USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1869-1879 > Part 36
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The attendance in the several schools has varied, as usual, with the location, and also from various ac- cidental causes which are unavoidable, as sickness, etc. Several schools have been troubled by the prev- alence of some of those disorders which afflict the juvenile population. Some teachers, either by their own tact and management, or by the more efficient co-operation of the parents, show better records than others. We wish the parents would more generally co-operate with the teachers in this matter of regular and punctual attendance. In no way can they render more effectual aid. Too many manifest an indiffer- ence, positively, if not technically, criminal.
If all would consider the amount of evil that is done the child, and to the school with which it is connected, by the weak indulgence of the indolent whim which causes it to ask to stay from school, - if all would consider that time once lost can never be regained, that bad habits formed in youth are seldom reformed, there would be fewer marks of absence and tardiness on our teachers' registers, and more prompt acting and prompt paying men and women in the world.
55
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
The committee have just had the pleasure of giving diplomas to the largest class that ever graduated from this school. We take this as an evidence of the grow- ing appreciation in the minds of our citizens, not only of the value of this school in a general way, but of the importance of giving their children the benefit of the full course. Too many make great exertion to effect an entrance for their children, who seem to care but little about the length of time they may continue there, or what they accomplish while within its walls. The examination by the committee in the morning was creditable to school and teachers, and the after- noon exhibition realized the expectations of the crowd of friendly witnesses.
The capability and faithfulness of the teachers of this school are unquestionable, and the appearance of the school during the occasional visits of the com- mittee has ever been satisfactory; but the fact that some of the studies, arranged for a term or year, have not been completed in the allotted time, would seem to indicate a lack of diligence and a want of appreciation on the part of several classes, of the advantages they are enjoying, which is the reverse of commendable. As much of the time of the short daily session of this school must be occupied in reci- tations, of course, in order to make good progress, much of the preparatory study must be done at home. Parents should interest themselves sufficiently to sce
56
that this is faithfully performed, and by thus co-oper- ating with the teachers much more will be accom- plished.
At the examination of candidates for admission last summer, the papers presented afforded consider- able evidence of the improvement which we claim is being made in our schools. It sometimes happens that a candidate blessed with a ready memory, at- tains the requisite percentage by excellence in spell- ing, history, and geography, while in arithmetic and grammar, which seem to require more exercise of the reasoning faculties, he may be lamentably deficient. Admission under such circumstances is an unmiti- gated evil to scholar and school; and it is the opinion of the present board that at least fifty per cent should be required in those branches, whatever may be the attainments in the others.
We are glad to be able to report that more atten- tion is being paid to the art of composition and to reading and declamation, than formerly, the benefits of which we hope to see illustrated at future exhibitions by a larger proportion of original essays.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
The schools of this grade, three in number, have been the objects and recipients of much solicitude and a large amount of attention, on the part of your commit- tee, during the past year. Several changes of teachers have been deemed expedient, and we think that the
57
present organization of the schools is as nearly satis- factory as we may expect to attain with the means at our disposal.
The North or Union School, which, from various causes, has been, relatively speaking, losing ground for several years, is now in the care of a teacher well known and honored in our town, a veteran of thirty years' experience, who we believe is rapidly bringing it up to a position which will give occasion for its compeers to look well to their laurels. We wish more of the parents could have been present at the closing examination, for we hardly believe that their minds could have remained proof against the contagious spirit of returning life and interested attention which now pervades the school.
The presence of interested visitors, not only on ex- amination days, but at all times during the year, would be equally useful in all the other schools, and if at any point there exists a lack of animation or in- terest, nothing better can be devised for promoting a healthier condition.
While we look to the High School for the highest individual results, it is from the Grammar Schools that we expect the largest aggregate of returns for the money and labor expended by the town for schooling. Such being the case, while we cheerfully express much satisfaction with the present condition of these schools, we shall relax no attention, but ever urge teachers and scholars to the improvement of every means of progress, and to an untiring diligence
58
which will redound to the credit of all concerned, make profitable the town's expenditures, and educate a generation in whose intelligent care we may safely intrust the welfare of the future schools of Braintree.
THE MIXED OR UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
These schools have been in the care of their present teachers for several years, and from this permanency has grown an adaptation of the person to the place and of the school to the teacher, which insures har- mony, if not the greatest possible efficiency. Several of them are getting to be among the largest in town, and two have already outgrown their accommodations.
