Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 12

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

THE WATERTOWN RESIDENCE.

Although Mr. Flower has for some 20 years had a winter home in Fifth ave- nue, New York, he still spends his sum- mers in Watertown, where, upon Arse- nal street, he occupies a cozy, pretty house. There are 50 dwellings in Watertown surpassing it in splendor of appearance, more modern, with a greater evidence of the luxuries of life, but none having more the look of a real home. The house was built over fifty years ago, by Norris M. Woodruff, Mrs. Flower's father, and has the rambling, comfortable look of that period in arch- itecture. It is a wooden building paint- ed white-a cleanly, dazzling white, which seems to have been so attractive in the eyes of the last generation-and it has the usual accompaniment of bright green blinds. The house stands a little back from the street, having sufficient space for some handsome beds of flow- ers and a perfectly trimmed green lawn, while back of the house one sees a fine garden and clumps of handsome trees. Mr. Flower has gathered in his Water- town library the many valuable docu- inents that he collected while in Con- gress. He has, among other things, every message that has been sent by a President to Congress since Washing- ton's day, and there are very few of them with which he is unfamiliar.

HIS LIFE IN ALBANY.

Since its occupancy by the Governor

and Mrs. Flower the Executive Mansion has undergone a complete transforma- tion. Both Cleveland and Hill were bachelor Governors, so that there has been no woman at the head of the es- tablishment since the Cornell admin- istration. Mrs. Flower has brought her own pictures, added materially to the other furnishings, and has given to the big house an attractive, homelike air, which it has never known until now. The Governor stays at home until office hours, when he goes to the Executive Chamber, never, by the way, using the Governor's private staircase, but going up one of the elevators like any ordinary citizen. His business affairs are at- tended to in New York, where he has able assistance, and they do not take up much of his time here in Albany. The callers whom he sees are comparatively very few, as they are carefully sifted before they are admitted to him. Those whom he does see are men of import- ance, who attend to their business promptly. The office hours are only five, and one of them he takes to go to the Executive Mansion for luncheon. Like the good business man that he is, he neither smokes himself nor permits smoking about him during office hours. He is thoroughly democratic in all bis ways, and is more easily approached than any other Governor the State has ever had. His democracy is ingrained, not grafted.

J. A. H.

HON. LOTUS INGALLS

THE VETERAN EDITOR.

We feel sure that every reader of this history will welcome to its pages a truth- ful sketch of one of the most deserving and modest public men of Jefferson County as he appeared in the important era from 1840 to 1892-the years which embrace the discovery of the electric telegraph and its utilization as the most important factor in the dissemination of news; the application of steam to so many uses, before that era unknown, and the beginning of what may be desig- nated the wonderful "development" of the American newspaper.

Mr. Ingalls was born in Rodman, January 12, 1818, and passed his early life in that town and Wilna; after the age of 10 living in Wilna winters and as a farm hand in Rodman summers. Though in stature below what may be called a stalwart size, his early life of out-door labor gave him hardy devel- opment, and when 16 years of age he did a man's full work in nearly every branch of farm labor. His earnest at- tention to his studies at the district school marked him as one deserving of further encouragement in pursuit of learning, and in the spring of 1839, just as he had reached his majority, at the suggestion and aid of his uncle, Ora Cooley, he made his appearance at the

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

Black River Institute, to begin a classi- cal course, among that body of resolute young men who have since, in many climes, on land and sea, in highest office not less than as missionaries to spread to heathen lands the tidings of our blessed Lord as well as in humbler walks, in work shops and in great fac- tories -- have everywhere shadowed forth the character that was within them, and have manifested by their useful lives the thoroughness and inestimable value of the training that noble school im- parted. To pay his way young Ingalls taught school in winterk-first at Perch Lake, then at Natural Bridge in Wilna, and in Rutland-then, after leaving the Justitute, he taught the large and im- portant Factory street school, where his efforts met with signal success, leaving a memory there that has been most grateful and is yet well preserved. In 1845 he entered the law office of Lansing & Sherman as a student, and from that office he graduated as a member of the bar-having, while pursuing his law studies, held the position of town super- intendent of schools for two years.

