USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Hanover > A history of the town of Hanover, N.H. > Part 18
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There was also kept on the College Plain for many years an old iron gun, without a carriage, understood to have been a ship's gun, sent here as a trophy of some action of the Revolution in which our companies participated. One tradition connected it with the Battle of Bennington, but that can hardly have been possible, in view of the character of the gun. It was kept in a long, low shed, part of which until recently stood in the rear and a little to the south of the Tontine, and was in occasional requisition to fire salutes, and to make a concussion for the purpose of bringing to the surface the bodies of those who had been drowned. It was finally burst on the river bank in a case of the latter kind about 1873, when persons standing on the bridge narrowly escaped
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injury, one, at least, being struck by a flying piece but not much hurt. This gun for years was the object of great rivalry between the people of Hanover and Norwich, and was repeatedly stolen and as often recovered. Once it was buried in a field on the other side of the river, which was immediately plowed and sowed, but the pursuers had suspicions raised by seeing a man harrowing at an unusual season, and returning at night found the gun and carried it off in triumph. Once at least it was flung into the river at the bridge and recovered by one diving to it with a rope. It was spiked so many times that its vent was enormously enlarged and very dangerous to manipulate. Owing to this, and to carelessness in loading too hastily, a premature discharge, July 4, 1851, killed one man, named Kimball, and severely wounded two others, who were firing a salute with it on the Green.
Among the students of the College, though they were exempted by the Act of 1786 from compulsory service, the military spirit was not extinguished. We find a petition of Rufus Graves, a member of the senior class, to the General Court, January 6, 1791, on behalf of the students of the College, stating
"That they are desirous to improve their hours of relaxation from study in the manual and other military exercises, and have obtained the approval of the authority of the College for that purpose; that a number of stands of arms are necessary in order to effectuate said object; that they are informed the State is possessed of such arms for which they have no present use."
He asked the use of one hundred and thirty stands. President Wheelock added official commendation and on the 11th it was voted that the President of the State order the commissary general to deliver to Graves one hundred and thirty stands of arms with bayonets, and an equal number of cartouch boxes and belts, for the use of the students, the President of the College giving bond to the commissary general in the sum of £300 for their preserva- tion and return.1
The College authorities soon saw reason to repent that they had countenanced the arrangement, and in August, 1792, the Trus- tees expressed the opinion that the military exercises operated injuriously to habits of study, and directed, in case of any trouble regarding them, that the arms should be forthwith returned. At the same time they recognized some good in them by giving to George W. Kirkland of the graduating class "an honorable testi- monial for his service in the military line." The evils, however, predominated, since in August of 1794 we find the Board direct- 1 H. J. Jan. 11, 1791, p. 19.
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ing the surrender of the arms and the cancellation of the bond given for them, but notwithstanding all, the arms still remained in Hanover till called for by a resolution of the Legislature Decem- ber 16, 1812.
Of the organization of the students' company during this period there is no record, nor any tradition that can be found. We should infer that Graves was the first commanding officer, that he was succeeded by Kirkland, and that certain disorders prevailed that were not unusual in connection with all militia organizations down to a much later period.
We hear no more of military drill among the students until 1817, when their unprecedented claim to the right of suffrage, and their exercise of it, drew attention to them and led to their being warned out to the regular trainings, though they were still exempted by the laws.1 In consequence of this a company was again formed among the students. The first glimpse which we get of it is in the Gazette of October 6, 1819, which mentions that the "Dartmouth Infantry, composed of students of the College, made their first appearance last Thursday on parade preparatory to the regimental review which takes place on Monday next. It is commanded by Capt. Robinson. Their appearance was neat and martial. They performed their various evolutions with much accuracy and precision, and will make a handsome addition to the regiment to which they are attached."
