USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 60
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Captain Farr participated in every skirmish and battle in which the regiment was engaged, from the day at Fredericksburg to that at Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864, where he received a wound from which he never fully recovered. He was struck in the shoulder by a minie ball which shattered the bone, and he was compelled to stay at the hospital or at home on leave for several months. He rejoined his regiment, reaching the camp before Richmond, November 20. His wound was but partially healed, and, not being in a physical condition for field duty, he was ordered to Fortress Monroe to serve on a military commission, and left his regiment February 16, 1865. He did not return to the Thirteenth until the middle of the following June, and then for only a few days, but remained on detached service on commission or courts martial duty, until the close of the war. He was mustered out June 21, 1865.
Returning to his home, he entered his father's office to prepare himself for a professional life. The confinement and want of exercise were found to be injurious to his health, and he abandoned the purpose after a few months' trial. In company with H. H. Southworth, he engaged in trade for a few years, retiring from that business in 1873 to become proprietor of the Oak Hill House, which was a popular summer resort under his management, which continued until his death.
While Captain Farr could not be termed a politician, he took much interest in politics and was frequently a candidate for public office while his party was in a minority in the town. From 1870, when he became Deputy Sheriff, until his decease in 1895, he almost continuously held a public position. He was Deputy Sheriff eight years, Justice of the Police Court fifteen years from 1880, Selectman, Moderator, Tax Collector, member of the Board of Education and of the Committee on Town History, and its chairman from its organization in 1885 for ten years. In the social and fraternal organizations with which he was connected he was Warden of Burns Lodge, A. F. A. M. ; an officer of Lafayette Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Commander of Marshal Sanders Post, Grand
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Army of the Republic; Department Commander of the G. A. R. for New Hampshire; three times a delegate to the national en- campment of that organization; Master of Northern Pomona Grange for five terms ; President of the N. H. Grange Fair Asso- ciation ; President of the Littleton Musical Association, and a trustee of the Littleton Savings Bank. He discharged the duties of each of these positions with urbanity, fidelity, and credit.
In youth, possessing health and strength, he had the vigor natural to these conditions, and an ambition to be useful in his day and generation that led him, unaided, to acquire a collegiate. education. The hardships through which he passed during the war and the years of suffering that followed from the wound re- ceived at Cold Harbor wrought a great change in him. When he returned to his regiment in November, he expected to resume his duties as commander of his company, but he was not equal to the task. During the months passed at Fortress Monroe on detached service he daily crossed to Portsmouth to have the wound treated at the hospital. After he returned to his home he was several times compelled to enter a hospital to undergo an opera- tion for the removal of splinters of bone from the shoulder. In all this long period he maintained a ceaseless warfare for physical comfort, and was seemingly so passionless that he was never aroused to anger or swayed by ambition.
George Farr was an ideal citizen : the dominant trait of his character was purity of thought and action; all his aims were high, and when he could not lead he followed in the ranks of those who sought to elevate their fellows and aid the material advancement of the town. A brave soldier, an intelligent citizen, an honest man, he left a record without a stain.
On the evening of March 19, 1895, he left his residence at the Oak Hill House to drive to the village on business, seemingly in his usual health. While returning up Oak Hill Avenue he was stricken by the final messenger, fell from his carriage, and shortly after was found on the roadside.
John Farr, Jr., was the second son of this family. Before he was of age he left home to make his way in the world. He found employment in Willard's Hotel in Washington, D. C., where he remained until after the outbreak of the war. In the winter of 1861-1862 he was in trade at Newbern, N. C., soon after the occu- pation of that city by the force under General Burnside. At the close of the war much of his time was passed in business in New York City. He was reputed a good business man, was prudent and careful in making investments, and before going to Florida
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to try his fortune, was quite wealthy. Before the fruit of specu- lation in that State had been nipped in the bud by successive killing frosts, Mr. Farr had invested nearly all his savings in real estate, mostly in or near Orlando. He continued to hope that a few favorable seasons would revive the speculative boom and enable him to recoup his fortune, and he continued his residence there until the end, which came in his native town while on a visit to his sister, Mrs. B. F. Page, in December, 1903. Mr. Farr was an energetic and enthusiastic salesman, a careful business man until the fever of speculation had gained a lodgement in his strongly conservative nature, who won and held the confidence of all with whom he had business relations. He never married. His business affairs engrossed all his energies. In the latter part of his life he made an annual journey to his old home. He was a close observer of the proprieties in social life, an entertaining companion, having seen much of the world and known all sorts and conditions of men. He was a Republican in his political opinions, but his life in the South served to dispel many prejudices ; he was the only one of his father's sons who never had political aspirations.
