USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Oakham > Soldiers of Oakham, Massachusetts, in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and the Civil war > Part 13
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Two members of the company did not go. Lieutenant Barr died September 8, two days before the order to march was received; and Thomas Haskell is said to have sent John Macomber as a substitute, but this name is not found on any muster roll of the company.
The soldiers in this company were the picked young men of the two towns of Oakham and New Braintree. With one exception, the men from Oakham were between twenty and thirty years of age, and all were unmarried. As grenadiers ought to be, they were all tall men, every one being six feet or over. They were known at Boston as the tall company, and attracted much attention by the perfection of their movements under the discipline of Captain Crawford.
The British ships appeared off Boston, but the troops did not land. The last guard duty by the Grenadiers at Boston was on Wednesday, October 28, 1814. The company was temporarily released from further service and ordered home, reaching Oak- ham November 7. As they came in sight of the center of the town, they saw for the first time the gilded ornaments on the tall spire of the new meeting-house, which had been com- pleted during their absence.
A copy of the pay roll of the Washington Grenadiers, made out by Captain Crawford, hangs in the Historical Room of the Fobes Memorial Library in Oakham.
Fourteen members of this company who served at Boston en- listed from Oakham, and one other spent the greater part of his life in Oakham.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD, JR. Captain
JAMES ALLEN Ensign
JAMES CONANT, JR. Sergeant
STEPHEN LINCOLN, JR. Sergeant
1856
163
THE WAR OF 1812.
William Crawford, Jr.
Born October 5, 1783, third son of Captain William Crawford, the clockmaker, and grandson of Alexander Crawford, one of the nine heads of families who came from Rutland and settled in the West Wing, which became the town of Oakham.
William Crawford, Jr., was graduated from Dartmouth Col- lege in 1807, and studied medicine but did not practice. He settled in Oakham and was one of its most prominent citizens. He was chosen to represent the town in the Massachusetts Legis- lature in 1813, 1824, 1834, 1840, and 1845; was State Senator in 1825 and 1826; and was delegate to the Massachusetts Con- stitutional Convention in 1820. He served the town as Town Clerk from 1813 to 1815, and from 1817 to 1836, as Selectman in 1813, 1817, 1818 and 1835, was for many years a member of the School Committee, and was a well-known teacher in the common schools of this and neighboring towns.
From 1836 to 1850 he was a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Worcester County. In the June meeting of the year 1838, he assumed the chairmanship of the Board, and he was Chairman continuously from that time up to and includ- ing the June meeting in the year 1850. He was an expert road maker. The writer of the article on Roads in C. F. Jewett's "History of Worcester County" said :
"The Commissioners have been among the most energetic men of the County. Colonel Lincoln and General Crawford were men of large capacity and have had worthy associates. Before the decease of the latter, the Chairman of the Board, it was stated by one very familiar with the subject that within two generations the County roads had undergone so great improvement that the same number of horses or oxen could draw twice as much tonnage from the extremities to the center of the County in the same time as they could have done at the beginning of the period."
Captain Crawford continued in the State Militia and in 1821 became Brigadier General of the First Brigade of the Sixth Division of Massachusetts Militia.
Mr. Crawford lived at the original Crawford place till 1842. when he built a house on a hill west of the residence of his brother Alexander, where he spent the remainder of his life.
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SOLDIERS OF OAKHAM
He was married, September 30, 1846, to Sophia Cunningham, of Leicester, the fifth daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Cunning- ham, of Spencer, and had one child, William Channing Crawford, who was born January 10, 1849.
General William Crawford died July 25, 1864. His portrait hangs in the office of the County Commissioners in Worcester.
James Allen.
The only son of Deacon Jesse and Abigail Allen, was born in Oakham, July 2, 1792.
He studied in preparation for college at Leicester Academy, but on account of uncertain health did not enter college. He followed his father on the farm lately owned by L. N. Haskell, until 1835, when he sold his farm for five thousand dollars and put the money into the firm of Potter & Allen, merchants in the center of Oakham. The financial crisis of 1837 followed, and the firm was forced into insolvency. Mr. Allen after this lived for some years in that part of the Fairbank house now occupied by H. P. Wright. In 1858 he purchased the house built by Phineas Morton, in which his son, Deacon Jesse Allen, still resides. He was a competent and accurate surveyor and a born teacher. He taught in the district schools and in the select schools of Oakham for forty-two years. It is impossible to measure his influence for good over the young people of Oakham during this long period.
