USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 15
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were sent in the steamer " Illinois" to New Orleans. Thence they were sent to Carrolton, and to Baton Rouge, and formed part of the 1st Brigade, Augur's Division. March 14, they were engaged in a feigned advance to Port Hud- son ; and on their return did provost duty at Baton Rouge. In May they constituted part of the expedition to Port Hudson. May 21, they were engaged in the battle of the " Plains Store," having five men wounded. May 27, in the first assault on Port Hudson, they lost 76 killed and wounded. Col. Bartlett was shot in the wrist and in the heel ; Lieut. Col. Sumner was wounded in the shoulder ; Lieuts. Judd and Deming were killed. In the feigned attack of June 14, there were 18 killed and wounded. They were kept at the front till Port Hudson surrendered, July 9. On the 13th, having marched four miles up a bayou to Donaldsonville, they were suddenly attacked by the enemy, but by a circuitous march of three miles, they escaped what seemed almost certain destruction. Soon after this, they came up the Mississippi en route for home, and arrived at Pittsfield, August 21. There went from Pittsfield 947 officers and men ; 715 came home.
INDIVIDUAL INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.
Major Adam Miller started off at the first call for volunteers with B. A. Morey, E. W. Lewis, and two or three others, to join Duryea's Zouaves in New York. Not liking their style, they went to Boston and joined the 2d. Mass. Vol. Militia. In the battle of Cedar Run Moun- tain, a minnie ball struck Miller on his right cheek, glanced along the bone, going under his nose, and coming out through the socket of his left eye. It made a ghastly wound and deprived him of an eye, but he is still living and engaged in active business at Foxburg, Pa.
Capt. Peletiah Ward (20th New York Volunteers), was
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from 1848 to 1850 the pastor of the Methodist Church in Lee. At the outbreak of the war he was stationed at Ellenville, N. Y. He was killed at the battle of Manassas in 1862. Finding himself wounded, yet seeing the color bearers repeatedly shot down, he staggered forward, grasped the colors himself, only to be again wounded more severely.
Capt. Thomas S. Bradley, (9th Co., N. Y., State Sharp- shooters,) a native of Lee and a graduate at Williams College in 1848, for a time pastor at Wilton, Conn., while acting pastor of the church at Lebanon Springs, N. Y., enlisted with a company mainly from his own congregation. He was stationed at Suffolk, Va., where he contracted a fever of which he died June 28, 1863. His body was brought to Lee for burial.
Capt. F. W. Pease was wounded in the right shoulder at the battle of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864. He was put into an ambulance-to be taken to Fredericksburg, but died on the journey and was buried by the roadside.
1864, July 31, Dr. George McAllister, a native of South Lee, was brought there for burial. He was a Surgeon of Sickles' Excelsior Brigade, and afterwards was appointed by Gen. Hooker to locate and inspect hospitals in his de- partment. His health failed, and coming North, he died at the Ashland House, New York City.
Eldad E. Moore, enlisted from this town in the 27th Regiment, September 19, 1861. In a foggy morning, May 16, 1863, before Fort Darling, the regiment was surrounded and 270 taken prisoners. With others, Moore was sent to Andersonville, Ga., and lived through the miseries of that horrible prison pen. In fear of Sher- man's raid, the prisoners were removed to places. of greater security. Sent from Andersonville, September 26, Moore jumped from the cars, when they had gone about 10 miles, and started of in a north-west direction
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for Atlanta and freedom. When he had traveled about 75 miles he was re-captured and sent to Columbus, Ga. He exchanged clothes with some Southern soldiers, and escaped by walking out of the prison as if one of the guard. He reached Atlanta, and received new clothes and a pass for the North. The train in which he left Atlanta was captured by bushwhackers, but he escaped from them and went to Atlanta for a fresh start. He finally reached Washington and Boston, where he was dis- charged, having been in service 3 years and two months.
Charles Gates, a minor son of William K. Gates of East Lee, wished to enlist early in the war, but his parents dis- approved. They sent him one day to drive the cattle to a mountain pasture. He attended to this duty, and then pushed on to the army rendezvous, and enlisted in the 10th Regiment. After fulfilling his term of service as a soldier without a furlough, he arrived at Springfield, 1864, June 25. Leaving the cars at Becket, he came over the mountain to the pasture, and about the usual time in the afternoon, drove the cattle home, where the belated cow-boy was received with joyous welcome by parents and neighbors.
