USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Springfield, 1636-1886 : history of town and city, including an account of the quarter-millennial celebration at Springfield, Mass., May 25 and 26, 1886 > Part 45
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Brevet Maj .- Gen. Oliver Edwards entered the service as adjutant
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of the Tenth Regiment, but was soon detailed as senior aide on the staff of Gen. D. N. Conch, commanding the division, in which ea- pacity he served with distinction until early August, 1863, when he was commissioned major and directed to organize the Thirty-seventh Regiment, of which he was made colonel. He served in that capac- ity until May 9, 1864, when he was given command of his brigade, which he retained from Spottsylvania to Petersburg. On the 6th of July the remnants of the brigade were transferred to the Third Bri- gade, First Division, Sixth Corps, Edwards still retaining the com- mand, and with this force he fought at Fort Stevens and Opequan in the campaign against Early. At the latter battle Edwards com- manded the division after the death of General Russell and the wounding of General Upton. and in recognition was made post com- mandant at Winchester, with his brigade and some other troops as garrison. This position he retained for some time after the return of the Sixth Corps to Petersburg to rejoin the army of the Potomac, and was offered by General Sheridan the position of provost-marshal- general on his staff ; but Edwards preferred the command of his old brigade, to which, at his own request, he was returned in February, 1865. In the assanlt of April 2, on the lines at Petersburg, his bri- gade took an important part, being the first to break through the Con- federate works, and next morning General Edwards received from the mayor of Petersburg the surrender of the city, very soon after its evacuation by General Lee. For his services at this time he re- ceived the commission of brigadier-general, to date from May 19, having been brevetted for his gallantry at Opequan; and in the sharp fight at Sailor's Creek, April 6, he won the brevet of major- general. On the 15th of January, 1866, he was honorably dis- charged from the United States service.
The hospitality of the people of Springfield was continued through- out the war. The crowning effort in that direction was the great Soldiers' Fair, held in City Hall, December 22, 1864. when the people of the city, joined by all the neighboring communities, made a lavish
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outpouring of their means to help carry on the great work of caring for the soldiers' needs. In this connection it may be mentioned that during the entire period of the war no body of soldiers was allowed to pass through the city, no matter whence they came, or what their destination, without receiving such food and care as their circum- stances might require. An especially notable incident of this nature was the passing through the city, on the 8th of October, 1861, late in the evening, of the troops under command of Senator Wilson, con- sisting of the Twenty-second Regiment, of which he was colonel, the Third Battery, and the Second Company of Sharpshooters, - all of which had been recruited at Readville under his personal supervision. The enlisted men were fed in the cars, the officers at the Massasoit Hotel, and from the balcony there Colonel Wilson, introduced by Mayor Bemis, addressed the immense gathering of people, after which the train proceeded on its way.
The home demonstrations were many of them notable. On Wash- ington's birthday, 1862, Mayor Bemis, in the City Hall, produced the rebel flags captured by Colonel Lee's regiment at Roanoke Island. Then Judge Chapman read Washington's farewell address.
But the most memorable days were those when Springfield wel- comed back from the field of war her broken regiments.
The first to return was the Forty-sixth Regiment, which after its nine months' service came back to Springfield on the 21st of July, 1863. It was welcomed by Mayor Henry Alexander, Jr., Colonel Shurtleff responding, and a collation was served at City Hall, the regiment being mustered out a week later at Hampden park. It was almost a year before the shattered remnant of the Tenth Regiment arrived, June 25, 1864, its three years of service having been honorably filled. It received a very enthusiastic reception at Court square, being welcomed by Mayor Alexander, Colonel Parsons responding, and the usual col- lation being furnished in City Hall. The Twenty-seventh came on the 26th of September following, and its reception was of a simi- lar nature, General Lee and Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew re-
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sponding to the welcome by Mayor Alexander and ex-Mayor Bemis, and a hundred and fifty young ladies singing songs of welcome. The Thirty-seventh, its period of service ended by the closing of the war, passed through the city on the 24th of June, 1865, on its way to Readville, to be mustered out; but with Springfield's pride in the regiment it was not allowed to pass without a rousing reception. Alderman N. A. Leonard made the speech of welcome, in the absence of the mayor, General Edwards responding, and a collation follow- ing at the City Hall.
