USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 45
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July 14, the town instructed the committee to erect a building for the library given by John Goodnow, according to plan reported to them, the sum not to exceed $2500. April 4, 1864, the committee reported the cost of the build- ing, including $32.43 for setting out shade trees, to be $2691.35. The building was enlarged several years ago by an addition on the west; and at present there is little, if any, unoccupied space. Four catalogues have been is- sued ; the first, at the opening of the Library, when it con- tained less than 2300 volumes; the second in 1867; the third in 1874, when it contained nearly 5000 volumes; and the fourth in 1887, when it contained over 9700. The grounds about the Library are ample, and tastefully laid out, consisting of a level lawn adorned with shade trees. The building is reached by a circular driveway extending from the county highway. In the rear the land extends to Hop brook.
John Goodnow, the donor of this library fund, was a son of John and Persis Goodnow, who lived at Lanham. He was born at Sudbury, Sept. 6, 1791, and died in Boston, Dec. 24, 1861. His remains were placed in his tomb at Sud- bury Centre.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF MAYNARD.
In 1871, an area of about 1900 acres of land was set off from Sudbury, which, with about 1300 acres taken from Stow, formed the town of Maynard. The new town was incorporated April 19, 1871, and took its name from Amory Maynard, formerly of Marlboro. The town of Sudbury opposed the separation and, Jan. 23, 1871, appointed a com- mittee of three to nominate a committee of three to oppose any petition to the General Court to set off any part of the territory of Sudbury. Deacon Thomas Hurlbut, Charles Thompson, Esq., and James Moore, Esq., were nominated. The town accepted the nomination and authorized the com- mittee to use all honorable means to prevent the formation of a new town, including any part of the territory of the town of Sudbury.
The committee chosen Jan. 23, 1871, to oppose the incor- poration of any portion of the territory of Sudbury into a new town, reported April 1, 1872, that previous to any hear- ing before the committee of the Legislature on the petition of Henry Fowler and others for an act incorporating the town of Maynard, certain propositions were made by the petitioners as terms of separation and settlement between the town of Sudbury and the proposed new town. These propositions having been laid before the town of Sudbury, Feb. 20, 1871, the committee were given discretionary power, provided they accept of no terms less advantageous to the town of Sudbury than those contained in the agree- ment. By mutual consent a bill was agreed upon and passed by the Legislature, by which the town of Maynard was incorporated. Subsequently the committee were authorized to settle with the authorities of the town of Maynard, according to the provisions of their charter. They reported that they had attended to that duty, also that the proportion of the town debt, together with the money to be paid by the town of Maynard to the town of Sudbury, or Maynard's share of the stock in the Framingham & Lowell Railroad Corporation owned by the town of Sudbury, with interest on the same, amounted to $20,883.28 ; which sum was paid by
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
them to the treasurer of the town of Sudbury, Oct. 6, 1871. They say they have also attended to establishing the line between the said towns, and erected a stone monument at the angle in said line near the iron-works causeway, which will also answer as a guide-board, and will be kept in repair by the town of Sudbury ; that they have also erected a stone monument marked S. and M., at such places as said line crosses the highway.
May, 1871, it was " voted that the committee chosen by the town, January 23, consisting of Messrs. Thomas P. Hurl- but, Charles Thompson and James Moore, Esq., shall be a committee to act for and in behalf of the town of Sudbury with the authorities of the town of Maynard, in all matters pertaining to said town, according to the provisions of the charter incorporating said town of Maynard."
RAILROADS.
No railroad passed through the present limits of the town until about the beginning of the last period of the present century. A branch of the Fitchburg Road went through Assabet village, but, after that place became Maynard, it left Sudbury without a railroad. The only public conveyance for years was by the stage-coach which went from South Sudbury, and passed through the centre of Sudbury, Way- land and Weston, carrying for each of those places one mail daily. It started about seven o'clock, and arrived at the Stony Brook station of the Fitchburg Railroad in Weston about nine; and starting from there about five P.M. arrived at its destination about seven. It was an old-time stage drawn by four horses, with the driver on the " box," under which were kept the mails. The trunks were strapped on a rack behind. Prior to the starting of this coach, South Sudbury was accommodated by a stage that passed through the town to Marlboro. About 1870, the Framingham & Lowell Railroad was begun, and in the fall of 1871, the cars began passing through the town. A station was built at North and South Sudbury and at the centre. The one at South Sudbury was built a little northerly of the junction of
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
the Sudbury and Marlboro and Framingham highways, and has since been moved.
