USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 40
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The next call for service was when came the expedition against Louis- burg, the well-fortified French town, at Cape Breton, in 1745. Trans- ports from Gloucester, under Captain Thomas Sanders and Captain Charles Byles, with a company of forty-five soldiers from Gloucester, took part in this important expedition.
Kehoe, Thomas, Jr.
Kelley, William E.
McGovern, James P. McGrath, Joseph F. McIsaac, Richard R. McLean, George L.
Saunders, Jeffrey H.
Kimpton, Arlo
Savvage, Carroll Sewell, Loren W.
King, Philip E.
Mooney, George T.
Leach, H. W.
Murphy, Frank Joseph
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ESSEX COUNTY
When the French and Indian War came on, in 1755, Gloucester had a large interest at stake, as its Grand Bank fishery, now being of much importance, had been greatly interfered with by the French. The suc- cess of the English was therefore necessary to the best interests of Gloucester. One whole company was furnished from Gloucester, and several soldiers in other companies, in the first year of the war. After the war just named, the country was at peace for a number of years, but upon the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, there soon were heard the mutterings of a storm, the climax of which was the Revolutionary struggle and final independence of the Colonies. Early in 1775, active military preparations commenced; small arms were bought, musket balls procured and cartridges made, all by the direction of the town; a com- pany of minute-men was organized, commanded by Nathaniel Warner. While all this was going on, came news of the fight at Lexington. An express was sent to Cambridge to procure arms. A committee of safety of thirty-one men was formed and enlistments were vigorously pushed forward. It is not known just the number of men from Gloucester, but it is certain that there were four companies, wholly Gloucester men, and thirty enlisted here from Ipswich. One account says: Gloucester had in the first campaign over three hundred soldiers. Two Gloucester companies were present at the battle of Bunker Hill. Two gallant men were lost that day-Daniel Callahan and Benjamin Smith. The other Gloucester company was commanded by Captain John Rowe. It left Gloucester June 12th, en route to Cambridge, via Wenham. They soon met a large company of men from the Cambridge army, and, uniting forces, all marched to Bunker Hill, where quietly they began throwing up breastworks. In the ensuing engagement Francis Pool, Josiah Brooks and William Parsons were killed and many others wounded. Mr. Babson (historian) says that "all but six were fishermen and sail- ors. Thirty-five were natives of Gloucester. Seventeen were under twenty-one years of age, five only over thirty, and none over forty. The youngest was William Low, only fourteen years old. John Row, Jr., was only sixteen years of age."
Many ships went forth as privateers and captured several valuable prizes in the War of 1812. In fact, the greater strength of war activi- ties from Gloucester in that war was that concerning marine or ocean operations.
The mails of the morning of April 15, 1861, brought full particu- lars of the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, the opening of the Civil War. That evening Company G, of the Eighth Regiment of Infantry, was recruited and left Gloucester on the morning of the 16th. This was soon followed by Company K, of the Twelfth Regiment. Mass-meetings were held, and in a few days Company C was recruited and made a part of the Twenty-third Regiment. Com- pany D, of the Thirty-second, and Company K, of the Thirtieth Regi-
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MILITARY HISTORY
ment, gave a respectable lot of soldiers from Gloucester. In December, 1864, a company of Coast Defense was raised at Gloucester and sta- tioned at Marblehead port till the end of the war. The men credited to Gloucester during the four-year Civil War were as follows: Three months' men, 67; one hundred days' men, 72; for six months, 3; for nine months, 106; for three years, 649; for one year, 129. Total for army, 1,026; in the navy, 478; total army and navy, 1,504.
