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Gc 974.2 St12h v.4 1481619
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 4022
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofnewhamp04stac_0
ICHABOD GOODWIN
HISTORY
OF
NEW HAMPSHIRE
BY EVERETT S. STACKPOLE
Author of "Old Kittery and Her Families," "History of Durham, N. H.," etc.
VOLUME IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEW YORK
-
1481619 CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. The Crisis 3
II. New Hampshire Regiments in the Civil War 15
III. Miscellaneous Organizations
45
IV. Native Sons of New Hampshire in the Civil War 57
V. Civil Affairs During the Rebellion 77
VI. After the War 99
VII. Political Affairs till 1884 I2I
VIII. Literature 14I
IX. Arts and Sciences
167
X. Jurists 183
XI. In the Newspaper World 197
XII. Other Prominent Men
213
XIII. The Churches of the Nineteenth Century 229
XIV. Temperance Reform 251
XV. The Capital 261
XVI. The Vacation State 303
XVII. The New Hampshire of the Future
315
Appendix A-Gleanings from Court Files
333
Appendix B-The Present Constitution of New Hampshire. 345
Index of Subjects and Places
367
Index of Names
370
Chapter I THE CRISIS
Chapter I THE CRISIS
Magnitude of the Civil War-Slavery Its Principal Cause-The Republican Party Wins the Election-The Moral Forces of the North United- New Hampshire ably Represented in Congress-Gov. Ichabod Goodwin- Slavery Condemned by Governor and Legislature-Fall of Fort Sumter -Call for 75,000 Soldiers-Emergency Fund-Recruiting Stations- Col. Joseph C. Abbott-Secretary Thomas L. Tullock.
L OOKING back over the past from our present point of view, in the midst of the European war, the conflict waged between North and South in the early sixties does not loom so greatly in memory as it did then in excited imagination. At the beginning it was thought by both parties to the strife that it would be an affair of three months or so, and soldiers enlisted for that short term of service. Before a year had past the nation realized that Greek had met Greek, that Anglo-Saxon was in the death struggle with Anglo-Saxon, and that neither would yield till strength was all gone. Then it was called the greatest war that was ever fought, considering the length of the battle line, from Virginia to Texas, the number of troops engaged, the frightful losses, and the dura- tion of the fight. In the northern army there were enrolled 2,688,523 men, of which number a million and a half were in actual battle. Those who fell upon the battlefield numbered 56,000, while 35,000 more died of wounds in hospitals and 184,000 more died of disease and perished in rebel prisons, making a total of 300,000 who sacrificed their lives to preserve the Union. Those statistics once overwhelmed the imagination. The cost in money ran up into the billions and made the promises to pay of the United States worth only about a third of their face value.
It was a great war in the imagination of the North. Its carnage and devastation were realized only where the battles went on. The people of New Hampshire in common with most northern states read newspaper reports and then tried in fancy to picture the scenes. It was impossible to do so fully. Life went on in the same old rounds of gaiety and hustling business. Times were
3
4
NEW HAMPSHIRE
good ; the price of labor went higher ; many got rich in manufactur- ing munitions and supplies; the pinch of poverty was not felt; the destruction of property was not seen. About the only forcible reminder that we were engaged in a terrible war came with the news that some relative or acquaintance had been killed, wounded, or sent to a southern prison; yet even then the community scarcely interrupted its dance and amusement. We were always expecting and determined to win.
Since then we have read of greater battles, with more powerful engines of destruction, with sickening heaps of slain and mutilated, with destruction of cities and vast extent of territory. Three million lives are sacrificed in a single year. Great armies are wiped out in a single battle. Beastly atrocities are heralded around the world, and we say that it is a great and terrible war, greater numerically, financially, and in casualities than our Civil War. Imagination fails to paint the present picture along side of the scenes held in memory. Both are hazy and indistinct to the non- combatants afar off.
The greatness of an event or series of events is measured by the outcome. The American Revolution and the Civil War were great conflicts; the War of 1812 and the Spanish-American War were small affairs that ought never to have been and that accom- plished but little. In the former cases the issues involved were the creation and the preservation of a free nation. The moral victories gained make those wars to bulk large in history. There was some- thing worth fighting and dying for; the gain outbalanced the sacrifice. Even now the destinies of many nations, the freedom of the masses, a Christian civilization are being weighed in the balance, and the war is therefore great; terrible yet magnificent ; wicked yet holy; frightful yet the harbinger of a greater and more enduring peace. By pains and penalties mankind learn their lessons. There seems to be no path to progress except through loss and suffering. We have not yet tamed the beasts of greed, selfish ambition, love of conquest and delight in killing. When will the nations learn war no more? Not till freedom is the acknowledged right of all and love sways the counsels of statesmen.
