USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 48
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The pupils in the schools caught the prevailing infection of strenuous patriotism. The young ladies organized a corps and named it, in honor of their principal, the Dewey Guards. The members of this company were active in providing many small but important comforts for the use of the recruits when they were
1 Statement of Col. H. W. Rowell in a letter to Hon. A. S. Batchellor.
2 The Littleton men, beside those above given, were : Francis H. Palmer, Newell H. Kingsbury, William W. Burnham, Philip Wilkins, John F. Moulton, Theron A. Farr, George W. Burnham, Rufus M. Pray, Richard J. Huntoon, Henry A. Bowman, John D. Hines, George C. Coburn, and Oscar L. Beard.
3 Mr. Barnes was subsequently chaplain of the Seventeenth New Hampshire Volunteers, and later of the Twenty-ninth United States Colored Troops.
COL. FRANCIS L. TOWN, U. S. Army. Asst. Surgeon-General (Retired), 1897.
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far from home. On Wednesday the 23d of April an impressive scene took place ; the Guards assembled near the Post-Office, and the recruits, escorted by the Littleton Brass Band, marched to that place, and halting, front-faced and saluted the Guards, when Miss Georgianna A. Hadley made an appropriate address present- ing each soldier with a patriotic badge. These emblems were dis- tributed by Misses Jennie M. Jackson and Ellen M. Applebee. Evarts W. Farr responded for the recruits in brief but eloquent remarks.
The ladies of the town, through the agency of Misses Luella Goold and Elizabeth Moore, contributed a fund of eighty dollars, intended for the purchase of revolvers for the men, but it was afterwards decided to invest the money in Bibles and present a copy to each recruit. The change was suggested when they were informed by one of their military friends that the government would furnish each soldier with a complete outfit of carnal weapons for use in subduing the rebels, and that their fund might be put to a better use in other ways.
The village pastors did not limit their patriotic work to secular addresses at meetings held in the hall. Mr. Batchellor has gath- ered, from local papers and persons who were present, an account of the church services held on the second Sunday after the first shot was fired, and contributed a graphic narrative of those events to the history of the First New Hampshire Regiment, in which is copied this extract from an article in the local press : -
" Very different indeed to that of Sabbaths lieretofore in this place, was last Sabbath. How entirely different was the general aspect to that of a week ago ! Instead of streets destitute of people, save liere and there a solitary one, the streets were alive with people passing in every direction. All was commotion and bustle. Flags were floating in the breeze, and nothing but war was talked of. Our village, usually quiet on the Sabbath, had the noise and confusion of a city of fair pro- portions, on ordinary occasions. The solemnity of the occasion was entirely forgotten in the warlike preparations and military appearance of the people. The sound of the church-going bell, calling people to the house of God, seemed more like a call to arms. Its solemn tones, as they rang out mournfully upon the air, made an earnest appeal and betokened something of an unusual nature. The appeal was irresistible. In it we recognized the voice that called the Revolutionary fathers together for counsel.
" At the church-going hour, instead of the quiet tread of devout people wending their way to the house of prayer, could be heard the heavy tread of marshalled soldiers, and slirill strains of warlike music. The Littleton Brass Band were out in uniform, and escorted the volun-
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teers to the Congregational Church. ' Washington's March ' was well executed.
" Arriving at the church the band filed along the platform, faeing the road, while the volunteers drew up in line in front of the church, facing the band, and in that position all listened to the air, 'Ameriea,' by the band ; after which the volunteers and band entered the church in single file and oceupied seats reserved for them. As soon as the volun- teers were fairly seated, the choir in a very commendable manner sang the national song ' America,' and the service opened with a short prayer, followed by the choir in the America hymn,
' Who, when darkness gathered o'er us, Foes and death on every side.'
Then the Lesson, Malaehi ii. 30, a prayer, and the singing of a hymn,
' The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast,'
preceded a sermon by the Rev. Chas. [E.] Milliken, pastor, on the present crisis, from the words found in II. Samuel ii. 12. The dis- eourse was eagerly listened to, and very generally well received.
" At the elose of the service, the congregation tarried till the troops had passed out and oeeupied the position where they had been imme- diately before entering, and the band discoursed the air, 'Home, Sweet Home,' at the conelusion of which the troops marched to headquarters.