Passing over the war period of the Spanish-American War, 1898-99, in which the National Guard of Essex county made the chief bodies sent out, the reader is invited to note the particulars of the recent World War: True to its record in all previous wars in which the country has been engaged, Gloucester did its part in the great World War, furnishing over 1,650 men, of whom over 500 were in the naval service, in response to the cry of the Allies for help in their great struggle against Germany, fifty-seven of whom, including one woman, laid down their lives that Liberty and Freedom might be preserved throughout all the earth. As a memorial to the services of these men, the Old Town Hall, erected in 1845 and used as the public meeting place until the erection of a more modern building in 1867, and later as a school house, was remodeled and placed at the disposal of the survivors as a Memorial Building, while in the square in front a tribute to the heroic dead was erected in the form of an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, a duplicate of the statue near Riverside Drive, New York, the work of Miss Anna Vaughn Hyatt, of Cambridge, a summer resident of Annisquam.
The statute stands on a pedestal of Cape Ann granite, of attractive design, the work of Frederick G. Hall, of Boston, a summer resident of East Gloucester. On one end of the pedestal is the motto, "For Their Country, 1917-1918," surrounded by a wreath, with a representation of the city seal on the other end, while on the sides are bronze tablets con- taining the names of fifty-six men and one woman who made the su- preme sacrifice while in the service, above the names being the motto, "Aeternum Vale," and beneath, "Sons of Gloucester Who Gave Their Lives in the World War." The names upon the tablets are as follows:
Lendall H. Abbott
John E. Gosson
Frank B. Amaral
Roland B. Griffin
Edward E. Hamilton
A. Maxwell Parsons
Lawrence C. Peabody
Rodney D. Brown
Edward W. Howe
Samuel H. Byers
Franklin S. Ingersoll
Roland L. Cole Lester E. Collins
Alfred A. Jedry Mrs. Winifred Call Jeffery
Herman S. Robinson
Philip Cunningham
Aino E. Johnson
Arthur E. Diamino
James E. Keating
Charles B. Knutson
Patrick E. Degnan Kilby S. Dennison Leon H. Donahue
Milton E. Lane
George H. Stenstream
Thomas R. Doucette
Eric Lingard Raymond W. Lowe
Thomas H. G. Douglass
Joseph S. Mattos, Jr. James E. McDonald
Manuel H. Enos
Martin L. Welch, Jr.
George H. Whiting
O. Proctor Friend Daniel C. Gale
J. Russell McKenney Donald C. McKinnon Joachim Murray
Edward D. Newell Harold E. Oakes
Harvey R. Anderson William E. Blaisdell
Phillips Haskell
Frank R. Perry Arthur M. Pinkham
Albert T. Plourde
Thomas L. Saxild Carl L. Seaburg Carlton J. Smith
Waldo L. Stream
Wilfred J. Duchane
James J. Torretta Nestor T. Walen Lester S. Wass
Lawson A. Wile
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Newburyport .- A committee of safety was appointed at Newbury- port just before the battle of Lexington, and the seizure of public stores at Concord by the British troops was the final signal for action. On the receipt of the news, Captain Moses Nowell at once mustered his company of militia and started at eleven o'clock for the scene of action. In May, 1775, a volunteer company was formed in the town and marched away to unite with Colonel Moses Little's regiment. Still a third company was recruited, but had within its numbers many from outside towns. Finally, these all joined the Continental army, and with Capt. Lunt were at the battle of Bunker Hill. During seven years of the Revolutionary War, Newburyport furnished 717 enlistments, including those who came from outside towns and enrolled there. From the date of the Lexing- ton alarm to the end of the conflict, Newburyport had appropriated the sum of £500,000 sterling, nearly all having been spent for war expenses. Men from this town were found on the ocean wherever the new flag, "Old Glory" as now styled, was seen floating to the breeze. Wherever a gun was fired by Newburyport men, it was in defence of true liberty.
