USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 22
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Captain Allen experienced the same difficulty which Major Melville did from the impoverished condition of the national treasury. He appears to have been left unprepared to meet pressing demands. But his first embarrassment was from claims for taxes upon the Cantonment grounds and buildings. The federal legislature of the state had refused to cede the site to the United States ; and the democratic authorities of the town pressed for the payment of taxes upon the land and buildings.
Lieutenant Wheelock, also, on his march from Boston, left sev- eral of his men sick, without any descriptive list, or written order for their support, and when some of them died, those who had cared for them applied to Captain Allen for payment, which he had no legal right to make. In January, 1814, he was ordered to forward, as soon as practicable, one thousand blankets, one thousand coats, one thousand vests, one thousand overalls, and thirty-six pairs of stockings, to Boston; but was unable to do so,
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from lack of funds, " not having had a dollar of public money since the previous September." He adds : "To keep the troops on this Cantonment (four hundred and fifteen now present) with fuel and such other expenses, as they could not do without, has exhausted all my resources, of which I also notified Mr. Monroe 1 by my accounts, and by letters, at least half a dozen times, since September; but have not received the mark of a pen from him, except to make monthly summary statements. * I shall have the clothing for New York packed and ready to start imme- diately after I am in cash."
In another letter, a few days later, he says : "My estimate of expenses for this Cantonment, in my department, exceed eight hundred dollars per month, and no money here to be had : all of which I have notified the secretary of war several times, and, unless I am shortly relieved, I must stop. The article of wood alone, which the men must have, costs about four hundred dollars monthly."
The energetic remonstrances of Captain Allen seem to have been successful in securing a proper attention at the war-depart- ment to the pecuniary necessities of the Cantonment.
With the opening of the campaign of 1813, the movement of troops westward recommenced, and their arrival and departure, in larger or smaller detachments continued to enliven the town, and afford food for conjecture as to future operations.
About the 1st of August, 1813, most of the troops having been withdrawn to the front, it was determined to concentrate the prisoners of war, from several other depots, at Pittsfield, under the charge of Major Melville, who was appointed deputy-marshal of Massachusetts. On the 13th of August, Captain Allen received orders to prepare the barracks for the reception of six hundred men of this class, which he did by surrounding one of the build- ings previously erected with a fence ten feet high, and building a guard-room properly furnished with arms, handcuffs, fetters and chains for the restraint of the unruly, and with proper furniture, in the other rooms, for the use of the peaceable.
Four hundred prisoners were expected immediately, but only two hundred were in charge on the 1st of December. Seventeen British officers of militia, magistrates and prominent citizens,
1 James Monroe, acting secretary of war.
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arrested near Niagara, for some special reason, reached town on the 11th of August, and were paroled at Cheshire.
From this time to the close of the war, most of the officers resided at Cheshire on parole ; smaller numbers at Stockbridge, and a few at Pittsfield. General Riall, captured at Lundy's Lane, boarded at Captain Campbell's coffee-house.
Dr. Timothy Childs was appointed visiting-physician to the prisoners confined at Pittsfield and Cheshire ; and in his official statement at the close of the war, he reports that the whole num- ber of private soldiers and non-commissioned officers confined at the Cantonment between September 12, 1813, and the close of the war, was over fourteen hundred ; and the average, over six hundred. In addition to these, there were a proportionate num- ber of officers, besides a hundred on parole at Cheshire and Stock- bridge.
Captain Allen reported above two hundred prisoners at the bar- racks in December, 1813 ; about one thousand, December 1, 1814; and nearly fifteen hundred, January 1, 1815. The Sun, of Feb- 'ruary 2, 1815, states that there were then fourteen hundred pris- oners, and that three or four hundred more were expected that week. Rev. Mr. Hibbard, writing loosely from memory in the year 1840, mentions "several thousand ;" and other memories, as well as tradition, are equally liberal : but there is no reason to doubt that the official statements, quoted above, are correct.
