USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 41
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"Ed Morris arrived on the Ellen Y. Terry from New York. Would have come on the Decatur, but got left, and thereby lost all his baggage.
"Thursday, the 5th of February, Lieutenant Tifft was unani- mously chosen captain of Co., A and Orderly Wells first lieutenant, vice Tifft, promoted, jumping over Lieutenant Marsh. The fourth lieutenant, Colonel Shurtleff was chosen colonel, vice Bowler resigned and Captain Spooner, Major Walkley being promoted to lieutenant colonel.
"Sunday morning, made up mail for the North for the Dutch Buck. Nine thousand letters. Sunday night, the 8th, received a mail from Fort Monroe consisting of 12 bags and sorted it until 2 a. m., and then finished it. Rand or the postmaster not here.
"Wednesday, the 11th, H. D. Bartlett, member of Co., A, of the 46th, passed away, never more to visit this earth. He was taken sick while on guard and then after being taken to the Foster hospital,
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died after a very short illness with congestive fever. Away from home, friends and kindred, he laid down his life for his country. This is the first death which has occurred in the company, and he, hitherto so fat and healthy, was suddenly taken away. No more will his friends hear his ringing laugh. He died in a southern hospital. His remains will be sent to Sunderland, the home of his father.
"Non-commissioned officers of Co., A, presented Lieutenant Wells with a sword and bugle, and others, shoulder straps.
"The 13th received a mail from Fort Monroe, six bags, which we got sorted by 11.30 p.m. Two new clerks arrived from Fort Monroe office to work here.
"The 14th sent a mail north via Fort Monroe.
"Sunday the 15th went with Justin down to the old battle field . of Newbern. Spent most of the day in going over the field, forts and looking about the intrenchments. The Reb. camp showed signs of their hasty departure, knap sacks canteens, cap boxes, clothing, etc. The forts and intrenchments are very formidable, and it surprises me greatly that they were so easily driven from them. Trees are felled and lopped over in all directions, to prevent the quick approach of our forces. Trees are thickly bored by rifle balls.
"Picked up a Reb. canteen, capbox and haversack. The battle field is about four miles from the city, and we walked there and back along the breast-works, three miles or so. This was a position well chosen, but they were driven from it in a hurry by Burnside.
"This week George D. Kingsley died in Foster hospital of fever. Was sick only a short time, and he failed daily, not having the con- stitution to stand the sickness and the climate."
There has been preserved a letter written by this young soldier which is of interest as showing the efforts that were even then made to provide for the wellbeing of the troops. It was written to Miss Nellie Stowe, daughter of this ex-postal-clerk's superior in the Spring- field office, who later married Frank R. Young, also of Springfield. The letter reads as follows:
"Hotel De Hammond, "Beaufort, No. Carolina, "June 7, 1863
"Friend Nellie :
"You will see by the heading of this letter that I have changed my quarters for a time and have for the last week been stopping at the Hammond Hospital, though not under the doctor's charge. Shall go to Newbern and my duties tomorrow.
"The hospital is very pleasantly situated being built directly on the water and we get a good sea breeze all the time. The con- valescents of the Newbern hospital are sent here to gain strength. Originally the building was an hotel and is three stories high with verandas on each story, giving one a splendid view of the sea and of steamers inward and outward bound. Have been on the water nearly every day since my arrival, either picking up shells or sailing.
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Attached to the hospital are three sail boats for the use of the patients and when we cannot sail in one of them, plenty of boats can be hired. Two days I spent upon Cape Lookout Banks, gathering shells and taking life easy. The sight of green fields and the roaring ocean took one away, in imagination, from the sands of North Carolina to the coast of Massachusetts. To come down here does one almost as much good as going to the seashore from home in summer. Am not sick now, but came here to recruit and gain strength.
"The town of Beaufort is a good specimen of all the Southern towns, the houses being far apart, streets minus walks and white sand in their place which makes it as hard walking as in a foot of dry snow.
"The other day I visited Fort Mason which is a mile and a half from here, directly opposite the hospital. It was taken from the Rebs. by Burnside and in it now are several large guns manufactured at Richmond, Virginia.
