USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884 Volume II > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
During the existence of this committee, which continued about a year, it disbursed almost a million dollars, which the corporation of New York had appropriated for war purposes, and placed at its dis- posal. It assisted in the organization, equipment, etc. of forty-nine regiments, or about forty thousand men. For military purposes it spent, of the city fund, nearly seven hundred and fifty-nine thousand dollars, and for the relief of soldiers' families two hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
appointed him United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, which office he resigned in July, 1870, and soon afterward was one of the most active members of the Committee of Seventy against the frauds of the Tweed Ring. In 1871 he received from Columbian College, Washington, D. C., the honorary degree of LL.D., and in 1873 the same degree was conferred upon him by his alma mater, Yale College. In May of that year he was appointed minister to the Russian Court, but he declined the honor and the service. In June, 1874, Judge Pierrepont delivered a remarkable oration in New Haven before the alumni of Yale College, which was afterward published. In the spring of 1875 he was appointed Attorney-General of the United States, and remained in Presi- dent Grant's Cabinet until May, 1876, when he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Court of Great Britain. He already had a European reputation through the promulgation of his opinions while Attorney-General, on ques- tions of natural and acquired nationality and the rights of a citizen of the United States, who, while a minor, had returned to Prussia with his father, the latter having under the treaty resumed his Prussian allegiance.
Judge Pierrepont held his high diplomatic position until 1878. Delicate and important questions engaged his official attention while in England, and these were met by him with great tact and ability. Ex-President Grant became his guest on his visit to that country. Before Grant's arrival, Mr. Pierrepont urged upon Queen Victoria's ministers the propriety of according the same precedence to the retired head of the government of the United States as had been given to the ex-Emperor of France. It was done. At a dinner given to the Prince of Wales by Minister Pierrepont, General Grant, by common consent, was placed on the right of the Prince. Other governments followed this ex- ample. During his official residence in England Judge Pierrepont received from Oxford University the honorary degree of D.C. L., the highest honor in its gift. On his return from England he resumed the practice of his profession, in which he is yet actively and extensively engaged.
Eng by Geo E Perme NY
R HOE & COS
PRINTING PRESS AND SAW MANUFACTORY
723
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
The telegraph had already flashed intelligence all over the land of the murderous attack upon the Massachusetts troops in the streets of Baltimore and the isolation and peril of the capital, and the first busi- mess of the Union Defence Committee was to facilitate the equipment and outfit of regiments of volunteer militia and their despatch to the seat of government. So zealously did they labor that, within ten days after the President's call for troops, no less than $000 well- equipped and fully-armed men had gone to the field from the city of New York. Already, before the organization of the committee, the famous Seventh Regiment National Guard, of New York, Colonel Marshall Lefferts, had left for Washington, and on the day after the great meeting (Sunday, April 21) three other regiments had followed -namely, the Sixth, Colonel Pinckney ; the Twelfth, Colonel Butter- field, and the Seventy-first," Colonel Vosburg.
Major-General Wool, commander of the Eastern Department, which comprised the whole country eastward of the Mississippi, was at his home in Troy when he heard of the affair at Baltimore. He was next in command to General Scott, the General-in-Chief of the army.
* This regiment enlisted for three months, left New York for Washington by water on the 21st of April, debarked at Annapolis, and pushed on across Maryland for the capital, where it was thoroughly drilled and assigned to varied duties. Its members had all been taken from civil life only a few days before it left New York. Its colonel, Abram Vosburg. soon died of consumption, and was succeeded by Colonel H. P. Martin, under whom it did gallant service at the battle of Bull Run in July. After all the other regiments had retreated from the field at Bull Run, the Seventy-first remained there under fire, when an aide rode up to Colonel Martin and told Inm his men were suffering badly, and asked why he did not retire. Colonel Martin replied, " The Seventy-first, sir, never moves without orders." The aide reported the fact to General McDowell, who ordered the regi- ment to retire, which it did in perfect order, and as handsomely as if on dress parade.
