USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 26
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General Montgomery was an ardent Federalist, but he was first of all a soldier who obeyed orders.
The first call upon Haverhill for men for active service was made upon representation of the people of the northern part of the state that there was danger of depredations from Canada, and that contraband trade was rife on the frontier, by which the enemy were obtaining supplies. General Montgomery drafted for six months' service at Stewartstown and other points on the Canadian frontier the company under command of Capt. Ephraim Mahurin of Strafford. This company was composed of men from Haverhill, Warren, Coventry, Wentworth, Piermont and Orford and served from July 27, 1812, to January 27, 1813. Ten mem- bers of this company were from Haverhill: Lieut. John Page, Jr .; Pri- vates Joshua H. Johnson, John Abbott, Jonas Flagg, Irad Ford, Levi Judd, Robert Mckeon, John Stearns, Nathan Stevens and Samuel Wood- bury. These men rendered efficient, though somewhat irksome service in the field to which they had been sent, though they did not win glory by being called upon to engage in bloody battles.
Haverhill was divided into war and anti-war parties. There was a feeling on the part of many that these drafted men should receive com- pensation in addition to their regular pay as militiamen, for being sum- marily called away from their homes for this six months' service. A special town meeting was called for August 31, 1812, in response to the following petition or statement:
We the subscribers, inhabitants of Haverhill taking under due consideration at this critical time, the necessity of protecting the frontiers against foreign invasion and against encroachments of savages and the hard task which falls upon those who are drafted to perform that service, are of opinion that they ought to have additional compensation from that allowed them by the general government as an additional encouragement for the more faithful and patriotic discharge of their duty.
This was signed by John Hall, Jacob Woodward, Stephen Morse, Jr., Caleb Morse, Richard Colby, Obadiah Swasey, John F. Hurlburt, Elisha Hurlburt, John True, Zach. Bacon, John Morse, 2d, Benjamin Morse, Daniel Morse, Amos Kimball, Abel Willis, Ezra Bartlett, John Page, John Osgood, Timothy A. Edson, John Page, Jr., Moses Dow, Edward Towle, J. L. Corliss, Josiah Elkins, Jona. Sinclair, Joseph Morse, Stephen Morse, 2d, Timothy B. Bayley. It is not probable that these signers expected to secure favorable action at the town meeting, though on the governor vote in the March previous, the vote was nearly equally divided between Democrats and Federalists. If they hoped to bring out an anti-war declaration on the part of the Federalists, they were adundantly successful.
The proposition to give additional compensation to such men as might be drafted for military service was defeated after acrimonious debate,
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as was also a vote to dissolve the meeting. A vote to choose a committee to report by resolutions or otherwise on the present situation of national affairs led to further debate, the opponents of the motion, claiming that the meeting having been called for another and entirely different purpose, no such action could be taken. Finding that protests and oppo- sition would prove useless, most of the supporters of the national ad- ministration withdrew from the meeting and the motion prevailed.
Ezekiel Ladd, David Webster, John Nelson, John Montgomery, John Kimball and Ezekiel Ladd, Jr., were chosen such committee, and they almost immediately reported resolutions, the preparation of which had been carefully attended to beforehand, and they were adopted as follows:
Government is instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the whole community and not for the private emolument of any one man, family, or class of men. When, therefore, the Administration of such a government is so conducted that the com- mon benefit of the whole community is neither the end proposed nor the object attained, when the speculative opinions of visionary theorists have for a long time predominated in the courts of the nation, by the influence of which a system of commercial restric- tions has been adopted in direct opposition to the rules of practical wisdom and the dictates of universal experience-when a system of notorious antipathy to one of the great Belligerents of Europe, and partiality, if not subserviency to the other has at length precipitated the nation unprepared into all the horrors and calamities of war, premature, unnecessary, and impolitic, with an extensive range of sea coast comparatively defense- less and an immense amount of commercial capital exposed to inevitable capture and destruction, and when amidst such a complication of errors and distress, the interest of a particular man and the emoluments of a particular class of men engross the cares and attention of the Administration of our Government to the exclusion or neglect of the great concern of the Union, under such circumstances it is not only the right, but it is the impe- rious and indispensable duty of the people in an orderly and peaceable manner to assem- ble to consult upon the public good, and with firm, united and strenuous exertions to endeavor to restore wisdom to our council and peace to our country.
