USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 43
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On Castle Island stood Fort Independence, a name given, in place of the earlier designation retained from the Provincial times, on the occasion of the visit of President John Adams, in August, 1799. The first stone of the new Fort Independence was laid May 7, 1801, and the whole superstructure was raised from an original design. The work was a barbette fortification, and its dimensions were not materially different from those of the present Fort In-
1 [See Mr. Lodge's chapter in this volume for a statement of the feeling in Boston respect- ing the war .- ED.]
2 Four of which were mostly in what is now the State of Maine. See the Report of the Committee of the Council, upon which action VOL. Ut .- 39.
was taken in revoking the organization of all divisions after the thirteenth, prior to Aug. 6, 1812.
8 For much of my information upon this point I am indebted to the courtesy of General HI. G. Wright, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.
E
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
dependence. On June 23, 1802, the national colors were first displayed on the new fort, and the workmen were dismissed in January, 1803.1
On the summit of Governor's Island stood Fort Warren, an enclosed star fort, built of stone, brick, and sod, with a brick barrack for seventy men, and a cellar under it, 65 by 20, for provisions, etc. It had also a brick officers' quarters, a brick magazine, and a brick guard-house.
On the south side of Governor's Island was Fort Warren Battery, built of brick, stone, and sod, with a brick guard-house for fifteen men, and a brick magazine. This battery was to mount fifteen cannon, and to have a block- house in its rear.
On the point formed by the Charles and Mystic Rivers was Charlestown Point Battery, built of sod, with a stone foundation. In it ten pieces of heavy cannon might be mounted.2
In pursuance of the Act of Congress providing for calling out the militia, a requisition was made upon the Governor of Massachusetts for the quota of that State. Thereupon a Committee of the House of Representatives reported an address which contained these words: " If your sons must be torn from you by conscriptions, consign them to the care of God; but let there be no volunteers except for defensive war." The address of the Senate to the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was a shade more national in its tone. "Let our young men who compose the militia," it said, " be ready to march at a moment's warning to any part of our shores in defence of our coast."
The call for the militia led Governor Strong of Massachusetts to ask the Justices of the Supreme Court for their opinion upon certain ques- tions to which the call gave rise. His request was dated Aug. 1, 1812, and the judges thereupon gave their opinion that commanders-in-chief of the militia of the several States had a right to determine whether any of the exigencies contemplated by the Constitution of the United States existed, so as to require them to place the militia or any part of it in the service of the United States, at the request of the President, to be commanded by him pursuant to acts of Congress. They also advised him that when any such exigencies existed, authorizing the employment of the militia of the United States, the militia thus employed could not lawfully be commanded by any officers but those of the militia, except by the President of the United States.3
1 The five bastions of the new work were named Winthrop, Shirley, Hancock, Adams, and Dearborn. Under Governor Winthrop the first fort on the island had been built; Governor Shirley had repaired and added to Castle Wil- liam, and made the post the strongest fort in British America ; under Governor Hancock new works were thrown up; President Adams gave the name of Fort Independence to the fort, and under General Dearborn, Secretary of War, the new Fort Independence was built.
2 It should be stated that this account of the
works on Charlestown Point and Governor's Island is taken from a report made in 1808, by Major J. G. Swift, of the Engineers ; and it is assumed that these works remained unchanged in the war of 1812, or at least undiminished. [See also the report of Jonathan Williams and Alexander Macomb, abstracted in Lossing's Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812, p. 235. -ED.]
8 As early as the 8th of July of this year, at a meeting of the selectmen of the town of Boston, the chairman was desired to confer with General
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BOSTON SOLDIERY IN WAR AND PEACE.
On the 30th of August in this year Hull arrived in Boston, and gladdened the people by the news of the capture of the "Guerrière," and received their welcome. On the 16th of September following, fifteen thousand car- tridges were ordered by the selectmen, and on the 23d of October the Senate passed a resolve for the purchase of gunpowder and other military stores, and for building a suitable storehouse for the same.
