USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume I > Part 50
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464
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
It may be recalled that the committee appointed by the town in 1842 to enlarge the Old Cemetery, reported the next year that an enlargement had been made, which it was believed would make that " graveyard equal to the public wants for half a century." But the increase in the number of the living-as told by the census-from four thousand nine hundred three in 1840 to eight thousand five hundred seventy-six in 1850, and to ten thousand eight hundred ninety-six in 1860, with the corresponding increase in the number of the dead, so far outstripped the calculations of the committee that within sixteen years it became necessary for the city to provide an additional burying-place. Earlier even, private enterprise had secured a burial plat alongside the old ground, and called it the "Minot Enclosure."
On the 26th of November, 1859, the city council authorized, by resolution, Shadrach Seavey, John C. Briggs, Josiah Minot, Caleb Parker, and Joseph B. Walker, to purchase of Francis N. Fiske, for the purposes of a cemetery, a tract of land upon and near Wood's brook, not exceeding thirty acres, and at a price not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. The land was purchased at once for forty-five hundred dollars ; and on the 4th of February, 1860, an ordinance entrusted the Old Cemetery, and the ground thus pur- chased for a new cemetery, to the care of a cemetery committee of three, consisting of Joseph B. Walker, Enos Blake, and George B. Chandler, the term of one to expire each year. As early in the year as possible the committee made a careful survey of the newly pur- chased tract to ascertain its condition and capacities of improvement for the purposes to which it had been devoted, and proceeded at once to such operations as seemed necessary and desirable for the imme- diate occupancy of the grounds.1
The formal consecration of these grounds to their sacred purpose occurred with appropriate services on the 13th of July, 1860. An introductory statement made by Joseph B. Walker, of the cemetery committee, was followed by remarks of Mayor Willard. The prayer of invocation was offered by the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer E. Cummings ; that of consecration by the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Bouton. Scripture selections were read by the Reverend Henry E. Parker, and hymns, read by other clergymen of the city, were sung. The oration was delivered by William L. Foster. At the close of the consecration exercises, it was, on motion of Richard Bradley, decided by a vote of those present that the beautiful resting-place of the dead should be called Blossom Hill Cemetery.
During the first year the ground was surveyed and laid out by
1 First Annual Report of Cemetery Committee for year ending Feb. 1, 1861.
465
THE POST-OFFICE.
John C. Briggs, " whose eminent ability as a civil engineer "-in the language of the committee-was " fully equalled by his skill and taste as a landscape gardener." The committee further reported at the end of the year that one hundred seventy lots had been laid out and accurately defined ; that these had also been appraised at values varying from five to forty-five dollars each ; that twenty of them had been sold at an average price of fifteen dollars and fifty-two cents ; and that, in exception, one, very large and eligible, had brought one hundred twenty-three dollars and thirty-three cents.1 It was also reported that about a mile and a half of carriage avenues had been constructed; that large quantities of brush and other litter had been removed from the forest land; and that such portions of the other ground as were not already in grass had been seeded down. The committee felt confident that at no very distant day, by a judicious expenditure of the receipts from the sale of lots, the first cost of the land and interest, with all expenses for improvements, might be paid and the citizens of Concord be possessed of one of the most accessible and beautiful cemeteries in the country.1
Attention was also paid to the Old Cemetery, the west portion of which had been regularly laid out into paths, avenues, and lots, sixteen years before, but which wore the general appearance of neg- lect, notwithstanding very many embellishments had been made upon individual lots.1 Of the four hundred and thirty-five lots which had been laid out almost every one was claimed and occupied : but for three hundred and thirty nothing had been received by the city, and no deeds had been given.1 The collection of the sums due was committed to the city treasurer, and was prosecuted with a good degree of success. Thereafter the historic ground, venerable with the associations of Penacook, Rumford, and Concord, was to receive more careful and systematic attention from the proper authorities ; while, in 1863, the cemeteries in Wards 1, 2, 3, and 7 came under the direction of the city.
