USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
89
A HISTORY
have interpreted them; in time of national stress the people arise and say what ought to be and shall be, and constitution- alists have to yield and seek a demanded interpretation, else there is a revolution. The rebellion had to be crushed, if the Constitution and the heavens should fall. Human slavery must cease in this free land, if all civil enactments are thereby broken. The war failed to open the eyes of the wilfully blind.
The triumphant re-election of Governor Gilmore in 1864 quieted all doubt as to the attitude of New Hampshire in na- tional issues and blasted the temporary hopes of the Democratic party. The military campaigns looked more hopeful; the sol- diers were voting as well as fighting at the front; sympathizers with the South were more cautious. In Governor Gilmore's second message he says, "History will bear record, that along the valley of the Merrimack, and beneath the shadow of our granite hills, the first great battle of 1864 was fought and won. From that time speculation in regard to the position of New Hampshire ceases. Neither flattery nor threats can corrupt her unchangeable loyalty. The fact that the citizen soldiers of our State contributed their share to that glorious result which struck dismay to the rebel leaders requires no extenuation or apology. If our battle-scarred veterans have not the right to vote, I know not who has."
The governor called attention to the fact that New Hamp- shire had a population of 326,073, who were represented by three hundred and thirty-three members of the lower house, while New York State, with a population of 3,880,735, had only one hundred representatives in her legislature. He questioned whether the unwieldly proportions of the House secured any better legislation than New York and other States got with smaller numbers of legislators. The answer to this may be a comparison of the legislation of New York with that of New Hampshire since the Civil War. Large numbers may be un- wieldy, but they are full as likely to be honest.
At this time plans were made for the enlargement of the State House, and the people of Manchester thought it would boom their big city, if the State capitol were there. Therefore the Manchester leaders offered to build a new State House worth half a million dollars without any expense to the State. The
90
NEW HAMPSHIRE
bribe was not accepted, and the city of Concord voted one hun- dred thousand dollars to repair and enlarge the State House.
The debt of the State had run up from $30,000 in 1861 to about $1,825,000 after two years of bloody strife. Plans were offered by the governor to fund this debt by the issuing of bonds at six per cent. interest, payable after fifteen or more years. He thought it probable that the United States would ultimately assume the greater part of the war debt of the States, as was done after the Revolutionary War. He thought that a special tax, which for years had been laid on railroads and banks, ought to be imposed on manufacturing corporations also. He was president of a bank and superintendent of a railroad.
This year a draft was ordered to secure the quota of men desired for the Union army, 5053. There were threats of re- sistance, especially at Jackson and Portsmouth, and "in one or two instances there was some slight collision with the authori- ties." The same was true in some other States, but the result everywhere was a speedy yielding to rightful authorities. It was not deemed safe, after a night's reflection, for a small town to offer armed resistance to the civil and military forces of all the northern States. So the towns furnished "substitutes" at a great price, "who proved but heartless and inefficient soldiers." The number of men held to service under this draft was 2971. To the next call of the President for 200,000 men the State responded mainly by re-enlistments of veterans, yet a new draft was ordered for the twelfth of May to cover a slight de- ficiency. The governor and council offered a state bounty of one hundred dollars to each recruit. The expense thereby incurred was more than half a million dollars.
The governor complained that while Connecticut had six general officers who had risen from the command of regiments ; Maine had twelve; and Massachusetts had sixteen; New Hamp- shire had only one. He thought that New Hampshire citizens in Washington would do well to look at this disproportion. Of course superior fitness and abilities could not be the reason for the promotions of men from other States.
In the year 1863 a National Cemetery was planned, at Gettysburg, and Hon. Ira Perley of Concord was the commis- sioner from New Hampshire to look after the disposition of the bodies of those who fell in that battle. An appropriation of
91
A HISTORY
$1815 was made in 1864 for suitable monuments and grave- stones, and one of $705 was added in the following year.