" Afternoon. Reeruits assembled at the time appointed, and were eseorted to the Methodist Episcopal church (Rev. Geo. S. Barnes, pastor) by the Littleton Brass Band, which played 'The Marseillaise Hymn.' Arriving at the church, reeruits drew up in line and listened to the air, ' Ameriea' by the band, then filed into the church. The services were very impressive throughout. The sermon was preached from Matthew, twenty-fourth chapter, sixth verse, and was an able effort.
" During the delivery of a portion of the diseourse the whole congre- gation was bathed in tears. Young and old wept. Old men wept at the mention of the disgraceful manner in which the Southern rebels had insulted and trampled upon the American flag. Young men wept at the abuse heaped upon our government and country, and our country's flag, and could not, as yet, revenge it. The mention by the preaeher of the rebel flag flying above the blackened and grim walls of Fort Sumter was sufficient to eause strong men to weep as they had never wept before. The thought that the flag of our country, which had never been lowered, or bowed in humility to any foreign power, however powerful, should be torn down by a rebel band from one of our own forts, and supplanted by a rebel flag, is too much for patriotic hearts to bear without emotion. That flag must be replaced, eost what it will. The flag of our country, colored, as it were, in the
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blood of the sires and grandsires of the present generation, must by their children be defended and preserved. Where it still floats proudly and majestically, there they must keep it floating ; and where it has by violent and rebel hands been torn down, they must, if it requires every drop of blood in their veins, restore it. There it must be replanted and kept floating. They must preserve, inviolable, the bequest of their sires. A flag for which our Revolutionary fathers endured a long, arduous campaign of eight years' duration, and which thousands of patriots expended their lives to establish, cannot be permitted to be demolished or disgraced by their children. It as well deserves the shedding of our blood as it did that of our fathers, and if need be, must have it.
" The recruits passed out while the congregation remained, and fell into line while the band played the air of 'Home, Sweet Home,' after which the company marched off to the tap of the drum."
The volunteers, accompanied by their recruiting officer, Colonel Rowell, and drill-master, Gen. E. O. Kenney, departed for the regi- mental camp at Portsmouth, on Tuesday, May 7. The Coos company arrived from Lancaster by coach, and left by the same train that bore the members of our company from home on the first stage of their journey to the seat of hostilities.1
The scene at the depot was of the same general character as those that had attended the progress of events during the enlist- ment period. The people were out in force. Men, women, chil- dren and infants in arms were present to add their voices to the swelling volume of acclaim and encouragement, and bid their departing friends a solemn farewell. The band, too, had its part in the sorrowful confusion. It alternately discoursed patriotic airs and startled the multitude by lifting its brazen voice and sending the echoes far away among the encircling hills. Outside the members of family circles thus rudely broken, nearly every one wore a holiday air and seemed to regard their soldier friends as starting on a pleasure excursion. They did not seriously con- template a long absence or unpleasant results to their health or persons. The show of force to be made by these men was re- garded as likely to bring the hot heads of South Carolina to their senses. This feeling was illustrated by an incident which oc- curred about a week before the volunteers left to join their regi- ment. Benjamin W. Kilburn, a much respected citizen, and a noted rifle shot of this section, was eager to be of service to the government, and would not wait for the slow red-tape process adopted by the Federal authorities in mustering its defenders ; so he resolved to reach the post of danger by the most direct course,
1 Before their departure the men elected these officers : Captain, E. W. Farr ; 1st Lieutenant, W. W. Weller; 2d Lieutenant, Hiram K. Ladd, of Haverhill.
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and armed with his trusty rifle started for Washington to enter the service as a minute man. The story of his departure is told by a local chronicler. " He was escorted to the train by a band of music, the company of recruits, and a multitude of people confi- dent of the best wishes and the admiration of his town's people, he entered the cars and was borne onward to the field of action amid the cheers of the recruits and townsmen." His patriotic trip was not fruitful in results. He found the War Department hedged about with red tape even more impenetrably than the recruiting service at home, and his offer of service was met with the suggestion that he enlist with the sharpshooters for three years' service. His affairs in Littleton were not so arranged as to admit an acceptance of this proposition, and he returned to enlist at another time. The disaster at Bull Run, the sick and maimed soldiers returning to their homes, and the absent who would return no more served to impress the people with a just realization of the grave character of the work before them, and thenceforth the business of mustering recruits was conducted in a manner befitting the solemn task the men were to discharge. The momentous fact that war meant sickness, wounds, death, and desolated homes -that its duration was not a matter of a few days but of months or years- was impressed on the popular mind, there to abide until peace should be won.