On Jan. 20, 1813, on the application of the officers of a company called the Rangers, newly raised in Boston, an armory was assigned for their use; but the record does not indicate that the company was raised for the reason that the country was at war.1
In February following, the Senate and House concurred in resolves au- thorizing the Governor to adopt defensive measures to protect the towns and shores of the Commonwealth and the town and harbor of Boston; but the Senate at the same time refused to pass a resolve of the House calling on towns to return the number of seamen impressed.
The General Court had appropriated $100,000 for the purpose of placing the ports and harbors of this Commonwealth in a better state of security ; but the House at this time pronounced the sum inadequate, asserted the duty of the General Government in that regard, under Article IV. section 4 of the Constitution of the United States, declared that the General Govern- ment had neglected that duty, and directed that representation thereof be made to it, with a request for an appropriation and for garrisons.
In March of this year there were services at King's Chapel to commemo- rate the victories of the Russians over Napoleon, who aimed, it was said, at the empire of the world. It is to be remembered that the headquarters of the " Peace Party " were at Boston. The spring elections in New England showed decided gains for that party. The town of Boston or its selectmen appear to have taken steps in April, 1813, on the application of General Brooks, for a conference between the Governor and the selectmen with a view to local defence; but the record does not show that anything came of it. On May 12 it was provided that the New-England Guards - a Boston company - should have an armory.
At this time affairs in Boston were much depressed by reason of the exist- ing state of war. At the close of May the " Shannon " and the " Tenedos " were watching our harbor ; and on June I the "Shannon" captured the Amer- ican ship " Chesapeake."2 In these months of May and June there seems to
Welles, and to consult him upon the proper mea- sures to prevent the practice of drumming in the streets after sunset ; and on the 11th of August following, on the report of a committee appoint- ed at a town-meeting held shortly before in favor of patrols, lights in windows, etc., the selectmen voted accordingly; and, three weeks after, they made somewhat elaborate provisions for a watch, to be composed of a captain and one hundred men, to be on duty till daylight.
1 [A year or two before, a company of Hussars had been raised in Boston, with Josiah Quincy
for captain ; and later being formed into a squad- ron with the Dragoons, Quincy became their ma- jor. (E. Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, p. 346.) Whitman records that during the war a company of riflemen was raised in the town, Samuel P. P. Fay commanding it, and that it was disbanded after the peace. There were three militia com- panies in Charlestown, -the Charlestown Ar- tillery, the Warren Phalanx, and the Light Infantry. - ED.]
2 [See Admiral Preble's chapter, following this .- ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
have been much alarm as well as depression in Boston and in Massachusetts. The commissioners appointed by the Governor in the preceding month of March to carry into effect the resolutions of the General Court for the protec- tion of the town of Boston, its harbor and vicinity, and the towns and ports of the Commonwealth, made their report. The House took action thereon, and appointed a committee to consider means for the restoration of peace, and of restoring the Commonwealth to the blessings of a free and unrestricted commerce, now blighted by the " unhappy war," and adopted a remonstrance to Congress ; while the Senate (June 3) used strong language about the Gen- cral Government, and concurred with the House in appointing commissioners in regard to the defenceless condition of the sea-coast, and for considering what measures it is expedient for this Legislature to adopt in relation to " the unhappy war in which we are engaged," speaking of it as " unjust, unnec- essary, and iniquitous," and as "waged without justifiable cause, and prosc- cuted in a manner which indicates that conquest and ambition are its real motives."
On March 30 in the following year (1814), and before election, the Columbian Centinel published an address to the men of Massachusetts, which said: "Your present old captain won't let a Press-gang drag a man of you into Wilkinson's land service. If you want to list, and die of the camp-ail, he won't hinder you, for he wants only true hearts of oak aboard (i. e., aboard the good STRONG ship 'Massachusetts'), that will defend the ship till she conquers or goes down." 1
On April 19, 1814, the town was alarmed by the report of a number of ships of war off the coast; and in consequence, and at the suggestion of the field officers of the Boston militia, the selectmen met and addressed a letter to the adjutant-general. Two months after, on June 18, the selectmen met commissioners appointed by the Governor and Brigadier-General Welles. The question of victualling and pay was raised. It was decided that the selectmen must subsist the men employed, and that the question of pay should be left to the next General Court. The selectmen promised Gen- eral Welles that they would attend to any communication from him in reference to provisions and camp equipage.
