USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of Trenton, New Jersey : the record of its early settlement and corporate progress. > Part 16
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The members of the several companies were to meet in May of each year, at the City Hall, for the election of a Chief Engineer and two Assistants. This ordinance not being satisfactory, on the ninth of October, 1854, Council passed a new ordinanee, which provided for a Chief Engineer and as many Assistants as there were companies. The Chief Engineer was to have absolute control and command over all the engines and persons connected with the department, and in his absenee the Assistants were to aet by seniority. This ordinance, for a while, was satisfactory.
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
Through what was considered by some of the companies unwarranted action on the part of the Board of Engineers in 1859, in regard to the companies located in the southern part of the town, the ordinance beeame a dead letter.
Upon the suggestion of the various companies, in 1866, Couneil passed an ordinance similar to the one of 1854, except that one of the Assistant Engineers was to be located on the north side and one upon the south side of the creek. On May 7th, 1872, the appointment of Chief and Assistant Engineers was taken from representatives of the companies, where it had, for years, been lodged, and was vested in Common Council.
In these earlier times, it is noteworthy that philanthropie movements were on foot among the firemen.
On the twelfth of November, 1855, a meeting of the Board of Engineers and the Presidents of the different fire and hose con - panies was held at the Union engine-house, for the purpose of organizing an association under an aet of the Legislature entitled "An act to incorporate benevolent and charitable associations," approved March 9th, 1853, for the relief of the members of the fire depart- ment organized under the ordinance of the city, who may become sick or disabled in the discharge of their duty as firemen, and to provide for the decent burial of such as may die without leaving sufficient means for that purpose.
The name adopted was " The Fire Asso- ciation for the Relief of Disabled Firemen of the City of Trenton," to which "Volunteer" was, in 1878, added before the word " Fire."
The officers elected were A. S. Livings- ton, President ; Jonathan S. Fish, Vice Presi- dent ; Charles Moore, Secretary ; Joseph G. Brearley, Treasurer.
Under the charter of 1874, and for ten years thereafter, the growth of the volunteer department was very satisfactory. Changes were, from to time, made in the details of management ; a better class of engines re- placed the old ones ; the electric system, with CHARLES S ALLEN, FIRST ASSISTANT ENGINEER. fire boxes at various points of the city, was projeeted, and the old-time feuds among the companies, which played as prominent a part as friendship, grew less intense. The individual became lost in the system ; the rivalries for "first water," racing and attendant evils slowly dis- appeared, and the way for a paid department was slowly but surely being paved. No marked changes occurred until upon the sixteenth of October, 1888, when the fire ordinance was revised. It provided for a Chief Engineer, two Assistants, a Fire Warden in each ward, nine steam fire engine companies, two hose companies, two hook and ladder companies. To each fire engine company could be attached not more than seventy-five members, to each hose company forty members and to each hook and ladder company fifty members. The Secretary of each company, in April of each year, was required to file with the City Clerk a list of members of each company. A biennial convention, in April, was to be held in the City Hall to eleet a Chief Engineer and two Assistants, one of which must be a member of a company north of the Assanpink creek and the other south thereof. The official title of the Chief and his Assistants was "The Board of Engineers of the Fire Department."
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
The Chief Engineer had practical control of the engines, engine-houses and apparatus. The duties of the Assistant Engineers and Fire Wardens were also defined, as well as those of the firemen. Council appropriated $1,800 to cach engine company, $1,000 to each hook and ladder company
and $900 to each hose company, with one hundred feet of new hose per annum to each engine and hose company.
On the fourteenth of May, 1889, the Board of Fire Commissioners was form- ally organized, from which plan of pro- cedure the present paid fire department was evolved. From the ninth to the eleventh of August, 1890, the volunteer ser- vice was temporarily disbanded, owing to dissatisfaction among certain of the com- panies concerning the amount of money paid for maintenance. A paid department tided over the difficulty, and the companies resumed duty on the assurances that a permanent paid department should not be organized before June, 1891. By 1891, the fire alarm telegraph service, after more than ten years of development, was brought to a marked degree of perfection. Four circuits were then established.
An attempt was made to establish a paid department in Trenton under the act of 1889, but as that statute was unconstitu- tional, the matter remained in abeyance.
However, upon the fourth of April, 1892, the Volunteer Fire Department of the city of Trenton became a creation of the past and the new paid department went into operation. Since its organization, the JAMES W. BENNETT, SECOND ASSISTANT ENGINEER. paid department has become thoroughly equipped. The engines and apparatus, the horses, the houses and the type of men selected for arduous duties, though various factors in the problem, are all of high standards. Trenton
was proud-very proud-of her volunteer department, and for the city, the paid department is only adding new laurels to past achievements.