Slaveholders had threatened the war and abolitionists had fore- told it. Compromise after compromise had been made to avoid it, the North always yielding something to the demands of the South.
5
A HISTORY
The southerners said they were contending for State Rights; the people of the North said they were fighting to preserve the Union. All the time the real bone of contention was, whether slavery should be extended or restricted, whether it should be perpetuated or in some way cease to be throughout the nation. It became more and more apparent that slave states could not exist along side of free states in peace and harmony; their peculiar interests were con- tinually in conflict. It was an economic as well as a moral question. The dominant race in the South was prosperous because of slavery ; they thought that their plantations could not be made profitable without slaves. The North was prosperous through the manufac- tories by reason of free labor, and skilled workmen could be obtained only from the ranks of freemen. Manual labor under the direction of educated brains was an honor in the North; it was unknown in the South, where to work with the hands was menial service. The habit and air of command, to which the whites of the South were accustomed, affronted the free spirit of the North. Angry words often resounded in the halls of congress, and senators came to blows and duels. Meanwhile, the Abolitionists, the Free Soilers, the Liberty Party, the Republicans were becoming more numerous in the North, whittling down Democratic majorities and uniting the friends of human liberty.
The triumph of the Republican party, with Lincoln and Ham- lin at its head, brought the nation to its great crisis. Of three hundred and three electoral votes they received one hundred and eighty, while Breckenridge and Lane, the leaders of the southern party, had seventy-two votes; Bell and Everett, thirty-nine votes; and Douglas and Johnson only twelve votes. Great was the political excitement at the time of the election. The great debates between Lincoln and Douglas had set everybody thinking and talking. Men voted ominously; they foresaw the effects of their ballots. About the four party tickets clustered the timid and the bold, the compro- misers and the resolute. All through the North voters were com- pelled by public opinion to take sides, to fling out their colors. The Democratic party began to divide into sympathizers with the South and War-Democrats. The former soon came to be called "Copper- heads," and some of them endured the hatred and molestation that had been heartily accorded to the tories in the time of the Revolu- tion. Then the word Democrat throughout the North became a
6
NEW HAMPSHIRE
term of reproach, since the War-Democrats soon became Repub- licans, after the fighting began. Nearly all were Republicans who stood for the Union and human liberty. The moral forces of the North were at last united. Once more the pulpits spoke out with prophetic vigor. The abolitionists began to see the fulfillment of their dreams. Whittier sent forth Massachusetts' challenge to Virginia. Julia Ward Howe published the Battle-Hymn of the Republic. The air was full of martial music and songs of Liberty and Union forever. A great and terrible war had begun, but it was also a glorious and triumphant war. It was no retrograde movement toward the dark ages; it was rather a sweeping advance toward the light of the millenium. The moral element that entered so powerfully into the conflict is what united the North and made ultimate victory sure. The soul of John Brown was marching on.
New Hampshire was ably and loyally represented by its political leaders. In the United States senate were John P. Hale and Daniel Clark, supported by other natives of the Granite State, such as William Pitt Fessenden, Salmon P. Chase, Henry Wilson, James W. Grimes and Zachariah Chandler. In the lower branch of congress were Harry Hibbard, George W. Morrison, Aaron H. Cragin, Mason W. Tappan and Gilman Marston. No State was more ably represented in congress. In the executive chair of the State sat Governor Ichabod Goodwin. He was elected in 1859 as a Republican by a vote of 36,326, about four thousand more than his Democratic competitor, Asa P. Cate, had. The following year Governor Goodwin was re-elected by a slightly increased majority over the same opposing candidate. He was the oldest son of Samuel and Nancy (Gerrish) Goodwin, born at North Berwick, Maine, October 10, 1796. With an education received at South Berwick Academy he entered the counting-house of Samuel Lord of Portsmouth, who was related by marriage. Soon he was super- cango and then master as well of a vessel, and in maritime business he continued for ten years. In 1832 he established himself as a merchant in Portsmouth, and business prosperity attended him. He was president of two railroads for twenty-four years, and also of the First National Bank. As a Whig he served in the lower branch of the State legislature six terms between 1838 and 1856, and was the last candidate of the Whig party for governor receiving only about two thousand votes. He died in Portsmouth, July 4, 1882.
