USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1630 to 1855 > Part 43
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
In five months, chiefly through his exertions, the contributions amounted to forty-eight thousand dollars in money, and about thirty thousand dollars more in clothing and other supplies. This organization of the State for aid was compelled, it must be confessed, by the apathy which followed the first impulse of sympathy and generosity. Merchants said, "We have given, and we will not give any more." 4 Two or three times, successively, the "committee " failed to appear at the appointed time and place, its chairman alone being present ; then his efforts were directed to the country towns. The treasury was supplied by thousands advanced from his private resources, and by tireless effort he maintained the organization until Kansas was secured to freedom ; for he clearly heard, in this determined ag- gression of the slave-power, the first drum-beat of the terrible conflict which must follow.
Looking over the horizon, he saw a man in Kansas, whose brave defence of Lawrence, and heroism at Ossa- watomie and "Black Jack," had made his name a terror to " border ruffians," and like the "shelter of a great rock" to hunted settlers. This man was John Brown.
4 Testimony of G. L. S. before the Senate Committee, 1860.
464
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Mr. Stearns wrote to John Brown, asking him to come to Boston, engaging to pay his expenses. One of the last days of December, 1856, or the first of January, 1857, these men met for the first time. Says Samuel Johnson, in "The Radical :" "A common spirit made these two men recognize each other at first sight; and the power of both lay in that inability to weigh difficulties against duty, that instant step of thought to deed, which makes individuals fully possessed by the idea of the age, the turning-points of its destiny ; hands in the right place for touching the match to the train it has laid, or for leading the public will to the heart of its moral need. They knew each other as minute-men on the same watch; as men to be found in the breach, before others knew where it was. They were one in pity, one in indignation, one in moral enthusiasm, burning beneath features set to patient self- control ; one in simplicity, though of widely different cul ture ; one in religious inspiration, though at the poles of religious thought. The old frontiersman came from his wilderness toils and agonies, to find within the merchant's mansion of art and taste, by the side of Bunker Hill, a perfect sympathy, the reverence of children, tender inter- est in his broken household, free access to a rich man's resources, and even a valor kindred with his own. . . . It was not accident that made George Stearns unintention- ally provide the money and arms for what was called the ' Harper's Ferry Raid,' but which awaits a name suit- able to its dignity. We hear the ring of those rifles, in his swift indorsement of them - not more courageous, even at that moment, than it was prophetic - before the Senate Committee of Inquiry : 'Do you disapprove of such a transaction as that of Harper's Ferry?' The answer is historic: 'I should have disapproved of it if I had known of it; but I have since changed my opinion. I consider John Brown the representative man of this century, as Washington was of the last; the Harper's Ferry affair, and the capacity of the Italians for self- government, the great events of the age: one will free Europe ; the other, America."
It is worthy of record here, that, at the conclusion of his testimony, Mr. Stearns was asked by Senator Mason, if there were many men at the North who thought as he did ; "for, if there are, there is nothing left for the South but war."
I
R
R
465
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
The latter part of 1860 was full of portentous mutter -- ings, and even threats of disunion, from nearly all parts; of the South. The alarming aggressions of the "slave- power," during the previous ten years, had produced one of those political tidal-waves, that, happily, have sup- planted the bloody rebukes to tyranny among the older civilizations ; and a popular moral indignation had elected Abraham Lincoln President of the United States.
About Christmas-time of that year John A. Andrew, governor-elect of Massachusetts, asked Mr. Stearns to go with him to Washington, and introduce him to the leaders of the disunion party, with whom he had been thrown into contact during the Harper's Ferry investigating business, - the chairman of the committee, Mr. Jefferson Davis, and Mr. J. M. Mason, author of the "Fugitive-slave Bill," and others, - in order to ascertain the actual state of affairs, for his guidance in assuming the chair of state. The information Mr. Stearns obtained at this time, by sending into Virginia a trusted Kansas man, who had served in the Border campaigns, and was familiar with the popular slaveholding ways, gave important vantage- ground to the great war-governor.