The present organization of the fire department is J. Henry Klein, Presi- dent ; Louis Dichl, Jr., Philip Freuden- - macher and Henry C. Kafer, Commis- sioners, and J. Wallace Hoff, Secretary. The headquarters are on Perry, between Broad and Warren streets, in the old Union engine-house. The Chief En- gineer is William McGill; First Assist- ant Engineer, Charles S. Allen ; Second CAPTAIN JAMES NUGENT. CAPTAIN HARRY PENNINGTON. Assistant Engineer, James W. Bennett ; Superintendent Fire Alarm Telegraph, Charles C. Drake ; Messenger, Charles S. Long, with these engine companies : No. 1 (Good Will), Captain James Nugent ; No. 2 (Eagle), Captain Harry Pennington ; No. 3 (Mutual), Captain Harry Braker ; No. 4 (Liberty), Captain Albert Sehuehardt ; No. 5 (Harmony),
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
Captain Walter Lanning ; No. 6 (America Hose), Captain Robert A. Ford ; Truck Company No. 1 (Washington), Captain Charles A. Knoblauch ; Truck Company No. 2 (Lincoln), Captain Richard S. Fearnley.
The ex-volunteer department main- tains an existence, as follows : Union, No. 1 (1747), President, William H. Skirm ; Trenton Hose, No. 1 (1838), President, C. Harry Baker; Hand-in- Hand, No. 2 (1772), President, William Hancock ; America, No. 2 (1859), Presi- dent, Abram Chamberlain ; Eagle, No. 3
CAPTAIN HARRY BRAKER.
CAPTAIN ALBERT SCHUCHARDT.
L
CAPTAIN WALTER LANNING.
(1821), President, Robert S. Woodruff ; Good Will, No. 3 (1804), President, Patrick T. Burns ; Delaware, No. 4 (1821), President, John B. Warner ; Harmony, No. 4 (1849), President, John Taylor ; Liberty, President, Louis J. CAPTAIN CHARLES A. KNOBLAUCH. CAPTAIN RICHARD S. FEARNLEY. Diehl ; Ossenberg Hose, President, Louis Cooper ; Washington Hook and Ladder, No. 1 (1873), President, Seldon Steward ; Mutual, President, Andrew C. Brady ; Lincoln Hook and Ladder, No. 2, President, D. T. Wittenborn, with a Volunteer Relief Association and an Exempt Firemen's Association. There are sixty-three fire alarm telegraph stations in Trenton.
CHAPTER XIX.
TRENTON'S MONUMENTS.
THE SHAFT COMMEMORATING THE BATTLE OF TRENTON-THE HISTORY OF THE ERECTION OF THE SHAFT FROM 1843 TO 1893-THE CORNER-STONE LAYING AND DEDICATION-THE MEMBERS OF THE BATTLE MONUMENT ASSOCIATION-THE SWAMP ANGEL-THE STORY OF THE OLD GUN- MCCLELLAN'S MONUMENT-THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AT CADWALADER PARK-VOLUNTEER FIREMEN'S MONUMENT.
HE IMPORTANCE of commemorating the battle of Trenton by means of a suitable monument early commended itself to the citizens of New Jersey. Upon Inde- pendence Day, 1843, the distinguished United States Senator from New Jersey, Garret D. Wall, wrote to the Society of the Cincinnati, urging them to erect "a monument to commemorate the victory gained by the Revolutionary army under the command of General Washington, at Trenton, on December 26th, 1776." General Wall was made chairman of a Cincinnati OFFICIAL MEDAL SOUVENIR committee, and he called the committee to- gether at Snowden's Hotel, Trenton, on the OF THE sixteenth day of January, 1844. In the "ALL OUR HOPES meantime a committee of the citizens of Tren- WERE BLASTER TRENTON BY THAT UNHAIFY BATTLE MONUMENT AFFAIR AT TRENTUN ton, consisting of Henry W. Green, Stacy G. Potts and Samuel R. Gummere, called a pub- lie meeting of the people of New Jersey to be ASSOCIATION. held at the State House, at Trenton, on Sep- LORD GERMAIN tember 6th, 1843, to take this subject into consideration. As the result of these meetings a charter was obtained for "The Trenton Battle Monument Association," March 8th, 1844. The gentlemen mentioned in the aet of incorporation were the most prominent in O the State. Associated with General Wall were ex-Governors Dickerson, Williamson, Vroom and Pennington, Chief Justice Hornblower and his successor, Hon. Henry W. Green, Commodore Stockton and Judge Staey G. Potts. Very little appears to have been accomplished in this matter except through the personal efforts and unwearied pen of Charles Chauney Haven, Esq., of Trenton, who, in the winter of 1858-59, succeeded in interesting a large number of prominent citizens of the State in this patriotic object. On March 8th, 1859, the Legislature of New Jersey passed a supplement to the
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