Their captain was Thaddeus Polaski Robinson, a member of the class of 1820, a fine looking man, a good scholar and a born leader. He came from Gilmanton Academy, where he had already had some experience in the same line, and organized this company, which was indeed a very fine one, but it led to bad habits among the students and became distasteful to the faculty. It came to an end in 1820 with an explosion caused by Captain Robinson's keeping his men one evening on parade in front of the Chapel until the last stroke of the bell for prayers, and then marching them in military order to their seats and out in like manner at the close of the exercise. This brought an order from the faculty disbanding the company, and Robinson left college.2
In June, 1820, the students presented to the Legislature a petition regarding their right of suffrage, but its consideration was postponed to the next session. The exemption of masters
1 First Half Century of Dartmouth College, by Nathan Crosby, p. 47.
2 He was afterward a lawyer in Wheeling, Va., where he died of cholera in 1832. His degree was conferred in 1821 as of 1820, by vote of the Trustees in 1820.
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of arts from military duty came to an end, with that of elders and deacons of churches, by the Act of December 30, 1803, but notwithstanding these agitations students retained their privilege thirty years longer. The Act of January 3, 1829, withdrew exemp- tion from graduate students by limiting it to four undergraduate classes by name. In 1832 the State of New Hampshire was thoroughly Democratic, but the Whig majority at the College was large and as the students were voters in Hanover, Captain Ebenezer Symmes, a tavern keeper in Hanover, who was a mem- ber of the Legislature for that year and politically unfriendly to the College, succeeded in securing the passage of a law, January 3, 1833, that repealed the general exemption from military serv- ice of students more than twenty-one years of age, with the proviso that an individual student might nevertheless obtain exemption, year by year, by filing a timely renunciation of his right to vote at the annual town meeting.
The increase of obligations brought with it an enlarged sense of privileges and the students, relying on their numbers, became obnoxious at the local polls. In 1836, 1837 and 1839 they outvoted the citizens of the village at the school meeting and took possession of the district, as is elsewhere told, though it is fair to add that they used their power with discretion and managed the schools well. In June, 1838, there was once more presented to the General Court a petition, written by William H. Duncan and signed by John Durkee and nineteen others, all Democrats, and all but two residents of the eastern part of the town, setting forth the annual "perplexity" caused by the students' claim to vote, and the abuse likely to result from their having two places of residence, being still in the eye of the law "unemancipated" from their parents. Notwithstanding the annoyance to which the village people had been subjected in the school district, none of them except Jabez A. Douglass and John S. Cram were found to appear against the students, and Colonel Brewster, one of the members from Han- over, heartily espoused their cause. A bill to exclude them from the Hanover polls was introduced into the Senate in 1838, and became a law July 4, 1839, in spite of a spirited opposition. In the House there were 96 nays to 135 yeas, both Hanover members, though Democrats, voting against it. Forty-three members recorded their protest against the measure as class legislation and an unconstitutional interference with private rights and with judi- cial prerogative. Among the signers were Ira Perley, G. W. Nesmith, H. A. Bellows, C. H. Atherton and William Kent.
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The students resented the law and hung in effigy the author of the measure, Senator Quincy of Rumney, and also made an unpleasant communication to him, that brought complaint to the College authorities and discipline to the offenders, which was, how- ever, taken off upon satisfactory apologies.
The law was entitled "An Act relating to students at literary institutions" and provided that "in all cases where individuals shall leave their home to attend an Academy, College or other literary institution in this State for the purpose of obtaining an education, that absence for such purpose shall not constitute a change of residence so as to cause them to be liable to be taxed or do military duty or to be entitled to vote where such academy, &c. is situated," that such persons should retain their privileges and liabilities at their places of previous residence. But there was an exception in favor of persons "who shall have during the time of obtaining such education removed to said town or place to take up their permanent residence therein," which unsettled the matter anew and opened the door again almost as wide as before.
The law remained substantially the same until July 9, 1856, when it was repealed, leaving students on the same footing as others. The General Statutes of 1867 undertook to re-enact the provisions of the Act of 1839, but by some oversight limited its operation to the matter of taxation. The Act of July 14, 1871 restored the old law by adding the restriction to the right of vot- ing ; the next year, July 3, 1872, the whole was again repealed ; re-enacted June 26, 1874, and July 12, 1876 again repealed. Students therefore stood precisely as other people, and in order to vote must show themselves bona fide residents of the town.
