The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 50

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 50

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

2 Her keel had been laid Oct. 29, 1825.

3 Her fate has been immortalized in Long- fellow's ballad of The Cumberland : -

" Tben like a kraken huge and black, She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp ! Down went the ' Cumberland' all a-wrack, With a sudden shudder of death, And the cannon's breath For her dying gasp.

" Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay, Still floated our flag at the mainmast head. Lord, how beautiful was Thy day ! Every waft of the air Was a whisper of prayer Or a dirge for the dead."

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THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.

She sailed from Boston on her trial trip Feb. 25, 1856, and, returning, sailed again for Annapolis, where she arrived on April 19. She was the first screw steam-frigate launched in our navy, and while at Annapolis was visited and admired by great numbers, including nearly all the mem- bers of both Houses of Congress, then assembled in Washington. May 6, 1856, she sailed for Havana, and, returning to Boston July 7 follow- ing, sailed for England September 9 of the same year, and returned to Norfolk, Va., via St. Thomas, W. I., March 15, 1857. While in England she was visited by the naval authorities at Portsmouth, who pronounced her to be the finest vessel of war of her class afloat at that time; and the Admiralty at once issued orders to lay down several steam-frigates, pat- terned after her. From Norfolk she returned to Boston, and was imme- diately equipped for sea, and sailed Oct. 17, 1857, for the Pacific, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore John Collins Long. Returning from the Pacific, she arrived at Norfolk Feb. 6, 1860, and was put in ordinary. This was her last service under our flag. In April, 1861, she was got ready for sea, and but for the prevalence of treasonable counsels would have been taken out of Norfolk before the destruction of the navy yard, April 21, 1861. Her conversion into an ironclad, and, under the name of " Virginia," her attack upon our ships in Hampton Roads, and her de- feat by the little " Monitor," March 8, 1862, and destruction by the rebels, May 11, 1862, have become matters of history.1

Jan. 1, 1858, the keel of a new steamship was laid in the upper ship- house. This ship, now known as the favorite flag-ship of Admiral Farra- gut, - the historic " Hartford;" - was launched at 11.18 A. M., November 22, having been ten months and twenty-two days on the stocks.2

1 Rear-Admiral Charles H. Davis wrote a for guests ; and the Navy-Yard band, stationed on history of the " Merrimac," which was printed in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., July, 1874.

2 From a newspaper account we condense the following report of the launch of this since famous ship : -

" The weather was propitious, the mildness of a summer day succeeding an eager and nip- ping air, as the sun rose to the meridian ; the tide was unusually high, - the highest of the year. As the hour for the launch approached, a con- tinuous stream of visitors came pouring into the Yard. Hundreds were accommodated in the long galleries of the great ship-house, many be- took themselves to the pier at the east side of it, and hundreds more took up positions along the sea-wall to the west of the ship. Many of the officers of the navy, and a large number of ladies and gentlemen, went on board and were launched in her. A large platform, temporarily erected, on the west side of the ship-house was filled with people, as were the tops of all the small build- ings overlooking the scene. A line of scows was placed from the wharf to the 'Vermont ' (74 guns), which was converted into a reception place

board, contributed to the interest of the occasion. The flag-ship ' Ohio' (74) was also gaily decor- ated with flags fore and aft. At half-past nine several hundred workmen were disposed along the ways, and with battering rams, each managed by four men, the work of setting up the wedges was commenced. The dull and irregular sound of wood meeting wood was succeeded by the busy clinking of the top-mauls against the iron wedges, splitting out the blocks upon which the keel rested, the wale and bilge shores having been previously removed. The blocks were cut out, and now the ship was held stationary on the long inclined plane by means of a thick oak plank on either side, one end of which was secured to the bilge-ways which went out from the ship, while the other was bolted firmly to the immovable launching ways. A double jack- screw was placed under the bow of the ship, by which to give her a start on her entrance into the watery element. The multitude of visitors mo- mentarily increased. The harbor presented an animated appearance, dotted all around with the cutters of the navy, manned by gallant tars, the