Two illustrations may point out the intense political feel- ing that prevailed in the North during the rebellion. It appears that Lieutenant Andrew J. Edgerly of the 4th New Hampshire Volunteers was wounded and being sent home on recruiting service used his privilege in voting the Democratic ticket and inducing others to do likewise. The Secretary of War, through his Adjutant General, dismissed Lieutenant Edgerly from the service of the United States "for circulating Copperhead tickets and doing all in his power to promote the success of the Rebel cause in his State." This order naturally embittered all those who had voted the Democratic ticket, in that the order "falsely assumed the cause of the Democratic party to be the rebel cause, thereby indirectly charging nearly one-half of the people of New Hampshire with the guilt of treason." A resolution was offered by Mr. Sinclair, of Bethlehem, "That we disapprove of the above order as a foul slander upon the Democratic party- as unjust to Lieut. Edgerly-as insulting to the people of New Hampshire, and as endangering our free institutions by estab- lishing a precedent of unwarrantable interference with the free- dom of elections." This was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, whose report was indefinitely postponed.2
Lieutenant Edgerly's case was subsequently investigated by the committee on military affairs in the National House of Representatives, and Congress passed a bill, fully exonerating him and giving him an honorable discharge dating from March, 1863. He removed to Haverhill and represented that town in the legislature in 1874. The same year he was appointed by Governor Weston Adjutant-General of the State and served till 1876. He was born in Barnstead, 1828, and died in Medford, Mass., 1890.
The other case was that of Thomas Weir of Enfield, who enlisted in the "Fighting Fifth." Before going to the front he placed his two youngest daughters with the Shaker Society at Enfield, agreeing never to take them away so long as they were contented to remain. He was discharged from the army for disability in May, 1862, returned to Enfield and sought to
2 Journal of the House, 1863, pp. 144, 318; also Hist. of Haverhill.
92
NEW HAMPSHIRE
get his daughters back from the Shakers, but was refused. He procured a revolver, met, on the eighteenth of July, Caleb M. Dyer, trustee of the society, in the highway, and deliberately shot him, inflicting a wound from which he died within forty- eight hours. Weir was tried, convicted of murder and sen- tenced to be hanged. Sympathy for him was aroused because he had been a Union soldier. A bill was passed in the legis- lature, permitting the governor to commute the sentence. Then his pardon was sought. He remained in prison till July, 1880, and then was pardoned by Governor Natt Head and set at liberty. Such contrasted partiality is no credit to the historic record of the Republican party in New Hampshire, who suffered passion and prejudice to rule. But war upsets laws, customs and fair dealing. To fight for one's country is no proper atone- ment for deliberate murder committed thereafter, and to vote as one pleases is the right of every American citizen.3
In the June session of 1864 came up the question of ratify- ing the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place sub- ject to their jurisdiction." Mr. Clarke of Manchester intro- duced the following resolution :
Whereas, said resolution is now pending in the said House of Repre- sentatives; and whereas further, the system of negro slavery heretofore existing and maintained in a portion of the States of this Union has been the primary cause of hostility and division between the different sections of the country, finally arraying its supporters in armed rebellion against the federal authorities, and uniting a great majority of the slave masters in an attempt to found a separate government, to the end that slavery may be protected and perpetuated, therefore,
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened, That in order to re-establish the supremacy of the government of the Union, and secure a permanent peace, it is necessary, not only to crush the military power of the rebellion and to enfranchise the slaves of rebels, but also to root out and destroy the system of slavery itself; and to accomplish the purposes for which the Constitution was passed, it has become necessary to amend that instrument in the manner proposed.
Resolved, That the State of New Hampshire desiring to see this amend-
3 Memorial of Hon. Harry Bingham, LL.D., edited by Henry Harrison Metcalf, under the direction of Edgar Aldrich, Albert S. Batchellor, and John M. Mitchell, literary executors, p. 132.
93
A HISTORY
ment adopted without delay, hereby request the Representatives in Congress from New Hampshire to do all in their power to secure the concurrence of the House of Representatives, by the necessary two-thirds vote, in the adoption of said resolution before the close of the present session of Congress; and if possible, in season to enable the Legislature of New Hampshire to act thereon during its present session.
Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to forward immedi- atelly a copy of these resolutions to each of the Representatives in Congress from New Hampshire.
Mr. Samuel Swett of Andover voiced the usual Democratic protest in a minority report of the committee to whom the above resolutions were referred. The proposed action was, of course, "unconstitutional." The time was unfavorable for a calm and dispassionate consideration of fundamental laws. A portion of the country was under military law and this hindered full discussion and free action. The rebel States would have no voice nor vote in the matter. The adoption of the amendment would widen the breach already too dangerous and too fatal between the States of the Union. Its aim was the centralization of power in the Federal Government, to the gradual absorption and final destruction of the several States. However, the resolu- tions were adopted by a party vote, and the States still have some rights and liberties; in fact, some States seem to have found ways of evading constitutional amendments. Constitu- tions and international treaties vanish before the determined will of rulers and people.
The House resolved to endorse the policy of emancipating the slaves of rebels and the employment of negro troops in the Union armies, as well as of abolishing the system of negro slavery. The minority opposition affirmed that "war is not the proper remedy for our national troubles, and that if the people of America would save and restore their shattered Constitution and avert from themselves and their posterity the slavery of a military despotism and of a public debt, the interest of which all the avails of their labor and economy can never meet, they must bring this war to a speedy close-and that therefore we advise, invite and urge negotiations, proposals and efforts for a settle- ment of all our national difficulties upon the basis of a restored Union, under the Constitution, and if that can not be effected, then upon some other basis which will give peace to our dis- tracted country on terms alike honorable to every section."
94
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The minority affirmed also, that "the present unfortunate con- dition of our country is due to want of statesmanship and not to lack of valor."
To one who reads all this and much more like it, in the legislative action and newspaper comments of the times, the forbearance and toleration of the federal government in time of war is something wonderful. Liberty of speech and of the press ran to license and treasonable opposition, lending aid and comfort to the enemy. With nearly half of the voters of the North arrayed against the policy of President Lincoln, with unchecked criticism of all that was said in the halls of Congress or done at the battle front, the Republican party managed and fought out the war to victory and freedom, with little help from a large portion of the Democratic party in the North. Impartial history can not smooth over its rough places. The words, "rebel," "treason," "copperhead," are unpopular now and have faded out of use, and this is well; the Democratic party is more trustworthy than it once was, and this is better; but a political party can never escape the responsibility of its own past record, the inheritance of which may prove, in times of stress, a millstone about its neck. The prolonged debate be- tween the two great political parties might be thus stated-the Constitution as interpreted in favor of extreme State rights versus the Constitution as interpreted in favor of human rights and universal liberty. All should be thankful that the latter triumphed.
An extra session of the legislature was called by Governor Gilmore in August, 1864, a few weeks after the previous session had adjourned. The occasion was this: an act was passed for- bidding the State Treasurer to pay any claim without the ex- amination and approval of an Auditor of Accounts, and then the legislature adjourned without electing such an auditor, since the House and Senate could not agree upon a candidate. Salaries of officials and wages of soldiers could not be paid. The gov- ernor had sought aid from the justices of the supreme court, and they ruled that he might appoint an auditor, which he did in the person of his son-in-law, Edwin S. Barrett. But this was not the end of his troubles, for he found the State treasury empty. The bonds ordered to be sold at par, bearing six per cent. interest, could not be sold, while the United States were
95
A HISTORY
offering two hundred millions, in bonds bearing seven and three-tenths per cent. interest and one-quarter per cent. com- mission to agents to sell those bonds. The governor in his spicy message reminded the legislature that the time had passed when New Hampshire Sixes would bring fifteen per cent. premium. The act passed in the previous session was a nullity, and something must be done. The price of substitutes, he says, in Concord at that time was one thousand dollars, "and these men are in most cases such as will prove a curse to our army." Five thousand men were required within twenty-three days, and money must be procured in order to get the men. The lan- guage of the message is plain and critical, uncomplimentary to the judgment of the legislators. This was, of course, resented by the Democratic opposition, and a report submitted to the senate by Daniel Blaisdell of Hanover is a model of sarcasm. The governor, however, was authorized to procure $1,500,000 at the best rates possible, half of the amount to be obtained after bids had been received. This debt was to be funded later by issue of such bonds as could be sold.