When the War of 1812 came on, there were many men in Newbury- port who understood something of what a war meant to any country. This had come to be a very large shipping and boat-building port, and when the British began seizing our boats it hurt the business interests here to a great extent. The hundreds of craft here built and owned were at the sport of the British navy. When war was declared, New- buryport had about 8,000 population; its tonnage was 24,000 tons; its duty on imports was $47,000. Here, as all over New England, this was not a popular war. Votes were passed refusing to pay bounties for en- listments should men be called for. The seizure of our boats greatly tended to enthuse the people, however, and finally they were fast for war. Before the close of 1812, they had a busy fleet of privateers on the seas. The "Manhattan" was the first privateer to sail out from the town. All in all, Newburyport did at last stand united with other States in repelling the British scheme of ruining our sea trade and undermining our commerce.
Again in 1861, when the Southern States rebelled and the safety of the Union of States was threatened, Newburyport took a bold stand, and her sons went forth at the first call of President Lincoln. The 8th Regi- ment was an Essex county regiment, and the Cushing Guards, under Capt. Albert W. Bartlett, was known as Company A. The next com- pany to leave was the McClellan Guard, under Capt. Luther Dame; it left Massachusetts on June 27, 1861, and was assigned to the 11th Remi- ment, and its record was replete with thrilling conduct in all the great battles of the war. The next company was that known as Company B, of the 35th Regiment, under Capt. Albert W. Bartlett. It is easier to say that it was in all the great engagements than it is to try to enumer- ate the many battles. Company A of the 48th Regiment was made up
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MILITARY HISTORY
at Newburyport, under C. M. Woodward. The total number of en- listments credited to Newburyport was 1,343. Besides these in the army, there were 242 volunteers in the navy, making 1,585 in all. The ladies of the town were ever alert, and the amount of needful articles were forthcoming whenever a call was made for them. The Home Soldiers' Relief Association raised and disbursed $13,000 in cash during three years, to which was added boxes of articles for the health and comfort of the men in the field. The money and articles furnished was in excess of $31,000. When the war had ended the ladies had a balance of $1,500, which was distributed among the various churches of the town.
In the Spanish-American War of 1898-99, when Cuba was set free, as one of the results of the sinking of the "Maine," Newburyport re- sponded with men and money to further a war which, happily, was of short duration, it being largely an ocean warfare.
The late World War, in which the allied forces, including the United States, had for their enemy Germany, Austria and Hungary, commanded the attention of all loyal spirits on American soil. Newburyport was fully up to the standard in what she did, and what she furnished in men and in means in support of the cause of true democracy, world-wide. The government reports are not yet published, so that a roster of men sent to this conflict cannot now be given. In front of the City Hall in Newburyport has been erected a wooden tablet (preparatory to more permanent memorials) to the men who sacrificed life in the war. This tablet shows the names of the following: James H. Aurelius, Raymond T. Balch, Edwin E. Boston, Eben Bradbury, Jr., Harry M. Burke, Fred A. Clark, Joseph S. Chaisson, George Dow, Cornelius J. Doyle, Fred C. Duelvitz, James G. Gallagher, Francis M. Fowler, Daniel H. Lucy, Ar- thur Morin, Cornelius F. Moynihan, Joseph A. Pelkey, Ed. H. Perry, Wicenitzy Pieterneck, Harry L. Pray, John W. Ryan, Arthur H. Wright, Harold Gove, Fred Horsch, Daniel P. Horgan, John T. Hallisey.
Haverhill .- From various records and historical writings, including a recent article from the pen of Major Ralph D. Hood, the following has been gleaned as to the part taken by loyal citizens of Haverhill in all of the conflicts since the Indian wars and the Revolution, as well as in the late World War.
As early as 1631, a military company was authorized, and in all probability Ensign Noyes, the first surveyor, was an officer, although it was not until 1662 that a record was made of the organization of a mili- tary company, with Captain William White and Lieutenant Daniel Ladd as officers. In 1675 a fort was constructed around the meeting house, and from that date till 1762 the Colony was almost continuously under arms in defense of their homes from the attack of the Indians and French. April 30, 1697, the famed Hannah Dustin and two companions killed and scalped ten Indians, thereby carving a place for herself in the
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world's history as the American Amazon. In the Indian massacre of August 29, 1708, the following officers were killed: Captains Samuel Ayer and Simeon Wainwright, and Lieutenant John Johnson.
