USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Manchester on the Merrimack, the story of a city > Part 11
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Not merely by contributing man-power to swell the ranks of the army did the mills play a significant role in these war-years. The vari- ous plants promptly converted to the manu- facture of war-materials, and the old river, providing the power as it did, was the source of tremendous momentum to the northern cause.
As early as April, 1861, the Manchester Print Works were filling orders to produce the na- tional flag to the number of four thousand dozen and in varying sizes. They were printed in fast colors, with thirteen stripes and thirty- four stars. And early in 1862, Hon. E. A.
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Straw, Agent of the Amoskeag Machine Shop and Mills, secured a contract from the War Department for the manufacture of ten thou- sand rifled muskets of the Springfield pattern. Work began without delay, the "Armory" be- ing established at once with a force of three hundred men. The capacity of the plant al- lowed the production of from fifteen hundred to two thousand rifles per month, and twenty- five thousand were manufactured during the war. The company also manufactured seven- teen thousand breech-loading carbines, an effective weapon for cavalry use. A fourteen shot breech-loading repeating rifle, invented by W. W. Wade, an employee in the gun-shop, was also among the equipment produced.
The mills must have resembled arsenals, and the presence of government inspectors, who made their daily rounds to pass judgment on production, could but further add to the per- vading sense of the close connection between Manchester and the actual conflict. It may be easily understood that there was apprehension and fear of violence, especially during the New York and Boston draft-riots. Mr. Straw wisely provided for possible emergencies, and for some time a six-pound field-piece was mounted at the gate just west of the lower canal, in line
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with Stark Street. The gun was manned by members of the First New Hampshire Light Battery of Field Artillery, and a guard was stationed about the mill yard. Indeed there were hints of treason within the gates. A let- ter was intercepted at the Washington Post Office reading as follows:
Manchester, N. H. May 24, 1861.
Editor Inquirer, Sir,
Do you think the Southern Government would like to secure a valuable invention by which a shell has the same motion when fired from a smooth board as from a rifled cannon? If so, I can furnish it to them, as I have an article just got up which works admirably, and shall give the South the first offer if they desire it.
I should communicate with the southern au- thority directly, were it not impossible to forward a letter from this section to them.
If you will interest yourself in this affair and write me, I will be under many obligations.
Yours truly, J. G. Wyman
The secret agents of the government made an extensive search for the writer of this letter,
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both here and elsewhere. But no such person ever was discovered. Either J. G. Wyman covered his tracks with skillful ingenuity, or else he was a myth in the mind of some fanatic.
Meantime, the city as a whole was doing its part. There was the work of the Manchester Relief Committee, a board appointed by the city government in May, 1861. They immedi- ately voted a dollar and a half a week to the wife of every volunteer, with one additional dollar allowed for each child in the family. Further responsibility was assumed in 1862 when the city government passed a motion to pay a bounty of seventy-five dollars to every man who enlisted in the Battery or the older regiments. The coming of the draft in 1863 brought the vote to allow three hundred dol- lars to each draftee, to be used by him as bounty or as a means of hiring a substitute. And the next year a resolution was adopted to pay one-hundred-fifty dollars to all veteran volunteers who re-enlisted for three years.
The banks were mindful of their responsi- bilities. The Merrimack River Bank voted a loan of forty thousand dollars to the state. The Amoskeag Savings and the Amoskeag National Banks each loaned fifty thousand.
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There were also many individual gifts of equipment to enlisting men. In the files of the newspapers we find such items as this: "Mr. Rodney A. Manning, who enlisted with the Abbott Guards, was presented with a splendid revolver, fully equipped, by Mrs. Eliza A. Manning and Mrs. Mary Morrill, who return thanks to those who assisted them in the enter- prise." The following timely appeal appeared in one edition of the daily paper: "A Hint For Our Wealthy and Patriotic Men and Women: A portion of the Abbot Guards, who leave for Concord today to be mustered for service, have been provided with revolvers by the thoughtful kindness of friends and relatives; but a large number are as yet unprovided for and are un- able to spare the amount of money needed to make the purchase. We hope there is suffi- cient generosity among those who have the means to furnish each one of these young men with one of these useful weapons, a possession which adds much to the personal safety of each soldier in active service."
