USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > The history of Springfield in Massachusetts for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden > Part 8
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between "Hillers" and "Streeters." When a boy of either set passed the line of School and Spring streets he was sub- ject to attack by the boys of the other side.
The Armory has long been noted for its excellent guns and the old "Springfield musket" did good service in the
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
Civil war; but, good as it was, the present Springfield rifle shows what may be accomplished by continual improvement. The tower of the Arsenal is eighty-eight and one-half feet high and among those who have ascended it for the fine view of this valley was the poet Longfellow. In his day a floor was nearly filled with guns, stacked in frames. His attention was called by Mrs. Longfellow to the fact that these stacked arms resembled the pipes of an organ; and to this circumstance is due one of the finest poems ever written in the cause of universal peace. The prophecy in the second stanza was fully realized a few years later in the Civil war.
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OLD TIMES AND NEW
THE ARSENAL AT SPRINGFIELD.
This is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling, Like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms; But from their silent pipes no anthem pealing Startles the villages with strange alarms.
Ah! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary, When the death-angel touches those swift keys! What loud lament and dismal Miserere Will mingle with their awful symphonies!
I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus, The cries of agony, the endless groan,
Which through the ages that have gone before us, In long reverberations reach our own.
On helm and harness rings the Saxon hammer, Through Cimbric forest roars the Norseman's song, And loud, amid the universal clamor, O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar gong.
I hear the Florentine, who from his palace Wheels out his battle-bell with dreadful din, And Aztec priests upon their teocallis Beat the wild war-drums made of serpent's skin;
The tumult of each sacked and burning village; The shout that every prayer for mercy drowns; The soldiers' revels in the midst of pillage; The wail of famine in beleaguered towns;
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
The bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder, The rattling musketry, the clashing blade; And ever and anon, in tones of thunder, The diapason of the cannonade.
Is it, O man, with such discordant noises, With such accursed instruments as these, Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices, And jarrest the celestial harmonies?
Were half the power, that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error, There were no need of arsenals nor forts;
The warrior's name would be a name abhorred! And every nation, that should lift again Its hand against a brother, on its forehead Would wear forevermore the curse of Cain!
Down the dark future, through long generations, The echoing sounds grow fainter and then cease; And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, I hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!"
Peace! and no longer from its brazen portals The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies! But beautiful as songs of the immortals The holy melodies of love arise.
-Longfellow, 1807-1882
NOTICE
.
ENTRANCE TO SPRINGFIELD OVER THE OLD TOLL BRIDGE.
CHAPTER IX.
THE NEW CITY .- ANTI-SLAVERY .- THE CIVIL WAR.
W E have now come to the year 1852. As the new world reckons youth and age, Springfield was no longer young. With age had come numbers; the population had reached 12,000 and the town was already not only a mother of towns, but a grandmother. The size of the popula- tion made necessary a change in the method of government. For over two hundred years the voters had all met together for the town business, gathering first under some tree, then in some private house, next in the meeting-house and last in the town hall on State street. At first the settlement was called a plantation, for this is all it was, a tract of planted ground in a wilderness and surrounded by wild beasts and Indians. This word had long been replaced by the word
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"town," meaning a community whose affairs are governed by selectmen chosen by all the voters meeting together in one place.
This plan now becoming impracticable because of the increasing number, the General Court of Massachusetts granted a charter or body of laws for the regulation of affairs by which the government was to be by a city council and mayor chosen by the voters meeting in wards, then first created. Upon the acceptance of this charter April 21, 1852, the old town became a young city, the first in western Massachusetts. From this time there has been no essential change in the territorial limits, but each census has shown continued growth of population.
Every town which has been incorporated into a city has its corporate seal. A seal is an engraved stamp which, being impressed upon paper or wax, shows that what is written or printed on the paper is genuine and has such authority as the owner of the seal can give it. The effect of the seal on the paper is, of course, to make a raised impression, but some- times a likeness of the seal is printed from a plate like type. By such a printing a book or document is not really or legally sealed, but for many purposes this is sufficient. The real seal is in the custody of the city clerk.