In the period before the Revolutionary War many companies of militia were formed. Among those whose names have been perpetuated are found those of General Israel Bartlett, the only general officer men- tioned in early history, and the following: Captains, Edmund Mooers, Richard Saltonstall, David Johnson, John Hazen; and Ensign Moses Hazen. These officers kept up the organization of the military com- panies of that early period. Before September 5, 1774, all of the Hav- erhill troops had been infantry, but on this date a company of artillery was organized under Captain James Brickett, with Lieutenant Israel Bartlett and Ensign Joshua B. Osgood as officers, probably in anticipa- tion of the Revolution.
April 19, 1775, Lieut .- Col. James Brickett, with Capts. James Saw- yer's and Ebenezer Colby's and Lieut. Samuel Clement's companies of minute-men, a total of 105 officers and men, left Haverhill for Cambridge in answer to the first call of the American Revolution; one company of militia was left behind to protect the town and complete the spring work. At the battle of Bunker (or Breed's) Hill, two companies were in action and a number of men were wounded, among them being Col. James Brickett. A greater portion of these men, with many home recruits, continued in the service throughout the war, among whom were Capt. William Baker and Gen. Thomas Bartlett, the latter having been the ranking officer from the town of Haverhill.
In 1804 Capt. Huse was commanding the local company, and on May 26, 1810, the Haverhill Light Infantry was organized, commanded by Capt. Jesse Harding, with an armory in the Bannister block, on the site of the Wachusett Club, at the corner of Bridge and Merrimack street. The town boasted, in 1812, of three companies. September 10, 1814, Capt. Samuel W. Duncan's company of the 5th Regiment, Second Brigade, Second Division, M. V. M., with Lieut. Nathaniel Burrill and Ensign Thomas Newcomb, marched to Charlestown for service in the war against England. At the close of the war in 1815, the town held a celebration in honor of their successful efforts to maintain their inde- pendence. The names of Majors Duncan, White and Harding appear as the ranking officers of that occasion. The Haverhill Light Infantry was disbanded in 1841 and was succeeded by the Hale Guards, under Capt. William Taggert.
No company was organized for the Mexican War in 1846-48, but many Haverhill soldiers went with Col. Caleb Cushing's Massachusetts regiment, and at least seven of these veterans are buried in Haverhill cemeteries.
No remarkable military events occurred between 1849 and 1861. During a part of this time the Hale Guards were quartered in the Town
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MILITARY HISTORY
Hall, and later were transferred to the Armory, at the corner of Merri- mack and Fleet streets, where they were when the call came to put down the Rebellion. Under Capt. Carlos P. Messer, the Hale Guards, as Com- pany D, 5th Massachusetts Infantry, entrained for Washington and took part in the Baltimore riot on their way. The following companies were later recruited and did loyal service from 1861 to 1865: Company E, 17th Volunteers, Capt. Michael McNamara; Company F, 17th Volun- teers, Capt. Luther Day; Company H, 22nd Volunteers, Capt. William F. Gibson; Company G, 50th Volunteers, Capt. George W. Edwards; Company F, 50th Volunteers, Capt. Samuel Duncan; Company I, 60th Volunteers, Capt. David Boynton.
Many detached units followed, all doing heroic service. Many earned high rank and honor, among them Major-General Henry Jackson How, whose brilliant life closed on a Southern battlefield. With a total population of less than ten thousand persons, Haverhill furnished 73 officers and 1,003 men to preserve the Union, and of this number 186 gave up their lives in battle.
