USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress > Part 41
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On Monday, May 16th, Mr. Dorr arrived in Providence where he was received by a large number of people, about two hun- dred and fifty of whom were armed, and paraded through the principal streets of the city clad in nndress uniform, a sword at his side, in an open baronche drawn by four white horses. He was accompanied by his secretary of state and the sheriff of Providence elected under the people's constitution. He took up headquarters at Marshal Anthony's, protected by a military guard and two pieces of cannon. The same day, though it
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
was clear that there was no sufficient force to back him, he issned his proclamation. The next day, May 17th, he sim- moned his council. Threats had been made of an assault on the arsenal and it was resolved to call in troops from the outer counties on the first indication of movement. At one o'clock the signal gun was fired from Dorr's quarters; at half past four a company of insurgent volunteers surprised the armory of the United Trains of artillery to which they were attached, and car- ried off two brass field pieces, six pounders, to Dorr's quarters. Governor King, who had apparently anticipated no immediate attempt, had gone to his residence some two miles distant, and no one had power to give orders for resistance. He now re- turned at once to town and expresses were sent ont to the southern parts of the state, Newport and other towns to be ready to march. The Providence troops were posted at the arsenal at ten o'clock at night and a steamboat sent to Warren, Bristol and Newport to bring up their companies. During the night Dorr's force increased to from three to four hundred men and he resolved to attempt to capture the arsenal, without which he could not take another step; all promises from abroad of arms and munition having failed him. At one o'clock on the morning of the 18th, signal guns were again fired from the camp in front of Dorr's quarters. About half of his men now de- serted him. The remainder, less then two hundred and fifty, with Mr. Dorr at their head, sallied ont to storm the stone building. At two o'clock, to the sound of the alarm bells ring- ing throughout the city and in a dense fog, he drew up his bat- talion at musket shot distance from the building. He then sent in a flag of truce demanding the surrender of the arsenal and received a contemptnons refusal. He then ordered his guns to open fire but the gunners declined; upon which he applied the fuse himself, but whether from fog or other canse the powder only flashed in the pans. His men now deserted him and he was left with thirty of his immediate followers to carry off his cannon. Not a shot was fired, and at daylight, not two hours from the fire of his signal gun, not an enemy was to be seen.
The state forces now marched into the city. The mayor issued a proclamation requesting a suspension of business and a rally of the well disposed citizens. At eight o'clock the steamboat arrived with artillery companies from Bristol, War- ren and Newport; the Newport company under the command
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of Colonel Swan. At nine o'clock Mr. Dorr, seeing himself de- serted by his political associates, yielded to the advice of his friends and made his escape from Providence. Horsemen fol- lowed in pursuit but he fed in safety beyond the limits of the state. A few of his followers made a stand but on their engag- ing to give up the cannon they had carried off, the troops were withdrawn. The next morning, the 19th, the cannon were re- turned. Mr. Dorr's place of refuge was concealed, but it is supposed that he put himself under the protection of Governor Cleveland of Connecticut. One thing was certain; he was a much more important personage outside of Rhode Island than in the state. The friends of universal suffrage looked upon him as their hero and the newspapers of the leading cities ad- vocated his cause. Governor King made a requisition on Gov- ernor Cleveland for his delivery as a fugitive from justice, but no response forthcoming, on the 8th of June offered a reward of one thousand dollars for his apprehension. The state was now agitated with rumors and on the 10th of June the insur- gents, who were strongest in the manufacturing districts in the northern part of the state, began fresh demonstrations, armed bands parading. Cannon disappeared from Providence in a mysterious manner. Attempts were made to seize the guns belonging to the company at Warren, and a powder magazine near Providence was forcibly entered and robbed.