His fellow townsmen honored him by electing him to offices of responsibility. He was Selectman six years, member of the School Committee thirty-two years, Town Clerk eighteen years, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives four years and of the State Senate three years. He was also County Commissioner of Worcester County three years. In 1817, when twenty-five years of age, he was elected Deacon of the Oakham Church, and held the office fifty-three years.
He was commissioned Ensign, May II, 1814, Lieutenant, January 27, 1815, Captain, May 17, 1817.
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THE WAR OF 1812.
He was married, (1) February 21, 1816, to Polly L., daughter of Nathaniel Crocker, of Paxton. She died July 5, 1841. He was married (2) September 10, 1842, to Hannah H. Parker, of Dunbarton, N. H. Children, all born in Oakham: Louisa, April 24, 1817; Stoughton Willis, June 6, 1820; James, July 4, 1822; Abigail, May 30, 1825; Mary L., September 1, 1827; George, April 3, 1829; Lucy, February 27, 1830; Maria, June 21, 1832; Emily Kimball, September 13, 1835; Louisa Parker, July 12, 1843; Hannah Merriam, May 9, 1845; Jesse, May 23. 1847; Martha Bird, April 7, 1849.
Deacon James Allen died June 18, 1870. His portrait hangs in the office of the County Commissioners in Worcester.
Perley Ayres.
Born April 30, 1792, eldest son of Jabez Ayres, of New Braintree, and a descendant in the fourth generation of Jabez Ayres, of Newbury.
Perley Ayres was a competent school-teacher and a man of unusual ability. He was living in New Braintree at the time of his service in the Washington Grenadiers, but after teaching several winters in the center school in Oakham, he came, in 1837, to Oakham to reside and purchased from Timothy Nye, for four thousand dollars, the farm of one hundred and thirty- . nine acres, still known as the Perley Ayres farm, and now owned by Thomas C. Gaffney. Here he lived till 1869, when he sold to Samuel B. Fairbank and removed to the house west of the village where his daughters Louisa and Eunice now reside.
May 1, 1826, he was married to Grace Mason Tidd. Mrs. Ayres died January 21, 1838, and he married (2) Harriet W. Knight, daughter of Silas Knight of Oakham, August 29, 1838. Children, all born in Oakham: Sarah Grace, July 14, 1839; Louisa Allen, January 30, 1841; Hiram, September 29, 1842; Charles Perley, April 30, 1844; Eunice Harriet, December 25, 1845; Katherine Amelia, October 22, 1847.
Perley Ayres died in Oakham, October II, 1880.
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SOLDIERS OF OAKHAM
Jonas Brimhall.
Born in 1794, son of Samuel and Eunice (Humphrey) Brimhall, who came from Barre and lived on what is still known as the old Brimhall place, afterwards the home of Dr. Seth Fobes. Samuel Brimhall died in Oakham, February 3, 1812, aged sixty-two years.
Jonas Brimhall was married March 21, 1824, to Caroline Nye, daughter of Timothy and Parnal (Allen) Nye. He lived for many years at the Four Corners, near the schoolhouse in the North District. His son, Elisha Brimhall, born March 25, 1825, removed to Clinton in 1847, where he became a prominent mer- chant, and held various town offices. He was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen for several years, Town Treasurer from 1865 to 1871, Representative in the General Court in 1871, and State Senator in 1876 and 1877.
Jonas Brimhall died in Oakham March 13, 1856, at the age of sixty-two years.
Mason Clark.
Born in Medway, June 5, 1789, the son of Amos and Ursula (Richardson) Clark, grandson of Amos and Hannah (Craig) Clark, and brother of Simeon and John C. Clark, of Oakham.
Mason Clark came to Oakham with his parents about 1800. November 4, 1813, he married Patty Johnson of Medway. July IO of the same year he purchased of Samuel Tenney, for $328, a half acre of land, with the buildings thereon, which were (I) the original part of the house owned and occupied by the late A. J. Holden and (2) a shoe-shop where W. W. Russell's house now stands. He was a shoemaker by occupation. From 1819 to 1824 he was living in Coldbrook, where he was a licensed innkeeper.
James Conant, Jr. Lot Conant.
Sons of Captain James Conant, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Lot Conant was born in Oakham, May 8, 1785; James Conant was born in Oakham, December 5, 1793.
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THE WAR OF 1812.
