USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Brookline > History of Brookline, formerly Raby, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire : with tables of family records and genealogies > Part 30
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This convention of military bands was the first of its kind to be formed in New England. To Alonzo Bond belonged the honor of originating the idea of forming it. To Brookline belongs the honor of being the place of the Association's birth and the scene of its first convention. An honor which is more highly appreciated because of the fact, as was claimed at the time and never since disputed, that from this musical festival in Brookline, Patrick Gilmore derived the idea which inspired him to under- take the work of holding the first "Peace Jubilee," which was holden in Boston in the fall of 1869.
In 1877-78, the "Old Brass," by the deaths of some of its members and removal from town of others, had become so diminished in numbers that it became apparent that its continued existence was dependent upon additional membership. Accordingly new members were taken in, and a re-organization of the band was effected. Under its re-organized condi-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
tion the names of its members were as follows: Eldorus C. Shattuck, John B. Hardy, Henry A. Hall, Alpha A. Hall, Horace Richmond, Frank Cook, Francis Coil, Willie A. Hobart, Frederic G. Hobart, George Man- ning, Henry Bohonon, Clinton Bohonon, Charles L. Willoughby, Bela G. Cochran, Onslow Daniels, David D. Rockwood.
David D. Rockwood was elected leader. During the remainder of its existence it had, at various times, as instructors, James Lovejoy, of Hollis, and Augustus Cummings of Nashua. It continued to play until 1882; when it quietly disbanded. At the time of its disbandment, it enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest military band in the State, it having had a continuous existence of thirty-one years.
Brookline Cornet Band.
This band, the third to be formed in town, was organized in the fall of 1859. It was started in opposition to the "Old Brass"; but as a rival to the latter band it failed completely. It had an existence of about one year and then disbanded. Its original membership was as follows: Charles E. Shattuck, David H. Cochran, Albert Foster, Charles Bohonon, John E. French, Edward E. Parker, William Wright, Clinton Bohonon, J. Edgar Hobson, J. Miron Stickney, George H. Jefts, Charles H. Stiles Perley A. Smith, Daniel W. Smith, Willie M. Wright, Edward C. Tucker, Henry Stickney. Of its original members, ten served in the Civil War.
1855. Population, 718; number of polls, 186; amount of inventory, $266,333.00; number of sheep, 78; neat stock, 457; horses, 113.
The Prohibitory Law.
This year was famed for the passage by the legislature of a law pro- hibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors throughout the state, except by licenses granted to certain persons for certain purposes, and under certain conditions therein named, specified and set forth.
It strictly prohibited inn holders, saloon keepers and all other persons from selling intoxicating liquors to be drank on the premises, or to be carried away in bulk. The law remained in force for a period of forty-eight years, or until 1903; in which year the present license law went into effect.
During said period of forty-eight years there was not a year when intoxicating liquors were not sold openly and publicly in this town. All attempts to enforce the law were ineffectual. Occasionally parties were arrested and fined for selling or keeping for sale. They either paid their
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
fines and kept on in the business, or else escaped punishment by promis- ing to go out of business and left town, having in the meantime sold out to other parties who, no less unscrupulous than themselves, came in and carried on the business at the old stand. And so the farce, for farce it was, went on from year to year.
The conditions prevailing in Brookline under this law were practi- cally identical with those existing in a large proportion of the towns, and in nearly all of the cities, in the State.
Among the law's provisions was one which provided for the sale of liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes by an agent appointed for that purpose by the town's boards of selectmen. On the first day of April of this year, Asher Shattuck was appointed as the town's first liquor agent. His fees for services were fixed by law at five dollars per annum, and he was authorized to sell-on a doctor's prescription only- all liquors at a profit of only twenty-five per cent over the original cost of the same. Mr. Shattuck was a strictly temperate and conscientious man, and during his agency complied strictly with the provisions of the law. But, so far as making money for himself or materially aiding the tem- perance cause, his business was profitless; and the same statement would be true of all those in this town who in after years succeeded him in the agency.
Under the present license liquor law the town is and for several years past has been a no-license town. There are at the present time no places within its limits where intoxicating liquors are openly sold. Under local option its inhabitants have succeeded in bringing about, in the short space of five years, a state of affairs under which the town is freer from the traffic in, and the evil effects resulting from the use of intoxicating liquors than it ever was before during its entire corporate existence.
