USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 17
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The Colored Troops-The 54th and 55th, both made up of colored troops, and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, leader of the first colored regi- ment formed under State authority, all are remembered with pride by Bostonians. "The vigor and splendid gallantry of the Fifty-fourth Mas- sachusetts Infantry at the assault of Fort Wagner proved to the world that the African race would make excellent soldiers when properly trained and led. Their colonel and lieutenant-colonel were Shaw and Hallowell, who came to their positions, the one from the Second, and the other from the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry." On a site facing the State House is a fitting memorial to Shaw and his colored troops, an alto-relief in bronze by St. Gaudens. Colonel Shaw was slain at Fort Wagner, and the bronze panel represents him heroically leading the charge that cost him his life.
The city has many Civil War memorials; every town which goes to make up Boston having one or more. On the Common is the tall Soldiers Monument dedicated September 17, 1877, which bears the following in- scription furnished by the late President Eliot: "To the men of Boston,
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who died for their country on land and sea in the war which kept the Union whole, destroyed Slavery, and maintained the Constitution, the grateful city has built this monument, that their example may speak to the coming generations." Charlestown has a monument, the work of the same sculptor, Martin Milmore; there is another at Dorchester, one in Forest Hills Cemetery, one in Jamaica Plain, one in Brighton Cemetery, nearly all of these are of heroic dimensions.
This review of the early military history of Boston cannot attempt to even mention all, or even the most important facts and events of the mili- tary past of the city. Many volumes have been written on this one phase of Boston's history ; to their numbers others are yearly being added. If one would have an accurate and full rounded account of any one of the several wars of the past, one must seek it in the great storehouses of our libraries. In this brief chapter all that could be done was to touch lightly on the steps by which a non-military people became the leaders in the wars of the United States. Not only against the Indians, but for their mother country, Boston was first to take up arms. When in later years the question of human liberty became dominant, and a need that must be fought for, both in the Revolution and the Civil War, Boston was first to make ready, first in the field, and first to suffer the hardships of the terrific struggles. She gave of her wealth and her citizens, more, pro- portionately, than any other large place in America. What she did to make possible the independence of our country, how great was her share in the giving of freedom to four million slaves, has not been and prob- ably cannot be justly estimated.
VIEW FROM COTTON OR PEMBERTON HILL. 1816
CHAPTER V. SOCIAL LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PERSONAGES.
Boston the Unique-Even the most casual visitor to the "Hub" senses that Boston is "different," that it is a city unlike others. It is often called the most English city in America, and by this is meant something more than its streets, its buildings, or its accent. Boston has a habit of minding its own business, which ofttimes makes it blind to what is going on in other places. The city occasionally pursues an uncharted course in municipal and sociological matters with an utter lack of consideration being given to the way in which other cities do these things. Mistakes are made ; Boston "muddles" her affairs. But like the English are sup- posed to do, she muddles through and somehow manages to reach her destination by a road which some other city will later have to use. Then she has much of the cautious, even the rebellious in her attitude towards the novel and the untried ; an aloofness in her consideration of National affairs and interests; a conservatism in business marked by occasional bursts of audacity, all of which are often misunderstood and held against her. There are strange contradictions in her manner of living; her citi- zens wander all over the earth, and yet there are few places where the "family" is so held in respect. Queer laws are upon her statute books, some of the strangest of them being still enforced. Nowhere are sports held in greater affection, yet one may not play golf on the public links of a Sunday morning, nor see a professional ball game in the afternoon. Boston is, as it was in the beginning, a religious community, even though its religion is not now that of the founders. It is filled with ex- ponents of historically hostile faiths, and yet never did more radical ideas dwell together in better amity.
