USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > History of Plymouth, New Hampshire; vol. I. Narrative--vol. II. Genealogies, Volume I > Part 42
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In 1862 New Hampshire raised six regiments for the term of three years, - the ninth to fourteenth, inclusive, - and two regi- ments, the fifteenth and sixteenth, for the term of nine months. It was a momentous year in Plymouth; repeated calls, revision of the quotas, and enlistments were the order of the day. In 1861 the town authorized the selectmen to provide for the support of the families of indigent soldiers, and aided by the bounty of the State, considerable sums were expended for this purpose during the war. In August, 1862, the town voted : -
That the town pay the sum of two hundred dollars to each volunteer for three years or the war, who shall be a resident of this town when he enlists, and shall enlist in this town and shall enlist after this date and prior to September 1, 1862. The number of such volunteers not to
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exceed the quota which this town is required to furnish under the last call of the Federal Government for 300,000 volunteers ; said sum to be paid to each volunteer when he is accepted and mustered into the United States service.
During the earlier proceedings of 1861 but little attention was paid to the quotas of towns. In 1862 an official schedule was made and announced by Governor Berry in a proclamation dated Aug. 28, 1862, declaring that under all the calls of the president the quota of the State was 15,452 three years' men and 5140 nine months' men. Then follows the quota of each town in the State. The quota of Plymouth was sixty-one three years' men and twenty nine months' men, but the number credited on account of previous enlistments was not stated.
A number of volunteers who enlisted in 1862 were assigned to the sixth regiment. Among these were five who, at the time of enlistment, were residents of this town. They were Francis R. Corliss, Charles H. Luther, Walter R. Merrill, Luther Farmer, and Isaac F. McCarter.
In the organization of the ninth regiment no person then residing in this town was enlisted, but two who subsequently lived here are upon the rolls of this reliable regiment. They are Charles A. Sanborn and Gustine M. Wescott. Additional record of these and many other volunteers is given in the individual record at the close of this chapter.
In the tenth regiment was Michael O'Sullivan, who enlisted on the quota of Plymouth in 1862.
In the eleventh regiment, George W. Worthen was the only volunteer who was born in Plymouth. He enlisted on the quota of Concord. In the same regiment were George T. Ordway, who subsequently resided in this town, Robert W. Haney, who is named in the record of 1861, and Peter Clairmont, who was credited on the quota of Plymouth in 1864.
In the gallant twelfth regiment were twenty-seven men who merit recognition in this connection. Of these, three were born here and enlisted on the quota of Plymouth. They were George VOL. I .- 32
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H. Cummings, Henry R. Harvey, and Richard G. Stearns. There were five who were born in Plymouth and served on the quota of some other town, as follows: Danford Cook, Samuel W. George, James C. Nelson, Hiram C. Philbrick, and William B. Welch. Those who were born elsewhere and served on the quota of Plymouth were Joseph C. Bixby, Cephas R. Crawford, Galen Eastman, Pliny R. Gilman, Andrew J. Huntoon, Abner C. Jones, George E. Worthen. The veterans of the twelfth who have resided in this town since the war are Martin B. Avery, Nathaniel Cayes, Newell Davidson, Samuel Ellsworth, Arthur L. Kimball, Ambrose H. Mudgett, Sylvester Swett, Jeremiah Jenness, George K. Hutchins, Charles H. Jenness, Calvin M. Andrews, and Joseph E. Dalton.
In the rolls of the thirteenth regiment appear five names familiar in the annals of this town. They are Manson S. Brown, who served on the quota of Campton and has resided in Plymouth since 1865; William M. Sargent, a native of Thornton, who served previously in Capt. Joshua Chapman's company in 1861, and who lived in this town about twenty years ago; Oliver M. Sawyer, a native of Plymouth, who also served in the first regiment ; Daniel J. Spinney, who was born in Plymouth, enlisted at Ports- mouth, and Woster E. Woodbury, a native of Campton, who sub- sequently lived in Plymouth several years.