The first-coming prisoners were quartered, as has been stated, in one of the barracks. But, on the 26th of December, 1814, Captain Allen received a requisition from Major Melville to take immediate measures for fitting the two barns in the rear of the Cantonment for the reception of fifteen hundred prisoners of war on the 15th of October. These barns were two hundred feet long each, and the probable cost of remodeling them as prisoners' bar- racks, was estimated at between two thousand and three thousand dollars ; and Captain Allen having no public funds in his posses- sion for that purpose, and no expectation of any, declined the task ; but consented that Major Melville should undertake it, although it belonged more properly to the quartermaster's depart- ment.
Major Melville, the next. morning, repaired to the house of Captain Hosea Merrill, who was an extensive lumber-dealer and builder-and, moreover, an ardent democrat and supporter of the
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war-and urged him to undertake the task at once. But it hap- pened to be Sunday; and Captain Merrill would not so much as talk upon the subject : his many years of service in the revolu- tionary army having not in the least weakened his New England scruples concerning labor on the Sabbath. On Monday, how- ever, without questioning the probability of pay from the govern- ment, he began work in earnest.
The specifications required for two of the rooms, windows pro- tected by heavy iron-gratings ; and, around the entire building, a plank-fence two inches thick, twelve feet high, and with stout hemlock-posts sunk five feet in the earth. The plank was as yet all in the log, and some of the logs were standing in the forest. The iron was at Boston; and the workmen were nearly all yet to be engaged. But loggers were briskly set at work; the saw-mill at Pontoosuc ran night and day ; the prisoners already in barracks were pressed into service ; the iron was received and the gratings made by blacksmith Ezekiel Bates. The last stroke of the work- man's hammer was heard just as the first squad of new prisoners marched into the barracks.
Justus Merrill, a son of the builder, returning from his brief campaign in Boston, was appointed steward of the prison made of one of the barns, and William Janes of the other. Mr. Janes's brother, Etlian, then a lieutenant in The Blues, was already stew- ard of the prison in the barracks.
During the first year of the depot, there was no especial trouble with the prisoners. To be sure, although a mounted patrol constantly made the circuit of each prison during the night, in addition to the sentries who were always on guard, there was occasionally an escape, which the republicans were fain to attribute to the aid of the political opponents of the war, and the friends of Great Britain in the town; as they did the very mod- erate number of desertions which took place. But there is not the slightest evidence that any aid was given, in either case, by any reputable member of the federal party ; or indeed by anybody except such as, whatever political faith they professed, would have been tempted to a more serious offense by a handsome bribe. The first escape was that of two spirited young officers, Lieuten- ant Walter Kerr and Ensign Alexander Greig, who are known to have bribed the sentry. A reward of a hundred dollars was offered, without effect, for their capture ; and, although no federal-
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ist of repute would have probably aided in their escape, it is not unlikely that there were many who, if they had met them in their flight, would not have considered it an imperative duty to detain them.
Many of the prisoners during the first year were Germans, and it was noticed that, although, when exchanged, they returned often for the third or fourth time, yet the fortunes of war did not seem to depress them. They explained that, having observed that the German regiment was always assigned to the most exposed points, they preferred life in a comfortable prison to hard life in camp, and death in a war which did not concern them. The kindness which they received, thus met a probably not altogether unexpected return.
The prisoners were also permitted to avoid the irksomeness of confinement, and earn an honest .penny by "hiring out" to par- ties responsible for their return. The labor dearth was thus relieved ; and few, if any, seized the opportunity to escape.
In the fall of 1813, and still more in the summer of 1814, the number of the prisoners increased, and their character was changed, by the victories on the lakes and on the northern front- ier ; and, although the system of kind treatment was persisted in, more caution was required in the management and guarding of the depot.
Among the prisoners there was now a much larger proportion of native-born British subjects; and these, frequently, of a class not easily touched by kindness. Many of them were habitually unruly ; and, on two occasions at least, plots to escape in a body and by violence, were formed, and it became necessary to cover the prisons with the cannon, of which the post had four nine- pounders, with a threat of firing unless order was restored. At other times the small-arms of the guard sufficed.
