USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 20
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mountain, the site of the quarry of anthracite coal, and, stumbling over a rock in the pathway he examined the obstacle, decided it was the "stone coal" of which he heard tradition. Taking the black stone next day to Colonel Jacob Weiss, residing at what was then known as Fort Allen, the latter, who was alive to the subject, took the specimen to Philadelphia to be inspected by John Nicholson, Michael Hillegas and Charles Cist, to ascertain its nature and qualities. They immediately authorized Colonel Weiss to satisfy Ginter for his discovery upon his pointing out the precise spot where he found the coal. They immediately formed themselves into what was called the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, but without a charter of incorporation, and located about eight thousand to ten thousand acres of unappropriated land, including the Mauch Chunk mountain. There is, however, no evidence that they ever worked the mine. Thus stone coal remained in a neglected state, except an attempted use by blacksmiths and people in the immediate vicinity.
In 1806 William Turnbull constructed an ark and delivered two or three hundred tons to the manager of the water-works at Philadelphia. The coal proved unmanageable, for instead of feeding the fire it had the effect to extinguish it. The first successful attempt to burn anthracite coal for manu- facturing purposes in furnaces was in 1812 by White and Hazard, who operated a wire mill on the Schuylkill. They had made several unsuccessful attempts to raise a heat, when one of the disgusted workmen slammed the furnace door shut, and left the mill. About half an hour later one of the party returned for his jacket he had left behind, and was amazed to find the furnace at a white heat. This amazing intelligence he communicated to his companions, who returned to the mill, heated and rolled several lots of iron before replenishing the fire with more of the black stones, for which they now began to feel a greater degree of respect, finding it necessary to leave it alone to produce a fire as hot as could be made from charcoal.
The experiment of floating coal to the market was again attempted in the summer of 1814 by Charles Miner and William Hillhouse. The barges used were about 65 by 14 feet in dimension which took a cargo of twenty-four tons. The first barge, after encountering many mishaps, reached Philadel- phia in a five days' passage. In other attempts three out of four barges were wrecked, and, peace being proclaimed with England, Liverpool and Rich- mond coal was imported in abundance and the price of hard-kindling anthra- cite fell below the cost of shipment. It is needless to say the enterprise was abandoned, and no further progress was made until 1820. In 1820 White and Hazard, having by mere accident learned the great value of anthracite coal, were desirous of obtaining a supply for their Schuylkill mills. Josiah White and George F. H. Hauto visited the coal mines in Northampton county, and, ascertaining that the representations made were true, they immediately obtained a twenty-year lease of the mine from Colonel Weiss and his associates at the annual rental of one ear of corn. At the time this was considered not as a gift to White, Hauto and Hazard, but they were objects of pity more than envy, as it was deemed that the project would be more ruinous than profitable. The concession having been obtained from the Lehigh Coal Company, the legislature was petitioned for incorporation of a company to improve the navigation of the Lehigh river. The wise
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lawmakers considered the scheme as wholly visionary, but at last, on March 20, 1818, granted the incorporation of the Lehigh Navigation Company. The corporators planned to build a channel by the means of wing dams and channel walls in the center of the river, which had a fall of three hundred and sixty-five feet between Mauch Chunk and Easton. This improvement was based on the fact that droughts did not materially affect the depth of the river. While working on the construction, the drought of 1818 occurred, which reduced the depth of the river twelve inches below any previous low water mark. The corporators, though disturbed by this evidence, which in time of low water would make their channel valueless, instantly decided on a new system. Neither the wing dams nor the channel walls would flood the ripples in time of droughts, so artificial pools and sluice-gates were adopted. This method required the construction of stone-filled cut dams across the river at necessary points, building in each dam a sluice-gate of sufficient size to pass the boats. When the dam becanie full and had overflowed for a sufficient length of time to fill the river below to its natural stage, the sluice- gates were thrown open, producing a flood in the river, on which the boats floated smoothly over the rapids and then onward to the next dam, where the same process was repeated. This was simply applying what in a rude fashion had been used in the lumbering districts for floating logs, and even dated back to the summer of 1779, when General Clinton, in an Indian cam- paign, constructed a dam at the outlet of Otsego lake to float his boats, which had grounded on account of the shoal waters of the north branch of the Susquehanna river.
