USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania; also containing a separate account of the several boroughs and townships in the county, with biographical sketches, 2nd ed > Part 8
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The crisis having come, the public men of Pennsyl- vania assumed the advance of the most zealous spirits of the nation, urging the government to organize pow- erful armies from among the loyal men who were freely offering their services, and thus crush the rebellion at a single blow.
Simon Cameron, of this state, then secretary of war, recommended the raising of an army of five hun- dred thousand men, and the use of every element of strength within the reach of the government, in order to speedily overthrow the power of those who sought to dismember the Union.
Thaddeus Stevens was even more aggressive than Cameron, since he advocated the organization of an army of a million men, the liberating of the slaves, and inviting them to fight for their own freedom.
Governor Curtin, the greatest of all the war gov- ernors, was not only cordially in harmony with these views, but from first to last grandly supported the cause of the Union and played the part of a loving father toward Pennsylvania's sons in the field.
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In honor of these statesmen it must be said that, after many Federal reverses, their policy was at last adopted by the national government.
The military spirit pervaded Carbon county from the beginning of the war until its close.
Upon the expiration of the three months' campaign this county raised two companies for the Twenty- eighth Regiment; four for the Eighty-first; one for the Sixty-seventh; one for the Fourth Pennsylvania Cav- alry; one for the Eleventh Regiment, and portions of companies for the Eleventh Infantry, the Eleventh Cav- alry, and the Fifty-third Regiment. Besides these, about a company were scattered in various other regi- ments.
The Eighty-first Regiment was recruited by James Miller and Eli T. Connor. As has just been shown, it was composed largely of Carbon county men, and its gallantry and hard service earned for it the right to be classed among the best of the "fighting regiments" of the Union army.
Miller, who so bravely led the Stockton Artillerists during the Mexican war, was commissioned as its colonel. He fell at the battle of Fair Oaks, the first engagement in which his regiment participated. But the spirit which he had instilled into his men lived after him, and was an important factor in their subsequent excellent conduct.
Upon the fall of Miller, Connor was placed in com- mand. He led the regiment through the Seven Days' battle, and died gloriously at Malvern Hill, just a month after the death of Colonel Miller.
Beginning with the Peninsular campaign, the Eighty-first Regiment participated in all of the impor- tant battles and campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. and fought under Grant to the fall of Richmond and
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the close of the war. Its exceptional record was earned at the expense of a long list of casualties.
Sergeant Obadiah Derr, a member of this regiment, who is still alive at Weatherly, bears the reputation of having received more wounds than any other sol- dier from Carbon county. He was six times severely wounded.
When Lee made his first invasion of the North, which was checked at Antietam, a large number of men from this county volunteered for the emergency. Two full companies were also organized here during 1862 for the One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment.
In the summer of 1863, when the Southern army, flushed with the victories of Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville, invaded Pennsylvania, the county sent over four hundred men to help repel the enemy. Dur- ing 1864, over two hundred men volunteered for one year. In addition to this the various subdistricts of the county paid bounties to the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars to other volunteers.
All told, Carbon county furnished over two thou- sand men for the suppression of the Rebellion. This is, indeed, a remarkable showing when it is remem- bered that her total population in 1860 was but a little over twenty-one thousand. Many of the inhabitants, too, were either foreign born, or the children of immi- grants. The German, Irish, Welsh and Scotch na- tionalities predominated. Yet these men were just as loyal, and fought quite as heroically for the preserva- tion of our institutions as did those whose ancestors came over in the Mayflower. To recount the story of their valor in its fulness would be to recount the story of the Civil War. They figured in all the im- portant manœuvres of the armies, from the pesti- lential swamps of Virginia to the everglades of
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Florida; on raids and foraging expeditions, on the battle front and the lonely picket line, crossing the "dead-line" at Andersonville, Libby and Bell Isle for prompt relief from lingering death and starvation, vermin and cruel exposure; languishing with shat- tered bodies in hastily improvised field hospitals; con- tributing their share to the accumulations from the surgeon's knife, or breathing their young lives away, far from friends and loved ones, at the isolated spot where the fatal bullet found its mark. A few followed the sea and faced the additional dangers of old ocean.