7
A HISTORY
His youngest daughter, Susan Boardman, married Admiral Dewey.
The position of New Hampshire as affected by the main politi- cal issue before the nation is well set forth in the first message of Governor Goodwin :
New Hampshire is an integral part of the nation; one of the original thirteen of this now multiplied confederacy of independent States. She adheres, she always has adhered, and she always will adhere to the Union and the Constitution. She does not stop to calculate their value; for her that problem is already and forever solved; that question finally adjudicated. She says, they shall be preserved. I believe I speak the sentiment of the great mass of her people, when I say that New Hampshire knows no patriotism that is bounded by State lines or sectional limits. All such pretended patriotism, whether appearing in New England or in Carolina, she repudiates us at once factious, and endangering the permanency of our republic. Whatever State, or section, or party, in this country adopts the doctrine of nullification, or the scheme of disunion, does by that very act acknowledge its inherent weakness and the utter hopelessness of its political aims.
But while New Hampshire cheerfully recognizes the rights of all other States, she will firmly maintain her own; while she will never encroach upon the rights of the South, she will be the last to surrender those of the North; while she will never meddle with the domestic institutions of her sister States, she is bound to prevent the extension of the curse of slavery, as of any other great political and social evil, over territory now free, belonging to and under the control of the United States; bound by the broadest and highest patriotism, by her very attachment to the Consti- tution and the Union, to prevent it; bound to prevent it by all the power and influence she has under the Constitution, in controlling the legislation of Congress and the administration of the federal government.
This part of the governor's message called forth a joint resolu- tion from the legislature, that is a distinct advance upon anything previously declared on the subject of slavery by the government of New Hampshire. They said that the institution of domestic slavery "violates the first principles of justice; is a fruitful source of domestic discord and an element of national weakness, trampling under foot not only the rights of the slave, but endangering the liberties of freemen; that it is anti-Republican, at war with the interests of free labor, upon which the growth, development and prosperity of our country mainly depends." They then condemn the decision of the United States supreme court in the Dred Scott case; "the people of New Hampshire reject and abhor the doctrine therein contained, that the Constitution authorizes man to hold
8
NEW HAMPSHIRE
property in man." Any action on the part of government or people, conniving at the horrid and inhuman slave traffic would justly subject the government and citizens of the United States "to the reproach and execration of all civilized and Christian people." The administration of President Buchanan and of his predeces- sor in office came in for their proper share of disapproval as "tending to a centralized despotism."
The message of Governor Goodwin in 1860 only reiterates in a few lines the position taken the preceding year, and national affairs provoked no action by the legislature. But near the end of his administration came a turn in national events that was feared, if not expected. On the fourteenth of April, 1861, it being a Sunday, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, com- manded by Major Robert Anderson, surrendered after a bombard- ment from shore batteries and Fort Moultrie for two days. There were but seventy men in the fort; fifty cannon were riddling its walls; and provisions were exhausted. The news flew throughout the nation, accompanied by President Lincoln's proclamation, made on the following day, calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve three months. The quota asked of New Hampshire was one regiment of seven hundred and eighty men. At the same time congress was asked to convene on the fourth day of the following July. The proclamation shows how little were known the plans and determination of the southern leaders. It was thought that a mere handful of raw militia would overawe the secessionists and that there would be no war. The North responded as the patriots of the Revolution answered the call of Lexington. In two days after the proclamation four hundred Pennsylvania troops had marched to Washington. The next day the sixth Massachusetts' regiment marched through Baltimore, and again the North was thrilled and aroused by the attack of an armed mob, wherein some on both sides were slain. In this attack was killed Luther Crawford Ladd, who was born in Alexandria, New Hampshire, December 22, 1843. The news received of the fall of Fort Sumter reached New Hamp- shire while people were engaged in public worship. The next day mass meetings were held and recruiting offices were opened immedi- ately. Volunteers poured in from all ranks of society to the number of over two thousand. The militia system of New Hampshire had fallen into decay, and nothing remained of it except a few volun-
9
A HISTORY
tary companies and the "Governor's Horse Guards," a regiment of cavalry organized in 1860 more for show than for service, whose only duty was to dress in gay uniforms and escort the governor on public occasions. Joseph C. Abbott was then Adjutant-General and he issued enlistment papers for twenty-eight places, calling for volunteers between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. They were uniformed, armed and equipped at the expense of the State, and their pay was to be the same as of men of corresponding rank in the army of the United States, eleven dollars per month for privates.