In May, 1862, obedient to a call for volunteers, it again enlisted for three months, but on arriving at Washington it met with great difficulties and even rough treatment, as the government did not want " three months men." The colonel took a firm stand for the rights of the regiment against threats by the Secretary of War. He finally prevailed. The Secretary accepted the services of the regiment for one hundred days, and said, "I respect the regiment all the more for what has occurred." At the end of one hundred days the defeat of Pope so seriously menaced Washington that the regiment offered to remain until the danger was past. The Secretary of War accepted " with pleasure their patriotic offer," but their services were not required, and they returned to New York at the beginning of September. When in 1863 Lee invaded Maryland, and a call was made for troops for a brief period of service, the Seventy-first again enlisted for three months. It reported to General Couch, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was employed in most ardnous and important service in rolling back the invasion, until some days after the battle of Gettysburg, when the draft riots in New York called it from the enemy in front to deal with an enemy in its rear. It reached New York on July IS, and on the 20th was ILUstered ont of the service of the United States.
724
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Wool hastened to confer with Governor Morgan # at Albany. While they were in consultation the governor received a despatch from Washington urging him to send troops thither as quickly as possible.
* Edwin Denison Morgan, the great war governor of the State of New York, had brna elected to that high position by the Republican party in 1860, for a second term, andt proved to be a most efficient and judicious chief magistrate at that great crisis in national affairs. Mr. Morgan was born in Washington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1811. He attended the village school until his twelfth year, when his father removed with his family to the town of Windsor, Connecticut. The boy went the distance-fifty miles-ou foot, driving an ox-team over the rough hills, conveying on a wagon the family furniture. At the age of sixteen he went to live at Colchester, Conn., where he attended the Bacon Academy for a year and a half, when he went to Hartford and entered the wholesale and retail grocery store of his uncle, Nathan Morgan, as clerk. There he began his business career on a salary of forty dollars a year and his board. At the end of three years he was junior partner with his uncle. In 1836 he had a clear capital of $8000, a clever sum then for a young man of twenty-five. Disposing of his interest in the business at Hartford, he took the proceeds, and in January, 1837, went to New York and opened a store for the conduct of a wholesale grocery and commission business. At that time the city of New York was growing very rapidly, though in that year it suffered a fearful business convulsion. Mr. Morgan, by industry, thrift, upright- ness in business, and wonderful energy and sagacity, prospered.
Mr. Morgan began his career as a public man in 1819, when he was elected assistant alderman of the Fifteenth Ward. It was the year when the Asiatic cholera raged fear- fully in New York. Business was paralyzed, and well-to-do people fled from the city. Mr. Morgan, who was appointed a member of the sanitary committee, remained, and did . most efficient and fearless service against the epidemic. He sent his family to the country, but stood at the post of public duty himself, during the entire period of the prevalence of the scourge. He devoted his entire time and spent his money freely in behalf of the suffering. The same year Mr. Morgan was chosen State Senator, and on the expiration of his term he was re-elected. His political opponents, who were in the majority in that body, complimented him by choosing him to preside over their deliber- ations. During his second term he introduced into the Senate the Central Park bill, which provided for the establishment of that fine pleasure-ground.
On the expiration of his term as State Senator in 1855, Mr. Morgan was appointed one of the commissioners of emigration, which office he held two years. In 1856 he was chosen chairman of the National Republican Committee, and continued in that position until 1864. when he resigned, deeming it not proper to hokl that position while he was United States Senator.
In November, 1858, Mr. Morgan was elected governor of the State of New York by the Republicans. His first message to the Legislature (January 1, 1859) was remarkable for its brevity, directness, and the admirable character of its observations. His animadversion: upon the lobby were peculiarly explicit and severe, and he asserted that he would withhokl his official approval from any bill advanced by such means. He was the first governor of New York to visit prisons and hold personal interviews with prisoners applying for pardon. Re-elected for a second term in 1860, his second administration began just as the Civil War was a-kindling. During that war his services were of the greatest impor .. tance. As governor he took the responsibility, during the recess of the Legislature, of responding to the government calls for troops, fitting them out and looking after their comfort and rights. In this work Chester A. Arthur (now President) was his most
725
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
Wool immediately issued orders to Colonel Tompkins, quartermaster- general at New York, to furnish transportation to all troops that might be sent to the capital, and Major Eaton, the commissary of subsistence, was directed to furnish thirty days' rations to cach soldier that might be so sent.