Of the seventy-eight officers from the county, fifteen were killed, one died of disease, while thirty-nine were wounded. Taking officers and men together, five- eighths were killed or wounded.
Not only is the record of Carbon county unsurpassed by any section remaining loyal to the Union, whether considering the number of men furnished in propor- tion to voting population, or their bravery and heroism on the field of battle, but the same is true in speaking of the health and endurance of our soldiers.
The grand record of casualties among the United States volunteers during the war shows that double the number of men died of disease to those that were killed in battle.
In comparison to this the files of the war depart- ment show that three times as many soldiers from this county were killed in action as died of disease.
THE WAR WITH SPAIN.
The blowing-up of the battleship Maine in the har- bor of Havana on February 15, 1898, and the result- ing loss of a large proportion of her crew, it was at once felt would make war between the United States and Spain inevitable.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Strained relations had existed between the two na- tions for some time previous to this dreadful oc- currence, owing to the attitude of the American people, who sympathized with Cuba, a dependency of Spain, in her struggle against the tyranny of the mother coun- try.
When the court of inquiry, appointed to ascertain the cause of the catastrophe, reported that the ship had been destroyed by a mine in the harbor, and not by the explosion of her own magazines, it was taken as conclusive evidence that the Spanish authorities were responsible for the horror. This conviction re- sulted in the extinction of Spanish power on the Amer- ican continent.
On April 21, Spain dismissed the United States minister, breaking off diplomatic relations, which was practically a declaration of war.
President Mckinley at once issued a call for one hundred and twenty-five thousand volunteers. The sons of the North and the South, with wonderful unan- imity, promptly responded, and the quotas of the dif- ferent states were filled in a few hours, while thou- sands of disappointed applicants were turned away.
Before the land forces could be brought into action, the Spanish fleet in the Pacific was crushed in the most startling and dramatic fashion by the squadron of Commodore Dewey.
Carbon county's contribution to the army was made principally under the second call for volunteers, and consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five men. Most of these belonged to the company recruited by Dr. William H. Clewell, of Summit Hill, which was attached to the Ninth Regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles B. Dougherty, of Wilkes-Barre. Robert S.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Mercur, of the same place, was the captain of the com- pany, while Clewell served as lieutenant.
The men were mustered into service in the old ar- mory at Summit Hill, formerly the home of the Carbon Guards, leaving for Camp George H. Thomas, at Chickamauga, on the ninth of July. They were not uniformed or equipped until their arrival in the South.
Nearly thirty men from the Panther Creek Valley joined the Eighth Regiment at Tamaqua, under the command of Colonel Theodore Hoffman. This regi- ment was first stationed at Camp Alger, near Falls Church, Va.
But in a war between two nations of such unequal strength and fitness as the United States and Spain there could be but one outcome. After a struggle as brief as it was futile, Spain submitted to her more powerful rival. Thus no opportunity was afforded the men of this region to "flash the maiden sword"; but they displayed their patriotism in responding to the country's call.
Nearly all participated in the military parade of the Peace Jubilee at Philadelphia in the latter part of September, joining ranks with a host of veterans of the Civil War.
The Ninth Regiment was mustered out of service at Wilkes-Barre on October 29, while the Eighth fol- lowed suit at Camp Mackenzie, Ga., March 7, 1899.
A few men from Carbon county took part in sup- pressing the insurrection in the Philippine Islands, which followed American occupation of the archi- pelago. Among the number was Captain William H. Wilhelm, a gallant officer of the regular army, who was killed during the month of June, 1901.
CHAPTER IX.
EDUCATION.
It is interesting in this age of free schools and gen- eral enlightenment to look back upon the educational facilities of our forefathers, and to consider the hard- ships and difficulties which beset the pathway of the children of the pioneers in their quest of knowledge.