By June 27 a general sense of alarm prevailed. Commissioners were appointed on the part of the town to confer with Commodore Bainbridge about sinking hulks.2 They reported two days after that hulks were to be
J It does not appear that life in Boston was altogether anxious and dull in the spring of 1814, for we read that Mr. and Miss Holman were then appearing at the theatre in a round of char- acters, playing Cymbeline, Wives as they Were, Alexis, The Provoked Husband, As You Like It, Jane Shore, etc .; that the Edinburgh Encyclo- padia and the Bride of Abydos were for sale in the book-stores, and that Mr. Turner, the dan- cing-master, was inviting the masters and misses of the period to " trip it lightly while you may" at his academy in Bumstead Place, and promising
them instruction even in the plain minuet. A Mr. Atwood was already selling oysters in Water Street ; and shell commodes, lion-head ring com- modes, fluted clock-balls, bed-caps, and other desirable ware were to be had of W. H. Ander- son. [Nor were the demands of war so importu- nate but that great schemes of tide-water mills could be projected, - as appears by Dearborn's map, February, 1814, given in another chapter, - and even new methods of printing be devised, as that map shows. - ED.]
2 [See Admiral Preble's chapter. - ED.]
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BOSTON SOLDIERY IN WAR AND PEACE.
got ready, and that artillery, etc., were ready. It was arranged that ten companies of artillery should come from the neighboring towns at first alarm to co-operate with detachments now made from the Boston militia.
On July 6 Colonel Osgood, commanding detachment of militia on Bos- ton Common, applied for kettles, pans, axes, spades, pint pots, straw, wood, etc. Many of the militia on duty asked for additional compensation, but the board of selectmen were of one mind that it was not expedient to call a town-meeting to consider that question at that time.
On August 3 provision was made for a temporary gun-house on the Common. On the 24th of the same month, on the petition of a number of inhabitants of the town for a town-meeting for defence, the selectmen voted that it was inexpedient ; that they had the fullest confidence in the Governor and his commissioners, and that it was not well to excite alarm by calling a meeting, or to seem to distrust the Governor. The petitioners persisted, and thereupon the selectmen voted to print their reasons for declining. On the 30th Boston was threatened; and on September 3 there was a town- meeting, called on the petition of Winslow Lewis and more than ten free- holders, to provide " means of-defence in the present exposed and dangerous situation of this town." The Hon. Thomas Dawes was chosen moderator. The resolutions adopted rehearsed the manifestness of the fact that in the progress of this unhappy war -
" The destruction of the public ships and naval arsenals in the various ports in the United States is a principal object of the enemy ; and therefore this town, notwithstand- ing its uniform disapprobation of the measures which led to this calamity, and its endeavors to avert it, may be exposed to danger from an enterprise against the ships of war which are now lying in our port, without any adequate means of protection and defence furnished by the General Government."
And presently proceeded : -
" And whereas we believe that the brave and disciplined militia of this and the neighboring counties, which are ready at the shortest notice to repair to any point of attack, will present to an invading foe a superiority in number to any force which is yet known to be upon our coast, - yet as in times of great and imminent danger, ex- traordinary exertion and alacrity become the duty of the citizen, and it may be accept- able to His Excellency the Governor to receive the assurance that the citizens of Boston in the times which try men's souls are, as they have been, ready to aid by their manual labor and pecuniary contributions, and by all the ways and means in their power, in promoting and making effectual any measure of defence which may be devised by the proper authority, . . . '
then expressed confidence in the Executive, deplored the evils and ca- lamities of war in the production of which they were in no wise instru- mental, declared that they - the citizens of Boston - were not dismayed, promised cheerful and cordial co-operation, and that, when in the opinion of the Governor the occasion might require, they would " make prompt
-
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
and effective arrangements for the employment of all classes of the citizens in the construction of fortifications or other means of defence, and for ob- taining from patriotic individuals voluntary loans and contributions of money to be applied to these objects."