CHANGES IN BUSINESS.
The war which was in the opinion of many to bring ruin to the manufacturing interests of New England, in fact brought prosperity such as was never known before. Paper stock indeed was very scarce, and rags rose from one cent a pound to five. Cotton mattresses were sold at a great profit. But currency, such as it was, postal cur- rency at first, and then greenback and fractional, was very abundant. Large bounties were paid and generally spent freely, though some were provident enough to invest their money profitably. The 7-30 bonds of the Govern- ment were eagerly taken, and the interest money paid on
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MEMORIAL HALL.
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these, stimulated many to invest in these securities. The Government resorted to an internal revenue tax to meet its extraordinary expenditures ; but this draft on the re- sources of the people was cheerfully met. Mr. Elizur Smith paid the largest internal revenue tax paid in this county, over $4,000 monthly. The business prosperity of the place continued on, receiving no check till 1873. In that year the flush times culminated. It was a time of general expenditure in building, repairing, and other improvements. It is estimated that $350,000 were spent that year in this town for such purposes.
Lee, with other manufacturing towns, felt the impulse to enlarge business. New blocks were put up, new mills built, and old mills enlarged. A desire had long been felt to have a new avenue for the transportation of the prod- ucts of the town, and the importation of the raw material required in our mills. As the Housatonic railroad had practically a monopoly of transportation, our manufact- urers could not compete successfully with those of Holyoke and other places whose goods were transported at lower rates. The Lee and New Haven and Lee and Hudson railroads were therefore projected. The history of these roads is given in another place.
MEMORIAL HALL.
In 1869, April 5, the project of building a Memorial Hall was first brought before the town. The design was to have in such a structure not only some fitting testimo- nial by grateful fellow-citizens to those who went out from our homes to fight the battles of Liberty and Union, but to combine with this consecrated memorial some pro- vision of special advantages for the social needs of such a community as Lee had now grown to be. A large hall for public use was a pressing want. Offices were to be provided for the varied administration of the town's
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affairs. In 1858 the selectmen had petitioned the town for rooms for their exclusive occupancy, and also for a fire-proof safe, as now required by law. The Post Office could have special accommodations for its use. But be- yond all, a Public Library could be secured, which would be the supplement of the present system of school in- struction, and furnish free education to every citizen. At the annual town meeting, April 7, 1873, a committee was appointed to consider the whole subject and report plans at a future meeting. April 26, of the same year, this committee reported that individuals had generously subscribed $3,200.00 for the purchase of a site, on condi- tion that the town would erect upon it, a suitable building to serve as a memorial for the soldiers of the town in the late war, and also for a town hall, library and other public purposes. The committee further recommended that the donation be accepted, and that a Memorial Hall be erected upon the site proposed, the corner of Main and North Park streets. The report of the committee was accepted and adopted, and $22,000.00 was appro- priated for the erection of the Hall. Messrs. Elizur Smith, John Branning, Charles Bradley, Thomas O. Hurlbut and William Taylor were appointed a committee to carry this vote into execution. At a subsequent town meeting, held Jan. 19, 1874, the committee were instructed to fin- ish off the basement into rooms suitable for renting, and $1,500.00 was appropriated to defray the expense, and $1,000.00 additional was appropriated for providing suit- able furniture for the Hall and town offices. In March following, the committee were still further instructed to prepare Memorial Tablets to be placed in the Hall, and to contain the names of the soldiers from this town who had sacrificed their lives in the late struggle for the integ- rity of the Union, and $650.00 was placed at their dis- posal for this purpose.
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This committee executed their trust faithfully, in no instance exceeding the appropriations, and defraying from their own pockets the many extra expenses which are always incurred in the erection of such a building, and which can not well be detailed in the contract. The whole cost of the Hall, including the donation for the site, furniture, tablets, etc., was about $29,000.00.
Everything being finished, Memorial Hall was dedi- cated with appropriate ceremonies, May 30, 1874, Rev. Dr. Gale delivering an address which contained a pretty complete military history of the town. This building, while serving the original purpose of a memorial to the Lee soldiers, is a great ornament to the town, and fur- nishes commodious rooms for town meetings, town offices, library and post office.
SOCIAL LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS.