No money had been voted for such an emergency. Banks and private citizens became surety to the governor to the amount of $680,000. Of this amount only $100,000 were needed to organize, equip and dispatch two regiments to Washington. When the legis- lature convened in June, the expense was readily assumed by the State, not, however, without opposition on the part of the Demo- crats led by Harry Bingham. His recorded protest was signed by ninety-one members of the House.1 They could not, or would not, see that the pressing emergency admitted no delay and demanded unusual action. They saw instead, or affected to see, a dangerous precedent. The Governor and his Council were assuming despotic power. They were spending the money of the State without due authorization. They had not given a sufficient account of "the nature, extent, validity and equity" of expenditures for raising and equipping troops. The power that belonged constitutionally to the representatives of the people had been taken from them and sur- rendered to the executive branch of the government, whose action was in a measure sealed from the eyes of the people. Who knows for what purpose the money had been, or will be, expended? Per- haps the war may be waged for "conquest, subjugation, national consolidation, and the extinguishment of State sovereignties," to which the protestants were unalterably opposed. The bill, in their judgment, contained "loose, irresponsible and extravagant" provi- sions. The Democratic party had always advocated the maintenance of the Union and desired still to prevent disruption, but this bill might mean "the desolation of Southern homes, the overthrow of Southern institutions, and the destruction of our own race there." The protest contains many good words and phrases, with a profes- sion of loyalty and patriotism, but it was a partisan measure, to
1 Journal of the House, 1861, pp. 205-9.
IO
NEW HAMPSHIRE
oppose the Republicans, to put obstacles in the way of crushing the rebellion, and to extend to the South aid and sympathy. The only conclusion south of Mason and Dixon's line would naturally be, that the North was divided into opposing factions. No such protest to Southern action could have been permitted there. The action of Governor Goodwin was quite in contrast with that of the governors of Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware, who responded to President Lincoln's call with decided opposition or evasion and delay.
Between the 17th and the 30th of April the advance guard was mustered at "Camp Union" in Concord, upon the fair-grounds of the Merrimack County Agricultural Society. A list of the recruiting stations, with the men in charge and the number of enlistments, is of special interest and worthy of perpetual record :
Towns
Enlisting Officers
No. of Men
Concord
E. E. Sturtevant
223
Salem
J. D. Drew
62
Bradford
M. W. Tappan
IO
Portsmouth
W. O. Sides
37
Dover
G. W. Colbath
230
Manchester
J. L. Kelley
135
Newport
L. McL. Barton
40
New London
A. J. Sargent
12
Lancaster
I. S. M. Gove
62
Laconia
W. H. Wyman
60
Claremont
W. P. Austin
81
Conway
Joshua Chapman
23
Hampton
C. F. Dunbar
53
Peterborough
E. Weston
75
Littleton
W. H. Rowell
56
Plymouth
J. H. Thompson
13
Keene
H. C. Handerson
130
West Lebanon
F. Comings
35
Contoocookville
J. N. Patterson
43
Nashua
J. O. Greenleaf
73
North Stratford
S. E. Chase
18
Exeter
C. H. Bell
53
Niagara Company
A. S. Edgerly
77
Abbott Guards
W. H. D. Cochrane
78
Cheshire Light Guards
T. A. Barker
77
Mechanics' Phalanx
J. N. Bruce
77
Granite State Guards
Ichabod Pearl
77
Milford Company
George Gillis
94
Whole number
2004
II
A HISTORY
So many volunteers offered themselves that it was thought best to organize two regiments of seven hundred and eighty officers and men each. Therefore some of the companies and squads that came into Concord from various parts of the State were sent to Portsmouth for the purpose of guarding Fort Constitution, whose defense was considered of very great importance for the protection of Portsmouth harbor and the seacoast. Perhaps the reason why only thirty-seven men are reported from Portsmouth in the list given above is that the need of all the men they could get was felt at home. Brigadier-General George Stark, of Nashua, was sent to take charge of the enlisted men at that city and to organize the second regiment. The camp at Portsmouth was called "Camp Con- stitution." Soon orders were received from the War Department at Washington to organize a second regiment of ten hundred and forty-six officers and men, enlisted for three years or for the war. Of the men who had already enlisted for three months, four hundred and ninety-six at once re-enlisted for three years, or during the war. They were allowed furloughs of from three to six days, to enable them to make arrangements for so long an absence from home. Before the end of May other enlistments were enough to make up the prescribed number for the second regiment. They came principally from the southern half of the State. All expected that there would be no actual fighting, and that they would soon return to their homes. After a month of drill in Concord the first regiment took train, May 25, 1861, and proceeded to Washington.