original charter of the association, which supplement changed the name to the "New Jersey Monument Association," and added as new corporators to the act two gentlemen from each of the several counties of the State, with the exception of Mercer county, and from that county thirteen additional men were added to the association. Acting under this statute, Commodore Stockton was elected President, Mr. Haven Vice President and General Agent, Thomas S. Allison Secretary and Thomas J. Stryker Treasurer. Among the members of the association may be mentioned William L. Dayton, Philemon Dickinson, Peter D. Vroom and Thomas J. Stryker, whose sons have taken up the work of their fathers and have pushed it on to success. During the spring and summer of 1859, subseriptions amounting to more than $11,000 were obtained from the citizens of New Jersey, and about $750 of this amount was col- lected. On July 4th, 1859, a meeting took place at the hotel of Dr. Joline, in Trenton, for the purpose of taking Hemsy vankú measures to interest the RELIEF PRESENTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. people of the State. An address was printed and widely circulated August
12th, 1859. In January, 1860, a design for the monument was adopted, and two hundred and fifty lithographie prints thereof were issued. On May 25th, 1860, another address was published making an appeal for subscriptions, and on January 18th, 1861, a memorial was addressed to the
Legislature, asking for an appropriation. During all the years of the Civil war the association continued to hold annual meetings, and this continued until the death of Mr. Haven, who for so many years had worked enthusiastically for this object. The expense of these meetings, of printing and of the solicitors in traveling, appears to have entirely absorbed all the funds collected.
On May 7th, 1884, a charter was obtained for RELIEF PRESENTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF NEW YORK. " The Trenton Battle Monu- ment Association," and the first meeting of the Directors was held May 12th. On December 28th, 1886, the property at the junction of Pennington, Princeton and Brunswick avenues and Greene and Warren streets was ordered to be purchased. On April 14th, 1887, the Legislature of New Jersey passed an act making an appropriation of $15,000. On March 3d, 1891, the Congress of the United States passed a bill appropriating $30,000. On July 3d, 1891, it was reported that the citizens of New Jersey had paid to the Treasurer of the association more than $15,000, which amount made both the State and Government appropriations due and payable. At a meeting held
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
in the State House, April 6th, 1891, a design executed by Mr. John H. Duncan, of New York City, was adopted. On the afternoon of September 20th, 1891, the ground on which the monument has been erected was broken by the Directors of the association, and the foundation was commeneed October 22d, 1891.
On the twenty-sixth day of December, 1891, the one hundred and fifteenth anniversary of the battle, the corner-stone of the monument was laid with interesting eercmonies. The Committee of Arrangements having charge of the exercises that day consisted of Thomas S. Chambers, Hugh H. Hamill and William H. Skirm.
The programme at the site of the monument, at twelve o'clock noon, was : Prayer, by the Rev. John Dixon, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, organized in 1712; Con- tents of Box for Corner-Stone, read by His Honor Daniel J. Bechtel, Mayor of Trenton ; Laying of the Corner-Stone, by His Excellency Leon Abbett, Governor of New Jersey ; National Salute of forty-four guns ; Address by Governor Leon Abbett, "New Jersey, the Battle-Ground of the Revo- lution ; " Benediction, by the Rt. Rev. Michacl J. O'Farrell, Bishop of Trenton.
At the conclusion of these exercises the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati, the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the Revolution, partook of luncheon at the Masonic Temple, the American House and the Trenton House respectively, and the following gentlemen re- sponded to toasts on that occasion : Governor Leon Abbett, Hon. George M. Robeson, General Horace Porter, Hon. Joseph D. Bedle, Hon. Samuel H. Grey, Colonel Asa Bird Gardiner, Dr. Austin Scott, Right Rev. Michael J. O' Farrell and General Wil- liam S. Stryker.
RELIEF PRESENTED BY THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
At four o'clock a vast assemblage was gathered in Taylor Opera House at the commemorative exercises of the day, held under the auspices of the Trenton Battle Monument Association. Major-General William J. Sewell presided and made the opening address, which was followed by addresses from Hon. John R. McPherson, General Horace Porter, General Wager Swayne, General George M. Robeson and a historical paper on the battle of Trenton by the President of the Battle Monument Association.
