USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Norwich > A history of Norwich, Vermont > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
" John Armstrong Ithamar Bartlett Humphrey Ball Anderson Miner Johnson Jacob Sawyer Calvin Johnson John Miles John W. Armstrong Joseph Brown Joseph Cook Titus D. Hammond Benjamin Burt
The brick school-building at the lower end of Norwich village was built by the late Harvey Burton, Esq., in 1845, and was used for school purposes until 1888, when the two village districts were consoli- dated, the consolidated district having its school in the north one of the former University buildings.
By an Act of the Legislature, passed in 1892, the old district organ- ization for caring for schools was abolished, and the present town system put in force.
The Windsor County Grammar School was granted a charter by the legislature of the State, June 17, 1785, while in session in Norwich. How soon it went into operation we are unable to say ;- probably very soon-although the action of the legislature in October, 1788, legalizing a lottery for the purpose of raising money to complete the school build- ing, might indicate a later date. One Ashur Hatch was its first and only teacher until the school was removed to Royalton, Vt., in 1807, and he was also the first school teacher in town of whom we have any record. Mr. Hatch was a son of John Hatch, Jr. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1779, married Lucy Story in 1789, removed to Brookfield, Vt., in 1791, and died there in 1826, aged seventy-three years.
Among the scholars who attended the school were John Bush, Ros- well Olcott, Thomas Brigham, Stephen Burton and Mills Olcott, after-
107
NORWICH CLASSICAL AND ENGLISH BOARDING SCHOOL
wards men of note in town. The school building stood where the Con- gregational Church in Norwich village now stands, and was used for school purposes until 1838, when it was moved away and converted into a dwelling house. It is now the home of Lucius Hibbard, at the north end of the village. Previous to its removal the building had been used by both districts on the "Plain" for school purposes, the upper dis- trict using the north room and the lower, or south district, the south room: In time friction arose between the two districts, resulting in the north district engaging "Uncle" Chauncey Hunt to haul the struc- ture away to their end of the village, which service he performed, though not to his pecuniary advantage, because of subsequent litigation growing out of that act. After the removal of the building, the school in the south district was kept in the north university building; in a building that stood in the forks of the highway near the railroad bridge, south of the depot, and at other places, until the erection of the brick schoolhouse in that district in 1845, the north, or upper, dis- trict using a building erected for that purpose.
The Norwich Classical and English Boarding School was incorpor- ated by the legislature of Vermont November 8, 1867, and went into operation the following year. The names of the corporators were : William Sewall, Henry Blood, Henry Hutchinson, John Dutton, Syl- vester Morris, Wm E. Lewis, Joseph L. Loveland, James Burnham, Samuel Goddard, Franklin L. Olds, and their associates and suc- cessors. The school occupied the building (North Barracks) formerly belonging to Norwich University, which had transferred to it all its right and title to the same previous to its removal to Northfield in 1866. This building was repaired and refurnished at an expense (by sub- scription among the townspeople, chiefly) of over $3,000.
The school was opened in December, 1867, with quite encouraging prospects ; but with a frequent change of teachers the patronage stead- ily declined for about ten years, becoming extinct in 1877, -- thus sharing the fate of most of the unendowed high schools and academies throughout the State. During its brief existence it served a useful pur- pose. Several young men were fitted for college, and others of both sexes prepared themselves for teaching and for active life. The prin-
108
HISTORY OF NORWICH
cipals were: W. H. Gilbert, 1868; C. P. Chase, 1869; C. E. Putney, 1870-73; E. P. Sanborn, 1874; W. W. Morrill, 1875; W. H. Ray, 1876; D. S. Brigham, 1877.
CHAPTER XIII
THE A. L. S. AND M. ACADEMY
Among the well known educational institutions in our land during the early part of the past century, was the American Literary, Scien- tific, and Military Academy, the forerunner of Norwich University, founded by the late Capt. Alden Partridge in 1819, in Norwich, his native town.
The corner-stone of the Academy building* was placed August 4, 1819, and September 20th of the following year the institution was opened for the reception of cadets.
From Captain Partridge's knowledge of the system of education in force in the higher seminaries of learning in our country, he was convinced that no truly American system of education-such as was designed to meet the needs of the large majority of the young men of the country-was within their reach. It was with a view to remedy that defect that he established this institution, which during the first year of its existence had an attendance of one hundred pupils, and thereafter-until 1825-the annual attendance rapidly increased, at one time being nearly two hundred.