It was soon known that Chepachet, a considerable village in the town of Glocester, and near the Connecticut line, was the point selected for the concentration of the insurgent troops. An embankment was thrown up commanding the road from Prov- idence to Springfield through Connecticut. Informed of this threatening movement, the general assembly authorized the governor to declare martial law. This was the signal for the flight of Dorr's friends to the insurgent camp, which now held about eight hundred men, one-half of whom were armed. Mr. Dorr arrived from New York at Chepachet on June 25th, and martial law was enforced about the camp. On the day of his arrival Mr. Dorr issued a proclamation convening the people's assembly at Glocester, instead of at Providence, on the 4th of July, and requested that the vacancies made by resignations be filled. The same day he issned a second proclamation summon- ing the military of the state to appear at headquarters at Glo- cester, and calling on the people of the state to assert its rights.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
This proclamation the Rhode Island papers refused to publish. The cities of the state were now in great excitement. Newport was a camp; armed men were marching and counter-marching. The assembly was convened here in June, and in order to re- move all ground for armed collision, passed an act to call a con- vention to form a constitution to meet at Newport in Septem- ber. Governor King, naturally considering the protection of a fugitive from justice by an armed band as a sufficient resist- ance to state power to warrant the interference of the president, made a third requisition on him for aid, which was refused be- cause it did not proceed from the state legislature, then in session. June 23d Governor King issned his preliminary orders, and on the 24th a steamboat was sent down the bay to bring up the military companies from Warren, Bristol and Newport. The next day the boat returned and took up three hundred in- fantry from the same towns, and detachments marching from all directions, and promptly armed from the government stores, quite a formidable force, nearly three thousand men, was col- lected at Providence. The Newport artillery marched on this occasion, also under the command of Colonel Swan; the two companies of volunteers under Captain Vars and Captain Swan. On the 26th and the 27th the army marched by different roads, the plan being to surprise and capture Dorr's entire force at Chepachet. But he got wind of the preparations on Monday, and in the evening, yielding to the entreaties of his father, quietly decamped, leaving behind him a letter to his forces, directing them to disband. When the troops arrived at Che- pachet the insurgent camp was nearly deserted. Some two lindred prisoners and six pieces of cannon were captured. Governor King issued a second proclamation offering this time a reward of five thousand dollars for the arrest of Mr. Dorr. Thus ended the Dorr rebellion. Whatever opinions may be entertained of the grievances of the people's party, there can be no defense for the conduct of its leaders. Civil war is the last resort, and there were legal remedies the application of which should have at least been songht for before the sword was drawn. Mr. Dorr absented himself from the state for a long period. When he returned early in 1844 he was arrested. brought to trial in Newport for treason, and condemned to im- prisonment for life, but was set free by the general act of am- nesty of 1847. In 1851 he was restored to his political and civil
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
rights by act of the legislature. Nor did the general assembly stop here, but reversed his sentence as illegal. The supreme court, however, which was not influenced by political consid- erations, refused to sustain this reversal.
A new convention had before this been called, and submitted a draft of a constitution which the people rejected. Still another convention was called, and the subject was finally disposed of by the adoption of the present constitution of the state at a meeting held at East Greenwich November 5th, 1842. The old charter was at an end. The new government went into opera- tion in May, 1843. The suffrage question is not yet definitely closed, and at each session of the legislature efforts are made to abolish the property qualification which is still applied to foreign born citizens.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, 1861-5 .- No state in the Union was more loyal or more prompt in its action to suppress the re- bellion of the southern people than Rhode Island. By the re- port of Colonel Crandall, acting adjutant general, made at the close of the war, it appears "that the number of men sent into the field was in excess of all liable under the law to do military duty." The many and heavy calls of the president for men were met as they were made. The quota of Rhode Island un- der all calls was 23,778, consisting of eight regiments of infantry, three regiments and a squadron of cavalry, three regiments of heavy and one of light artillery. The number of men raised in Newport is not stated. The amount of money expended by the state for war purposes was $1,622,288, the proportion of New- port being $98,383, of which $36,900, was repaid by the state, leaving as the charge of the city $61,483.
No body of men saw service more varied and over so large an extent of country as the Ninth Army Corps, to which the Rhode Island troops were attached for a long period. They served un- der Burnside, Hunter, Sherman, Gillmore, Mcclellan, Hooker, Meade, Sheridan and Grant; on the coast from North Carolina to New Orleans; in the interior to the mountains of the Tennes- see; everywhere with honor. The news of the capitulation of Fort Sumter on the evening of Saturday, the 13th of April, 1861, reached Washington the next day. On Monday, the 15th, the president's proclamation, calling out seventy-five thousand men to serve for three months, was published throughout the loyal states. As soon as it reached Providence Governor
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Spragne telegraphed to the president, tendering him the instant offer of one thousand men; this being accepted, a company of uniformed militia of the state was summoned by general order of Tuesday the 16th, to headquarters. In response to the gov- ernor's request to know how many of the marine artillery of Newport would march on this summons, Colonel Tew warned the company in and by evening one hundred, the required num- ber, were enrolled. The next morning they were marched to the boat for Providence under an escort of past members and a large number of citizens. Much feeling was displayed but an nnalterable determination to crush out the treasonable sedition. In the evening the old members met at their armory and re-or- ganized as the Newport Artillery Old Guard; about eighty members enrolling. Twenty-five of these were detailed daily .thereafter to garrison Fort Adams. Colonel William B. Swan commanded this Old Guard. Within a week after the march- ing of the artillery, a company of infantry was recruited by Ad- jutant William H. Hudder at Fort Adams, where Colonel Charles W. Turner, now commissioned brigadier general of state militia, was in command.
