USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 19
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Rev. William Montague, rector of Christ Church, was the person to whom Arthur Savage gave the ball which killed War- ren at Bunker Hill. The identity of this ball has been disputed
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by some of the martyr's descendants, on the ground that it was said to have been taken from the body, while Warren received his death from a ball in the head. The controversy was main- tained with considerable warmth on both sides, the general opinion favoring the authenticity of the fatal bullet. Arthur Savage was an officer of the customs in Boston, and his state- ment that he took the piece of lead from Warren's body is worthy of belief. Mr. Montague is said to have been the first American Episcopal clergyman ordained in America who preached in an English pulpit. The English officers billeted in this quarter of the town attended Christ Church.
Tileston Street is the Love Lane of our ancestors, not from the Hymeneal Deity, - else we may believe it would have been the favorite resort of the North End damsels and their love- lorn swains. It was thus named from the Love family, who owned most of the street. Mrs. Susannah Love sold the ground on which the Eliot School was built, and the name of the lane was changed about 1820, for good old Master John Tileston of that school. Master Tileston presided over the school for two thirds of a century, and after he became superannuated his salary was continued ; the only instance of the kind in the history of the town or city. He lived at the westerly corner of Margaret and Prince Streets. Mather Byles is said to have first seen the light in Tileston Street.
The first Grammar School in this part of the town was erected in Bennet Street in 1713, and was called the North Latin School. Recompense Wadsworth was the first master. A writing-school was built on the same lot, on Love Lane, in 1718 ; and in 1741, when an enumeration was made, this school had more pupils than all the others combined. Up to 1800 there were but seven schools in the town, and only nine when Boston became a city. Bennet Street was for some time distinguished as North Latin School Street. The old schools were known later as the North Grammar and North Writing, the subsequent name of Eliot being given to honor the memory of the pastors of the Old North Church. Since the city government went into opera- tion it seems to have passed into a custom to name the schools
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for the mayors. The old school-house stood by the side of the present one, and was the third in the town. Captain Thomas Hutchinson, father of the too-celebrated lieutenant-governor, built the house and gave it to the town. Three or four edifices have succeeded the original, the present structure having been dedicated on Forefather's Day, 1859. Mather Byles, Edward Everett, and Dr. Jenks are among the distinguished pupils of the school. Edward Everett lived, in 1802, in Proctor's Lane, now the easterly part of Richmond Street, and in 1804 removed to Richmond Street. His mother afterwards removed to New bury, now Washington Street, to a house nearly opposite the head of Essex Street.
The modern school acquired some notoriety in 1859, from a rebellion of the Catholic pupils against the reading of the Ten Commandments, which caused no little excitement in the old North End. Various attempts have been made from time to time to prohibit the reading of the Scriptures in the public schools, one of which gave rise to the following mot of Rufus Choate : "What ! banish the Bible from schools ! Never, while there is a piece of Plymouth Rock left large enough to make a gun-flint of !"
At Prince Street we reach the old line of division between Salem Street proper and Back Street. The origin of Salem and Lynn Streets are obvious. Back Street was thus distinguished from Fore, through which our readers have followed us in a former chapter. Prince, named from some scion of royalty, has outlived King and Queen. This street was originally from Han- over (Middle) to the sea, but now reaches into North Square, its easterly terminus. The portion between Salem and Hanover was anciently known as Black Horse Lane, from an old tavern on the corner of Back Street. This tavern, corrupted into Black-us-inn, was noted as a place of refuge and concealment for deserters from Burgoyne's army at Cambridge. It was of considerable antiquity, the lane being so called before 1700. The royal regulars had barracks on the corner of Prince and Salem Streets in 1775 - 76.
Salem Church, at the corner of North Bennet and Salem
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Streets, was organized in 1827. Its formation was coeval with the church in Pine Street, and the dedication occurred January 1, 1828, at which time Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., was in- stalled. Dr. George W. Blagden, who has recently resigned the pastorate of the Old South, was settled here. The building has a simple, substantial look, but may be classed with those of no special attractive features.