The seal of the city of Springfield, as adopted, was de- IN GFIEL scriptive of what the town had been and then was. In the lower left-hand quarter ORGANIZED A is a view of the river with boats and with houses on the bank. In the right-hand quarter is the house built by John Pynchon, or "old fort." Above, nearly CITY MAY 25.1852 Y 14.1636.0 the whole field is occupied by a view of a railroad train passing out of the station, as the station was then,
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THE NEW CITY
and crossing the river. In the upper part of the seal is the United States Arsenal. Thus here are represented commerce by rail and river, manufactures and history. There is not, as in the seals of Connecticut and Vermont, any suggestion of agriculture. This only shows how the old "plantation" was becoming lost in the modern city.
When the charter was accepted the first thing to be done was to elect a mayor and the members of the city council. The latter was composed of a board of nine aldermen and a common council. There were two candidates for mayor and both eventually held the office; but for the first time Caleb Rice was chosen. He was then the high sheriff of the county and had removed to Springfield from West Springfield. He had a daughter Elizabeth, who, when she grew to womanhood, went to Italy for study and married a citizen of that country. She wrote verses and, under her married name of Bianciardi, published a book called "At Home in Italy."
Soon after the incorporation of the city there was built a City Hall, a large and towered building, holding all the city offices and also having a big audience room for public meetings. There was a bell in the tower that took up the work of the church bell, in announcing to the people, in the ancient fashion, that the hour of nine o'clock at night had come. It was also the bell of the clock, striking the hours. The nine o'clock bell was at last discontinued and in later years re- placed by the so-called curfew or bell at half-past nine. For half a century the City Hall was a favorite for large political meetings, fairs and concerts, but in 1905 it was destroyed by fire and the great bell fell to the ground.
An exhibition was being held in the large hall. At the noon hour this hall was nearly deserted. A kerosene lamp was burning and a monkey got loose. Whether the monkey
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overturned the lamp and caused the fire is not certainly known. The fire was the occasion of a fine example of devotion to duty by two assistants in the office of the city clerk. Their names were Edith M. Ware and Bertha B. Fuller. They had both been pupils in Springfield schools. For the protection of the priceless records of the city there was a great fire-proof vault. It was necessary to take out the records during the day for use, but at its close they were replaced in the vault.
CITY HALL, 1854-1905.
At the beginning of the fire the city clerk was absent. When the knowledge of the fire reached his office it had made much headway and danger was near. The first impulse, of course, would be to flee, and, indeed, everyone was fleeing from the building; but there were the heavy books of priceless records lying about. The two clerks gathered them all up, placed them all in the vault and then shut and locked the ponderous door. This took time and courage. Meanwhile the fire was upon them and they were but just able to escape; in fact,
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Miss Fuller, arriving at the door of the building, was so over- come by the smoke that she had to be rescued by others.
Thus the lesson of doing one's duty, having been early learned, received its magnificent illustration in the face of danger and death and becomes a part of the history of the city. We recall the motto of John Pynchon, when, self-interest tempting him to remove from Springfield and leave the town to its fate, he wrote that he should
Stick to It.
While Springfield was yet a town, there began to be a great deal said about slavery, as it existed in the South, and its spread into the new states. Among the people of Springfield, some of them were deeply interested. Most of them believed that slavery was wrong and a curse to the country and some wanted to do what they could to help the slaves. The laws were against them and forbade aiding a runaway slave, but they believed there was, in this case, a higher law, above the laws of men. Accordingly they arranged with others of the same opinions, who lived in other states, to aid the slaves who tried to escape from their masters.
When a slave, traveling through the woods by night and successful in eluding the bloodhounds on his track, at last got into a free state north of Maryland, he would go to the house of one of the friends of freedom of whom he had heard in some secret way. Here he would be kept through the day and at night he would start for the house of some other friend, further north. Thus he would keep on until he reached Canada, and, that being a British province, as soon as he touched her soil he became lawfully free. The line of escape from Mary- land to Canada, by reason of the secrecy and night traveling, was called "the underground railroad," and the houses of the friends of freedom made the different stations.