James Conant married Susan, daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Bullard) Stone, December 24, 1816. Children, all born in Oakham: Harriet Shattuck, May 11, 1817; George Fay, April 10, 1819; Joseph, September 14, 1821; John, February 21, 1823; Susan, February 6, 1826; Louisa, September 27, 1828; Eliza Ann, June 6, 1831 ; Albert Steuben, April 18, 1835; Maria, August 1, 1838; Henry Lafayette, July 19, 1841.
James Conant continued in the militia service and was chosen Lieutenant of the Grenadiers, July 14, 1823, and Captain, April 5, 1826. He was farmer and merchant, and lived on the old Turnpike, a little east of Pine Grove Cemetery. He died March 10, 1867; his widow, Susan (Stone) Conant, died January 30, 1877.
Lot Conant married (1) Patty Stone, September 30, 1813; (2) Polly McClellen, March 16, 1815. Children: Samuel, born October 3, 1816; Luke, born June 4, 1817; Henry, born May 8, 1819; Walter, born March 17, 1821; Thomas, born April 15, 1823; Mary H., born July 8, 1825; Abigail S., born January 22, 1828; Louisa L., born June 3, 1830; Sarah Jane, born June 22, 1834; George W., born June 20, 1837.
He was by occupation a farmer. In 1827 he was living in Oakham, but, in September, 1830, he removed to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he died October 14, 1868.
Daniel Flint.
Born in Oakham, July 21, 1787, son of John and Phebe Flint. John Flint came to Oakham from Rutland in 1779 and purchased for £150 sixty acres of land lying north of the estate of William Harper, and still known as the Flint farm. He had seven children, born in Oakham. His sister Lucy married Joel Hayden, a Revolutionary soldier. His widow, Phebe Flint, died February 19, 1837, aged eighty-four years.
Daniel Flint married, May 30, 1815, Mary, daughter of James Boyd, a soldier of the Revolution. Children: Mary Adaline, born June 1, 1817; Daniel Waldo, born March 22, 1819; Ebzada Elenor, born June II, 1823.
Daniel Flint lived on the Flint farm till his death, November 20, 1837.
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SOLDIERS OF OAKHAM
Percival Hall.
Son of Percival Hall, a farmer of Oakham, and grandson of Dr. Percival Hall, a widely known physician of New Braintree. His father married Betsy, daughter of Thomas White, in 1791, removed from New Braintree to Oakham in 1792, and purchased of George Thrasher for £265 Ios. the farm in the westerly part of Oakham since known as the Hall place, where he lived till his death, March 10, 1843. His widow died January II, 1845, aged seventy-nine years.
Percival Hall, of the Washington Grenadiers, was married to Viana White, June 15, 1826. Children: Lucinda White, born February 13, 1827, married Benjamin Nourse May 9, 1854, died January 8, 1867; Ambrose Porter, born August 28, 1829, died September 29, 1896. Mr. Hall lived on the home place till his death, August 5, 1875.
Stephen Lincoln, Jr.
Born in Oakham, November 29, 1792, son of Stephen Lincoln, a soldier in the Revolution, and of Lydia (Foster) Lincoln.
He lived on the farm purchased by his father in 1783 from the heirs of Silas Hill, till April 1, 1834, when he bought of James C. Fairbank, for one thousand dollars, a farm containing thirteen acres, with the buildings thereon, which now forms a part of the farm of Miss Laura G. Burt. He was a manu- facturer of sieves and a pioneer of the wirework industry in Oakham. In 1848 he made his son William his partner, forming the firm of S. & W. Lincoln, manufacturers of wire goods.
He was twice married: (1) February 6, 1823, to Betsey Brooks, daughter of Jonas Brooks of Princeton; (2) April 2, 1829, to Martha Ward Skerry, daughter of Captain Samuel Skerry, of Salem, Mass. Children: Elizabeth Wilder, born November II, 1824; William, born February 27, 1826.
Stephen Lincoln was chosen Lieutenant of the Grenadiers, April 20, 1820, but did not long continue in the service. He died October 25, 1886, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, the last survivor of the Washington Grenadiers.
169
THE WAR OF 1812.
Elias Marsh, Jr.
Richard Kelley Marsh.
Sons of Elias and Esther Marsh. Elias Marsh, Sr., married Esther Berry in Barre, August I, 1776; came from Rutland to Oakham about 1780 and purchased in 1781, of Thomas Read, Jr., of Rutland, one-half of Lot No. 3, later known as the Drury place and extending from the East Hill Road to the Rutland town line. He died in Oakham, April 23, 1838, at the age of eighty-three years. Richard K. Marsh was born June 7, 1791; Elias Marsh, Jr., was born May 21, 1795.
