USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 26
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" We have located in our midst a lazaretto, whence emanates those noxious effluvia which produce disease and death. This
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
monstrous nuisance, it seems, from the result of the efforts made for the accomplishment of its removal by the people of the county for several years past, we are doomed still to bear with and submit to, and hence it becomes necessary to adopt such measures as the law authorizes to mitigate as far as pos- sible the evils of its presence and protect our citizens from the influence of its deadly miasmata. For this purpose and no other, the Board of Health was organized, and at its last meet- ing adopted rules and regulations by which all persons engaged off shore or on board of any infected or quarantined vessels, and all passengers and luggage landed from such vessel shall be prohibited from coming outside of the quarantine enclosure and from going to the City of New York upon any of the boats of the Staten Island Ferry Company."
Though the approval of the quarantine health officer. Doctor Thompson, seems to have been secured, harmony did not exist with the commissioners of health of New York city. Notwith- standing all efforts of the health officers he reports July 23- " Stevedores and lightermen, passengers and luggage from in- fected vessels, continue as previously to pass from the quarantine enclosure to other parts of the town and on board our public ferry boats." The spirit of discord between the quarantine authorities and the local board of health increased until Doctor Mundy declared his conclusion " that the health authorities of the port of New York look upon the health and lives of the people of Richmond county as matters of secondary importance, and hardly worthy their consideration." Several cases of yellow fever occurred, all of which were directly traceable to viola- tions of the board of health rules. It was also evident that great laxity existed in the administration of quarantine rules, men being allowed to pass to and from infected vessels where- ever they pleased.
At a meeting of the board August 19th it was reported that seventeen cases of yellow fever had occurred outside of the quarantine walls. A district at Tompkinsville was then infected with yellow fever. Power was given to Doctor Mundy, as health officer of the board, to make and attend to the enforcement of such rules and regulations as he thought proper, and the pen- alty affixed for the violation of such rules in the name of the board was limited at one thousand dollars fine or two years im- prisonment. August 27th the board met again. The infection
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
of yellow fever which was spreading into the town, was clearly caused by the presence of a fleet of infected vessels lying at quarantine. Doctor Mundy in his report at that meeting said : "But over this source of evil I am aware that your honorable Board has no control, and therefore I have no suggestions to make in relation to it." Subsequent events, however, showed that suggestions were alive from another source, of which we have no written record to tell us of their growth. The same re- port gives another cause of the transmission of disease by in- fected articles being conveyed to the home of one of the em- ployees whose duty it was to burn them. He did not do so, but carried the clothing to his residence and there washed it. The whole district lying in the triangle surrounded by the bay, the hospital buildings and Griffin street was infected. The doctor recommended prompt, decisive action to prevent a re- currence of the offense.
At a meeting of the board on the 1st of September the follow- ing resolutions were unanimously passed, and ordered to be published :
" Resolved, that the whole Quarantine Establishment, located as it is, in the midst of a dense population, has become a pest and a nuisance of the most odious character, bringing death and desolation to the very doors of the people of the Towns of Castleton and Southfield.
" Resolved, that it is a nuisance too intolerable to be borne by the citizens of these towns any longer.
" Resolved, that this Board recommend the citizens of this Town and County to protect themselves by abating this abom- inable nuisance without delay."
On the night of that and the following day, September 1 and 2, 1858, about thirty men entered the quarantine enclosure, and after removing the patients from the several hospitals, set fire to and burned down every building connected with the establishment. That some excesses should be committed by an exasperated populace, was to be expected. There was so much system, however, in their mode of operation, that it was evi- dent everything had been previously arranged, and that the people were carrying out instructions previously received. During the continuance of this intense excitement, it was re- markable that not a single life was sacrificed, nor was any one seriously injured.