The most distinguished member of this family was Evarts Worcester Farr. His Christian name served to emphasize and in a considerable degree perpetuate the memory of the friendship which existed between his father and the second settled minister in the town. His early life was one of considerable hardship, given to work on a farm during the summer months for a number of seasons and attendance at school only in the winter terms. When fifteen years of age, he sought a more congenial employ- ment. Leaving home without his father's consent, he went to Boston and worked with a farmer, driving a milk-wagon over a Boston route. The change convinced him that his lot at home was far from undesirable, and he returned a wiser youth and with an awakened ambition. Work was still his resource, but it was not all performed on a farm, for beside the winter terms of school he attended select schools, - one taught by Samuel B. Page, the other by Henry W. Emery. The latter was afterward mortally wounded in battle while leading a Wisconsin regiment of which he was Colonel, in the same war in which his pupil distinguished himself. Having exhausted the educational resources of the town, he attended the Academy at Thetford, Vt., from September, 1856, to July, 1859. He entered Dartmouth College in the fall of 1859. Among his classmates with whom he formed a friendship were Thomas Cogswell, Henry M. Baker, Nathaniel H. Clement, since
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of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Charles A. Pillsbury, of Minneapolis, Minn. He did not mistake the value of a collegiate education, but a circumstance of some moment to him led him to desire to pursue his long-contemplated legal studies and enter upon an active professional life. He therefore left college at the close of his freshman year and became a student of law in his father's office. This peaceful pursuit was interrupted by the bombard- ment of Fort Sumter.
When Col. Henry W. Rowell opened the door of his recruiting office to enroll volunteers for the First Regiment to serve for three months, he found Evarts W. Farr and William W. Weller. awaiting his coming. Though Mr. Weller had precedence, he waived his claim, and Evarts W. Farr's name stood at the head of the list as the first man enlisted for the war in this town. The story of the mustering of this company is told elsewhere. 1
It was the custom in the early days of the war to permit a company of volunteers to elect its first officers, and before leaving for the rendezvous Mr. Farr was elected Captain of this company. Owing to the fact that but one regiment of three months' men would be accepted, and that being filled before the arrival of Littleton men, thirty-four of the men re-enlisted under the call for volunteers for three years, and were merged with the men enlisted by Ephraim Weston in Peterborough and its vicinity. Weston was appointed Captain, and Farr First Lieutenant, and this company became Company G of the Second N. H. Volunteers. The commissions of the officers were dated June 4, 1861. The regiment assembled its companies at Portsmouth early in May, 1861, and left for Washington on June 20 following. Before the battle of Bull Run the regiment joined the brigade commanded by Col. A. E. Burnside, and bore a gallant part in that sanguinary engagement. Lieutenant Farr was seriously ill at the time, and remained at the hospital near Washington. Burnside's brigade re- tained its organization a short time after the battle, and the Second encamped at Bladensburg, near Washington, where it was assigned to the brigade under the command of Gen. Joseph Hooker.
In the mean time Captain Weston, who had been ill since the arrival of the regiment at Washington, died at his home in Hancock December 9, and Lieutenant Farr was appointed to succeed him January 1, 1862. The regiment was then stationed at Budds' Ferry, Md., where General Hooker commanded a division. Early in April these troops were before Yorktown, Va., and when the siege was ended by a retreat of the Rebel force up the peninsula,