Elias Marsh, Jr., married Maria Buss, of Sterling, in 1819. Children, born in Oakham: Mary Houghton, July 12, 1820; Martha Elmira, November 4, 1821; Sophronia Berry, August 25, 1823; Rebeckah Mason, March 20, 1825. About 1830 he removed with his family to Elizabeth, N. J., where he died at an advanced age.
Richard Kelley Marsh, generally known as Kelley Marsh, married Rowena Johnson in 1818. Children, born in Oakham : Julia Ann, August 21, 1820; Luther, July 13, 1822; Oscar Ferdinand, April 25, 1824; Maria Augusta, September 27, 1826. Kelley Marsh, after his marriage, lived at the Sumner Barr place, and later in the first house on a road long since closed, which left the present Coldbrook road below Henry Bullard's and continued past the houses of Aaron and Solomon Parmenter, the old schoolhouse, and the burying ground, and joined the old Coldbrook road, closed in 1913, about a quarter of a mile above the present Boston and Maine railroad station. He died April 22, 1858, aged sixty-five years.
Isaac Stone, 3d.
Born in Oakham, June 19, 1794, son of Isaac, 2d, and Hannah (Bul- lard) Stone. His father, Isaac Stone, 2d, a Revolutionary soldier, was son of Isaac Stone, who came from Rutland to Oakham in 1765 and became the leading citizen of the town during and following the period of the Revolutionary War.
170
SOLDIERS OF OAKHAM
Isaac Stone, 3d, married February 27, 1815, Sally Robinson, who was born in Northboro May I, 1789, daughter of John Robinson. Children: Washington Stone, born August 4, 1816; Ann Robinson, born April 11, 1818. Isaac Stone, 3d, died Octo- ber 24, 1822, at the age of twenty-eight years; his wife died September 21, 1818, at the age of twenty-nine years.
Fabian Tomlinson.
Born in Oakham, January 19, 1793, son of Rev. Daniel and Lucy (Beard) Tomlinson. Daniel Tomlinson was born in Derby, Conn., May 20, 1759, graduated at Yale College in 1781, studied theology with Rev. Dr. Charles Backus of Somers, Conn., and was ordained over the Oakham Congregational Church June 22, 1786. He was married to Lucy Beard of Derby, Conn., November 23, 1786.
Fabian Tomlinson was a farmer and lived on the Tomlinson place, which his father had purchased from James Hunter in 1786. He continued in the militia service and was commissioned Captain of the Washington Grenadiers, January 18, 1830. His resignation of the office of Captain was accepted November 17, 183I.
He was married to Sarah T. Hunter, March 28, 1816. Chil- dren, born in Oakham: James, December 28, 1816; Daniel, March 23, 1818; William, March 27, 1821; Dolly, December 20, 1822; Fabian, November 6, 1824; Lucy, March 24, 1826; Jane, January 7, 1828; Maria, August 18, 1829; Nancy, Septem- ber 3, 1837.
Fabian Tomlinson died in Oakham, August 12, 1885, aged ninety-two years.
Edward Woodis.
Born in Oakham, July 24, 1790, in the house which stood at the foot of the hill east of the farm which is now owned by George W. Stone. He was son of Ebenezer Woodis, and grandson of Sergeant Ebenezer Woodis, a Revolutionary soldier.
Edward Woodis removed to New Braintree when a young man, continued in military service, was chosen Lieutenant of the Washington Grenadiers, May 30, 1821, and Captain, July 14, 1823.
I71
THE WAR OF 1812.
April 9, 1825, he married Catherine Holmes, of New Brain- tree. Their children were: Luther Wilson, born June 22, 1827; Catherine, born March 26, 1828; Edward, born October 1, 1829; Henrietta, born August 19, 1832; Alden Bradford, born October 6, 1834.
Mr. Woodis died in New Braintree, December 4, 1841, at the age of fifty-one years.
The following citizens held the important town offices during the three years 1812-1814:
Town Clerks : Moses Brown, 1812. William Crawford, Jr., 1813, 1814.
Treasurer :
Isaac French, 1812, 1813, 1814.
Selectmen :
Simeon Haskell, 1812, 1814.
Joel Jones, 1812, 1814.
William Crawford, Jr., 1813, 1814.
Peres Fobes, 1813, 1814.
Isaac French, 1812.
John Robinson, 1812. Moses Brown, 1812.