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The house of Doctor Osgood, minister of the old church, no longer the only church, was one of the stations. It was on Main street, just below Howard street. When the runaway arrived, before light in the morning, he was given a break- fast and put to bed in a little back room which the Doctor called "the prophet's chamber." At night he started again on his journey. In
one of these years as many as fifty slaves were sheltered by the min- ister. It is evident that Doctor Osgood was a man of sympathy and kindness and had the courage to stand by what he believed. He was interesting in other ways, blunt and witty in his speech, as illus- trated in the stories still current SAMUEL B. OSGOOD. about him. All his life in the minis- try was spent in Springfield and he died an aged and honored man. When he was visiting a school, as a member of the committee, the teacher wrote a figure "9" on the blackboard, without closing the loop at the top. "What's that," said the doctor, "a hook?" This amused the scholars and probably made the teacher more careful about figures.
Among the citizens of Springfield who took an active interest in anti-slavery, there is none more famous than John Brown, but he was not then famous; he was only known as a wool merchant with his warehouse near the railroad and his house at one time was on the north side of Franklin street, about one hundred feet from Main street and is yet standing. He was more concerned about slavery than wool. His soul was on fire with indignation, that man should hold property
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ANTI-SLAVERY
in man. He prayed much about it; but what could he, a wool merchant, do except to help the slaves along on the under- ground railroad, as others did? There was no sacri- fice that he would not make. His family felt as strongly about slavery as he did and on one occa- sion father, mother and children agreed that some money which was needed for furnishing the parlor of the Franklin street house should be used for the runaway slaves.
Barnes
THE SLAVE MOTHER.
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
One evening there was an address by the eminent Charles Sumner, who, as senator from Massachusetts afterwards was almost killed on account of his speeches against slavery. After the address Sumner and Brown went into the back store of Rufus Elmer, a Main street shoe dealer and ardent abolitionist. They were talking of the slavery question, when Sumner said, "Mr. Brown, slavery is doomed; but not in your day or in mine." Brown, raising high his hand, brought it down with decision, saying devoutly, "I hope to God to die in the cause."
Not long after he went to Kansas and engaged in the struggle to make the new state a free state. He and his family risked their lives there and one of his sons was killed. He became widely known as "Ossawatomie Brown." He then went to Virginia and attemped to set in execution his plan to free the slaves, by arming them with pikes. It failed and he was hanged for treason against the commonwealth of Vir- ginia. But the country was stirred and this event was one of those that brought on the Civil war. It was not long before the soldiers of the National army were going to battle with the song of
"John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave But his soul goes marching on."
Its strains were wafted back to his old home in Springfield and the children in the public schools were singing it. Brown made a mistake as to how slavery could be ended, but his was a great heart true to God and his fellow men, and really helped in the overthrow of slavery in a way that he did not think.
John Brown of Ossawatomie spake on his dying day:
"I will not have to shrive my soul a priest in Slavery's pay. But let some poor slave-mother whom I have striven to free,
With her children, from the gallows-stair put up a prayer for me!"
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ANTI-SLAVERY
John Brown of Ossawatomie, they led him out to die; And lo! a poor slave-mother with her little child pressed nigh. Then the bold, blue eye grew tender, and the old harsh face grew mild,
As he stooped between the jeering ranks and kissed the negro's child!
The shadows of his stormy life that moment fell apart; And they who blamed the bloody hand forgave the loving heart. That kiss from all its guilty means redeemed the good intent, And round the grizzly fighter's hair the martyr's aureole bent!" -Whittier.
On April 5, 1857, died Springfield's last survivor of the Revolution, familiarly known to the children as "Grandpa Edwards." He had long been a feature in the processions on the Fourth of July, riding in a carriage and returning the salutations of the bystanders. His funeral was the occasion of military display, with martial music.