1858. March 9, the town voted "the use of old meeting-house to the Methodists week days when they want it and it is not in use by the town." At the same time, "the use of the house for one-half of the time Sundays" was granted to the Universalists.
1859. The Methodist Episcopal meeting-house on Main street was erected this year, and was dedicated with appropriate exercises to the service of Almighty God.
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Reunion of Company C, Sixteenth Regiment N. H. Vols. In Civil War. At Brookline, August 20, 1896 PORTRAITS OF BROOKLINE SOLDIERS APPEARING IN THE GROUP
Left to Right-Back Row-No. 1, Albert M, French. No. 3, John C. Burgess, No. 4, Ezra S. Wright, No. 6, Lewis Emery, No. 7, Charles Gilson, No, 9. Bryant W. Wallace, No. 10, George H. Jefts. No. 11, James L. Burgess. Middle Row-No. 1, George W. Pierce, No. 3. Charles Currier, No. 6, Asa S. Burgess, Bohonon, No. 10, John A. French, No. 11, Charles H. Russell, No. 12, Edward E. Parker.
No. 7, Augustus L. Lovejoy, No. 8. Clinton Front Row-No. 3, lames A. Merrill, No. 6, Daniel Kendall, No. 7, John Bohonon.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
CHAPTER XVIII.
Brookline in the War of the Rebellion.
At the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861, Brookline was near the height of its prosperity. It had a population of 756 souls, and a valuation of about three hundred thousand dollars. Thousands of its acres were still covered with old growth forests, and nine sawmills were in active opera- tion. Its cleared lands were all under cultivation; there were no deserted farm houses. Among its industries were a tannery, a wheelwright's shop, a sash and blind manufactory, and more than one hundred of its citizens found steady and remunerative employment in the coopering business, which was then the town's leading industry. Three religious so- cieties,-Congregational, Methodist and Universalist,-were flourishing; and its public schools were filled with puplis.
In politics the Republican voters were in the majority as shown by the gubernatorial vote at the annual March meeting, when the whole number of votes cast was 179, divided as follows: Nathaniel S. Berry, Republican, 105; George Stark, Democrat, 74. Party feeling ran high in those days, and the political battles at the polls were bitterly fought.
The Democrats in town in common with their brethren throughout the North professed to believe in Jeffersonian principles, and swore by Andrew Jackson. But while they believed in the Jeffersonian principles of the equality of men, they were nevertheless inclined to tolerate and wink at the slavery of the negro. For although they admitted that its ex- istence in this country was not exactly in accordance with the Jefferson- ian idea, they were content to justify it on Scriptural grounds, and claimed that even if it was of itself evil, its existence was necessary to the con- tinuance in power of the Democratic party; a state of affairs upon which in their belief was based the hopes of the future stability of the Union.
At the presidential election they cast their votes in common with the northern wing of the party for Stephen A. Douglass; thus putting them- selves on record as being in favor of the doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty.
The Republicans in town also believed in Jeffersonian principles and some of them swore; but not by Andrew Jackson. They were in full accord with their party's policy of confining the institution of slavery to the
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
States where it then existed, and prohibiting its extension into new terri- tory. There were but two out and out Abolitionists in town.
The store of Tucker and Stiles at the west end of the village street was generally regarded as the headquarters of the Republicans, and that of Kendall and Wright at the east end of the street as the headquarters of the Democrats.
At this time the only daily newspapers circulating in town were the Boston Journal and the Boston Post, each of which was represented by one copy; the Journal being taken by Tucker and Stiles, and the Post by Kendall and Wright. Nightly, during the winter of 1860-61, the contents of each of these papers were read aloud at the headquarters of the party which it represented to the partisans therein assembled, who, after listen- ing to the reading, having resolved themselves into a committee of the whole, commented on its news, and discussed the general condition of affairs in the country.
These discussions, although invariably partisan in their nature, were generally harmonious because they were generally carried on by those who represented only one side of the question under consideration. But it occasionally happened that members of one party would stray into the other party's headquarters and butt into the debates there going on. In such cases all sense of harmony instantly disappeared, discord took its place, and soon pandemonium reigned. The disputants, eager to uphold their party's principle and throw down those of their opponents, were all engaged in talking at one and the same time, each one intent on expressing his own opinions and, for the greater part, entirely oblivious to those of his adversary; the majority, by way of emphasis, occasionally punctuating their arguments with words bordering, at least, on the profane, and ges- tures which were more forcible than graceful.