"Our friends at home would be surprised and wonderstruck to see us boys in the hovel of some Aunt Polly, sitting upon boxes and broken down chairs, trying to procure some of Auntie's cookery to fill out our government rations. All their cookery is done in a spider and that in the fireplace, but the boys devour the pie &c with as much gusto as the nicest and most delicate pastry of home manufacture. "The 44th Massachusetts Regiment sailed from this port yester- day, bound for Boston. The 43d, 3d and 5th sail next week, which looks as though the nine months men would all arrive at home on time. There are only two more regiments before the 46th, for which thanks.
"My company, I suppose, is now at Newbern, having rejoined the regiment since I came here. Two of our boys were captured while on picket. Suppose next month will see me at good old Spring- field once more, but I have formed no plans for the future, there- fore don't allot on anything.
"My respects to Mr. and Mrs. Stowe and your sisters, "I remain truly your friend "ANDREW."
Five companies of the 46th Regiment (including Company A) contended that nine months service should date from the day of muster into service, which would call for the release of five com- panies on June 25, 1863. However, the War Department ruled that it should be reckoned from the day of the muster in of the last, or tenth company. This was very unsatisfactory as it lengthened the term of service of several other nine-months regiments and it was left optional with the men; to go home or remain. The 46th elected to remain and was temporarily assigned to the outer defense of Baltimore. On July 21, the entire regiment reached Springfield and was mustered out of service.
The total losses of the regiment during its term of service were 215 men (approximately twenty per cent of whom, thirty-three, died of sickness).
CHAPTER XXXVII
John Brown
I N 1846 there appeared in Springfield a tall, gangling man who was to be known in history as John Brown of Osawatomie. A con- temporary portrait of him would be hardly recognizable today, as he then lacked the bushy beard made so familiar in later pictures, being clean shaven, with an aggressive chin and jaw and the ardent face of a crusader. Born in Torrington, Connecticut, May 9, 1800, he was a descendant of Peter Brown, who came in the Mayflower in 1620, and a grandson of Captain Brown who died while opposing the British in 1776. Peter Brown left his mother country to avoid religious persecution; Captain Brown took up arms against an unjust king, and Captain John Brown against an unjust people. The same hatred of injustice urged each one on to what he considered his duty.
In 1840-41, in partnership with Colonel Simon Perkins, he was engaged in sheep raising on quite an extensive scale in Akron, Ohio. Their flocks were of the finest, worth $20,000. In the spring of 1846, at a convention of wool growers, Brown proposed a co-operative scheme, new at the time and comparatively unheard of, providing for a pooling of interests, enabling the growers to have their product sorted and graded in a New England city before being offered for sale. Prior to that time little thought had ever been given to grading, and no encouragement was offered for the raising of superior sheep. His suggestion was quickly adopted and, much against his wish, he was chosen as managing agent. No vision of pecuniary gain influenced him; he accepted the trust simply because he thought it might be the means of breaking up the combination of New England manufacturers and righting an organized wrong.
Hence, in June, 1846, Perkins and Brown opened business in the lofts of John L. King's old warehouse at the corner of Water Street (now Columbus Avenue) and Railroad Street, in Springfield, Perkins furnishing the capital, while Brown had complete supervision. Two cents a pound was charged for storing, grading and selling and one mill per pound additional covered such incidentals as postage and fire insurance. The firm represented growers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York, and such was Brown's reputation for honesty and integrity that they reposed entire confidence in him.
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That Brown was ever a crusader is shown in his efforts to improve the quality of the fleeces produced by his sponsors. In the April 21, 1847, issue of the Springfield Gazette was the following advertisement :
"To WOOL GROWERS.