364

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The ship as launched rated fourteen heavy guns, but mounted twenty- two when equipped for sea, and measured one thousand nine hundred and twenty tons; under later laws her measurement was reduced to one thou- sand-three hundred and sixty-six tons, and was increased again, by the addition of a spar-deck in 1870, to two thousand tons, and two thousand nine hundred tons displacement. Her first cruise - 1859-61 - was to the East Indies, as the flag-ship of Commodore Stribling. Returning thence, she was the flag-ship of Farragut at New Orleans and at Mobile. After the war she was sent to the East Indies as the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral H. H. Bell, who had been Farragut's chief of staff at New Orleans. Admiral Bell was drowned at Hiogo, Japan, while she was wearing his flag. On her return to New York, a spar-deck, as noted, was added, and she was almost rebuilt. She is now (1881) in the dry-dock, at the Navy Yard, Charles- town, undergoing extensive repairs. It is worthy of remark, that she was launched from the same ways as the " Merrimac." 1

harge or long gig of some superior officer, and the harbor about three times her length from the numerous yawl-boats from vessels in port. Here and there a squad of marines stood, interested spectators of the scene, and quite a number of the uniforms of the Boston police were to be seen among the crowd. Some bad boys delighted to astonish the multitude by shouting in an ec- stasy of mirth and with roguish winks, 'There "he goes !' each time raising the expectation of the bystanders, to be succeeded by looks of blank I may add to the account of the christening, that unfortunately one of the young ladies broke the bottle of water assigned her before the launch, and the other, in the excitement, threw hers wide of the mark, and it entered the water unbroken; so that the only bottle fairly broken upon her bows was a bottle of sea water, held by the writer, as he pronounced her, in loud voice, " The good ship HARTFORD." Commodore Stringham, consistently with his known temper- ance proclivities, would not allow the heathen custom of breaking a bottle of wine over the bows, as a libation to the gods Neptune and Bacchus. astonishment at the presumption of Young Amer- ca. At length the sound of hammers ceased, the form of Mr. Delano, the constructor, ap- neared conspicuously at the forward part of the ship, and the order was given to saw off the planks that alone restrained her freedom. The plates of the saws had gone nearly through the planks, when the ship, impatient to leave terra firma, broke the remaining hindrance, and ¿lided down the ways into the water, amid the thonts of the spectators, who first said cau- tously, 'She moves !' then, as doubt gave way 1) certainty, a confident burst of 'There she goes !' announced the success of the launch. The workmen cheered the ship, and those on board returned the compliment ; the band struck up ' Hail Columbia,' and the battery on the sea- wall thundered a salute of thirty-two guns,-one for every State in the Union, -and amid loud cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs the good ship gracefully settled down upon the tide. As she touched the water, Miss Lizzie String- ham, daughter of the Commandant of the Yard, broke a bottle of Connecticut-River water across her figurehead ; Miss Carrie Downes, danghter of Commodore Downes, a bottle of Hartford spring-water; and Lieutenant George H. Preble, a bottle of sea water, obtained from outside the harbor, - and thus was she nobly christened THE HARTFORD. The ship floated out into

pier, when she was checked by the cables, and her stern swung toward Chelsea, when the tugs ' Huron ' and ' Wide Awake ' steamed alongside and towed her to the wharf. Not the slightest- accident occurred to mar the gala occasion. Hundreds came late, to find the vessel had gone off, and that ‘time and tide wait for no man,' - or woman."

1 Prior to the war of 1861-65, the following vessels of war had been launched from the Navy Yard; namely, the " Frolic," sloop-of- war, 1813; "Independence," 74, 1814 ; “ Alli- gator," schooner, 1820; " Boston," sloop-of-war, 1825; "Warren," sloop-of-war, 1826; "Fal- month," sloop-of-war, 1827; brig " Boxer," 1831 ; brig " Porpoise," and barques "Consort " and " Pioneer," 1836; " Marion," sloop-of-war, 1837 ; "Cyane," sloop-of-war, 1839; brig " Bainbridge," 1842; "Erie," rebuilt, 1842 ; "Cumberland," frigate, 1842; " Plymouth," sloop-of-war, 1843; " Vermont," 74 (launched), 1848 ; " Princeton," S.S., 1851 ; " Merrimac," screw-frigate, 1855 (afterward the historic Confederate iron-clad, " Virginia ") ; " Hartford," screw-sloop, 1858; " Narragansett," screw-sloop, 1859.

365

THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.

Between 1861 and 1866 the Civil War caused great activity in the build- ing, equipping, and movement of vessels. During these years thirty-nine vessels of war were built at the Navy Yard, and in the neighboring ship- yards of Boston ; 1 and forty-three purchased vessels were equipped at the Navy Yard.

When, on March 5, 1874, the iron torpedo-boat "Intrepid" was launched from the upper ship-house, at 1.15 P. M., she was the first vessel of the kind added to our navy.

Between the years 1832 and 1880, inclusive, - a period of forty-eight years, - there was expended upon the establishment at Charlestown, in- cluding the civil establishment, improvements, outlays for the magazine and hospital, and contingent expenses and general maintenance, $10,618,716, - an average annual expenditure of $221,223.62. This does not include the expenditures on the ships built and repaired at the Yard during that period, or the pay of laborers and mechanics employed on them.