With the growth of Concord in the essentials of a progressive municipality, its post-office naturally grew in importance. The post- mastership, though generally changing with each party change of the national administration, always found itself in hands worthy of the trust. The postmasters who served in the course of the half cen- tury from 1791 to 1841 have already been mentioned; those belong- ing to the succeeding quarter of a century may here be added. Robert Davis held the postmastership under the Tyler administra- tion, and was succeeded, in 1845, by Joseph Robinson, who was Polk's appointce, and held the place till 1849. Ephraim Hutchins
1 First Annual Report of Cemetery Committee for year ending Feb. 1, 1861.
31
466
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
was his successor, and was in office four years under the Taylor-Fill- more administration. In 1853 President . Pierce appointed Jacob Carter to the postmastership, which he held during Pierce's admin- istration and most of Buchanan's. Having resigned, he was suc- ceeded for a few months by Benjamin Grover. Upon the accession of President Lincoln, Robert N. Corning became postmaster. He served during Lincoln's first term, through the few days of the sec- ond, and into that of Andrew Johnson, until his own death, when his widow assumed the responsibility of the office in behalf of the bonds- men, until the appointment of Moses T. Willard in 1868.
During the terms of Postmasters Davis and Robinson the location of the office was near the southeast corner of Main and Centre streets, on the west side of the former. Post- master Hutchins changed the location to the old post-office building, which was situated on the northerly side of School strect near its junction with Main, and had been occupied ten years by Postmaster William Low. This con- tinued to be the home of the Concord post-office for about twelve years, till Postmaster Corning removed it across School strect into the westward exten- sion of State block, a fine structure of brick just erected by James R. Hill upon the ashes of the fire of 1861.
Old Post-office on Site of Board of Trade Building.
The city's first twelve years covered a period of the country's most important political history. During the first eight-from 1853 to 1861-Slavery was the one question in politics, which during the last four-from 1861 to 1865-was settled by the stern arbitrament of war. In the preceding chapter mention has been made of the sweep- ing Democratic victory won in New Hampshire and its capital at the March election of 1853, four days after the inauguration of Franklin Pierce. At that time the new administration had the unanimous support of its party ; but within one year it began to lose that una- nimity. One cause of the change was the support given by the president to the bill brought into congress in the winter of 1853-'54, .for establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in prepara- tion for their admission as states, eitlier slave or free. This meas- ure annulled the Missouri Compromise of 1820, under which Mis- souri had been admitted as a slave state, but by which slavery had been forever prohibited in all the rest of the territory ceded by
467
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL.
France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, and lying north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude.
While the Kansas-Nebraska bill was pending in congress, the people of the president's own state had opportunity partially to express their opinion upon this prominent measure of his adminis- tration. The result of the March election of 1854 was one of that kind of Democratic victories which sagacious members of the win- ning party were not particularly desirous of seeing repeated. Upon the total governor vote, one thousand larger than that of 1853, the Whig and Democratic parties each lost one thousand votes, while the Freesoil party, declaring steadfast opposition to the spread of slavery into the territories of the Union, gained three thou- sand. Nathaniel B. Baker, the popular Democratic candidate, was elected, though by a majority reduced to one third of that given for Governor Martin the year before. A safer test, however, of the change in popular feeling within the year was afforded in the result as to the house of representatives of the state legislature, wherein the Democratic majority of eighty-nine in 1853 was almost entirely swept away. In Concord the Democratic majority for governor was ninety-one half that of 1853; while of its ten members of the general court only two were Democrats instead of the eight of the preceding year.