The legislature of 1864 referred to the people the question whether a convention should be held to amend the constitution of the State, the ends proposed being: I. To enable soldiers out of the State to vote in time of war. 2. To abolish religious tests. 3. To diminish the number of representatives in the House to one hundred and twenty members. 4. To provide for future amendments. Two hundred and eleven towns voted on the question, and the majority in favor of a convention was 3,070. Of the 18,422 affirmative votes 1907 were in favor of limiting the action of the proposed convention to the amending of the constitution so as to allow soldiers to vote when out of the State. Meanwhile the supreme court of the State had de- cided that such voting was already constitutional. Therefore, the legislature of 1865 voted that it was inexpedient to call a constitutional convention.
In the fall of 1864, after a campaign of great excitement, much stump speaking, torch-light processions, political rallies and fireworks, Lincoln and Johnson, the nominees of the Re- publican party, were elected President and Vice-President of the United States. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was the substitute for Hamibal Hamlin of Maine, a movement to add
96
NEW HAMPSHIRE
strength to the ticket in the middle States. The Republicans too soon had reason to regret this action, for the tailor of Ten- nessee, when he came to be President, was not so obedient to party wishes as could be desired.
New Hampshire at this time was ably represented in the councils of the nation. Salmon P. Chase was chief justice of the supreme court. Senator Daniel Clark was president pro tem, of the Senate. Hon. John P. Hale was minister to Spain. On the resignation of Senator Clark, George G. Fogg was ap- pointed senator to fill out his unexpired term, and Aaron H. Cragin was elected senator in place of John P. Hale. See biographical sketches of senators.
Chapter VI AFTER THE WAR
Chapter VI
AFTER THE WAR
Orderliness of Discharged Soldiers-Gov. Frederick Smyth-The War Debt -The Bloated Bondholders-State Banks Become National Banks- What to Do with the Freedmen-Rights of the Reconstructed South- Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment-Cost of the Civil War to New Hampshire-Gov. Walter Harriman-His Illuminating Message- Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson-Gov. Onslow Stearns- Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment-Harry Bingham's Opinion of the Negro-The Campaign for Equal Suffrage Begins-Population of New Hampshire in 1870-The Labor Reform Party-Gov. James A. Weston-Kilkenny Cats in the Legislature-Gov. Ezekiel A. Straw- War Debts Transferred from Towns to State-Salary-Grabbers-The Liberal Republican Party Nominates Horace Greeley for President- James A. Weston again Governor-Political Spoils-Beginning of the Boston and Maine System-Gov. Person C. Cheney-The Financial Panic of 1873 and Resumption of Specie Payment-The Credit Mobilier -Condition of Banks-The Counting-out of Senators-Total Abstinence and Reform Clubs-Percentage of Illiteracy-Aid for the Centennial Exhibition-Civil Service Rules Unknown-Sixth Constitutional Con- vention-Church and State completely Separated in 1902-Hitchcock's Survey of the State-Rise and Fall of the Greenback Party-Gov. Benjamin F. Prescott-The Referee Law-Law against Tramps-A New State Prison-Gov. Natt Head-Insurance Companies and Savings Banks-Gov. Charles H. Bell-Gov. Samuel W. Hale-State of Public Institutions-Gov. Moody Currier.
"And we all felt gay When Johnnie came marching home." -
S UCH was the popular song at the end of the great struggle.