In the fourteenth regiment were nine men of Plymouth connec- tion. Timothy E. Bayley and James Otis Ward were born here; the former enlisted on the quota of Plymouth and the latter on the quota of Campton. Joel Barrett, Artemas W. Merrill, Lewis Mitchell, John Moran, and John A. Preston served on the quota of Plymouth. James H. Haines and Walter H. Sargent lived in Plymouth after the war. Mr. Haines was a Methodist minister.
While these regiments were being recruited, the organization of the fifteenth, a nine months' regiment, was begun. A recruiting office was established in Plymouth, and when the question of bounty was raised it was held that the former offer of the town did not apply to the volunteers to this regiment. Under the laws of the
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State a town meeting could not be held without a notice of four- teen days. To expedite the enlistment of men, the citizens of Plymouth met, August 29, in an informal meeting, with Wash- ington George chairman and Henry H. McQuesten secretary. At this meeting, after a free and animated discussion, Dr. Cyrus K. Kelley presented the following resolution : -
Resolved that we, the voters of the town of Plymouth, hereby agree that at the town meeting called by the selectmen of said town to be held on the twelfth day of September next, we will vote to raise and pay to the volunteers from this town for the term of nine months, who shall be accepted on the town's quota of the three hundred thousand of men now ordered to be raised for that service, each the sum of two hundred dollars.
At the town meeting which followed, the action of the informal meeting was confirmed by a similar vote, and a bounty of two hun- dred and fifty dollars was offered the men who enlisted on the quota of the town for the term of three years. In the meantime nineteen men volunteered in the fifteenth regiment. Of these Alvin Bur- leigh, Cyrus R. Corliss, Walter B. Farnum, Frank H. George, Frank C. Green, Rockwood G. Merrill, Justus B. Penniman were natives and served on the quota of Plymouth. Joseph B. Nelson was born in Plymouth and served on the quota of Hebron. Thomas G. Ames, Col. Henry W. Blair, John A. Drake, Simeon C. Eastman, Capt. John W. Ela, Edward E. Ferrin, George K. Jewell, Andrew J. Morgan, Edward J. Morgan, and Henry Webster were not born in Plymouth, but were residents in 1862 and enlisted on the quota of this town. Joseph C. Blair, who enlisted at Campton, subsequently lived in Plymouth.
Frederick W. Ballou, who lived in this town from 1875 to 1883, served in the sixteenth regiment on the quota of Franklin.
Plymouth was not represented among the volunteers to the seventeenth regiment. The organization was not completed, and the regiment did not leave the State.
The year of 1863 was the most grievous period of the war. The call for volunteers was continued, and the number of men of
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
military age was greatly depleted by previous enlistments. A draft was ordered, and enrolling officers were appointed. Joseph C. Fifield made the enrolment of this town, and his report is preserved : -