But to return to the effect of the Act of 1833. Under it the students who voted entered the military companies of the town and were "warned to appear" at the May training and the fall muster at the parade ground in East Hanover. They appeared at the muster dressed in every conceivable costume, some with one boot blacked and the other whitened, and with a miscellaneous lot of arms and equipment gathered from all sources. The captain was Ulysses Dow, and when he gave an order the students would rush up to him to ask what he meant. When he tried to line them up they broke away at his command and pushed into a field. When he tried to place them in ranks with others, they trod on others' toes or complained that they were trodden on. Nor did they for- get Symmes, the author of the act, and in one of their parades they carried a banner with a rude portrait labeled "Symmes," the
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devil holding him by the nose and prodding him with a pitchfork.
This state of things was unendurable and by an amendment to the militia law of the State, approved July 5, 1834, the students of the College liable to military duty were constituted a distinct company to be known as the Dartmouth College Phalanx, and attached to the Twenty-third Regiment ; to be uniformed, armed and officered in the same manner as other companies of light infantry, and under the same liabilities. Military duty was by the act made obligatory on the students, but an option was given them to serve in the College company or in those of their respec- tive towns, according to individual preference. At a meeting held on the 26th of the same month the students' company was organized under the command of Horace G. Hutchins of the class of 1835, with seventy-one enlisted members. It held its first parade, warned in due form, in the College yard October 3, and on the 9th joined in a regimental inspection and review at Lebanon at 7 o'clock in the morning.
The organization was maintained with a good degree of regu- larity for ten years. Besides its ordinary and frequent drills, the company had, semi-annually, formal parades in the College yard or on the Green, preparatory to the spring training and the fall muster. Notwithstanding some bickerings their number kept up, rising in 1839 to almost a hundred, and great interest was taken in making a soldierly appearance. In April, 1837, nine members availed themselves of the privilege of transfer to one of the town companies, and the next year twenty-two, all belonging to the junior class, were detached in like manner by the order of the regimental field officers. The annual election of officers was held in March. Fines were collected by due process of law, in one case that is recorded by distress and sale of some of the delin- quent's books. In 1838 the company voted to appropriate the ration allowance for music, and so far relaxed the simplicity of their discipline as to ride in carriages to the muster at Lebanon at six A. M.
At the semi-annual parade about the first of May, 1842, the company appeared in a new and striking uniform of "black dress coat, buttoned high in front and showing a black stock and no collar, and each with a broad white leathern belt with cartridge box and canteen, white pantaloons, boots polished and shining, black silk hat with small black cockade, the non-commissioned officers being adorned with swords and red sashes. The captain, ensign and lieutenant wore a neat and somewhat ambitious uni-
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form of dark green cloth, coat simply trimmed with gold braid, buttons and epaulets, cocked hat and white ostrich plumes. These uniforms were handed down from class to class, carefully pre- served and made to fit each successive trio, often with much ingenuity and with help from the village tailor."1
By subscription among the students the company was furnished with a banner of heavy dark blue silk, which had an embroidered border of gold and silver leaf, with silver fringe and tassels, and also had on one side a painting of the goddess of liberty and on the other the Dartmouth arms and motto Gaudet tentamine virtus. The banner was formally presented to the Phalanx on the Green in the presence of the student body with an historical address by B. F. Flanders of the senior class.2 The company appeared in its glory a few days later at a memorial service in honor of President Harrison. It was indeed a fine company and its members took great pride in its soldierly appearance and thorough drill, for which it was in high repute and held the position of honor in the regiment. Besides the semi-annual trainings and muster, it was in frequent demand as escort on public occa- sions, here and elsewhere. At the annual muster in September, 1842, under Captain Guppy, the company was commended as hardly to be surpassed in its performances by any volunteer corps in the country. It was also commended in the following summer as "one of the best, if not the very best, of the volunteer com- panies in the State."3
The company came at last to be the occasion of too much con- viviality, and was obliged to disband in 1845 because of a special indulgence of this kind at a parade at Norwich, in which it took part at the invitation of Captain Partridge of the Norwich Uni- versity. An attempt was made to rehabilitate the company in Sep- tember, 1848. Ninety-seven members were enrolled, officers were chosen and a day's parade was enjoyed during that term, but as the company had no muskets or accoutrements the interest died quickly out and in the following spring the company finally dis- banded.4
1 Statement of Dr. J. W. Barstow of the class of 1846, a member of the Phalanx, who gave a very interesting account of the Phalanx in The Dart- mouth for May 8 and May 15, 1894, pp. 438-444 and 456-463.