Such a spirit of inquiry and investigation into the spirit and conduct of their rulers is the distinguishing characteristic of freemen, and the right of examination into the objects, policy and operation of these measures, a primary and essential principle of every free government. It is to this spirit that Americans are indebted for their Liberty, their Independence, and all their privileges as a nation: it is to the firm, temperate and delib- erate exercise of this right that they must look for the preservation, support and continu- ance of them.
These principles so dear to the patriots of the Revolution, at all times so important and in all countries so interesting to the friends of rational freedom, are in these times of unprecedented calamity, peril and distress rendered particularly dear, important and interesting to the advocates of liberty and the friends of peace, of commerce and philan- thropy throughout our once flourishing and happy republic.
1st. Therefore, Resolved, that while we fully recognize and explicitly acknowledge as the fundamental principle of our Constitution "that a majority must rule," and while we as fully and explicitly denounce and discourage all forcible and unwarrantable opposition to constitutional laws and the constituted authorities of the Country we can- not but remember that although in a minority Freeman still have rights in the Country,
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and that the Liberty of Speech and of the Press, publicity of debate and freedom of electives are essential to the existence of Republican government.
2d. Resolved, that in a Country where the theory of the Government is that all power resides originally in and is derived from the people, when all the magistrates and officers of government are but their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them, it is essential to the preservation of the rights of the people and to a just, proper and impartial exercise of their electoral privileges that all the channels of information respect- ing public men and public measures should be open to all.
3d. Resolved, therefore, that we cannot but view with anxiety, apprehension and alarm the late proceedings in Congress by which a system of measures has been deliber- ated, matured and avowedly adopted to check the freedom and prevent the publicity of debate at the whim or caprice of a heated majority, and thus to conceal from the people the unfaithfulness of public men, and prevent the detection and exposure of the impolicy and inexpediency of public measures.
4th. Resolved, that we revere the principles and honor of the patriots of the Revolution. Their example and conduct have spread a lustre over this country which we hope will never be tarnished by their descendants. The war which they waged was necessary and just : it was in self defence: its objects were great: they were the safety, liberty and inde- pendence of this country: they were attainable. In such a war we would be foremost in tendering our fortunes and our lives. But until such an occasion shall again call us to arms, we cannot but believe that the interests and honor of the United States will require us to cherish the relations of Peace. We cannot discover in the present war that necessity, that justice and those great and attainable objects which sanctified the former: drawn into it however by the constituted authorities of our country, we will as good citi- zens submit to the laws and make all the sacrifices which they require: But at the same time we are firmly resolved to exercise our unalienable rights of scrutinizing the measures of our rulers, to bring them to the test of the maxims of wisdom and sound policy: and to use every legal and constitutional means of placing in the several departments of gov- ernment men whose views shall be more conformable to the honor and interest of our Country, and whose policy and wishes shall be more friendly to the establishment of peace.
5th. Resolved, that while we are necessitated wholly to disapprobate the policy of our national administration as involving the sacrifice of our dearest rights and tending to a dissolution of our national compact, we declare our firm attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and our determination to preserve it inviolate, and to support the union at any hazard.
6th. Resolved, that a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Consti- tution of the United States, and a constant adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality, and all the social virtues are indispensably necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and good government: the people ought therefore to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives.
7th. Resolved, therefore, that for the promotion of the above described objects, and for the maintainance of our rights and privileges, and for the advancement of the general welfare, we will unite with any other town or towns in this county by delegates to a County Convention.
8th. Resolved, therefore, that it is expedient to appoint and we do hereby appoint Joseph Bell, John Smith and George Woodward to represent this town in a County Convention for the County of Grafton to meet at Orford on the first Tuesday of October next to consult on and carry into effect the foregoing object.
9th. Resolved, that the Town clerk be directed to record in the Town Book the above resolves.