FIRST CLASS, 18 to 35 years of age : William H. Adams, Amasa W. Avery, Cyrus J. Anderson, Charles W. Adams, Andrew J. C. Barnard, James R. Bill, Harrison G. O. Burrows, Desevignia S. Burnham, Syl- vester W. Burleigh, Charles H. Bowles, John W. Butler, George O. Boynton, Andrew J. Blake, Joseph S. Blodgett, Alonzo K. Bruce, Joseph M. Burrows, John L. Baker, John P. Blodgett, Charles R. Clark, John C. Clark, Edward Coffey, Moses C. Corliss, Charles H. Clifford, Calvin Clark, Harrison M. Cochran, Henry C. Currier, Solon Currier, Charles F. Chamberlain, Moses R. Chase, Frank Chase, Thomas F. Clark, George Clark, Charles W. Cummings, Dudley L. Clark, Thomas B. Cultra, Charles H. Cummings, Joseph C. Cayes, Charles F. Chandler, George A. Draper, Wilber F. Doton, Alvah M. Draper, Cyrus P. Eaton, Nathaniel Eastman, Benjamin F. Ellis, Plummer Fox, Oliver H. Fifield, Hiram B. Farnum, Asa P. French, Quincy French, Rufus Foster, Charles M. Fellows, Charles G. Green, Nelson Graves, Edgar H. Gove, Thomas F. Glynn, Jabez L. Greenleaf, Henry S. George, Frederick E. C. Green, Henry A. Hazen, Elliott D. Hall, Henry C. Homans, Andrew J. Hall, Ira Jenkins, Joseph P. Jones, Charles G. James, Calvin A. Lewis, George W. Little, John G. Langdon, John Larkin, Ralph M. Merrill, Henry H. McQuesten, John Mason, David P. Moses, John H. Melvin, Charles Morse, Martin Merrill, John Morrison, Ethan A. Moulton, Samuel Milligan, Samuel E. Merrill, John M. Merrill, Cyrus W. Nelson, Thomas E. Nutting, Frederick E. C. Nichols, Charles D. Penniman, James A. Penniman, David Pierce, Andrew J. Pervier, William W. Russell, Jr., Harvey M. Rogers, Gardner F. Rogers, James L. Rogers, Thomas Robie, Silas M. Spencer, Silas C_ Stetson, Chauncey M. Stetson, Isaac D. Stafford, Charles E. Sanborn, Orlando M. G. Seavey, Charles G. Smith, Allen B. Stetson, Joseph N. Smith, Alonzo Stevens, Charles H. Spencer, Edward M. Stetson, Charles E. Stearns, George H. Sellingham, Owen E. Sullivan, Alfred M. Smith, John S. Tufts, Mellen E. Wight, Charles M. Whittier, Charles H. Wilkinson, George H. Wilkinson, Simeon Walker, John W. Wardwell, David Webster, James H. Wilkinson, Hiram Westcott, Edward D. Wood, Otis Young, Alonzo V. York.
SECOND CLASS, 35 to 45 years of age: Oliver Avery, Thomas B. Adams, Walter D. Blaisdell, William P. Blake, John Blake, Samuel Binford, Hiram Clark, Chase W. Calley, Joseph Clark, Daniel H.
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Currier, James Currier, Jonathan B. Clay, Thomas P. Clifford, Nathaniel F. Draper, William A. Draper, Ira S. Emerson, Joseph C. Fifield, Daniel B. Flanders, Levi S. Gordon, Charles M. Green, Benjamin F. Gale, Ben- jamin F. Gould, Charles M. Gilford, Seth Glover, Jr., William G. Hull, George H. Harris, Hiram Harriman, William Harriman, Ralph M. Holmes, Cyrus K. Kelley, Cyrus Keniston, Mark L. Lawrence, Ezekiel E. Merrill, Gilman Marsh, Harrison B. Marden, Alvah Merrill, Benjamin P. Merrill, Converse D. McDonald, Augustus A. Osgood, Shierburn Pearson, Samuel H. Palmer, Alba J. Pebbles, Albert Pope, Ransom M. Rowell, Charles Rogers, 2d, William H. Reed, Thomas Shute, Charles F. Stafford, John Whiteman, John H. Wilkinson.
The draft was made at the headquarters of the provost marshal at West Lebanon, Sept. 15, 1863. One hundred and twenty-three names, being the whole of the first class, were placed in the box, from which thirty-seven names were drawn. In Plymouth the fortune of the draft was awaited with anxious apprehension.
The men who were drafted were drawn in the following order : Charles H. Spencer, Joseph C. Cayes, Hiram Wescott, Charles H. Cummings, Thomas F. Clark, Owen E. Sullivan, Edward D. Wood, Thomas Robie, Henry C. Homans, Ethan A. Moulton, Edward M. Stetson, Charles E. Stearns, Samuel Milligan, Thomas B. Cultra, George Clark, Cyrus J. Anderson, Benjamin F. Ellis, Dudley L. Clark, Frederick E. C. Green, Charles M. Fellows, Charles W. Cummings, Alfred M. Smith, Frederick E. C. Nichols, Charles F. Chandler, James L. Rogers, Joseph M. Burrows, John L. Baker, Henry S. George, Charles G. James, Samuel E. Merrill, John Larkin, Andrew J. Hall, Alonzo K. Bruce, Charles W. Adams, John M. Merrill, Jabez L. Greenleaf, George H. Sellingham.