The first year's shipment of anthracite coal was three hundred and sixty- five tons; every means was taken to introduce it to the public, who still persisted in using the sooty Virginia or Liverpool coal. Handbills were printed in both the English and German languages and freely distributed ; a model of a coal stove was patented; blacksmiths importuned to give it a trial, but the first shipment was a drug on the market. Another drawback was that the arks or boats used in transportation could not be returned for future loads, but had to be demolished, and the timber, owing to the discoloration of the coal, brought a very low figure. The first shipment was finally ex- hausted, and in 1821 one thousand and seventy-three tons were shipped. The increase in the Lehigh coal traffic increased to such extent that 690,456 tons were shipped in 1850. The establishment of slackwater navigation on the Lehigh river and traffic improvements on the Delaware river were largely the cause of the increased tonnage that was sent to market.
There was in 1838 another recurrence of an agricultural speculation in Northampton county, though she suffered less from it than other localities. It was called the fever of Morus Multicaulis. The Multicaulis was a silk producing tree so-called; it was a mulberry tree, the leaves of which were the proper food of the silkworm. It was by the cunning intrigues of the speculators that the production of these trees could be made the cause of excessive profit. In the fevered speculation of 1838-39, the honest principle of production had'no place; the actual growing of silk, or even silkworms, was never entertained. The buying and selling of trees was the only object; newspapers were full of flaming advertisements, showing the profit that
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would accrue from ten to twenty acres planted with the Multicaulis trees. The mania was not confined to any one locality; it ranged from the Caro- linas to Massachusetts Bay. More than three hundred thousand trees were sold in a single week, the pricc varying from twenty cents to a dollar for a tree. Farmers planted acres, and mechanics and small householders filled their yards and gardens. Within three years from the time of the bubble's bursting, the trees, which a short time before had been purchased at extrava- gant prices and planted out with tender care, were dug up or cut away and thrown among brush and rubbish and given to the flames.
This was not the first attempt at silk culture in America; as early as 1732 this enduring bubble was first launched. One of the earliest planters was Governor Jonathan Law of Connecticut, who introduced the raising of silkworms on his extensive farms at Cheshire in that province. He appeared in public in 1747 in the first coat and stockings made of Connecticut silk. The following year Ezra Stiles, at the commencement of Yale College, was appareled in a gown of the same. As early as 1750 there were a great num- ber of mulberry trees in the neighborhood of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Moravians were feeding the foliage of these to the silkworms. They were removed in 1762 to Christian Spring, where the mulberry tree seemed to have abounded. At the time of the Revolutionary War all efforts were abandoned in silk culture, but in 1788 Dr. Nathaniel Aspinwall in Mansfield, Connecticut, laid the foundation for one of the great industries of the country. Among the early pioneers was Colonel Elderkin, who owned an extensive mulberry orchard in Windham, Connecticut, which produced about ten thousand pounds of silk annually. This was manufactured into the fashionable long stockings of the day, handkerchief and vest patterns were also successfully fabricated, and several pieces of dress silk were produced with which the daughters of the proprietor adorned themselves. After the death of Colonel Elderkin the property passed into the hands of Rodney Hanks and his nephew Horatio, of Mansfield, Connecticut, who in 1810 invented and built a machine for spinning silk by water-power. It was several years, however, before a silk factory was established, and the early attempts were not profitable.
In the fourth decade of the nineteenth century occurred the war against Mexico, which was fought to a successful issue; but with the struggle Northampton county can hardly be said to have been identified. It is true that individual volunteers among her people fought under Scott and Taylor, but they did so either by enlistment in the regular army or in other organiza- tions outside of Northampton county, as no regiment or company was raised within her limits for service in Mexico. This being the case, no correct list of their names or record of their services can be given.