Were this chapter a sermon, it might be well to use as a text those words of Daniel Webster when he said :
The distinctive characteristic of the settlement of the English colonists in America is the introduction of the civilization of Europe into a wilderness without bringing with it the political institutions of Europe. The arts, sciences, and literature of England came over with the settlers. .... But the monarchy did not come, nor the aristocracy, nor the church as an estate of the realm. And to this might be joined that pregnant phrase of John Fiske: "The spirit of that age was sure to manifest itself in narrow, cramping measures and in ugly acts of persecution ; but it is, none the less, to the fortunate alliance of that fervid religious enthusiasm with the love of self-government that our modern freedom owes its existence."
But this section is not a sermon ; it is an attempt to gather up some of the fragments of the rich early history of Boston which have to do with Met. Bos .- 10
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the social and cultural development of the city, to point out some of the forces which have made it a place unique and charming and dominant, and more particularly to tell something about the men whose ideals and ideas and lives helped, or hindered, in the creation of those distinct attri- butes and that character which are labeled "Bostonian." "This town of Boston," said Emerson, "has a history. It is not an accident, not a wind- mill, or a railroad station, or a cross-roads tavern, or an army barracks grown up by time or luck to a place of wealth; but a seat of humanity, of men of principle, obeying a sentiment and marching loyally whither that should lead them ; so that its annals are great historical lines, inex- tricably national ; part of the history of political liberty. I do not speak with fondness, but the language of coldest history, when I say that Boston commands attention as the town appointed in the destiny of nations to lead the civilization of North America." It is with the idea contained in that word "civilization" that we wish to deal, or to the social aspect of the word, the attainments in culture, arts, literature, and soci- ology, perhaps; with the idea that lay back of the witticism, "Boston is not a city, but a state of mind."
The Personality of the City-Instances might be repeated without end of the oddities, the unique qualities of Boston. One smiles at her idiosyncracies, or criticizes her frailities-but how she is loved by those who know her best! She has a charm which defies analysis, yet one that invites it. After all Boston is Boston because of the generations who have dwelt within her, and this means not simply those of the past but also those of the present. Cities have personalities because their char- acteristics are the sum totals of the characters of the persons who have lived in them. In terms of affection, one uses the feminine pronoun in speaking of Boston, but the city is essentially masculine, and its history is the life story of a boy growing into manhood. The lad was conceived in religion, and the pre-natal influences left a mark which has never been obliterated. The early years were ones of such hardship as to threaten the life of the babe. The net result was but to develop a spirit of self- dependence. The mother country, after years of neglect, much to the dis- taste of the lad, sent royal tutors, who while they broadened his outlook and added to his education, only increased his feeling of independence of the mother who had neglected him until he was big enough to con- tribute to her support. Eventually the boy became so rebellious that it was felt necessary to give him a thorough spanking. Unfortunately for the mother, the attempt was made to administer punishment to thirteen lusty sons, with the result that all left the parental roof. Boston again all but lost his life ; the rebellion draining the very life blood. But he turned to work, became a merchant, and as such soon became one of the leading
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citizens of the United States. This was the formative period in his career, the time when his future character was determined. The highest im- pulses of his long life came to the fore, and most of what is admirable in Boston dates from these formative years. The cosmopolitan Mr. Boston of today is but the mature, serious, likeable person, born so long ago when religion clashed with England.
Metaphor is hardly the medium in which to paint the portrait of so dignified and ancient a gentleman as Boston. If his biography is to be written as plain, bald history, one must split the story up into periods, and Boston's history falls into divisions rather better than that of most places. Life seldom separates itself into complete parts; there is a con- tinuity about it, however differently it may manifest itself at various times. But there are hills and valleys in every landscape, and there are high spots and low in the story of every living thing. There are land- marks all along the way in the growth of Boston, and these are always worthy of notice. There were eras in the history of Boston which were not only apogees, but which changed and determined the destiny of the city. Nearly every one of these epochs has its historic personages who were either responsible for the character of the period, or were lifted up above their fellows by it.
