A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I, Part 6

Author: Frizzell, Martha McDanolds, 1902-
Publication date: 1963
Publisher: Walpole, Walpole Historical Society
Number of Pages: 786

USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 6

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"I have a dim and hazy recollection of the last muster of our uniformed militia on the Common. I was such a small boy that one of Grandfather's men took me and carried me on his shoulder that I might better see the show, and I can remember the tall, stiff leather, brass ornamented, shakos of the riflemen, their gray trousers with a broad black stripe and bottoms protected for six or eight inches with leather, patent leather, I think.

"There were other uniforms, for at that time Walpole alone turned out, at least half a regiment, but I cannot remember them distinctly, although the 'slambang', as it was called, that is the great company in which all the ununiformed chaps marched, comes up quite distinctly. This company, as did all the others in our democratic land, chose its own officers, and always selected for the proud position of its captain a man not overstocked with brains, but with an overrunning sense of the importance of his great office and all of old Gen. Scott's tone for fuss and feathers. He alone wore a uni- form, as gorgeous as the full dress of a Central American General, and as incongruous in its make-up. He tried very strenuously to enforce that military discipline of which lie had picked up just a smattering while his soldiers strove even harder to turn the whole thing into a piece of burlesque. The young soldiers who had not quite for- gotten their boyish pranks loved to turn out in their working frocks of blue jeans which all farmers wore then, reaching below the knee. Their knapsacks were home- made of black leather or cloth, their cartridge boxes simply a chunk of plank with twenty-four augur holes bored therein. Their pan brushes, for in those days of flint locks one was quite essential, were from a cast-off shaving brush, while the bayonet on the musket was topped with a loaf of bread, an apple or any other old thing that the military taste of the owner thought appropriate. Late in the afternoon it became the

duty of the valiant captain to show his appreciation of the honor his citizen soldiery had conferred on him by treating them to unlimited punch. New England rum was very cheap and this nectar was brewed in a great washtub and set out by the roadside so the parade closed amid a Bacchanalian scene which would rather shock our twentieth century ideas. . . .

"It is worth while to remember that the old gun-house forms part of the dwelling now occupied by Mr. Elwell at the south end of the Common. The requirement of personal military service ceased about 1845. ...

"The Mexican War, 1846-48, made hardly a ripple in our quiet life. Like all New Englanders we were bitterly opposed to this war and only a straggler here and there participated in it. I remember such a one, George C. Hubbard, who used to tell Henry Wells and myself marvellous stories of Cerro Gordo and Chepultepec." (Josiah G. Bellows Reminscences)

"In the fall of 1843, at the time of the annual regimental muster, a company of soldiers called the 'saucy six' was stationed on the Common, which had been planted with shade-trees but a short time before with much care. Certain persons living out of the village ever appeared to feel jealous of the village people or any improvements they might make within its limits. Accordingly, those miscreants took this occasion, headed by their captain, to uproot and destroy every tree growing there. It was found that no legal measures could reach these vandals, and the villagers showed their indignation by hanging the captain in effigy. At the next session of the State's Legislature, through the effort of Frederick Vose, a stringent law was passed, protecting shade trees on public grounds. Never before were the citizens of the village more shocked than at this unprovoked vandalism. Subsequently in 1855-56, Benjamin B. Grant and Thomas G. Wells replanted the Common and also planted the principal streets with about 900 elms and maples, which have not been molested and are vigorously growing. . . . " (History of Cheshire County)

"In July, 1849, a charter was obtained for a savings bank in this town, which went into operation in 1850. The first President was Otis Bardwell. In 1852 David Buffum was chosen President and continued to hold the office till the bank went into liquidation, in consequence of the robbery in 1868. The deposits amounted to $108,045.58, besides $3,841.58 surplus, at the time the bank was robbed.

"In the spring of 1844, May 2d, a very high wind, accompanied with rain and sleet, prostrated some valuable timber lots in the south part of the town, blew down a number of barns, unroofed sheds, levelled wooden fences, etc., etc." (AH)

Bellows Falls Gazette:

1845: Aug. 2-New stage arrangements Boston to Burlington 34 hours Huntington & Co. line of Post Coaches leave Keene every day except Sunday on arrival of stages from Fitchburg and Nashua railroad at 5 P.M. passing through Walpole, etc. Leave Burlington every day except Sunday 3 A.M., lodge Chester. At Walpole connects with Telegraph line of stages from Brattleborough, Northampton, Springfield.