Silas Bullard, 1813. John French, 1813. Abner Lincoln, 1813. Jonas Clapp, 1814.
SEMINOLE AND MEXICAN WARS.
Two Oakham men served in the United States Army between the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Isaac Davis Rice.
Born July 3, 1801, son of Joseph and Mary Rice.
Isaac D. Rice was a soldier in the Seminole War (1835-42). He enlisted in the regular army of the United States and con- tinued in the service nearly ten years. After his discharge from the army, he returned to Oakham and lived at what is still known as Rice Corner. He was Chairman of the Committee which in 1843 erected the Methodist Church in the center of the town, and contributed about three-fifths of the entire cost of the building.
April 19, 1846, he was married to Mrs. Julia Ann Rice, widow of Henry Rice and daughter of Richard Kelley and Rhoena (Johnson) Marsh. They had one daughter, Rhoena Augusta, born June 19, 1849, married May 7, 1874, to Hudson L. Arms.
Mr. Rice died in North Brookfield, March 25, 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years.
Algernon Sidney Crawford.
Born in Oakham, April 27, 1805, son of James and Molly (Butler) Crawford, and grandson of Captain William Crawford, the clockmaker.
He married Eliza Fay, and had one son, James Crawford. In 1846 he had his name changed by Act of the Massachusetts Legislature from Algernon Sidney Crawford to Algernon Sidney Butler.
Soon after the declaration of war against Mexico, he enlisted at Worcester in the service of the United States, and is said to have died at Puebla, Mexico, in 1847.
THE CIVIL WAR
The record of military service of the Oakham soldiers in the Civil War is taken chiefly from Oakham Town Records, Adjutant Generals' Reports, T. W. Higginson's Mass. in the Army and Navy, 1861-65, and Regimental Histories. The writer was personally acquainted with nearly all the men from the town who served in this war, but, for greater accuracy and completeness, the Biographical Sketches have been read, with careful attention to names and dates, by the soldiers themselves or, when these were not living, by members of their families.
Massachusetts Infantry regiments in which men enlisted from Oakham are arranged in numerical order. These are followed by the Cavalry and Heavy Artillery. Within the regiment, those who enlisted from Oak- ham are placed before those born in Oakham or living here after the war, who enlisted from other towns. Oakham men who enlisted in other states are arranged alphabetically and placed after those who served in Massachusetts organizations.
IN MEMORY OF COMRADES WHO DIED SINCE THE WAR. JOHN MACOMBER JA. CO. C 31 RECT. MASS. VOLS. DIED AT NO BROOKFIELD. NOV. 5,1882, JOHN ADAMS CO. K 57 MASS. REGT. DIED AT DAKHAM. NOV. 28.1089. ACED 82 YEARS. JAMES W. CALDWELL. CO.E 116 PENN. RECT. DIED AT OAKHAM, OCT.IB.1893. ACED 57 . YEARS. GEORGE E. REED. CO. C 4 MASS. CAVALRY. DIED AT OAKHAM, MAY 14.199S. ACED GI YEARS. EDWIN N. HUNT. CD.H 52 MASS. REGT DIED AT OAKHAM. MAY 31.1935 ACED BO ' YEARS
IN MEMORY OF OUR 2, RECT. · CHARLES S.CREEN, OIEO JAN. 30,1862, AT FREDERICK,MD. IS, RECT. 1 EDWARD F. WARE. OIEO SEPT.23,1881. AT POOLSVILLE, MD. 21, RECT. CEORCE L.CALDWELL, DIED NOV. 17,1863, AT CAMP NELSON.KY. 25, RECT. . GEORGE P. WOOD, DIED SEPT.19,1862, AT NEWBERN, N.C. CORP. L.DWIGHT WOOD DIED NOV. 23,IBB2.AT NEWBERN.N.C. WILLARD A. FRINK, KILLED MAY 16,1864, AT DAURY'S BLUFF. VA. HENRY H. WARE. KILLEO MAY ID,1864, AT DRURY'S BLUFF. YA DAVID O. LOVELL. WOUNDED MAY 16.1864 AT DAURY'S BLUFF, VA. DIED JUNE 17,1884, AT LIBBY PRISON WILLIAM H. BULLARO. KILLED JUNE 3.1564. AT COLD HARBOR, VA, LYMAN N. PARKER. KILLED JUNE 3.1864 AT COLD HARBOR, VA WILLIAM I TEMPLE DIED JAN 14,1871, AT DAKHAM 34. REGT. MAJOR GEORGE B.MACOMBER DIED SEPT. 18.1569. AT FORT BOWIE ARIZONA 4. CAVALRY. CHARLES S. CRAWFORD. DIED AUG. 26, 1864, AT HILTON HEAD, S.C.