The governor went to New York that night (April 20th). The general followed two days afterward. He made his headquarters at the St. Nicholas Hotel, where he was waited upon by the Union Defence Committee on the 23d. At that conference a plan was arranged for the salvation of the capital, which at that time was so isolated by a cordon of enemies that the General-in-Chief could not speak by telegraph to a single regiment outside the District of Columbia ; neither could any communication reach the President from beyond those limits. Under these circumstances, and in conformity to the demands of the crisis and the desires of the loyal people. General Wool was compelled to assume great responsibilities. To the Union Defence Committee he said, " I shall probably be the only victim, but under the circumstances I am prepared to make the sacrifice, if thereby the capital may be saved."
General Wool was then seventy-six years of age. Day and night he labored with the tireless energy of a man of forty years until the work was accomplished. Vessels were chartered, supplies were furnished, and troops were forwarded to Washington with extraordinary despatch by way of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. The transports were convoyed by armed steamships to shield them from pirates, and the Quaker City was ordered to Hampton Roads to assist in the defence of Fortress Monroe. Wool assisted in arming no less than nine States before communication could be had with the General in-Chief at Washington, and he took the responsibility of sending to the capital Ellsworth's Zouaves, composed principally of New York firemen.
Troops and supplies so promptly sent to Washington by the Union 1
efficient helper, he being quartermaster-general on the governor's staff. A few days after his term as governor expired, Mr. Morgan was chosen United States Senator to succeed Preston King. In March, 1865, the President nominated Senator Morgan for Secretary of the Treasury, but his name was withdrawn on his earnest solicitation. The same office was tendered to him in 1881 by President Arthur, and the Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination, but it was declined. He never again held office after his senatorial term ended. During all his public career he continued in active business, which he conducted with great success. His charities and his munificent gifts to institutions were many and large. Having lost his only son, he adopted that son's child. In religions affiliation he was a Presbyterian. He was an active member of the Union League Club. Governor Morgan died on February 14, 1583, at his residence, No. 411 Fifth Avenue.
.
126
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Defence Committee of New York, under the direction of the veteran Wool, with the cordial co-operation of Commodores Breese and Stringham, saved the capital from seizure. This General Scott finally acknowledged in a speech before the Union Defence Committee.
The departure for Washington of the famous Seventh Regiment National Guard, on the 19th of April, was a memorable event. It was composed mostly of young men belonging to the best families in the city. It was a favorite corps as the city's cherished guardian. The regiment formed in Lafayette Place, in front of the Astor Library, over which waved an immense American flag. Just as it was about to march it received news, by telegraph, of the murderous attack on Massachusetts troops in the streets of Baltimore. Forty-eight rounds . of ball cartridges were given to each man. The regiment marched down Broadway to Cortlandt Street and the Jersey City ferry. The sidewalks were densely packed with eager spectators-men, women, and children-and from every building streamed numerous flags.
" Banners from balcony, banners from steeple ; Banners from house to house, draping the people ; Banners upborne by all -- men, women, and children ; Banners on horses' fronts, flashing, bewild'ring."
The shipping in the harbor was brilliant with flags. While the . crowd at the ferry was waiting for the Seventh Regiment, another from Massachusetts, accompanied by General Benjamin F. Butler, passed through, greeted with wild huzzas and presented with a multitude of little star-spangled banners by the citizens. Both regiments hurried across New Jersey at twilight to the banks of the Delaware.
It had been a day of fearful excitement in the city of New York, and the night was one of more fearful anxiety. Hundreds of citizens wooed slumber in vain. They knew that blood had been shed, and that their loved ones were hurrying on toward great peril. Regiment after regiment followed the Seventh in quick succession, and within ten days from the time of its departure fully ten thousand men of the city of New York were on the march toward the capital.