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
These summary proceedings of the people of Staten Island produced great excitement, not only in the city of New York, but throughout the state, and indeed throughout the country. The people engaged in them were termed in the public prints barbarians, savages, incarnate fiends, sepoys, and in fact no epithets were considered too vile to be applied to them. But they were all borne with equanimity, sustained by the con sciousness that sooner or later there would be a revolution in public opinion. After all the mischief had been done, the gov- ernor of the state declared the island to be in a state of revolt, and sent over several regiments of militia, who were for some time encamped upon the grounds immediately north of the quarantine.
A matter of a character so serious, could not, of course, be passed over in silence. Legal proceedings were at once insti- tuted, and Messrs. John C. Thompson and Ray Tompkins, who were regarded as the instigators and ringleaders of the incend- iaries, were arrested on a charge of arson, and arraigned before the county judge, Hon. H. B. Metcalfe, for examination. His opinion, which was extensively copied and read, had great in- fluence in changing public opinion. His closing remarks merit repetition and preservation.
"Undoubtedly the city of New York is entitled to all the protection in the matter that the State can give, consistently with the health of others ; she has no right to more. Her great advantages are attended by correspondent inconveniences ; her great public works, by great expenditures ; her great for- eign commerce, by the infection it brings. But the legislature can no more apportion upon the surrounding communities her dangers, than her expenses ; no more compel them to do her dying, than to pay her taxes ; neither can be done."
Thus ended the charges brought against the prisoners ; no person was punished for any complicity in the matter, but the county, very unjustly in the opinion of many, was compelled to pay for the value of the property destroyed, both public and private ; nevertheless, the people consoled themselves with the reflection, that even at that price, they had cheaply, as well as effectually, rid themselves of a grievous nuisance, which had not only depreciated the value of their property, and exposed themselves and their families to contagion in its worst forms,
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
but had actually been the direct cause of the death of hundreds of their relatives and neighbors.
The board of health employed a force of special police, twen- ty-five by day and an equal number by night, to keep a con- stant guard around the quarantine enclosure, to allow no com- munication between it and the town. The infected district at Tompkinsville was more effectually quarantined, and the health officer was instructed to prevent all intercourse with the dis- trict, even by fencing it in if he should deem it necessary. Meetings of the board were held daily, and all physicians were required to report daily all cases of infectious diseases. On the 14thi of September the board passed unanimous resolutions that immediate steps be taken to prevent the re-establishment of the quarantine buildings, and appointed a committee to legally re- strain the board of health of the city of New York and the health commissioners and commissioners of emigration " from re-erecting the said hospitals, buildings and shanties-or in do- ing any act by which the said nuisance may be re-established, continued or maintained in the Town of Castleton."
The quarantine establishment was never rebuilt here. A floating hospital was arranged and anchored in the Lower bay in 1860, and later hospitals were erected on two small islands in the Lower bay nearly opposite New Dorp, but far enough from the island shore to give freedom from any apprehensions of in- fectious communications,
Under an act of April 16, 1860, a commission was anthorized to investigate the damage sustained by the state in the destruc- tion of the old quarantine hospitals. The commission met in June, and after an extended inquiry, made their award, fixing the whole amount at $121,598.39, The supervisors of Richmond county in December accepted the award, and soon after issued bonds of the county to meet the same. These were given to the commissioners of emigration, who sold them as occasion re- quired and appropriated the proceeds to the expenses of their work. By an act of the legislature, passed in 1870, the bonds then remaining, to the amount of $10,725, were ordered to be surrendered and cancelled by the comptroller.
At the beginning of the year 1861 clouds of discord and po- litical strife began to darken the sky and obscure the prospects of the island in common with other parts of the land. Fanat - icism and hot-headed indiscretion had accomplished their work
18
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and the direful results were then hidden behind the veil which was about to remove and disclose the horrors of four years of civil war. As the opening events developed, the people in some measure were able to lay aside party spirit and join with some show of unanimity in the work of sustaining the government in its efforts to contend with a gigantic rebellion. In accordance with the recommendation of the president, Wednesday, Jan. mary 4th was observed as a day of fasting and prayer, that the threatened war clouds might pass away,
One of the first acts of hostility in which Staten Island was directly concerned was the seizure early in that month, of the schooner "S. W. Lutrell " of Staten Island, at Norfolk, Va., for violation of the inspection laws of that state for preventing the escape of fugitives and slaves.