Before the legislature met in June the Kansas-Nebraska bill had become a law. Though a Democratic organization of each branch was secured by a narrow majority,-that on the choice of speaker of the house being only two,-and though a Democratic secretary of state and state treasurer were re-elected, yet repeated attempts to choose a senator of the United States in place of Charles G. Ather- ton, deceased, came to nothing-the Administration-Democrats lack- ing the twelve or fifteen votes necessary to elect John S. Wells. Certain other Democrats-sometimes distinguished as the Old Guard -did not see fit to help elect the candidate of an administration to which they had become more or less averse, but preferred to contribute to a negative result by supporting for senator George W. Morrison, who had resisted in the lower house of congress the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. They also helped to make up the decisive majority of more than forty in the passage of resolutions long discussed in the house of representatives, denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska measure as "unnecessary, impolitic, a breach of faith with the North, dangerous and wrong." Meanwhile, too, a positive decision of some political significance had been reached in a sharp and protracted contest over the election of State Printer. For more than twenty-five successive years-1846 excepted-the public
468
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
printing had fallen to the New Hampshire Patriot. Now, however, that paper, Democratic and Administration, was cast aside for the State Capital Reporter, Democratic but not Administration; for the legislature, on the first day of July, 1854, elected Amos Hadley of the latter as state printer over William Butterfield of the former, by one hundred sixty-five votes to one hundred fifty-three, or a majority of twelve.
The American party, which found sure foothold in New Hamp- shire during the political year 1854-'55, served to strengthen oppo- sition to the national administration-especially as to its recent prominent measure. Americanism, as it existed in New Hampshire, while asserting subordinately a policy as to foreigners and foreign influence too restrictive in some points, always opposed the fallacies of " popular sovereignty and congressional non-intervention," under which slavery veiled its cvil designs. It is not strange, therefore, that men of the old parties, waiving scruples as to minor points, should have entered the new party in order that, under its efficient organi- zation, they might to better advantage contend upon the main issue. Hence, the American party, nicknamed the Know-Nothing, having its secret councils-or confidential clubs-as influential centers of skilfully-directed political effort, attracted a membership counted by tens of thousands. This party, moreover, had the support of many who did not enter the inner circle of its secret organization, but who could stand with it in its position upon the paramount political ques- tion of the day.
By the second Tuesday of March, 1855, political interest had been thoroughly aroused in the popular mind by ordinary campaign appliances, superadded to the secret and still more effective move- ments of the new party. As one result, the then unprecedented total of nearly sixty-five thousand votes for governor was cast. To that total, the American party contributed, in round numbers, nearly thirty-three thousand ; the Democratic party, twenty-seven thou- sand ; the still-organized remnant of the Whig party, thirty-five hun- dred ; a like remnant of the Freesoil party, thirteen hundred; and scattering, nearly two hundred. Thus Ralph Metcalf, the American candidate for governor, had a plurality of six thousand over Governor Baker, the Administration nominee for re-election; a plurality that, but for the deflection of some five thousand Whig and Freesoil votes to other anti-Democratic candidates, would have been a majority of nearly eleven thousand, instead of about one thousand over all, as it had to be counted. This anti-Democratic-substantially Ameri- can-majority of more than ten thousand, as indicated by the gov- ernor vote, secured a sweeping anti-Democratic victory, whereby the
469
THE AMERICAN PARTY.
railroad commissioner, the entire council, three members of congress, eleven twelfths of the state senate, two thirds of the house of repre- sentatives, and three fourths of the county officers were of the Ameri- can party.
Concord, which had been a lively and influential center of party movements in this contest, epitomized, as it were, the results of the state election in its own. Its governor vote, as distributed among the parties, stood : American, ten hundred ninety-four ; Democratic, seven hundred seventy-four : Whig, one hundred twenty ; Freesoil, fifty-four-making a result of four hundred ninety-four anti-Demo- cratic majority. Since the majority of the Democratic party had been, in 1854, eighty-one, its loss within the year netted five hundred seventy-five. Concord, in every ward, was American. Hence, its municipal government was entirely American; hence, too, it con- tributed to the overwhelming American majority of the general court a full delegation of ten.