The least troublesome of the prisoners were the Germans. The most unruly and dangerous were about one hundred and seventy . marines and sailors-the survivors of a picked detachment sent out from the lake-fleet, who had been enticed up one of the rivers in pursuit of a body of militia, which, when it reached the desired point, turned upon its pursuers, killed a large number at the first fire, and captured the rest.
This party was full of the spirit usually attributed to the British tar, and kept the prison in a perpetual turmoil by their
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mischievous pranks, or more serious misdemeanors. When the news of peace came, forty of them were confined in the guard- room, upon a diet of bread and water, as ringleaders in breaking into the hospital store-room, and stealing the wines and liquors prepared for the sick, upon which they became uproariously intoxicated and openly revolted. They were in the guard-room house, when General Weinbold of the British army, who was making the tour of the depots for prisoners, arrived; and to him they made grievous complaints. But the general, who was not inexperienced in such cases, only replied very quietly, " Oh, yes, you're as innocent as sucking doves. You only robbed a hospital of supplies provided for your own sick, and threatened to kill those who wanted to treat you kindly. It's my opinion, you are only too lightly punished."
It is a curious fact that the most earnest desire, and the most serious attempt, to break prison, were after it was known that peace was declared, and that the prisoners were shortly to be given up at the nearest and most convenient British post, which happened to be, as regarded Pittsfield, the famous Isle-aux-Noix, at the foot of Lake Champlain. Many of the prisoners were reluctant to return to Europe at all, especially in the character of soldiers. So determined were they, in fact not to do so, that it would have been impossible to get them into Canada without a strong guard, had not General Weinbold promised that, as soon as possible after their exchange, they should be paid off and dis- charged, with an additional gift of land in that province.
There is no reason to doubt that, in making this promise, Gen- eral Weinbold was sincere. The wars which had so long agi- tated Europe were supposed to be ended ; England and her allies victorious ; and Napoleon crushed and helpless in the Island of Elba. There seemed to be no better use to which England could put her superfluous soldiers in America than by transforming them into loyal colonists. Still, many of the prisoners were dis- trustful, and the task of taking them to the Isle-aux-Noix, to be delivered up, was not considered a desirable or safe one. The . stewards of the other prisons declining it, Mr. Justus Merrill went in charge of all; and, with the exception of some unavoida- ble losses by desertion, he accomplished his task successfully, and delivered up his charge to the satisfaction of the British agents. When the first detachments marched, it was yet in early spring,
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the ground alternately freezing and thawing; and the soldiers, whose feet were tender after their long confinement, suffered much. They were also troubled with doubts as to what would be done with them at the end of the journey; and these doubts proved to be well-founded. No sooner had the last detachment reached Canada, than they learned, to their dismay, that the great Emperor, escaping from Elba, was again in France, and at the head of an immense army, ready for a desperate and doubtful struggle.
Many of the prisoners, just released from Pittsfield, might have cared very little for this, except that from it resulted a " military necessity," which compelled the British government, instead of leaving them as peaceful, and as they hoped prosperous, settlers in Canada, to send them across the ocean, to again engage in conflict. They declared with imprecations that if they had known this before, they would never have crossed the lines. But there was now no help. They were marched rapidly to Quebec, placed upon transports, and reached the seat of war in season for Waterloo. These and other soldiers released by the peace from . service in America, may have turned the scales which so long hung suspended upon that eventful field.
The treatment of the British prisoners of war at the Pittsfield depot, as at others, was distinguished by marked kindness and humanity ; this having been a matter of pride and honor, as well as of feeling, with all grades of the officers who had charge of them. Mr. James Prince, marshal of the district of Massachu- setts, writing to Dr. Timothy Childs, at the close of the war, said : " I cannot fail to observe to you, on this occasion, the very great consolation I experience from reflection on the general con- duct of all the gentlemen who have had any agency with prisoners in this district ; by which, not only has the condition of a class of unfortunate men, placed in our power by the fortunes of war, been ameliorated, as far as depended on them, but it ena- bles us to present these good offices in contrast with, and as the counterpart of, the conduct to our citizens detained as prisoners of war,-ours, the splendid tablet of mercy and kindness to con- quered foes, imitating the benevolence of Deity; theirs, the feroc- ity of demons."