July 22, 1870, it was voted " That the Town Treasurer be authorized and instructed to subscribe for, take and hold Capital Stock in the Framingham and Lowell Railroad Company to the amount of Thirty thousand dollars. . Provided said Railroad shall not be located in any place more than half a mile from the last survey in the Town of Sudbury."
The first station master at the South Sudbury depot was B. H. Richardson, who served in that capacity ten years. Since the railroad started, trains have regularly been over it, but the indirectness of the route to Boston, and the high passenger rates, made the road of little practical value to the town. The old coach continued to run its regular course, and more or less of the business to the eastward was done by this and private conveyance. The road has recently been. leased to the " Old Colony " company, and is now known as the " Northern Branch of the Old Colony Road." In 1887, every station of this road within the limits of Sudbury was burned. Recently, new and more commodious ones have been built on or near the sites of the former ones.
MASSACHUSETTS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
In October, 1880, the first rails were laid at South Sudbury on the track of the Massachusetts Central Railroad, begin- ning at its junction with the Framingham & Lowell road. During the following winter the road was continued towards Hudson on the west and Boston on the east; and July 22, 1881, nine car loads of rails passed over the Central road, entering upon it at Waverly and going to Hudson. April 20, 1881, a train of cars passed over the road from Boston to Hudson ; and October 1, the same year, regular trains began to run. May 16, 1883, the cars stopped running, and com- menced again Sept. 28, 1885, under the management of the Boston & Lowell Railroad. Recently the road was leased to the Boston & Maine Railroad corporation. The Junction Station is a fine one, and the town is now provided with excellent railroad facilities.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
MISCELLANEOUS.
In 1854, the committee were instructed to finish the Wadsworth monument by building a road to said monument and fencing the land. They were also instructed to print the proceedings at the dedication of the monument. The same year the town appropriated thirteen hundred dollars to build a road and bridge at Assabet village.
In 1855, it was voted to instruct the school committee to place the dictionaries presented by Mr. Plympton in the several schools, also that the school-houses be free for lyceums and singing schools for the year.
In 1857, it was voted "that the four libraries now in existence be so divided as to make five; and that these be distributed among the five school districts." The same year it was voted "to allow the town of Wayland to copy such of the records as they wished at the home of the clerk, or to employ any person in town to do the same." The same year it was voted to build a stone bridge at the canal bridge. The bridge was let out to Charles Haynes and Thomas E. Bent for five hundred dollars.
February, 1859, the selectmen were instructed " to petition the Legislature to remove or cause to be removed the Mid- dlesex Canal Dam, erected across the Concord River at Billerica, or such part thereof as the Legislature shall deem expedient or just for reclaiming the meadow lands bordering upon Sudbury and Concord river."
In 1859, it was voted to choose a committee to let out the raising of the Causeway from Sudbury to Wayland, as ordered by the county commissioners. The same year it was voted "to establish the Town Poor house as a work house, as the law provides."
In 1861, the selectmen were instructed to procure gravel pits in the several wards where they are needed. The same year the selectmen were instructed to build a suitable wall around the new burying ground wherever needed.
Dec. 17, 1862, the town authorized " the selectmen to give a deed of a lot in the new cemetery to the executors of the will of the late John Goodnow of Boston for the purpose of
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
building thereon a tomb." The same year the town voted to choose two agents to remonstrate against the petition of C. P. and T. Talbot for the repeal of an act in relation to a flowage of the Sudbury and Concord River meadows.
In 1864, the town granted the use of the Town Hall for a year to the " Comprehensive Temperance Society."
In 1866, the town granted the use of the Town Hall for a year to the " Musical Union " and for " Musical Instruction."
In 1867, a vote was passed to straighten the road over Meeting-house hill.
March 11, 1867, the town voted that the management of the Goodnow Library should be entrusted to a Committee of three persons, one member to be chosen each year, for the term of three years.