In the great political duel between the North and the South preceding the Civil War, the people of Northampton county took a conservative stand. At the time of the holding of the convention at Baltimore in 1852, the founder of the party, Henry Clay, lay on his death bed, and a few months later occurred the death of his noble colleague, Daniel Webster. The Democratic administration was hardly seated when the South commenced efforts to repeal The Missouri Compromise, which had satisfied the people of the North
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as a final settlement of the slavery question so that they had become quiescent on the Fugitive Slave Laws. Stephen A. Douglas, to further his presidential ambitions with the South, was an avowed supporter of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and brought forth as a substitute the Kansas and Nebraska Bill which made the Northern politicians stand aghast. The press and pulpit denounced it, Northern State Legislatures recorded their disap- proval, and Douglas was denounced on every hand as the betrayer of his country. It was plainly to be foreseen that if it was left to the people of the territory to decide whether it should be slave or free, each aiming to gain the mastery, there would be a clash of arms, and by the law Congress had bound itself not to interfere. The rising storm of indignation in the North threatened to become a hurricane; thousands of the followers of Jeffersonian Democracy who frowned on Abolitionism, who made no quarrel with the Fugutive Slave Laws, found the Kansas-Nebraska Law unendurable. These, with the Northern Whigs and members of American or Know-Nothing party, were ripe for the formation of a new party. This eventually gave birth to the Republican party.
The struggle for Kansas now became a national cause. Scarcely had the Kansas-Nebraska Bill become a law when the people of Missouri began pouring in the territory with the avowed purpose of making it a Slave State. This was resented by the people of New England and the Middle States, and the appointment by President Pierce of Andrew Reeder of Easton, Pennsyl- vania, as the first territorial governor of Kansas, only helped to inflame the indignation of the people of the North. Reeder was a positive Democrat, in full sympathy with the Kansas-Nebraska Law, and a strong friend of the South. The interests of slavery were thought to be safe in his hands.
Andrew H. Reeder was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1807. His great-grandfather, Charles Reeder, was a native of England, who came to Pennsylvania in 1713, when he was twenty years of age. He settled in Bucks county and his son, Joseph, crossed the Delaware river and became a resident of Mercer county, New Jersey, afterwards removing to along the head waters of the Delaware river. Here in 1760 was born Absalom Reeder, the father of Andrew H. Reeder. Shortly after the termination of the Revo- lutionary War, Absalom Reeder came to Easton, Pennsylvania, and married in 1788, Christina Smith. Young Andrew received a liberal education at Lawrenceville High School at Lawrenceville, New Jersey ; after his gradua- tion he was admitted to practice law in 1828. Soon after his admission to the bar, by his industry and talent he assumed a high position among his professional brethren. He devoted much of his spare time to politics; his rare power as a public speaker and debater acquired him an influential position in the counsels of the Democratic party in Northampton county and throughout the State. His career in Kansas made his name a household word in the county. He was honest, and when he reached Kansas and witnessed the violence of the Missouri people and their determination to make Kansas a Slave State by fair means or foul, he resolved to see fair play. The election of the Territorial Legislature brought matters to a crisis. The territory was invaded by five thousand Missourians armed with muskets, bowie knives and pistols, and led by United States Senator David R. Atchi-
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son. The acts of the Legislature were vetoed by Governor Reeder and passed over his veto. This was wholly displeasing to the pro-slavery party, who demanded that the President should recall him, and he being subservient to the slave power dismissed Reeder. The latter did not return East but be- came a resident of Kansas and joined the Free State party. He was unani- mously elected by the people as their delegate to Congress, afterwards was first United States Senator from Kansas. The new constitution of the State failed of ratification, hence he did not take his seat. Upon his return from Kansas he resumed the active practice of law, associating himself with Henry Green, and resolved never again to accept political office. He was delegate at large from Pennsylvania to the Chicago Convention that nomi- nated Abraham Lincoln and always thereafter remained actively engaged in the service of the Republican party. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the first military appointments made by the President were Nathaniel Lyon and Governor Reeder to be brigadier-generals in the regular army. Owing to his age he declined the appointment. In 1863 he was appointed by the President as chairman of the commission to investigate the accounts of Surgeon-General Hammond, charged with irregularities and peculation. While engaged in this task he brought upon himself the ailments which, on July 5, 1864, terminated in his death.