Landmarks of Boston History-The historian divides the history of Boston into half a dozen parts, and names them according to the phase of the history he is discussing. In this chapter we might, if we chose, consider the social history of Boston to consist of five periods: I. The Religious, 1629-1691. 2. The Formative, 1692-1774. 3. The Revolution- ary, 1775-1780. 4. The Commercial and Expansive, 1780-1865. 5. The Cos- mopolitan, 1866 to the present. Having made such a set of divisions, we may straightway forget all about them, for in actual service they are of little value.
The religious period covers only the first two decades from one stand- point, and extends on past the Revolution from another. Boston was founded by a group of people controlled by a desire to set up a religious commonwealth. As long as Winthrop held the reins of government and leadership, this theocracy was an accomplished fact. His death marked the beginning of the end of the religious Utopia as projected, but the religious faith that conceived it, dominated Boston for another century, and its effects upon the character of the city are not yet spent. The endeavor by our forefathers to set up a state of which God should be the head, whose laws should be those of the Bible, was one of the most remarkable experiments in colonization the world has ever seen. Its failure was due to more than one weakness, although the greatest was that it made no provisions for expansion.
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The crab is a most remarkable creature. To grow, it has to burst its shell; but having grown a bit it immediately hardens itself against any further development. The Puritan Commonwealth began to encrust itself from the beginning, but unlike the crab it was impossible for it to break this shell from within. It required the interference of a King to bring about an increased development of Boston. Royal Governors were sent to the town, and with them came new ideas, new standards of living, a new culture. Not much has been written upon the effect of the three quarters of a century spent by Boston as a province, and yet it was one of the great formative periods in its history. The provincial period was one of growth, uncertainty of frustration, much like that which troubles the youth as he is about to face the problems of manhood. It was also, like adolescence, a period of rebellious thoughts and desires. When Boston could contain itself no longer, and revolt became an ac- complished fact, the town was suddenly derived of most of its wealth and population. None of the large towns in the United States paid so great a price for its freedom from England as did Boston, and this despite the fact that war never visited her after the opening events of the Revolu- tion. The Boston of 1776 was a desolated place of small standing in this country commercially or intellectually.
The Formative Period-Boston had, however, been scattering seed throughout the States whose fruition she was now to reap. Once the war was over, there came to the port folk of like blood from neighboring sec- tions. The town began to live again, and more vigorously than ever. Commerce mated with religion, and a progeny was produced which ac- complished wonders. The population doubled and quadrupled decade after decade. There were ups and downs, but this tide of prosperity and growth extended well beyond the Civil War. Many of the civilities of life had their inception in the eras preceding the Revolution, but the real development of them had to wait until more than a half of the whole his- tory of Boston could be written in the past tense. The arts, sciences, literature, and culture of Boston may have been born relatively early, but as vital things holding a genuine sway over the affairs and destiny of Boston, it is to the last century and a half that we must look for this growth.
The last quarter of the great century in which Boston has been a city has wrought remarkable changes in Boston. Many of these have been but the completion of activities begun years before. Perhaps it is the quiet assured maturity of the place which makes the difference. Physical transformations are still going on, but there is no need for the removal of great hills or the filling of swamps. Like all large cities, land limits have been reached ; only by building in the air or digging under the ground
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can room for more people and business be made. The growth in popula- tion is principally that of the regions surrounding Boston proper, the Greater Boston of tomorrow. The city is busy patching the old out- grown garments of yesterday.
The Maturity of the Metropolis-Mentally, Boston has the vigor of youth without its crassness. There is no more serious-minded city in the United States than Boston, yet there is nothing new under the sun in which it is not interested, or to which it will not give a hearing. The World War not only broadened the outlook, but showed how rapidly the Bostonian could adapt himself to new activities and, as formerly, new and better methods of doing things were discovered and taught to other cities. As an example, the Committee on Public Safety, established here before there had been a break with Germany, proved to be the model after which the war work of the larger places in this country patterned their activities. The spirit of intelligent receptivity and of devoted pro- motion of movements that are worth while is one of the distinctive traits of the Boston of today. It may be due to the cosmopolitan character of its inhabitants, but would seem to be rather the inheritance from the past. As a mature city, Boston is doing better now what it has always done well in religion, ethics, sociology, civics, history, letters, art, science, learning, education, and all the useful crafts.