The teachers labor earnestly, and often a feverish anxiety to have their higher classes equal in attain- ments those of the Grammar Schools, is apparent. In this they often succeed.
Absentism is the especial curse of these schools; much of it is probably unavoidable, but we are con- vinced that, had we made as faithful use of the powers the law places in our hands as we might have done, the registers would have looked better. We hope to show by our works another year that our repentance is sincere.
INTERMEDIATE AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
No changes have occurred among the teachers of these grades. All are doing very good work, though a variety of methods is pursued and different degrees
59
of success are attained. Another year's observation has further confirmed us in the opinion that the method of teaching the young to read by word, instead of by the alphabet, is an improvement, and should be adopted by those teachers having charge of such classes.
We believe that more rapid progress is made where this plan is being tried, that the style of reading is more natural, and that the disagreeable monotone, which is so difficult for teachers with the old method to break up, is less likely to be contracted.
TEXT BOOKS.
In addition to the Readers already in use in the lower grades, we decided, at the beginning of the last term, to introduce, in the new classes then being formed, the first three of the Franklin Series of Readers. This has proven of advantage to those who have used them, and also economy, pecuniarily, as, at introduction prices, the new books cost less than the others. Encouraged by our experience with these, we think it probable that we may, in the com- ing year, proceed further and introduce the fourth of the same or another series in the more advanced classes.
In putting these books into the schools, it is not intended to throw out, at once, those already in use, but by placing them in new classes in competition with the others, we can judge fairly of their merits,
and, if they prove better, no new books of the old series will be purchased, and thus they will gradually wear out and disappear; while if they fail to prove satisfactory, we can fall back on the old.
This question of text-books is a vexatious one. None of them seem exactly adapted to the wants of our schools, and until our teachers become entirely eman- cipated from a servile adherence to text-book forms and verbatim recitations, the question will recur with various degrees of aggravation.
Let us illustrate our meaning, that we may not be misunderstood. A class having made some prog- ress in mental arithmetic, the teacher sets them at work on the black-board, or places examples on the board for them to do on their slates. In this way, with oral instruction, most of our young classes ac- quire a knowledge of the fundamental rules of arith- metic. Now, if this work is well done, when the written arithmetic is taken up, we don't believe it is necessary to spend months laboring over similar examples, simply because they are in the book, and in which a single mistake may cause a day's delay of a whole class; but, after a searching examination in regard to principles, and the solving of a few test problems, we would keep the class awake by moving ahead to something new.
The text-book is necessary to preserve accuracy on the part of teacher and class; but the teacher can tell, better than any author or publisher, the amount of drill each particular class may require.
61
SCHOOLHOUSES AND YARDS.
The houses are generally in good repair, and prob- ably no large appropriations will be required on their account the coming year.
The cupola on the Union house, on account of some defect in the construction, admits the storms to such an extent as to seriously damage the plastering of the room immediately under it. The expenditure of fifty dollars would probably remedy the trouble.
The yards of the southeast, southwest, and west need, for the comfort of the schools and the preserva- tion of the buildings, a small expenditure for grading, say twenty-five dollars at each.
One of the owners of the land adjoining the lot of the Middle Street School enters complaint against the fence which separates the yard from his land. As the fence is much decayed and broken down, there appears to be reasonable cause for complaint. About seventy-five dollars would be necessary to rebuild it.
We recommend the appropriation of $200 for the above-named purposes.
N. L. WHITE, NOAH TORREY, School
S. W. HOLLIS, FISKE BARRETT, J. M. CUTTING, G. H. ARNOLD,
Committee.
Graduates of the High School, of the Class of 1878.
LIZZIE W. ARNOLD,
MARY E. BRADFORD,
NETTIE L. BURT,
MINNIE C. DANA,
SARAH S. DOCKENDORFF,
HELEN M. PRATT,
HELEN M. FARRAR,
FANNIE A. FINNEGAN,
GEORGE M. WOODMAN,
ELLA FRENCH,
GEORGE A. HOBART,
LAURA C. HOLLIS,
MARION B. POTTER,
W. AUSTIN TORREY,
ADELA FRENCH.
No. of Scholars.
Average Attendance
No. over 15 Years.
No. under 5 Years.
Length of Terms.
Wages per Month.
Summer.
Winter.
Summer.
Winter.
Summer.
Winter.
Summer.
Winter.
Summer.
Winter.
Summer.
Winter ..
High .
Martha Reed. . .. .
·S
.