After the war the fraternal feelings of the soldiers of the city and vicinity found expression in the organization of E. K. Wilcox Post, No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic, on the 9th of August, 1867. This post, ranking among the largest and most efficient in the State, has remained the sole organization of its kind in the city, embracing also in its field a large number of the surrounding towns. It has at tlie present time an active membership of over five hundred members, and is well equipped for its work. Its commanders have been : H. C. Lee, L. A. Tifft, H. M. Phillips, J. L. Rice, S. C. Warriner, E. A. Newell, A. H. Smith, J. L. Knight, S. B. Spooner, J. O. Smith, E. W. Lathrop, J. W. Hersey, C. H. Allison, J. H. Hendrick, Charles H. Rust, and James L. Bowen. In connection with the Post is an efficient Woman's Relief Corps and a prosperous Camp of Sons of Veterans.
We close this record of Springfield in the war with the losses she sustained upon the field of battle and in the hospital and camp : -
Second Regiment. - Henry O. Howard, Company G, killed, Cedar Mountain ; George A. Smith, Company K, killed, Cedar Mountain; John Costello, Com- pany I, missing, Antietam; Rufus A. Parker, Company I, died of wounds, Gettysburg.
Ninth Regiment. - Francis Ash, Company E, killed, Spottsylvania.
Tenth Regiment. - Lieut. E. B. Bartlett, killed, Spottsylvania; Alonzo C. Brewer, Company D, killed, Spottsylvania ; Thomas F. Burke, Company F, killed, Malvern Hill; Thomas S. Gleason, Company F, killed, Fair Oaks; Silas L. Put- nam, Company F, killed, Fredericksburg; Asa C. Merrill, Company II, killed, Fair Oaks; John E. Casey, Company I, killed, Wilderness; Sergt. Alva C. Phillips,
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Company E, died of wounds, Gettysburg; Corp. Christian Lortscheve, Company E, died of wounds, Fair Oaks ; Charles M. Hall, Company E, died of wounds, Marye's Heights ; George G. Strickland, Company F, died of wounds, New York ; Elmer Crawford, Company E, died, White House, Va. ; Quintain Jame- son, Company E, died, Washington, D.C. ; Mark C. Barnard, Company F, died, Washington, D.C. ; Henry M. Hunt, Company F, died, Washington, D.C. ; John C. Squires, Company I, died, Washington, D.C.
Eleventh Regiment. - Leonard Lewis, Company H, died, Andersonville.
Fifteenth Regiment. - George Walker, Company I, missing, Ball's Bluff.
Eighteenth Regiment. - Lieut. John D. Isbell, died ; Thomas Donovan, Com- pany A, killed, Fredericksburg; Jackson W. Stebbins, Company K, killed, second Bull Run.
Nineteenth Regiment. - Benjamin R. Nichols, Company G, died of wounds, August 14, 1864.
Twentieth Regiment. - Sergt. John T. Burke, Company K, killed, June 20, 1864.
Twenty-first Regiment. - John Dunn, Company B, died of wounds, May 1, 1862; George W. Mixter, Company B, killed, Bethesda Church; Daniel Pine, Company B, died, Richmond, Va.
Twenty-second Regiment. - Corp. Eben B. Upton, Company B, killed, Wil- derness ; Wesley Shultz, Company G, died, Washington, D.C .; John Davidson, Company D, died, Richmond, Va. ; William A. Hart, Company E, died of wounds, White House Landing.
Twenty-fourth Regiment. - Lawrence Doyle, Company D, died, Newbern, N.C. ; Timothy Hayes, Company D, died, Newbern, N.C. ; Frank C. Brown, Company F, killed, Newbern, N.C.
Twenty-sixth Regiment. - William L. Weston, Company B, died, Wilming- ton, N.C.