The man who did much to organize the first volunteers was Joseph C. Abbott. He was the son of Aaron Abbott, whose ances- tor was among the very first settlers of Concord, and was born there July 15, 1825. After graduating at Phillips Academy, An- dover, he studied law at Concord and was admitted to the bar in 1852. For a time he edited the Daily American, of Manchester, and the New Hampshire Statesman, of Concord. In 1859 he became one of the editors and proprietors of the Boston Atlas and Bee. In politics he was affiliated with the Whig and with the American parties. He served on the commission for adjusting the boundary between New Hampshire and Canada. In 1856 he was appointed adjutant-general of the State militia and held that office at the outbreak of the Civil War. He drafted a law which re-organized the militia. He was commissioned Lieut .- Colonel and later Colonel
12
NEW HAMPSHIRE
of the seventh New Hampshire regiment, which he organized. After one year of service he was brevetted brigadier-general and given command of a brigade. After the war he removed to Wil- mington, North Carolina, where with others he purchased timber- land and engaged in business. He was a member of the North Carolina constitutional convention, a member of the state legislature and served as United States senator, 1868-71, to fill out an unex- pired term. He was appointed a port collector by President Grant and inspector of ports by President Hayes. He died in Wilmington, North Carolina, October 8, 1882, respected as a man of ability and noble character, acting his part well in the varied positions that he filled.
Another man who aided Governor Goodwin greatly in getting the first volunteers equipped was Thomas L. Tullock, Secretary of State at that time. He was born in Portsmouth, February II, 1820. For four years he was postmaster of that city. After serving three years as Secretary of State, 1858-61, he was appointed navy agent, to purchase material for the construction of ships of war at the navy yard in Portsmouth harbor, where several thousand workmen were employed, a score of vessels were built for the United States navy, and as many more refitted. Among them was the Kearsage, that sank the Alabama. The number of workmen at the navy yard in 1861 had been reduced to one hundred; before the year ended it was increased to eighteen hundred.
Mr. Tullock later became collector of internal revenue for the District of Columbia and postmaster of Washington. He died June 20, 1883. He was "instrumental in forming the nucleus of the very perfect collection of portraits of governors and statesmen which adorn the State House" at Concord.
Chapter II NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR
Chapter II
NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR The First Regiment-Officers and Promotions-Return of the Regiment- Raid on the Office of the Democratic Standard-Rendezvous of the Second Regiment at Camp Constitution, Portsmouth-Col. Gilman Marston-Col. Edward L. Bailey-Battles and Losses of this Regi- ment-Harriet P. Dame, the Army Nurse-Third Regiment-Col. Enoch Q. Fellows-Col. John H. Jackson-Gen. John Bedel-The Regiment Engaged in Thirty Battles-Fourth Regiment Recruited at Manchester -Col. Thomas J. Whipple-Col. Louis Bell-Losses of the Regiment- Prominent Officers of the Fourth-The "Fighting Fifth"-Col. Edward E. Cross-Major Edward E. Sturtevant-Col. Charles E. Hapgood- Gen. George W. Ballock-The Sixth at Keene-Col. Phin P. Bixby- Lt .- Col. Henry H. Pearson-The Seventh at Manchester-Col. Haldi- mand S. Putnam-Lt .- Col. Thomas A. Henderson-Major Daniel Smith -Camp Currier at Manchester-Hawkes Fearing, Colonel of the Eighth -Lt .- Col. Oliver W. Lull-The Ninth at Concord-Col. Herbert B. Titus-Lt .- Col. George H. Chandler-Col. John H. Babbitt-Fortunes of the Tenth-Gen. Michael T. Donahoe-Irish in the Civil War- Col. Walter Harriman of the Eleventh-Lt .- Col. Moses N. Collins- Major Evarts W. Farr-Losses of the Twelfth-Col. Joseph H. Potter -Col. Aaron F. Stevens of the Thirteenth-Col. Robert Wilson of the Fourteenth-Col. John W. Kingman of the Fifteenth-Rev. James Pike, Colonel of the Sixteenth-Col. Henry O. Kent of the Seventeenth -The Eighteenth and Col. Charles H. Bell.
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