With imposing ceremonies, upon the nineteenth day of October, 1893, the monument was dedicated in the presence of a vast concourse of people. The programme for the day was as follows :
Music by the band of the Seventh Regiment, National Guard.
Prayer by the Right Reverend Thomas A. Starkey, Bishop of Newark.
Address by General William S. Stryker, President of the Trenton Battle Monument Associa- tion-"The Victory at Trenton."
Unveiling of the historical tablet presented by the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati.
Presentation address by Hon. Clifford Stanley Sims, President of the society.
Accepted by Hugh H. Hamill, Esquire, of the association.
Unveiling of the statue of Blair McClenachan, a soldier of the Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse. Presentation address by Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson, commanding officer of the troop. Acceptance by Hon. John Taylor, of the association.
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
Unveiling of the statue of John Russell, a soldier of Colonel John Glover's Fourteenth Regi- ment of the Continental Line from Massachusetts.
Presentation address by His Excellency William E. Russell, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Acceptance by His Honor Joseph B. Shaw, Mayor of the city of Trenton, on behalf of the association.
Unveiling of the relief, "The Continental Army Crossing the Delaware," presented by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Presentation address by His Excellency Robert E. Pattison, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Acceptance by Hon. William L. Dayton, of the asso- ciation.
Unveiling of the relief, "The Opening of the Fight," presented by the State of New York.
Presentation address by His Excellency Roswell P. Flower, Governor of the State of New York.
Acceptance by Hon. J. Hart Brewer, of the associa- tion.
Unveiling of the relief, "The Surrender of the Hes- sians," presented by the State of Connecticut.
Presentation address by His Excellency Luzon B. Morris, Governor of the State of Connecticut.
Acceptance by Hon. Frank A. Magowan, of the asso- ciation.
Poem by Richard Watson Gilder.
Unveiling of the statue of General Washington, Com- mander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
National salute.
Address by His Excelleney George T. Werts, Gover- nor of the State of New Jersey.
Benediction by Rev. Thomas Hanlon, D. D.
In describing the monument it may be said that the memorial column stands at the junction of Warren and North Broad streets and of Brunswick, Princeton and Pennington avenues-a spot familiarly known as the Five Points. Here Captain Alexander Hamilton, of New York, opened his battery of the New York State Company of Artillery on the Hessian foe.
After thorough deliberation and an exhaustive special report on the subject by three members of the association, the design submitted by John H. Duncan, of New York City, was unanimously adopted, and the monument, with some slight alterations, has been completed according to this design. The contractor was John Pierce, of New York City.
The style of the column is that known as Roman- TRENTON BATTLE MONUMENT. Doric. The base of the pedestal is twenty-nine feet eight inches square, and on this pedestal is a hollow fluted column, the cap of which forms an observatory. The top of the granite-work is one hundred and thirty-five feet above the foundation, and with the statue is one hundred and fifty feet above the street level. The foundation of concrete is nineteen feet deep, and the whole monument, includ- ing this foundation, weighs 4, 441,375 pounds.
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
The shaft is of white Maine granite. It is finished in ten-cut work. The pedestal is made partly of the same material as the shaft and partly of a darker-colored stone, to give more apparent solidity to the basc. The base of the structure will eventually be fine-eut to correspond with the upper portion ; but from the present unprotected position of the monument, it was deemed by the association a nceessary measure to leave it rock face. The interior of the pedestal is cruciform in shape and is nineteen feet three inches across the widest part. The three niches thus formed are finished as reliquaries to receive such valuable historic trophies as may be presented to the association.
On the top of the column is a bronze statue of General Washington, standing as he appeared at the beginning of the battle, glass in hand, surveying the flying Hessians, and then with extended right arm pointing down King street, now Warren street, in the direction he wished Captain Hamilton's battery to open upon the foe. He is represented in the full uniform of a Continental general officer, an exact reproduction of the uniform worn by him at Trenton, as shown in the por- trait by Colonel Trumbull, painted just after the battle.
The statue was designed by William Rudolf O'Donovan, of New York City, the celebrated sculptor. In this statue of Washington will be found the maturest and best outcome of all Mr. O'Donovan's literary and artistic study of the personality of his subject, which was not portrayed in any complete sense by any one of the artists of his time. In this statue the sculptor has taken from the portraits of Stuart, Colonel Trumbull and from the statue of Houden whatever he thought truthful in the light of the knowledge given by the life-cast.
The statue was cast at the National Art Foundry, of New York, owned by Maurice J. Power, as, indeed, were all the statues and reliefs on the monument.
