriotism which had necessarily been fostered by the Civil War. It was not, therefore, in a spirit of self-glorifica- tion, but rather in the mood of fulfilling a patriotic duty, that the town took steps to prepare for a national celebration on April 19, 1875.
In November, 1873, an attempt was made to arrange a joint celebration with Concord. This resulted in a committee, ap- pointed by both towns, to consider the feasibility of so divid- ing the exercises that those of Lexington should occupy the morning and those of Concord the afternoon. No such plan seeming to be practicable, the idea was abandoned, and, as events proved, most fortunately; for the congestion was such that it would have been absolutely impossible to convey the enormous crowd of visitors from one town to the other.
Decision to hold separate celebrations having finally been reached, Lexington, at a town meeting held July 11, 1874, appointed as an Executive Committee, with full power to make all arrangements, the following: Charles Hudson, Chairman; M. H. Merriam, W. H. Munroe, W. A. Tower, G. E. Muzzey, B. C. Whitcher, L. S. Peirce, G. O. Smith, Webster Smith, E. G. Porter, E. S. Elder, Alonzo Goddard, C. C. Goodwin, Benjamin Hadley, G. D. Harrington, H. Holmes, T. G. Hovey, Patrick Mitchell, C. M. Parker, N. W. Peirce, Levi Prosser, John Pryor, Hammon Reed, R. W. Reed, A. B. Smith, C. A. Wellington, Walter Wellington, Henry Westcott, and F. E. Wetherell, Secretary.
This body of citizens was divided into appropriate sub- committees, the members of which gave largely of their time and thought, with the result that an excellent programme, national in its scope and complete in every detail, was ar- ranged and was carried out in so far as the extraordinary cir- cumstances of the day allowed. The weather, however, was unseasonably cold, a heavy fall of snow taking place a few days before the celebration, and the temperature on the 19th of April remaining below freezing, with a sharp north wind;
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FROM THE YEAR 1867 TO 1912
and the crowd, despite the inclement season, was far in ex- cess of the most extravagant expectations. It is estimated that at least one hundred thousand persons thronged the streets, while many thousands more were unable to reach the town or even to leave Boston. The only means of transporta- tion, other than on foot or by carriage, was that furnished by the single-track railroad running from Boston to Concord, through Lexington, and by a horse-railway extending only to Arlington, five miles away. Even trains of thirty cars, not only crowded in the ordinary meaning, but with the roofs laden with passengers, were wholly inadequate to the moving of such a throng; and the single highway leading from the direction of Boston was so congested that progress by vehicle became wellnigh impossible. That, under such conditions, it was possible to carry through an elaborate procession, to hold the other exercises measurably as planned, and to avert the serious consequences of hunger, cold, and lack of shelter for such a multitude, was indeed a feat, accomplished by extraordinary zeal on the part of the committees, supple- mented by the unstinted hospitality of every householder.
The town and, indeed, the entire route of the British march from Boston was elaborately decorated; and for the exercises - held, naturally, on the battle Green, or Common -there were provided two floored tents, that used for the morning exercises and for the ball in the evening seating seven thousand persons, and that for the dinner seating three thousand seven hundred.
The 19th of April coming on Monday, it was planned to begin the celebration with special religious services in all the churches on Sunday morning, followed by a general service in the larger of the tents on Sunday evening. The cold was so intense, however, as to compel the use, for the evening serv- ice, of the Town Hall instead. Rev. Edward G. Porter pre- sided, special music was rendered by a Lexington chorus of fifty voices, the sermon was preached by the Rev. William Adams, D.D., and two hymns written for the occasion, one by Dr. S. F. Smith and the other by Dr. I. N. Tarbox, were sung. The many thousands who could not secure admission to the hall were permitted to inspect the decorations of the pavilions and to listen to music by the Brockton Band.
The celebration of the 19th of April itself was begun by a salute of one hundred guns. At half-past ten the formal exer-
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cises, held in the larger of the tents, were opened by a schol- arly address by Thomas Meriam Stetson, Esq., President of the day. This was followed by prayer by Rev. Henry West- cott, minister of the First Parish Church. The Boylston Club then sang Eichberg's "To thee, O country, great and free," and Rev. John Wesley Churchill read Scripture selections from the Bible presented to the church by Governor Hancock.