The American party in New Hampshire retained its distinctive organization until the March election of 1856. Latterly, however, the designation American-Republican had come somewhat into use in view of the maturing movement for creating a new party which should embrace in its membership all opposed to the extension of slavery, and which should bear the name Republican. The result of that election-the first of the eighteenth presidential year-came of a severe contest, in which the Democratic party fought desperately to regain ascendancy and to bring back the president's own state to the support of his administration. But it was more successful in reduc- ing opposition majorities than in overcoming them, so that the Amer- ican party achieved a victory practically as decisive as that of the year before. In the matter of the governorship, an anti-Democratic majority of twenty-five hundred was obtained, though Ralph Metcalf, the American candidate, was not elected by the people. But this result merely transferred the choice to a legislature safely American. In brief, the state government remained completely in the hands of the American-Republican party.
The city of Concord stood with especial steadfastness by the pre- vailing party, even making a gain of seventy-five votes for Governor Metcalf over the previous year's result. Ward 2 alone went over to the Democratic side. In Ward 4, than in which no severer struggle occurred anywhere in the state, American ascendancy was fully main- tained. The ward had, in 1855, elected Edward II. Rollins to the general conrt ; this year it re-elected him, and he became Concord's third occupant of the speaker's chair. Mr. Rollins had come to Con- cord as a young man, and worked as a clerk in a drug store, which
470
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
he subsequently bought. He early took an active interest in politics, and when the Republican party was organized became the first chair- man of its state committee, a position to which he was several times re-elected. In those days political parties had no headquarters, as the term is now understood, and the work of organizing the Republi- can party in this state was largely done in the back office of Mr. Rol- lins's drug store, which stood on Main street just north of the Eagle hotel. Four years after Mr. Rollins's election as speaker, he was nominated and elected to congress, where he served for six years, which covered the entire Civil War period. He rendered great ser- vice to the state and its citizens during this period, and measured by the results accomplished, he was unquestionably the most influential member of the New Hampshire delegation in congress. After his retirement from congress he was made treasurer of the Union Pacific Railroad, a position which he held until his election in 1876 to the United States senate. In all political positions held by him, his industry, energy, and perseverance contributed materially to the welfare of the state he represented. It is doubtful if New Hamp- shire ever had a more useful representative in the national councils. HIe had a strong attachment to Concord, which for the greater part of his life was his home. His last service for the city was securing for it the handsome granite post-office building, which is a monument of his zeal for the interests of his native state.
The American party had now made its last appearance, under that name, upon the field of New Hampshire politics. It was ere long to be incorporated as a corps of a great political army under one national standard. On the 17th of June, 1856, delegates from all the free states, some of the slave states along the northern border, and several territories, including Kansas, met in Republican National Convention at Philadelphia. The New Hampshire delegation had been selected at a mass convention held at Concord on the 10th of June, upon an invitation addressed to " all, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present administration, to the extension of slav- ery into the territories, in favor of the admission of Kansas as a free state, and of restoring the action of the federal government to the principles of the patriot fathers." The Concord member of the del- egation was George G. Fogg, who also served as a secretary of the Philadelphia convention. Upon the accession of the Republican party to power in the nation, he was appointed minister to Switzer- land by President Lincoln, and subsequently became United States senator to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Daniel Clark.
471
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.
The National Convention nominated John C. Fremont and Wil- liam L. Dayton to head the Republican ticket, and adopted a bold, unequivocal platform. In New Hampshire the American party gave ready adherence to ticket and platform, and became one with the Republican party.