1847: May 21-Marvin & Bailey have taken manufacturing establish- ment formerly occupied by Bellows & Peck (Drewsville), to manufacture by the yard or on shares Cassimeres, Plain Cloths and flannels. Most kinds of produce taken in payment.

"On Friday night (Sept. 17, 1849) between 12 and 1 o'clock we were aroused by the alarm of fire, and found Mr. Peck's store in a blaze. ... Your house was in im- minent danger and before we were dressed your father came over with his valuable papers, which he had calmness enough to collect before unlocking his door. Friends soon arrived and, in an incredibly short time, the furniture was transferred to our premises and the house left, as everyone feared, to be burned. There was little done to save it, so little hope was there, until Mr. Titus of Keene came. He told your mother that the house could be saved if he could take the direction. They instantly cut a hole in the roof and the Knapps and Bellows worked energetically in carrying water, wetting the roof and side of the house. The new best parlor carpet was found on the roof in the morning, rather too nice a receptacle for cinders! Your mother, never taken by surprise, acted with the utmost composure, and seemed gifted with unnatural strength. Toward six o'clock the fire began to abate, after laying waste as far as Mr. Mitchell's shop; the two end walls of the stores alone standing. . .. Your fences are rather dilapidated, the neat yard filled with dirty bricks, the fruit trees more or less injured and the grass spoiled for the season. ... In the morning we found work enough for many hands, in restoring things to their accustomed places. . .. There were some ludicrous combinations and mistakes made which afforded much merriment in rectifying. For instance, will you imagine your mother's break- fast waiter all ready for morning on the bank by the Academy fence and one of your father's collars soaking in the pitcher of milk. Your mother's best bonnet crushed in the road, her dress caps jammed under a heavy drawer of china! The salt and sugar were mixed with the butter-and to cap the climax-an inkstand without a cork was carefully preserved in the carpet of the south parlor. ... The scene commenced in Mr. Peck's and the whole inside was consumed before it broke through the shutters- so that he saved nothing at all-his books he had fortunately taken home the night before. . . . Rockwood had just finished the arrangement of his goods for an auction which was to be held on Wednesday next. He saved nothing but his books and a few goods-his wardrobe was entirely consumed-Wyman was absent, also Judge Vose. George saved most of the law books and papers-and the clerks were very efficient in rescuing a large proportion of the stock of goods. I can assure you our house and yard were quite a spectacle in the morning! Mr. Stowell lost nearly everything-he is thought to be the greatest loser, and it has almost unmanned the poor creature-Mr.

Watkins also was a sufferer-Mr. Maynard moved his leathers and shoes. Miss Spar- hawk and the Mitchells moved everything. . . . " (Letter from E. S. Wells to Herbert Bellows.)

DECADE 1850-1860

At the annual town meeting in 1851 the committee for purchasing land for a cemetery, and for fencing, and laying out the same, reports they have purchased, at the estimate of impartial appraisers, the oak grove, and a strip of pasture land adjoining the old burying ground.

Cost of land 6.56 acres $ 486.995

Cost of fence and walls and steps and painting 616.04

Surveying, laying out and drawing map of same 69.60

To Mr. Farr to back boards to plan and maps 0.50

$1,173.135

J. N. Knapp, Chairman Committee

In the records for 1852 there is a list of the cemetery lots laid out at that time, with their numbers, owners and in some cases the price paid. "On completion of the cemetery a large number of the town's people gathered under the shade of the beautiful oaks in the cemetery and listened to the consecrating discourse delivered by Frederick N. Knapp, which was one of the most appropriate and chaste efforts ever made in town. Subsequently the sexton, who had charge of the grounds paid little attention to the map or the laying out, allowing the townspeople to locate their lots where fancy dictated, till there was so much irregularity that it was difficult to know where people owned lots and where they did not. In 1873 the town appointed a committee who caused a new survey to be made and a new map to be projected which enables one at a glance to find any lot desired.