Having now become a full-fledged lawyer, the demands of that profession seemed hardly suited to his tartes. He saw among his fellow-members of the bar some who had been lawyers for scores of years, and yet had not ma- terially advanced in social position or in worldly goods. He saw that the best practice was naturaliy given to the older men of the profession, and among these were several of marked ability and established fame. Besides all this, he discovered that his voice was too feminine and nasal for him to be ever counted an impressive advocate before a jury, where distinction as a lawyer at that time war chiefly earned. To pass a whole life waiting for the professional standing which only came with age was not a prospect that appeared vory inviting to our young aspirant for prom- inence. Just at that time (1849-50) the temperance question had become the most important and engrossing political question of the day, the Legislature hay- ing granted each town the right to vote "license" or "no license." The liquor interest had established the "Democratic I'nion." quite a readable newspaper. under the editorial manazement of Hon. Lysander H. Brown, whose reputation as a public speaker and writer of un- usual ability was well established. To counteract this move on the part of the liquor interest. which was an im- portant and aggressive factor in the politics of these days, and as it is yet. the temperance people advised the start- ing of another paper. and Mr. Ingalls was suggested and urged to become its editor. As is usual among these tem- perance politicians, they had plenty of advice to give, but did not manifest much liberality with their money, and the financial responsibility for the scheme they were prolific in extolling was left to him. who. though of excellent character and social standing. for every one admired his industry and integrity. had in possession at that time only ahont $200, saved from teaching, that might

be called his own after paying his our- rent expenses. On applying to Love- land Paddock, the rich banker, but with much internal doubt as to the sugen of his interview, young Ingalls was agreeably surprised to find that capital- ist willing to discount his note for $500 without an indorser; and with that meagre capital he started his "ha forme:" He knew nothing about the details of a printing office, but this want he supplied by taking L. M. Stowell, a practical printer, as partner. When the new temperance paper appeared it was found to be full of snap and ability. It literally "filled a long-felt want," for it had the newsy, fresh and independent way which in these later years has be come more general. It said things, al- ways in a respectable way, that the older, plodding political organs did not rare to meddle with. It was a paper that appealed to the better class of readers, who had become weary with editors that looked at all questions through the colored spectacles of party policy. The paper found its warmest welcome at the fireside, and was a suc- cess from the start. And so our young disciple at the Institute, fresh from the farm, who was to become the indus- trious and conscientious teacher, then the successful graduate from a law of- fire, at last found himself a newspaper editor, without ever intending to become such permanently: for be expected after helping to get the reform paper well a-going to part with bis interest and re- turn to his profession. But as we have heard him way, "he never saw the op- portunity of getting his money back. and had to stay with it to save it." As he had married, in 1847. Miss Marinda F. Murray, he could justly reflect that every step he had thus far taken from the Rodman farm experience to the graduation from a law office had been the very steps that would hest evolve the mental discipline and hardy con- stitution that qualified him for the la- borious life of a country editor. Thus good men's lives are shaped almost with- out their understanding just how or when it was done.

The two great reforme earnestly es- poused by the "Reformer" were the tem- perance cause and a reform in the as rossment laws. It was due to bis ad- vocacy and efforts that a Board of State Assessore was created. He had noticed that the county of Jefferson wax assessed higher than the larger and wealthier county of Oneida. He pointed out these and other discrepancies. He made out a strong care and hold it is- fore the public mind till the Legi-la- ture saw it and applied the remedy be suggested, viz., a Board of State Assers- OrF.

The circulation of his paper increased rapidly through these years, making it impossible to print the edition on a hayd press. and more money had to be pur into the works for a power press and steam engine, so that by 198 the cir- culation of the "Reformer" had reached over 5000 copies weekly. This was un- precedented in that locality. By this time excitement was running high on the

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

slavery question, the "Reformer" tak- ing the anti-slavery side, opposing the extension of slavery into the free ter- ritories of the Union. It became the main reliance for the vigorous promulga- tion of that sentiment in Northern New York. Great events were at hand. The election of Lincoln, the secession of the South and the war of the rebellion fol- lowed in rapid succession. It was ap- parent that a daily paper was needed in this locality, and so the "Daily Times" was started, and has run a successful career to this day.