Among the old records of the Dutch government on the Delaware is found an account of the labors of Evert Pieterson, who held the office of "schoolmaster, sexton, comforter of the sick and setter of psalms."
He arrived in the colony in April, 1657, and in mid- summer of that year was teaching twenty-five pupils. This was the first educational institution, as nearly as can be ascertained, in what is now Pennsylvania.
The Swedes, too, established schools in the earliest years of their settlement on the Delaware. But these schools are merely historical curiosities.
The foundations of education in Pennsylvania were laid by William Penn. The original "Frame of Gov- ernment" and the "Great Law," enacted in the first year of the province, provided that "schools shall be established for the education of the young."
Acting upon this provision, a school was opened in Philadelphia by Enoch Flowers, in 1683, each pupil being charged a small sum for tuition. In 1689, the Friends' public grammar school, which afterward be- came the William Penn Charter School, was opened in Philadelphia. It was not a public school, in the mod- ern sense of the term, but resembled the so-called "public schools" of England. It was endowed and
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
free only to the poor, while those in better circum- stances were required to pay reasonable tuition fees.
In the early history of the province, the schools with few exceptions were under religious domination. The minister was usually expected to serve also as school- master, while much of the instruction given related to subjects embraced in the catechism of the church. Protestants and Catholics alike adopted this policy, thereby establishing a strong prejudice against any attempt on the part of the civil authorities to usurp their functions in matters pertaining to education. However, the number of church schools was inade- quate, and where people lived five or ten miles from a church, or where a variety of religious denominations existed, schools were organized by neighborhoods. The building of a house and the employment of a teacher was usually entrusted to a committee elected by the neighborhood. The money needed was raised by voluntary subscription. These schools after a time outnumbered those sustained by religious bodies, ow- ing to the intermingling of seets and nationalities as the population grew.
The provincial school house was generally a rough log cabin, and the spaces between the logs were filled with chips of wood and plastered with mortar. The floors were of earth and sometimes of timber, through which snakes often crawled. Nearly one side of the house was occupied by the immense chimney, and there were several windows with small panes of glass. The furniture consisted of four-legged benches made of logs split in two and hewn to a proper thickness, and stools and tables of the same material and work- manship. The desks were placed against the wall, facing outward, while seats without backs were in the middle of the room for the smaller scholars.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The first regular branch of instruction was reading, for this was preparatory to learning the catechism and taking part in religious exercises. When writing was first introduced it was confined wholly to boys, as the acquirement was deemed unnecessary for girls. Ink was made of nut-galls bruised, to which was added a proper proportion of water and some rusty nails. Paper was costly, and birch bark was often used as a substitute. Arithmetic was taught, but without the use of books. The "sums" were dictated by the mas- ter and worked out on paper or bark, for blackboards were unknown, and slates and pencils did not come into use until after the Revolution.
If the equipment of these schools was rude and primitive, the instruction given was frequently in har- mony with the surroundings.
The state, in 1776, took no ground in advance of the church and neighborhood schools when it pro- posed to furnish elementary instruction at low prices.
In 1790, however, Timothy Pickering, of Luzerne; William Findley, of Westmoreland, and others, suc- ceeded in getting the words-"in such manner that the poor shall be taught gratis"-attached to the constitu- tional clause on schools.
Magnanimous as the intent of the authors of this provision may have been, it later became apparent that the cause of popular education had not been much advanced by the paternal attitude thus assumed by the state.
For several decades the lawmakers of Pennsylvania hoped to be able to secure universal education by simply providing for the gratuitous instruction of the poor, and long continued to make labored efforts to that end.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
For purposes of classification, the pupils' names were enrolled as "pay" and "pauper" scholars.
The law provided that the tuition of the latter class should be paid by the county, whenever the returns of the assessors showed that the parents were unable to bear the expense. But the sense of equality that had been engendered by free institutions was such that all attempts to educate poor children at the public ex- pense, in schools with other children or in schools by themselves, completely failed.