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It may be noted that Grafton County was represented in the famous Hartford Convention, and that Haverhill, by this action ever connected with it.
That these resolutions, in the drafting of which the hand of John Nelson may be seen, accurately represented the feeling of the majority of the voters of the town may be seen from the fact that at the November election of 1812, the vote for Federal presidential electors was 120 to 67 for the Democratic candidates, and at the March election of 1813 John T. Gilman, the Federal candidate for governor received 135 votes to 86 for Governor Plumer, the Democratic candidate for re-election and the Federalists, who were distinctly an anti-war party retained their ascen- dancy in the town till after the close of the war. The service of Haver- hill men was confined almost exclusively to those who were drafted from the Militia, and no other draft than the one already mentioned was made until September 9, 1814.
During the entire summer of the war, there was a general expectation of an attack on Portsmouth by the British cruisers which were con- stantly hovering near that town. For a time the governor paid little attention to this, until in September, the people becoming thoroughly aroused, he yielded to their demands, and made a draft upon the Militia of two companies from each of the Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty- fifth and Thirty-fifth Regiments to march immediately for Portsmouth for its defense. General Montgomery went to Portsmouth in com- mand of the brigade there formed and rendered important service. He was accompanied by his son, George Knox Montgomery and by eleven men belonging to Capt. John D. Harty's company of the Third Regi- ment of Militia who served for sixty days from September 27. These were 3d Sergt. William W. Bailey, Privates Jacob Alls, Timothy Good- win, William Jones, Joseph Pratt, Daniel Perkins, Levi Stafford, Charles J. Swan, William Stevens, Ulysses Young and Freeman P. Bowen. In Capt. Reuben Hayes' company in the First Battalion of Artillery, detached Militia, drafted for sixty days beginning October 3, 1814, for service at Portsmouth were, Qm .- Sergt. Benj. Swan, Corp. Samuel Smith and Private Amos H. Jones.
In addition to these names Bettinger gives the names of eleven others as serving in this war, viz .: Sergt. John McClary, Isaac Carleton, Elisha Hibbard, Jeremiah Goodwin, Uriah Ward, Ezekiel Day, William Stearns, Henry Towle, Ethan S. Ladd, James Woodward and E. P. Woodbury. These names do not appear on the rolls of New Hampshire Militia detached for service, excepting that of Isaac Carleton, who served for sixty days at Portsmouth in Capt. John Bassett, Jr.'s, company, but who was from Bath. He later became a resident of Haverhill, which perhaps accounts for his being given place among the Haverhill soldiers
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by Bettinger, as it also accounts for the mention of Sergeant McClary, who served through the war in the Forty-fifth Regiment of Volunteers, where he had been sergeant-major. He was in his later life a prominent citizen of Haverhill, becoming a resident in 1832. The others named were recipients of pensions for service in the war and were residents of Haverhill. Some of them were doubtless among the 397 men recruited at Concord between May 8 and September 16, 1812, by Lieut .- Col. Moody Bedel for his regiment, the 11th U. S. Infantry.
It is no disparagement to others to say that Colonel Bedel rendered distinguished and brilliant service. He was a born soldier. He was the son of Col. Timothy Bedel, of Revolutionary fame, born in Salem May 12, 1764. He came to Haverhill with his father's family the same year. At the age of twelve years, he accompanied his father in his expedition into Canada, and was an enlisted soldier in his father's regiment, Capt. Ezekiel Ladd's company, from April 1, 1778, to May, 1779, acting a large part of the time as issuing commissary. Active and deeply inter- ested in the Militia of his state he had served through the various grades from 2d lieutenant of the first company of the Thirteenth Regiment to that of brigadier-general of the Sixth Brigade holding this commission from June, 1806, till he resigned in April, 1812, to accept a lieutenant- colonelcy in the Regular Army. In May, 1812, he took command of the "District of New Hampshire for Recruiting" with headquarters at Concord with orders to recruit seven companies. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Infantry July 6. From September 26, 1812, to August 22, 1813, he was in command of his regiment at Burlington, Vt.,1 "when in recognition of his marked executive ability, he was placed by his superior officers upon detached duty requiring energy and perseverance, and had no opportunity to participate in those battles in which his regiment had gained the title of 'the Bloody Eleventh.' Of course, a soldier from boyhood, he chafed under this deprivation; and when opportunity offered he hastened to the front to take command of his regiment, which, by the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, was without a field officer. He joined General Brown, when he assumed command at Fort Erie, September 2, 1814. At the memorable sortie of September 17, Lieut .- Col. Bedel, with the 11th at his particular solicitation, had the honor of leading Gen. Miller's column, and, being in the advance, disabled their guns, took twenty-four prisoners, and brought them from the field before the engagement became general, and otherwise so distinguished himself as to be honor- ably noticed by his superior officers." He was promoted to the colonelcy of his regiment, a promotion long deserved. On the withdrawal of the American forces from Canada, he was ordered with his regiment to