In this connection, it may be well to fix in mind the general condition of things in the commmunity, the occu- pations and habits of the people, and the appearance of the village. During the first ten years of the settlement of the town, that is from 1760 to 1770, only thirteen families had pitched their dwellings here. These all lived in small log-houses, most of them on the mountain sides, as the early settlers regarded the valley of the river as marshy and unhealthy. No roads or bridges had then been built. Travelers were guided on their course by marked trees, and streams were forded, or crossed by a fallen tree that served for a bridge. In 1770, John Winegar came into town and built his log-house by the side of the rocks near the site of the present Columbia Mill. The rock served as the back side of his house, and also as one side for his chimney down which he put his wood to the fire-place. Near his dwelling Mr. Winegar
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built the first grist mill in town. At this time (1770), the location of the few families in town was as follows : Isaac Davis was living on his farm, now the McAllister place near South Lee. Reuben Pixley lived on what is now H. Garfield's farm, about a mile east of Mr. Davis. John Goffe, an Irishman, lived a mile north of Mr. Pixley on the J. H. Royce place ; Hope Davis lived a mile east of Goffe on the hill a little east of Messrs. May's mill. Near him, lived Aaron Benedict, George Parker and Wil- liam Chanter, the latter a quaker and called " friend William." " Jonathan Foote occupied a log-house on the farm now owned by T. L. Foote. Mr. Atkins lived in the extreme east part of the town, near the old Shailer tavern, now occupied by Mr. Belden. Elisha Freeman pitched his house on the farm now owned by his grand- son, J. B. Freeman, and a little north of him lived Lt. Crocker, and a mile east on the mountain lived Mr. Dodge; and around him afterwards there was quite a set- tlement, called Dodgetown. Here lived the blacksmith, the shoemaker and the tanner, and here it was at first proposed to build the church. In and around the village, there were not five acres of cleared land. Kunkerpot, an Indian chief, had a wigwam in what is now the Park, and several other Indian huts were in the vicinity.
During the next ten years, from 1770 to 1780, many valuable citizens settled in town, among whom were Nathaniel and Cornelius Bassett, Nathan Ball, Jesse Gifford, Jesse Bradley, William Ingersoll, Timothy Thatcher, Oliver and Prince West, Arthur Perry, Samuel Stanley, Amos Porter, Josiah Yale, Ebenezer Jenkins, Nathan Dillingham, Job Hamblin, and others. They were men of intelligence, and generally of religious char- acter, and have left their impress for good on succeeding generations. Their dress and mode of living were simple in the extreme. They lived amid poverty and war, but
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were industrious, patriotic, and public-spirited. Very little money was in circulation, and most payments were made " by barter." Corn, wheat, leather, etc., were the me- diums of exchange. Many were the turns made to bring about a balance of accounts. On the records of the build- ing committee of the Congregational Church is the follow- ing entry: "Nathan Dillingham, Cr. By settling with sundry carpenters, making many turns, 50 cents." He doubtless earned his money. Wheeled vehicles were unknown, and the horse's back furnished the only means for transportation. Women rode behind their husbands on pillions attached to the saddles. Major Dillingham, the first merchant, brought his teas, spices and dry goods on horseback from Hudson, the nearest market town. His store was in the buttery of his house. Great friendliness prevailed among neighbors, and there was much social visiting, and a general spirit of hospital- ity. Rye and Indian bread was the staple article of diet. This was made of two-thirds corn meal, and one-third rye.
The condition of our New England communities at the beginning of this century was in many respects most enviable. "Nobody was rich, or poor : all were well-to- do. The church bell was within sound, and the district school-house within reach of the entire population. The families were generally large. A dozen children was the standard number. Everybody worked, everybody read and studied. The men worked hard all through the Summer, and thought hard all through the Winter. None of the energies of life were prostituted to the greed of gain, and none of the powers of the mind frittered away in vain attempts to outdo one another in extrava- gance of expenditure."
As indicative of the crude and tentative condition of affairs in this period, allusion should be made to the
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entries on the town records in regard to inoculation for the small-pox. That was the contagious disease most to be dreaded in that time of general ignorance of any scientific method of treatment. 1785, March 7, the town voted to put this matter in charge of a committee appointed for the purpose. No person was to be inoculated without their permission. And the fact of recovery was to be certified after careful examination, by a physician to be appointed for this purpose by the committee. Some still living, remember the pest-houses, rude cabins where those duly inoculated, some half dozen at a time, were cared for by nurses who had themselves passed safely through the disease.