The record of this decade in the HISTORY OF CHESHIRE & SULLIVAN COUNTIES begins: "This decade is void of any particular incidents that affected the people throughout the town." No account is given of the building of the railroad. Here and there through the records we find allusions such as the following: "When the Cheshire railroad was being constructed he (Jonathan Fletcher) felt afraid that he might not live to the time of its completion; but he did and stood in his doorway with dimmed eyes and streaming locks which had been silvered by the frosts of ninety-six winters and witnessed the fiery steed with a long train pass over the ground where sixty-nine years before he felled the trees to build

Howard S Andros 19.32

South from Fall Mountain

his first cabin. What must have been his musings only imagination can paint." (AH)

The charter for the Cheshire Railroad was granted by the legislature Dec. 27, 1844, to construct a railroad from any point on the south line of the state in Fitzwilliam to Rindge to the western boundary of the state in Walpole or Charlestown. On July 10, 1846, a charter was granted similarly to extend the railroad from Walpole to Windsor, Vt. Lists of persons in Walpole to whom damages were paid in connection with the building of these railroads is to be found in the office of the Secretary of State at Concord.

The original railroad bridges were covered wooden bridges. That over Cold River was replaced in 1897. At first there was no bridge across the Connecticut at the Falls and was not built until several months after completion of the railroad; replaced in 1899.

The first locomotive over the Cheshire Railroad in the fall of 1848 was run up as far as the end of the road in Westmoreland. Two four-horse teams drew it, dismantled, by the incomplete section in Walpole and set it up just over the Charlestown line. The first train ran over the line Janu- ary 1, 1849, with a trainload of excursionists from Boston to Charlestown.

That part of the railroad from the Charlestown line south to Governor's Brook was built by Dutch immigrants. They were young married couples. The women are said to have been comely, attired in their native dress; a genial, fun-loving people. Young people from Bellows Falls and the country round attended the dances which they held in their temporarily constructed huts. The old Dutchman's crossing at the north end of North Walpole took its name from these people.

The rest of the Cheshire Railroad through North Walpole was built by Irish who had brought from the old country their old antagonisms and there was considerable fighting and bloodshed. At one time one group was forced from their shanties to take refuge on Fall Mountain.

Through a misunderstanding workers were brought in from Boston to speed up the work. When they arrived work had begun on a deep sand cut in the hill where the Nims house stood 1903 (still there). When the Boston workers arrived, the Irish had come out in their best suits, coatless, sleeves rolled up; women were in their best, each with a long white stock- ing filled with cobblestones. They took their stand along the gash in the hill. "Be Jabers, the first man who strikes a blow is a dead man sure." The Boston men refused to work. Finally an agreement was reached and fifty teams started drawing away the earth, filling in the cut which ex- tended from there to Governor's Brook.

In 1851 the Sullivan Railroad secured a lease of land from Jonathan and Levi Chapin, built the "branch track" from Chapin's switch to Sullivan Railroad Bridge, a frame bridge built 1851, replaced by iron bridge about 1885.

For more detail see Histories of Rockingham; Charlestown.

DECADE 1860-1870

"Previous to 1861, the two political parties in this town had been vehement rivals for political ascendancy. The exertions annually made at the March and other elections, by both parties, to carry the town, and the amount of money expended for the purpose, became a proverb for strife and animosity. ... As there was no way to settle the dispute except at the ballot box, the Republicans felt at ease, because they were in the ascendancy in town, county, state and nation." (AH)

"Walpole village was mighty quiescent in this stirring time and en- tirely unsuspecting of the wrath to come so soon. I don't think we at all realized the situation until that April morning (Apr. 12, 1861) when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter came. The change was instantaneous and the whole north rose as one man and within a week we began, even

here, in slow going New Hampshire, to prepare the first regiment for the front. Town meetings were held and the town pledged itself to back to the bitter end the government. I remember driving to Keene with the Haywards about the first of May to attend a great union mass meeting to be held there. The recruiting for the army had already begun and the first company from Cheshire County occupied benches directly in front of the speakers' stand. This meeting was held in the square and was at- tended by some thousands of people and addressed by the Hon. James Wilson of the Harrison campaign. There was nothing military about it. The new soldiers being only distinguished from the rabble by the red caps of the Keene firemen which they had borrowed for the occasion. . . .

