The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 7

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At the outbreak of the Mexican war, in 1846, Mr. Pinto volunteered in his country's service, and on the 6th of June, that year, was commissioned as second lieutenant. He par- ticipated in the capture of Vera Cruz, the storming of Cerro Gordo, the taking of Pueblo, the battle of Contreras, the assault upon Chapultepec, and the taking of the city of Mex- ico, besides taking a worthy part in minor engagements. As interesting incidents of his experience during this period, it may be stated that, after General Sweeney was wounded at Cherubusco, Lieutenant Pinto supported his form while the operation of amputating the General's arm was being per- formed; and that he saw and conversed with the recently deceased Captain Mayne Reid upon his being brought into the castle, after having been wounded outside the walls of Cha- pultepec. Before and at the time of the fall of the city of Mexico, Lieutenant Pinto rendered some brilliant service, which can be only briefly referred to in these pages. The night following the bombardment of Chapultepec, he had command of a working party to move the American guns nearer the castle. At the storming of Chapultepec, the next day, he placed the first scaling ladder in a ditch against the wall of the Castle. A second ladder was passed over and he caught the end on the point of his saber, holding it up until it was shoved on the main wall, thus bridging the ditch. Then, assisting the color sergeant of his regiment, they as- cended the ladder together with the red flag presented by the city of New York, which was the first American flag inside the Castle walls. On the afternoon of the same day, he was detailed with a hundred men at the gate de Belen to change the location of the sand-bags, so as to protect the American gunners in using the guns of the Mexicans captured at this

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

gate. This was a most difficult and dangerous task, and, upon the successful completion of the work, he was honor- ably mentioned in general orders.

Lieutenant Pinto was a member of the first military Court of Commission, which met in the Mexican capital, after its capitulation, and took an active part in its deliberations. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy and 'breveted captain, at the close of the war, and mustered out of service with his regiment, in July, 1848, after a little more than two years' service.

Returning to private life, Mr. Pinto decided to go to Cali- fornia, then holding out golden promise to those who were venturesome and self-reliant enough to seek its shores; and, on Christmas day, 1848, he embarked at New York on board the steamer Isthmus, owned by George Law, for California, via Panama. Passing safely through dangers by fire and storm off Cape Hatteras, the Isthmus reached Havana with its supply of coal about exhausted. On account of a report that she had cholera aboard, it was only with the utmost difficulty that the steamer was enabled to secure a little fuel of most inferior quality; but, putting in at Port Royal, this deficiency was supplied. The crossing of the Isthmus of Panama was effected, and then Mr. Pinto and his compan- ions embarked for San Francisco on the California, the first steamer that made the voyage up the Pacific coast. She put in at Acapulco, and the natives fled from the town, under the impression that she was a piratical craft. At Monterey the discovery was made that the vessel was without coal. A landing was effected on the timbered coast, and the able-bodied passengers formed themselves into a body of in- dustrious woodchoppers. After much arduous labor had been performed in this cause, a large number of sacks, which had been erroneously thought to contain some kind of mer- chandise, were found to be filled with coal; and after this unnecessary, though not an altogether unpleasant delay, the California steamed into San Francisco Bay on the 28th of February, 1849, twenty-seven days out from Panama, and a little more than two months after Mr. Pinto's departure from New York. San Francisco then consisted of but a few adobe houses, but the spirit of progress had already taken root there, and it was the point of supply to a goodly number of overlanders who were working in the gold-fields beyond. The arrival of the California was an important event. Bon- fires were lighted in honor of the vessel and her passengers and the latter were welcomed to the hospitalities of the town.