Events followed each other in rapid succession ; the Dred Scott decision . of the Supreme Court of the United States; the Lincoln and Douglas De- bates; the John Brown Raid; and the political campaign of 1860. Then South Carolina's first step towards dismembering the Union; the alignment of slave States against the free States; the inauguration of President Lincoln. Then on April 12, 1861, before the break of day, the cannons booming in Charleston Harbor heralded the attack on Fort Sumter and the oncoming of war and strife, that was to deluge the land.
INDEPENDENCE BELL OF THE GRAND VALLEY
458
MADE IN THE GRAND VALLEY AT BETHLEHEM, PA FOR THE COURT HOUSE AT EASTON, PA
EASTON'S OFFICIAL FLAG
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD
The people of Northampton county on the day after that memorable attack on Fort Sumter called a war meeting which was held in the public square at Easton. There were hundreds of men and women present, pale, apprehensive, indignant, and intensely excited. The National colors were prominent, not only floating in the air, but adorning the dress of the people. Influential citizens made eloquent and patriotic speeches appealing to the love of country and calling for volunteers to enroll and organize for serious work which is now self-evident. There was instantaneous response to these appeals; four companies were organized at Easton and one at Bethlehem. The population of the county at this time was 47,900 inhabitants, largely engaged in agricultural pursuits. The President's proclamation, promulgated on April 15, 1861, calling for seventy-five thousand men for a term of three months, was promptly responded to by the offer of the five companies already organized ; their services were promptly accepted by the governor of Pennsylvania, and they were ordered to rendezvous at Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania.
They left their families and homes on Thursday following the issuance of the President's proclamation, and just one week from the surrender of Fort Sumter they were mustered into service as part of the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which Samuel Yohe was made colonel. Four days later, on April 24, 1861, another company from Easton was mustered in at Camp Curtin as Company G, in the Ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which Charles Glanz of Easton was chosen major.
The first of the Northampton county volunteers for three years' service was a company commanded by Captain John I. Horn. This was mustered as Company E, of the Forty-first Regiment (Twelfth Pennsylvania Reserves). on May 30, 1861, at Camp Curtin. The next volunteers to go forward were two companies raised in Easton, which entered the service September 16, 1861, and were designated as Companies A and E of the Forty-seventh Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Following these in numerical order of regiments, these entered the service from Northampton county :
Two companies of the Fifty-first Regiment.
One company of the Fifty-ninth Regiment (Second Cavalry).
One company of the Sixty-first Regiment (Fourth Cavalry).
One company of the Sixty-seventh Regiment.
One company of the One Hundred and Eighth Regiment (Eleventh Cavalry).
One company of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment (Twelfth Cavalry).
Four companies of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment.
The One Hundred and Fifty-third Regiment, entire.
Two companies of the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Regiment.
One company of the Two Hundred and Second Regiment. 1 One company of the Two Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment.
NORTH .- 1-11.
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One company of the Two Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment.
An artillery company raised at Easton became known as Seymour's Battery, afterwards designated as Battery D, Fifth United States Artillery.
Besides these there were at different times militia and emergency com- panies raised that were attached to the militia; there were also squads of men mustered with Spencer's Battery at Philadelphia, also with the Third New Jersey Cavalry. The rolls and records of these organizations will be given in their appropriate place. Through the long, tedious and careworn hours of the Civil War, the people of Northampton county bravely stood the adversities of the conflict, hoping and wishing that the mantle of peace would soon again bring happiness to a united country. Then came the evacuation of Richmond, Virginia, the surrender of the Confederate armies, followed by the dastard assasination of President Lincoln. The war was closed, the soldier returned to his peaceful pursuits, the lawyer to his client, the doctor to his patient, the farmer to the tilling of the soil, each and every- one to cast aside the implements of war for those of peace and prosperity.