The class distinctions that had been broken up in general society could not be preserved in school. Pov- erty could deaden self-respect in few parents to the extent of allowing their children to attend schools where they were certain to be looked down upon as belonging to an inferior class. These schools came to be despised by the rich and shunned by the poor.
Then it was that the idea arose of educating all the children in the state, irrespective of their pecuniary condition, at the public expense. To many well-mean- ing people, however, it seemed unreasonable to levy taxes for the schooling of those amply able to pay their own bills. It looked to them like a blow at self-reli- ance and paternal responsibility.
To further complicate the situation, it was claimed that there was no constitutional warrant to appro- priate any money except for the poor, and, hence, it was necessary to define the term, thus emphasizing and, to a certain extent, perpetuating the pauper con- ditions.
It was not until the supreme court of the state de- cided that the constitution did not prohibit the use of state money for others than the poor that a way was seen to go forward. On this negative decision is built the whole public school system of Pennsylvania.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The need of better and more adequate educational facilities was painfully apparent when the "Pennsyl- vania Society for the Promotion of Public Schools" was organized in Philadelphia in 1827. Roberts Vaux was the leading spirit in the affairs of this society, which effectively agitated the question at issue, and public meetings and memorials sprang up over the state. This culminated in 1834 in the enactment of a law which provided for the establishment of schools which should be free to all.
The most influential champion of this measure was Governor George Wolfe, the son of a German immi- grant, of Northampton county. This, the beginning of the common school system, inaugurated a new era in the progress of universal education in the state.
The new law, however, met with strong opposition, even from the friends of the system, who distrusted its methods. But it had a fearless champion in Thad- deus Stevens, with whom Wolfe courageously joined in defense of the system when a desperate but unsuc- cessful attempt was made by the legislature in 1835 to overthrow it.
No special effort was at first made to put the new school system in operation. The law was in some re- spects imperfect, and supplementary legislation was necessary to correct its weaknesses. Besides, the question of its adoption or rejection was discretionary with the people of each district, and many rejected it, preferring to go on in the old way. But in 1849 the law was made applicable to every part of the state.
The act of 1854 introduced new and important fea- tures, while the main points of the law were left un- changed. It created the office of county superintend- ent of schools, authorized the levying and collection of school taxes, and gave fuller powers generally to
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boards of directors. For the first time since the begin- ning of the crusade for free schools, the district officers were clothed with adequate authority to enforce the law.
Three years later, the state superintendency of com- mon schools was made a separate office; before that its duties were performed by the secretary of the com- monwealth.
At the same time the normal school law was passed, providing for the establishment under state aid of institutions for the professional preparation of teach- ers.
The system of soldiers' orphan schools established in 1864 marked the beginning of a scheme of benevo- lence without a parallel in the history of any other state or nation.
Pennsylvania furnished nearly four hundred thou- sand men in the war for the preservation of the Union. It is estimated that fifty thousand of these fell in battle or died in hospitals, while perhaps an equal number returned to their homes greatly disabled with wounds or shattered in health. Many left widows and children in destitute circumstances.
The war had not long continued before hundreds of the orphaned or worse than orphaned children of sol- diers were reduced to want and beggary or were com- pelled to find food and shelter in some almshouse or other charitable institution.
It was then that the great, patriotic heart of Penn- sylvania was moved and the plan formed by which the children of dead or disabled soldiers were collected, maintained, educated and cared for to the age of six- teen years, and then placed in circumstances giving an opportunity for a fair start in life.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
This charity, if such it may properly be termed, is said to have been suggested by the necessities of two children who called at the executive mansion at Har- risburg on Thanksgiving Day, in 1863, asking for bread. Governor Curtin met them at the door, and to his kindly questions they answered in their childish way that their father had been killed in battle, and that their mother had since died, while they were en- tirely friendless and alone.
The voice of these children was the voice of God, speaking to the noble head of the commonwealth. For two years he had been calling for troops and urging men to the field, and, behold, their little ones had become beggars!