In anticipation of the draft, the town in August voted to pay each drafted man who passed examination, or his substitute, a bounty of three hundred dollars.
The number of men who were mustered into the service and credited on the quota of Plymouth in 1863 was twenty-four, and one man who subsequently was a resident of this town enlisted on the quota of Thornton.
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Two companies of heavy artillery were raised in the spring and summer of this year. Subsequently they constituted a part of the First Regiment Heavy Artillery, and will be named in the record of another year. Henry M. Tucker, who has resided in this town, enlisted in the first company on the quota of Thornton, and John L. Baker enlisted in the second company on the quota of Plymouth. James Dailey, who had received an honorable discharge from the Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry, enlisted in the Veteran Reserve Corps, and was credited to the quota of this town. He was dis- charged Aug. 14, 1865.
To fill the quota of Plymouth the following twenty-two recruits were mustered into the service. They were credited on the quota of this town, but none were residents. Michael Foley was assigned to the fourth regiment; Philip Brown, George McDonald, John Mitchell, and William State to the sixth ; Joseph Davis and Cammel Goodnature to the ninth ; and to the seventh regiment were assigned fifteen men, the first nine being substitutes for men drafted in this town, - Henry Smith, John Smith, Francis Gilbert, John Harrison, Charles Marion, John MeIntire, Andrew J. Pervier, Auguste Proben, Harrison Potter, James Smith, Charles Watson, John White, Frederick Diedrich, George Horsman, and George Logue.
Late in 1863 and early in 1864 many of the soldiers in the New Hampshire regiments who had enlisted in 1861 for the term of three years re-enlisted for the war. To each of the men credited to the quota of Plymouth the town paid a bounty of three hundred dollars : -
Alfred T. Hardy, Fourth, Re-enlisted - credit Haverhill.
Addison A. Parker, Fourth, Re-enlisted - no credit.
Moses G. Tucker, Fourth, Re-enlisted.
Wm. H. H. Young, Fourth, Re-enlisted. Leroy S. Heath, Fifth, Re-enlisted. George W. Smith, Fifth, Re-enlisted. David Glynn, Sixth, Re-enlisted.
Albert Smith, Sixth, Re-enlisted - Rumney.
Leonard P. Benton, Eighth, Re-enlisted.
William F. Hannaford, Eighth, Re-enlisted.
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In 1864 four veterans qualified by an honorable discharge from prior service enlisted on the quota of Plymouth into the Veteran Reserve Corps. They were Darius K. Bean of the second regiment, Henry G. Coffin and Calvin A. Lewis of the sixth regiment, and Gustine M. Wescott of the ninth regiment.
In February, 1864, the four New Hampshire companies were detached from the First New England Volunteer Cavalry and ordered to Concord to constitute a part of a full regiment of cavalry. The First New Hampshire Regiment Volunteer Cavalry was promptly recruited and organized. Three companies were mustered into the service in April, and the remaining companies in June and July. Lieut .- Col. John L. Thompson of the New Eng- land regiment was appointed colonel of this regiment, and served with distinction in many memorable engagements. Oscar F. Merrill, who enlisted in 1861, was one of the men transferred from the New England to the First New Hampshire Cavalry, remain- ing in this arm of the service from the beginning to the close of the war. Those who volunteered in 1864 claiming mention in the annals of Plymouth were George W. Lovejoy, Alston Brown, Benjamin Hall, Obadiah G. Smith, and Lemuel Palmer, who served on the quota of this town. Of these George W. Lovejoy was the only native of Plymouth. Robert Huckins, another volunteer, was a native of Plymouth, but he was credited on the quota of another town; and Thomas Tyrie, who was the Methodist minister over the church in Plymouth in 1887 and 1888, served on the quota of Derry. In February, 1865, Elbridge E. Webster, who was born in this town, and in March, Henry W. Upham, who was credited on the quota of the town, and Charles H. Fellows, subsequently a resident of Plymouth, joined the regiment. Frank P. Elkins, who had been honorably discharged from the New England regi- ment on account of wounds, re-enlisted in March, under Colonel Thompson.