"Benefits" were in order, levees and similar entertainments, for which a charge was made and the proceeds contributed to the cause. A typical occasion of this kind was the ambitious Union Fair held in May, 1863, at Smyth Hall. Decorators were imported from Boston and it
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would appear that they outdid themselves in their efforts. The hall was not sufficient to al- low the carrying out of all the details of the project, and Museum Hall took the overflow. There were fancy articles for sale, pictures on exhibition, amusements-shooting gallery, fish pond, archery equipment-and, of course, re- freshments. Fourteen different organizations contributed to this "Benefit", which brought in large sums of money.
The women were actively patriotic. The Mirror of April 30, 1861, reports: "The ladies of the Hanover Street (church) Society met yesterday and appointed a committee to ascer- tain to the best of their ability what will con- tribute most effectively to the necessities of our volunteers." Another item mentions a levee to be given by the ladies of the Volunteer Relief Association. Following is an itemized list of what the Women's Sewing Circle of the Frank- lin Street Church packed in one box to be shipped to the Christian Commission, in July of 1864:
19 flannel shirts, 24 pairs of drawers, 78 handkerchiefs, 11 pairs of stockings, 22 cotton shirts, 2 pieces of netting, 6 sheets, 12 towels, 6 napkins, 13 papers of pins, 5 papers of corn starch, 2 dozen fans (75c each), 8 fans (5c each).
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In another box, they packed jellies and other delicacies, at the same time. Sewing, bandage- rolling, scraping lint, folding and packing gar- ments for shipment to the front, all these activities absorbed the time and energy of Manchester's devoted women. The churches provided quarters in their vestries for group work. Here were the fore-runners of the gray- garbed, white-coiffed women who, some three- quarters of a century later, blessed Grenier Field with their ministrations and turned Carpenter Red Cross Chapter House into a hive of industry.
Very obviously, there were few "slackers" in Manchester during those years. Cold statistics alone tell a creditable story. Service men from the city, including some non-residents credited to Manchester, were listed as two-thousand-six- hundred-eighty-seven men. If we include Man- chester soldiers who enlisted in other New Hampshire towns or in other states, the total jumps to two thousand-eight-hundred-eighty- one. Eighty-six were killed in action, and fatal- ities from wounds and disease amounted to two- hundred-forty-seven. The city disbursed $312,624.36 to soldiers and sailors, plus relief to families to the amount of $198,894.18. These are the stark figures, untouched by any suggestion of the emotional significance of those
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plain facts. However, we may be sure that the idealism of Manchester youth who marched away to face their fellow country-men on southern battle fields was not unlike that of the famous 172nd and other groups, who left the Boston and Maine Station later for World War II. There were the same parades, the same assortment of speeches, the same or similar military music. The immediate objectives dif- fered, but the psychological motivations were duplicates, one of the other. Perhaps, also, the later disillusionment.
Meantime, conscious always of insecurity and uncertainty, the city still carried on. Even as the river continued its steady course toward the sea, so must continue the everyday life of the community on its banks. War production came first, but there were secondary achieve- ments that had no connection with a divided nation, and there were peace-time events that deserve mention no less because they happened in war-time.
One important event was the consolidation in 1863 of the Manchester Mirror (founded in 1850) with the Daily American. The new publication was issued as the Daily Mirror and American, with John B. Clarke as owner. The same year, the first regular issue of the Man- chester Daily Union appeared. The newspapers
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presumably had their troubles around that time, with the price of paper advancing. One item pessimistically prophecies: "Newspapers that were no source of profit last year will go under now that paper is 33% higher. Publish- ers will do a good thing for themselves if they cut off all 'dead heads', including those excel- lent patrons who take papers just to encourage the editor, but never pay their bills."
In spite of war needs and increased expenses, education was not forgotten. In 1863 the Bakersville School was constructed, and it is recorded that same year that $110.16 was used for text-books issued to children unable to purchase their own. Regular instruction in music had been instituted in 1860.