This meeting was followed by volunteer digging. Fort Strong1 was built at East Boston, on the southerly end of Noddle's Island; a battery was placed on Dorchester Heights, and other defences were prepared at Roxbury and Cambridge.2
On September 16, at a meeting of the selectmen, a proposal was made to cut the bridges connecting the peninsula on which the town stood with the main land; and two engine companies were assigned to each bridge, - that is to say, to the Charles River Bridge, the Canal Bridge, West Boston Bridge, and the South Bridge.
On the 19th an address was adopted, calling for patriotic donations; it spoke of exertions "necessary to assist the Government of the State, upon whose protecting arm, under Divine Providence, we wholly de- pend." The total of the contributions thus obtained seems to have been $11,149.
In a letter from H. H. Dearborn to Thomas H. Perkins, dated Fort In- dependence, Sept. 25, 1814, the writer says: "On this and Governor's Island there are a sufficient number of men for manning all the works which are now erected or begun." He then speaks of his intention to begin forthwith works planned for the protection of " the defenceless positions on Governor's Island," and says that he will be very glad to receive assistance from the citizens in labor, and recommends that each man should bring a spade, shovel, pick-axe, or wheelbarrow, and that he would be glad to see two or three hundred men on the following Tuesday, He then describes certain works begun and nearly completed by him on both Castle Island and Governor's Island, and says that he has received from the laboratory at Albany fifteen hundred pikes, and sent them to the two garrisons, by
1 I am indebted to Mr. Isaac H. Cary, Jr., of Brooklyn, New York, for the information that he has in his possession a little blank-book, about the size of an ordinary bank-deposit book, which was found among the paper's of the late Isaac Harris, who died at the "North End" of Bos- ton, aged over ninety years, in the year 1868; and he has kindly furnished me with a copy of it, which leads as follows : "Boston, Sept. 8, 1814. The subscribers, Mechanics of the Town of Boston, to evince our readiness to co-operate by manual labor in measures for the Defence of the Town and Naval Arsenal, do hereby tender our services to His Excellency the Commander- in-Chief, to be directed in such manner as he shall consider at this eventful crisis most con- ducive to the Public Good." Then follow the signatures of about one hundred and fifty names of North-End mechanics. Mr. Cary thinks the
paper was without doubt drawn up by Paul Re- vere, he being the first signer; opposite each name is a statement of the time for which each man agrees to serve. He says that these men were sent by Governor Strong to work on the fortifications on Noddle's Island; and that his father, now eighty years old, and a nephew of Isaac Harris, remembers going there to see his father, who was there at work. Mr. Cary also informs me that the boys from the public and private schools who were able to assist were allowed to be absent from school during school hours. [See also Mr. Lodge's chapter in this volume. - ED.]
2 It may be remarked that at this time smuggling seems to have been prevalent at Boston. At about this time the selectmen voted, " during the present state of alarm, to attend daily."
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BOSTON SOLDIERY IN WAR AND PEACE.
the order of Major-General Dearborn, for the defence of the curtains and bastions of the fort and the parapets of the batteries; that all the forts and batteries under his command will, by the next day or day following, have an ample supply of ordnance stores of every kind. He recommends that the Boston and Charlestown Sea-Fencibles be stationed in the batteries to be erected on the east and north sides of Governor's Island, every other week alternately, with their cannon and equipments. He states that two mortars will be placed on Governor's Island, and that furnaces will be ready suffi- cient to supply with hot shot all the guns which can be brought to bear on ships at the same moment in all the works on the island; that he has written to Commodore Bainbridge to express to him the opinion that if the hulks are immediately sunk, and it is found that the channel is suffi- ciently obstructed, it will be advisable to have the United States ships " In- dependence " and " Constitution " moored above them, to co-operate with the garrison. He next informs his correspondent of the signals which have been established to announce the approach of the enemy, and that a guard- boat is sent from Fort Independence every night to a point near the mouth of the harbor, with rockets as signals. He next recommends that the troops which are to reinforce Fort Independence and Fort Warren, in the event of an aların, be stationed on Dorchester Point, in the old work, with boats in sufficient number for transportation, and a large proportion of field artillery with case shot. He ends his letter by stating that, in the event of an alarm, Major-General Dearborn will assume the command of the two forts, and take the immediate command of one, while the other will be assigned to the writer.