The First Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Heavy Artillery included six companies which were mustered into the service in September, 1864, and one company mustered in October. The
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
regiment was filled by the transfer of the Light Battery and the First and Second Companies of Heavy Artillery. The regiment was mustered out June 15, 1865. In this organization were George W. Ellis, who was a native and served on the quota of Plymouth; Oliver T. Craig, who was born in Plymouth and served on the quota of Holderness; Benjamin F. Smith, David P. Moses, and Charles E. Wedgewood, who served on the quota of Plymouth, and Lewis E. Brown, Leonard Colburn, George E. Edmonds, Calvin M. Andrews, Henry White, and Renselear O. Wright, who have been residents of this town at some time since the war.
In the eighteenth regiment, raised in the autumn of 1864 and early in 1865, and made up of men enlisted for one year and men enlisted for three years, Plymouth was represented by eight men. Walter P. Blodgett and Frank J. Thurston were born in Ply- mouth; Simeon C. Eastman, a veteran of the fifteenth, and Charles E. Sanborn, a veteran of the fifth, served on the quota of Plymouth ; Rev. Anthony C. Hardy, the chaplain of the regiment, William A. Chandler, Harris J. Goss, and Elbridge G. Foss have resided in this town since the war.
James C. Nelson, a native of Plymouth, enlisted in 1862 into the twelfth regiment, and was named in the record of that year. He was a sergeant, and was wounded severely at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863. He was discharged March 30, 1864, to accept promotion, and was appointed a first lieutenant of the Thirty- second Infantry United States Colored Troops, Feb. 26, 1864. He was discharged on account of disability, Sept. 8, 1864.
In July and August of this year nine colored men were mustered into the service in Virginia and credited on the quota of Plymouth. To these men a bounty was paid by the town. Eight were assigned to the thirty-eighth and one to the forty-third regiment. They were John L. Brown, George Butts, Edwin Diggs, Kiah Diggs, Frank King, Edmund Roberts, Dred Smith, Isaac Smith, and Jerry Warren.
In March, 1865, an exhibit of the deficiencies in the quotas
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of the towns of New Hampshire, prepared by the military authori- ties, was published in the newspapers of the State. Holderness was held to furnish four, Campton five, and Plymouth twelve men. Four of those who enlisted in the regiment of cavalry at this time have been noted. Thomas Smith, a native of England, had a business meeting with the selectmen, and enlisted on the quota of Plymouth a few days before the exhibit was published. He was assigned to the third regiment.
During the war this town was represented in the United States Navy by ten men. The individual record is included in the list of soldiers at the close of this chapter. They were Leonard Camp- bell, Hiram B. Farnum, Alvah C. Ferrin, who was born in Ply- mouth, and Michael Casey, Christopher Champion, Charles Cheney, George Evans, William J. Flynn, William Higgins, James Ryan, and Harry Smith, who were credited on the quota of the town.
In the foregoing record of individual service in New Hampshire regiments during the Civil War, it is probable that all the natives of Plymouth and very nearly all of those who ever lived in this town are given.
There are many sons of Plymouth and former residents of this town who served in the military organizations of other States whose record has not been secured. So far as known they are included in the general list of soldiers on the following pages.
The demands of the government for additional men in 1864 and early in 1865 were not readily answered, and a bounty of one - thousand and even twelve hundred dollars was paid by many of the towns of this State. In this connection the town of Plymouth, at a meeting held April 20, 1864, offered a bounty of twelve hun- dred dollars to men enlisting on the quota of the town. Under the last call of the President the town voted, Feb. 20, 1865, " to author- ize the selectmen to borrow ten thousand dollars and appropriate the same, at their discretion, in payment of bounties for volunteers to fill the quota of the town."