There are now, in 188t, on the stocks at the Navy Yard (besides what is left of the "Virginia"), the "Connecticut," a first-rate, of two thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine tons, and four thousand four hundred and forty-two tons displacement, whose keel was laid in 1864; the "Oregon," a double-turreted ironclad, whose keel was laid in 1864; and the " Penn-

[ The following vessels were built : " Wachu. sett," 1861 ; " Housatonic," 1861 ; " Maritanza," 1361 ; "Huron," 1861 ; " Chocura," 1861 ; " Mar- blehead," 1861 ; "Sagamore," 1861 ; " Canan- daigna," 1862 ; "Genessee," 1862; " Tioga," 1862; " Massasoit," 1863; "Osceola," 1863; " Mattaba- hassett," 1863; "Chicopee," 1863; "Tallapoosa," 1863; " Winooski," 1863; " Pequot,", 1863 ; " Saco," 1863; " Monadnock,"1864; "Winnepec," 1864; " Ammonoosuc," 1864 ; " Ashuelot," 1865; " Speedwell," 1865; " Fortune," 1865; "Guer- rière," 1865; " Leyden," 1866; " Palos," 1866; " Standish," 1866; " Mayflower," t866; " Worce- ster " or " Manitou," 1866. Ironclads, -" Nan- tucket," 1863; " Nahant," 1863 ; "Canonicus," 1864; "Casco," 1864; " Chimo," 1864 ; " Shaw- nce," 1864; " Nausett," 1865; "Squando," 1865; " Suncook," 1865. The "Guerrière," in 1871, took the remains of Admiral Farragut from Portsmouth to New York; and in 1873 brought the remains of Major-General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, from Nice to the same port. The " Monadnock," a double-turreted ironclad, was the first monitor ironclad to go from the Atlantic to the l'acific Ocean, in 1866.

The following vessels were purchased for the United States, and equipped at the Navy Yard, during the war : -

1861. - " P. Sprague," S.S., 963 tons, name changed to "Flag ; " " Cambridge," S.S., 858 tons; "Ethan Allen," sailing bark, 566 tons; " Fear-not," sailing ship, 1,012 tons ; "Gemsbok," sailing bark, 620 tons; "Ino," sailing ship, 985

tons ; "Massachusetts," S.S., 1,115 tons ; "South Carolina," S.S., 1,165 tons; " Onward," sailing bark, 874 tons ; " W. G. Anderson," sailing bark, 542 tons ; " Young Rover," sailing bark, 418 tons.

1862. - " Kensington," S.S., 1,052 tons.

1863. - " Aries," prize S.S., 820 tons ; " Bri- tannia," prize S.S., 495 tons ; " Cornubia," prize S.S., 800 tons; "Dow," prize S.S., 390 tons ; " Harvest Moon," S. W. Str., 546 tons ; " How- gush," 397 tons; "Iron Age," S.S., 424 tons; " Niphon," S.S., 475 tons ; " Kershaw," prize S.S., 80 tons ; " Sunflower," steam-tug, 294 tons; " Vicksburg," changed to " Acacia," S.S., 500 tons ; "Victory," changed to " Queen," prize S.S., 630 tons ; " Wando," prize S.S., 645 tons.

1864. - " Atlanta," prize S.S. ironclad, 1,006 tons; " Azalia," steam-tug, 176 tons; " Bat," prize S.S,, 530 tons ; "Belle," 52 tons ; " Chero- kee," prize S.S., 606 tons ; "F. W. Lincoln," name changed to "Phlox," Str., 317 tons; " Glide," steam-tug, name changed to "Glance," 80 tons ; " Little Ada," prize S.S., 196 tons ; " Philippi," prize S S., 311 tons ; " Thistle," prize S.S., name changed to " Dumbarton ; " " Union," name changed to "Unit," S.S., 500 tons ; " Tristram Shandy," prize S.S., 444 tons.

1865. - " Ella and Annie," prize S.S., 627 tons, name changed to " Malvern :" " R. E. Lee," prize S.S., 900 tons, name changed to "Fort Donaldson ; " "Trefoil," steam-tug, 370 tons ; " Young America," prize, 173 tons: " Yucca," S.S., 373 tons.

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367

THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.

sylvania," whose keel was laid in 1865. It is not probable that any of these vessels will be launched or put to any practical use as war vessels, being behind the times as to model and design, and much decayed. It will be more economical to build new ships.