The character of the patronage accorded to this newly launched academy was highly flattering to its founder and its friends. The at- tendance from the southern states was very large-undoubtedly a larger percentage, by far, than any other northern educational insti- tution was favored with; many of whom, in after years, with numbers of their northern classmates, honored themselves and their Alma Mater.
*This building was constructed of brick, was four stories high and forty-seven by one hundred feet on the ground, and was situated just south of the present high school build- ing, and near the east end of the now vacant lot opposite the residence of Mrs. William E. Lewis.
HISTORY OF NORWICH
April, 1825, the academy was removed to Middletown, Conn., for reasons believed by Captain Partridge to promise a more successful future to the institution than would accrue to it by its remaining at Norwich. While at Middletown-a period of three years-its success was even larger, in many respects, than when at Norwich, the number of cadets in attendance at one time being nearly or quite three hun- dred.
While at Norwich the institution was a private undertaking by Captain Partridge,-the ground, buildings, and other material being owned by him.
In 1835, the Academy became "Norwich University," by virtue of an act of incorporation granted by the legislature of Vermont the pre- vious year. Captain Partridge remained at the head of the institution until 1843, and soon after sold the buildings and grounds to the Trus- tees of the University.
In 1845, a rival military school, under the superintendency of Colonel T. B. Ransom, had a home in a wooden building that stood a little south and west of the other academy building; but its duration was short, and its attendance small. Subsequently the building was moved to the opposite side of the highway, and from a home for mental cul- ture became Mr. David Morrill's paint shop.
In 1830-1, a building designed for a boarding house for the cadets at the University was erected just north of the one first built, and on the site of the present high-school building.
NORWICH UNIVERSITY
There was one feature in the scheme of education established at Norwich University which honorably distinguished it from nearly all other similar institutions of its time in New England. From the first it was wholly free from sectarian influence. This principle was prom- inently set forth in its charter as drawn by its founder, Captain Par- tridge, which provided "that no rules, laws or regulations of a sec- tarian character, either in religion or politics, should be adopted or imposed ; nor shall any student ever be questioned or controlled on account of his religious or political belief by the Board of Trustees or the Faculty of said institution, either directly or indirectly." In his prospectus of the University, declaring the principles upon which it was founded, Captain Partridge begins as follows :- "Everything of
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH PREVIOUS TO ITS REMOVAL TO ITS PRESENT SITE IN 1853
NORWICH UNIVERSITY BEFORE 1852
#
0
.
Iİİ
PROSPECTUS OF NORWICH UNIVERSITY
a sectarian character in religion is utterly excluded from its walls. The founders of this Institution, as well as the legislature of Vermont which granted the act of incorporation, believed that there was no natural or necessary connection between the propagation of sectarian dogmas, and education rightly understood. They believed that the great object of education should be to prepare youth in the best pos- sible manner for the correct and efficient discharge of the great duties of life, in any situation in which fortune or circumstances may place them, by the due cultivation and improvement of the physical and moral energies, and the storing of their minds with useful human knowledge. They believed that by such a system our youth would become patriotic citizens and useful members of society, instead of going forth into the world bigoted sectarians and wrangling theo- logians, aiming to stir up excitements and introduce discord into the community, thereby destroying that respect which the great body of the people feel for pure religion, and inflicting upon it serious injury. Good morals, however, and a sacred regard for the great principles of religion, as understood and reverenced by the great majority of the people, are strictly and earnestly inculcated. The students are re- quired to attend divine service on the Sabbath, except such as have conscientious scruples to doing so. Those who do not attend church, are strictly required to remain in their rooms during church time. The reading and careful examination of the Bible are earnestly en- joined upon all."
Colonel Ransom, too, soon after assuming the duties of president, after quoting (in the annual catalogue of 1843-4) from the act of in- corporation of the University as above recited, proceeds to say : "From these extracts it will be seen that the University is based on broad and liberal principles, both in respect to politics and religion, and that it recognizes the creed of no sect or party,-thus being modeled after, and corresponding to, the great civil and political institutions of our coun- try, and suited to the character of a free people.