The destination of every Californian emigrant was "to the diggings," and Mr. Pinto at once joined a party of five or six of his fellow-voyagers and went, via Stockton, to the South- ern mines. The party combined mining with trading, and soon opened a store of which they were joint owners, and of which, after some little experience in the mines, Mr. Pinto was placed in charge. This business was closed out in the spring of 1850, and Mr. Pinto returned to San Francisco, where he met an old New York acquaintance, named Martin Waterman, who, in company with Rodolph Jordan, was the proprietor of a general mercantile business, in which the two induced Mr. Pinto to become a partner, and the firm became Waterman, Jordan & Co. The same gentlemen, under the style of Pinto, Jordan & Co., opened a store in Stockton two weeks later. Both houses were very successful, and in the winter of 1851, Mr. Pinto went to San Francisco to attend to their interests there. In May, 1851, in the fire which de- stroyed most of the important portions of San Francisco, their stores there were swept away, and the conflagration which ruined Stockton three days later burned their other establishment at that place. Up to that time, it had not been

possible to effect any insurance on property in California, and had it not been for the precaution the firm had taken to build warehouses on the outskirts of Stockton, in which con+ siderable merchandise was stored, and the presence in San Francisco bay of a cargo of sugar which they owned, they would have been utterly without recourse ; but, thus aided, they were enabled to rebuild and continue business at both San Francisco and Stockton. In December, 1851, Mr. Pinto came to New York, and, on the 6th of the following January, he married Miss Jessie Laimbeer, to whom he had been be- trothed prior to his departure for Califormia in 1848. Return- ing to California with his bride in the following March, Mr. Pinto dissolved partnership with Messrs. Waterman and Jor- dan, and, becoming a partner with James Baxter, Ira P. Rankin and Henry Tay, of Boston, opened a mercantile house in San Francisco and another in Stockton. About a year afterward this alliance was terminated by dissolution, and a new firm was formed by Francis E. Pinto, Henry Tay and Wilson G. Flint, who continued the same business at the same places, but so unsuccessfully that a separation of the partners soon took place, and the firm of Pinto, Tay & Flint was succeeded by that of Pinto & Waterman, his old partner joining him in the enterprise. In the meantime, Mrs. Pinto had returned to New York with her daughter, and she remained east until rejoined by her husband. The enterprise of Messrs. Pinto & Waterman was successful, and they soon entered so largely into the grain trade that, during the year 1855, they handled more grain than any other house in San Francisco. In the spring of 1856 the firm of Pinto & Waterman terminated its existence, and.Mr. Pinto began to settle up all his California business, with a view to returning 'to New York, but still with the idea that he might possibly again make his home in San Francisco.

At this time occurred an episode in the life of Mr. Pinto which at once evidenced his soldierly and daring spirit, and his readiness to serve the public, even at the risk of life itself. Causes which have become historical, and any satisfactory reference to which is manifestly out of place in this brief sketch, rendered necessary the organization of what was known as the Vigilance Committee of California. It was formed early in 1856, and was, in reality, the first formal and well organized body for the protection of life and property in the Golden State, and was officially designated as the " Mili- tary Department, Committee of Vigilance." The civil law was ineffectual to secure citizens in the rights of life and property, and, without any design other than the advance- ment of the public good, the Vigilance Committee, by the action of the civil authorities, was brought into antagonism with the courts, and thus occupied a dangerous position, menaced on the one hand by the lawless class so numerous there at that time, and on the other by the civil government, which in every manner impeded its action and crippled its efficiency. Of this body Mr. Pinto became a member, and was placed in command of a company of 100 men. He was soon afterward made major of a battalion, and later a colo- nel of a regiment of this semi-military, semi-secret organiza- tion, of which he became Deputy Grand Marshal. When Colonel Pinto announced his intention of leaving California, and tendered his resignation of these offices, he received a flattering response from Charles Doane, Grand Marshal and Commander-in-chief of the forces of the Committee of Vigil- ance, from which the following extract is made.

** * * You will permit me to say that I deeply regret that any circumstances should render such a step on your part necessary, and to add that it affords me much gratifica- tion to bear testimony to the energy, the zeal, and the ability which has characterized your every effort in behalf of the good cause in which we are all engaged."