The "Niagara" and "Iowa," first rates, "Ossipee,"1 third rate, and "Ohio," 74, are in ordinary at the Yard. They are not likely to be called into active service again, as they are decayed, and more or less of an obso- lete type. The steam-frigate "Wabash" lies off the Yard, in commission as the receiving ship for recruits; and the "Hartford," as has been stated, is in the dry-dock undergoing extensive repairs, which will be completed in 1882.

The Navy Yard, which was originally little more than an unpromising mud flat, with additional purchases since made, and the filling-in of flats and marshes, now contains an area of eighty-seven and a half acres.2

Gro. Johnny Prokle

1 I The "Ossipee" was towed to Philadelphia in May, 1881, by the " Vandalia," to be rebuilt.

2 It is surrounded on the land side by a sub- stantial granite wall, twelve feet high, built in 1825-26, and has a water-frontage of eight thon- sand two hundred and seventy feet ; it has three building-slips and four ship-houses: in all seven building-ways for vessels. There is a wet-timber dock at the eastern end of the yard, enelosing an area of over five acres. In the upper part of the Yard are two wet basins, only separated by a roadway, and covering an area of seven acres. It has been proposed to excavate these basins, to afford dockage for the ships in ordinary. There are now (1881) inside the walls twenty brick, eleven stone, thirty-six wooden, and two iron buildings, besides numerous temporary sheds and buildings. Only eight buildings are stand- ing which are on the yard plan of 1823. The oldest, at the entrance of the Yard, was built of briek in 1803, for a storehouse, sail-loft, and offic- es, etc., and is now occupied by the library and museum of the United States Naval Library and Institute, and for court-martial room, dis- pensary, pay, and other offices. The dwelling- house for the commandant was not completed until 1809, and has been occupied by the first and every successive commandant. Its interior has undergone many alterations and changes; but its exterior presents much the appearance of the original plan. There are two avenues run- ning lengthwise of the Yard, ornamented with

shade-trees ; and " Flirtation Alley," along the inner side of the ropewalk, with its shady trees and plank-walk, is a well-known resort of lovers on moonlight nights. There are four dwellings for officers at the eastern and five at the western entrance of the Yard. The commandant's house and the marine barracks, with the marine offi- cers' quarters, occupy a midway position in the Yard.

The steam-engineering building, erected in 1858, is of brick, with granite trimmings. It covers an area of one hundred and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty-five square feet, and contains a brass and iron foundry, boiler, blacksmith, and machine shops; there are two engines of one hundred horse-power in the building, to drive the machinery of the establishment ; and the chimney is higher than Bunker Hill Monument, being two hundred and forty feet in height, while the monument is two hundred and twenty feet. The rolling-mill con- nected is a brick building, two hundred and seven by eighty-eight feet, and has an engine of one hundred horse-power.

The ropewalk, the finest in the country, was built in 1836, of rough ashlar granite, and runs parallel with Chelsea Street for one thousand three hundred and sixty feet. A second story, seven hundred and forty-eight feet long, was built in 1856. The head house is of three stories, sixty hy seventy feet, and contains two double engines, - the needed power for the

368

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

manufactory. It can manufacture two thou- sand five hundred tons per year of all kinds and sizes of rope. All the rope used by the United States navy is manufactured at this es- tablishment. A two-story brick building, to the eastward in line with the wall, in 1873 was arranged for the manufacture of wire rope, and is capable of turning out five hundred tons of

wire rigging. There is a brick boiler-house, fifty- five by forty-four feet, containing eight boilers, supplying the requisite power for the use of the establishments; and a granite hemp-house, for the storage of that material; also a tarring- house. The machinery is almost automatic, and very interesting and curious, and in wonderful contrast to that of former years.

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CHAPTER VI.

THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON.

BY JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.