A large and enthusiastic Union meeting said at the time to be the largest mass meeting that had ever convened on the is- land, was held at Tottenville on Saturday the 26th of January. A banner was raised, bearing upon it the motto, " The Consti- tution and the Union," and the most enthusiastic expres- sions of loyalty and devotion to the conntry of our fathers were indulged in. Guns were fired for the states of the Union, for General Scott and for Major Anderson, and resolu- tions were adopted, among which was the following :
" Resolved, That the peace and happiness of this country depend not on mere amendments to the Constitution, nor con- cession to the slave power, but upon a strict adherence to the Constitution, and a wise, firm and determined execution of the federal law."
In April preparations were made to meet the expected call for troops to defend the nation, The island began thus early to assume a martial appearance. Uniformed men might be seen hurrying to and fro, and recruits from almost every household were answering to the call, and making ready to go into camp. On the 20th of the month a number of young men who had joined the Seventy-first N. Y., embarked with the regiment on board the steamer " R. R. Cuyler." Others enlisted in the Seventy-third and other regiments. The flames of patriotism burned high, and party feeling was forgotton in the desire to maintain the integrity of the nation. An editorial in a local paper said-" We know that the soldiers of Staten Island go with no vindictive feelings towards the South to gratify. They
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go with the sword in one hand, and the olive branch in the other ; and the secession traitors South, as well as the abolition traitors North, are the objects of their special abhorrence."
The community now began to be greatly agitated in regard to the war in prospect. Handbills were posted throughout the county calling for recruits in the Scott Life Guard in New York ; sign boards, bearing the words " Death to all Traitors," were nailed up on trees along the shore roads ; in one instance an effigy, with protruding tongue, was hung by the neck from a stake in the center of a mill pond, while on his breast the figure bore a placard, on which were the words "The Traitor's Doom;" a secret combination was said to have been formed on the island, whose members assumed the duty of learning who were pos- sessed of traitorous sympathies and inclinations, and warning them against manifesting those sympathies too freely; recruit- ing officers frequently visited the island from the city and drew away large numbers of the young men ; flags were raised on vessels in the river and bay, on house tops and public build- ings, on horses and vehicles in the street, and were even worn upon the persons of ladies and gentlemen, some, however, sub- stituting rosettes instead of flags. During the month the Sev- enty third was engaged in recruiting its ranks, and tendered their services to the governor. The regiment was under com- mand of Colonel Ray Tompkins. At the close of the month it was under marching orders. The Middletown guard, an inde- pendent organization commanded by Captain Stahl, also pre- pared to take an active part in the war. The ministers in the different parts of the island made reference on Sunday to the national troubles. The arrival of Major Anderson and his com- mand in New York, after the evacuation of Fort Sumter, set free a blaze which swept over the whole northern states; and Staten Island, so closely connected with New York, could not but feel a double portion of the patriotic enthusiasm that glowed already with such a fervid heat. A mass meeting of the citizens of the county was called at the old quarantine gronnds in Tompkinsville, on Saturday the 27th, "to take measures for the prompt action of Richmond County at this crisis." This meeting, though not large, was enthusiastic. It was addressed by Mr. Clark and Henry J. Raymond. The vig- orous prosecution of the war was urged, and the following reso- Intions offered by Mr. G. W. Curtis were adopted :
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
" Whereas, The people of the United States within the Union, and under their own Government, have for three- quarters of a century enjoyed an unparalleled prosperity and progress, for the continuance of which the Constitution of the United States is the perpetual guarantee ; and,
" Whereas, That Constitution provides for a constant refer- ence of every disputed political policy to the peaceful decision of the people at the polls, and of every question arising under the Constitution and laws to the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, thereby removing all conceivable occasion for forcible resistance to the laws ; and,
" Whereas, An armed rebellion now threatens the very ex- istence of that Government, seizing the forts, arsenals, navy- yards, vessels and hospitals which belong to the people of the United States, and consninmating its crime by firing upon the flag of the nation, the glorious symbol of our unity, our liberty, and onr general welfare.