The record of the services of the men who left Littleton on that fair morning in May will be found in another place. Taken to- gether, they epitomize the fate of millions who made the crowning sacrifice that the Union of the States should survive the assaults of a mad plutocracy.
When the men from Upper Grafton and Coos reached Ports- mouth, they found the First Regiment of Volunteers filled and no place for them within its ranks. The alternative was to re-enlist in the Second Regiment for a term of three years or to return to their several homes. Newell A. Kingsbury, Richard J. Huntoon, Rufus M. Pray, and Oscar L. Beard were discharged and entered Vermont regiments. Mr. Beard was discharged from the army on account of disability, after a little more than a year's service. The others served to the expiration of their term of enlistment. Daniel Brown, Francis H. Palmer, and George C. Wilkins did not re-enlist, the former two for reasons of physical disability ; the latter, whose health had long been infirm, returned and entered the office of C. W. Rand as a law student. Both he and his brother Philip were first transferred to Captain Chapman's com- pany at Camp Union in Concord, and were discharged at the ex-
GrowGile Gol'an BBGenel Us army
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piration of their three months' term of enlistment. George W. Wilkins died of a lingering disease in January, 1864. He was a young man of brilliant intellectual ability and attainments. Philip re-enlisted in September in Company C of the Fifth Regi- ment and died of typhoid fever at Camp California, December 18, following. He, like all the members of this family, was noted for intellectual strength and attainments. They were sons of Philip C. Wilkins, who for fifty years was the principal land surveyor in this section. Theron A. Farr and John F. Moulton saw continu- ous service during the war in the Fighting Fifth. The brothers Burnham re-entered the service, - George W. in the Third New Hampshire to die on the field of honor, and William W. in the Sixth to end his life by disease while in the army. All the other members of the first contingent re-entered the service as mnem- bers of Company G of the Second Regiment.
While these scenes were being enacted at home, the sons of the town who had wandered from the old hearthstone, animated by the same patriotic spirit, were enlisting to defend the integrity of their native land. Alpha Burnham Farr, son of Joseph, was born on the hill that still bears the family name. At the outbreak of the war he was Adjutant of the Sixth Regiment Massachusetts Militia, and accompanied the regiment on its celebrated march through Baltimore, at the time the first blood was slied for the Union cause. At the expiration of his three months' term of enlistment he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry, was promoted to the rank of Colonel in July, 1862, and was mustered out in November, 1864.
George W. Gile, son of Major Aaron and Persis (Rix) Gile, was born January 25, 1830. His paternal grandfather was John Gile, and his maternal Nathaniel Rix, Jr. His career as a soldier was distinguished. He passed successively through all grades of the service from private to Brigadier-General. At the close of the war he was commissioned First Lieutenant Forty-fifth U. S. Infantry, Captain in February, 1868, and Colonel in December, 1870. He died at Philadelphia in 1896.
Another son of Littleton who rendered long and meritori- ous service in those trying days was George B. Hibbard, a son of William and Seraphina (Learned) Hibbard. The family was one of note in the history of the town. His father built the brick house east of the Congregational meeting-house, and the black- smith shop which once stood near it. His grandfather Aaron Hibbard was a Revolutionary soldier, who resided in Bath. His mother was a sister of Mrs. Elisha Hinds, and daughter of Samuel
VOL. I .- 28
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Learned, one of the most prominent of the early business men of the town. When the war began George B. Hibbard was em- ployed in an iron furnace manufacturing pig iron at Central Fur- nace, Ohio, not far from the Virginia line. Twice, before formally entering the service, he responded to an alarm, once meeting the enemy at Barbersville, W. Va., where in a brief engage- ment our troops were victorious, and Mr. Hibbard returned to his home. Soon after he entered the service at the headquar- ters of Gen. George H. Thomas, at Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., as a clerk in the Quartermaster's Department. He was speedily
appointed Captain and Assistant-Quartermaster of Volunteers, and assigned to duty as Depot Quartermaster at Franklin, Tenn., and in 1863 became Division Quartermaster of the Third Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, and with it was at the battles of Chickamauga and Mission Ridge; was afterward assigned to duty in charge of fuel and forage at the depot at Nashville ; was brevetted Major in 1865 for services rendered during the war. Major-General Thomas says, in reference to his appointment at Nashville : " It being of the greatest importance that the depot for the army established at Nashville should be effectually and econo- mically operated, Major Hibbard was selected for this depot be- cause of his known energy and business capacity, and continued to supervise it until the depot was broken up in 1866, when he was honorably discharged."