"NUMEROUS liberal minded persons, interested in the Wool busi- ness, having placed funds at our disposal for the purpose herein after mentioned, we shall on the 1st day of October next, award and pay the following premiums, viz:
"Ten Gold Medals worth Ten Dollars each for the ten entire Clips of most valuable fleeces for Clothing purposes. Ten Gold Medals worth Ten Dollars each for the ten entire Clips of most valuable fleeces for Combing or Worsted purposes .- Ten premiums of Ten Dollars each for the ten best conditioned entire Clips of Saxony Wool .- Ten premiums of same amount for the ten best conditioned entire Clips of Saxony grade Wool. Ten premiums of same amount for the ten best conditioned entire clips of Merino Wool. Ten pre- miums of same amount for the ten best conditioned entire clips of Merino grade Wool. Ten premiums of same amount for the ten best conditioned entire clips for Combing fleeces. All Wool Growers throughout the United States are invited to compete for them. We would again invite the attention of Wool growers to our remarks on the subject of preparing Wool for Market as published in the reports of the Wool growers meeting at Steubenville, Ohio, the 10th of Feb., 1847, also in the Ohio Cultivator, and other papers of the country.
"All Bales of Wool designed for our care should have the name of the owner or grower plainly written or printed on them in full, together with our address as follows, Perkins & Brown, Springfield, Mass.
"All lots of wool intended to compete for the premiums, should reach us by the 1st of August next. Growers may receive premiums if their Wool be put up and marked separately, even though the Wool come through the Merchant or other Wool dealer, (sic) Any farther contributions from Wool growers, (sic) or other public spirited persons will be expended in preparing the Medals, publishing a report and in additional premiums .- All Editors of Periodicals, friendly to Agricul- tural pursuits throughout the United States, are respectfully requested to publish.
"PERKINS & BROWN "Springfield, Mass., April, 1847."
As the business grew, larger quarters were required. Chester W. Chapin was then building a block on the east side of Main Street (then North Main Street), just south of the present railroad arch. To this Perkins & Brown removed, taking a store and a half for an office, and, as the building was then incomplete, the third floor was left out, open lofts, clear to the peaked roof.
It was at about this time that Brown began confiding his plans to Negroes in the vicinity whom he thought he could trust. Inciden-
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tally, he then first met Thomas Thomas, a fugitive from the eastern shores of Maryland, to whom he offered employment as a porter at the warehouse. Thomas inquired what time he should commence work. "Seven o'clock," was the reply; "but I wish you would come earlier, as I have something to tell you." So Thomas reported about five-thirty and found Brown waiting to disclose his underground rail- way plans for aiding escaping slaves and assisting them on to Canada. Thomas, who is well remembered by an older generation, became one of Brown's most trusted associates and he was later sent to secure the collaboration of Madison Washington, who had engineered an uprising on the vessel Creole.
In 1894 a young journalist in Springfield, realizing that John Brown's intimates of that period were fast passing on, made an effort to preserve some of their recollections, which were published in The New England Magazine, issue of May, 1894, and record much of interest.
Brown was then remembered as a moderate, quiet, sort of man; orderly and systematic in his habits, particularly in his business. His letters were filed with the comments, "Answered," "No time to read," or "No answer required." While his account books, many of which were at that time preserved, were models of neatness. Yet, with all his system, a carelessness was very marked. Bill after bill would be paid by check, without having the bank-book written up, until he had no idea whether he had a cent or not to his credit, and from sheer necessity the book was checked up. Either from carelessness or lack of time, the character "&" was invariably used in his books and correspondence. Calm, deliberate and conscientious, an early riser and hard worker, often commencing work at three in the morning, he accomplished much in a day. Neatness was shown in his whole character and appearance. His entire suit was made of a snuff- colored cloth, out of fashion perhaps, but of stock of the finest grade. While in Springfield he was without the peculiar beard seen in the conventional portraits, having a smooth face; his bushy hair was cut about an inch long, standing straight out from all sides. He had peculiar notions, even in regard to food. He used no coffee, merely plain milk or water for drink, and he ate no cheese nor butter.