The report of this shrewd eye-witness and excellent listener strengthened the convictions of Mr. Stearns, that the South intended war, and war to the knife. "Be not alarmed," he wrote at that time, "about this talk of 'com- promise :' there will be none. Crittenden is useful to gain time for the leaders, but it will be war; and, in the terrible collision, slavery will go down - dead."
Returning in the cars, Mr. Stearns related to his friend what he had done, and urged the governor-elect to put Massachusetts on a war-footing without delay, with uni- forms and munitions ready for instant call. To the ob- jection raised, - "I have not yet taken the oath of office," - Mr. Stearns replied, "Events will justify your action. Be prepared." It is a matter of history, that Massachu- setts was first to respond to the cry for help from Wash- ington.
On the 12th of April, 1861, the guns of Fort Sumter awoke the North from its compromising security. Mr. Stearns hastened to Washington, and urged President Lincoln to issue a proclamation calling for three hundred thousand men; but Mr. Seward's "ninety days " policy prevailed ; and he writes, “It is harder to get a regiment
466
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
accepted by the Government than it is to obtain a foreign mission." The uprising of the people to the defence of the Republic is the sublimest chapter in its history ; pain- ful enough to remember, however, that the debasing self- ishness of politics should throw its benumbing spell over such patriotic enthusiasm.
For more than a year and a half the terrible war drifted on. " All was quiet on the Potomac." One hundred thousand unnamed demigods were silent in the swamps of Virginia; every house in the land had its skeleton : and yet nothing was gained. The people were tired ; large bounties did not fill up the ranks; England and France stood ready to acknowledge "the Confederacy." What was to be done? Something ; and that speedily. To educate the public mind up to the demand for negro troops ? No newspaper was ready to take the risks of such a suggestion.
As early as Oct. 1, 1861, Charles Sumner, in a speech before the Republican State Convention at Worcester, entitled, " Union and Peace : how they shall be restored," eloquently advocated the executive use of the "war power " in the enlistment of negroes as troops, and the right of emancipation. "It is not necessary," said he, "to carry the war into Africa. It will be enough if we carry Africa into the war, in any form, any quantity, any way. The moment this is done, rebellion will begin its bad luck, and the Union will be secure forever." This speech was pronounced " intolerable" by the Boston news- papers ; only garbled passages, with unjust interpretation, appearing in any of them. Such blind prejudice cannot be better illustrated here than by the fact that Mr. Stearns was silenced by groans and hisses in the Town Hall of Medford for proposing to enlist colored men, as one of the methods in solving the difficulty of making up its quota in 1862, when the call came for three hundred thousand men.
So things stood. On the 6th of September, 1862, a newspaper was issued from No. 22 Bromfield Street, Bos- ton, launched on unknown seas by the money and faith of Mr. Stearns. An index hand pointed to these words : "We publish this week 20,000 copies of 'The Common- wealth.' Next week we shall print 50,000, perhaps 100,- 000 copies." No waiting for subscribers : it was sent to as many names all over the country. Its first issue con-
467
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
tained the whole of Mr. Sumner's Worcester convention speech ; and it is worthy of record, that this is the first date of any such recognition of the great senator in his native city of Boston ! This injustice had been partly mitigated by the personal efforts of Mr. Stearns in having his speeches printed in pamphlet form, and sent broad- cast over the land. One month later, came President Lincoln's "preliminary proclamation ;" followed, on the Ist of January, 1863, by the edict of emancipation.
In the latter part of this January, 1863, Gov. Andrew obtained permission of the War Department, to fill the quota of Massachusetts with colored troops. On his way home from Washington, he met Mr. Stearns in the cars, and showed him the "order" of Secretary Stanton. Here, then, was the coveted opportunity for which Mr. Stearns had quietly been making his plans. From time to time he had sought the acquaintance of leading colored men, who would promote the work as soon as it was com- menced; and when Gov. Andrew said, "I shall want all the help you can give me," he stood ready, like a "minute- man," for orders.
As soon as preliminary arrangements were effected, and .
Col. R. G. Shaw, Lieut .- Col. N. P. Hallowell, and Major E. N. Hallowell had accepted commissions in the first colored regiment, numbered "Fifty-Fourth " Massachu- setts Volunteers, he proposed to form a committee of citizens, and to solicit funds to carry on the work.