The City Hall tower boasted a new bell dur- ing these years, the tone of the old one being deemed unsatisfactory. And the Central Fire Station on Vine Street was equipped for the first time with a bell, thus increasing the effi- ciency of the fire department. Previously, the City Hall bell had performed the duty of a fire alarm as well as serving numerous other pur- poses, with confusing results. The establish- ment of this new fire-call system was a distinct improvement.
Peace-time industries progressed, though pos- sibly the momentum was less powerful than
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that whipped up by war needs. The Mckay Sewing Machine for shoes was perfected in 1863, and the "medium horn", a resting place for the shoe during the process of stitching, was brought into use by a Mr. Mathes. Between six and eight hundred of these machines were man- ufactured in the Amoskeag Machine Shop. Ruggles Printing Presses also were built in Manchester, and a large quantity of machinery needed by the mills was turned out regularly: looms, spinning frames, drawing frames, speed- ers, spoolers and so on. Late in the fall of 1864, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company started the project of moving the course of the river farther over toward the west. A canal, ten feet deep, was excavated on the west bank of the river, continuing for about 120 rods, to divert the water from its original course, and valua- ble land, created by filling in, was added to the company's holdings.
There was a boom of "war-prosperity" in the little city during those years. As the Mirror expressed it: "Manchester has no poor now. The men of that class are chiefly in the army, and those remaining at home have plenty of work." The women, too, found plenty of work -in the mills-so that the homes suffered from a shortage of domestic help similar to that dur- ing World War II. One may imagine that the
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necessary adjustment in the gas-lit homes of the 60's was difficult-more difficult, perhaps, than that of the 1940's, when milady is blessed with a Bendix and a Hoover and an electric pig in the kitchen sink. An editorial in the Mirror, in 1864, commenting on the scarcity of domestic help, closes with this significant sentence: "Foreigners are now coming into this country at the rate of a million a year, and in time the lack of help will be supplied."
The City Marshall's quarterly report, pub- lished in the newspaper in January, 1863, re- cords no very formidable list of misdeeds. It mentions one stubborn child, and fourteen mis- creants guilty of throwing stones, but no serious infractions of the law are apparent. And, by the way, if you drove down Elm Street with a horse attached to a sleigh or sled, you were sub- ject to a law that forbade speed faster than a walk unless you had three or more bells jingl- ing somewhere about the rigging. This was a measure "for the protection of pedestrians", who obviously were accorded a few rights in that pre-motorized age. But although Man- chester seems to have been reasonably law-abid- ing, it may be that, to those concerned with other than temporal matters, the need of some sort of spiritual awakening was apparent. At any rate, in 1864, an old-fashioned religious
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revival swept the city. The pastors of the First and Second Baptist Societies-the Rev. Mr. Pierce and Rev. Mr. Chaffin-were the prime movers in the project. They arranged to have a Rev. A. P. Earle come and hold daily meet- ings in which the other local churches were invited to join. The Mirror comments that "a great awakening has taken place", and the reports indicate that there was widespread interest among both the old and the young. Nearly one half of the High School student body were among the converts or the in- quirers. There were prayer meetings follow- ing the more formal programs, and so in- terested did the attendants become that they were reluctant to leave, even when the hour was late in the evening. But apparently there was no ranting; the interest was manifest in a quiet and dignified way, with "no boisterous- ness or passionate outbursts", the newspaper assures us. Smyth Hall was the scene of some of these services, as the crowds could not all be accommodated in the churches.
And so the slow years of the Civil War drag- ged on. Manchester, fluctuating between hope and discouragement, carried on, both with her war-work and with the everyday pursuits that must not be suspended, come what may. Finally the longed-for news of the fall of Richmond and
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the surrender of Lee on April 9, 1865 was flashed to the little city.
And Manchester rose to the occasion.
