USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 45
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MILITARY HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
The gallant contest between the English frigate "Shannon" and the American frigate "Chesapeake," in 1813, was witnessed by crowds of people of Lynn, who not only climbed the nearby hills, but also clung to the housetops. Newburyport was a large shipping and boat- building center, so at first the war was quite unpopular. Votes were passed refusing to pay bounties for enlistments should men be called for, but the increasing seizure of ships tended greatly to arouse enthusiasm and, by 1813, Newburyport had a busy fleet of privateers on the seas.
The British fleet made life very stimulating during the summer and autumn of 1814. Two frigates made their headquarters at Prov- incetown, which the government had neglected to fortify, and cruised constantly between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. These vessels captured and often ransomed such coasting and fishing vessels as ventured out. They landed a crew at Thatcher's Island off Cape Ann and dug pota- toes, cut fishing boats out of Kettle Cove, drove a schooner ashore on Mingo Beach, Beverly; took vessels from under the guns of Fort Sewall, Marblehead, and captured six coasters close to the Neck. English ships frequently visited opposite Bass Point in Nahant and were so near that men could be seen on the deck of the frigate. One fishing skipper was captured and brought alongside the vessel. He refused to allow the captain to take his fish without paying for them, which so amused the officers that they paid up, remarking, "Let the exacting Yankee fisherman go, but if we catch you again, we will keep you, fish and all."
In addition to its original grievance against the war, Essex County felt abandoned by the Federal Government. Her volunteers were marched off to the Canadian frontiers, leaving the coast defenseless. Taxes were increasing, yet the administration showed no sign of yielding its high pretensions, which postponed the conclusion of peace. In Amesbury, for example, the war was very unpopular and few soldiers entered the army.
When Napoleon was overthrown, England had no further need to enforce right of search, blockades, and impressment, so the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Castlereagh, offered to treat directly with peace commissioners from the United States. Peace was signed on Christmas Eve of 1814, restoring the exact conditions that had existed before the war. All the posts captured by either side were
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given up. Nothing was said about impressments or the right of search, which had really become a dead letter after the fall of the Napoleonic dynasty.
The United States remained at peace until the Mexican question arose. The annexation of Texas, American claims in Mexico, and the Texan boundary situation caused a great deal of friction between the two countries. It seems that President Polk did not deliberately want war, but he very much wanted Mexican territory. Orders were given to occupy disputed territory to which the American claim was shadowy. Our government was very unwilling to display patience, tact, and the indulgence necessary in any dealings with the Mexican Government of 1846. Mexican forces crossed the Rio Grande, and Congress responded in May by declaring war. The Americans per- formed a brilliant series of military achievements and the war was soon over, with Mexico recognizing the annexation of Texas and the cession of California.
The war not only marked the culmination of the American move- ment of expansion, but also showed itself as a war supported by cer- tain sections of the United States. In the volunteering, the North Atlantic States, where was located the country's center of population, only contributed eleven per cent. New England was very bitter against the whole affair. Any additional territory in that part of the United States was considered in New England as an effort of the South to extend slavery, which suspicion was considered confirmed at the time by the letter written by Calhoun in answer to the expressed desire of England to abolish slavery throughout the world. The New England anti-slavery elements, many of which were in Essex County, were naturally bitterly opposed to the Texas project, and the oppo- sition was loudly voiced in the State Legislature, which declared that Massachusetts would never consent to the admission of Texas or any other territory except on the basis of a free State. After the annexa- tion, it was voted that the act was not legally binding on the states. The newspapers were naturally filled with scathing denunciations of what they regarded as an utterly unjust and uncalled for conflict. For example, Lynn only furnished twenty volunteers and no company at all was organized in Haverhill.
The Civil War was not in reality an inevitable conflict, but it was irrepressible only because both the North and South had no tolerance
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and patience. The North had passed liberty laws and formed a new sectional party. The South had agitated for a revival of the African slave trade. When it was seen that the Republican party would win the elections of 1860, the South started secession talk in earnest. South Carolina seceded before the Presidential vote was actually counted.