The order of the governor organized the First regiment. There was alarm for the safety of Washington and no pains were spared to hasten the movement. The first of the Massachusetts quota were already on their way on the 17th. The First Rhode Island moved in two detachments. The first, nnder Colonel Ambrose E. Burnside, major general of Rhode Island militia, left Providence on the 20th of April; the second, under Lienten- ant Colonel Joseph S. B. Pitman, followed on the 24th. This infantry regiment was composed of ten companies, of which Newport furnished one, " Artillery F Company." This was the famous old Newport artillery organized in the last century. It now marched with full ranks, one hundred men, quite a mm- ber of volunteers offering beyond the prescribed quota. It was under the command of Captain George W. Tew (later distin- guished in the line). As the steamboat conveying them passed down the harbor toward the sound it was saluted by artillery from the Old Guard and from Fort Adams.
The first detachment carried with them a beautiful national flag presented by the ladies of Providence. The regimental colors were the gift of natives of Rhode Island residing in Cal-
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ifornia. The colors were entrusted to Company FF, the New- port artillery, and are now in their armory in Clark street.
Governor Sprague accompanied the first detachment, which reached New York on the 21st, left the same afternoon for An- napolis and marched to Washington on the 26th of April. They were quartered for a short time at the patent office, and afterward established at Camp Sprague, a beautiful spot near the city. The camp was laid out by Lieutenant Henry A. De Witt, of the engineers. The tents were built under the direc tion of Colonel William Goddard and Lieutenant William B. Walker. A skirmish company of carbineers was formed, un- der command of Captain Francis W. Goddard, and armed with Burnside rifles. Mr. James H. Taylor of Newport went out with the command as hospital steward, and his intelligent ser- vices were of great value to the organization. Mr. William L. Hunter, also of Newport, was the commissary sergeant. The Second regiment of infantry, Colonel Slocum, followed on the the 19th of June. These two regiments were brigaded together, and with the Seventy-first New York and Second New Hamp- shire, under command of General Burnside, led the army col umn on its march to Bull Run. In the disastrous battle which ensned the Rhode Island regiments behaved with great coolness and courage, and their commanders were especially distin gnished for their gallantry, Governor Sprague serving as au aid to General Burnside throughout the day with exceptional dash.
The three months term of enlistment being over, and Wash . ington being considered safe, the command returned to Provi- dence, where they were warmly welcomed by the state author- ities and the citizens at large. The return of the artillery com- pany early in August (R. I. V., 1st Reg .. Co. F.) was the oc- casion of great rejoicing in Newport. The steamboat having the entire regiment on board was saluted with rockets as it passed up the river. The next morning an escort of the Old Guard went up to Providence to receive their companions. Re- turned to Newport, the marching company was welcomed in the park by Mayor Cranston and the citizens, and an elegant sword was formally presented to Colonel Tew on behalf of Mr. John Hare Powel. In August Colonel Burnside was appointed brigadier general.