2 The Dartmouth, May 1842, p. 240.
3 The Dartmouth, Oct. 1842, p. 80; Ibid, May 1843, p. 240.
4 Several military companies were formed at later times among the students of the College, but none that had any connection with the militia of the State. One of these was organized by the class of 1859 in its junior year and called the "Dartmouth Grays" from the color of its uniform, but it did not survive the graduation of the class. It secured the disused muskets of a disbanded
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The citizens' companies were at different times variously num- bered and uniformed. As the militia system lost favor less care was taken, the performance of military duty came to be very per- functory and uniforms were neglected. The companies pre- sented a ragged and motley crowd, bent mainly on a spree, and were dubbed with various names of ridicule, such as "Flood- wood," "String Bead" and "String Bean." In the autumn of 1843 there was a revival of interest, which lasted six or seven years, and two new companies were organized by voluntary enlistment among the better part of the community, that on the College Plain under the name of "Invincibles" and that in East Hanover under the name of the "Granite Guards." The Invincibles were uni- formed, strangely enough, in black frock coats and black panta- loons and black silk hats. A flag was made for the Granite Guards by the ladies of East Hanover and was presented with a speech by Celestia Chandler. The remnant of the old Floodwood com- pany continued as a separate organization, as before, but without uniform or discipline. The local paper of the time, with a charm- ingly ironical account of the fall muster, throws light on the character of the company and the exercises.1
"On Saturday, September 16, 1843 the 23rd regiment mustered on the College Common. There was perhaps less than the usual amount of dissi- pation and disorder common on such occasions and the military made quite as martial an appearance, we venture to say, as any other regiment of the N. H. Militia. Some of the spectators were so irreverent as to laugh at the soldiers for those very excellencies which constitute the peculiar glory of a citizen soldiery. Many of the sections were twisted into all manner of graceful and ungraceful curves, and notwithstanding the most laborious exertions of the officers, pushing them back from before and pricking up the tardy from behind, could not and would not be straightened. . . . There was a graceful 'ease and carelessness in all their movements, which was peculiarly grateful to the eyes of a democrat."
militia company of the town and under the direction of Benjamin H. Steele of the class of 1857, who had studied tactics at Norwich University, had almost daily drill. It took great pride in a banner of blue silk (still preserved in the library of the College), presented to it by the "Sherman nuns" (members of Mrs. Sherman's boarding school), and carrying the motto, post proelia praemia. The captain of the company was Fisher A. Baker, afterward Lieutenant Colonel of the 18th regiment of Massachusetts volunteers.
An account of the other military companies among the students at the time of the Civil War and later may be found in the writer's History of Dartmouth College 1815-1909, pp. 316, 317, 392. At the time of the Spanish War in 1898 there was a brief attempt at military drill under the direction of Dwight B. Rich of the class of 1900, but it ended even sooner than the war. See also Ayling's "Registry of New Hampshire for Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Rebel- lion," pp. 1089-1093.
1 Family Visitor, Sept. 23, 1843.
1
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The same paper in its issue of November 4 announces the organization of the Invincibles.
HANOVER INVINCIBLES
This is the title of a new independent infantry company which our citizens are getting up. There seems to be considerable enthusiasm concerning it. Sixty names are already on the roll, and among the members are several ex-officers. The old "Floodwood" will make rather a shabby appearance after deducting those who have gone over to the "Invincibles."
The first parade was announced in the issue of May 29 following.
The Invincibles came out on Tuesday week and really made a very fine appearance. The officers are of the tallest kind, personally, and their new uniform was in the best style of the art. Competent judges pronounce their evolutions very creditable, considering the fact that this was their first parade.