During the war the town tax was a serious burden, and in 1866,
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when the town accounts were made up, the debt of Plymouth was over $30,000, and in 1872 it was $40,000.
In 1865 the legislature authorized and in 1866 the governor ap- pointed a commission to audit the war expenditures of the cities and towns of the State. The selectmen of Plymouth appeared before the commissioned in April, 1866, and established a claim that the town had paid bounties to one hundred and thirteen men amounting to $31,012.00. This number of volunteers on the credit of the quotas of Plymouth did not include the volunteers of 1861, to whom no bounty had been paid. At this time the State did not assume any part of the war expenses of the towns. In 1870 a second commission was constituted to ascertain the number of men furnished by each town on all the calls of the President after and including the call of July, 1862. This commission reported to the legislature that the town of Plymouth had paid bounties after the call of July, 1862, to one hundred and nineteen men, being ninety- four men enlisting for three years, eight men for one year, and seventeen men for nine months.
The legislature authorized the issue of a series of State bonds known as the Municipal War Loan, and paid each town, in a partial assumption of war expenditure, the sum of $100.00 for each man mustered into the service for three years, $33.331/3 for one year men, and $25.00 for men serving nine months. The sum of $10,091.67 was paid by the State to Cyrus Keniston for the town of Plymouth, May 28, 1872.
The number of volunteers in the Civil War from any town will largely depend upon the standpoint from which the computation is made. If all the men in the service who were born in Plymouth, all who at any time have lived here, and all of the hired recruits are included, the whole number is nearly three hundred. And if to the one hundred and nineteen men who were mustered into the service after July 1, 1862, and credited to this town by the State commission, is added the number of volunteers of 1861, who at the time of enlistment were residents here, the sum is one hundred and fifty-five to one hundred and sixty-five, depending upon the
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standard of admission to an honored roll. Because during the first year of the Civil War several residents of this town enlisted while temporarily absent, because several enlisted here who had scarcely established a residence, and because a few residents of this town enlisted on the quota and were paid bounties by other towns, the exact number of volunteers from Plymouth or from other towns is not easily determined.
There was no newspaper published in Plymouth during the Civil War. Compared with the usages of the present, the news- papers of the State paid little attention to local news; conse- quently through the years of trial and sacrifice the daily events in the life of Plymouth are not recorded.
There were many union meetings and a memorable flag raising, which gave a vivid expression of the patriotic sentiment of the community. A truthful narrative of these proceedings would be a fitting tribute to the loyal attitude of the town during the war. In no other town were the people more active or more enthusiastic in a vigorous support of the government. In this attitude the community was conspicuous. The mention of a few would be an unwarranted oversight of many.
Before the Civil War, and with slight appreciation of the hero- ism of American womanhood, Charles Kingsley wrote the familiar line, " Men must work, and women must weep." There is nothing in the history of our country more inspiring than the faith and the heroism of the American woman in every season of trial and adversity. If she weeps, she labors, and her tears are the christen- ing of an exalted purpose and an inspiring heroism.
With a thought and care for the soldiers in the field, the women of Plymouth maintained an organization from the beginning to the close of the war. In their homes and in the assembled circle they labored for the comfort of the soldier and for the necessities of the sick and the wounded. Many boxes of clothing, bandages, lint, and other articles of comfort or necessity were forwarded directly to the soldiers from Plymouth or were sent through the care of one of the charitable commissions of the time. The labor
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performed and the amount of these offerings were large, and often sums of money were forwarded to the Sanitary Commission or to some similar organization of good Samaritans. A record has not been preserved. The left hand has not been told what the right hand has wrought. In the newspapers of the time are found repeated evidence of the good works of the women of Plymouth, similar to an acknowledgment by the Sanitary Commission appear- ing in the New Hampshire Statesman of Aug. 9, 1862.
Ladies of Plymouth, $36.25
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