Before the coming of another Thanksgiving day proper provisions had been made for the education and care of this deserving class among our people.
During the period when they were most needed, the state appropriated as high as six hundred thousand dollars annually for the maintenance of these schools, in which, to-day, after nearly fifty years, about six hundred children are still enrolled, a few of the num- ber being from Carbon county.
Among the crowning acts to make elementary edu- cation universal in Pennsylvania were the free-text book law of 1893, and the compulsory attendance law of 1895.
In the beginning the state appropriated about $100,- 000 a year to the public schools. In 1875, the amount had risen to $1,000,000, while in recent years the an- nual appropriation has reached the enormous sum of $7,500,000.
The first school to be opened within the limits of Carbon county was that conducted by the Moravians
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in connection with Gnadenhütten mission, which occu- pied the present site of Lehighton.
The Indians who gathered daily for prayer in the little chapel on the Mahoning were also taught to read and were instructed in the mechanic arts and in the cultivation of the soil. These efforts seemed to be very encouraging at first, but in the course of a few years, the land became impoverished through im- proper treatment, and the seat of the mission was changed to the opposite side of the Lehigh, where Weissport now stands.
The evil fate which befell this settlement in the In- dian uprising of 1755 brought to an abrupt termination the work which had been so disinterestedly undertaken and begun. From this time forth until the coal and lumber interests began to be developed, educational considerations may scarcely be said to have existed in the county.
In 1837, a few lonely cabins dotted the secluded valleys of the Lehigh. With these exceptions, the whole county was a dreary wilderness. But when the felling of the forests began, and as the demand for anthracite coal increased with a better understand- ing of its nature and the uses to which it might be put, extensive improvements became necessary. Large numbers of miners, lumbermen, various kinds of me- chanies, clerks, bookkeepers, and common laborers came upon the scene. Both labor and capital secured liberal rewards, and villages and towns sprang up as if by magic. Many different nationalities were brought together here, while a large proportion of them were illiterate.
It soon became evident to the proprietors of the mines and lumber mills that the hundreds of children who could neither work in the mines nor in the mills
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
were growing up in idleness, with all its attendant vices, and that they would have to be educated, or these sources of wealth would become a curse instead of a blessing to society. Accordingly, schools were provided for some of these children. The results of these experiments were so gratifying that within a few years flourishing schools were found in nearly every lumber camp and mining village in the county. The houses were generally provided by the landowners or the operators, and given free of rent for school pur- poses. The teachers obtained the right to teach in these houses from their legal owners, or from the com- mittees having them in charge. The instructors had entire control of the schools, managing them to suit their own peculiar views or whims. Tuition fees varied from $1.50 to $2.50 per quarter for each pupil.
In 1750 an English colony was planted in East Penn township, some of whose descendants are still living in that locality. Refusing to give aid to the German or mixed schools, and being too few in number to main- tain one of their own, they preferred to do entirely without a school until 1817, when they succeeded in es- tablishing an exclusively English institution. A good, substantial stone house was erected near the locality known as Ashfield, and a three months' term was taught by Lawrence Enge, who was the first master of the school. A certificate given by a later teacher to a pupil read: "This is to certify that the Bearer Hannah Andreas is the head of her class by good at- tention to her book and hereby has gained the good- will of her tutor, Andrew Cronican the 30th of Janu- ary, 1821."
In 1820, a board of school trustees was elected at a town meeting held at Summit Hill. It consisted of three members, whose duty it was to provide a house
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
for the accommodation of those who wished to send their children to school, and who were willing to pay the tuition fees fixed by the teacher.
After making a number of ineffectual attempts to raise money by voluntary subscriptions to build a school house, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany came to their relief by erecting a building and giving it to the board of trustees, to be held in trust for school purposes. It was furnished with long board benches and desks, a rough board table for the teacher, and an old stove. George Adams was engaged to teach the school. The branches taught were reading, writ- ing and arithmetic.
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