The enthusiasm of the loyal people was wonderful. The women were as earnest as the men. Five brothers in a New York family enlisted. Their mother was absent from home at the time. She wrote to her husband : " Though I have loved my children with a love that only a mother knows, yet when I look upon the state of my country Fcannot withhold them. In the name of their God, and their mother's God, and their country's God. I bid them go. If I had ten sons
527
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
instead of five, I should give them all sooner than have our country rent ! fragments." This was the spirit of the loyal women during the fiore struggle that ensued. *
In the midst of the tumult of warlike preparations was heard the mild voice of the Society of Friends or Quakers in New York City counselling peace. They had met on April 23d, and put forth an address to their brethren, saving they were loyal to their country and loved it : were grateful for the blessings they enjoyed under the gov- ernment, but they besought their brethren to beware of the temptations of the hour. They admonished them, while anxious to uphold the government, not, in so doing, to "transgress the precepts and in- junctions of the gospel." As a body of Christians they were uni- vorsally loyal. Many of their young men did not heed the words of the " testimony," but regarded the war as an exceptional one, holy and righteous, and acted accordingly. They bore arms, and obeyed the injunctions of a patriotic Quaker mother of Philadelphia, who wrote to her son in camp : " Let thy musket hold not a silent meeting before the enemy." And multitudes of men and women of that peaceful sect showed their sympathy by arduous services in hospitals and elsewhere in employments in which non-combatants might con- scientiously engage.
While thousands of loyal men were hastening to the field, loyal women were laving plans and taking measures for their aid and comfort. On the day when the President's call for troops appeared (April 15th), Miss Almena Bates, in Charlestown, Mass., took steps to organize an association for the purpose. On the same day women of Bridgeport, Conn., organized a society to furnish nurses for sick and wounded soldiers, and provisions and clothing for them. A few days later women of Lowell, Mass .. did the same thing, and on the 19th women of Cleveland, Ohio, formed an association for the more im- mediately practical purpose of giving assistance to the families of volunteers.
These outcroppings of the tenderest feelings of woman were sugges-
* In contrast with this was the letter of a Baltimore mother to her loyal son, a clergy- man in Boston, who, on the Sunday after the attack on Fort Sumter, preached a patriotic discourse to his people. The letter was as follows :
. "MY DEAR SON : Your remarks last Sabbath were telegraphed to Baltimore, and published in an extra. Has God sent you to preach the sword, or to preach Christ ? Your MOTHER."
The son replied :
" BALTIMORE, April 12, 1861.
" BOSTON. April 22. 1861. " DEAR MOTHER : ' God has sent " me not only to ' preach" the sword, but to use it. When this govern- fost tumbles, look among the ruins for
YOUR STAR-SPANGLED BANNER SOS."
728
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
tions which led to the formation of a powerful society in the city of New York known as the United States Sanitary Commission, which performed most valuable service throughout the whole war that ensued. At the suggestion of the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D. D., and Elisha Harris, M.D., of New York, fifty or sixty earnest women of the city met on the 25th of April (1861), when a Central Relief Association was suggested. A plan was formed, and the women of the city were invited to assemble at the Cooper Union on the 20th. Many leading gentlemen of the city were invited to be present. The response was ample in numbers, character, and resources. David Dudley Field presided, and Dr. Bellows stated the object of the meeting. The assemblage was addressed by the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, then Vice- President of the United States. A benevolent organization was effected under the title of the Women's Central Relief Association. Its constitution was drawn by Dr. Bellows. The venerable Dr. Val- entine Mott was chosen its president, Dr. Bellows its vice-president, G. F. Allen its secretary, and Howard Potter its treasurer. Auxiliary associations were formed all over the free-labor States.
:
It was soon discovered that a broader, more perfect, and more efficient system, to have a connection with the medical department of the government, and under the sanction of the War Department, was desirable. AAlready the efforts of a single noble woman had been put ยท forth with energy in the same direction. On the 23d of April Miss Dorothea L. Dix, whose name was then conspicuous in the annals of benevolence in our country, offered her services to the government for gratuitous hospital work. They were accepted, and this acceptance was made known by a proclamation of the Secretary of War, who requested all women who offered their services as nurses to apply to her. Miss Dix's labors were marvellous. She went from battle-field to battle-field when the carnage was over, like an angel of mercy. She went from camp to camp, from hospital to hospital, superintending the nurses.