The committee consisted of George L. Stearns, chair- man ; Richard P. Hallowell, secretary and treasurer ; John M. Forbes, Amos A. Lawrence, Le Baron Russell.
Funds came promptly and liberally. Not so the men. They said, " We offered our services in the beginning of the war, and they were rejected : now we do not care to enlist ;" which is very much like the talk of white men.
After several weeks of small results, Gov. Andrew sent for Mr. Stearns, and confessed discouragement with the undertaking. With Mr. Stearns, difficulties only sharp- ened the edge of any purpose; and he answered, with voice and manner which was half the battle, "I will get you a regiment." The Governor's face lighted up, and he exclaimed, "You would make us believe that the thing was already done : but how do you propose to do it ?" -- "I shall go to Canada, and see what can be done among the fugitives there. After that, explore the Western
.
468
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
States." - "When will you start ?" - " To-morrow morn- ing."
It was bitterly cold ; the work and way all untried. No rewards of money or place or power glittered in the dis- tance. The luxuries and allurements of home weighed nothing. The evening of the next day found him con- sulting with Frederick Douglass, and enrolling, under his roof in New York, his first recruit, - the son of Mr. Douglass. A week or two later, he had established his headquarters at Buffalo, with agents stationed all the way to St. Louis.
On the 8th of May he writes Gov. Andrew : -
" To fill the Fifty-fourth, I shall have sent forward six hundred men, furnished by my exertions. It is therefore a fair conclusion, that, if I had not come to the West, the Fifty-fourth would have been to-day half filled, with a strong doubt existing in the public mind whether it ever would be filled. To accomplish this, I have worked every day, Sundays included, for two and a half months, and from fourteen to eighteen hours of every one of those days : I have filled the West with my agents ; have forced the railroads to accept my terms of transportation; have filled a letter-book of five hundred pages with correspondence, most of it closely written ; and have bor- rowed ten thousand dollars, on my own responsibility, to meet my payments. When you reflect that two hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand blacks are scattered over a population of seventeen millions, you can understand how much more difficult this is than the recruiting of the whites. No time is left for debate, but instant decision, on all that comes up. This is required to meet the demands of my agents and sub-agents, for advice, direction, money, and transportation, extending over New York, Canada, Western Penn- sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan. Ticket- officers furnish transportation, per telegram; express-officers pay money on telegram; and all the fast modes of Western fast life are put in requisition to meet the requirements of this work, spread over this vast country."
When Gov. Andrew telegraphed his decision not to raise another regiment, Mr. Stearns replied by telegram : " Have two hundred men towards a Fifty-fifth. What shall I do with them ? Gov. Andrew replied by telegram, " You may go on, if you will fill it up in four weeks."
Telegram : " Buffalo, May 7, 1863. H. E. Gov. Andrew. Thank God! You shall have the men in four weeks."
The following morning, he writes : -
BUFFALO, May 8, 1863.
HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR ANDREW.
Dear Sir, - Your telegram of last evening gave me great joy. If we had stopped now, the colored men would have been thrown back into their old, but reasonable, distrust of the whites, and no more
469
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
regiments could be raised except by drafting; and, scattered as they are, that would have been impossible, or not worth the cost. Now I can go on with this one, and make provision for other work, if you do not want any more."
On the 28th of May, the Fifty-fourth marched through Boston, en route for Hilton Head, to the tune of "Old John Brown," amid immense enthusiasm, which was well described by Wendell Phillips, in a letter to Mr. Stearns at Buffalo, written on the evening of that day : -
THURSDAY, May 28, 1863, 10 P.M.
Dear Stearns, - I .cannot let this day close without writing to YOU. To-day the Fifty-fourth passed through our streets to their boat to South Carolina. Every square foot was crowded like a Fourth of July; and State Street roared with cheers. Is not that triumph ? The regiment, all agree, looked REMARKABLY well. I could not but think of You. And, last Monday, I had the pleasure of linking your name with Andrew's; giving the credit to your energy, sagacity, and unfailing hope, that we had a Fifty-fourth mustered in, and a Fifty- fifth filling up. Tremont Temple cheered lustily for the Buffalo king. Your brave boy I was in my parlor to see the troops pass.