Though we would fain linger in the old North End, other sections claim our attention. In it the spirit of resistance to British tyranny was strongly developed, and it contained less of the tory element than some other quarters of the town. The sturdy mechanics of the North End were ever ready to act in the cause of liberty, no matter what the sacrifice might be. Many of her sons gained a noble reputation in the wars of the republic. There was that old sea-lion, John Manly, who held the first naval commission issued by Washington, in 1775. He took, in the Lee, the dangerous cruising-ground of Boston Bay, and captured, in November, the British ordnance brig Nancy, a prize so important to the Continental army that the camps were wild with joy. Among other pieces taken was a heavy brass mortar, which Old Put mounted with a bottle of rum in his hand, while Mifflin christened it the "Congress." The Lee made other im- portant captures ; and in 1776 Manly was given command of the Hancock frigate, in which he captured the Fox, British man-of-war, but was himself taken prisoner by the Rainbow, a much heavier vessel than his own. He commanded afterwards the Jason and Hague, in both of which he gave evidence that he was a worthy comrade of Paul Jones. Manly was a bluff but indiscreet seaman, and for some irregularity was court-martialled. He died in 1793, at his house in Charter Street.
Another naval hero, still more renowned, was Commodore Samuel Tucker of the old Continental navy, who lived in a three-story brick building on the north side of Fleet Street, where now stands a brick stable.
His first cruise was in 1776, with a commission signed by Samuel Adams in his pocket, and a pine-tree flag at his peak, made by the hands of his wife. This intrepid sailor took from
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the enemy during the war sixty-two sail of vessels, more than six hundred cannon, and three thousand prisoners, and when at length compelled to surrender the old Boston frigate, which he then commanded, to the British squadron at Charleston, he kept his flag flying until Admiral Arbuthnot sent him a special order to lower it. Tucker's reply was, "I do not think much of striking my flag to your present force ; but I have struck more of your flags than are now flying in this harbor."
Commodore Tucker carried John Adams to Bordeaux in 1778, " through the six-and-twenty misfortunes of Harlequin." Dur- ing this voyage the ship was struck by lightning, and the Com- modore narrowly escaped death from the fragments of a falling spar. His services, which it is believed were unsurpassed by those of any of his comrades of the old navy, met with tardy requital from the nation. According to his biographer, Mr. Sheppard, he retired in 1793 to a farm in Bristol, Maine. John Adams, in speaking of a visit from Tucker, says, " When I see or hear of or from one of these old Men, whether in civil, political, military, or naval service, my heart feels."
The brave Lieutenant James Sigourney, who commanded the armed schooner Asp, and fell heroically fighting in an engage- ment with a British flotilla in Chesapeake Bay in 1812, - Cap- tain Samuel Newman, lieutenant in Craft's Artillery in the early part of the Revolution; serving in the navy under Nicholson in the Deane in 1782 ; killed in St. Clair's battle with the Miami Indians, - Colonel Josiah Snelling, fighting against the Indians and distinguished at Tippecanoe ; afterwards at York, Platts- burg, and other fields ; finally colonel of the 5th United States infantry, and giving his name to Fort Snelling, - Colonel John Mountfort, brevetted for gallantry at Plattsburg, and distin- guished in the Florida war, - Captain Samuel Armstrong, a sol- dier of 1812, - and Lieutenant Robert Keith, who served under Macomb at Plattsburg ; all lived in the North End.
Next north of Christ Church was a large brick building, end to the street, occupied more than fifty years ago as a type and stereotype foundry ; a part of the site next the church was afterwards used for an academy. The north corner of Tileston,
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at its junction with Hanover Street, was the home of Professor Henry J. Ripley, of the Newton Theological Institute.
At the northerly corner of Sheaffe and Salem Streets was the residence of Dr. Samuel Stillman, the well-known pastor of the First Baptist Church from 1765 to his death in 1807. From him Stillman Street takes its name. He preached eloquently in the cause of liberty in his house of worship in the rear of Salem, near Stillman Street. This church, once cowering under the lash of bigotry, seeking to hide itself in an obscure corner of the town, is now translated to the highest eminence in the city, and towers majestically over the neighboring steeples.