1 Vide pp. 427-433 of this volume.
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they were closely followed by Hetzleman's corps, of which Hooker's division was a part. The Confederates made a stand at Fort Magruder near Williamsburg, and here Captain Farr showed his quality as a soldier. The day was rainy ; the Second had marched for hours through Virginia mud, ankle deep; when they confronted the enemy, their spirits were high in anticipation of a fight - and they were not disappointed. Through some blunder the Union force on the field at no time outnumbered the enemy, which was their rear guard commanded by Longstreet, though thousands under Sumner were within striking distance. The contest was continued from the middle of the forenoon until near sundown, when the enemy was forced to abandon the field. Through this action Captam Farr bore himself with great gallantry. While the regiment was deployed as skirmishers in the woods and waging an unequal fight, the Captain moved along the thinning line, encouraging his men, and keeping his revolver warm by constant firing. It was while thus engaged that he lost his right arm. " He was aiming his revolver, when a bullet struck his arm, shattering the bone. Coolly picking up the revolver with his un- injured hand, he made his way to the rear."1 He reached the field hospital unaided, and his shattered arm was amputated about midway between the elbow and the shoulder. He was then sent to the hospital at Fortress Monroe. He reached home May 30, 1862, fifteen days after the battle in which he received his wound. He remained in Littleton until the last of June, and rejoined his regiment at Harrison's Landing, Va., for duty on July 1, 1862. August 9 he was ordered to New Hampshire on recruiting service, and then bade the Second Regiment a final farewell.
Captain Farr had little time to devote to recruiting men for the Second, for on September 2, three weeks from the time he left Virginia for home, he was appointed Major of the Eleventh Regi- ment Volunteer Infantry. The field officers of this regiment, when it left the State for the front, were : Colonel, Walter Harri- man ; Lieutenant-Colonel, Moses N. Collins ; Major, Evarts W. Farr. The rank and file was composed of excellent material, and in the line of its duty won a high soldierly record during its term of service.
The change from the Second to the Eleventh Regiment cannot now be regarded, from a personal or professional point of view, as calculated to inure to the benefit of either Major Farr or the service in which he sought to be useful. The officers of the new regiment were with rare exception men of character, who bore
1 Hayne's History of the Second Regiment, p. 78.
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themselves with gallantry on many battle-fields. The seeds of dissension, however, were early sown among them, and bore abun- dant fruit to increase the trials incident to army life. These either led directly or incidentally to the resignation or assignment to detached service of some of the best officers of the regiment. Had Major Farr remained with the Second, it is more than probable that he would have attained higher rank and been of greater service to his country.
The Eleventh Regiment, after remaining in the vicinity of Washington for about two weeks, was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division of the Ninth Army Corps, commanded by General Burnside. General Ferrero was at the time in com- mand of the brigade. The corps was then in camp in Pleasant Valley, Md., not far from Harper's Ferry. This corps, as a part of the Army of the Potomac, soon after marched along the base of the Blue Ridge to Warrenton, Va., and then, under Burnside, to confront the enemy entrenched behind the impregnable fastness of Maye's Heights at Fredericksburg. Here the Eleventh Regiment participated in its first battle with the coolness of veterans, and displayed the heroic fighting qualities that characterized the sons of the Granite State throughout the war. Its position was on the left of the Second Corps, and when it was ordered, charged over part of the field made memorable by the troops of French, Han- cock, and others. Its conduct merited and received the enco- miums of the division and corps commanders.
With such a record it is the more to be regretted that it was here that an incident occurred that might well be left, like the battle-scarred fields of the war, to the obliterating hand of time, had not the records of the State and various publications, notably the history of the Eleventh Regiment by Captain Cogswell, have rendered it necessary that the memory of Major Farr should at least have the benefit of his own version of the event referred to as well as those of others who were familiar with the facts.
On the evening of December 14 the Eleventh Regiment was detailed for picket duty, covering a portion of the battle-field of the day before and near the enemy's lines. It remained on this service until the night of the 15th, when it marched to the rear without being relieved and without any order for so doing. Captain Cogswell says : 1_
" At dark . .. an order was received for the regiment, as soon as relieved from picket duty, to march back to the city and prepare to
1 History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment Volunteer Infantry, p. 48.
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defend it to the last. No relief came, however, and Colonel Harriman, getting impatient, went back to the line of pickets in the rear and found them gone ; then to the next line, and they too were gone ; and so on, to the right and left in all directions, no troops were to be found. After a hurried consultation with Lieutenant-Colonel Collins and Major Farr, both of whom advised an immediate retreat, the regiment took up its march and went down into the city to find nearly the whole army across the river once more. While the men were resting on their arms, General Ferrero made his appearance, and said, ' All right, Colonel, I was just going to relieve you !' and the regiment, together with the rest of the brigade, went back to its old camp."