A.LITTLE. PHIL :

James & Dig

655

THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

About this time, Colonel Pinto was tendered the office of Sheriff of San Francisco, but refused to accept the charge, though this evidence of the confidence of many leading citi- zens must have been very gratifying. He returned to New York, rejoining his family in July, 1856, and lived in partial retirement from business till the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861. When asked by an old friend if he intended to go into the war, he replied, "I can't keep out of it." The intelli- gence that Fort Sumter had fallen into traitorous hands aroused old memories of the scenes of war; and he at once met several kindred spirits, mostly old Californian acquaintances, among them, Ira P. Rankin, who had been appointed collec- tor of the port of San Francisco, the postmaster of San Fran- cisco, the Superintendent of the Mint there, and Col. Edward D. Baker, who was killed early in the war at Ball's Bluff, and the formation of a regiment to represent California was proposed, discussed, and determined upon. It was agreed that Colonel Baker should command this regiment, and that Colonel Pinto should be its Lieutenant-Colonel. Mr. Roder- ick Mattheson was also interested in the proposed organiza- tion. Dissensions soon arose, which resulted in the form- ation of the regiment, with Mr. Mattheson as Colonel and Mr. Pinto as Lieut .- Colonel. It was known as the 32d N. Y. V. I., and its field officers and several others of subordinate rank were all men who had been identified with the wonder- ful early development of California. It went into camp at New Dorp, Staten Island, early in May, and left for Wash- ington in June, via Harrisburg and Baltimore, being one of the first regiments to pass through the latter city after the disgraceful mob attack there on the Massachusetts Sixth.

At the first battle of Bull Run, the 32d was in reserve on Centreville Heights, and was engaged until midnight in barricading the roads leading to Bull Run Creek with rails and other obstructions. They were greatly surprised to learn that the Unionists had been defeated and were fleeing toward Washington. Upon reaching the road to Alexandria the regiment met the wreck of the Federal commissary and ammunition wagons. The 32d was, doubtless, the last regi- ment to leave that fatal field. Going into camp at Fairfax Court-House until daylight, it continued the retreat to Alex- andria the following morning, every man accounted for, conveying all of its disabled men in an ambulance which was found tongueless by the wayside, and propelled by will- ing hands by means of a rope attached to it, and which Gen. Franklin said should thenceforward belong to the regiment. At West Point, Va., where, May 7th, 1862, the Unionists, un- der Franklin and Sedgwick, defeated a considerable force of Confederates under Whiting, the 32d took a prominent part, losing two captains killed and several lieutenants and a num- ber of men killed and wounded, and was complimented for its bravery in a speech by General Newton. The regiment was more or less actively engaged in the seven days' fight on the Peninsula, at Gaines' Mills, at White Oak Swamp, at Malvern Hill, and at the second battle of Bull Run. While lying at Harrison's Landing, Lieutenant-Colonel Pinto had been detailed to command the 31st New York, and was in the discharge of that duty at the time of the last great battle named, protecting the Orange and Alexandria Railroad from Alexandria to Fairfax Court-House. Early in the morning, it was found that the enemy had burned a bridge near there. Soon afterward, Colonel Pinto discovered the telegraph oper- ator hidden in the woods, where he had fled from his post, and telegraphed General Slocum that his force was too weak to extend his lines any further and properly protect the road. About noon, General Shaler's old regiment came to reinforce him, and the following night the regiment withdrew to Alexandria.

On the 14th of September, at the storming of Crampton's Pass, Colonel Pinto commanded the Union left, consisting of the 31st N. Y. and the 95th Penn. The pass was defend- ed by Georgia troops under command of Howell Cobb. Col. Pinto's command on this occasion captured captured more prisoners than he had men. During this engagement, Colonel Mattheson and Major Lemon, of the 32d N. Y., were both mortally wounded. On the morning of the 17th, the division was ordered to join M'Clellan before Antietam. On the march, the 32d being without a field officer, its officers requested of General Newton that Lieutenant-Colonel Pinto be ordered to assume command of that regiment, and he was soon at its head; and about noon that day the regiment ar- rived on the field of Antietam, and, with the balance of the division, was ordered to support the batteries on the right of the Union line, which at this time were unsupported on ac- count of the severe fighting during the morning. Scarcely had Colonel Pinto placed his regiment in position, when his horse was wounded by a ball from the rifle of a rebel sharp- shooter. A contemplated attack on this point was abandoned by the Confederates, when it was seen that the batteries were now protected. The regiment remained on the skir- mish line all night and during the next day, in the course of which a flag of truce appeared in front of the 32d. It was met by the Adjutant, who brought to Colonel Pinto a pen- ciled note addressed to the Commander of the Federal out- posts, requesting the remains of a certain South Carolinian Colonel who had fallen within the Union lines. Col. Pinto conferred with Generals Franklin, Slocum and Newton, who recommended his compliance with the request. The body was found and 'passed through the picket line to the enemy.