66
Intermediate
Elizabeth M. Thompson . . S. Ella Torrey . .
54
49
37
34,
0
0
0
0
5
5
32
32
Rachel A. Faxon
37
50
32
42
5
3
0
0
5
5
42
42
Union Grammar .
S. Lizzie Burnham.
41
33
33
28
0
0
0
0
5
32
32
66
Intermediate.
60
48
483
41
0
0
0
0
5
5
32
32
66
Primary .
S. M. Graham.
42
37
35
30
0
0
0
0
5
5
42
42
Iron Works Grammar
40
36
37
34
0
0
0
0
5
5
32
.
·
68
58
54
52
0
0
1
0
5
5
42
42
East
Lottie E. Allen . . .
48
47
34
35
0
0
0
0
5
5
32
32
Middle .
A. M. T. Cushing
17
18
14
11
0
0
2
1
5
5
32|
32
Southeast
35
34
24
26
2
2
2
1
5
32
32
South .
19
20
14
17
0
0
1
2
5
5
32
32
Southwest .
Avis A. Thayer ..
19
20
12
15
3
2
0
3
5
32
32
West ..
Charles E. Stetson . .....
52
59
50
541
35
37
0
0
5
5
2
45
45
Pond Grammar
Mary Fennessy .
52
54
44
43
4
1
0
0
5
5
42
42
44
41
37.8
32}
0
0
0
0
5
5
32
32
Primary .
Primary . .
Victoria P. Wild .
49
48
40
39
2
1
1
0
5
32
32
Alice M. Mason.
Inez M. Rogers
32
Joanna W. Penniman
66 Intermediate ...
Mos.
Mos.
$140
$140
.
63
SCHOOLS.
TEACHERS.
Margaretta E. C. Bannon ..
Helen A. Williams .
THE
BRAINTREE
SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL :
A RECORD OF THE SERVICES IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
OF THE MEN OF BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS, WHOSE NAMES ARE INSCRIBED ON THE
BRAINTREE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT;
TOGETHER WITH
. APPENDICES CONTAINING A LIST OF BRAINTREE VOLUNTEERS IN THE UNION ARMY AND NAVY FROM 1861 TO 1865, THE PROCEEDINGS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT, JUNE 17, 1874, AND A NOTICE OF THE BRAINTREE BRANCH OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION.
PREPARED BY
GEORGE A. THAYER.
ALFRED
BOSTON: MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STREET. 1877.
THE following record was compiled to be read at the dedi- cation of the Braintree Soldiers' Monument, June 17, 1874.
The compiler has aimed to obtain the full names of the soldiers and of their parents, and to give an accurate account of the term, places, and character of their service ; but such thoroughness has, in many cases, been impossible of attain- ment.
Some of the men were only temporary residents of Brain- tree at the time of their enlistment, and left no clew to the discovery of any relatives who could furnish information concerning their careers. A very few were substitutes fur- nished by recruiting brokers of Boston. And of those who were born or long resident in the town previous to their service, it has often been difficult to procure any facts with regard to their families, or any particulars of their army life, other, than those supplied in the somewhat scanty public records.
Amid such difficulties it will not be counted strange if omissions of matters worthy of historical preservation should occur in some of the biographies, although much pains has been taken to give the fullest practicable account of each individual's military experience, and the somewhat uncertain and untrustworthy recollections of friends and comrades have, in all possible instances, been compared with and cor- rected by official documents.
The sources of material for the biographies have been the
4
records and annual reports of the adjutant-generals of Massachusetts and other States ; a considerable number of letters, diaries, and clippings from newspapers, kindly fur- nished by relatives of the men ; such regimeutal and army histories as would help determine the stations of commands - and consequently of the members of companies - at various times ; and personal conversation with companions in arms and home acquaintances of the deceased soldiers.
The names are given in the numerical order of the organi- zations of the several arms of service, beginning with the artil- lery, and following with the cavalry, the infantry, and the navy.
[NOTE. - The compiler's labors have been much facilitated by assistance from Messrs. F. A. Hobart, Samuel A. Bates, and Marcus A. Perkins. ]
SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL.
FIRST HEAVY ARTILLERY.