At one side of the doorway of the monument, appropriately guarding the entrance, stands a bronze statue of Private John Russell, of Captain John Selman's company of the Fourteenth Regiment of the Continental Line, organized in Massachusetts by Colonel John Glover. This regiment distinguished itself by aiding the American army to escape over the East river to New York City after the battle of Long Island, and again in the historic crossing of the Delaware river on the night before the battle of Trenton. This soldier's likeness is taken from a medallion, executed in Paris, France, after the war, when he was in that city, having crossed the ocean as captain of a sloop in the merchant service. He is represented in the uniform of that splendid regiment of Marblehead fishermen, as worn in December, 1776. It is placed on the monument by the patriotic action of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
On the other side of the doorway is the statue modeled after a likeness of Private Blair McClenachan, of the Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse, which troop took part in the battle of Trenton. The troop was commanded by Captain Samuel Morris, and after its service in the winter campaign of 1776-77, the Commander-in-Chief wrote them the following letter :
"The Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse under the command of Captain Morris, having per- formed their Tour of duty are discharged for the present.
"I take this Opportunity of returning my most sincere thanks to the Captain and to the Gentlemen who compose the Troop for the many essential Services which they have rendered to their Country, and to me personally during the Course of this severe Campaign. Tho' composed of Gentlemen of Fortune, they have shewn a noble Example of discipline and subordination, and in several Actions have shewn a Spirit of Bravery which will ever do Honor to them and will ever be gratefully remembered by me.
"Given at Head Quarters at "Morris Town this 23d Jan'y, 1777, "Go. WASHINGTON."
It is the gift of the troop now known as the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, an organi- zation which has existed since the Revolutionary period, The two guardian statues are also the work of Mr. O' Donovan.
Q
MONUMENT ASSOCIATION MEMBERS.
--
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
On the north side of the base of the pedestal is an historical bronze tablet, presented by the Society of the Cincinnati in New Jersey. The inseription is in these words :
THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE TRENTON BATTLE MONUMENT ASSOCIATION TO COMMEMORATE THE VICTORY GAINED BY THE AMERICAN ARMY OVER THE FORCES OF GREAT BRITAIN
IN THIS TOWN ON THE 26TH DAY OF DECEMBER
ANNO DOMINI 17 76
PRESENTED BY
THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
The following are the members of the Trenton Battle Monument Association :
GENERAL WILLIAM S. STRYKER, President, COLONEL ECKFORD MOORE, Secretary,
COLONEL S. MEREDITH DICKINSON, Treasurer,
HON. GARRET D. W. VROOM,
HON. WILLIAM S. YARD,
COLONEL THOMAS S. CHAMBERS,
HON. J. HART BREWER,
HUGH H. HAMILL, EsQ.,
HON. JOHN TAYLOR,
JOHN B. FELL, EsQ.,
HON. FRANK A. MAGOWAN,
HON. WILLIAM L. DAYTON,
HON. JOHN BRIEST,
BARKER GUMMERE, EsQ.,
COLONEL WILLIAM H. SKIRM.
THE SWAMP ANGEL.
The history of the great gun which stands mounted at the easterly terminus of Perry street has been so often told-and incorrectly-that the facts herewith presented may be said to be final. They are derived from the "Century War Book," where they are first told by the distinguished historian, Adjutant-General William S. Stryker, who was Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Quincy A. Gillmore during the siege of Charleston.
The first attack on Fort Sumter marked the beginning, and the second and third bombard- ments the middle period of the Civil war. Morris Island and Folly Island, two low sand-reefs, constitute the southerly bounds of the outer harbor of the city of Charleston. The Union troops, under Major-General Quincy A. Gillmore, on July 10th, 1863, captured a large portion of Morris Island, although the Confederate forces still held Cummings' Point Battery and Fort Wagner on that part of Morris Island nearest Fort Sumter and to Charleston. Examinations of the topography of the location tended to show that operations against Charleston could be conducted. Upon the morning of July 16th, Colonel Edward W. Serrell, accompanied by Lieutenant Nathan M. Edwards, carrying a plank, started across the marsh to secure a position from which fire could be opened upon Charleston. When the mud would not bear them they sat on the plank and pushed it for- ward between their legs. When again the soil appeared stiffer they carried the plank until they reached the soft mud again. And so the first examination was made in open view of four Con- federate forts and eleven batteries, and on a day of most intense heat. However, a spot was found where the mud seemed of less depth, and where the city of Charleston could be distinctly seen. A position was selected by Colonel Serrell which was about 7,900 yards from the city. It was decided that such operations should be instituted.
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