There used to be much gay color and decoration in the militia, all of which was laid aside for serious business when the Civil war came on in 1861. The City Guards, who were out at Grandpa Edwards' funeral, wore blue frock coats, light trousers and looked very formidable in their towering bear skin hats. The Horse Guards used to wear red coats, white trousers and chapeaux, like those of the Knights Templar, carrying a black or white plume. They carried sabres and had pistol holders each side of the saddle. The Light Infantry, who had flourished before 1844, wore red swallow-tailed coats, white trousers, and on their conical hats wore fountain plumes, that is, several plumes drooping. By their side they carried canteens. The parade ground was the plain around
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the lately accepted Gerrish Park. Training Day was one of the great days of the year to old and young.
As the last of the soldiers of the Revolution were dropping into their graves. events began to happen which in the end brought forth a mightier army than was ever marshalled THE SPIRIT OF TRAINING DAY. in this country be- fore or since. One of these, as we have seen, was John Brown's raid in Virginia, voicing the feelings, though not the policy, of a large part of the north; but the culminat- ing one was the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. Brown ineffectually struck at slavery, but it was for the great president in the midst of a war that shook the very foundations of the nation, to strike slavery down and give freedom to millions of people.
It was at Chicago, in 1860, that Lincoln was nominated, and the president of the convention was George Ashmun of this city, a distinguished and able man. He had been in Congress and was an intimate friend of the great Daniel Webster, whose famous speeches had already taught the people that the Union could not legally be broken by the secession of any one or more of the states. Webster used often to be in Springfield, visiting Ashmun, and together they fished in the brooks of Granby or hunted woodcock within the present limits of Forest Park.
A memorial of Ashmun remains on the lawn, where was once his residence, at the corner of School and Mulberry streets. Standing there with his little daughter and looking
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THE CIVIL WAR
at a small sapling, he remarked, "As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined," and twisted the two stems of the sapling. The great elm still stands to teach its lesson that it is in child- hood and youth that character is formed.
After the Chicago Convention had nominated Lincoln, Mr. Ash- mun, as chairman of the com- mittee, went to Mr. Lincoln's home to inform him of the fact. Some friends had sent in a hamper of wine that the committee and others might drink his health. But Mr. Lincoln, having early in life seen the evil of intemperance, never touched strong drink or offered it in his home. On this occasion, also, he showed the courage of his opin- ions and cold water took the place of wine.
AS THE
TWIG
IS BENT
THE Bor Is FATHER
THE
TREE'S
OF THE
INCLINED
MAN
The inauguration of Lincoln was quickly followed by the loss ASHMUN MEMORIAL. of Fort Sumter at the hands of the rising South. From Springfield, of course, went forth brave men who should fight the dreadful battles of a four-years' war, to save the Union. Where are now Wilbraham avenue and other streets east of it was a regimental camp, drilling and awaiting orders to move.
The children had a share in the great events. The girls made "comfort bags" which held needles, thread and other little needful things for homeless soldiers who had no sisters to sew on buttons or mend a rent and the boys collected money to pay for those things. There were men needed in the Armory as well as on the field and the works were run night and day.
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
For four years the war went on, with alternating successes and defeats for the north until at last the victories won by General Grant indicated that he would, in the end, bring all out right. Guiding all was the wise Lincoln, criticised, reviled,
MAKING COMFORT BAGS.
weighed down with responsibility, but looking always to a Higher Power for help for himself and the nation.
One day the bells of Springfield rang out with joy; the President had made a proclamation freeing the slaves. It was very different from the time when the bell of the old Methodist church on the corner of Union and Mulberry streets was tolled, the day when John Brown was hanged. Only a few years had passed and what, at first, seemed an idle dream of
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THE CIVIL WAR
an enthusiast was now an accomplished fact. Thus "Man proposes and God disposes." With great wisdom Lincoln had chosen the day and made the proclamation in which may be read this sentence, "Upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
In the spring of 1865 came the close of the war, quickly followed by the martyrdom of the President and the linking of his name as saviour of the country with that of Washington, its father. The regiments from Springfield and vicinity were mustered out of service and, returning to the city, made their last march through Main street, their ranks thinned by death and themselves looking worn and tired. But they had done their share in proving the truth of Webster's words, "Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever." Upon the results of the Revolution and the Civil war the nation rests in security.