The Second Rhode Island Regiment was enlisted under the first call of the president for troops to serve three years or
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 425
during the war. After the failure at Bull Run, in which action Colonel Slocum, its colonel, was killed, the regiment was placed in command of Colonel Frank Wheaton, a captain of United States regulars, and went into quarters near Washington, where it remained until March, 1862, busied with the erection of Fort Slocum, one of the defenses of the capital. In March it moved with the army of the Potomac to the peninsula, and attached to Stoneman's command, took part in the battles of that in- fortunate campaign: Whitel Jnse, Mechanicsville, Seven Pines, Turkey Bend and Malvern Hill. It shared in the second Bull Run campaign under Pope, was in position at Elk Mountain during the battle of Antietam, and behaved with gallantry in the assault on Fredericksburg. During this period of service it was successively under command of Colonel Wheaton, upon his promotion to a brigade, of Colonel Nelson Viall, of Lieu- tenant Colonel Goff and of Colonel Horatio Rogers, Jr. Under this officer it was in position at the battle of Gettysburg, and took part in the movements which followed. In the spring of 1864 it shared in the eventful campaign during which the rebel army was forced from the Rapidan to the Chickahominy and the lines about Richmond. Soon after the bloody affair at Cold Harbor, the term of service of the three years' men ex- piring, they returned to Providence under command of Colonel Read, and were mustered out. Newport was represented in this regiment in Company K, of which Charles W. Turner was captain. The nucleus of the organization remained in the lines before Petersburg, and recruited to a regimental standard, was placed under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Elisha T. Rhodes. The new organization shared in the defense of Washington from Early's raid, and in the Shenandoah campaign which fol- lowed, being engaged in the historic fight at Winchester in September. In December it rejoined the army of the Potomac, and was engaged in siege duty during the winter. It partici- pated in the final attack on Petersburg in April, 1865, and al- though in the second line of the advance of the Sixth Corps, was the first to plant its colors on the parapet of the enemy's works. The regiment was mustered out of the United States service in July, 1865. When it reached home it numbered three hundred and forty-five, rank and file. By general orders from the war department it was permitted to inscribe on its colors : " First Bull Run ; Yorktown ; Williamsburg ; Malvern
.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Hill ; Antietam : Fredericksburg ; Marye's Heights ; Salem Heights ; Gettysburg ; Rappahanock Station ; Wilderness ; Spotsylvania ; Cold Harbor ; Petersburg; Fort Stevens ; Opequan."
The Fourth Regiment, Rhode Island volunteers, was orga- nized in September, 1861, and in October placed in command of Colonel Isaac P. Rodman. Included among the troops selected for the North Carolina campaign under General Burnside, it made part of the Third brigade of the coast division. They were engaged at Roanoke island, where they were gallantly led, and later distinguished themselves in the capture of Newbern. When Burnside was ordered from North Carolina to the sup- port of Mcclellan in the peninsula, the Fourth Rhode Island moved with his command. They were hotly engaged at South Mountain and Antietam. In this last bloody affair their com- mander, Colonel Steere, was badly wounded, and their old com- mander, General Rodman, killed. In November they lost their lieutenant-colonel, Joseph B. Curtis, killed while forming line before Fredericksburg. In July the regiment was transferred to the Seventh corps, but rejoined the Ninth before Petersburg in 1864, and took part in the assault on the rebel lines. It was permitted to inscribe on its colors the names: " Roanoke Island, Newbern, Fort Macon, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- burg, Suffolk, Weldon Railroad, Poplar Spring Church, Hat- cher's Run." Newport was represented in this regiment in Company G, of which George W. Tew was captain. This was the officer who went ont with the three months' men as captain of the Newport artillery (Company F, First R. I. V.) In the Fourth infantry Captain Tew was twice promoted -major and lieutenant-colonel.
The Ninth Regiment was organized in May, 1862, in the emer- gency of the raid up the Shenandoah valley, and the fear enter- tained for the safety of Washington. Placed under command of Colonel John T. Pittman, it was chiefly engaged in garrison duty on the line of the Potomac during the three months of special service for which it was enlisted. It returned in August, having honorably discharged its duty. The Honorable John H. Powel, the present mayor of Newport, went out with this regiment as captain of Company L; entirely recruited from the island of Rhode Island. He returned as lieutenant-colonel of
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the command. The muster shows the names of representatives of many of the old resident families.
The Tenth Regiment was raised under the same call for short service, principally in Providence. Like the Ninth, it was made up of well known citizens. Its duties were of a similar charac- ter of defense. They were assigned to the chain of forts con- manding the Potomac at Chain bridge and the road from Har- per's Ferry to Rockville.