*
"To give our youth an education that shall be American in its character-to enable them to act as well as to think, to execute as well as to conceive,* to 'tolerate all opinions when reason is left free to com-
*The italics in the above extracts are by Captain Partridge and Colonel Ransom.
İ12
HISTORY OF NORWICH
bat them,' to make moral, patriotic, efficient and useful citizens, and to qualify them for all those high responsibilities resting upon a citizen of this free republic-was the design of the founders of this College."
It is believed that the character and policy of the University, as above outlined, was ever faithfully adhered to by each of the above broad-minded and liberal men. It would be difficult, indeed, to im- agine either Captain Partridge or Colonel Ransom condescending to revoke the engagement of a Commencement orator selected and paid by their students, on account of the supposed heterodox opinions of such orator on topics of current discussion; or to think of them as e.l- gaged in borrowing permanently from the libraries of Norwich Uni- versity, books donated by the students themselves, lest their minds should become infected by theological heresies thought to be contained in such books, as has repeatedly been done by the faculty of a neigh- boring institution even in recent years.
The service that Norwich University did for the country, in furnish- ing a supply of trained and competent officers for commanding and drilling the armies which the loyal North sent into the field during the first years of the rebellion, can hardly be overestimated. The follow- ing number of graduates from Norwich University, with their rank in the service, is taken from the history of that institution, lately pub- lished, viz :-
ARMY :
Major Generals
6 Surgeons with rank of Major IO
Brigadier Generals
8 Assistant Surgeons with rank of
Surgeon Generals
I Captain Captains
7
Colonels with brevet rank of Brig- adier Generals
14 First Lieutenants 68
Colonels
35 Second Lieutenants
23
Lieutenant Colonels
34 Non-commissioned officers and
Majors
24 enlisted men 82
Total 467
NAVY :
Admirals
I Chaplains
I
Rear-Admirals
2 Commanders 2
Commodores
6 Lieutenant Commanders I
Captains
7
Total 20
1
155
NORWICH UNIVERSITY 1862 NORTH BARRACKS
SOUTH BARRACKS
113
THE "COLLEGE CAVALIERS"
The above honorable list includes George Dewey, Admiral, U. S. Navy; and (natives of Norwich) G. A. Converse, rear-admiral, U. S. Navy ; G. P. Colvocoresses, captain, U. S. Navy; Edward B. Williston and T. E. G. Ransom, brigadier-generals, U. S. Army.
In response to an urgent call for troops for the defense of Wash- ington, in the early summer of 1862, a company of cavalry was raised at Hanover, N. H., composed of students from Dartmouth College to the number of about forty, who were joined by twenty cadets from Norwich University, by a few college graduates and friends of the students, and three or four from Bowdoin College to make up a full cavalry troop of eighty-two men. Mr. S. S. Burn of the Junior class of Dartmouth, who was the prime mover in the enterprise, was chosen captain and Theodore H. Kellogg of Hillsboro, O., and Wm. H. Stevens of Woodstock, Vt., first and second lieutenants. This is said to have been the only instance of a military organization composed distinctively of college students that served in the Union Army during the war. As there was no cavalry corps then forming in either Vermont or New Hampshire, the company offered their services to Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, who was recruiting a squadron of mounted men, and were promptly accepted.
An interesting little volume called The College Cavaliers, pub- lished by Mr. S. B. Pettengill, of Grafton, Vt., who was one of the Dartmouth students composing the company, shows that they did gallant service for the country during the three months' campaign (the period of their enlistment) in which they were engaged. The company left Hanover for Providence June 18th, where they were joined with another company raised in that city to form the seventh squadron of Rhode Island cavalry. Here they received their equip- ment and were drilled a few days by Major A. W. Corliss, who had been appointed to the command of the detachment. The squadron reached Washington June 30th, and remained near that place and Alexandria, Va., during most of July under constant drill. About the 1st of August they were ordered to the Shenandoah Valley, and were attached to the infantry brigade of General Julius White of Indiana. In this vicinity they were engaged in active service for several weeks, doing picket duty, making reconnaissances and pursuing rebel raiders, until, early in September, on the advance of General Lee with the
114
HISTORY OF NORWICH
whole Confederate Army into Maryland, they were shut up with ten thousand Union soldiers in Harper's Ferry, under the command of Col. D. H. Miles. With the other Union Cavalry to the number of about two thousand, belonging to Colonel Miles' division, the "College Cavaliers" escaped capture by resolutely cutting their way through the rebel lines then completely investing the place, on the night pre- ceding the surrender, September 15th.