Twenty-seventh Regiment. - Killed, Capt. Edward K. Wilcox. June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor; Rodolphmuis L. Baker, Company E, Cold Harbor; Joseph Doyle, Company F, Drewry's Bluff; Reuben A. Richards, Company F, Cold Harbor. Died of wounds, - Nathaniel P. Manley, Company D, Fort Monroe; Frederick Gutberlet, Company K, Washington, D.C. ; Jonathan D. Miller, Company K, Fort Monroe ; Dennis Sullivan, Company K, Newbern. Died, - John Donovan, Company 1, Andersonville ; John R. Burgess, Company B, Anapolis; Alfred E. Manley, Company D, Newbern ; Edward G. Kellogg, Company G, Anderson- ville ; William D. Smith, Washington ; William II. Davy, Company I, Anderson- ville; Sylvester Oliver, Company I, Washington, D.C. ; Albert W. Vaughn, Company I, Washington, D.C .; Thomas C. Allis, Company K, Savannah ;
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Joseph Day, Company K, Millen : James B. Hills, Company K, Newbern ; John McGowan, Company K, Andersonville; Samuel L. Sherman, Company K, Ang. 18, 1864 ; Thomas Sullivan, Company K. Newbern ; John M. Whipple, Company K, Newbern. Missing, - Robert McDonald, Company K, May 16, 1864.
Twenty-eighth Regiment. - Andrew Garvey, Company H, died, Richmond. Twenty-ninth Regiment. - Emile Tanbert, Company C, died, Arlington, Va. Thirtieth Regiment. - William Brady, Company I, died, New Orleans.
Thirty-first Regiment. - Sergt. William Patch, Company G, died, New Orleans ; Thomas Agin, Company G, drowned May 9, 1865.
Thirty-second Regiment. - James A. Putnam, Company G, died of wounds, May 13, 1864; John Quinn, Company I, died: Albert P. McCann, died, Wash- ington, D.C.
Thirty-fourth Regiment. - Capt. George W. Thompson, killed, Winchester, Va .; John M. Winans, Company D, killed, Cedar Creek ; Thomas Gormley, Company D, died of wounds, Annapolis, Md. ; William Henry, Company D, killed, Hatcher's Run; Frank L. Kimball, Company D, killed, Piedmont; John M. Roach, Company D, died, Danville, Va.
Thirty-seventh Regiment. - Killed, Vincent HI. Tanner, Company G, Win- chester ; William Whitney, Company G, Wilderness; Josiah B. Hawks, Com- pany I, Spottsylvania; William C. Stockwell, Company I, Petersburg; Clarkson H. Decker, Company I, Cold Harbor; George P. Edwards, Company I, Peters- burg; Edward S. King, Company I, Spottsylvania; Augustus E. Pease, Com- pany I, Winchester; Erastus B. Pease, Company I, Cold Harbor; Edwin O. Wentworth, Company I, Spottsylvania; Michael Freeman, Company K, Spott- sylvania; Timothy McNamara, Company K, Wilderness. Died of wounds, - Lient. Joseph Follanshee, May 23, 1864; Edward M. Morley, Company A, City Point; Dennis Driscoll, Company K, Washington. Died, - Alpheus D. Lathrop, Company G, Washington ; Martin Luther, Company I, Springfield; Albert F. Brown, Company I, Hagerstown; William Daley, Company I, Brandy Station ; Edward Dunn, Company I, Harper's Ferry ; James O. Lee, Company I, Fort Hamilton ; Charles E. Stockwell, Company I, Washington. Missing, - Henry M. Clark, Company A, since May 6, 1864.
Thirty-ninth Regiment. - Charles Swan, died, Salisbury, N.C.
Fifty-fourth Regiment. - Peter B. Johnson, Company A, missing in action, July 18, 1863; Ralsez R. Townsend, Company A, missing in action, July 18, 1863.
Fifty-seventh Regiment .- Killed, Waldo Sherman, Company C, Spottsylvania ; Thomas Farrell, Company E, Wilderness ; Robert MeCoy, Company E, Wilder- ness ; John E. Tuttle, Company G, Wilderness; William Day, Company G,
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Wilderness; Thomas Conway, Company I, North Anaa river; Albert W. Dow, Company K, Wilderness. Died of wounds, - Dennis Lee, Company G, Wash- ington, D.C. ; George W. Benton, Company K, May 12, 1864. Died, - Michael Powers, Company C, Danville, Va. ; Jolin Donnelly, Company D, Beverly, N.J.