With regard to Dr. Childs's own services, in a letter concerning the final settlement of accounts, the marshal writes :
28
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That your services would have been constant, arduous and success- ful was to be expected from your well-known character for patriotism, zeal and professional skill; and it was from these considerations that, when I proposed the appointment, I felt peculiarly gratified that you signified your acceptance.
When the establishment at Pittsfield took place, both its extent and its duration were uncertain, as it respected me, who, although the medium to introduce it, was known to be a subordinate character; and that every officer placed there, as well as the management of its con- cerns, was dependent upon the will and control of the commissary- general of prisoners. A minute statement of my doings at Pittsfield, was, therefore, transmitted to Washington, immediately upon my return from that place, in which your appointment and terms were made known. Here my agency ended. If, therefore, the number of prisoners has exceeded what was calculated upon at the commencement of the estab- lishment, and, from the great number of wounded men, your duties have been more than ordinarily severe, I cannot for a moment doubt that a representation on your part, certified by Major Melville, the officer charged with the execution of the instructions of the commissary- general, will be received with candor at Washington, and rewarded with liberality.
The representation was forwarded to the commissary-general, John Mason, and that officer, in response, and also, " taking into consideration the high testimonies in Dr. Childs's favor, adduced by the marshal of Massachusetts," determined to comply with his request to be placed on the same footing with a hospital-surgeon in the United States army; the compensation to date from the time the increase in the number of prisoners took place.
As the residence of some of the prisoners at Cheshire, and others at Stockbridge, rendered it impossible for Dr. Childs to attend to them at all times personally, and as he frequently required aid at Pittsfield, especially after a severe battle at the north, he was also allowed the pay of a surgeon's mate ; and com- pensation for medicines furnished. He actually received as fol- lows : For the months of September and October, ranking as sur- geon's mate, and including commutation for servant, forage for horse, and rations, $158; from November 1, 1813, when the increase of prisoners began, until May 30, 1815, when the service ceased, ranking as hospital-surgeon, and including pay at the rate of $75 per month, assistants' pay at $45 per month, with servant's pay, rations, etc., $3,892. For medicines dispensed, $325. A total of $4,375. Dr. Childs's assistants were his son, Dr. H. H.
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Childs, Dr. Daniel Barker, of Adams, and Dr. Isaac Hodges, of Cheshire.
Probably he had other occasional aid ; but we are not informed by whom it was given, nor what compensation he paid to any of his assistants.
Both the British prisoners and the soldiers at the Cantonment, had the proclivity usual in such cases, to sell the clothing and blankets provided by their respective governments ; and, especially as the close of the war approached, the officers at the Canton- ment had great trouble in executing the law against that practice. In fact, many English blankets were left in the town, and became treasured heir-looms in some families. But, in the enthusiasm for supplying the soldiers of the Union in the civil war of 1861-5, some of them were drawn from their hiding-places ; and, after the repose of half a century; found themselves again in the turmoil of camp and field.
It could not be expected that in a war like that of 1812, the sol- diery of Pittsfield would perform such conspicuous service as distinguished them in the revolution. But, nevertheless, their record was distinguished and honorable. The two regiments of infantry-the 9th and 21st-in which the town was most largely represented, became noted, in the army of the northern frontier, for their gallantry, their efficiency and their losses.
We have not the means of following them through their several campaigns ; but whenever they are alluded to, it is in the most honorable terms. The 9th acquired its sanguinary sobriquet previous to the campaign of 1814, being so styled by Captain Ingersoll in his call for recruits in the spring of that year. "None but gentlemen, and gentlemen's sons," says his advertisement, " need apply for admission to the ranks of the Bloody 9th." The standard of gentility is very sensibly defined, by inference from the context, to be "honesty and sobriety ; " under which test it is to be hoped the gentry of Berkshire were not a very circumscribed circle.