1 Potter's Military History of New Hampshire, p. 239.
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Sackett's Harbor, where he remained until the reduction of the army, when he returned to Haverhill. His town has reason, under the cir- cumstances and in view of the strong anti-war feeling then existing- verging on the unpatriotic in character-to be especially proud of the brilliant service rendered by her distinguished son, Col. Moody Bedel.
MEXICAN WAR
The part borne by Haverhill men in the war with Mexico, 1847-48, is found in the service of sixteen men in Company H, Ninth United States Infantry, Capt. Daniel Batchelder. This regiment had been recruited in New England under the auspices of Col. Franklin Pierce of New Hamp- shire as its colonel, Abner B. Thompson of Maine as its lieutenant-colonel, and Gen. Trueman B. Ransom of Vermont as its major, their commis- sions bearing date of February 16, 1847. Colonel Pierce was appointed brigadier-general, having command of a brigade composed of the Ninth, and other detachments, and Major Ransom was promoted to the colonelcy. Company H of the Ninth was recruited in the main by Daniel Batch- elder, then of Haverhill, from towns in Grafton County, and the Haverhill members of the company were 3d Sergeant Ezra T. Pike, mortally wounded at Chepultepec; Corporal James Williams; Privates Henry Albert, Kinsman Avery, John Brudle, John W. Bewer, George E. Barnes, John Flynn, William Gould, Jr., Joseph E. Little, Arthur L. Pike, Asa Randall, George W. Woods, Nelson B. Woodward, George Welch, Wil- liam W. Welch. The term of enlistment was during the war. Sergeant Pike was at the time of his enlistment in the employ of the New Hamp- shire Patriot at Concord. General Pierce in a public address at Concord soon after this return from Mexico in speaking of those who fell in the victorious assault on Chepultepec said :
And there was Sergeant Pike, who, having behaved with distinguished gallantry in all the preceding engagements, fell pressing upon the causeway to the gate below. He was on one of the arches of the Aqueduct, when a bomb from the castle exploded, and killed every man on it except Pike, and his leg was literally torn off by the shell, and was made worse by the pretended amputations that followed. The bone of his thigh was found protruding two inches, two or three days after. There was a second amputation. Some defect made a third necessary. When I called upon the Sergeant and said, "I fear you are not able to endure another amputation now," Pike replied, "I can, sir, I have made up my mind to it. I want it taken off today, and when they cut it off again, I hope they will cut it, so that it will stay cut."
Company H rendered excellent service. It was noted for its bravery and gallantry at Conteras and Cherebusco, and it led the assault on Chepultepec. Colonel Ransom was killed at this time. There were no ladders at hand to scale the wall of the castle. Company H was in advance, and Captain Bowers placed his broad shoulders against the wall, crying out, "Now, boys, up and at them," the boys used his hands
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and shoulders as so many rounds of a ladder, each getting a toss upward from the stalwart captain as he went up the wall.