We are wandering off the track upon which this chapter is supposed to run, and may do so again. It is no longer necessary to point out that Boston holds a distinctive place among the cities of America. Let another eulogist sing her praises! Meanwhile, without being bound by hard and fast divisions, it may be interesting to discuss the ways and means by which Boston reached its heights ; point out some of the landmarks along the way, and tell a bit of the historic personages who have given distinc- tion to its records.
Boston's First Benefactor-It is quite natural, when some come to make a choice among the great names of the Puritan forefathers who played prominent parts in the giving of character to the early Boston, character which still persists in large measure or small, to recall the notable ministers of that day, John Cotton, the Mathers and others as the more influential. Or those of another turn of mind will choose a suc- cession of Governors, Winthrop, Dudley, Vane, Endicott, or, perhaps those whose names are signed to the Cambridge Compact, a very remark- able group. It would seem, however, that the beginning should be with that first settler and one of the greatest benefactors of Boston, William Blackstone, spell his name as you will. One of the most beautiful and helpful possessions of Boston are the parks, and, if the opinion of a Mis-
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sissippi River gambler has any weight, the "most beautiful spot on God's earth is Boston Common." Every generation that has lived in the city has been familiar with this bit of the country kept green in the center of the crowded metropolis. Who can measure the influence it has had in producing that "state of mind called Boston"? It so worked its way into the affections of the recluse, George F. Parkman, that he left his millions to care forever for this Common and the other Boston parks of his day. It was the recluse, Blackstone, who gave this playground and park so dear to Bostonians, and the site of the city for that matter-which a Supreme Court has decided belongs not to the city or State but to the people. This forty acre Common and its neighboring Public Gardens have not only been the blessed heritage of generations, but the Common is sometimes thought to be the father of the parks of our country, the in- spiration of those lovely healthful open spaces which are now so definite a part of all city planning and development.
There is little known about Blackstone. He preceded Winthrop and the founders of Boston by several years in locating on the peninsula. He was evidently one of those who came to Massachusetts Bay with Robert Gorges when the latter was trying unsuccessfully to make something out of the royal grant he had inherited on this side of the globe. Black- stone probably came to Shawmut, as the peninsula was known to the Indians, in 1625. He was a quiet bookish man who, becoming wearied with conditions, religious and other, in England, had crept off by himself and built his home on the slopes of the present Beacon Hill, not far from Beacon and Spruce streets. Here for about five years he cultivated a bit of the soil, traded with the Indians, and evidently wrote a great deal, since it is thought that some of the "ten paper books" which were unfor- tunately destroyed by the aborigines when they burned Blackstone's hut shortly after his demise, must have been written while at Shawmut. He planted apple trees, explored his domain from the back of a bull, living a seemingly contented though solitary life. Familiar with the course of events in the settlements at Plymouth, Salem, Charlestown and other places, he knew of the unfortunate conditions ruling in Charlestown opposite his home. A side light on his character may be gained by the picture of the recluse making himself known to Governor Winthrop and informing him of the excellent spring on the peninsula and giving an invitation to come and locate about it. He wearied of the "lord brethren" as he had of the "lord bishops" and four years later sold out all his land at Shawmut, reserving only six acres, removing to an estate in the present village of Lonsdale, Rhode Island, in 1634, becoming the first white set- tler of that state. That he returned often to Boston may be inferred from the fact that he later married the widow of one John Stephenson, a resi- dent of the town. He died in Cumberland, Rhode Island, May 26, 1675,
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when "four score years" old, if Roger Williams was right. For his invi- tation to Winthrop to come over and settle what is now Boston we know Blackstone best, but for his preservation of the Common to the everlast- ing benefit of the hundreds of thousands who have enjoyed it for nearly three hundred years, the gratitude and praise must ever be given to Wil- liam Blackstone.