The rejoicing in every heart was marked by memorable demonstrations, ranging from school-boy hilarity to impressive ceremonies conducted by the clergy. The stores were closed, the mills were closed, bells rang out all over the city, and the Manchester Cornet Band paraded up and down Elm Street. A large delegation of Concord citizens came down on a special train to celebrate with their neighbors, and they were met at the station and escorted with pomp and ceremony to the homes of both Hon. Frederick Smyth and Hon. Daniel Clark. Both of these prominent men made appropriate speeches to the crowds of people on hand for the excite- ment. A huge and enthusiastic mass meeting in Smyth Hall was addressed by Hon. Daniel Clark, Rev. B. F. Bowles, Rev. W. H. Fenn of the Franklin Street Church and Rev. C. W. Wallace of the First Congregational Church. In the evening, the quiet river reflected the glow of countless bonfires, and brilliant displays of fireworks lit the sky. Perhaps the bonfire built on the present site of the 7-20-4 cigar factory deserves special mention. A forty-foot pole was erected, with partly-filled tar barrels piled about its base. Two hundred oil barrels surrounded
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the pole to about three-quarters of its height, and from its top, suspended by a yardarm, dangled the effigy of Jefferson Davis.
The excitement all over the city was intense. But scarcely did the celebrators have time to recover their normal tempo before the whole nation was plunged into shocked grief and mourning by the tragic death of the great war- time President. The news arrived on the morn- ing of April 15, and the following day, Sunday, the church pulpits were draped in black, and portraits of the martyred president were dis- played in prominent places as the clergy paid tribute to his virtues. The day of the funeral services was set aside as a time of mourning for the entire city. Again stores and mills suspended their activities. Again city bells voiced, this time mournfully, the sentiments of the people, tolling an echo of the sadness in each and every heart. The Hanover Street Church was the scene of appropriate exercises, at which Rev. Cyrus Wallace gave a short eulogy, and Hon. Charles R. Morrison, who had been adjutant of the 11th New Hampshire Volunteers, de- livered an address. There was an oration also by Rev. J. M. Buckley of Detroit, Michigan. Local tribute was paid to Mr. Lincoln later, on the 25th of May, which was proclaimed by President Andrew Johnson as a day of national
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fasting. At the impressive exercises held in Smyth Hall, Hon. Daniel Clark gave an address on Lincoln's life.
Perhaps it is not generally known that Man- chester was linked up in a peculiar way with the tragic event of Lincoln's assassination. Twelve hours before the actual perpetration of the crime, it was openly reported on Manchester's streets that the president had met his death. The story was traced to a man by the name of John Morrison, but he had made good his escape before the wheels were set in motion to intercept him, and all attempts to discover his whereabouts were in vain. Investigations did reveal, however, that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, had a relative living in Manchester, and that only a few weeks prior to the tragedy he had visited here.
The war was over. A few weeks after the firing of the last gun, Governor Frederick Smyth issued a proclamation according official recognition to this fact. This was on June 25, and the days that followed brought more tangi- ble evidence as members of the various com- panies were mustered out of service and re- turned home. A series of celebrations, high- lighted by banquets, speech-making, processions and parades, paid tribute to the returning sol- diers and furnished proof of civilian gratitude
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and appreciation. The "glorious Fourth", in the year of 1865, featured an ambitious program, as the city remembered not only that a nation had been born something less than a century earlier, but that it had been saved during the past four dark years. The ringing of the city bells and the firing of the national salute ushered in the day. At 10 o'clock a mammoth parade was put in motion. There were the 10th New Hampshire Volunteers, the Battery and the Manchester Cornet Band, in the first division of the procession. The second included the Candia Cornet Band, all the Odd Fellow lodges in the city, the National Guards, and the Man- chester Fire Department. The ladies were not omitted from the picture. The triumphal Car of Liberty, drawn by four horses, carried thirty- six young girls, representing the thirty-six states, grouped around the Goddess of Liberty. The scene of the formal exercises was Merrimack Square, where Hon. Joseph Kidder read the Declaration of Independence, Hon. Daniel Clark made an address of welcome to the re- turned veterans, and Col. Walter Harriman delivered an oration. The occasion was memo- rable, colorful, and characterized by a spirit of rejoicing, yet with an undertone of solemnity in recognition of the sad hearts for whom this event was also a symbol of sorrow.