" Resolved, That it was the duty of all persons in the country, who felt themselves aggrieved, to resort to the peaceful and legal means of redress provided by the Constitution ; and that when, instead of so doing, they took up arms and organized resistance to the Government of the country, they struck at the very heart of organized civil society.
" Resolved, That the Government of the United States has properly sought, by every kind of forbearance, to avoid the sad necessity of asserting its authority by force of arms, but that it is at length manifest to the whole world that it must now subdne or be subdued.
" Resolved, That in forcibly maintaining that anthority every- where within its dominions, and at every cost, the Government wages no war of invasion or conquest, bnt simply does its duty, expecting every citizen to do the same, and to take care that the doom of the rebels and traitors who would rnin the most beneficent Government in the world, and so destroy the hope of free popular institutions forever, shall be swift, sudden and overwhelming.
" Resolved, That when the supreme authority of the Govern- ment of the people of the United States shall have been complete- ly reestablished, we, with all other good citizens, will cheerfully cooperate in any measures that may be taken in accordance with the Constitution, fully to consider and lawfully to redress
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all grievances that may anywhere be shown to exist, yielding ourselves, and expecting all others to yield to the will of the whole people, constitutionally expressed.
" Resolved, That we, loyal citizens of Richmond County hereby, before God and man, take the oath of fidelity to the sacred flag of our country, and to the cause of popular liberty and Constitutional Government which that represents, pledging ourselves to each other, that by the love we bear our native land, and our unfaltering faith in the principles of our Govern- ment, we will transmit to our children, unimpaired, the great heritage of blessings we have received from our fathers.
" Resolved, That a committee of three from each town in the County be appointed by the Chair, to solicit subscriptions for the benefit of the families of residents of the County, who may be absent upon actual service, and for the equipment of volun- teers; and that this fund shall be distributed by a Committee consisting of the Supervisors of the County.
" Resolved, That it be recommended to the citizens to form companies in their various neighborhoods, to elect their own officers, to drill regularly, and to hold themselves ready to an- swer the call of their country.
" Resolved, That knowing the readiness of the women of this country to take their part in the holy struggle, we invite them, by the immediate formation of local societies of relief, to pre- pare bandages and lint for husbands, sons, brothers and lovers, that all hands may work, as all hearts are beating, for God and and our native land."
Several regiments of soldiers, among whom were Wilson's Zouaves, were encamped in the quarantine enclosure at that time. They were marched ont and drawn up in line at this meeting and much of the speaking was addressed to them. To the question put to them, "Are you ready to march through Baltimore?" they gave a hearty response expressive of their determination and earnest readiness to face the conflict which was before them.
An unpleasant feature of the presence of these troops tempo- rarily stationed here soon began to manifest itself. These re- cruits, fresh from the low haunts of New York city and unused to the restraints of military discipline, were not held by the orders, however strict, forbidding them to leave the enclosure of the quarantine grounds. They frequently scaled the walls
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and in parties, sometimes as many as thirty, roamed along the shores and over the conntry, visiting the houses and annoying the inhabitants. Many petty depredations and thefts were com- mitted by them. A few were arrested and taken back to the encampment.
The island now became a rendezvous for many regiments and parts of regiments while waiting to fill their ranks with recruits or for orders to move forward toward the seat of war.