Not long after this, Colonel Pinto declined a commission as Colonel of the 31st, in order to accept the colonelcy of his old regiment, the 32d. This regiment, with Colonel Pinto in command, participated in the battle of Fredericksburg the following December, crossing the Rappahannock at the lower crossing and advancing in a dense fog, deployed as skirmishers, till the enemy were found in the hills. At the second crossing of the Rappahannock, and the engagement which ensued on the almost impregnable slopes beyond Fredericksburg, where Sedgwick's grand division, consisting of the Sixth Corps and a division of the Twentieth, so valiantly drove the Confederates from the entrenchments covering the rear of Lee (then fighting Joe Hooker at Chan- cellorsville), the 32d formed a part of the brigade which crossed at night in boats and surprised the enemy's pickets, and participated with great credit in the engagement at Salem Heights which immediately followed. On the 8th of the following month, the regiment, which had enlisted for two years, was mustered out of service. In a general order issned from the headquarters of the Sixth Army Corps, May 23d, 1863, General Sedgwick thus referred to this re- doubtable organization :

"The loss of this gallant regiment from the service is a cause of much regret to the Major-General commanding. The 32d New York Volunteers has been identified with the Sixth Army Corps from its first organization, and has nobly borne its part on all occasions, from its earliest marches down to the last memorable struggle at Salem Heights. In Maryland and Virginia, upon many battle-fields, the graves of fallen but unforgotten comrades attest the brave devotion of the regiment to the national cause. These are memories of great deeds of trying marches, of perils and fatigues, that should make each soldier proud of his connection with the command and the army of which it was a part. The General commanding the Corps congratulates the officers and men upon their honorable retirement from the service, and as- sures them that they have bravely deserved the thanks of the country and the army."

656

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Colonel Pinto was brevetted Brigadier-General as a further evidence of the high esteem in which his services were held by his superiors in command. He retired to private life, and, in October, 1863, entered into business at the Atlantic Docks, Brooklyn, in the general storage business. He is a Republi- can in politics, a member of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, and a liberal supporter of religious and general charities. As a business man he ranks high, carry- ing on extensive operations in his line, and is a member of the New York Produce Exchange. He will long have a place in the memory of the loyal citizens of Brooklyn as one of those Brooklynites who aided in upholding the starry flag in two memorable wars, and it may be of interest to future generations to know that he was chosen as a member of the staff of the Grand Marshal on the occasion of the centennial celebration, in 1883, of the evacution of New York by the British.

JAMES WILLIAM ELWELL, a prominent shipping merchant of New York City, was born in Bath, Maine, August 27 1820, and is a son of the late John Elwell and Mary Sprague, his wife. Mr. Elwell may be said to have inherited his marked business ability and numerous virtues from a long line of sturdy New England ancestors. Paternally he is descended from the Elwells who landed at Boston in 1636, and moved to the neighborhood of Gloucester, Mass., whence they have scattered to different parts of the country, notably to Maine, Broome county, New York, and Southern New Jersey. The parent stem is still vigorous in Massachusetts and Maine, and there is a branch in Pennsylvania, to which Judge Elwell of the Supreme Court of that state belongs. On his mother's side he comes of even more ancient stock, the Spragues dating from 1628, in which year the ancestors of the family landed at Plymouth, Mass., and settled in the neighborhood of Duxbury and Marshfield, in the same state, whence their progeny subsequently scattered to Rhode Island, Maine, and other parts of the country. Mr. Elwell's great- grandfather, Payn Elwell, born in Gloucester, Mass., April 8. 1744, was a worthy citizen of that town, and at the age of twenty years married Rebecca Webber, hy whom he had issue nine children, five of them boys. Payn Elwell sur- vived his wife a little over five years, and died March 20, 1820. His second son, Payn Elwell, Jr., born in New Glouces- ter, Maine, August 7, 1767, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, began life as a clerk in his father's store, in North Yarmouth, Maine, and at the age of twenty-two was ad- mitted to partnership. April 16, 1789, he married a Miss Lucy Staples, of North Yarmouth, who bore him a son, John, and a daughter, Rebecca, who became the wife of the Rev. David M. Mitchell, of Waldoboro, Maine. In 1807 he re- moved to Waldoboro, Maine, and established himself inde- pendently in business. He was the founder of the Congre- gational church in that place, and throughout life one of its most worthy and active members, as well as principal sup- porters, and held the office of deacon from 1808 until his death, August 21, 1840. John Elwell, his son, born in North Yarmouth, Maine, May 17, 1790, received a good common school education, and then entered his father's store as clerk, carefully saving his earnings and making judicious invest- ments, and, with some assistance from his father, he was enabled to engage in business on his own account, which he did in Bath, Maine, in 1815, and, April 22, 1816, married the daughter of Captain Joseph Sprague, of Topsham, Maine. His business, originally confined to general merchandise, gradually broadened, until it caused him to become interested in shipping, and largely engaged in fitting and equipping