The term of service for which they had enlisted was now just ex- piring, but they generously volunteered to remain until after the battle of Antietam and the hasty retreat from Maryland of the rebel army had relieved the country from immediate alarm and anxiety. They were mustered out of service at Providence October 1, 1862, having done considerable skirmishing with the enemy, although not present in any important engagement, and having received the highest praise of their commanding officers for bravery and good conduct. None of their number fell in battle. Cadet A. W. Coombs, of Thetford, died of typhoid fever at Winchester, Va., about the middle of August. Two others were captured by the enemy about the same time, were taken to Richmond, and after a brief stay in Libby Prison were discharged in time to be mustered out with their comrades at Providence. We append a list of the Norwich Cadets who served in this company, with name, rank, and residence :-
Theodore H. Kellogg, First Lieutenant, Hillsboro, O. Tillinghas, Adjutant.
Bush, Sergeant Major.
Henry E. Alvord, First Sergeant, Greenfield, Mass.
George A. Bailey, Corporal, Woodstock, Vt.
Douglas Lee, Corporal, Lenox, Mass.
W. L. Burnap, Private, Grafton, Vt.
A. W. Coombs, Private, Thetford, Vt.
Wm S. Dewey, Private, Quechee, Vt.
E. J. Everett, Private, Greenfield, Mass. C. W. Gregg, Private, Boston, Mass.
Wm S. Goodwin, Private, Boston, Mass.
A. T. Hastings, Private, West Medway, Mass.
W. S. Hazelton, Private, Strafford, Vt.
Arthur Morey, Private, Norwich, Vt.
115
NORWICH UNIVERSITY ALUMNI
A. L. Papanti, Private, Boston, Mass. H. N. Phillips, Private, Greenfield, Mass.
C. W. Smith, Private, Washington, Vt.
F. H. Walcott, Private, New York Mills, N. Y.
E. P. Walcott, Private, Utica, New York.
CHAPTER XIV
POLITICAL PARTIES IN NORWICH
The strength of the great political parties that have divided the suffrages of the country almost since the union of the States under the Constitution has usually been pretty evenly balanced in Norwich. Elections have been sharply contested, and party feeling has frequently run high. Up to the formation of the Republican party (1854 or 1855) a majority of the voters in town generally ranged themselves with the political disciples of Jefferson and Jackson, though on several occasions, notably in the Harrison campign of 1840, their ascendancy was successfully contested by the Whigs. In the state election of 1854, the Democrats lost the hold upon the town which they had main- tained with few interruptions for almost a quarter of a century. During the years that have succeeded, they have never, at any state or general election, succeeded in rallying a majority to the support of their candi- dates for office.
Inasmuch as the history of a town, in the larger forms of govern- mental action, unites and blends with that of the State and nation, we give a brief survey of the changes of political opinion in Norwich, as shown by the votes of the freemen at successive elections.
During the presidency of John Adams the old Federal and Republi- can parties took their definite shape. At this time, and until the second term of Jefferson's administration the political bias of the town was decidedly Federal. As presidential electors were chosen by the legis- lature until 1828, there was no popular vote for president in Vermont prior to the election of that year. Isaac Tichenor was the Federal can- didate for governor from 1797 to 1810, and the records show that he received the support of the town for that office at nine out of the thirteen elections included in that period. In 1803 Jonathan Robin- son, the Republican nominee, led Tickenor by a large majority in Nor-
II7
EARLY POLITICAL PARTIES
wich, but in the next two years fell slightly behind. In 1807 and 1808 the Republicans were again ahead, giving Israel Smith a majority which he, however, lost again in 1809, in the town as he did also in the State, the embargo, Jefferson's pet measure for preventing war with Britain and France, proving very unpopular in New England.