Warrington writes to "The Springfield Republican :" -
" Mr. Stearns is the man whose indomitable energy and great busi- ness capacity has been brought to bear on the organization of the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Regiments. I hardly know a man whose biography is better worth writing than his; but I don't know enough of it to write it; and he will pretty surely be shy of me, now that I have expressed this opinion. But two great enterprises of this cen- tury - first, the freedom of Kansas; and, second, the organization of the effective force which is to end this war by a successful and per- manent peace - have found in him, perhaps, their most effective organ- izer and worker. He never held an office; never was, and perhaps never will be, a candidate for office; is not familiar with party ma- chinery or methods; but is a wise and pre-eminently useful man, remarkably free from a spirit of dogmatism or positiveness : every way a remarkable personage. . . . Many men get greater fame for services far less valuable ; but his glory is of that nobler sort which
' Rises and spreads aloft by those pure eyes And perfect witness of all-judging Jove.'"
While performing this arduous labor at Buffalo, he made time to prepare a pamphlet on "Currency and Banking," which was admitted, in financial circles, to be both able and unanswerable.
The enlistment of the Fifty-fifth Regiment being com- pleted, he was obliged to decide what should be done with his recruiting organization ; a force perfect in its opera-
I His son Frank, who recruited more than a hundred men, - then seventeen years of age.
470
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
tions, and at that time the only efficient agency in the country for recruiting colored troops. At this juncture appeared the "Special Order" of the War Department, assuming the control of this service, and forbidding the recruiting of colored troops by States or individuals, with- out special authority from the War Department.
This order decided his course. He at once proceeded to Washington, to place the whole matter in the hands of Secretary Stanton, then to seek much-needed rest and refreshment in a trip to Europe.
To his surprise, Mr. Stanton desired him to retain the organization, saying, "I will put you over the recruiting service for colored troops, North and South, with liberty to approve the accounts of your agents." Aware that the law required a strict accountability in the expenditure of public money, Mr. Stearns inquired from what fund the money would be drawn ; that there was no provision in the Constitution for the payment of colored troops. Mr. Stanton replied, "There is a secret-service fund in all the departments, and they will be paid from that." After some complimentary remarks, - such as, that he had observed with pleasure the work Mr. Stearns had been doing in Massachusetts ; that he was just the man he had been looking for ; that he (Mr. Stearns) had no "axes of his own to grind," and so on in the same strain, ending, that the pay would be something handsome, - to all this Mr. Stearns replied, -
" If I accept your offer, Mr. Secretary, it must be on two condi- tions : first, that the colored soldiers enter the service of the govern- ment on the same terms as the white soldiers, - the same pay, same rations, same equipment; and, that I receive no compensation for my services, as no amount of money would be any inducement to leave my home, but I should be glad to serve our country in this terrible struggle with slavery."
Relinquishing the long-planned journey to Europe, he writes : -
" I decided to accept the offer, because it presented an opportunity of aiding the African race, that might never come to me again. An- nouncing my acceptance to Mr. Stanton, I said that I had come pre- pared to discuss plans for recruiting. He declined to enter on any discussion, saying, ' You have all the power of the War Department?' . . I was commissioned major, and assistant adjutant-general of the · War Department, June 17, 1863, and ordered to begin my work in Philadelphia. Thrown at once on my own resources, I repaired to Philadelphia, a civilian, without the slightest knowledge of military affairs, to raise, arm, and equip regiments of infantry."
47I
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Fortunately, leading citizens of that city entered warmly into the work, rendering prompt and efficient support.
The special correspondent of the " Cincinnati Gazette " furnishes a pen-and-ink portrait of Major Stearns, as he saw him at this time in Philadelphia, which is more satis- factory than the engraving accompanying this sketch.