This event led to a loss of confidence on the part of many officers of the regiment in Colonel Harriman, both as a soldier and as a man of integrity. The following May, while the regiment was at Stanford, Ky., Major Farr prepared charges against the Colonel with specifications. The charges, two in number, were : -
1. Desertion of his post while on duty before the enemy.
2. Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
He asked that the charges be investigated by a military commission.
The charges and specifications were approved and signed by sixteen of the commissioned officers of the regiment.1 For the purposes of this narrative, it is only necessary to consider the first charge, which relates to the withdrawal of the picket line on the battle-field of Fredericksburg on the night of the 15th of December.
The statement of Captain Cogswell before referred to is sub- stantially the version of the affair given by Colonel Harriman. The correctness of this account was denied by Major Farr, and by nearly all the officers whose names are affixed. to the charges. It will be seen that the list comprises seven of the ten com- manders of companies in the regiment. It is our purpose to consider the relations of Major Farr and Captain Pingree, both of whom were Littleton men, with the affair, for the reason that the Colonel charged that they were the head of a conspiracy to drive him from the regiment.
Major Farr claimed that he was not consulted in regard to the withdrawal of the picket line. He was ordered to notify the
1 The signers were Lieut. A. E. Hutchins, Capt. W. R. Patten, Surgeon J. S. Ross, Lieut. J. K. Cilley, Capt. George E. Pingree; Horace C. Bacon, Capt. Co. H ; James F. Briggs, 1st Lieut. and R. Q. M. ; Joseph B. Clark, 1st Lieut. Co. C; Hollis (). Dudley, Capt. Co. C; J. Charles Currier, 2d Lieut. Co. C; Charles E. Everett, 2d Lieut. Co. K; Natt. Lowe, Jr., Capt. Co. K ; Lieut. J. S. Bell ; Arthur C. Locke Capt. Co. E; Chas. Woodman, Capt. Co. F.
.
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company officers of his wing of the regiment of the Colonel's order. This he did. In giving the order the Colonel stated that " he had examined both flanks and the rear lines, and could find no pickets, and tliat the Eleventh had been forgotten." The facts were that Colonel Harriman, instead of having been guided in his action by a personal examination of the ground, as he had stated, obtained his information in the city from observation of the move- ments of the army there, which was crossing to the Falmouth bank of the river.
Capt. George E. Pingree gave this account of his knowledge of what took place on the night of the 15th of December, and subsequently at Concord : -
" While the Eleventh Regiment was on picket duty on the battle-field of Fredericksburg in the immediate presence of the enemy confronting us, and some time after midnight, I think, Major Farr came and ordered me to quietly and quickly collect my company and fall back, as Colonel Harriman had ordered us to retreat across the river. We moved down to the pontoons. Soon after our arrival Major Farr informed me that the Colonel had retreated without orders ; that Colonel Harriman had been back to the city and had found the army falling back and recross- ing the river, and had become frightened and gave the order without waiting for proper orders. . . . We crossed the river and were ascend- ing the hill on the other side, when we met General Ferrero, who angrily said to Colonel Harriman, 'In the name of -- - -, where are you going? How came you here? Who ordered you to desert your post?' The colonel replied : 'Nobody ordered me back. I took my regiment off, because I was afraid you had forgotten us. I thought the whole army had recrossed.' General Ferrero was furious, and said, among other things, 'I was going over to order you back, have just got such orders from General Burnside.' The General then ordered him to go to his old camp."
There is evidence, inferential but weighty, which strongly tends to confirm the statements of Major Farr and Captain Pingree. In the first place, it is hardly conceivable that General Ferrero would have greeted a regimental commander who was grossly violating a most important rule of military discipline with the careless words which Captain Cogswell ascribes to him. More important still is the fact that when Major Farr read the charges and specifications to Colonel Harriman, he asked to be permitted to resign. The document is dated June 2, 1863. The Colonel resigned June 5, and at once returned to New Hampshire, first making a brief visit to Washington, D. C.