ELISHA PAINE GOODNOW, son of Asaph and Maria; en- listed March 3, 1862, in a company which was being recruited in Lynn for the 1st Heavy Artillery (just transformed from the 14th Infantry), and which became Co. M of that regi- ment. His service was in the fortifications about Washing- ton up to the spring of 1864. After the battle of the Wilderness, the First and several other artillery regiments were organized into a brigade, under General Tyler, and marched to the reinforcement of General Grant's army, reaching the neighborhood of Spotsylvania, on the road from Fredericksburg, on the 19th of May, just as the Con- federate General Ewell had attained the road in rear of the Union army for the seizure of its lines of communication. It was the first fight of the artillerists, but the strong bri- gade, equal in number to an average division of old soldiers, fell upon Ewell with such fury that he was speedily driven back in discomfiture. Swinton, in his "Army of the Potomac," says that " these green battalions, once under fire, displayed an audacity surpassing even the old troops." The 1st Massachusetts lost in the affair 377 men out of its 1,617. Goodnow, foremost in courage, received a shot in his left side, from the effect of which he died in the field in about two hours, and there he was buried. His watch and money, turned over to a comrade to be returned to his widowed mother, were never heard from, let it be hoped rather on ac-
6
count of some subsequent misfortune to that companion than of his intentional dishonesty. Goodnow will be remembered as a fair-faced young man, of somewhat sober look, and of up- right character and purpose. He died at the age of twenty- three.
WILLIAM HIGGINS, son of John and Ann, was born in Bel- fast, Ireland. He enlisted March 17, 1862, in Co. M, 1st Heavy Artillery, at the age of seventeen, and re-enlisted as a veteran on the 20th of March, 1864. As nearly as can be determined, he was with his regiment in its hard service in the Army of the Potomac through the early summer of 1864, was taken prisoner probably on the 22d of June at the Wel- don Railroad, when 179 of the regiment were captured, and was sent first to Andersonville, Ga., and thence to Florence, S. C., where he died in prison on the 15th of February, 1865, of malarial fever, contracted in the hideous camp of the prison pen. His age at death was twenty.
TWELFTH BATTERY.
SILAS BINNEY CRANE, son of Joseph and Eliza, was born in Braintree, June -, 1843, and first enlisted in Co. B of the 43d (nine months) Infantry, on the 11th of October, 1862, and was with the company in sundry skirmishes in North Carolina, returning home July 30, 1863. March 26, 1864, he enlisted again as a recruit for the 12th Battery, which was in the Department of the Gulf, where he served for a few weeks, being in some scouts and skirmishes, till he was attacked by the disease which terminated his life in the hospital at Port Hudson, on the 22d of June, 1864. A young man of good principle, he was held in much esteem by the acquaintance whom a natural shyness and reserve allowed him to make.
7
SECOND CAVALRY.
GEORGE FREDERICK THAYER, son of Ansel and Sarah (Arnold), was born March 29, 1837, and on the 3d of April, 1863, enlisted at San Francisco in the so-called California Battalion of Cavalry, which, being made up largely of Eastern residents on the Pacific coast who were desirous of taking some active part in the war, offered its services to Gov. Andrew, and was incorporated into the 2d Massachusetts Calvary, Colonel Lowell, which left Read- ville, Mass., on the 11th of May, 1863. He was, with his company, F, in constant service in Maryland and Virginia, near Washington, to the midsummer of 1864, being in several sharp contests with Mosby's men. On the 13th of July, 1864, he, with several comrades, was captured in a fight with a superior force of the enemy, near Rockville, Md., and was carried to Danville, Va., whence, in company with Sergeant Finley, of his regiment, he escaped, on the afternoon of Oct. 20. The narrative of his escape, which he was engaged in writing down to the time of his death, is full of exciting interest, and well exhibits the cool bravery of the man. The two comrades succeeded in removing some boards from an outhouse of the stockade, and, in imminent peril of being shot by the sentinels within and without the prison, hid in the branches of a tree near by, where they stayed until dark, with soldiers and citizens constantly pass- ing beneath their place of refuge. Under cover of the night, they took to the woods, and so marched by night and slept in the woods by day, feeding upon such scanty rations of corn, pigs, or chickens as they might gather from time to time, seldom daring to venture to a house, unless it were to the huts of those trusty friends of the Northern men, the negroes, compelled to wade swamps and creeks, and make
8