The ladies also, acting on the suggestions contained in the resolutions already quoted, formed associations in the different villages of the county, and while the sterner sex were drilling and equipping for the hard experiences of the battle-field they were preparing lint and bandages and other conveniences and comforts for the disabled, the sick and the dying.
The supervisors, in response to the people's resolutions, met at Tompkinsville on April 27th and appointed W. S. Pendleton as treasurer to hold the fund that might be raised for the equipment of volunteers and the support of their families during their absence. They also authorized him to dispense the fund, with the concurrence of one or more supervisors.
A number of young men, constituting an organization known as the "Young American Guards," began drilling at the Conti- nental hotel at Port Richmond, under the direction of Abraham C. Wood.
When the first recruits were equipping themselves for the war, great difficulty was experienced in finding a sufficient supply of uniforms and equipments. The market in such things was soon run dry, and men who were anxious to be off for the seat of war were delayed until the necessary equip- ments could be obtained or manufactured.
After the first installment of Staten Island boys had gone out in the Seventy-first and other regiments, their friends looked anxiously for tidings from them. And as their ac- quaintances and even strangers on the island were desirous of hearing from them, their letters were often published in the local papers and were read with great interest.
During the following summer the popular feeling must have been agitated to a fever heat. Besides the commotion caused by the exciting news from the war, and the presence of large numbers of soldiers in the midst, and the recruiting, flag-rais- ing, speech-making and other work for the cause of the nation,
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
there were other causes generating agitations that helped still further to inflame the public mind. In partisan politics the outbreak of the war and other influences had greatly disturbed the lines of the old political parties, and a new organ- ization called the Citizen's Union party, which was favorable to sustaining the Union arms and reforming some local abuses, was growing up amid a vast amount of partisan friction. The unsettled condition of the quarantine management also was a cause of frequent alarm for fear that the occupation of the old grounds might be renewed, or the floating hospitals in the bay might be drifted near enough to bring infectious diseases to the island. The frequent disturbances created by drunken soldiers and the consequent insults and annoyances that the people suffered from them, together with the discord generated by the efforts that were made to suppress liquor selling to the soldiers, and the resistance of a numerous and determined band of liquor dealers who were tempted by the unusual profits to continue in the business, all conspired to add more fuel to the flames of popular passion.
The petty depredations frequently committed by soldiers en- camped here, and the fear of still greater insecurity .from that source led to the organization of a "Home Guard," and a volunteer police force, to be called ont by the supervisors in case of any general disturbance that might be caused by the lawlessness of men from the encampments. Reasonable means were taken by the authorities of the camps to prevent the men going out to obtain liquor or to prey upon the peace of the community.
At the circuit court hield in November, 1861, the grand jury delivered to the court the following presentment, which is sug- gestive.
" The Grand Jury of the County of Richmond, upon the ter- mination of their duties, respectfully present, that they are gratified that no serious violations of law have demanded their investigation during the present session of this court, and re- gard that as a gratifying evidence of the peaceable and law- abiding character of the citizens of this County. Such cases, however, as have fallen under their notice disclose the fact that many violations of public order may be traced to the indulgence and use of intoxicating liquors, and they would recommend that the Commissioners of Excise should stringently, and with
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HISTORY OF RICHIMOND COUNTY.
energy, prosecute all persons who are engaged in the sale of strong and spirituous liquors without license, and collect the penalties prescribed for such violations of the law. In this con- nection, the Grand Jury would intimate that inasmuch as those penalties are directed by the statute to be appropriated when collected for the benefit of the poor of the County, that no com- promise of any suits instituted for their recovery can be legally authorized."
Some idea of the extent to which the people responded to the calls of the nation may be gained from the fact that up to the end of November, 1861, in the town of Castleton, there had been subscribed three thousand two hundred and fifty dollars for the families of volunteers. There had volunteered from this town one hundred and twenty-eight men, leaving sixty- four dependent families to be cared for.
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