On June 9th the Secretary of War issued an order appointing HI. W. Bellows, D. D., Professor A. D. Bache, LL. D., chief of the Coast Survey; Professor JJ. Wyman, M.D., W. HI. Van Buren, M. D., R. C. Wood, M. D., Surgeon-General U. S. A .; General G. W. Cullum. of General Scott's staff, and Alexander Shiras, U. S. A., in conjunction with others who might become associated with them, a " commission of inquiry and advice in respect of the sanitary interests of the United .States forces." This commission was organized with Dr. Bellows. its real founder, at the head. He submitted a plan of organization, which
729
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
was adopted by the government. and the association assumed the name of the UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. Frederick Law Ohnsted suis chosen its resident secretary, and became its real manager. It opted an appropriate seal, bearing the device of a shield on which was .. winged figure of Mercy, with a cross on her bosom and a cup of con- nation in her hand, coming down from the clouds to visit wounded Miers on the battle-field.
This conmission was to supplement governinent deficiencies. An appeal was made to the people for contributions. The response was most generous. Supplies and money flowed in from all quarters suffi- vient to meet every demand. All over the country men, women, and children were seen working singly and collectively for it. Fairs were hold in cities, which turned immense sums of money into the treas- urv of the commission. One small city (Poughkeepsie) contributed $16.000, or 81 for every man, woman, and child of the population. Branches were established. ambulances, army-wagons, and steamboats were employed in transporting the sick and wounded under its charge. It followed the armies closely in all campaigns. Before the smoke of conflict had been fairly lifted there was seen the commission, with its tents. vehicles, and supplies.
The grand work of this commission, which originated in the city of New York, was made plain at the close of the war. It was found that the loyal 'people of the land had given to it supplies valued at 815,000,000, and money to the amount of fully $5,000,000. The archives of the commission. containing a full record of its work, were deposited by Dr. Bellows.# in 1878. in the Astor Library.
Later in 1861 another most efficient and salutary association was formed in the city of New York, having its origin in the Young Men's Christian Association. It was first suggested by Vincent Colyer, an artist. and earnest worker for the good of his kind. With others he
* Henry Whitney Bellows, D.D .. an eloquent Unitarian clergyman, was born in Boston " at 11, 1\14. Educated at Harvard University and the divinity school at Cambridge, 1. was ordained pastor of the first Unitarian Church (called All Souls') in New York ( ty in Jannary, 1838. A fine church edifice was built for him on the corner of Fourth Wenne 'and Twentieth Street, where he ministered with great efficiency until his death, January 30, 1992. Dr. Bellows was the principal projector of the Christian Inquirer, a 1 :atarian newspaper, the publication of which began in New York in 1546, and he was 's chief contributor. From the beginning he took a commanding position in the pulpit, ", ne literary men, and in social life in the metropolis. As we have observed in the ! At, he was the originator of the United States Sanitary Commission. Besides many sermons and essays. Dr. Bellows wrote and published a thoughtful book on :: I.trine." also " The Oft World in its New Face." He wrote a " Defence Dr .a. t. " which created quite a stir in the religious world.
730
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
went to Washington City immediately after the battle of Bull Run, to do Christian work in the camps and hospitals there. He distributed Bibles, tracts, and hymn-books among the soldiers, and held prayer- meetings. In August he suggested the combination of all the Young Men's Christian Associations of the land in the formation of a society similar to that of the United States Sanitary Commission. The sug- gestion was acted upon at a meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association in the city of New York, on September 23d, when a com- mittee was appointed, with Mr. Colyer as chairman, to conduct corre- spondence and make arrangements for holding a national convention of such associations. The convention was held in New York on November 14th, and then and there the UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION Was formed, with George II. Stuart, of Philadelphia, as president.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.