long detours through forests and fields to evade the pickets, who were guarding all the main roads and principal towns, and suffering greatly from hunger, cold, wet, and bruised feet. They had no shoes, but only some old socks for foot covering, upon his pair of which Frederick, while in prison, had secretly fastened some thin soles of knapsack leather, using for thread the ravellings from an old shelter tent, and finishing his work with such skill as he treasured from his former trade of a bootmaker. After two hundred and fifty miles of such journeying, they reached the Union Army lines at Newbern, N. C., and thence rejoined their regiment in Virginia. Frederick then received a furlough of twenty days, and visited his Braintree home. Going back to duty in the Shenandoah Valley, on the 1st of January, 1865, he engaged in the arduous cavalry campaign of Sheridan in the early spring, which was conducted through the valley nearly to Lynchburg, and thence eastward to the neighborhood of Richmond, resulting in immense damage to railroads, canals, bridges, and public property generally, and the destruction of many large tobacco warehouses. So trying was the campaign that only three horses of his company were left fit for duty at its end. With a brief rest, the regiment started on the final campaign in pursuit of Lee's army. On the 1st of April, 1865, Sheridan sent his cavalry to seize the impor- tant junction of Five Forks, where he hoped to plant his forces across the line of the enemy's retreat and bring him to bay. Frederick was in charge of some led horses in the rear, but requested to be relieved, that he might go to the front and, as he said (recalling his prison sufferings), "get even with the rebels." Thus eager for duty, he was shot through the head and carried senseless to the rear. The papers in his pocket, which would have served for identifi- cation of his body, were unfortunately taken from him to be sent home, and so his remains could not be recognized for
9
recovery. He, too, lies buried in Virginia, with only the mark (if he has even that ), " Unknown Soldier." His diary, by aid of which his career in 1865 has been followed in compiling this narrative, was kept down to the last night of his life. His twenty- ninth birthday occurred three days before his death. His officers spoke of him as a soldier of sterling character, modest and retiring, but of strong, outspoken principle. To this testimonial those who knew him in civil life will gladly bear witness.
OWEN FOX, Co. H, 2d Cavalry, of Irish birth, was an employee of the Boston Flax Mills, at East Braintree. According to the Adjutant-General's books, he enlisted Oct. 9, 1863, as a recruit, and joined his regiment (probably) Oct. 26, at Vienna, Va. The 2d Cavalry having been organ- ized by one of the most accomplished of regular army offi- cers, Colonel Charles R. Lowell, was constantly called upon for active service against the guerilla bands which infested the vicinity of Washington, and in the spring and early summer of 1864 met with considerable losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Ou the 6th of July a party of about one hundred of the regiment, under Major Forbes, were defeated in an encounter with Mosby's command, and the larger part of them killed or taken prisoners. Fox was in the engage- ment, and as in the rout the men were flying by different roads at utmost speed, his horse burst a blood-vessel in going down a precipitous descent, and pinned his rider under him. Chaplain Humphreys, from whom information concerning this affair was obtained, was close behind Fox, and with his horse leaped over him as he lay in the road. As the chaplain looked back he heard Fox shout, "I surren- der !" and saw Mosby, or one of his men, shoot at him as he galloped past. When, after a few hours' hiding in the woods, the chaplain went back to look after the wounded, he
10
found Fox shot entirely through the abdomen, and with the help of a farmer of the vicinity took him to a neighboring house, where he died at about three o'clock of the morning of the 7th. Fox said that he was shot after he had surren- dered, and was extremely indignant at the outrage. Hc spoke a good deal about his family, and died quietly. While Mr. Humphreys was digging the grave in an adjoining field, a guerilla took him prisoner, and refused him time to finish the burial. The farmer promised to complete the duty, and with this the chaplain was forced to be content. The body of Fox is not unlikely one of that multitude who lie on Arlington Heights, with the inscription, "Unknown Soldier," upon their head-boards. His age at the time of his death was about twenty-four years.
THIRD CAVALRY.
JOHN T- AYERS ; born in Maine; was a corporal of Co. C, 4th Massachusetts Militia, and served faithfully at Fortress Monroe and Newport News, from April 22 to July 22, 1861. Aug. 6, 1862, he enlisted with several other men from Braintree in a company which was first attached to the 33d Infantry, was afterwards transferred to the 41st Infantry, and eventually became Co. K, of the 3d Cavalry. His service to June of 1863 was for a time in Virginia, but with no fighting; thence, in the Department of the Gulf, where in all the duties of an infantry soldier in an unhealthy climate, with fatiguing labor of the march, the skirmish, and picket, he gained the highest confidence of his officers and the warm affection of all his companions. In June of 1863 his regiment became the 3d Cavalry, its members having previ- ously been allowed to become mounted riflemen, by providing themselves with horses from the surrounding country. On
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