Israel Smith was the first governor elected by the Republicans after party lines were strictly drawn in Vermont. In 1810, Republican as- cendency was well established in both town and State, Jonas Galusha being chosen governor in that year and holding the executive chair con- tinuously till 1820, except the years 1813 and 1814, when Martin Chit- tenden, Federalist, defeated him in the legislature, there being no choice by the people. The Norwich Republicans, however, with whom the war was popular, encouraged by Lieutenant Governor Brigham and other leading townsmen, kept their ranks unbroken while the State reverted to Federalism .- The statement of the vote for governor in Norwich during these three years of war with England is as follows: -
1812 Jonas Galusha, Republican, 182; Martin Chittenden, Federal- ist, 100; Scattering, 9.
1813 Galusha, 165; Chittenden, 103; Scattering, 5.
1814 Galusha, 165; Chittenden, 108; Scattering, 9.
The steadfastness of the party vote on both sides at these elections shows the earnestness of politics at this time and proves that every ballot was counted. By like majorities, Pierce Burton, Republican, was chosen representative to the general assembly in 1812 and 1813, and Doctor Israel Newton in 1814, over Reuben Hatch, Federalist. Pierce Burton first represented the town in 1802 and again in 1805, 1809, 1810, and 1811-thus marking the growing preference for the Jeffersonian politics in the town.
After the close of the war, in 1815, there was a lull in party strife for ten or twelve years, resulting in the gradual disintegration of the old Federal and Republican parties and the bringing in of the so- called "era of good feeling" in politics (1820-1828). The volume of the popular vote which had reached an aggregate of over 35,000 in the State in 1814, but fell to 16,000 at the election of 1818 and to less than 12,000 in 1826, attests that partisan politics were now at a very low ebb in Vermont, and notes the subsidence of that party rage which cul- minated during the last year of the war.
I18
HISTORY OF NORWICH
During this period of harmony the town was represented in the legis- lature by Don J. Brigham, second son of Governor Brigham (1815- 1820), by Aaron Loveland (1820-1824), and by Thomas Emerson (1824-1828). At the September election of 1823, Judge Loveland re- ceived all the votes but one cast for town representative, the total vote for governor being only sixty-one at the same election. That year probably witnessed the low water mark of political excitement during the first half century of Vermont history. In 1827 and 1828 there was a memorable contest between Thomas Emerson and Judge Loveland for the legislature, resulting in the choice of Mr. Emerson by a small majority each year-in 1828, by twenty-three votes out of a total of 369, a much larger number than had been cast at any previous elec- tion, and never exceeded afterwards except by a small excess in the presidential elections of 1840 and 1844.
A departure in national politics marked the accession of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828, and in the years immediately fol- lowing the Whig and Democratic parties were evolved out of some- what diverse materials, and new affiliations of the voting masses took place. From 1830 to 1835, Anti-Masonry continued to be a disturbing element in the political cauldron, Vermont electing an Anti-Mason (William A. Palmer) to the gubernatorial chair in the years 1831 to 1835, and giving her solitary electoral vote to the Anti-Masonic can- didate for president in 1832, William Wirt of Maryland. Anti-Ma- sonry, however, never gained a firm foothold in Norwich. It reached the zenith of its popularity about the year 1833, when Palmer, Anti- Mason, received a plurality of five votes over Ezra Meech, Democrat, for governor. Even in that year, Captain Alden Partridge was chosen representative by 131 votes to ninety-five for Judge Loveland and seven scattering, and was re-elected in 1834, 1837, and 1839, in the latter year defeating Thomas Hazen, Whig, who had represented the town the year before after a close canvass against Doctor Ira Davis, Democrat. Captain Partridge was also the candidate of the Demo- cratic party for Congress in 1830, 1834, 1836, and 1838, in the latter two years, when but two tickets were in the field, beating his Whig competitor, Honorable Horace Everett.
As early as 1834 the Democratic phalanx appears well organized and drilled in Norwich, and during the next twenty years it marched
119
PERIOD OF DEMOCRATIC ASCENDENCY
steadily on, with the prestige of almost uninterrupted success. This period (1833-1854) may be fitly called the period of Democratic as- cendency in town. Of these twenty years the Democrats elected the representative in fourteen, the Whigs in but five, with no choice in one year. Of the five presidential elections occurring in the same time, the only decided success of the Whigs was that of 1840, when the tidal wave that carried General Harrison to the highest office in the land, and revolutionized the political control of a dozen States, engulfed the Norwich Democrats and gave the Whig electors a majority of sixty-one in a total poll of 382 votes. At every election but one (1840) for a score of years, the Democrats of Norwich gave their candidate for Con- gress, and in every year but three (1840, 1847, and 1851) their State ticket, a majority of votes in town,-or a plurality after the advent of the Free Soil party.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.