One indication of the predominance of agricultural interests in the early history of the town, is the frequent entry by the town clerk of the " marks of creatures," as chosen by the different farmers. Nathan Ball's, for instance, was " a hollow crop in end of left ear, and a happeny cut on the upper side the wright ear." He chose this, which was formerly Prince West's, when West a moved out of town in May, 1792.
One of the marks of a primitive period, was the right claimed to pasture swine and cattle in the streets. The hog-reeve, whose duty it was to see that swine running at large were duly ringed and yoked, and to impound all stray cattle, was as recognized an important official as the shire-reeve, (sheriff). Not till 1816, do we find a record to the effect that " swine should not run at large at any rate," and not until 1859 was the right to pasture cattle in the highway abridged by vote of the town in accord- ance with authority conferred by the State law. The hog-reeve's occupation from this time forth was pretty much a nullity. The office was continued, and was usually conferred as a joke on some recent benedicts. With the disappearance of cattle from the highway, the
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town pound also disappeared, and more recently the cus- tom of fencing by the road-side was found to be a useless expense, and is slowly becoming obsolete.
To the rude log-houses of the first, settlers succeeded such small framed houses as the terms of the grants required should be built. The house in which Fenner Foote lived may be regarded as a representative of this style, and ought, on that account, to be preserved for the instruction of future generations. As wealth increased, say from 1790 onwards, a better style of farm-house, generally one story high, came into fashion. Of late years these have been extensively altered, repaired, gener- ally raised another story, and remodelled; but such a house as John Bowen's will afford a good specimen of the old style. The front door had a massive knocker and latch handle. It opened upon a hall, or stairway rather, which had doors opening on either side to the front rooms. On one side the best room, seldom opened : on the other, the sitting-room. The stairs twisted steeply upwards, with square turns and landing places. A huge chimney occu- pied the center of the house. Beneath the roof, this was built of stone : above the roof, it was topped with brick, and stood squarely solid, giving an air of stability and strength to the whole house. Across the rear of the house, back of the chimney, extended the kitchen. From one end a part was taken off for the cellar stair way and the back stairs above, adjoining which was the passage way to the side-door. On the other end of the kitchen was a bed-room or buttery. Beyond the kitchen was the milk- room with the cheese-room. Beyond this, the wood-house came, and next the carriage-house, if any; or these would be set at right angles to the main building. These houses large and roomy, were built beyond the means of the owners to finish at once. As the ability and size of the family increased, one room after another was finished.
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Sometimes the children slept in chambers not plastered nor ceiled. The stars could be seen twinkling in the sky at night, or the coverlet in the morning would be white with the snow that had drifted down. The children in one family had the measles at a time when the gable end of the house, of loose boards, fell in before a driving storm : but as plenty of fresh air was recommended in sickness of this kind, the children went through the troublesome malady all right. The chambers were cold, and the warming-pan was an indispensable requisite to make one comfortable for the night. The high four- posted bedstead with tester and valance, and curtains of copper-plate chintz, gave the impression that sleeping was considered a part of the serious business of life, for which most formidable preparation must be made. Feather- beds, piled halfway to the ceiling, and covered with snow- white tufted spreads, suggested a resemblance between going to bed and ascending some Alpine summit.
The great kitchen fireplace was the center around which the household work revolved the greater part of the year. Sometimes the huge back log would be drawn in by the old horse. More frequently it was rolled into its place with a cant hook. The floor timbers would shake with the jar every time the log was rolled over.
No " patent medicine " almanacs, or agricultural news- papers, bewildered our grandmothers with recipes for jel- lies and salads, sauces and soups. Milk and mush made a most excellent breakfast or supper for the children in these primitive homes. Johnny-cake twice a week, and rye doughnuts as often, furnished all the variety thought needful. The farmers' dish of pork and beans, or the boiled dish of salt beef and cabbage, called " potluck," was heartily relished by the men whose work called for long protracted muscular toil. Hulled corn was a delicacy. In the proper season, ham and eggs formed a favorite
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dish. Fresh meat was a luxury. Butcher's carts did not commence to carry meat till about 1828.