THE emancipation of four millions of slaves in the United States was certainly one of the greatest events of the nineteenth century. If finally accomplished by the sword, the power which wielded the sword was the conscience and reason of the nation, awakened to the sight of this great evil and sin. To create the moral force which overthrew slavery was the work of the Abolitionists; and they accomplished this work in about thirty years, or in the life of a single generation. When we consider the resistance which was overcome, this result must be regarded as an unex- ampled triumph of pure truth. The slaves held in the Southern States were valued, at the time of the Civil War, at about three thousand millions of dol- lars. Added to this pecuniary interest was the value of cotton lands, sugar plantations, and rice fields, cultivated exclusively by slaves. Besides this powerful motive for maintaining slavery were the force of custom, the habits engendered by despotism, pride, prejudice, and hatred of outside interfer- ence. These interests and feelings gradually united the whole South in a determined hostility to emancipation ; and men professing Antislavery prin- ciples could not live safely in many of the slaveholding States. This united South had for its allies at the North both the great political parties, the commercial and manufacturing interests, nearly the whole press, and both extremes of society. Abolition was equally obnoxious in the parlors of the wealthy and to the crowd of roughs in the streets, - fashion and the mob . being for once united by a common enmity. It was against this immense weight of opposition that the Abolitionists contended; and their strength consisted wholly in the justice of their cause, and the enthusiasm which that cause inspired. They could appeal to no personal interests or par- tialities. Their client, the colored man, was unattractive, ignorant, without influence, and could make them no return for their generous labors. They must " give, hoping for nothing again." In this cause they must be prepared to sacrifice the dearest friendships, social position, opportunity of advance- ment, - and with scarcely any reasonable prospect of ultimate success. Unless they could trust in the immortal power of justice and truth, they VOL. 111 .- 47.

370

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

had little ground for hope. But they did so trust, and their faith was re- warded with sight. Many lived to see the triumph of their cause, and in their case was realized the saying that "those who go forth weeping, bear- ing good seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them."

It is therefore no small honor to the city of Boston that it was the cradle in which this new Revolution was rocked, and the nursery where it grew into strength. It was not so considered at first. For a long time the presence of the Abolitionists and their meetings were regarded by the large majority of Bostonians as a misfortune; but we can now sec that a com- munity which furnished the proper soil in which such a plant could grow must have possessed a strong moral character.

It was not accident which made Boston the cradle of the Abolition movement, any more than it was accident which made it, sixty years be- fore, the cradle of the American Revolution. A habit of independent thought, and a vigorous moral training, supplied the conditions necessary for both.

Before the Revolution, Massachusetts, like all the other States, held slaves. Those of my age can remember seeing in many households old colored men and women who, though they had become free, remained in the families . where they had been born slaves. In the Congressional report of Mr. J. R. Ingersoll, in 1844, on Antislavery resolutions passed by Massachusetts, the State is taunted with advertisements from Boston newspapers of 1776, offer- ing slaves for sale in that town. The very number of the Boston Gazette, July 22, 1776, which contained the Declaration of Independence, advertised a stout, healthy negro-man for sale. Down to that time slavery continued, though in a mild form, in our State. The number of slaves was not large. In 1763 the number of blacks to whites was as one to forty-five; in 1776, as one to sixty-five.1 They were not badly treated. Slaves in Massachusetts were always allowed to testify against white men, even in capital cases.2 No woman was ever known to labor as a field-hand in this State. The senti- ment of the people was strong against slavery, even in early days. In 1646 the General Court passed an order sending back to Africa a negro stolen there and brought to Boston, expressing its indignation against man-stealing. In 1701 the Selectmen of Boston passed a vote requesting the Representa- tives " to put a period to negroes being slaves." In 1766 and 1767 votes were passed in town-meeting instructing its representatives " THAT for the total abolishing of slavery among us, THAT you move for a law to prohibit the importation and purchasing of slaves for the future." 3 In 1770 occurred the case of Prince Boston, who was hired and paid wages by a Quaker in Nantucket, - Elisha Folger ; and when his owner brought an action for the recovery of his slave, the jury returned a verdict against the owner, and

1 Report to Massachusetts House of Represen-

2 Lecture at Lowell Institute, by Emory Wash- tatives, January, 1822, by Theodore Lyman, Jr., burn, 1869.

afterward Mayor of Boston.

8 Theodore Lyman, Jr.'s Report, as above.

371

THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON.

Prince Boston was manumitted by the magistrates. The feeling of those Bostonians who desired independence was expressed by Sam Adams, who, when a negro girl was offered as a present to his wife, declined to receive her as a slave, and said, "Surry must be free on crossing the threshold of my house."1 This showed an advance from the time of Cotton Mather, who entered in his diary in 1706 that he "received a singular blessing " in the gift of "a very likely slave," which was " a mighty smile of Heaven upon his family." In 1783 slavery came to an end in Massachusetts, by the decision of the Supreme Court, which held that the declaration inserted in the State Constitution of 1780, that " all men are born free and equal," abolished slavery forever.2 In the first census of the inhabitants of the United States, in 1790, only free persons were returned from Massachusetts, the only State in the Union which did not then hold slaves, and the only State represented in the first Congress, in 1789, which had formally abolished slavery.3

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 50

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897 Publication date: 1880-1881 Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood Number of Pages: 770

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770