On the 26th the selectmen ordered that a notification as to work on the fortifications be printed. On October 13 another public-defence address was adopted, in regard to the completion of Fort Strong. In the same month a conscription was proposed ; and because the Massachusetts militia was not placed under the orders of General Dearborn, the Secretary of State refused to pay the expense of defending Massachusetts from the com- mon enemy. The Legislature of Massachusetts reported in favor of a conference of States.
By November 3 several forts and works about Boston had been erected, and then the danger or the alarm seems to have passed away; and we find no more matter of interest till we read that the " joyful news of peace " ar- rived, early in the following year, 1815.
The war with Mexico was no more popular in Massachusetts and in Boston than the war of 1812 had been, though the reasons for its unpopu- larity were entirely different. The war with Mexico was unpopular for the reason that it was regarded as a war in the interest of the Slave-power; and although in the then division of the community into the Whig and Demo- cratic parties, opposition to the institution of Slavery, or to its extension, was not a direct issue, yet a third party, -the party which was afterward
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
to triumph under the name of Republican, and to annihilate in its rise and progress not only the substance but even the name of the Whig party, - was beginning to make its presence felt, and the citizens of Massachusetts were not inclined to promote a war which was not only distant, but waged for purposes which very many of them did not approve. It was not till the month of May, in the year 1846, that the fact that we were at war with Mexico came directly home to us. On the 19th of that month the Sec- retary of War enclosed to the Governor of Massachusetts a copy of a recent Act of Congress, providing for the prosecution of the existing war between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, and asking him " to cause to be enrolled, and held in readiness for muster into the service of the United States," one regiment of infantry.
By this time Boston had been for more than twenty years a city, and her population had reached a total of upwards of 115,000 souls.
On May 26 Governor Briggs, of Massachusetts, issued a proclamation which contained 'the following words: "Whatever may be the difference of opinion as to the origin or necessity of a war, the constitutional authorities of the country have declared that war with a foreign country actually ex- ists;" and he called upon the citizen soldiers of Massachusetts to enroll themselves, etc. In the following month of July there was correspondence between the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts and the Secretary of War, in consequence of which further proceedings in relation to the above- mentioned requisition were suspended.
On November 16, in the same year, the Secretary of War renewed the requisition ; and by January of the following year a regiment was so far raised that Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, was elected Colonel, Isaac H. Wright, of Roxbury, Lieut .- Colonel, and Edward W. Abbott, of Andover, Major. Among the captains who were, or might be considered, Boston men were Webster,1 Felt, and Paul, of Boston, and Barker of Charlestown. By February 4 following, the field and staff and non-commissioned staff and eight companies had been mustered, and were ready to receive orders for embarkation, which in due time came ; and to Mexico the regiment went. It is understood that the Massachusetts regiment never went into action, in whole or in part. General Orders from the office of the Adjutant-General of the army, dated June 8, 1848, provided that it should be sent direct to Boston; and on the 20th and 21st of the same month the barques "Vic- tory" and "Winthrop" took four hundred and fifty of its members, appar- ently the whole regiment, from Vera Cruz, bound for New Orleans, on their homeward journey.
To come to the War of Secession. By the census of 1860 the pop- ulation of Boston was declared to be about 178,000. This total would have been made considerably larger had it included the population of the near neighboring towns and cities, which were almost one with Boston
1 Captain Edward Webster was a son of Daniel Webster.
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BOSTON SOLDIERY IN WAR AND PEACE.
commercially and socially, as well as topographically, but were not then, any of them, included within her city limits.1
It is seldom if ever easy to look back for twenty years and tell what were then the feelings and state of mind of one's self and one's contem- poraries. It is the less casy to do so if the four years which followed the period to which the attention is directed were years of exceptional trial, excitement, and suffering. Of what may have been the general state of mind in Boston in the winter of 1860-61 we do not undertake to speak, but to those who were then in the morning of their days we think that life seemed much as usual, but perhaps a trifle pleasanter, by reason of a slight impression of a sense of romantic possibilities near at hand. The unrest of the South gave a piquancy to existence, such as the officers may have felt at the Duchess of Richmond's ball, the night before Waterloo. Those
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