Nov. 3, 1868, it was " voted that the regulations of the New Burying ground should be so changed that one-third of said ground at the north end be reserved for free lots, instead of one-third part of the westerly end, and that per- sons taking said free lots shall have the same control of them as other persons have of lots taken in other parts of the yard."
April 5, 1869, the town voted to instruct the selectmen to build a receiving tomb. March 7, 1870, the selectmen reported the work completed at a cost of $488.86 ; they also reported that they had procured a cooler for the use of the inhabitants in preparing bodies for burial at a cost of thirty- seven dollars.
In 1871, the town granted fifty dollars to aid the Grand Army of the Republic on Decoration Day, the amount to be payable to the commander of the Post of the G. A. R., located in Assabet village. May, 1871, " The town, by a vote of fifty-seven yeas to thirty nays, voted to prohibit the sale of Ale, Porter, Strong Beer or Lager Beer, in said town."
April 2, 1875, the town voted to send to the Centennial Celebration at Concord, of the 19th April, 1775, thirty-two of the oldest citizens as delegates, and provide a carriage for them at the town's expense, also to provide a fife and drum if necessary, also to provide a marshal.
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CHAPTER XXX.
1850-1875.
The Civil War. - Causes of it. - Warlike Activity at the North. - First War Meeting in Sudbury. - The " Wadsworth Rifle Guards." - Acts of the Town Relating to the War. - Soldiers' Aid Society. - Enlist- ments. - Sketch of the Thirteenth Regiment. - The Sixteenth. - The Eighteenth. - The Twentieth. - The Twenty-Sixth. - The Thirty-Fifth. - The Forty-Fifth. - The Fifty-Ninth. - Enlistments in other Regiments of Infantry. - Sketch of First Massachusetts Cavalry. - Enlistments in other Regiments of Cavalry. - Enlistments in the Artillery Service. - United States Sanitary Commission. - List of Conscripts. - Casualties. - Biographical Sketches of Men who Died in the Service. - Of Soldiers now Living in Sudbury. - Sum- mary of Service. - List of Citizens Subject to a Draft in 1863. - Bi- centennial of the Wadsworth Fight. - Laying out of Road to Railroad Station, South Sudbury. - The George Goodnow Bequest.
The sturdy patriots went forth From clty, village, hamlet, farm ; Unsparing was the sacrifice To shield our native land from harm.
THE CIVIL WAR.
THE events of the Civil War are so familiar to many now living, that it may be thought unnecessary to give even an outline of its cause or nature. But there is a generation who were not living while that war was in progress. To these it is a matter of history only, and the tales of it come to them as the tradition of the wars that preceded it. A few words, then, of introduction may be important. The war began in 1861. For many years previous there had been a disagreement between the North and the South on the sub- ject of slavery. At the North there had been a growing sentiment that the system was wrong, and, as time passed on,
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
opinions grew more and more positive and outspoken. The South looked upon this growing sentiment with suspicion, and when the strength of it was made manifest by the election of Abraham Lincoln, and he had been inaugura- ted President of the United States, it broke out into open revolt. State after State passed the " Act of Secession," and measures were taken to defend their position by force of arms. On April 12, an attempt was made to cap- ture Fort Sumpter, Charleston Harbor, by bombardment ; on the 13th it surrendered, after bravely sustaining an at- tack from the rebel batteries for thirty-three hours. This attempt to capture United States property aroused the North to a condition of intense activity. The news sped from city to town, and from the town to the most remote hamlet and farm. The North was resolved to save the Union at all hazards, and men came forward and offered themselves and their money for the safety of their country. April 15, 1861, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand soldiers to serve for three months. At this time military activity began, which did not cease for the space of four years. From 1861 to 1865, there was the establishment of camps, the occasional filling of quotas, and war meetings were held in the towns throughout the Northern States to raise money and men to carry on the war. These meetings were sometimes held at evening. It was no remarkable occurrence in those times to see the people at the close of a hard day's work on the farm, or in the busy workshop, wend- ing their way to the town-house to provide means to furnish their quota of troops, and to do or act as some emergency called for. Never was the free spirit of the Republic more manifest, nor its readiness to respond to what its institutions required, than in those stirring days. Sudbury was fully abreast of the average New England town in its promptness and zeal. The first war meeting was a citizens' mass meeting held in the Town Hall. The people did not wait for the slow call of a warrant. They assembled spontaneously to consult as to what was required of them, with full confidence that in a town meeting to be subsequently called their acts would be ratified and made legal. This meeting was charac-
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
terized by unanimity and enthusiasm. The spirit of the heroes of '75, when they were assembled on Sudbury Common, with arms in their hands as militia and minute men, to start on their march to Concord, was evinced on this April evening nearly a century later, when the citizens of Sudbury were again met to defend their homes and native land.