The response of Massachusetts and Essex County was immediate and enthusiastic. The citizens showed themselves eager to forward the military effort of Massachusetts in every way. They helped by contributions of every kind, of their goods, of their money, of their services. Danvers had anticipated trouble with the South after Lin- coln's election and had called a town meeting to raise a company of militia in case of war a week before Fort Sumter was fired upon. A company volunteered with eagerness, and for the whole war the town furnished seven hundred and ninety-two men, thirty-six over and above all demands. Five days after Sumter, a meeting was called in Salem, where it was decided to stand by the Union, come what might. Several thousand dollars were subscribed on the spot for immediate use in organizing and for carrying out anything that the government at Washington might deem wise. Within a week two hundred men had left Salem for Washington at the call of President Lincoln. In the final report, Salem had sent two thousand seven hundred and sixty privates and three hundred and forty officers, totaling thirty-one hundred men. Lynn furnished two hundred and thirty more than her quota. Amesbury gave a bounty of ten dollars to each single man for enlistment and twenty dollars to married men. A company was formed which later became part of the heavy artillery. Nahant organized a home guard at once. The arms were bought by sub- scription and military drill began.
Georgetown had been moved to its depths by the agitation and discussion of slavery. The anti-abolitionists were called "come outers" and much opposition to them developed. They were obliged to hold their meetings in groves, barns, and on the steps of churches. A Mr. Eliot's house, now Odd Fellows' Hall, was one of the stations of the underground railway for the escape of fugitive slaves. He and the poet, John G. Whittier, helped a number of them to escape. A Mrs Swett was very bold in her support of the cause. She took her knit- ting to church, where she was arrested for contempt and sentenced to
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
jail at Ipswich. When the officers came for her, she refused to enter the sleigh and was lifted in. When she arrived at Ipswich, the keeper of the house of correction declined to receive her, declaring that "those who had brought her there deserved more than she to be retained."
Beverly sent many men in the 2d Massachusetts Regiment, com- manded by General Benjamin F. Butler. After it arrived in Wash- ington, the "National Intelligencer" said editorially: "We doubt whether any single regiment in the country could furnish such a ready contingent to reconstruct a steam engine, lay a railroad track and bend the rails of a man-of-war." One of the Beverly company wrote back from Washington that President Lincoln appeared on their arrival and said: "Three cheers for the 8th Regiment of Massa- chusetts, who can build a locomotive, lay railroad tracks and retake the constitution." It appears that upon the arrival of the 8th Regi- ment at Annapolis, General Butler found the enginehouse locked up. He broke it open and discovered the engine all in pieces. "Who knows anything about an engine?" was the question. One man stepped out of the ranks and said: "I do, General, I made that loco- motive and can repair her in two hours," and he did. The man was none other than Charles S. Homans, of Beverly, who found his mark on the disabled locomotive at Annapolis and superintended its con- struction.
The war was divided into an Eastern Campaign in Virginia and a Western one in the Mississippi Valley devoted to shearing off the territory that would provision the South. The war was won partly because of the success in cutting off this surplus food producing area. Also the Union blockade was successful, and this strangle-hold pre- vented cotton and tobacco from being sold to Europe, where it would gain credits for the Confederacy. At the start the South felt Europe would be forced to intervene to get the southern cotton, but in 1861 Europe was overstocked with cotton, and the European mill owners were really pleased to have the South secede, for it meant a rise in price for the cotton supply that they held. The North was in a posi- tion of great economic superiority, controlling ninety-five per cent. of the iron industry, ninety-four per cent. of the textile business, and was steadily becoming richer while the South was growing poorer. It must be remembered that the North had an enormous advantage in the way
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MILITARY HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
of railway transportation. It was the first war in which railroads played a vital part. The South was unable to keep up their few lines, and what they had left, Sherman destroyed. Financially, the North was much more stable, while the South was unable to establish Eu- ropean credits and had to resort to the issue of paper money, which soon became worthless. The Confederates broke down owing to a dis- sension in their own ranks. President Davis was compelled to carry out centralization to such an extent that the Confederacy became a socialized state, which conflicted with the opinions of the Southern leaders of the states' rights principles. Although Davis was a great leader, he lacked Lincoln's tact and patience in getting on with poli- ticians. Desertions from the Confederate armies became a great problem. Resulting from all this, came Lee's surrender, which ended the slavery problem for good.