Fifty-eighth Regiment. - Francis P. Lemon, Company G, killed, Petersburg. Sixty-first Regiment. - Edward M. Bent, Company F, died, Washington ; Simon P. Shepardson, Company F, died, August 23, 1865.
Forty-sixth Regiment. - Died, -Dexter C. Allen, Company A, Baltimore ; Henry D. Bartlett, Company A, Newbern, N.C. ; George D. Kingsley, Company A, Newbern, N.C.
First Regiment Heavy Artillery. - Abril Farrer, Company M, died, field hospital.
Second Regiment Heavy Artillery .- Missing in action, - Michael Flavin, Com- pany, D, February 2, 1865; James Seanlan, Company G, April 20, 1864. Died, - Mark Nalor, Company D, Florence, S.C .; Frederick Osborne, Company F, Newbern, N.C. ; Henry M. Barden, Company G, Florence ; Albert W. Brewer, Company G, Andersonville; Levi G. Harvey, Company G, Andersonville ; John Hilpold, Company G, died, prisoner; William H. Leonard, Newbern; Charles Seymour, Company G, Andersonville; George H. Phetteplace, Company H, Newbern.
Third Regiment Heary Artillery. - Alexander Coates, Company E, died, Springfield ; Albert H. Wood, Company I, died, Richmond, Va .; John W. Thomas, Company I, drowned in Appomattox river.
First Regiment Cavalry. - Killed .- William Maguiness, Company A, Aldie ; Daniel F. Milton, Company A, Aldie; James W. Kearney, Company I, Vaughn road. Died, - William Allen, Company A, Potomae Creek ; Leander F. Pierce, Company D, Potomac Creek; Reuben S. Bemis, Company E, Acquia Creek; William H. Church, Andersonville; William S. Fuller, Company E, Annapolis; Gilbert L. Miller, Company E, Andersonville; Charles H. Putnam, Company E, Springfield ; Robert A. Remington, Company E. Andersonville ; John Kirkland, Company F, Baltimore; Perry O. Merrill. Company I, Florence; David Mil- liard, Company I, Washington; Jacob Pinseno, Salisbury; William Collins, Company K, August 31, 1864; Leonard Dinkel, unassigned recruit, November 6, 1864; John L. Harris, unassigned recruit, Washington. Missing in action, - Livingston Babeoek, Company F; Irving R. Cheeney, Company F.
Third Regiment Cavalry. - Joseph II. Sargent, Company A, died, Annapolis.
Fourth Regiment Cavalry. - Henry T. Morgan, Company B, died, Richmond ; Frederick Hale, Company G, died, Fort Magruder, Va.
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Fifth Regiment Cavalry. - Isaac H. Dorsey, Company D, died, New Orleans ; Howard Long, Company F, died, Fort Monroe; Elisha Gaskins, Company G, died, Point Lookout, Md.
Recapitulation. - Killed, 59; died, 88; died of wounds, 18; missing 10; drowned, 2: total, 167.
We have now reached a point in our long story where it is custom- ary for historians to pause. The immediate past is fresh in the mind ; many of the figures are still with us, and the obvious obstacles in dealing with this period is apparent. We have already transgressed somewhat the rule by speaking of many who still live ; but this seemed excusable in order to cover, in some small measure, the period of the great war. It is only meagrely presented, and much is left for the next generation to arrange and select for preservation.
What remains to be said is soon told. Springfield's mayors and the dates of their elections were, successively : Charles A. Winchester, republican, 1867, 1868; William L. Smith, democrat, 1869, 1870; Samuel B. Spooner, republican, 1871, 1872 ; John M. Stebbins, demo- crat, 1873 ; Emerson Wight, republican, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877; Lewis J. Powers, democrat and citizens' ticket, 1878 (republican ticket ), 1879 ; William H. Haile, republican, 1880, 1881 ; Henry M. Phillips, republican, 1882, 1883, 1884 ; Edwin D. Metcalf, republi- can, 1885, who thns was in office during the Springfield May cele- bration of 1886.