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No record of Manchester's participation in the Civil War would be complete without ref- erence to "Saxie" Pike, the fife-major who, says the historian of the First New Hampshire Regiment, "could handle a baton more grace- fully, throw it higher and twirl it faster than any man that ever led a band across the Potomac." He was among the first volunteers from Manchester, and it is said that he was probably in three-quarters of the battles of the entire conflict. "Saxie" Pike loved his job and deserved his fame, and when after the close of the war he returned to civilian life, he was to march at the head of innumerable parades, proudly twirling and tossing and catching his gold-tipped baton to the tune of martial music. He led the Amoskeag Veterans, he led the Manchester Cadets, and the crack Germania Band. He marched proudly in front of pro- cessions, not only here but in distant cities- Montreal, New York. His real name was Francis Harvey Pike, but by whatever name he is remembered, the truth remains that he con- tributed to the music and drama of life in Man- chester for long years. It was ironical and somewhat sad that the paths of glamorous parades led finally, for "Saxie", to the peddling of stove polish as a means of livelihood in his declining years. But he never lost his self-re-
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spect nor his dignity. Brushed off rather curtly by some busy housewife, he would draw him- self up to his full height. "Madam, perhaps you don't know me," he would say, "I am "Saxie" Pike."
Yes, the war was over, and Manchester, making the effort to recover her balance after the tension of the past four years, was perhaps acutely conscious of the old question, "Whither our city?" The river that had contributed so constantly to the industrial power that helped to hold the nation together, what were to be its services in the next quarter of a century? What part was it to play, as the city on its banks became increasingly a part of the great and growing America?
BLIC MARKET
W.S.CLEVELAND'S
BIG CITY SHOW
MINSTRELS
ELM STREET
Mid-Victorian Manchester
In November, 1865, the Mirror carried this regretful comment: "We are sorry to have to acknowledge the shameful sight of both men and boys skating on the pond of Merri- mack Common in full view of everyone who was going to church on the Sabbath." We may surmise that the city fathers deliberated over this and similar lapses in local morals and tried to do something about it. For in March, 1866, an amendment to the City Ordinances read: "Nor shall any person use any play, game or
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recreation on that day (Sunday) or any part thereof." Even as late as 1870, the Manchester police arrested an unfortunate culprit caught smoking a cigar on Elm Street on Sunday, and in 1874 a lad was hailed before the police for indulging in a Sunday game of marbles. It would seem that Mid-Victorian Manchester was also Puritan Manchester.
But the city was trending toward the mod- ern. There were straws in the wind. For in- stance, in 1882, we are told, the Mayor recom- mended that the street gas-lights should be al- lowed to burn until one or two o'clock in the morning. It would appear that activity in the wee small hours was not merely tolerated, but encouraged. Who wouldn't wish to avail him- self of the novel luxury of being lighted on his way at 1 A.M .?
There was also pageantry and color in the Manchester of that period. Those were the days of torch-light parades, red-hot political rallies and flag-raisings, accompanied by bril- liant displays of fireworks-provided the weather cooperated. They were the days when lodges were blooming with new chapters, their rites and ceremonies a part of the local pattern; days that brought into prominence the Louis Bell Post, Grand Army of the Republic, the Sheridan Guards, the Governor Straw Rifles,
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the Manchester High School Cadets. And how the members of these lodges, clubs and military companies loved to parade! If a corner-stone was laid, a holiday celebrated, a welcome given to distinguished visitors, a hall dedicated, a parade was in order. It must be believed that they were made of stern stuff, those men of that generation-their indifference to wind and weather a typical quality, and that their shoes were dependably sturdy. Those were the days when the glorious Fourth was ushered in by the march of the "antiques and horribles", in the early morning hours. No comfortable extra naps for the parade-enthusiast on the Fourth of July. He had to be abroad early if he wanted to watch the "horribles" with their grotesque antics. And those were the days, too, of lengthy oratory that taxed the patience, and lengthier banquets that taxed the digestion.
The flag-raisings of that day were part and parcel of violent political rivalry, for Demo- crats and Republicans were almost literally at swords' points in that post-Civil War era. A copy of the Mirror for September, 1872, affords a picture of a double flag-raising: "According to announcement, two beautiful Grant and Wilson flags were thrown to the breezes on Friday evening when the great enthusiasm manifested was hearty and spontaneous. The
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