In 1895 a revolution broke out in Cuba which was induced partly by the long-lasting Spanish oppression and partly by the complete economic chaos that the Cuban sugar industry had fallen into because of the high tariff policies of the United States. The insurrection brought about acts of outright savageness by both the dissatisfied natives and the Spanish troops. American indignation was particu- larly aroused by the Spanish Captain-General's policy of herding the Cubans into garrison towns, where they perished by the thousand from disease and starvation. Spanish "atrocities" were enlarged upon by the yellow newspapers of the Nation, which always thrive on sensa- tion, and a well organized Cuban bureau of propaganda deeply stirred an American public opinion always sympathic to the spectacle of a struggle for liberty. President Cleveland solemnly warned Spain that the time was rapidly approaching when "our obligations to the sovereign of Spain will be superseded by higher obligations."
After President McKinley came into office the new Spanish min- istry of Sagasta at Madrid proposed to abandon its concentration policy and promised some measures of home rule. It appeared that the crisis had passed, but on February 15, 1898, the United States battleship "Maine" was blown up in Havana harbor. This started a clamor for war, and when a naval court of inquiry reported that the cause was an external explosion by a submarine mine, the cry, "Remem- ber the Maine !" became popular. The President sent to Madrid a suggestion that the conservation camps be broken up and the United States mediate between Spain and Cuba. Orders were given revok-
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
ing the concentration policy, and in April the Governor-General of Cuba was instructed to grant an armistice to the insurgents. But Congress, the press, and the country were clamoring for war. Pres- ident Mckinley became obsessed with the notion that if he did not give way, the Republican party would be broken. After much prayer and hesitation, he decided to yield, and the result was war.
In Massachusetts, Governor Wolcott had taken steps to have the militia in readiness for the call of the Federal Government. The President's first call for troops asked for four regiments of infantry and four companies of heavy artillery. It stated that it "is the wish of the President that the regiments of the National Guard of the State Militia shall be used as far as their numbers will permit, for the rea- son that they are armed, equipped and drilled." In each town and city the companies were given an ovation on their departure for the mobilization camps, and the regiments from the eastern part of the State were reviewed by the Governor as they passed through Boston.
The war was very popular in Essex County. Big business was not interested in the exploitation of Cuba, but American sensibilities had been aroused by the Cuban struggle for independence and outraged by the destruction of the "Maine." One week after the declaration, Dewey steamed into Manila Bay with the Pacific Squadron and with- out losing a man reduced the Spanish fleet to old junk. The 5th Army Corps safely landed in Cuba and won three battles in quick succession. Admiral Cervera's fleet issued from Santiago Bay, and in a few hours' running fight was completely smashed, with the loss of a single Ameri- can sailor. Ten weeks' fighting and the United States had taken an Empire from Spain.