In 1871 Major Hibbard entered the employment of the Northern Pacific Railroad as Commissioner of Emigration, and afterward as Land Commissioner, having charge of the lands west of the Rocky Mountains, and in this capacity laid out the city of Tacoma, and sold the first lot in 1874. He continued with the railroad seven years, and then engaged in railroad construction, building nearly a thousand miles of the Cotton Belt line. He was in 1901 connected with the American Palace Car Company at 27 William Street, New York City.
George E. Pingree, a grandson of Ebenezer, the pioneer, en- listed in Lisbon, where he was living with his uncle Osias Savage. He was a member of the first contingent that left this town for the war. Hugh R. Richardson, though not a native son of Little- ton, resided here during his youth, and while driving the Littleton and Lancaster stage learned that a recruiting office was to be opened at Lancaster at once, resolved to enlist, and was the first soldier enrolled from Coos County. William Adams Moore, while a student at Cooper Union, enlisted in Duryea's Zouaves, and Samuel Graves Goodwin in Ellsworth's Zouaves, but both
CAPT. GEORGE E. PINGREE.
CAPT. JOHN T. SIMPSON.
CAPT. THERON A. FARR.
LIEUT. EDWARD KILBURN.
LIEUT. JOHN R. THOMPSON.
OFFICERS, WAR FOR THE UNION.
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were discharged therefrom to re-enter the service as commissioned officers in regiments from their native State.
Another son of the town who served with distinction during this war was David Goodall Peabody, son of Richard and Eliza- beth (Goodall) Peabody. It will be noted that he was a grandson of Rev. David Goodall, and a brother of Richard Wales Peabody, now of Chicago. Young Peabody was educated in our schools and at the academies at Newbury and St. Johnsbury. He also familiarized himself with the French language by a residence in Canada for that purpose.
In 1849 he joined a company organized in Illinois to make an overland journey to the California gold-fields. This journey was attended with many hardships, and but little profit from the mines.
After his return from the Pacific coast he entered the office of Judge Willard, at Barton, Vt., and completed his studies under the tuition of William Haywood, at Lancaster, and was admitted to the bar at Lawrence, Kan., whither he had gone during the contest which was to determine whether that territory was to be admitted into the Union as a free or a slave State. He was a pioneer in the controversy and an ardent free-states man. After the Territory became a State, he was appointed County Surveyor and County Assessor, which positions he held until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he resigned them to enter the army. Soon after his enlistment he was commissioned a commissary of subsistence with the rank of captain, and assigned to duty with the forces at New Orleans under General Butler. He remained on duty at New Orleans until the close of the war, when he was transferred to duty at City Point, Va., where he remained until his discharge from the service August 24, 1865. Captain Pea- body left the army with the reputation of a skilful officer, and was rewarded with the commission of Brevet-Major.
Major Peabody married, in March, 1853, Elizabeth Holmes Adams, of Springfield, Vt. He died at Lawrence, Kan., August 15, 1868.
Major Peabody was a Republican, and was active in the politi- cal affairs of his adopted State, and a frequent advocate of the cause of his party on the stump.