There were two serious fires in the month of July, 1864, one at the water-shops, the forging-shop being consumed, at a loss of $50,000. On the 24th of July fire broke out upon Main street, and the follow- ing buildings were destroyed : The Music Hall block, corner of Main and Pynchon streets ; the adjoining wooden buildings occupied by Geo. M. Law and E. Malley ; the stables of the Thompson Express Co. ; the American Hook and Ladder Company's building ; and the Hitch- cock block, corner of Main and Pynchon streets ; loss, $122,000 ; in- surance, $80,000. The loss fell the heaviest upon Tilly Haynes, the
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owner and builder of the Music Hall block, and a very popular, public-spirited, and enterprising citizen.
The most extensive conflagration of this period took place Sunday afternoon, April 29, 1875, it being within a few weeks of the two hundredth anniversary of the burning of Springfield by the Indians. The fire started in the planing-mill of H. M. Conkey & Co., Taylor street, swept away $181,100 worth of property on that street, de- voured $75,000 on Worthington street, cut a $191,200 hole out of Main street, and careened into Bond place on a $16,250 errand ; made Wight avenue $24,800 the poorer ; levelled dwelling-houses in Vernon street to the tune of $99,350, and exhausted its strength on Water street with a wind up of $8,200 ; total, $596,300 ; insurance, $445,- 270. Total buildings lost, 50, of which 30 were dwelling-houses. The losses of $20,000 and over are here added : Merriam & Frost, $40,000 ; Stebbins Manufacturing Company, $27,000 ; Wason Manu- facturing Company, $25,000; A. B. Abbey, $30,000; McKnight, Norton, & Hawley, $25,000 ; J. S. Hurlbut, $20,000 ; C. S. Hurlbut, $40,000 ; Livermore, Swan, & Co., $45,000 ; Joseph Shaw estate, $40,000.
Upon Washington's birthday, 1876, an elaborate Washington party was held in the old Parsons tavern now on Court street. The build- ing was filled with ancient furniture and bric-a-brac, and the actors generally appeared in costumes of the past.
Several changes in newspapers took place after the war. Henry M. Burt, who started the " New England Homestead," at North- ampton, moved the paper to Springfield in 1867, and subsequently published the " Evening Telegram." In 1872 the business interests of the " Springfield Republican " were reorganized. Clark W. Bryan and Mr. Tapley left the firm, taking the job printing, and forming the Clark W. Bryan Company. They bought of Lewis H. Taylor the " Springfield Evening Union," founded in 1864 by Edmund Anthony, of New Bedford. William M. Pomeroy was made managing editor, and E. H. Phelps local editor. The "Union " developed marked
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ability, especially as to local news, much above the usual run of provincial evening papers.
In 1881 Dea. Joseph L. Shipley became editor of the "' Union," and soon afterward secured a controlling interest in the company. Mr.
PARSONS TAVERN AS IT APPEARED IN ISS6.
Shipley is a hard worker within the lines set by his party, and has fully maintained the reputation of the paper in the local field. Mr. Bryan had left the company, and after a short journalistic experi- ence in Berkshire, established a printing-house in Holyoke, which so grew upon his hands that he was forced to bring his business to Springfield. The " New England Homestead " was bought in 1878,
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by E. H. Phelps and H. H. Sanderson, and a city edition was started a few months later. The Phelps Publishing Company was organ- ized in 1880, and the "Farm and Home," an agricultural paper, was started about the same time. Both this paper and the " Home- stead " have proved great financial successes.
E. and C. J. Bellamy started the " Daily News" in 1880, and the latter subsequently secured his brother's interest. Three years later the daily "Democrat " was started by a company, with Lawson Sibley as president, but it was short-lived. In 1878 Edward Merriam started a magazine in Springfield called the "Sunday Afternoon," Rev. Washington Gladden, editor. It had a short and brilliant career.