The Democratic National Convention, held at Cincinnati during the first week in June, had nominated James Buchanan for president over competitors, including President Pierce, who was supported for re-nomination. John C. Breckenridge became the candidate for vice-president. The nominees were placed upon a platform recog- nizing the Kansas-Nebraska measure " as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the slavery question," thus making approval thereof, and acquiescence therein, a test of Democratic fealty. This action was ratified by a mass meeting of the Democracy of New Hampshire, held at Concord on the 17th of June-the day on which the Philadelphia convention assembled. The occasion was reckoned by the party in whose interests it was held as an auspicious opening of its campaign. On the evening of the next day, Concord was again astir over the news of Fremont's nomination. On the succeed- ing day, when the Philadelphia convention had closed its labors, one hundred guns helped to express the popular gratification ; while, at a crowded meeting in Depot hall, Fremont Club No. 1 was formed, and the determination reached to hold at Concord, on the ensuing 4th of July, a grand ratification meeting of the Republican party of New Hampshire. That meeting was held upon the appointed day, with such emphatic success as to encourage its party with the hope-not to be disappointed-that the Granite State was sure for Fremont by five thousand majority. The predominant public opinion of the state and of its capital found expression in resolutions passed at a large meeting of citizens, convened in Phenix hall, on the eve- ning of the last day of May, to voice indignant condemnation of Slavery's bludgeon assault upon Charles Sumner in the senate of the United States, as well as of its recent outrages in Kansas.
The course of events tended to intensify such views; for the prac- tical working of the Kansas-Nebraska measure went from bad to worse. It became more and more difficult to defend the measure, and to recommend the policy pursued under it to the approval of the mind and conscience of the people. Appeals for charitable relief were made by the bona fide settlers of Kansas suffering from "border ruffian " outrages at the hands of pro-slavery intruders. Amid the din of the political contest, those appeals were heard in the Free North-and heeded. In Concord, early in October, a " Ladies' Kan- sas Aid Society " was established, for procuring supplies of clothing
472
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
and other necessaries for the relief of Free State emigrants, espe- cially during the coming inclement season. Its membership embraced ladies from all the religious societies in the city. Within a month the officers of the society-Mrs. Richard Bradley, president; Mrs. J. A. Prescott, secretary; and Mrs. John C. Briggs, treasurer-re- ported contributions amounting to five hundred twenty-seven dollars, the greater part of which had already been forwarded to Kansas. "Although highly gratified with what had been done," added the report, " the ladies who have this enterprise at heart are not dis- posed to relax their efforts, while the destitution which first excited their sympathy continues to exist."
The club organization in this campaign was efficient. The Keystone and the Fremont clubs were the generators of political light and heat for their respective parties. There were many of these in the state, and at least five in Concord, four of which, including the "Young America " and the "Democratic," bore the name of Fremont. The members of this "Democratic Fremont " club, numbering about two hundred fifty, had voted for Franklin Pierce in 1852; and some of them had supported the administration party at later dates, even to the March election of 1856. For this and the other Fremont clubs of the city, Rumford hall became the headquarters under the name of Fremont Camp.
In New Hampshire, both parties hoped for victory in state and nation ; and both, accordingly, put forth their best efforts. They flung their numerous banners to the breeze; and under these marched in procession of thousands-as, for instance, did the Republicans, on the 4th of July, and the Democrats, on the 5th of September, when respectively assembled at Concord, in mass convention. Sometimes, at evening, a brilliant pyrotechnic display in Railroad square rounded the exercises of the day. Torch-light processions were also much in evidence. Thus a large torch-light company was organized in Concord, " which went into most of the principal towns of southern New Hamp- shire hurrahing for Fremont."1 Its greatest display occurred in Con- cord, on the evening of the 23d of October, though the national defeat of the Republican party in November was felt to be almost certain from the result of the recent state election in Pennsylvania, the pivotal state. In this bold, magnificent demonstration, the Republicans of Manchester, Nashua, and other places participated. The procession- under the chief-marshalship of John C. Briggs, with sixty marshals and assistants in charge of the Concord portion-" went over," as a participant 1 has written, " the principal streets, and then counter- marched in alternate lines in State House park until that square was
1 Henry McFarland's " Personal Recollections," 172.
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REPUBLICAN DEFEAT.
full to overflowing, beside thousands of men to spare. There were illuminated decorations, torches, the light of which shone far up on the clouds, and the air was full of colored fire discharged from Roman candles."
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