In these debates, the Democrats, true to their traditions, derived from years of political association with the Southern wing of the party, unconsciously followed the trend of their old affiliations. They argued in a general way in favor of the doctrine of Secession, and questioned the Government's right to coerce States which, by withdrawing from the Union, might attempt to enforce that doctrine. They claimed, moreover, that even if the Government possessed that right and should attempt to enforce it, the attempt would be futile and disastrous, because of the strong opposition to sucli a course existing in the North; by reason of which, in case of war, a majority of its citizens would, in their opinion, either take up arms in favor of the cause of the South or, by refusing to obey the Government's summons to defend the Union, render its efforts
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
to that end abortive; and among the disputants there were not wanting those who openly and frankly stated that in case of war they would be found among that majoirty.
To these and similar arguments the Republicans, as a matter of course, replied in kind; controverting every statement of their opponents.
These meetings oftentimes lasted until a late hour of the night; and frequently when they broke up, the partisans separated in such frames of mind as caused them to hurl at each other such opprobious epithets as "black republicans" and "copper-head"; epithets which, in the light of subsequent events had as little relevancy and meaning as do the nick- names which school children, in their angry moments, apply to each other. For, when the war really came, many of those who in these de- bates were most strenuously opposed to it, were among the first to enlist on the side of the Union; while others who in their words were brave fighters for the Union, still continued to fight its battles in their minds and at a distance.
In the meantime, as the winter wore on, several of the southern States formally withdrew from the Union and, Feb. 4, 1860, seven of them met in convention at Montgomery, Ala., and instituted a new government under the name of the Confederate States of America. On the 14th day of April, 1861, Fort Sumpter, in the harbor of Charleston, S. C., after a bombardment lasting for thirty-six hours, surrendered to Confederate forces under the command of General Beauregard.
The next day President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers to put down the rebellion.
Extracts from Brookline's Records Relative to the War.
On the 23rd day of April, eight days after the date of the President's proclamation, the town authorities of Brookline issued a warrant calling for a town meeting on the 9th day of May following. This warrant con- tained the following article:
"To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate one thousand dollars, or any sum of money to arm and equip a military company to aid the General Government in capturing and hanging upon the most con- venient tree Jeff Davis and his associate traitors."
In response to this call the citizens met and, after some discussion relative to raising a company, the impracticability of which was finally admitted, passed resolutions as follows:
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
"That the town raise a sum of money not exceeding one thousand dollars for the following purposes.
1st. To aid such persons as may enlist and actually serve in the present war in such manner as may be decided on as hereinafter provided.
2nd. To aid the families of such person or persons as may enlist and actually serve in the war when in actual need of aid.
3rd. That any man having a family shall receive, in addition to Government pay, a sum not exceeding ten dollars per month, and a man without family shall receive a sum not exceeding seven dollars per month.
4th. That a select committee of three be appointed to examine each case that shall be presented and make appropriations according to their judgment and the selectmen shall upon their decision draw an order in favor of the person for the same.
5th. That the treasurer of the town be authorized to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary to meet said drafts.
6th. That all persons who hereafter enlist must enlist within the limits of this state in order to entitle them to the benefits of the foregoing appropriation-that this is not to be considered to affect the rights of those persons who have already enlisted out of the state."
Ensign Bailey, Calvin R. Shedd and Sumner S. Kendall were elected as the select committee mentioned in the fourth of the said resolutions.
Between the date of the foregoing meeting and the month of October following, fifteen of the town's citizens enlisted into the service; the majority of them in Massachusetts regiments.
October 23 the town voted-"To raise a sum not exceeding two thou- sand dollars for the support of those who have enlisted or may hereafter enlist in the service of the United States, in accordance with Pamphlet Laws, Chap. 218"; and authorized the town treasurer to borrow the same. Benjamin Gould, Wilkes W. Corey and Henry B. Stiles were elected as a committee to apply and expend said two thousand dollars.