For the time the North forgot the half million of lives lost and rejoiced that some came back, that the cause they fought for had been won, that the Union was preserved, and that slavery in the United States was forever abolished. The disbanded sol- diers became the same peaceful and industrious citizens that they had been before the war. There was no spirit of militarism, no military caste, no disregard of civil authority. Our armies have always been for protection of the people and their rights, not to
99
100
NEW HAMPSHIRE
domineer over the people. This thought is well expressed in the Governor Smyth's message of 1866:
Since your last adjournment the New Hampshire troops in the service of the United States have all been mustered out, and our fellow-citizens, our friends and associates, who sprang to arms at the call of the country, and who survived the dread ordeal of battle and the more fatal dangers of the camp, have returned quietly to their accustomed pursuits and have been joyfully welcomed in a thousand happy homes. It is a matter of congratulation and surprise that soldierly qualities, unsurpassed in history, were so readily assumed and so easily laid aside. In other countries the disbanding of great armies has been followed, often, by scenes of violence and disorder; here, on the contrary, all is peace and harmony in all the towns and villages of our industrious Commonwealth. The soldier is only too glad to resume those habits of steady application and attention to business which have enabled New Hampshire to maintain a credit unim- paired and a prosperity second to none among the States of the Union. Such facts are more eloquent and convincing arguments in favor of our institutions than can be conveyed by any power of speech, and they show that the true safety of a nation lies in the virtue and intelligence of its people.
The election of 1865 resulted in the choice of Frederick Smyth as governor by a majority of over five thousand. He was born in Candia, March 9, 1819. He had to carve out his own future by study and industry. One term at Phillips Exeter Academy, the cost of which he had gathered in trade, was all that he could allow himself in schooling, beyond what he received in common schools. In 1839 he settled in Manchester as clerk in a store and soon he became a trader, displaying marked business ability. Tak- ing an active interest in politics he became successively city clerk, mayor, and representative to the State legislature, first as a Whig, and later as a Republican. Four times he was elected Mayor of Manchester, the last time with scarcely any opposition. In 1860 he was president of the State Republican convention and soon after was appointed by Secretary Chase one of the agents to obtain subscriptions to the national loan. He was agent on the part of the United States to the International Exhibition at London and was made one of the jurors. At the beginning of the war he was cashier of the Merrimack River Bank, which afterward became the First National Bank of Manchester. His faith in the govern- ment led him to invest largely in United States bonds. In 1866 he was, by vote of Congress, made one of the managers of the
IOI
A HISTORY
National Homes for Disabled Soldiers and served fourteen years in that capacity. He was a commissioner to the International Exhibition in Paris in 1878. Dartmouth College gave him the degree of Master of Arts. He died in Manchester, April 22, 1899. All agree that his administration as governor during two terms was characterized by great business ability, and that the finances of the State were managed to her advantage. His messages are longer than usual, dealing with all the public questions then under consideration.
The war debt had run up to $4,236,873, on which the annual interest was $258,000. The governor estimated that the demands upon the State treasury in 1865, unprovided for, would be $2,642,- 950. The first business was to provide for this indebtedness. The previous legislature had authorized the sale of bonds to the extent of $3,500,000, but only four hundred and twenty-four thousand had been sold, six per cent. interest not being sufficient induce- ment to obtain purchasers. The interest was payable in currency, then worth only half as much as gold. The governor asked for authority to make the interest on State Sixes payable in gold, and he expressed the conviction that currency would be equal to gold long before the bonds matured; the resumption of specie payment proved his foresight. He asked for the issuance of bonds bearing seven and three-tenths per cent. in currency, thus making the State bonds equal to those of the United States. The fearful and unbelieving would buy the currency bonds and so get a high rate of interest at once; the shrewder and more confident would buy bonds paying six per cent., in gold, exchange the gold for its double in currency, and wait for the resumption of specie payment, thus getting eventually twelve per cent. interest and incidentally helping the State out of a hard squeeze! The epithet, "bloated bondholders," became quite a common one at that time, for money- lenders all through the war and thereafter took advantage of the pressing needs of nation and States to elevate the price of gold and to get the highest rates of interest possible. The treasurer of the United States wept over the iniquity of Wall Street. Governor Smyth expressed the belief that the nation would soon assume the war debts of the States, and he argued that this ought to be done, in order to oblige the southern States to pay their proportionate share of the financial cost of the war that they
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.