The First Baptist Church, like the Episcopal, had to struggle against the determination of the magistrates, backed by a ma- jority of the people, to permit no other church than their own to obtain a foothold in their midst. A few individuals consti- tuted the church in Charlestown in May, 1665, but were driven by persecution to a private dwelling on Noddle's Island. They erected their church in Boston without exciting the suspicion of the authorities, until its dedication in February, 1679. This act of contumacy was summarily dealt with. The church doors were nailed up, and the following notice posted upon them : -
" All persons are to take notice, that by order of the court, the doors of this house are shut up, and that they are inhibited to hold any meeting, or to open the doors thereof, without license from au- thority, till the General Court take further order, as they will answer the contrary at their peril.
"Dated at Boston 8th March 1680, Edward Rawson Secretary."
The first house was erected on the banks of the Mill Pond, on the north side of Stillman Street, between Salem and Pond (now Endicott) Streets. This house was replaced by a larger one, also of wood, in 1771, and abandoned in 1829, when the society took possession of the brick building now standing at the corner of Hanover and Union Streets. This was in turn vacated in 1858 for the edifice in Somerset Street.
In Baldwin Place - since become the Home of Little Wan- derers - is the house of the Second Baptist Church. This so- ciety organized in 1743, and held their first services at the house
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of James Bownd in Sheaffe Street, near Copp's Hill, removing later to Proctor's School-house, until March, 1746, when they took possession of their new building upon the spot first men- tioned. The first house was of wood, and quite small, having near the head of the broad aisle a basin for baptismal purposes. It was superseded, in 1810, by the present brick structure.
In Salem Street was the old printing-office of Zachariah Fowle, - first the master and then the partner of Isaiah Thomas, -- in which was printed the old Massachusetts Spy in 1770, until Thomas dissolved his connection with Fowle and opened his office in School Street, near the Latin School. Thomas, whose paper was a high organ of liberty, was ordered to appear once before Governor Hutchinson for a publication reflecting on the executive, but refused to go. He removed his types, press, etc., to Worcester a few days before the battle of Lexington. This was the origin of the Worcester Spy. Later he opened a bookstore at 45 Newbury Street, under the name of Thomas and Andrews, but did not reside in Boston. Oliver Ditson & Co. now occupy the spot.
Many old buildings still remain in Salem, Prince, Charter, and the neighboring streets. Over the apothecary's door, at the corner of Salem and Prince Streets, is an antique head of Æs- culapius, or some follower of the curative art, which is the oldest sign now known in the North End. Many years ago it stood at the edge of the sidewalk affixed to a post, but, ob- structing the way, it was removed. This is believed to be the oldest apothecary's stand in Boston now used for that purpose. Robert Fennelly was the ancient dispenser of pills and purga- tives on this corner.
In the slums of the North End originated the draft riot of 1863. The officers who attempted to serve the notices in Prince Street were cruelly beaten, and the mob, gathering courage from its triumph over a handful of police, reinforced from the purlieus of Endicott, Charlestown, and neighboring streets, made an attempt to seize the cannon kept at the gun- house in Cooper Street, which was held by a little band of regulars from Fort Warren. The rioters had killed and wounded
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several of the garrison, and had nearly succeeded in demolish- ing the doors, when the guns were discharged into the mob with fatal effect. After withstanding for a few moments the fusil- lade from the small arms of the soldiers, the crowd gave way, moving towards Dock Square, where they expected to secure a supply of weapons by breaking open the store of William Reed and other dealers in arms in that vicinity. Eight of the rioters were known to have been killed, but those who fell were re- moved by their friends, and no authentic data can be given.
Traces of this affair may yet be seen in the dwelling opposite the gun-house, the brick walls of which were scarred by the discharge of grape at point-blank distance.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE.
Marlborough Street. - Governor Winthrop. - Old South. - Warren's Ora- tions. - Tea-Party Meeting. - British Occupation. - Phillis Wheatley. - Spring Lane. - Heart and Crown. - Boston Evening Post. - Province House. - Samuel Shute. - William Burnet. - William Shirley. - Thomas Pownall. - Francis Bernard. - General Gage. - Lexington Expedition. - Sir William Howe. - Council of War. - Court Dress and Manners. - Governor Strong. - Blue Bell and Indian Queen. - Lieutenant-Governor Cushing. - Josiah Quincy, Jr. - Mayor Quincy.