Northampton county was a part of a congressional district which in- cluded Carbon county (not including Mauch Chunk borough), Monroe county, Pike county, and Wayne county. This district furnished by enlist- ments from November, 1863, to the termination of the war, 5,897 men. This does not include drafted men held to personal service, nor men furnished prior to this date. The number of men drafted was 8,064 and the number reported to date 4,996. Of this number 287 were held to personal service, 240 furnished substitutes after the draft, and 2,030 commuted. The amount of local bounties paid in the district was $1,964,353; of this amount North- ampton county paid $1,193,674. This amount does not include the necessary expenses connected with the enlistment of men furnished, nor paid to local county commissioners, or the various amounts secured by private contribu- tions, or paid to substitutes by citizens. It is only the amount allowed by law for regular local bounty paid to volunteers and substitutes by the different townships. Add to this amount the lowest estimate of expenses incurred in enlistment of volunteers, which would not be less than ten dollars for each man, this would increase the amount paid by the district to $2,022,- 353, of which amount Northampton county paid a larger amount than the remaining four counties. These figures do not include all the money paid in the district during the war ; it is only an account of expenses after Novem- ber, 1863; to it should be added the various sums paid by individuals and the county bounties, together with the sums appropriated for the families of absent volunteers, also the amounts paid the three months' and militia men; this would increase the amount considerably. There is one item, how- ever, that should be added, the commutation money that was received, which was paid as an equivalent for personal service and was applied for the pur- pose of obtaining volunteers. The number of men who paid commutation in the district was 2,030 and the amount paid was $609,000. Add this to the amount paid for volunteers and it will increase the sum to $2,631,353. In addition to the number of substitutes 261 more were furnished by enrolled men before draft, averaging in price from $500 to $1,500, none of which is included in the statement of money paid for men.
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THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD
FIRST REGIMENT, PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS
There were five companies of Northampton county enlisted men in the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was organized at Harris- burg, April 20, 1861. They were designated as Companies A, which was recruited at Bethlehem, and B, C, D and H, at Easton. On the night of their organization, without uniforms they were sent to a point near Cockeys- ville, Maryland, to protect bridges, on a railroad communicating with Wash- ington, District of Columbia. The military occupation of Maryland was objected to by certain citizens of the State and the regiment was removed to Camp Scott, near York, Pennsylvania. Here it remained in camp until May 14, 1861, when the objections to the military occupation being with- drawn, the regiment was detailed as a guard on the Northern Central Rail- road from Druid Park, Baltimore, Maryland, to the Pennsylvania line. The regiment was relieved of this duty on May 25, and transferred to Caton- ville, Maryland, to guard the road from Frederick, Maryland, and Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Four days later the regiment was ordered to advance to - Franklintown, Pennsylvania, and on June 3, was concentrated at Chambers- burg, Pennsylvania, where it was brigaded in Wynkoop's Brigade of Keim's Division of the army of General Patterson. The brigade advanced to Funks- town, Maryland, where they encamped, and on a threatened alarm of the advance of the enemy was moved to Williamsport, Maryland, on the Poto- mac river, which they reached after a fatiguing march to find everything all quiet on the Potomac. On June 21, the brigade was ordered to join the division of General Patterson at Martinsburg, Virginia, and remained to garrison that post which was Patterson's base of supply. Two days later it was relieved of this duty and ordered to rejoin the division. Though Patterson's division was held in command ready to move forward in antici- pation of taking part in the Battle of Bull Run, by some misunderstanding it did not participate in that disastrous struggle and on July 21, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Harper's Ferry; from thence two days later it was sent to Sandy Hook, where it was transported to Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, and there mustered out of the service, its term of enlistment having expired.
NINTH REGIMENT, PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS
In this regiment there was Company G, which was recruited at Easton. The regiment was organized at Camp Curtin, April 22, 1861. It remained in camp until May 4, when it was ordered to West Chester, Pennsylvania, where a camp was established and named Camp Wayne, in honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne of Revolutionary fame. The regiment was removed to Wilmington, Delaware, May 26, on the rumor that disloyalists were estab- lished there in camp, receiving military instructions with a view of joining the rebel cause. The presence of the Ninth Regiment would check this movement and strengthen the loyal sentiment in that city. The Ninth Regiment established a camp at Hare's Corners on the New Castle road, where it remained until June 6, when it was ordered to join General Pat- terson's command at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It was assigned to the Fourth Brigade, commanded by Col. Dixon H. Miles in the division of Gen- eral Cadwalader.
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