1862. April 1 the town voted three hundred dollars to pay unmarried men for services in the army.
July 26, 1862, by a census taken by the selectmen, the number of citizens liable to do military duty was found to be one hundred, with twenty-two men already in the service.
September 1-"Voted to pay each person, he being a citizen of the United States, who has enlisted for this town since July 15 into the service ot the United States, for three years or the war, the sum of 150 dollars";
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
and also-"To each citizen of Brookline who should enlist between the date of this meeting and the fifteenth day of September, next, for nine months in the service."
1863. July 15 voted-"to pay the sum of three hundred dollars to citizens of Brookline who may be drafted into the service."
September 19 voted-"To pay all men drafted under this draft, or their substitutes, three hundred dollars, each within ten days after they are mustered into the service."
November 30 voted-"That the selectmen be instructed to borrow money sufficient to pay all men that enlist from this town to fill out the last call of the President amounting to 9 men in all, and that they draw town orders for the same not exceeding four thousand dollars ($4000.)." Also voted-"To furnish two more men than they have furnished on the last call and let it remain for the present."
1864. June 7-"Voted to pay all men who were drafted on the 17th of May last and are liable and all who may be until March meeting 1865."
June 11 voted-"That the town shall pay all men that are drafted and liable to the militia State Service, if the State does not pay the same."
June 30 voted-"That the town should furnish men to fill the quota of the town until March next, and pay for the same except what they may draw from the State or the United States; and that the town choose two agents to furnish substitutes for the present war to fill the quota of the town."
July 9, Joseph C. Tucker and Wilkes W. Corey were elected agents to furnish substitutes to fill the quota of the town for the present year, and to pay drafted men two hundred dollars.
July 23. The appointment of the foregoing agents was rescinded, and the town voted-"To put in ten men as substitutes at an expense of not over three hundred dollars each; and that any man liable to the draft who may furnish a substitute for himself shall receive three hundred dollars."
August 4. Voted-"To draw up a paper for the purpose of seeing how much money may be raised to clear the draft for three years, and the largest sum paid by any one man liable to the draft shall have the first substitute"; and Joseph A. Hall and William J. Smith were chosen as a committee to draw the said paper.
August 13, voted-"That 16 men volunteer to pay $150 each and their names to be stricken from the enrolment for three years, the town to pay the balance of the expense."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
1865. March 14, voted-"That the selectmen should fill all calls for soldiers from the president for the ensuing year and borrow money for the same." At the same meeting it was also voted-"To pay Fletcher Spauld- ing, George P. Brown, David H. Burge and Ward Messer the sum of $150 who have re-enlisted in the army the past year and count on the quota of the town of Brookline"; also voted "To pay J. E. Hobson and Lewis L. Emery $150 each."
1866. March 13, voted-"To pay Thomas Bennett and Albert French $150, each, as bounty."
The foregoing is the last entry in the record book relative to the Civil War, during its progress.
The war records have been given here in full; not only because they are records and, therefore, history, but also because, to one reading be- tween the lines, they tell, far more accurately and truthfully than any historian, writing at this late date, could hope to do, the story of the conditions prevailing in town during the period covered by the war.
The town's obligations, as recorded in its records, to the men who represented it in the war, were subsequently faithfully performed. It paid out in bounties and aid to soldiers' families sums amounting in all to over twenty thousand dollars.
The following figures compiled by the Rev. Theophilus P. Sawin were taken from a sermon by him delivered on the 7th day of December, 1865, and are undoubtedly close approximations to the truth:
"Paid out by the town to its own citizens $ 7,750.00
Paid during the war
Paid out by individual citizens. 400.00
Paid out by the State as aid to soldiers' families. 3,460.01
$11,610.01
Paid out to substitutes by the town and individual citizens .. 25,055.00
Total received by men enlisting from this town as principals and substitutes (including aid to families). $36,665.01
Subtracting from the above total the amount that has been paid, or which may be paid by the State and General Government, and also what has been paid by individuals, i. e. $16,220.00
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
and it leaves the amount actually paid out by the town as twenty thousand four hundred and forty-five and 1-100 dollars $20,445.01"
The whole number of men furnished by Brookline in the war was one hundred and four (104). Of this number, seventy were either residents in town, or natives residing in other towns at the time of their enlistments, and thirty-four were substitutes furnished by the town and its citizens individually.