Military matters were at a standstill in Haverhill after the end of the Civil War, until July 1, 1869, when Company F, 6th M. V. M., was transferred from Concord to Haverhill, and Capt. Edmund G. W. Cart- wright, 1st Lieut. Henry T. Fitts and 2nd Lieut. William H. Turner were elected officers on August 6, 1869, and camped at Boxford, August 24 to 29, 1869.
In 1873 the State purchased the State Camp Ground at Framing- ham, and the militia was equipped with the muzzle-loading Springfield rifle. May 19, 1873, John N. Ellsworth was commissioned first lieu- tenant, and Frank A. Dow second lieutenant. April 13, 1874, John N. Ellsworth was commissioned captain, Frank A. Dow first lieutenant, and Charles H. Stanton second lieutenant. The latter was succeeded by Marshall Alden, September, 1875, and later became first lieutenant, September 17, 1877. It was in 1877 that this company was equipped with Springfield breech-loading rifles, calibre 45. September 11, 1878, Marshall Alden became captain, and in December, 1878, the company was transferred from the 6th to the 8th Regiment. December, 1879, George H. Hansom became captain. In 1883 the Armory was moved to Fleet street. B. H. Jellison was commissioned captain in January, 1884. In March, 1893, William C. Dow was commissioned captain, and in 1895 he was commissioned major in the 8th Regiment, M. V. M.
At the call to the colors for service in the Spanish-American War, Company F became a unit in the 8th Massachusetts, May 10, 1898, and on May 11, 1898, Capt. W. C. Dow and Lieut. David E. Jewell were com- missioned in the United States service at Framingham, Massachusetts. The company went to Camp George H. Thomas at Chickamauga, Tennes- see, arriving May 19, 1898, then to Camp Hamilton at Lexington, Ken- tucky, and from there to Camp Gilman, Americus, Georgia, on Novem- ber 10, 1898.
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ESSEX COUNTY
During the absence of Company F for Spanish-American War ser- vice, a provisional company was formed and mustered into the State service June 21, 1898. It was commanded by Lieut. Carlos E. Palmer, being disbanded April 15, 1899, at the Armory on Emerson street, when Company F returned, and was reorganized under Capt. W. C. Dow, with Lieuts. David E. Jewell and David F. Whittier. Captain William C. Dow was commissioned for the second time in the U. S. Volunteers, and gave up his life while in the Philippine service.
In 1899 Capt. David E. Jewell was elected; June 7, 1904, Harry B. Campbell was commissioned captain. January 5, 1912, Company F saw service for three weeks in the Lawrence strike. Captain Campbell was made a field officer and Ralph D. Hood became captain. The next captain of the company was Charles H. Morse, elected March 7, 1916. On June 20, 1916, Company F was ordered out for service on the Mexi- can border, and during its absence, on August 2, 1916, John D. Hardy was commissioned first lieutenant. September 23, 1916, George A. Colleton became second lieutenant. After five months' service on the border the company returned to Haverhill, November 11, 1916, and was received with honors.
After the transfer of Capt. Charles H. Morse to the field artillery, an election was held on May 1, 1917, and the following officers were com- missioned : Capt. John D. Hardy, First Lieut. George A. Colleton, Second Lieut. John B. Peaslee.
The World War brought to Haverhill a new arm of the military service, the Second Battery, Massachusetts Field Artillery Regiment, its predecessor having been organized here September 5, 1774.
Concerning the late World War, it may be stated that at the time this war began Haverhill had a population of about 49,450. It raised $11,254,379.81 for war work, including four Liberty Loans, Red Cross campaigns, United War Work drives and numerous tag days. There were 4,342 men in the United States service from this city, or about 8 1/2 per cent. of the population, the average per cent. in all the States being 3.68. Of the total number from Haverhill in the United States service, 1,920 went over seas. The number of casualties was 208, of which 111 were reported killed or died from disease or accident while in the service; 105 of this number have been identified, and seven still remain a question as to whereabouts. The total of Greater Haverhill was 134 casualties.