There is one man who for over thirty years was an essential part of Springfield, but who, from the nature of the case, can com- mand but comparatively small space in this history. The thought of Samuel Bowles was the thought of thousands of men at each break- fast table, and the irritation of other thousands. He was a politician and the foe of politicians ; he was a man of deep religious percep- tions and a frequent combatant of religionists ; his literature was the record of the hour, and his rhetoric the elegance of exactness and terse detail ; his phrases were modelled by the exigencies of rapid preparation and a busy constituency. Ile was a lover of good men and the companion of men of action, but an incorrigible belligerent when the judgment or character of friend or foe fell below his stand- ard. Party ties were as nothing, neighborly feeling was as nothing, when battling for a public policy or principle. A member of the Cobden Club, he argued for a graduated protective tariff ; a charter member of the republican party, he struck that organization a full blow in the face when its standard fell below his. He grew and broadened and mellowed with each experience in life. Brilliant and aggressive in his youth, stern and cosmopolitan in middle life, he was fast maturing to one of the most admirable characters of his day, when death deprived him of an age of distinction and wisdom
Engraved by Samuel Sartain
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and usefulness. But his life can best be written as George S. Mer- riam has written it, - in the setting of his country's history.
For many years there was not a session of the Legislature or of Congress that was a stranger to the figure of Samuel Bowles. The corridor, the club, the banquet board, the conference-room, in fact, the resorts of public men, were his resorts ; he aided in planning cam- paigns, forming tickets or public measures, and carried his sharp lance so far to the fore-front that he was sometimes unhorsed, like other bold riders. " This was not alway the case," he said, when subscrib- ers complained because republican postmasters would not deliver the "Republican " after it had come out for Horace Greeley for President. "But the paper will recover its influence," he added ; and it did.
A more dramatic discomfitnre, but one challenging deep sympathy, he had experienced some years before. It was in December, 1868, while Mr. Bowles was talking with Murat Halstead of the " Cincin- nati Commercial," at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, that an officer arrested him and hurried him off with unnecessary rudeness to Lud- low-street Jail. Many prominent men, like Chester A. Arthur, Hugh Hastings, and others, were refused admission to the jail, and the sheriff carried out the plan of the journalist's enemies by obstructing all efforts for securing his release on bail that night. This was the hour of Jim Fisk's trinmph. He had jailed a New England editor, but at 11 o'clock next morning Mr. Bowles regained his liberty. A wide newspaper and lawyer's discussion followed this extraordinary episode. Mr. Bowles, by his brave course in attacking Fisk, and continuing to attack him, had earned the right to say editorially : "We find some consolation, however, in the aroused spirit of the press and people, which gives promise of greater courage and foresight here- after in counteracting the selfish schemes of adventurers and dema- gogues." Over fifty of the foremost citizens of Boston sent a for- mal request to Mr. Bowles for his presence at a dinner in his honor. Mr. Bowles followed his natural instinct and declined ; but he took
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occasion to write a fine letter on journalistic ethics, which contained this passage : " My own observation is that the press rarely does in- justice to a thoroughly honest man or cause. It may be deceived with regard to a private individual, and misrepresent him for a time, but with reference to public men and measures its knowledge is more intimate and complete than that of any other agency possibly can be ; and I know that it withholds unjustly to the public one hundred times when it speaks wrongly once of the individual."
After the death of the great journalist, his son, Samuel Bowles, became editor and publisher of the "Springfield Republican." For several years, owing to the precarious health of his father, he had been called upon to follow very closely the course of public events, and to inspect his father's wide political correspondence, and this, with his business aptitude and industry, gave him a good equipment for his heavy responsibilities. After a short interregnum the edi- torial force of the " Republican " was organized, with Solomon Bulk- ley Griffin as managing editor, and the late Wilmot L. Warren and Charles Goodrich Whiting as his two important assistants in the fields of finance and literature. All three had won their spurs under the exacting conditions and trying ordeal of Mr. Bowles's supervision, and were notably well equipped to carry on the great work given the "' Republican " to do.
The churches of Springfield enjoyed a steady growth during this period, quite up to the material increase of the community. There was but one incident that commands special attention, and that was the refusal of a Congregational council to install Rev. James F. Merriam over the Indian Orchard Church, November 7, 1877. A question of orthodoxy was involved. Mr. Merriam, in his decla- ration of faith, had said : " In regard to the matter of the eternal punishment of those impenitent at death, I believe the Bible does not teach it; nor do I believe it teaches the contrary." The Indian Orchard affair gave rise to a long newspaper discussion that spread all over the country, and now forms a chapter of the religious
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