Capt. Daniel Batchelder-the older readers of these pages will remem- ber Dan Batchelder, Grafton County deputy sheriff and auctioneer-was born in Corinth, Vt., May 10, 1803; died in Haverhill, July 8, 1868. He was active in Militia affairs; was appointed adjutant of the Thirteenth Regiment in 1833, and Captain of the Sixth Company of Infantry in 1839. He was active in recruiting Company H in the Ninth (or New England) Regiment for the Mexican War, and was appointed captain, March 6, 1847, but was detained at Newport, R. I., for recruiting service, the command of the company falling on 1st Lieut. George Bowers who was commissioned captain in December, 1847. Captain Batchelder resigned in March, 1848, and returned to Haverhill. He represented Coventry in the legislature in 1833, '34, '35, '36, '37, '38 and '39, and secured the passage of the act enabling the town to change its name to Benton. He was also a representative from Haverhill in 1845. (See General Batchelder.)
THE WAR FOR THE UNION
In the War for the Union, 1861-65, Haverhill may well take just pride in its record. It furnished its full quota of troops at every call. Those of her sons who went forth to danger, hardships, privation and death have been gratefully remembered, and those who remained at home, bore the burdens, which at times bore sorely and heavily, without com- plaint. The monument erected in 1912 at North Haverhill, for which the women of the Relief Corps of Nathaniel Westgate Post had labored and to the erection of which the town contributed by vote the sum of $2,000, commemorates in enduring granite and bronze the service of her sons in the great struggle for national life and unity. The war cost the town heavily in money, representing toil and sacrifice, of those who remained at home to toil on farm, in shop and store and in homes, wait- ing anxiously in many cases for those who never returned from the front. The votes to raise money were for the most part passed at special town meetings. The record is brief, but it tells the story of how the town rose to the occasion, and met each increasing demand:
At a special meeting, November 23, 1861: "Voted, that the town raise by hire, what money may be needed for the support of the families of the volunteers who have enlisted in the service of the United States from this town, not exceeding $500, and that the selectmen be a com- mittee for appropriating the same."
. At a special meeting, August 26, 1862: "Voted, to raise a sum of money not exceeding $8,000 to be appropriated in payment of bounties
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of $100 each, to volunteers who have enlisted since the call of the presi- dent of the United States for 600,000 more troops, and to all who may hereafter enlist for the term of three years or for the term of nine months in pursuance of said call to be paid when such volunteers shall be mus- tered into the United States Service in the New Hampshire Volunteers under the rules and regulations of the War Department."
At the annual meeting, March 10, 1863: "Voted, to fund the floating debt of the town and issue bonds or certificates of indebtedness to an amount not to exceed $7,000, signed by the treasurer and countersigned by the selectmen not to be sold less than par."
At a special meeting, September 15, 1863: "Voted, that the sum of $10,000 be appropriated and paid as bounties to those members of the enrolled Militia of this town who have been, or may be drafted or con- scripted under the laws of the United States to serve in the Army of the United States during the existing rebellion, or to the substitutes for such conscripts or substitute according to the provisions of the statute of this state, approved July 10, 1863, and that the selectmen of this town are authorized and empowered to hire such money from time to time as the same may be needed, to pledge the credit of the town therefor, and to give a note or notes in behalf of the town at a rate of interest not exceed- ing 6 per cent, and to pay over the money to said conscripts or substitutes according to the provisions of said statute."
At a special meeting, December 3, 1863: "Voted, to raise the sum of $14,000 and that the selectmen be authorized to hire on notes of the town at a rate not exceeding 6 per cent money to encourage voluntary enlist- ment to fill quota of 300,000 men last called for by proclamation of the president-provided that such volunteer assign to the town such bounties as he may be entitled to receive from the state."
At a special meeting, April 23, 1864: "Voted, to raise the sum of $3,400 to pay for voluntary enlistments to this date, and $1,000 to be expended by the selectmen in case there should be another call."
At special meeting, August 8, 1864: "Voted, that the town raise the sum of $15,000 agreeable to Act of July 16, 1864."
At special meeting, August 30, 1864: "Voted, that the selectmen be authorized to raise money and appropriate the same as pay for the serv- ices of agents to recruit in the insurgent states, and also to advance the state bounty to all persons so recruited according to the provisions of an act entitled 'An act to facilitate the raising of troops,' approved August 19, 1864."
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