For a time Brown and his two sons, John, Jr., and Jason, boarded at Morgan & Day's American House, on the west side of Main Street, just north of the railroad. As business prospered the remainder of the family joined them. Housekeeping was commenced in the second section of the brick house owned by Henry Gray on the corner of what was then Gray's Court and Ferry Street, but now known as Gray's Avenue and Cypress Street. Soon, however, Brown's nomadic instincts asserted themselves, and after wandering about, living on Main, Vine and possibly other streets, he finally settled on Hastings Street, early in 1848. "John Brown, wool dealer, opposite Massasoit Hotel, house, Hastings street", reads the Springfield directory of 1849. Today there is no Hastings Street, but the records show that in 1846, Dexter Allis cut a street through his land between Main and
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Chestnut Streets and built three houses, one on the south side and two on the north, naming it Hastings Street in honor of Waitstill Hastings. When it was later made a public street, the name was changed to Franklin.
¥11117
John Brown's Home on Franklin Street, Springfield, 1936 Veranda and balcony are later additions.
Here, in the frame dwelling still standing and designated as 31 Franklin Street, lived John Brown. This was really his home. Here his daughter Ellen was born, March 20, 1848. His daughter, Annie Brown Adams, seems not to have joined the family until this period, for May 19, 1908, she recalled that "when we moved to Springfield we boarded at first at the Massasoit House; then we went to live in a new house that was situated on the south side of Franklin street,
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on the west bank of the Town Brook, a small stream that had a cul- vert bridge the width of the street. Father rented the house and it was a good one. I cannot remember any houses between there and the foot of Armory Hill, which was in plain sight."
The house was a two-story-and-a-half frame dwelling, with a one-story addition connecting it with a small barn or woodshed in the rear, the front ornamented with a veranda carrying four fluted columns. But though the exterior was fairly good, inside everything was of the plainest,-no servants, no cloth on the table and only the bare necessities of life. On moving in Brown took a vote of the family to see if they would furnish the parlor or use the money to buy clothing for the fugitive Negroes in the colony of North Elba, New York, and it is needless to say that the decision was unanimously in favor of the Negroes.
In 1844 the dissenters and antislavery men of Trinity Church, then on Pynchon Street, built the Zion Methodist Church building on Sanford Street. The building stood there until recently, and its pulpit Bible was long used by the Quincy Street Mission. Here John Brown worshipped and of this church he was a member. Reverend Mr. Conkling of the North Church, who became estranged from his con- gregation on account of his abolition ideas, was a great friend of his and on that account Brown was an occasional visitor to that church as well as to the First Church.
The business continued to grow and additional lofts were taken in George Hastings' block just north of the railroad where the Hotel Charles now is. But then a cloud came up out of a clear sky and from that time on luck seems to have deserted the dreamer. About this time Gerritt Smith, the noted abolitionist, had given 100,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks for the benefit of the escaped slaves. Brown proposed to him that he and his family should take up one of these farms, teach the ignorant blacks how to build the houses and till the soil,-that in short he should be a father to them. Smith saw the necessity of some such arrangement, and gratefully accepted the offer; and the family moved to the bleak woods in the same year. Brown's motive in going was twofold. While his desire to keep the slaves was uppermost in his mind, he also wished a home for his family when he should go on his campaigns, and a place for his grave when he should be killed, as he confidently expected would be the case.
Once more his uneasy, wandering nature asserted itself, and on August 11, 1849, he sailed for Europe, ostensibly to open a market for American wool, leaving John, Jr., in charge of his business here. For two months he visited wool markets and battlefields with perfect impartiality, one day studying his campaigns and inspecting all fortifi- cations and especially all earthwork forts which he could find, with a view of applying the knowledge thus gained to a mountain warfare in the United States, and the next astounding the foreigners with his knowledge of his business. Give him Ohio, Vermont and Saxony wool, and he could tell them in the dark, simply by his fine sense of touch. At one of these tests he was given a sample of dog's hair, the joker
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asking his opinion of it as wool; but he instantly pronounced its true nature by feeling for the small hooks found on wool and noting their absence.
