USA > Vermont > Lamoille County > Morristown > History of Morristown, Vermont > Part 12
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"GEO. W. HENDEE"
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OLD COVERED BRIDGE ONCE STANDING NEAR POWER PLANT
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EARLY TRAIN IN MORRISVILLE
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Which was replied to as follows:
"St. Johnsbury, Dec. 28, 1872
"Hon. Geo. W. Hendee:
"You have my warmest congratulations. A new railroad is a most fitting Christmas present for your community.
"HORACE FAIRBANKS."
In the issue of January 10, 1873, the following report is given :
"Nearly a week and a half now have regular trains been bringing passengers into this valley. The regular train was put on January 1 as previously advertised, and took a full load of passengers to St. Johnsbury under charge of S. W. Parkhurst of Cavendish, conductor, and F. N. Keeler of Hyde Park, baggage master, drawn by the engine 'Hyde Park'. No formal demonstrations were made along the line. At St. Johnsbury a crowd had collected at the depot to welcome the train and three cheers were given at the call of N. P. Bowman, as the passengers got out."
The transfer of freight was soon provided for, and in 1884 the present freight depot was built.
In 1879 the town refunded its indebtedness and issued negotiable bonds for not over $60,000, payable after five years and within twenty years, bearing semi-annual interest at five percent. This burden of extra taxation, no small one for a town with no larger grand list than that of Morristown, was rolled off before the twenty years had elapsed. No wonder at the town meeting of 1890 they "gave three rousing cheers and a tiger in view of the pay- ment of the Town Bonds." With great enthusiasm the meeting voted $500 for the Centennial Celebration.
The road since its inception has had a checkered career. The cost of construction and the upkeep exceeded expectations and its indebtedness increased. After pass- ing into the hands of a receiver it was reorganized under the name of the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Rail- road, in 1880. Five years later it passed into the control of the Boston & Lowell Railroad and still later was taken
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over by the Boston & Maine. The annual deficit incurred by its operation became so great that it was about to be abandoned. On January 1, 1925, it came into the hands of a group of Vermont men who were willing to put work and thought into its management for the sake of the pros- perity of the towns through which it ran. The increased business which followed was due in part to good manage- ment and to the economies which could be introduced since the road lay entirely within the confines of the state and was not bound by the restrictions of the labor unions. Perhaps the most important factor was the spirit of cooperation which was aroused since the towns realized the seriousness of the situation and the desire to serve the district which the new officers manifested. It was under the efficient management of Mr. E. S. French of Spring- field, Vt., the vice-president and manager, whose ability was later recognized by his election to the presidency of the Boston & Maine Railroad. The first year it paid operating expenses, something which had not happened for a long time before; the second year it paid operating expenses and $66,000 interest. In 1927 it had done even better when on the fateful November third the flood struck the state, and the angry waters of the Lamoille began their work of destruction.
No trains came into the station from noon of November . third until Monday, December 26. For ten weary dis- heartening weeks no car whistles regularly echoed through the valley and for a time it seemed they never would again. At the first inspection of the road, it was esti- mated that it would require $500,000 to restore the system as 160 washouts, twelve bridges, six culverts, and twenty- four landslides wrought havoc with the line. In this town the long bridge between here and Wolcott was swept away, and three deep washouts between here and Hyde Park were nearly as difficult to restore. Unsuccessful attempts were made to get help from the Boston & Maine and the Canadian National roads. In despair the road then turned to the state for help and at the special session of the Legislature, due in no small degree to the efficient work of T. C. Cheney and Justice G. M. Powers of this town, a loan of $300,000 was obtained.
With new courage and vigor the work on the road was taken up and on December 26 the people of Morris- town gathered at the station to welcome the first . train
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since November 3. Supt. J. A. Cannon and Assistant Superintendent Darling accompanied the train, the engine was specially decorated and amid the din of whistles from the industrial plants and the cheers of the crowd the train pulled in. Ex-Congressman F. G. Fleetwood voiced the thanks of the people for the work done by the officials, and the Morrisville Military Band contributed its part to the occasion. The following Saturday night the Rotary Club gave a banquet in honor of the men of the pile driving crew who worked every day, including Sundays, from five o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening for more than a month under most trying weather condi- tions; also in honor of the large crew who, under the same trying conditions, labored on the roadbed between the station and the Jones Bridge. Gov. John E. Weeks and several of the officials of the road were present on this occasion, and Justice George M. Powers acted as toast- master.