The Eleventh Rhode Island was enlisted for the war under the general order of May, 1862, and went to the field under the command of Colonel Zenas R. Bliss in the following September, and was assigned to Paul's Second brigade of Casey's division. It did good service at the assault on Fredericksburg, spending the night on the field after the engagement. In this battle it lost one hundred and forty killed and wounded, including among the former Lieutenant-Colonel Sayles, Major Babbitt, Adjutant Page and several other line officers. In the winter of 1863 the Seventh was sent to Kentucky as part of the Ninth army corps, and was engaged in the movements which resulted in the capture of Vicksburg. In the spring of 1864 it returned to the army of the Potomac and took part in the struggles at Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. Consolidated with the Fourth Rhode Island in October, 1864, before Petersburg, it shared in the labors of the siege, making part of the garrison of Fort Sedgwick (Fort Hell) on the Jerusalem plank road. In the pursuit of the retreating confederate army the regiment moved with the Ninth corps. It was permitted to inscribe on its colors the names of " Fredericksburg, Siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Poplar Spring Church, Hatcher's Run." In this regiment Newport was represented in Company I, of which Thomas B. Carr of this city was captain.
The Twelfth Regiment was organized at about the same per- iod as the Eleventh (September, 1862), under the call for nine months' men, and in the enlistment received the Newport re- cruits, Company I., Captain George C. Almy. The regiment was placed under command of Colonel George H. Browne and marched to the front before Fredericksburg, where it was brig- aded under General Nagle in Sturgis' division of the Ninth army corps. It was thrown across the river and took part in the assault of the town, in which it suffered severely. In Jan-
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
uary it moved with the Ninth army corps to the Peninsula. It marched with Burnside to the Department of the Ohio and en- gaged in various service in the campaign'of the Tennessee, re- turning home in July, 1863.
In the Rhode Island cavalry Newport was honorably repre- sented among the officers, the First regiment being commanded by Robert B. Lawton, colonel; Troop F being led by Captain John Rogers and Troop G by Captain T. B. Wood; and on its reorganization Captain Rogers was promoted major. In the Second regiment Charles W. Turner served as first lientenant
FORT ADAMS.
in Troop G, and later in the same rank in Troop G of the Third regiment.
In the heavy artillery Newport was chiefly represented in the Fifth regiment, in companies E, G and II, and in the Four- teenth regiment (colored), which was moved to the Department of the Gulf and afterward transformed into the Eleventh United States heavy artillery (colored).
The adjutant general's office does not supply full returns of the naval reernits from Rhode Island, but in the partial list printed by order of the state, Newport is fully represented.
In 1862 the war department designated Fort Adams as the
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
headquarters of the Fifteenth United States infantry, General Fitz John Porter colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Sanderson in com- mand. The companies enlisted were in the field and many of the officers on special duty. The new men recruited were or- dered to Fort Adams for instruction.
A list of soldiers from Newport, who died during the war, is given here with date and place of death:
First Regiment .- Company F: Thomas Harrington and John P. Peckham, July 21st, 1861, at Bull Run, Va.
Second Regiment .- Company K: William McCann and John C. Nicholson, July 21st, 1861, at Bull Run, Va .; David A. New- man, May 14th, 1862, at Washington, D. C .; Robert Shane, June 25th, 1862, at Fair Oaks, Va .; James Taylor, May 12th, 1864, at Wilderness, Va .; Anson J. Smith, June 3d, 1864, at Cold Harbor, Va.
Third Regiment .-- Company C: Henry H. Warfield, October Sth, 1861, at Fort Hamilton, N. Y.
Fourth Regiment .- Company A: William Tew, January 5th, 1864, drowned; Company C: Robert Hardman, February 4th, 1863, at Washington, D. C .; Company D: John T. Clark, March 14th, 1862, at Newbern, N. C .; Company G: Samuel Curtis, August 20th, 1862, at. Newport, R. I .; Henry Fish, Thomas B. Tanner and G. B. Gardiner, September 17th, 1862, at Antietam; William S. Denham and Robert Williams April 19th, 1862, at Carolina City, N. C .; John W. Chase, April 26th, 1862, at Carolina City, N. C .; William II. Carr, June 14th, 1862, at Beaufort. N. C .: Thomas C. Lake, August 1st, 1864, at Peters- burg, Va .; Fred. J. Peabody, September 30th, 1:64; Henry Dunnegan, November 28th, 1863, at Bowers Hill, Va .; James Walker, December 11th, 1862, wounded at Antietam; Richard T. Tew, Angust 3d, 1863, at Portsmouth, Va .; Company H: William J. Anthony, December 18th, 1862, at Washington, D. C.
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