We shall not laboriously follow Mr. Ingalls through all the details of his newspaper life, which was eminently successful, and raised him year by year higher and yet higher in the confidence of his fellow-citizens, nor enlarge upon his public spirit, as manifested in the numerous fine dwellings he built in Wa- tertown, nor his early connection with and untiring labors for the promotion of the Carthage and Sackett's Harbor Railroad, now part of the great Vander- bilt system. His whole life has been one of activity, and thus far of deserved success. But there came a time when his generous attempts to aid an enter- prising friend and patron of his job office had involved him in great pe- cuniary trouble. It is not our purpose to dwell upon the details of that part of his hopeful life; the end of it all was bankruptcy and the surrendering to the creditors of his friend all he had accu- mulated by painstaking frugality and patient labor. He was even forced ont of the newspaper which he had estab- lished and raised to an institution of great value for that locality, and in which he was for 24 years the con- trolling influence and motive power. Of the means by which he was thus de- prived of that into which he had put his very soul and the maximum of his personal energy, it is not needful to speak here. None but those who have passed through such trials can under- stand how they sadden, and yet, in a certain way, strengthen a man's char- acter. Mr. Ingalls was stricken a hard blow, but he had a recuperative force within him which prevented the blow from proving fatal. Shut out from his first-born, he purchased the Watertown "Post," a weekly journal of a miscel- laneous character, but he raised it, by his perseverance, industry and tact to become a fine property. Its influence, like that of his "Reformer," was a fire- side and a home influence; one that inade better men and women of the children who read it. Gradually he be- gan to accumulate means again, and after some 18 years of renewed toil and sav- ing he sold the "Post" to Mr. Chase, retiring from active newspaper work after he had been 42 years in the busi- ness, and had passed his 75th year, with means enough to keep the wolf from the door.

To go back a few years to pick up a dropped stitch that ought not to be omitted, it is but just to say that while Mr. Ingalls never sought office, he was nominated and elected to the Assembly in 1875, taking his seat in that body in 1876. While he had very important

economic reforms in his mind, he saw in talking with his associates in that body, controlled by Husted and Fish, that there was no hope of any signifi- cant economic reforms at that session, but, being chairman of the Printing Committee, he saved the State many thousand dollars by applying the pruning krife to the extravagant requests of members and others.

In the course of his 42 years of edi- torial life, Mr. Ingalls made three note- worthy journeys. He was chosen a delegate to visit the army in 1864 to gather the votes of the volunteers from Jefferson County at the Presidential election of that year. At which time he visited Washington, went down the Potomac, to Fortress Monroe, up the James River to City Point, the Dutch Gap Canal, Hatches' Run, and the Shenandoah Valley, the next day after Sheridan's heroic work there. Being recognized by many soldiers from this section, and pay day having just trans- pired, the boys in blue sent home by him several thousand dollars to their loved ones.

In 1870 he visited' California with Mrs. Ingalls, being absent from Water- town two months, taking in the famous Yosemite Valley, and other celebrated scenery of the Pacific coast. In all these journeys he wrote daily letters to his paper, which were very entertaining and instructive, and gave a marked impulse to its circulation. After this long jour- ney he resumed his editorial work, ma- terially refreshed and invigorated.

I have presented this "object lesson" because it is an important and an edu- cating one. In it we see what modest talent, even without political influence, or the encouragement of wealth, can bring about when perseverance and correct living are added. One such ex- ample is worth 20 volumes of theories. It is a living, undying, impressive lesson that may be read by all.