" Philadelphia, June 22, 1863. . . . Sauntering out of the breakfast- room, we encounter a familiar face. Trim, neat figure, of about medium size, finely shaped head, eyes that a woman would call hand- some, - so much you can see. For the rest, the features are masked behind a dark-brown flowing beard and moustache, so luxuriantly ample, that a Turk might die of envy on seeing them. The finely shaped head, and the handsome eyes, and the magnificent beard are worth more than a passing glance; for they belong to one who will be honored in after-times, as the man who, above all others, placed the policy of enlisting negro soldiers in this war, on a practical basis, organized and systematized the work, and gave us tangible results ; a Boston merchant, of large means and liberal habits, a man of culture and social position, devoting time and energies and means to an effort to bring out the Pariah race of the continent to vindicate their own manhood, and help overturn the system that has made them what they are. The government has done well in placing the whole business of recruiting negroes in his hands."
Some two hundred or three hundred men were enlisted at Camp William Penn, when Major Stearns accidentally learned that the pay had been cut down to ten dollars per month, without clothing. He hastened to Washington, and urged that "the order was as unwise as it was unjust." Mr. Stanton was inflexible, saying, " If colored men will not enlist for ten dollars, they need not enlist at all." - " But," urged Mr. Stearns, "two or three hundred men are already enlisted on the terms you allowed. What shall I do ? " - " You must do the best you can."-" All the power of the War Department " was, to throw Major Stearns into the water, to find the shore if he could ! Possibly it may turn out that he was not "just the man " the great War . Secretary "had been looking for."
That same evening he took train for Boston, reaching there as speedily as steam could bring him ; drew up a paper, setting forth the urgency of the hour, and, heading its subscription -column with the sum of two thousand dollars, presented it to leading merchants, who swiftly augmented it to the amount of sixty thousand dollars. A committee was formed, with Mr. R. P. Hallowell, treasurer, called " The Recruiting Fund Committee." Being pro- vided with money, and the emphatic approbation of "the
472
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
solid men of Boston," he presented himself at the War Department, in readiness for more extended operations ; certain citizens of Philadelphia relieving him of the work commenced there. He was ordered to "report in person to Major-Gen. Rosecrans, at his headquarters in the De- partment of the Cumberland, for duty." He writes : -
" In this order no intimation was given me of the service to be performed ; neither did I know, until I had been two months in Nash- ville, why I was sent to that department. A simple letter of introduc- tion to Gen. Rosecrans, and the knowledge that I was expected in some way to recruit colored troops, were my only guidance."
The only instructions to be obtained from the War Department were telegrams commanding him "not to quarrel with the military governor of Tennessee;" until one day he took a handful of these despatches to the State House, and, handing them to Gov. Johnson, asked what the " quarrel " was between them, as he knew of none. The absurdity brought a hearty laugh from the courteous governor, who asked him to sit down and explain the plans which had brought him to Tennessee. The result was the immediate and hearty co-operation of Gov. John- son in the work. The time consumed before the 8th of October, when recruiting fairly commenced, was not lost by Major Stearns. He visited the colored churches, and made the acquaintance of their leading men, " soon obtain- ing their confidence," he modestly wrote.
A terrible system of impressment of colored men was in force at that time. Any colored man, free or slave, was seized and dragged off to the fortifications and rail- roads, where he was neither sheltered nor sufficiently fed, and seldom if ever paid ; and colored men were sometimes shot down in the streets of Nashville for offering resist- ance. Gov. Johnson said he was powerless, his authority not extending over the military force of the city. Ap- peals to the department at Washington fared no better. Major Stearns then called a meeting of colored men, and after explaining to them what he was trying to do for their race, and that this was their opportunity for freedom and manhood, promised that if they would volunteer to work on the fortifications and railroads for thirty days, he would be responsible for their food, shelter, and payment. A number responded at once, and the next day two hundred men appeared at his headquarters. The commandant proposing " three cheers for Major Stearns, the man who
473
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
has stopped impressment," the " three times three " cheers were given with a will, and followed by the " John Brown song." A little entertainment was improvised, and then they were escorted by a platoon of soldiers to the railroad. It was the first time in its history that Nashville beheld negroes marching in its streets, dressed in the uniform of the United States.
In order to realize the importance of this work on the railroads and fortifications, it must be remembered that " Nashville was the goal of both armies." " It must be for- tified, else the Confederate army would fight for its pos- session in the very streets of the city."
With numberless hinderances, and no support from the government at Washington, he had mustered into its ser- vice ten regiments, in two months, at a cost of twelve thousand and five hundred dollars.I
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.