The now familiar poem of Whittier's, "Lexington -1775," written for this occasion, was then read; and was followed by an address, with the unveiling of the statues of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, by the Hon. Charles Hudson.
The orator of the day was the Hon. Richard Henry Dana, Jr. He proved equal to the great occasion and in terse, vigor- ous English recited the causes and summarized the steps of that eventful day. Especially clear and convincing is his analysis of the attitudes of mind of the Provincials and the British officers.
"When the British troops marched out this morning, it was not merely to destroy the military stores collected at Concord, but to disarm and disperse any military organizations not recognized by the new laws, and to arrest and commit to prison the leading patri- ots. If they had come across a town meeting or a congress, held without authority of the royal governor's warrant, they would have entered, and dispersed the meeting by the bayonet; and who will doubt, that, like the Roman senators in their curule chairs and stately robes, our ancestors, in their homespun clothes, and on the plain wooden benches of their office, senators of the town and county, would have yielded up their lives where they sat, rather than acknowledge the tyrannical command? It mattered little, and no one could predict at all, whether the first blow would fall on the town meeting, the congress in its session, or the militia company on the training-field.
". . . Now, what was all this but a call for martyrdom? The first that fell must fall as martyrs. The battle would begin with the shot which took their lives. No call could be made demanding more fortitude, more nerve, than this. Many a man can rush into battle, maddened by the scene, who would find it hard to stand in his line, inactive, to await the volley, if it must come. But our people were thoroughly instructed in their cause. They had studied it, dis- cussed it in the public meeting and through the press, carried it to the Throne of Grace, and tried it by every test they knew. They had made up their minds to the issue, and were prepared to accept its results. . .
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FROM THE YEAR 1867 TO 1912
"When the events of that day assumed their serious aspect, the British sought to prove that this little band fired first. Not only is this improbable, nay, absurd in itself, and contradicted by all our testimony; but no British officer speaks of more than what he heard and believed at the time. As they neared Lexington, the report came to them that some five hundred men were under arms; and I am not disinclined to reconcile their testimony with the facts, by the consideration that they heard the roll of our drums, and perhaps saw the flash or heard the report of our signal-guns, intended to call our men together, and thought them a defiance; and perhaps officers in the centre or rear might have thought them hostile shots. But the front knew they had not been fired upon, and saw the short, thin line of sixty men with arms at rest. Pitcairn, when he rode up to them, and ordered them to surrender their arms and disperse, knew they had not fired. He was not the man to talk after hostile shots. Pitcairn has had the fate which befalls many men who carry out orders that afterwards prove fatally ill-judged. When he or- dered our men to surrender their arms and disperse, he was execut- ing the orders of his commander-in-chief and of his King. If Britain was in the right, Pitcairn was in the right. Twice they were ordered to surrender their arms and disperse; and twice they refused to obey, and stood their ground. Then came the fatal fire; and why not? General Gage had been authorized to use the troops for this very purpose. He was authorized to fire upon the people, if neces- sary to enforce the new laws, without waiting for the civil magis- trate. He had resolved to do so. Had that volley subdued the re- sistance of Massachusetts, Pitcairn would have been the hero of the drama. Was he to leave a military array behind him, and not at- tempt to disarm and disband them? If they refused, was he to give it up? I have never thought it just or generous to throw upon the brave, rough soldier, who fell while mounting the breastworks at Bunker Hill, the fault which lay on the King, the Parliament, the Ministry, and the commander-in-chief. The truth is, the issue was inevitable. The first force of that kind which the King's troops found in martial array was to be disarmed and disbanded; and, if they refused to obey, they were to be fired upon. Both sides knew this, and were prepared for it. It is inconsistent in us, and an un- worthy view of this crisis, to treat it as a wanton and ruthless slaughter of unoffending citizens by an armed force. It takes from the event its dignity and historic significance. It was no such acci- dental and personal matter. It was an affair of state. It was the inevitable collision between organized forces representing two an- tagonistic systems, each a de facto body politic, claiming authority and demanding obedience, on the same spot at the same time. If our cause was wrong, and resistance to the new laws unjustifiable, our popular militia was an unlawful band, and ought to surrender
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