After ten weeks' time the normal train schedule was resumed. At a cost of $234,000, temporary work had been done which made the road passable. To restore it to normal conditions required more than $215,000 additional.
Thus the road has been maintained in the face of obstacles of all kinds, although in later years its train schedule has been limited, and its freight service is its important source of income.
THE TELEPHONE
Of all the steps in the development of communication none was more important than the introduction of the telephone, which came to Vermont in 1877. One of the pioneer lines in the state was at St. Johnsbury. That they were slow in coming into general use is seen from the fact that, although introduced there in July, 1877, there was no regular exchange in that town until 1880.
Two years later the Bell Telephone Exchange was inaugurated in Morrisville. An item in the issue of "The News and Citizen" of April 20, 1882, reads as follows:
"The telephones are working satisfactorily. The exchange includes four offices at Hyde Park and the fol- lowing here viz. Judge Powers and A. O. Gates, both places
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of business and house; H. A. Slayton and Co., P. K. Gleed, B. A. Calkins and Hendee and Fisk, places of business. Morrisville is connected with Hyde Park depot, the bank, and Page's office at the Park. The central office is located in Gates' store. In time the telephone will be the general means of communication between towns."
From this simple beginning has grown the present intricate system which, since 1908, has been housed in its present quarters on the second floor in the Centennial Block and its eight subscribers have increased to. 800. The prophecy of the newspaper has been fulfilled within a half century.
As revolutionary a step in the history of transporta- tion as the introduction of the railroad was the invention of the automobile which came to Morristown in 1903 when A. R. Campbell bought his first model, which was the first one in the county. Previous to that C. C. Warren, who was the owner of the first one in the state, had made use of his in coming from his home in Waterbury to attend to his business here in connection with the Warren Leather Co. Thirty years later the main roads in town are kept open to motor traffic the year round and cars from all parts of the country frequent our highways.
AIRPORT
The latest step in transportation has been that of aviation, and in this Morristown has had an interest. Early in 1934, as a result of investigations by the aviation section of the Federal Civil Works Administration, Morris- ville was selected as the site of an airport if the town would furnish the site. Again Morristown's generous bene- factor, A. H. Copley, of Boston, showed his interest in a tangible way, and purchased thrity-eight acres of land lying between the Elmore Road and Maple Street, most of which is included in the tract known as the old fairground. Workmen began at once to clear the tract and make it suitable for aviation purposes.
The selection of this site was a part of the govern- ment policy to construct airports at strategic points throughout the country.
This tract was an ideal location for a golf course as well as an airport and Mr. Copley soon interested himself
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in developing it along these lines. With the help of local devotees of the game and through the cooperation of the federal government he had constructed a fine nine-hole course with a beautiful club house which commands a view of eight of the nine greens and also the panorama of moun- tains to the east, south and west.
The house can be heated so is available for winter sports and is built and equipped with all the completeness that has characterized Mr. Copley's other gifts to the town.
CHAPTER IX
MILITARY RECORD
A LTHOUGH Morristown has given to the nation no
military leaders of high rank, a careful study of her part in two of the major wars of the country shows that her military record forms a glowing page in her his- tory because of the honorable service of the rank and file of her citizens.
Since Morristown was a trackless forest until after the Revolution had closed, it had no direct contact with that event as did the settlements in the southern part of the state. Indirectly, perhaps, it was affected, for it is a fact that many men from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, gained first-hand knowledge of this region during their military service, and it may well be that this was true of some of the pioneer settlers in the town. At any rate it is known that several of the early settlers had engaged in the Revolution previous to coming here.
The roll of revolutionary pensioners who received ninety-six dollars a year for their services to the nation included eight names. They were Crispus Shaw, Barzilla Spaulding, John Cole, whose great size (he was six feet, seven inches according to tradition), and ability as a story teller contributed to make him a valuable soldier; Josiah Roberts, who served as a drummer; Moses Weld, also musical, who took his singing book into the army; Samuel Cook, one of the men in Arnold's ill-fated expedition against Quebec; Nathan Gates, who served two years and gained the title of lieutenant; and James Little, who came here in 1800 from Litchfield, Conn., and was said to have been one of three who survived a British prison experience in which several hundred lost their lives. To this list of participants should be added the name of William Small, and probably that of Joseph Safford, Asa Little, Alpha Goodale, and perhaps others.