It may be thought by some that Mr. Ingalls possessed a passive rather than a positive character. That would be a great mistake; under his passive, per- snasive, calm manner he holds a world of positiveness and moral power. That has been the secret of his success, for by nature he had but few of the en- dowments that command the hearts of men. He had none of the advantages of birth, descent or fortune. It was not appointed that he should go to and be- come distinguished in the great war. As an orator he had but few accomplish- ments, and it was not his lot to have to do with those vast enterprises which, within the past 50 years, have trans- formed the forces of nature itself. He could scarcely be called a "man of let- ters," nor had he ever been swayed from his path of duty by any thirst for ad- venture, nor was he ever a slave to any party's lash. And yet, in his own modest way, doing his life-work ontside of the accepted paths of power or fame, he had been for 42 years one of Jefferson's most strenuous and pewerful men, and has wronght his individual life into the very fibre of that county's history as no other editor has done.

J. A. H.

THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

THE 35TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

¥9

VETERAN

IN writing of the services of the 35th regi- ment I am conscious that I shall be charged with favoritism, for it was my own regiment, and I knew it as a man knows the members of his family-loving all of them, yet having his own idea as to which are the most promising. It should never be forgotten of this first regi- ment to go from the county, that it preceded the days of bounties; that the purest patriot- ism inspired the most of its members; that some of the young men who went into the ranks as private soldiers left fine positions and promising surroundings to become food for powder at $8 per month. I have no doubt that many fair lives were blighted by the ser- vice these men patriotically gave to their country. Many sleep in that Southern land- some in unmarked graves; some died in hos- pitals, and some returned with broken con- stitutions, to die years before their time. Probably not a man who served with that regiment, and who is living to-day, but can trace his rheumatism or liver complaint or other ailment to marches in cold rains, sleep- ing on the wet ground after the fatigue of a full day's travel with gun and heavy knap- sack. And yet there are men to be found in the North who think too much consideration is felt for the old soldiers! I would have every one of those go down into the South and see how the Confederate soldiers are revered in every hamlet, and welcomed at every fireside, and then compare Southern gratitude (which will often burst into tears when the hardships

of their braves are spoken of) with the indiffer- ence the Union soldiers too often experience from the public of to-day.

I do not forget that there were other patriotic and able organizations that went into the field from Jefferson county, and all of them I honor and love, as every soldier honors and loves bravery and estimable service, but it ought to be remembered that the 35th did its whole duty. It did not do all the fighting, nor does it claim all the honors of victory. But its early devotion, the high character of its rank and file, and its long service with small pay, must always be remembered to its enduring credit.

Feeling thus, I have made repeated efforts to procure a historian from some one of the talented young men who served straight through with the 35th-commencing in the ranks as privates, and rising by soldierly ability to higher but not more honorable posi- tions. I have not been able to enlist such an one for this duty, and am constrained to take up the subject myself. I do this the more reluct- antly because I was upon detailed duty for several months, and for that reason some of the movements of the regiment are known to me only from the descriptions of my comrades. Perhaps I cannot do better than give extracts from Col. Shaw's sketch of the services of the 35th, given at the first re-union at Watertown, Dec. 13, 1887, and interpolate such remarks as I may think called for.

[The muster-out roll of the regiment will be found at the end of this article, and it is be- lieved to be correct.]

COL. SHAW'S REMARKS.

I was among the first to enlist-a youth in years-in Company " A" in Watertown, and the first to volunteer from the town of Cape Vincent, early in May, 1861. I had never seen an American soldier in uniform before I enlisted, and was not of age when our period of two years' service expired. I carried a gun

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

through every engagement the 35th participated in and Company "A" never stacked arms without my rifle was among the number. I appear before you, therefore, as one of the "35th boys," proud of the honor you have done me in naming mne as your president, and happy to look again into the faces of so inany of our country's heroes in that life and death struggle for an undivided Union.

I shall endeavor to sketch some of the more important incidents which marked our record as a regiment.