The subsequent proceedings in this case are interesting. After
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the siege and capture of Vicksburg, which event took place July 4, 1863, Major Farr and Captain Pingree were granted leave of absence and returned home. Here they found proceedings had been instituted to reinstate Colonel Harriman in his old posi- tion. At a meeting of the Governor and Council, held August 15, 1863, at which were present Colonel Harriman, Major Farr, and Captain Pingree, who severally made statements in regard to the pending question of restoration, Captain Pingree says, " Governor Gilmore beckoned to Colonel Harriman, and they left the Council Chamber together. They shortly returned, and the Governor stated ' that he had handed Colonel Harriman back his commission, and that if we did not like it we could court-martial the Colonel.' A turbulent scene of crimination and recrimination followed." 1
Colonel Harriman was mustered under the commission of August, 1863. January 26, 1864, Major Farr was assigned to detached service, mostly on court-martial duty, as Judge Advo- cate, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterward at Indianapolis, Ind. Captain Pingree during the remainder of the war was connected with the Veteran Reserve Corps.
The second part of the charge and its specifications are not considered here, as they do not concern the character of Major Farr or Captain Pingree. There is an abundance of evidence bearing on the question embraced in the charge we have considered reflecting on Colonel Harriman, especially statements made by General Ferrero, and the indorsement by General Potter on an application for an opinion requested by the Adjutant-General of the State, which have not been quoted.2
The only purpose of this brief review has been to show that the assertion of Colonel Harriman that his officers, or some of them, were engaged in a conspiracy against him was without foundation.
1 Political, as well as military, strategy and tactics played an important part in those days. In our State their power could not be better illustrated than by the simple statement that they prevented the promotion of Col. Edward E. Cross, and made Walter Harriman a Brigadier-General. As furnishing a background and motive for the above proceedings, it should be said that at the election in the preced- ing March Colonel Harriman had been the candidate of the " War Democrats " for Governor, Joseph A. Gilmore the candidate of the Republicans, and Ira A. Eastman the Democratic candidate. The vote cast for each candidate was : Walter Harriman, 4,372 ; Joseph A. Gilmore, 29,035 ; Ira A. Eastman, 32,833 ; and 363 votes were classed as scattering. Judge Eastman lacked 439 votes of a majority. Governor Gilmore was elected by the Legislature in June. He owed the position more to Colonel Harriman than to any other person.
2 The charges and specifications against Colonel Harriman are to be found in the Journal of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Special Session, August, 1864, pp. 143-146.
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Those officers but discharged a soldier's duty, - a duty to them more disagreeable and requiring greater courage than that of charging over a field covered by dead or dying comrades at Fredericksburg. An examination of the record will establish the fact that the soldierly records of Major Farr and Captain Pingree are without blemish, and that they acquitted themselves as honorable, brave, and patriotic soldiers in every position in which they were called to serve their country.
When mustered from the service, Major Farr returned to his home and resumed the study of the law. He held many official positions, among them that of Deputy-Assessor of Internal Revenue from 1864 to 1869; Assessor of the same district from 1869 to 1872; Solicitor of Grafton County in 1873 and from 1876 to 1879; member of the Governor's Council in 1876, and member of Congress from the Third District in 1879 and in 1880. It will be seen that from the time he was mustered from the army in 1864 to his death, he held office, with the exception of 1874-1875, when the fortunes of political war placed his party in a minority, and he was removed from the County Solicitorship by legislative address in June, 1874. This loss was in an unexpected way made up to him in 1876, when he was nominated by his party as a candidate for Councillor in this district, which, though close, was considered safely Democratic. At this time, however, the Major's popularity enabled him to win. In 1879 he received the nomination of his party as a candidate for Congress, and was elected by a flattering majority. He took his seat in the House of Representatives at the opening of the session in December, 1879. He served on the Committee on Pensions, and proved to be a laborious and efficient inember, neglecting no opportunity to promote the interests of such of his compatriots in arms as had pension cases pending before the committee. He made few speeches, and these were generally in relation to matters reported from his committee. In November, 1880, he was re-elected to the Forty-Seventh Con- gress, his competitor at this election being Judge George A. Bing- ham. He did not live to take his seat.
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