It was not many weeks after the end of this war that General Grant made a brief visit to this city. He had fought many battles in which his soldiers were armed with the Springfield musket, and of course, he was interested in the place of its manufacture. He inspected the Armory on the Hill and also the Watershops. He was greeted by a great crowd of citizens near the railroad station and taken upon a high platform whence he was introduced by the mayor, but he made no speech. His deeds were mighty, but on public occasions his words were few. There seemed to be nothing military in his appearance, except a narrow cord of yellow braid around his hat and the single star on his shoulder.
Among those who came to this city and spoke in the cause of freedom in the days of anti-slavery and the Civil war were
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
Carl Schurz, the exiled German patriot, who, after becoming a citizen of the United States, became a general in the army in the Civil war and afterwards a famous statesman; and Frederick Douglass, once a slave and afterwards an eloquent orator, who held high positions in the gift of the nation. An interesting woman who resided here was Eliza Farrer, a writer for children. She had had many experiences in various parts of the world and wrote about them in a book, which she called " Recollections of Seventy Years."
Two men who had a very wide reputation were the editors, Samuel Bowles and Josiah Gilbert Holland. Doctor Holland wrote many books, of which his "Letters to Young People" were practical and popular. He wrote "Bay Path," an historical novel about Mary Pynchon, and started the Century magazine. There is a fine profile of his face on his monument in the old cemetery, made by St. Gaudens, the famous sculptor of the statue in honor of Deacon Chapin on Merrick Park. Samuel Bowles, the second in the line of four journalists of that name, was one of the founders of modern journalism. He was once unjustly imprisoned in another state for telling the truth about a man who did much evil; for he believed that his journal should be outspoken when the public interests were at stake.
CHAPTER X.
A LOOK BACKWARDS .- THE SPANISH WAR .- THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
A
S
N' THE year 1886, Springfield celebrated the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement. A quarter of a millennium had gone by and people looked back and compared the then present with the past. There was an oration and a great procession, including an historical pageant in which many boys and girls took part. The times of William Pynchon wereillustrated in costume by those in the procession. The chief marshal was William Pynchon, seventh in descent from the founder.
It is when looking back from one of these view points that we realize how great has been the progress of the city in this long period. In this last chapter it will be well to select two examples and see how the modern times differ from the old. One of these exam- ples shall be the means of putting out fires and the other the education of children.
In early days houses were, some of them, shingled, but many thatched with straw. Of course great care had to be taken lest a spark should get into the straw, as it might do from a burning chimney or from some one carrying coals through the street. So the town voted that no one should carry uncovered fire along the street and that every man should sweep out his chimney every month in winter and every two months in summer. He was obliged also to keep
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a ladder of sixteen rungs for better getting at the roof. One man was fined for smoking on a haycock. In order that water might be always at hand the ditch or brook in front of the houses was to be kept well scoured and a good stream running. So when fire came and the roof caught some went up the ladder and others passed up water from the brook. Until after the Revolution this was the only way of putting out a fire.
At last some of the citizens bought a little fire engine and gave it to the church for the use of the town. Of course there was no steam about it; the power of steam was not yet known. The engine was merely a pumpon wheels. There was a small reservoir for water, called a tub, and the pump handles were long wooden rods at each side called brakes. In order to see it in action let us suppose that it is the year 1810, a year in which a fire occurred in a house on the corner of Dwight and State streets. Whoever has discovered the fire has shouted the alarm. Everybody who hears it shouts "Fire! Fire! Fire!" at the top of his voice. The cry is taken up until probably from Mill river to Round Hill people are shouting "fire!" The bell on the old church is ringing. Every man is obliged to keep a fire bucket and some have bags in which to carry out articles to a place of safety. When a man leaves his house he catches up his bucket, or if he is not at home.
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