The following list compiled by the Rev. T. P. Sawin gives the names of those who furnished Substitutes, and also the names of the substitutes furnished by each.
Table,
showing a list of substitutes employed by Brookline to put down the Rebellion of 1861. Also the time of enlistment of eachı.
Names of Principals.
Names of Substitutes.
Time of Enlistment.
Remarks.
Cleveland, Eli Coggin, Charles H.
Felix Montacine William Longfield
Aug. 16, 1864
Sept. 1, 1863 Died of wounds re- ceived May 14,64
Colburn, Frank P.
Sept. 1,1863
Colburn, Newton W.
John McCabb William Rowman
Aug. 18, 1864
Daniels, Onslow
James Elwin
June 9, 1864 Mis'g at Pop. Gr. Ch Va., Sept. 20, '64.
French, John E.
James Dorr
Sept. 1,1863
Mis'g at Olustee, Fla., Feb. 20, '64.
Gilson, Henry S.
Louis Duble
Oct. 11, 1864 Deserted Oct. 17, '64
Hall, Edward T.
George Jackman
Aug. 16, 1864
Hall, Joseph A.
Henry Robson
Aug. 15, 1864
Hall, James Henry
Louis Wilson
Aug. 20, 1864
Hobart, Joshua J.
William K. King
Aug. 20, 1864
Lawrence, Silas
Daniel Glaughlin
Oct. 10, 1863
Lawrence, Simon
George Boyemat Daniel W. Smith John Kelly
Aug. 20, 1864
Peabody, John
George Thomson
Aug. 19, 1864 Deserted Oct. 12, '64
Rockwood, William Brooks
Dennis Burke
Dec. 16, 1864
Russell, Rufus G.
Robert McDonald
June 20, 1864 Deserted en route to regiment.
Smith, William J.
John Mcguire
Aug. 17, 1864
Oct. 10, 1863
McDonald, Luther
Parker, James Clinton
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
Table Showing a List of Substitutes employed by Brookline to put down the Rebellion of 1861. Also the Time of Enlistment of each .- Continued.
Names of Principals.
Names of Substitutes.
Time of Enlistment.
Remarks.
Shattuck, George J.
George Roda
Aug. 15, 1864
Shedd, John C.
Martin Muldoon
Aug. 20, 1864
Stiles, Charles H.
John McDernett
Sept. 1,1863
Towns, Darwin
William Johnson
Aug. 20, 1864
Wallace, Laroy A.
John Fenis
Oct. 10, 1863
Willoby, Charles L.
Thomas Redmand
Oct. 5, 1863
Wright, Frederick
James Murphy
Aug. 20, 1864
Wright, William
Dennis Barry
Aug. 18, 1864
Town of Brookline
James Sweeny
Nov. 18, 1863
Deserted March 19, 1864
Town of Brookline
William Driscoll
Nov. 24, 1863
Town of Brookline
Alulford Noodal
Dec. 24, 1864
Town of Brookline
Hugh Robertson
Nov. 18, 1863 Died of dis.at Hamp-
ton, Va., Nov.13, '64
Town of Brookline
Allen Dean
Town of Brookline
Isaac Wetherbee
Oct. 11, 1864 Deserted Oct. 16, '64 Dec. 24, 1864
Town of Brookline
John Noonan
Dec. 24, 1864
An Unique War Document.
In the fall of 1864 the President issued a call for more troops. At that time the conditions in this town were such that in order to enable it to furnish its quota of men required under the call, it became necessary to resort to the hiring of substitutes; the cost of which was extremely high, the prices ranging from five hundred to one thousand, and often more, dollars for each man hired. These prices, the board of selectmen, to which the town had already delegated the authority to act in such emer- gencies, hesitated to pay, fearing that by so doing it might exceed the limits of its authority. But the demand for men was urgent and the time for action limited. To avoid the calling of a town meeting, and at the same time to protect the board, individually and collectively, from any liability to which, by reason of its acts in the emergency, it might be subjected in the future, certain patriotic citizens caused to be drawn up, executed and delivered to the board a bond of indemnity. The signers of the bond were all citizens of, and taxpayers in, the town. To the signature of each was affixed his individual seal; and the borders of the instrument
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
bore the United States revenue stamps then necessary to the legality of such documents. Following is a copy of the bond:
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