The principal business of this meeting related to the fitting out of the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards." This was a company of State militia which belonged to Sudbury, and was attached to the Second Battalion of Rifles, and was commanded by Major Ephraim. Moore of Sudbury until his death, which occurred some years previous. The following record of a legal town meeting held April 29, 1861, sets forth the business that was transacted at the mass meeting, and its ratification by the town.
" The town voted to furnish new uniforms for the mem- bers of the Wadsworth Rifle Guards, Company B, Second Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M., forthwith, also to furnish each member of said company with a revolver, in case said com- pany is called into the service of the country, the revolvers to be returned to the selectmen of the town when the holders of them shall return home and be discharged from the service ; also the uniforms to be returned to the town if the members of the company are not held in service more than three months. Voted also to pay to each member of said company, in case they are called into service, a sum of money in addition to their pay received from the govern- ment, which shall make the whole amount of their pay twenty dollars per month while they are in such service, and that ten dollars of the above sum be paid to each mem- ber whenever he shall enter such service. Voted also that the families of those who may leave shall be furnished with all necessary assistance at the expense of the town, and the business of those who may leave it shall be properly cared for by the town and not allowed to suffer by their absence." " Voted, also, that each commissioned officer of the company belonging in town be presented with a suitable sword at the expense of the town, and that the other commissioned
.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
officers not belonging in town be furnished with the same, if they are not otherwise provided for." " Voted to grant the sum of one thousand dollars," for the purposes above men- tioned.
The amount of money actually expended in fitting out this company was nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars. About the time of the holding of the first war meeting there were enlistments into the Sudbury company, with the expectation of soon being called into the service for three months, and the company for a time continued to drill. No call, however, came for this term of service. The emergency had been met, Washington for the time was safe, and it was at length discovered that the company as such would not be received into any existing regiment, for the term of three months. The next demand was for soldiers to serve for three years or the war, and the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards" were soon or- dered to Fort Independence that they might enlist in the Thirteenth Regiment for this length of time. Twenty-five of them enlisted, and July 30, the regiment left the State. This was the largest number of Sudbury men who enlisted at any one time, and they have the honor of being the first Sudbury soldiers who enlisted from the town. The history of the regiment will be given further on.
From the time of the first enlistments there were repeated calls for troops. " Three hundred thousand more " became a familiar term, and at each new call the town took measures to fill its quota. July 4, 1862, the President issued a call for volunteers for three years, and July 28, the town " voted to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer who has enlisted or may enlist into the ser- vice of the U. S. * * to the number of fourteen." Also, " Voted to instruct the selectmen to look after and provide for any sick or wounded volunteer belonging to the Town of Sudbury." In August of the same year, a call came for soldiers for nine months' service ; and Aug. 19, 1862, the town " voted to pay the sum of one hundred dollars to each person who voluntarily enlists into the service of the United States for the term of nine months, on or before the first day
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
of September next, to a number not exceeding the quota of their town."
Dec. 17, 1862, the town voted to fill up their quota by pay- ing one hundred and forty dollars bounty. December 22, the committee reported at a town meeting held in the evening, " that they had procured sixteen men to fill up the town's quota for the military service of the U. S., that said men had been accepted and sworn into the said service, and had been properly accredited to the town of Sudbury, and that said committee paid the sum of one hundred and thirty dollars for each man."
Oct. 17, 1863, the President issued another call for three hundred thousand men, and December 7, the town "voted to authorize the selectmen to use all proper and legal meas- ures to fill up the town's quota of volunteers, agreeable to the call of the President of the United States for three hun- dred thousand volunteers, dated Oct. 17, 1863."