Next in the line of disasters came the collapse of the wool busi- ness. The New England manufacturers, wishing no such stern, uncom- promising man between themselves and the growers, formed a trust against him. The lofts were packed to the roof with fine wool waiting for a higher price when, in the summer of 1849, Musgrave, of the Northampton Woolen Mills, came down and offered sixty cents a pound, the market price, for the lot of 200,000 pounds. His proposi- tions were indignantly spurned by the old man, who considered the offer one of the machinations of a league formed to oppose honest growers. He would stop this bullying by taking his wool to London for a market. In vain did Musgrave, who was a Yorkshire man, protest not only that good wool was worth less in England, but more- over that American wool was looked upon with suspicion by the Britishers. His arguments were treated with the usual silent con- tempt, and Brown re-sorted his precious stock, bought new sacking and shipped it abroad. Time passed, and finally word came that it had been sold, but no price was mentioned. Later events brought out the astounding fact that it was bought by Musgrave for thirty cents a pound delivered at his mills in Northampton. There was a loss to the firm of $60,000, exclusive of freight charges to England and return. While the loss was purely the result of Brown's obstinacy, Perkins did not censure him, but endeavored to continue the business relations, though in later years he felt the loss more keenly. With this wreck, however, Brown retired from the financial world forever and from Springfield as a citizen, retiring to his Adirondack haunts, and coming forth only as his antislavery business called him.
In the spring of 1851, directly after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, he was again in Springfield among his colored friends, whom he formed into the Springfield Branch of the United States League of Gileadites. In those dark days, even in Massachusetts, escaped slaves were taken by United States officers, and returned to their masters, under the flag of the United States. It was to urge them to resist the law, no matter by what authority it should be enforced, that Brown gave his "Words of Advice" as follows :
"WORDS OF ADVICE.
Branch of the United States League of Gileadites. Adopted January 15, 1851, as written and recommended by John Brown
'Union is Strength.'
"Nothing so charms the American people as personal bravery. The trial for life of one bold and to some extent successful man, for defending his rights in good earnest, would arouse more sympathy throughout the nation than the accumulated wrongs and sufferings of more than three millions of our submissive colored population. We
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need not mention the Greeks struggling against the oppressive Turks, the Poles against Russia, nor the Hungarians against Austria and Russia combined, to prove this. No jury can be found in the Northern states that would convict a man for defending his rights to the last extremity. This is well understood by Southern Congressmen, who insist that the right of trial by jury should not be granted to the refugee. Colored people have more fast friends amongst the whites than they suppose, and would have ten times the number they now have were they but half as much in earnest to secure their dearest rights as they are to ape the follies and extravagance of their white neighbors, and to indulge in idle show, in ease, and in luxury. Just think of the money expended by individuals in your behalf in the past twenty years. Think of the number who have been mobbed and imprisoned on your account. Have any of you seen the Branded Hand? Do you remember the names of Lovejoy and Torrey ?
"Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect together as quickly as possible, so as to outnumber your adversaries who are taking an active part against you. Let no ablebodied man appear on the ground unequipped, or with his weapons exposed to view; let that be understood beforehand. Your plans must be known only to yourself, and with the understanding that all traitors must die, whenever caught and proven to be guilty. 'Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let him return and part early from Mount Gilead.' (Judges, vii. chap., 3 verse; Deut. xx chap., 8 verse.) Give all cowards an opportunity to show it on condition of holding their peace. Do not delay one moment after you are ready; you will lose all your resolu- tion if you do. Let the first blow be the signal for all to engage, and when engaged do not do your work by halves; but make clean work with your enemies, and be sure you meddle not with any others. By going about your business quietly, you will get the job disposed of before the number that an uproar would bring together can collect; and you will have the advantage of those who come out against you, for they will be wholly unprepared with either equipments or matured plans; all with them will be confusion and terror. Your enemies will be slow to attack you after you have done up the work nicely; and, if they should, they will have to encounter your white friends, as well as you, for you may safely calculate on a division of the whites, and by that means get to an honorable parley.
"Be firm, determined and cool; but let it be understood that you are not to be driven to desperation without making it an awful dear job to others as well as you. Give them to know distinctly that those who live in wooden houses should not throw fire, and that you are just as able to suffer as your white neighbors. After effecting a rescue, if you are assailed, go into the houses of your most prominent and influential white friends with your wives, and that will effectually fasten upon them the suspicion of being connected with you, and will compel them to make a common cause with you, whether they would otherwise live up to their profession or not. This would leave them no choice in the matter. Some would doubtless prove themselves true
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