ITTHAT part of Washington Street lying between School and Summer Streets was, in 1708, named Marlborough Street, from the great duke whom Thackeray irreverently calls Jack Churchill, - the man of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. The Marlboro Hotel still perpetuates the name.
As we stand at the south corner of School Street at its union with Washington, a collection of old buildings faces us extend- ing from the yard of the church nearly to Spring Lane. This, together with the church property, was a part of the estate of one of the greatest men among the early colonists, John Win- throp. The house of the first governor of this band of Puritans stood nearly opposite to us. It was of wood, the frame being removed from Cambridge, or Newtown as the early settlers then called it. This removal was the cause of a misunderstanding between the governor and the deputy, Dudley, but matters were accommodated to the content of both parties. In the Introduction some account is given of the character of Win- throp's habitation, which remained standing nearly a century and a half, until demolished by the British soldiery in 1775. So the roof that sheltered Winthrop went to light the mess-fires of his Majesty's troops, or to diffuse warmth through the apart- ments of Gage or Howe in the Province House.
The life of Winthrop is the history of the Colony. It ap-
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pears in connection with its affairs, or the biographies of his contemporaries. Under his rule church and state were one ; and the idea of tolerating any belief but their own was repug- nant to the practice, whatever may have been the theory, of the then colonists. Winthrop was one of the first selectmen of Boston, and more than any other moulded its government. The remarkable affair of Anne Hutchinson, in which so many persons of importance were participants, shook to its centre the social and religious fabric Winthrop had assisted to raise, and left him at variance with Sir Henry Vane, next to himself the , most considerable man in the infant colony. His rule was iron towards all who professed any but the orthodox faith, until a short time before his death, when, it is said, he refused to sign an order for the banishment of some dissenting person, saying to Dudley that he had done too much of that work already. The Pequot war, begun while Vane was governor, ended under Winthrop. So far as the neighboring Indians were concerned, the governor maintained peace by a firm yet conciliatory policy. The chiefs were entertained at his table, and greatly edified by the governer's domestic economy. Chicataubut refused to eat until his host said grace, and received at his departure a suit of the governor's clothes, in which he strutted home to his wigwam with increased importance.
According to the modern view, the governor did not favor popular government ; his opinion being that wisdom resided in the few. As a man he was less inflexible than as a magistrate, for it is related that he reclaimed a thief whom he detected stealing his wood in the following manner. "Friend," said the governor, "it is a very cold season, and I doubt you are poorly provided with wood; you are welcome to supply yourself at my pile till the winter is over." The governor had four wives, and lost not only three of these, but six children. His death occurred on the 26th of March, 1649, at the age of sixty-one. He was entombed in King's Chapel Ground, on the north side. One of his sons became governor of Connecticut, and shares his tomb ; a beautiful statue of Winthrop, by Greenough, is in the chapel at Mount Auburn. The governor left a journal of his
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voyage from England, and of the proceedings in the colony up to his decease, which was edited by James Savage. Some of the admirers of Governor Winthrop's character have declared him worthy of canonization, had we like Rome a sacred cal- ender.
The Old South still stands, one of the monuments of Old Boston. Its existence has been often threatened, and erelong per- haps will be swept from its foundations, to appear in new and strange habiliments in a remote part of the city. It is the richest church corporation in the city, and, next to Old Trinity of New York, in the country. The Winthrop estate passed through Thatcher and Mrs. Nor- ton to the church, and in consequence of its central location has be- come of great value. Its parishioners once dwelt within sight of its stee- GRANDITRU ple, but now few can be O found within sound of its bell. Milk Street, Franklin Street, Sum- mer and Winter, Brom- field and School, have hardly a residence left. Two of them at least THE OLD SOUTH. were once filled with the abodes of the most respectable inhab- itants of the city, but commerce has said "Move on !" and the the population has vanished before it.