Most of the men who served in the war were from organized militia or National Guard companies. The work of assembling went along very smoothly, and in Salem it was said that the local work of mustering and recruiting was much easier than in the other wars. The larger cities of the county, such as Lynn, Haverhill, and Newbury- port, furnished anywhere from five to nine hundred men. Four infan- try regiments assembled on the Framingham camp ground, which was named Camp Dewey. The Second was the first regiment to leave the State, going by rail to Lakeland, Florida, and thence to Tampa, where it joined the expeditionary force to Cuba, being attached to the 2d Cavalry Brigade. It took part in the engagements at Siboney and San Juan Hill and was the only Massachusetts command to suffer
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MILITARY HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
casualties in action, losing five men killed and four others who died of wounds. Like all other Massachusetts commands, it was armed with the old Springfield rifle, shooting black powder, which though superior in stopping power, was inferior in range to the Spanish Mauser. Hence the American troops were obliged to advance under a fire which they could not return effectively; and when they did open fire, the smoke of their guns revealed their location to the enemy.
In a military sense, the United States was entirely unprepared. An elderly jobbing politician was at the head of the War Department. There was no khaki cloth in the country, and thousands of troops fought a summer campaign in Cuba clothed in the heavy blue uni- forms of winter garrison duty. Volunteers neglected all principles of camp sanitation, and for every one of the two hundred and eighty-nine men killed or mortally wounded in battle, thirteen died of disease. Transporting eighteen thousand men to Cuba caused more confusion than conveying two million men to France twenty years later. Yet the little expeditionary force was allowed to land on the beach with- out opposition and the Spanish Captain-General of Cuba, with six weeks' warning, almost two hundred thousand men in the island, and thirteen thousand in the city of Santiago, was able to concentrate only seventeen hundred on the battlefields of El Caney and San Juan against fifteen thousand Americans. These seventeen hundred Spani- ards, well armed and entrenched, gave an excellent account of them- selves, but on July 3, Cervera's battle fleet steamed forth to death and destruction. Santiago surrendered shortly after, and the war was over.
The 8th Regiment from Essex County left in May, 1898, for Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, whence it went suc- cessively to Lexington, Kentucky, and Americus, Georgia. The great scourge of mobilization camps of 1898 was typhoid fever, caused by lack of knowledge of and failure to observe the rules of sanitation. In this respect the Eighth had an enviable record, the sanitary rules being so strictly enforced that the inspector-general of the army called its camp at Americus "a model" and said : "These same soldiers had a perfect camp also at Lexington, Kentucky." Though the regiment had no battle experience, it went to Matanzas, Cuba, in January, 1899, and held that city for nearly three months, its camp being located near Fort San Serverino. It was mustered out on April 28, 1899.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
To Spain President Mckinley dictated the terms of peace, which were: Immediate evacuation and definite relinquishment of Cuba, cession of Porto Rico, and an island in the Ladrones, occupation of the city, harbor, and bay of Manila. Spain signed a preliminary peace to this effect, sadly protesting, "This demand strips us of the very last memory of a glorious past and expels us from the Western Hemi- sphere, which became peopled and civilized through the proud deeds of our ancestors."
The outbreak of the great European War came upon the people of Massachusetts and Essex County as a complete surprise. None of the many travelers caught by it in Europe had received any warn- ing of the coming storm. The economic and social ties between Europe and the eastern seaboard states, especially Massachusetts, were strong. Trade with foreign countries had prospered and citi- zens watched the course of events in Europe with deep sentimental interest and with no little alarm for their trade and business interests. The sympathy of the people went out strongly to France, and the great majority of Essex County was overwhelmingly in favor of the allied powers. Some of our citizens joined the Allies, enlisting with the Canadian forces, in the Foreign Legion, or with the allied hospital and ambulance service. When the "Lusitania" was sunk, in 1915, a great wave of indignation swept over the whole country and inter- vention seemed less remote. On February 1, 1917, Germany notified our government of its decision to sink without warning all ships, neutral or belligerent, encountered in North Atlantic waters adjacent to Europe. President Wilson severed diplomatic relations with Ger- many, and the Massachusetts Legislature went on record unanimously approving the President's action. The press denounced without excep- tion the German action in no uncertain terms. On April 2 Congress was reassembled and the President delivered a great message request- ing a declaration of war. The intercepted Zimmerman note in which Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico, the detention of United States consuls in Germany, the insults to the American flag in Belgium, and the unrestricted sinking of our ships, all served to fan the flame of popular resentment. After a vigorous speech by Senator Lodge and with the support of every Massachusetts Congressman, war was declared April 5, 1917, an appropriation of three billion, four hun- dred million dollars was voted, and an army of one million men was authorized.