March 14, 1864, the President issued a call for two hun- dred thousand men, and March 22 the town appointed a . committee " to take all proper and legal measures to fill the quota of the town " under this call. June 9, the town voted to " raise money sufficient to pay one hundred and twenty- five dollars to each volunteer who shall enlist into the ser- vice of the U. S., and be duly accredited as a part of the quota of the Town of Sudbury in anticipation of a call from the President to recruit the armies now in the field, and that the selectmen be required to use all proper measures to pro- cure said volunteers." It was voted also "that the select- men be authorized to procure not less than seventeen men." At the same meeting " the committee appointed by the town at a meeting held March 22, 1864, to take all proper and legal measures to fill the quota of the town under the call of the President of the U. S. for two hundred thousand men, dated March 14, 1864, reported that the town's quota was ten men ; that there had been seven men accredited to the town by volunteer enlistment at an expense of nine hundred and ten dollars, and that the remaining three were drafted and accepted."
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Nov. 8, 1864, it was " voted to grant the free use of the Town Hall for the Soldiers' Aid Society." This was an or- ganization formed in the war period for the purpose of assist- ing the soldiers. May 29, 1865, it was " voted to refund all money contributed by individuals to fill the quotas of the town of Sudbury in the year 1864."
ENLISTMENTS OF SOLDIERS.
In meeting the requisitions made upon the town, enlist- ments were made at various times and in various regiments. Where there was a considerable number of enlistments in any one regiment, we will give not only the names of the soldiers, but a very brief sketch of the regiment in which they served.
THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.
Twenty-three men enlisted in this regiment for three years, July 16, 1861, and two others a little later.
Thomas C. Richardson, Band Leader, age 26, enlisted July 26, 1861 ; expiration of service, Aug. 31, 1862.
James F. Fish, age 27, enlisted July 24, 1861 ; dropped, Sept. 1, 1862, de- tailed on gunboat service.
William H. Green, age 26, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
Mortimer Johnson, age 19, expiration of service, Feb. 19, 1864, to re- enlist ; transferred, July 13, 1864, to Thirty-ninth Infantry.
Corp. Almer H. Gay, age 28, expiration of service, May 20, 1862, disability.
Corp. Spencer Smith, age 20, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
Corp. George L. Willis, age 18, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. Henry S. Battles, age 24.
Francis H. Brown, age 19, expiration of service, Jan. 16, 1863, disability.
George S. Dickey, age 35, died at Williamsport, Md., March 4, 1862.
Samuel H. Garfield, age 18, expiration of service, Dec. 22, 1862, disability.
Charles E. Haynes, age 24, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864. George W. Jones, age 22, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
John H. Moore, age 21, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
Proctor Pingree, wagoner, age 35, expiration of service, May 10, 1862, disability.
Cyrus E. Barker, age 23, expiration of service, Jan. 30, 1863, disability. Edward Blake, age 33, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
Lyman W. Brown, age 18, expiration of service April 15, 1863, disability. Albert Conant, age 22.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Charles E. Duley, age 18, expiration of service, Dec. 15, 1862, disability. Dana F. Dutton, age 29, transferred, July 14, 1864, to Thirty-ninth Infantry.
Leander A. Haynes, age 27, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
Henry F. Moore, age 22, expiration of service, Aug. 1, 1864.
George W. Woodbury, age 18, expiration of service, Feb. 11, 1863, disability.
Eugene L. Fairbanks, age 21, expiration of service, Feb. 11, 1863, disability.
George T. Smith at the age of twenty-two re-enlisted from Sudbury in this regiment, and was transferred to the Thirty-ninth Infantry, July 19, 1864. The Thirteenth Regi- ment was commanded by Col. Samuel H. Leonard of Boston, and saw hard fighting. It was in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and the second Bull Run in 1862, and at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg in 1863. Jan. 1, 1864, it was in camp at Mitchell's Station, Va., near the Rapidan River, on the extreme front of the army, where it had a camp of log huts, and did important service picketing the river. In the spring following it moved south, and from May 4 to June 6 it is stated that the regiment was under fire night and day. June 16, it marched to the James River, crossed in transports and moved towards Petersburg. . July 15, the regiment left City Point, Va., for Washington, and arrived at Boston July 21, 1864.
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