"Bull Run soon followed, and shortly after it, the return of the few enthusiastic youths from our midst who had borne their share, in the heat and burden of the fateful day, and in the sixty-mile march back to Washington that followed it. The north, and even Walpole, began to realize that they had tackled a pretty big job and one and all, our people bent to the task before them with that steadiness, caution, and perseverance so characteristic of their race. (Josiah G. Bellows Reminscences)

"The first town meeting that was called, when any business was transacted for war purposes, was held Oct. 9th, 1861. At that time the town voted $500 to be expended for soldiers' families. The townsmen had but little idea of the magnitude the conflict would assume, and rested quietly on the statements made by public men that the war would be closed in 'sixty days'. In the meantime the women were active in devising some means for alleviating the sufferings of the soldiers, which, practically, at this time, amounted to but little; but when the Sanitary Commission was organized their help and exertions were all-powerful in mitigating the sufferings in body and mind of the wounded and sick soldier. Many soldiers, who had heretofore enlisted had died, while others had returned home, broken down with exposure and hardship, and the novelty and excitement incident to a soldier's life had well nigh died out, which had nearly put a stop to the enlistment of volunteers." (AH 112)

"In the summer of 1862 when defeat again roused the spirit of the north, large levies of men were called for by the government and some of the young men here, determined to enlist, started to raise a company in Walpole, of three-year men. The moving spirits were my blacksmith, John J. G. Johnson and my carpenter, Ben Pierce. With the help of some friends in adjoining towns, they raised the company in due time.

"During the two or three months which this occupied, the village pre- sented some of the aspects of a garrison town. The first ten or fifteen re-

cruits made their camp on Admiral Robeson's lot on High Street but later the company moved to the Common and employed a young chap from a military school as drill master and the streets resounded with the martial music of fife and drum, while our bar-rooms rang through the night with the revelry of the about-to-be soldiers. Finally the company marched to the depot, and went to their regimental camp in Concord. I don't know that our company greatly distinguished itself although it saw pretty sharp fighting in the Shenandoah Valley, and quite a number of the boys never returned." (Josiah G. Bellows Reminiscences)

"Of the personal reminiscences of those who enlisted and participated in the late rebellion from this town, there are but few worthy of mention. There is but one, according to the Adjutant General's Report, that actually enlisted from this town, who is known to have deserted, and he was not a native citizen. Most of them returned with an honorable soldier's record.

"Lewis Hooper appears to have emulated his grandfather (Levi) in doing his duty as a soldier. He was one of the first to enlist in town, al- though his age would have saved him from military service. After serving out his first term of enlistment he came home to visit his family and friends, after which he re-enlisted as a veteran Jan. 3, 1864. He was promoted to corporal, and was killed in action, May 18, 1864. His son John B. was with his father during his whole term of service.

"Two promising young men, Wesley J. Barnett and Warren D. Fay, the former the son of John Barnett, and the latter the son of Dana Fay, citizens of the town, both enlisted Nov. 28, 1861, into the N. H. 6th Regiment. They did not live, however, long enough to see much service, for they both died of measles, in the following January, Barnett on the 14th, and Fay on the 16th.

"Another young man, Edward H. Livingstone, enlisted in the N. H. 14th, Sept. 28th, 1862, with twenty-eight others at the same time. He contracted malarial fever, while stationed at Poolsville, Md., and died there, Feb. 18th, 1863. His body was brought to Walpole and buried in the old cemetery where a suitable marble slab marks his last resting place.

"Wm. A. Barker and Benjamin Gates 2nd both died of disease, the former leaving a wife and several small children and the latter a widow. John F. Kraetzer, and three of his sons, Otis, Henry and Julius, enlisted. The father at the time was considerably past middle life. He was for a time engaged in various hospitals caring for the sick and wounded- an excellent nurse. Otis was shot, and died from his wounds, and Henry died of disease.

"Subsequent to the draft all demands made upon the town for men till the close of the war were answered by the town's furnishing money to procure men for the service. The prices paid were regulated by the law of supply and demand, ranging from $400 to $750.

"The indebtedness of the town in 1862 was $5,300; and in 1866 it was $46,000; and it is safe to say that $40,000 of this indebtedness was incurred in consequence of the war. In 1869 the town debt was funded to the amount of $36,000.

"There were one hundred and eighty-five persons credited to this town in all, volunteers and substitutes, as going into the service, of whom seventy-five were actual residents. Eight of the three-month men re- enlisted; nine died of disease; four were killed outright; eight wounded; six missing; while fifty-three of the 'substitutes' are known to have deserted, and five volunteers were discharged on account of disability.