ERECTED BY THE OAKHAM
FALLEN COMRADES. 36,RECT. DANIEL W. DEAN, DIED NOV.IBB2, NEAR WARRENTON,VA. SETH D. DEAN, OIED JAN. 28,1863, AT ACQUIA CREEK, VA. DANIEL RAWSON, JA. DIED AUC. 4.IBB3, AT BALTIMORE,MD. CHARLES H. STEARNS, DIEO BEPT. 16,1963, AT CRAB ORCHARD. KY. B.MILES. REED, DIED JAN. 17, 1864. AT KNOXVILLE, TENN. CHARLES L.HASKELL, KILLED APR. 2.1865. AT PETERSBURCH, VA. LIEUT. EDWARD CHAMBERLAIN, DIED MAY IT. 1870, AT OAKHAM. SERCT. HENRY I. MACOMBER, DIED AUC.18.1970. AT DAKHAM. 40.RECT. LABAN F. RAWSON. DIED SEPT. 29,1963, AT FOLLY ISLAND. S.C. · 42.RECT. CHARLES E. WARREN. DIEO NOV. 28.18SA,AT OAKHAM. SI, RECT JAMES MACOMBER DIED JAN 17, ISB3. AT NEWBEAN. N.C. 3D. VT. RECT. ALANSON W. PIERCE DIEDFES 29, 186 3. AT COLDBROOK. I. VT. CAVALRY GEORGE W. HASKELL. DIED AUD S.1884. AT WASHINGTON. D.C. CHARLES F. HOWARD. CO. H. 25. AEGT. DIED MDV 4 1876. AT BOSTON ANDREW SPOONER CO. F. 51. REGT. DIED FEB. ID, 1879
SOLDIERS UNION. A.D.1874
IN MEMORY OF COMRADES WHO DIED SINCE THE WAR. CHARLES H. PARKER. CO.E 57 RECT. MASS. VOLS. DIED AT OAKHAN. MAR. 15. IBBI. ELIJAH C. DEAN CO. C 39 RECT. MASS, VOLS. DIED AT OAKHAM. DEC. 1, 1886. CHARLES FREW. I. NORTH CAROLINA RANCERS. DIED AT OAKNAM, SEPT. 13.1884. WN HENRY MAYNARD. CO.F SI MASS. RECT. DIED AT WORCESTER MAY 25. 1891. ACED 48 YEARS.
MEMORIAL TABLETS
Photo, by Alfred P. Wright, 1897
THE CIVIL WAR.
Until the attack on Fort Sumter, it was not generally believed at the North that there would be war between the two sections. The North had lived so long in peace that it did not know what the evils of war were, and was wholly unprepared for a long and hard struggle. The young men were not accustomed to military training, and there was no such universal interest among them in manly sports as is seen everywhere to-day. But when war had actually begun, and it was evident that the Union could not be preserved without a conflict of arms, the men of the North responded promptly and seemed ready to make any sacrifice in defence of the government.
The method of recruiting in Massachusetts differed from that pursued in many of the states. In general, each Massachusetts regiment was raised from a comparatively small section of the state, and each company in the regiment represented a town or a group of near-by towns. As the war advanced and new levies were called for, the state formed new regiments instead of rais- ing recruits to fill up the ranks in the regiments already in the field. If the men who reënlisted are counted twice, as they were on the town's quota, about four-fifths of the Oakham men who enlisted for the town were in the 25th, 34th, 36th, and 51st regiments of infantry and in the 4th cavalry. The last was a state organization. The four infantry regiments were all raised in Worcester County, as were also the 15th and 21st.
In response to the call of April 15, 1861, for three-months' regiments, Massachusetts sent nearly four thousand men to the front with little delay. The 4th and 6th regiments left Bos- ton on April 17, and the 6th made its bloody march through Baltimore on April 19. May 3, the President called upon the North for thirty-nine regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, to serve for a period of three years, but it was not until May 19 that the quota of the state was assigned. The Ist Massachusetts Regiment left for the front on June 15, and the 2d on July 8.
176
SOLDIERS OF OAKHAM
2d Mass. Infantry.
Charles Sumner Green. Mustered in, May 25, 1861. Died in the service.
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