When war was declared, Haverhill had about seventy-five men in the regular army, but soon the sons of this city were seen in every branch of the service. They fought in France, in North Italy, North Russia, Siberia, Palestine, the Dardanelles and in Bavaria. It was rep- resented in most of the cantonments. Forty-five women heard the call to the colors and entered the service as Red Cross nurses, ambulance drivers, yeomen, Salvation Army workers, while one girl enlisted in the signal corps as a telephone operator. The leading workers among them
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MILITARY HISTORY
were Pauline Jordan, decorated by a foreign government for her work; Major B. Pauline Bourneuf, with the telephone unit in France; Miss Stella Grant Warren, a yeoman in the naval reserve in Boston, who died at home. The two brave Salvation Army girls from Haverhill were Capt. Geneva Ladd and Lieut. Mary Walker. Miss Dorothea Davis and Miss Ethel Gray enlisted in the reconstruction department of the United States Medical Corps, and Miss Emma B. Mortimer in Red Cross service, received the rank of lieutenant.
While Battery A left Haverhill with one hundred and ninety men, many returned wounded or otherwise disabled, so that only ninety of the original number came back in the 26th Division. Of the one hundred and sixty in Company F who left Lynnfield, only seven went into Com- pany F of the 104th at Pittsfield. The first member of Battery A to die was private Jeremiah Moynthan, aged twenty-three years; he died at home, and his funeral was held at St. James' Church, with full military honors, on May 23.
The greatest day in the lives of many of the men from Haverhill was June 5, 1917, when 5,403 lads between the ages of 21 and 31 regis- tered for the national army. Nine hundred claimed exemption on ac- count of being aliens. Private James F. Broderick was killed by light- ning, aged twenty-four years, while at camp at Boxford, during a ter- rific thunderstorm.
The Red Cross from the beginning and up to 1919 contributed in membership and in gifts nearly $200,000. In 1918 the membership was 22,000, or forty per cent. of the population. The women workers pro- duced and shipped surgical dressings, 41,120; hospital and refugee gar- ments, 17,031; knitted articles, 21,531. The Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus each did their full share of excellent giving of service and means.
In the Public Library at Haverhill may be seen a volume sacred to its soldiers, its first page stating: "A Record of the Heroic Sons of Hav- erhill Who in the World War of 1914-19 Fought and Gave the Supreme Gift of Life for the Honor of Their Country, Its Citizenship, Humanity and Liberty." This beautifully typewritten record, bound in morocco covering, was the compilation of Miss Bessie Sherbourne, Boston, and it was dedicated to the library in a well-timed speech, full of patriotic feel- ing, by Hon. Albert L. Bartlett. This record of the deceased soldiery of the city is carefully preserved in the fire-proof safe in the librarian's office. The volume contains the photograph (in most cases) and name alphabetically inserted. The deaths of these soldiers occurred some time between 1914 and 1919, the list being as follows:
Pvt. Anton Andruszklwicz Sergt. Rodney C. Ramford Pvt. Pasquale Barrasso Pvt. John A. Bassani
Corp. Albert J. Beausoleil Pvt. Peter P. Beauregard
Pvt. Geo. E. Becker
Pvt. Roy Berry
Pvt. Roy R. Castle Wagoner W. W. Chase Pvt. Wm. M. Conneau
Corp. Alex. Booth
Corp. Michael Bucuzzo
Corp. Jas. De Conley
Lieut .- Com. F. J. Butterfield Corp. Daniel F. Cooper
Pvt. Geo. B. Carney
Corp. John F. Coughlin
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ESSEX COUNTY
Corp. Jere. J. Cronnin Fireman John J. Cummings Pvt Harry S. Cunneen Pvt. Adrain J. Desourdie Lieut. Frank E. Doyle Pvt. Ernest A. Eaton Pvt. Frank P. Eaton
Pvt. John B. Kavanaugh
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