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MILITARY HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
In May, Massachusetts passed the Commonwealth Defense Act, which gave almost supreme military powers for the duration of the war in the hands of the Governor. It gave him the right of seizure of property and broad powers over the production, use and distri- bution of food. It authorized courts to require bail in cases menacing public safety and allowed the suspension of certain laws relating to labor and the appointment of civil officers, and in other respects greatly extended the power of the executive civil officers. In other words, Massachusetts was now upon a firm wartime footing. But recruiting for the army was not easy, and Massachusetts had not increased its troops to war strength. It was obvious that to accom- plish the vast augmentation of military forces which the situation made necessary, there must be formed some better and quicker method of increase beyond the voluntary offering of individual men. The national government decided, therefore, to put into force the principle of universal military service and to draft the man power of the nation. A bill enacting these measures was passed by Congress in May. Local draft boards were set up to work out and make opera- tive the principles of selective service, passing on the claims for exemption and on the physical fitness of the men registered.
In July the National Guard was assembled in its various armories and proceeded at once to the mobilization points, the artillery regi- ments going to Boxford. Later the whole guard was made part of the American Army. Then the War Department ordered a divi- sional organization and all of the former National Guard of Massa- chusetts came under the 26th Division, called the "Yankee Division," and.under the command of General Edwards. By October the whole division was in France, and after training under French instructors in the art of warfare as it had developed since 1914, entered the line of combat.
To relate the history of the combats in which all the men of Essex County took part is impossible here. Needless to say, great patriot- ism, loyalty, bravery, and intellect were shown. Liberty Loans were subscribed to with alacrity. For example, Haverhill, with a popula- tion of forty-nine thousand, raised over eleven million dollars for war work, including Liberty Loans, Red Cross campaigns, United War Work drives, and other expenses. Eight and one-half per cent. of her population was in service, seeing action in France, Italy, Rus- sia, Siberia, Palestine, and Turkey.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
In October, 1918, Germany asked for an armistice and as a basis for peace negotiations accepted the "Fourteen Point" program laid down by President Wilson. Before it could go into effect, Germany had to agree to the withdrawal of her soldiers from Belgium and France, to surrender her submarines, and to disarm most of her battle- ships. "The war," said President Wilson, when announcing to Con- gress the terms of the surrender, "thus comes to an end, for having accepted these terms it will be impossible for the German command to renew it."
Never before in history had there been such a cruel, costly strug- gle; of Americans, about fifty thousand lost their lives and two hun- dred thousand were wounded. America's share of the military cost was about fifty billion dollars. "It is a melancholy thought," said Blaine, once when speaking of national debts, "that this almost incal- culable sum of money was borrowed and expended, not to promote the ends of peace, not to develop agriculture or the mechanic arts, not to build highways for commerce and trade, not to improve harbors and the navigation of rivers, not to found institutions of learning or of charity or of mercy, not to elevate the standard of culture among the masses-not for any of these laudable objects, but for the waste, the cruelty, the untold agonies of war."
BIBLIOGRAPHY-"History of Essex County," edited by D. Hamil- ton Hurd ( Philadelphia, 1888, 2 vols.).
"Standard History of Essex County" (Boston, 1878).
"Municipal History of Essex County," edited by B. F. Arring- ton (New York, 1922).
"Commonwealth History of Massachusetts," edited by Albert Bushnell Hart (New York, 1927, 5 vols. ).
"History of New England," James T. Adams (Boston, 1927, 3 vols.) .
"Maritime History of Massachusetts," S. E. Morison (Boston and New York, 1921).
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