The other company met at Mill Village and very nearly a third of the duly enrolled were on the spot armed and equipped. The company deserves credit for promptness. They did up the manual exercises and got back to the village just after the Invincibles had begun their afternoon's work.1
Both of these companies were under the patronage of the town, which contributed to their support. Items for "bounties" and "rations" appear in the town accounts for both companies, as late as 1851 for the Invincibles and as 1852 for the Granite Guards,
1 The following records are preserved, showing the methods of discipline in the militia as well as the means of evading service, but making one wish for further explanations :
"N. H. Militia, 2nd Co. Inf. 23rd Reg. 6th Brigade, 2nd Division. May 1843.
T. D. Smith, Capt.
T. E. Osgood, 1st Lieut.
A. L. Bundy 2nd Lieut.
L. D. Gove, Ensign.
Inspector's return May, 1843, showed whole number in Company, including officers, 164 (13 conditional exempts)
Sept. 1843.
A. L. Bundy, Capt.
'Capt. Bundy, Sir. The excuse I have to offer for not doing military duty on the 15th and 16th of Sept. 1843 is that I have done duty in the Engine Company this year and consider that a reasonable excuse.
Amos Dudley.'
Hanover, Sept. 27th, 1843.
Carlos Clifford fined $2.49 for disorderly conduct.
Edson G. Baldwin fined $6.00 for disorderly conduct.
Joseph F. Burnham fined $5.00 for disorderly conduct.
All fines amounted to $19.40.
At the muster in September, 1846, the firewards notified L. D. Gove, Captain of the Invincibles, that certain men had been appointed on the engine com- pany and were exempt from military duty. May 6, 1847.
'J. A. Harris, Capt 2nd.
I was necessarily absent from town on Tuesday May training.
L. P. Morton.
June 1, 1847'"
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but an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, especially with regard to the political relations of the country, is indicated by a vote at an adjourned town meeting, held March 10, 1847, of which the record says :
Upon reading and acting upon the 10th article of the warrant for this meeting, which is to take your sense in relation to paying Officers and Privates of the Militia of this town for doing military duty last spring-
On motion it was
Voted to pass the following Resolutions, viz.
Resolved, That the Selectmen be instructed to pay fifty cents each to those persons, who did military duty last spring, according to the law then existing.
Resolved, Moreover, that we consider our whole military system as designed solely for defence, and that, while we are willing to provide, to any extent, for the safety and welfare of our country we must express our decided and unqualified disapprobation of all war of aggression and con- quest.
This last vote was the expression of the town in regard to the War with Mexico, to which it was strongly opposed, as it had been to the War of 1812. No direct call was made upon the town for soldiers for this war, but nevertheless the following men went from the town into the service, enrolled in Company D, 9th U. S. Infantry :
Bryant, David Bryant, Frank
Burrell, Charles 1
Miller, Manton
Coté, John
Moody, John
In 1846, the Legislature having under consideration the militia system of the State, the Senate proposed that a committee should be appointed to draft a militia bill, which by a rescript of the Gov- ernor should be transmitted to the towns, and that the towns be required at their next annual meeting to express by vote their approval or disapproval of the proposed bill. This was done and the referendum resulted adversly to the bill, Hanover voting against it by 74 to 7, and the State at large returning the same answer by a vote of 5,757 against the bill to 2,957 in its favor. The sentiment of the town in regard to the militia system was
1 One of these men, Charles Burrell, perhaps deserves more than a passing notice. According to his own account he had served in most of the armies in Europe and had deserted from all. Among other things he professed to have been a soldier of Napoleon's Guard at Waterloo. He drifted to this village and made himself interesting to the students and useful in caring for their rooms and in other menial offices, and they made a great pet of him, sincerely mourned his enlistment and joyfully acclaimed his return, when, according to his habit, he deserted from Mexico, and appeared one morning, lying under . the fence enclosing the Green, weak and footsore and destitute. But his rest- less spirit again seized him, and he wandered off to Canada where he lived to be more than ninety years of age.
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