The Signers of the "Cambridge Compact"-Since Boston was founded by a set of men who left a small amount of civilization to come to a vast amount of wilderness, one finds among these pioneers many of remark- able character and attainments. The sentiment of the old writer about expresses it when he said : "The Lord sifted the kingdoms of Europe to obtain good seed wherewith to plant the sterile fields of New England." What a set of stalwarts it was who, after having bought up and been granted the rights to form a colony in Massachusetts Bay, gathered at Cambridge, England, perhaps within the very walls of the University, and determined that the "whole government" should be given over and remain with those who "shall inhabit the said Plantation." They knew what they wanted and had the courage to get it. What wonder that they founded and maintained for more than a half century, an Utopian scheme of theocratical government doomed to failure from its inception, and while doing it, built up the most important town among the English colonies. What is of more import, these leaders, and those who came with them, created a new strain in the English race which, despite the erosion of the years, is still dominant even though in the minority, and gave to this new strain characteristics which are still recognized, and respected, as Bostonian or New England.
The signatures of the leaders appended to the Cambridge Compact are : Richard Saltonstall, Thomas Dudley, William Vassall, Nicholas West, Isaac Johnson, John Humfrey, Thomas Sharpe, Increase Nowell, John Winthrop, William Pinchon, Kellam Browne and William Colbron. Nearly all in one form of spelling or another are familiar names wherever New England blood is found. Sir Richard Saltonstall was a descendant of a former Lord Mayor of London, and came from a family which took an important part in the affairs of England. Thomas Dudley, deputy- Governor and later Governor of the colony, was also of distinguished ancestry. William Vassall, a wealthy man and trader, was one of the broader-minded of the group and later tried to have the civil franchise extended to others than the "elect." Isaac Johnson, who was accom- panied by his wife, the Lady Arabella, was a man of very great place and wealth; unfortunately both Johnson and his wife died shortly after the arrival on this side of the ocean. John Humfrey was also the son-in-law of the Earl of Lincoln, having married a sister of Lady Arabella. "In-
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crease Nowell was related to the dean of St. Paul's in the reign of Eliza- beth; William Pynchon possessed unusual learning and piety; and Thomas Sharpe, Nicholas West, Kellam Browne and William Colbron were all English gentlemen of no inconsiderable fortune and of uni- versity breeding." On the same vessel which brought Winthrop was George Phillips, the University trained minister; Simon Coddington, later Governor of Rhode Island; and Simon Bradstreet, who outlived them all and became known as "The Nestor of New England." A won- derful group of men were these who leaving what was best in Europe, deliberately left all to set up a commonwealth in a distant, rugged, almost unknown land.
John Winthrop-The leader of them all, by right of fitness and by choice, was John Winthrop. Because of what he was and did during the first two decades after the establishment of Boston, he and his period will be singled out and something told about them. If Boston may be said to have been "founded in religion," Winthrop must be acknowledged as its inspiration and guide, for none of the newcomers surpassed him in true religiousness and zeal. A lawyer in England, educated-he was admitted to Trinity College in 1602-wealthy, Lord of the Manor of Groton, a bright future before him, nevertheless he considered the aban- donment of his profession to become a minister. Possibly ancestry ac- counts for his turn of character, for both Adam Winthrop, his father, and Anne Winthrop, his mother, were folk of deep personal piety. John Winthrop seems not only to have thought religiously but to have lived according to his thoughts, although he never considered himself as hav- ing done so. From his mother he seems to have inherited an affection- ateness, a tender-heartedness quite unusual for those grim days; and, like his father, John Winthrop was introspective, self-controlled, and determined in what he felt was true and right.
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