vessels employed in the fisheries, and in shipping their pro- ducts as well as lumber to the West Indies, bartering the outward for return cargoes of salt, sugar, molasses, coffee, and other West India commodities. In 1831, desiring a larger field and greater facilities for his enterprise, he came to New York with a view of establishing himself permanently in the shipping and commission business, judiciously leaving his family behind him until he had gained a secure footing. Owing to the prevalence of Asiatic cholera in the city in 1832 he did not bring his family hither until a year later, at which time he secured a suitable residence in the village of Brook- lyn, Long Island.

James W. Elwell, the subject of this sketch, and son of the foregoing, was put to school in his native place at the tender age of three years, and when nine years old entered the Bath High School or Academy. In these days of exhaustive edu- cation, it may surprise the reader to learn that the charges for tuition at this latter institution, $4 a quarter, were considered quite high; and that, in consequence, the young pupil was duly impressed with the necessity for applying himself dili- gently to his studies. In 1833, when the family removed to New York, James was in his thirteenth year. The sailing vessel that transferred the family and its household effects to Brooklyn was fourteen days in making the voyage thither from Bath. The wonderful changes in Brooklyn since Mr. Elwell became a resident therein may be inferred from the following particulars regarding the place at the time of his arrival. The house into which the family moved was situ- ated between Fulton and Henry streets, in Pierrepont street, which was then the last street opened south of Fulton ferry, and there were very few houses south of it. On the east side of Fulton street, Johnson street was the last street opened. Nearly opposite the Elwells' house were the Pierrepont corn- fields, and where the Court-house now stands a Frenchman named Duflon kept a public house, with which he had con- nected a garden, known as " Military Garden." This house was the first stopping place for travelers leaving the settled part of the village. The site of the present City Hall was a pasture, surrounded by a post and rail fence. In the rear of the Elwells' house in Pierrepont street was Love lane, in which was the residence of Hon. George Hall, president of the village. At this time there were only three watchmen in Brooklyn, and no ferry south of Fulton street had then been established.

In 1833 the elder Elwell formed a partnership with James B. Taylor, under the style of Elwell & Taylor, at 84 Coffee House Slip, New York City; and in the same year his son James entered the house as junior clerk, a part of his duty being to open the office at six o'clock in the morning, a task at which he was punctual and reliable. In the fall of the year he obtained a situation with James R. Gibson, then a dealer in special produce, including lard, cheese, barley, oat- meal, lime juice and palm oil, at 143 Front street. By the terms of the agreement young Elwell was to receive no sal- ary the first year, and but $50 the second, as was then the custom; but he impressed his worthy employer so favorably that, at the expiration of six months, Mr. Gibson handed him a check for $25, saying, "James, your salary will be $50 the first year. Nor was this all; for when the year expired no account was taken of this payment, nor of presents equal- ing $50 in value, and a check of $50 was paid as the year's salary.

This liberal treatment was continued while he remained in Mr. Gibson's employment; and, while it reflected the highest honor upon the kindness of heart of the employer, it was none the less richly deserved hy the boy, who proved worthy of every confidence. The duties of the latter obliged him to

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345