John R. Thompson should be numbered among the sons of Littleton who have conferred honor upon their native town, both as soldier and citizen. He was born in May, 1834, on the meadow farm now occupied by Jerome Bean. He was a son of Samuel and Sally (Richardson) Thompson, and a grand-nephew
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of Asa Lewis, who built the old Bowman house, and was the first deacon of the Congregational church. When a young man, Mr. Thompson was employed in mercantile pursuits at Lisbon and at St. Johnsbury, Vt. In September, 1862, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteer Infantry, and was com- missioned Second Lieutenant on the 30th of the same month. The following January he was promoted to First Lieutenant. The regiment was raised for one year's service, and was noted for the subsequent political career of its colonel and lieutenant- colonel, Redfield Proctor and William W. Grout, -one in the Senate, the other in the House of Representatives of the nation. This regiment belonged to Stannard's Brigade which made the celebrated attack on Pickett's flank in his charge at Gettysburg. It was composed of excellent material, and in its ranks there marched no more faithful soldier than Lieutenant Thompson. Hc served on the staff of Generals Stoughton and Stannard, and was with a Vermont brigade at Gettysburg. Its term of enlistment having expired, the regiment was mustered out August 5, 1863.
The subsequent years of his life were mostly passed in Wash- ington, where for a time he held a position in one of the govern- mental departments, and was an assistant clerk of the Senate. He was a Mason of high degree and held several prominent offices in the fraternity. His personal appearance was attractive ; he was what is called a handsome man, possessed many accom- plishments, and made friends of all with whom he was brought into personal or business relations. He died at Washington.
Cornelius W. Strain, son of Edward Strain, and nephew of Daniel, the ancestor of the family of that name, now resident here, was born in Bethlehem, January 27, 1844. His family re- moved to this town and remained here a few years, when they went to Manchester. Cornelius's first venture as a soldier was with the First Regiment. When Col. Michael T. Donohoe raised the Tenth Regiment, Mr. Strain was appointed Captain of Com- pany C. During the time he was in the army he did his share toward winning for that regiment its high reputation for fighting qualities. Captain Strain was discharged for disability September 29, 1864. He died in Manchester February 3, 1891.
Another citizen of the town in these years who subsequently became a valiant soldier was Ora O. Kelsea, the Deputy Sheriff of the Know-Nothing period. He was Captain of Company H Eighth Ohio Volunteers and Colonel of an Ohio regiment of mil- itia. He died at Topeka, Kan., July 29, 1871.
There were others " to the manor born " who joined the army
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at this period, who served their country long and well, who did not attain the rank of commissioned officers, but who earned the lasting gratitude of their countrymen in a more humble but not less useful station.
We have seen that a large proportion of the men who enlisted from this town in the expectation of entering the First Regiment of three months' men, when they arrived at Concord and found the complement of that regiment filled, re-enlisted in the Second Regiment, the first from this State whose men were called "to serve for three years or during the war."
The Second Regiment, during its formative period, went into camp at Portsmouth, on grounds that had been fitted up for their reception by acting Assistant Adjutant-General Henry O. Kent. The men from Littleton were attached to Company G, Capt. Ephraim Weston, of Hancock. Evarts W. Farr was First Lieu- tenant, and Sylvester Rogers, of Nashua, Second Lieutenant of this company. The regiment left Portsmouth on its way to Washington on the morning of the 20th of June, under the command of Colonel Marston. At Boston it was received by the " Sons of New Hamp- shire," and escorted to Music Hall, where a bountiful collation was served. During the dinner hour Governor Berry and staff arrived at the hall, and received a vociferous welcome. After the collation had been disposed of, an address of welcome was delivered by Marshall P. Wilder, President of the Sons of New Hampshire, which was responded to by Colonel Marston. The journey of the regiment was continued and it was received with equal applause in New York, where it arrived on the morning of the 21st. The sons of this State resident in that city presented the regiment with an elegant silk flag. On the 23d it reached Washington, and went into camp on Seventh Street, where it began its actual service in defence of the Union.
The regiment received its baptism of fire at the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Here Henry A. Bowman was wounded in the leg, and amputation of the member was necessary. He was discharged from the service soon after this event. B. F. Palmer, the manufacturer of cork legs, a few days after the battle wired him a gift of the best leg he could make. Mr. Bowman was a son of Willard and Triphena (Abbott) Bowman, and a nephew of Capt. Isaac Abbott. After the war he was employed by the Fair- banks Company at St. Johnsbury. He died January 23, 1892. He was the first soldier, directly representing the town, who was seriously wounded in the great contest.
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