"Hubbard B. Newton enlisted from this town into the New Hampshire 14th Regt., but, for some reason not known, he never received any bounty, nor was he credited to Walpole. He was subsequently transferred to the Ist Rhode Island Cavalry. At Mountville he was taken prisoner, in 1862, and marched to Richmond. ... He was on the march three days and three nights before arriving at the place of his destination, which was Libby Prison; he remained thirteen days, when he was paroled. After the battle of the Rapidan, on the retreat of the Union forces, he was shot in the right arm, producing a compound fracture, and taken prisoner again. He served his country three years and was honorably discharged.

"Benjamin Lawrence enlisted at the same time Newton did, and into the same regiments, but was not credited to this town. . . . At the battle of Mountville he was taken prisoner at the same time Newton was, and shared the same fate. At the battle of Aldie he was in the regiment of Col. Duffy (Duffea) who went into the fray with six hundred men and came out with twenty-seven .... In endeavoring to fight their way out Lawrence came in contact with a rebel soldier, who called upon him to surrender, and instead of obeying the rebel's command he pointed his pistol at him and made several unsuccessful efforts to fire, but his cartridge did not explode. ... Lawrence now saw it was a case of life or death with him; whereupon he flung his pistol at the soldier's head. . .. His pistol struck the pistol of the rebel and gave it an oblique cant and at the same time it exploded, the ball entering Lawrence's body in an oblique direction just above the hip. He fell from his horse and was left for dead upon the field. At night he revived and crawled to a shanty near by, where he was humanely cared for till the Union forces took him to a hospital;

but surgical aid was of no avail; the bullet could not be extracted. He recovered sufficiently to be able to return to Walpole, where he lingered till Aug. 30, 1865, when he died from the effects of the wound received." (AH)

"The late Dr. Henry W. Bellows early conceived the idea of the Sanitary Commission and went to Washington, I think, just after the un- fortunate Bull Run Campaign. On his return our people were gathered together in the town hall and he told them of his experience, not as an audience, he said, but as his friends and fellow townsmen." (Josiah G. Bellows Reminiscences)

"Dr. Bellows was President of the Sanitary Commission. Of the number who at first volunteered their services from this town was Rev. Frederick N. Knapp. Joshua B. Clark went as superintendent of the soldiers' home, Waldo F. Hayward as superintendent of supply department, Peter Reynolds went as relief agent, stationed at Washington, D. C. and at Brashear City, La. Thomas B. Peck filled the position of clerk on Sanitary claims and Dr. Geo. A. Blake was general Agent and Hospital Inspector. He is thus spoken of by the Sanitary Commission. 'In the department of the Gulf the work of the Sanitary Commission was admirably adminis- tered by Drs. Crane and Geo. A. Blake, who continued at New Orleans until the close of the war, doing most efficient service. Dr. Newbury sent down cargo after cargo of vegetable food to Dr. Blake, who distributed it among the garrisons at isolated points on the Gulf, the Red river and to posts in Texas.' " (AH)

The decade histories prior to 1870 are based primarily on George Aldrich's Walpole As It Was and As It Is (1880); from 1870 to 1962 the accounts are based on material gleaned from contemporary newspaper re- ports. Edith Cole Tiffany painstakingly reviewed the notes and added her comments for the better understanding of the material. The principal newspapers used were the Bellows Falls Times and the Keene Evening Sentinel. For a time the Walpole Gazette and the Cold River Journal were published as editions of the Claremont Advocate. They proved a good source of information while they lasted. In 1904 they were pur- chased by the Times.

Dr. George A. Blake was the local correspondent for the early part of this period. There is no question but what his reporting was flippant and far from boring. The people in town did not mind for themselves, but they were concerned about what outsiders would think of them. Reporters for small towns seemed to enjoy considerable license in those days. In 1877 Dr. Blake reported "We have had a lively winter and a fair propor-

tion of scandal". In the same column he reported "Save for an occasional fracas at North Walpole and a little domestic infelicity in the village the reporter found the field barren of news at times".

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A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I, Part 6

Author: Frizzell, Martha McDanolds, 1902- Publication date: 1963 Publisher: Walpole, Walpole Historical Society Number of Pages: 786

Author: Frizzell, Martha McDanolds, 1902-
Publication date: 1963
Publisher: Walpole, Walpole Historical Society
Number of Pages: 786