Curiously enough, the Old South, arising from a schism in the First Church, like it originated in Charlestown, where also was organized the First Baptist Society. Like the Baptists,
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also, this society was proclaimed against, but erected a house of worship, the third in Boston. The theological disputes, questions of doctrine or church government in which this society originated, however interesting, cannot be given here. Thomas Thacher was the first minister, settled in February, 1670. The first house was of wood, and stood until 1729, when it was taken down to give place to the then new brick edifice. In the front was placed, in 1867, a tablet bearing the following inscription, so that all who run may thus read a little of the history of the church :-
OLD SOUTH. CHURCH GATHERED 1669. FIRST HOUSE BUILT 1670. THIS HOUSE ERECTED, 1729. DESECRATED BY BRITISH TROOPS, 1775-6.
This little memorial contains a succinct account of the church even to the last line, "Desecrated by British Troops," which was strenuously objected to by many at the time the tablet was placed there. The occupation of churches by troops has been common in all wars, notably so in the late Rebellion. Such occupation has not been generally considered as calling for a new consecration, and the use of the word " desecrated " is per- haps not fortunate, though the usage of this house was pecu- liary malicious and repugnant. The name " Old South " goes no further back than the building of the "New South," in Summer Street, in 1717. It was primarily the South Meeting- house, being then considered in the south part of the town. On a stone at the southwest corner of the church is sculp- tured, "N. E. (Newly Erected) March 31, 1729."
The possession of the South Meeting-house by Sir Edmund Andros has been stated in connection with King's Chapel. From this church, in 1688, was buried Lady Andros, wife of the arbitrary Knight. The governor's house was doubtless in the immediate vicinity of Cotton Hill, as from Judge Sewall's account of the funeral we learn that "the corpse was carried
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into the hearse drawn by six horses, the soldiers making a guard from the Governor's house down the Prison Lane to the South Meeting House." The tomb of Lady Anne An- dros was identified by the care of a relative, who found a slab, with her name inscribed, while repairing her last resting- place.
None of the city churches are so rich in historical associa- tions as this. Here Lovell, Church, Warren, and Hancock delivered their orations on the anniversaries of the Massacre. When Warren delivered his second address in March, 1775, an officer of the Welsh Fusileers, Captain Chapman, held up to his view a number of pistol-bullets, at the same time exclaim- ing, "Fie ! fie !" This was construed to be a cry of fire, and threw the house into confusion until quieted by William Coo- per, while Warren dropped a handkerchief over the officer's hand. Many other officers were present with the purpose, as was thought, to overawe the speaker. But Warren was not to be overawed. At the same time the 47th regiment, returning from parade, passed the Old South, when Colonel Nesbit, the commander caused the drums to beat with the view of drown- ing the orator's voice.
A writer thus describes the events of that day : -
"The day came and the weather was remarkably fine. The Old South Meeting-house was crowded at an early hour. The British officers occupied the aisles, the flight of steps to the pulpit, and several of them were within it. It is not precisely known whether this was accident or design. The orator with the assistance of his friends made his entrance at the window by a ladder. The officers, seeing his coolness and intrepidity, made way for him to advance and address the audience. An awful stillness preceded his exor- dium. Each man felt the palpitations of his own heart, and saw the pale but determined face of his neighbor. The speaker began his oration in a firm tone of voice, and proceeded with great energy and pathos. Warren and his friends were prepared to chastise con- tumely, prevent disgrace, and avenge an attempt at assassination."
In the old church Benjamin Franklin was baptized. In the new, was held the famous Tea-Party meeting, adjourned from
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Faneuil Hall because the crowd was too great to be contained there. It is believed that Samuel Adams had with others con- trived this assemblage to draw off attention from their plans, already matured and waiting only the signal of execution. Certain it is that the Mohawks appeared precisely at the mo- ment when negotiation had failed to prevent the landing of the tea. At this meeting was made the first suggestion to dispose of the tea in the way finally adopted. John Rowe, who lived in Pond Street, now Bedford, said, "Who knows how tea will mingle with salt water ?" The idea was received with great laughter and approval. It is from the same Rowe that Rowe Street took its name.
Governor Hutchinson was at this time at his country-seat in Milton, - afterwards occupied by Barney Smith, Esq., - where he received a committee from the meeting, who made a final demand that the cargoes of tea should be sent away. The governor, however, refused to interfere in the matter .. It is re- lated that he was afterwards informed that a mob was on its . way to visit him, and that he left his house with his face half shaven, making the best of his way across the fields to a place of safety.
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