First of all, we have the distinction of having been among the first to volunteer in our country's defense. The call of duty met a ready response, and the companies were quickly filled. The rendezvous at Elmira we all re- member-the barracks, the company drills, the company elections. the first great battle of "soup and beans," when our charge on the eating-rooms gave promise of what was to fol- low when we charged the rebels " way down south in Dixie." The weeks we spent in Elmira passed rapidly away, and when we em- barked. a well-organized regiment, for Wash- ington, we were as happy a body of men as ever kept step to a soldierly drum-beat. One incident of that journey brings up grateful recollections-the cordial greeting and abund- ant hospitality of the good people of Williams- port. What an enthusiastic outpouring of the patriotic citizens of that goodly town it was, that so bountifully supplied our hungry boys with refreshments, cheered us to the echo when we came and when we left, and kissed some of

us to boot ! What a ride, too, that was through the Keystone State! The burned bridges and wrecked cars we passed on nearing Baltimore were reminders of what we were soon to become familiar with, the waste and ruin of war. I never pass through Baltimore without vividly recollecting our march across that city from one railroad to the other. The 35th never looked better or marched with more precision than it did on that memorable day, Shaw, Evans, Enos, M. Converse, 1st file. The vindictive crowd that lined the streets along our course felt that to attack such a force would be madness. We marched over pave- ments that had been wet only a few days be- fore with the blood of Massachusetts heroes, and the spirit of revenge-so human and so justifiable-burned in our hearts. With faces square to the front, and with perfect step, our regiment marched through that guilty city, clearing the pathway to the national capital of the last vestige of obstruction.

The first night we spent in Washington, after marching past the capitol to sleep in a crowded hall beneath its very shadows, is no doubt well remembered. Then our camp on Meridian Hill, with its heat and dust and sanitary abominations, who does not recall it all? Aye, even to the old blackberry woman, whose quaint cry of "Same old blackberry woman - same old blackberries - one cent cheaper," I feel confident has not entirely faded out of your memories.

But freshest of all the recollections of our stay in Washington will be that of the day

when we listened to the sounds of cannon at Bull Run. What anxious hours those were! It was a day of deep suspense and was followed by a still deeper gloom when we came to know that a great disaster had checked the advance and beaten back our army. We were moment- arily expecting to be sent forward to the fray. Indeed, some of the officers went on their own responsibility. But it seems that we were held in reserve. A wise precaution, as it after- wards proved.

The good President Lincoln passed across the avenue near were some of us stood, on his wav to the War Department, with weary step and bowed head, the picture of mental agony. Washington was in a panic, and for a few hours it lay stunned and paralyzed with the blow our defeat had brought. The returning stragglers, knee-high with reddish mud. with- out arms and utterly demoralized, added a disheartening touch to that picture of defeat. The wounded. following later, filled in the sad background, and the flag of our Union seemed for the moment to be drooping in peril.

Comrades, it was your privilege and mine, in that dark period, to be ready to march to the front to defend our imperiled capital, and to stand across the pathway of treason. If we were not at the first great battle of the war, we were the first, after that battle, to march southward over the Long Bridge to help re- store order and insure safety to McDowell's demoralized army. We were encamped at Arlington Heights when a report came that the rebel " Black Horse " cavalry would attack us that night. The situation was deemed very critical, and volunteers for picket duty were called for. Privates Caleb Slocum and D. M. Evans stepped forward for the perilous dutv. They were posted at a cross roads about a mile from camp and were not relieved till morning. This was the first picket of the 35th ou rebel ground

The forts about Arlington Heights knew us well. It was here that, on a bright morning, the welcome cry of "Sharpe's rifles" echoed through the camp. The longed-for new rifles had come, it was said, and a wild rush was made for the approaching teams. Alas! the Sharpe's rifles turned out to be not very "sharp" axes, and we found the grip and ex- ercise with an axe on a hot day not at all essential to comfort or happiness. But the 35th men were equal to every duty, and the trees quickly fell beneath their sturdy blows.

The winter at Taylor's Tavern, near Falls Church, Va., wore rapidly away in a mixture of mud and snow that made it unnecessary to black our shoes, or even go very far away from our tents to answer roll call. With dry roads in the spring of 1862, our marching days began again. That long and trying march and counter-march ending in the Rapahannock Station engagement will not be forgotten.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 12

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094