Both regiments did grand service, whenever they had oppor- tunity, throughout the war ; but they won their brightest laurels in the series of sanguinary conflicts and glorious victories at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie ; in some, or all, of which Captain Harris's dragoons also performed brilliant exploits, and contributed the most essential aid in critical emer-
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gencies. In all these battles, the 9th and 21st were with the foremost in sacrifice and achievement. The brave 9th, 11th and 25th-the remnants of Winfield Scott's veteran brigade, which had suffered terribly in the previous battles - we are told by Lossing, were hurried into the battle of Niagara, without warning or preparation. All day they fought valiantly ; and at ten o'clock at night, the shattered remnants of the brigade, commanded by such officers of the 9th as remained, rallied round the tattered colors of the 11th, and kept the field.
It was at this battle, also, that the 21st performed an exploit which ranks in history with the charge of The Six Hundred at Balaclava, although it has not yet found its poet. "The action," says Salma Hale in his brief story of the war, "was a succession of engagements; in one of the earlier of which the Americans were sorely annoyed into whatever part of the field they might drive the enemy, or be driven, by the British artillery, stationed on a commanding eminence, near Lundy's Lane. 'Can you storm that battery ?' said General Ripley to Colonel Miller. 'I'll try, sir !' was the laconie answer. Giving the word of command to his men, they, with steady courage, ascended the hill, advanced to the muzzles of the cannon, killed with their muskets several artillerymen on the point of firing their pieces, and drove the remainder before them. Both parties were instantly re-enforced ; and the enemy made a daring effort to regain their cannon. They were repulsed, but quickly repeated the attempt. Nearly all the opposing forces gathered around this position ; and to possess it was the sole object of both armies. Again the enemy were repulsed, but again they renewed the effort. After a violent conflict, they were, a third time, driven from the hill. The firing then ceased, the British troops were withdrawn; and the Ameri- cans were left in quiet possession of the field."
In these latter charges, General Ripley led his brigade in per- son ; and some of the most remarkable hand-to-hand conflicts on record, were witnessed. Bayonet interlocked with bayonet, the blaze of opposing muskets crossed each other, and sometimes, the rare spectacle of officers measuring swords was seen.
Dr. Elisha Lee Allen of Pittsfield, was assistant-surgeon of the 21st; and, in a letter to his brother, Captain Jonathan Allen, giving a glowing account of the battle, he says that one
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officer of that regiment was killed and six wounded ; and that, in the 9th all, but two, officers, were either killed or wounded.
In the defense of Fort Erie, on the 15th, what was left of both regiments was again desperately engaged, and suffered severely. The same occurred in the famous sortie from that fort, on the 17th ; and, while near the head of the 21st, General Ripley received a painful and dangerous wound.
General Ripley, when taking leave of the 21st, upon his pro- motion, enumerated, as the engagements in which they had taken part, under him, in the early part of the war, York, Chrysler's Farm, Fort George and Sackett's Harbor. And in most, if not all, of these, the 9th also took part.
When the army was reduced to a peace basis in 1815, the fol- lowing officers from Pittsfield were retained : Captain Reynolds M. Kirby, aid to General Ripley, Lieutenant Thomas Childs, Captain David Perry, First Lieutenant William Browning; First Lieutenant (captain by brevet) Benjamin F. Larned, Surgeon's Mate E. L. Allen. There were also two officers retained who had married Pittsfield ladies, and made Pittsfield for a time their ยท home, General Eleazer W. Ripley and Captain (major by brevet) Benjamin F. Watson.
Captain Thomas Childs, son of Dr. Timothy Childs, was born in 1795. During the war he served in the heavy artillery. He continued in the army, serving with credit in the Seminole and Mexican wars, and at his death, held the rank of brigadier- general.
Captain Larned was the son of Darius Larned, and Eunice Williams Larned, daughter of Deacon William Williams, the noted Dalton loyalist. He continued in the army through life ; and, at his death in 1862, held the post of paymaster-general. He was buried in the Pittsfield cemetery.
Dr. Elisha Lee Allen, son of Rev. Thomas Allen, was born in 1783, and died at Pas Christien, Louisiana, September 5, 1817; falling a victim to his conscientious and zealous performance of duty in attending upon soldiers suffering from yellow-fever, even when his professional associates assured him that he needed rest and medical assistance for himself.
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