The kitchen furniture was very simple. The table was of cherry, or there were two tables that could be put end to end when there was company to be entertained in ad- dition to the usual number of the family. Hooks driven into the ceiling, supported poles on which hung strings of dried apples, or rings of ripe pumpkins. The " dress- er," or open cupboard, displayed an array of burnished pewter plates and cups, and also the wooden trenchers, articles of daily household use. The china cups, if the family had any, were kept in the closet in the best room, and when company was entertained were brought out with much ceremonious apologizing and moving of chairs away from the cupboard or dining-room door. The kitchen mantle-piece was adorned with candlesticks and snuffers, a well smoked Bible and a well thumbed almanac.
About 1820, wooden clocks began to be introduced from Connecticut. Previous to that time, the long cased clock was as much a badge of family respectability as the piano-forte is now. Between the windows hung a mirror in a gilt frame, and on the lamp-stand beneath was stored the pile of weekly newspapers, and the literature of the family. Around the walls were ranged the chairs of wooden or of splint bottoms, and room was found also for a chintz-covered lounge. Before the days of the present chromo-civilization, the only specimen of the pic- torial arts that adorned the walls was generally some mortuary memento, or the lithograph portrait of some one of the Presidents.
The best rooms had no carpets before 1820. Those first used were made of pieces of cloth sewed together, with figures of different hues and devices sewed on after some simple pattern ; later came in the rag-carpet, woven in the old hand loom, out of strips of cloth cut and dyed.
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What endless talk went on with the planning, cutting and weaving of these home-made carpets, till they challenged the admiration of every visitor by the firmness of their texture, or the splendor and clearness of their dyes! The paneling around the room was simplicity itself, compared with the high wooden mantel-piece most elaborately ornamented with joiner work that baffles description. " Gingerbread ornamentation " it has been named. Fid- dle-back chairs, straight and high, were ranged in sym- metrical order around the room.
The people of Richmond, in those days, considered themselves quite aristocratic, and regarded Lee people as exceedingly plain and altogether too democratic to con- stitute the finest society. But refined society does not depend wholly or chiefly on style of household living or of personal attire. The style of dress during the Revolu- tionary period, was that which had been customary for nearly a century. It was supplanted by the less pictur- esque, if more comfortable fashion of modern male apparel. Knee breeches and short clothes passed out of date. The ruffled shirt and the swallow-tailed coat maintained their place longer among the essentials of a gentleman's ward- robe. Such style of apparel was not common among the farmer folk of Lee. They were a frugal, hard-working peo- ple. The leather apron was almost universally worn by the men and boys. Blue checked linen aprons were worn by the women and girls. For head-gear, the men wore on grand occasions tall, stiff, beaver hats; one was expected to last a lifetime. Round wool hats were the ordinary covering. The mothers made the cloth caps the boys wore in Winter, and braided the coarse straw hats for Summer wear. Sun-bonnets nicely starched, were the girls' simple covering, who had no thought of such hide- ous deformities as modern fashions have imposed upon the women of our time.
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The tailoress and dress-maker went from house to house every Spring and Fall to help in fitting the family for the change from Summer to Winter garments. The shoe-maker carried his kit in like manner from house to house. This was commonly called "whipping the cat." Each family furnished the stock for boot and shoe mak- ing, and in every town there was needed a tanner's and currier's shop to prepare the leather. Three years' soak- ing in the vats was considered none too long to secure a serviceable article. When David Baker and Ben. Brown were the shoe-makers, engaged from year's end to year's end, in the sacred mysteries of their craft, their fashion was to leave home Monday morning to fulfil their engage- ments, and return Saturday evening. Night and day the work was going on, and the weekly wages of six dollars was thought ample pay. When the measure of the foot was taken, the custom was to stand against the wall of the house, with the heel firmly held against the mop- board. The sharp knife that looked as if it would take off a piece of the toe, was stuck in the floor. "Now, stand aside," was the next direction given, and then with a splint or twig, the length of the foot was noted. Care was taken to make the shoe or boot broad enough, but whether it was broad-toed, or square-toed, or round-toed, was not a question of much importance. When the peo- ple walked to church, they often would carry their shoes till within the last half mile; then wear them to " meet- ing," with the sweet consciousness of having saved unnec- essary wear of shoe-leather.
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