The military spirit which these men exemplified led to the organization of the Morristown Militia early in the history of the town, with Elisha Boardman the first cap- tain of the body and David Freeman later serving in that
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capacity. Doubtless this company increased the military efficiency of the town; at any rate, it gave meaning and zest to the annual June Training Day, held on the first Tuesday of that month, when our ancestors laid aside their usual cares and enjoyed wrestling, pitching quoits, and other sports in addition to the military drill.
THE WAR OF 1812
The War of 1812, termed by Woodrow Wilson "a clumsy, foolhardy, haphazard war," was never popular in New England, and in Vermont it was largely the instinct of self-preservation which led to participation in it. As soon as war was declared, the selectmen of several towns in the northern part of the state furnished and supported a small number of men to act as guards in the frontier towns, and Morristown was one of this group. From the Roster of Soldiers in the War of 1812-14, it seems prob- able that Jonathan Cook, Harvey Olds, and Adam Sumner composed the town's contribution to this body. Both Cook and Sumner saw later service with the United States troops. Joseph Burke enlisted for one year in Capt. James Taylor's Company, in the Thirtieth Regiment, as well as in the company raised in town in 1814. James Sanderson saw service in the Thirtieth Regiment for more than a year as well as in the local company. Heminway's "Gazeteer" states that Clement and Thompson Stoddard enlisted for the war, but their names do not appear in the official roster.
When the British advance on Plattsburg exposed all of Vermont to attack, volunteers from all parts of the state started for Burlington without any regular call. Accord- ing to the Roster many of them never reached Plattsburg, and still others did not get to Burlington, and their term of service was limited to three or four days. The company organized in Morristown to help in this crisis. is credited with eight days' service and was under the command of Capt. Denison Cook. Its roll contains the following names : Lieut. Abner Brigham, Thomas Brown, Asahel Burke, Joseph Burke, Corp. Lyman Carter, Second Lieut. Enos Cole, Samuel W. Cole, Chester Cook, John Felcher, John Hovey, Samuel Joslin, Calvin Keiser, John Keiser, Robert Kimball, Joseph Marshall, Amos Paine, John Parish, James Sanderson, First Sergt. Peleg Scofield, Sergt.
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Joseph Sears, Bennoni Shaw, Corp. Crispus Shaw, Sergt. Joseph Sinclair, Luther Small, Musician Alva Spalding, Barzilla Spalding, Equilla Spalding, Sergt. Levi Spalding, Ozias Spaulding, Adam Sumner, Samuel Town, Samuel Warren.
This limited experience doubtless gave greater efficiency to the local military organization which, under the leadership of Denison Cook, was known as the Morris- town Light Infantry. This in turn gave way to the Green Mountain Rangers and later to the Morristown Artillery.
The war with Mexico was a matter of little concern to local people, but they came to have a vital interest in one of the questions involved, that of slavery. The Com- promise of 1850, especially the Fugitive Slave Act, was very unpopular. This feeling about the great problems of the day was reflected in the local press, the columns of which were filled with accounts of the seizure of escaped slaves in northern states and with speeches which the con- gressional giants of those days, Seward, Sumner, Everett, and others were delivering. The feeling entered into local politics in the choice of. Town Representative, and in 1843 and again in 1846 Moses Terrill, who opposed the extension of slavery, was elected on a Third Party ticket.
It will be remembered that the constitution of the state drawn up in 1777 was the first in the United States to prohibit slavery, and it is safe to say that it fairly repre- sented the attitude of most Vermonters. On the question of the constitutionality of the right of secession, the technical and legal questions involved, the average citizen was not greatly concerned, the possibility of such an act was too remote for him to consider.
Veneration for the Union and the Constitution based upon the principles enunciated by Daniel Webster in his famous reply to Hayne thirty years before had been his heritage.
According to the census, Morristown contained 1,751 inhabitants in 1860. Of this number, 168, or nearly one- tenth of her entire population, went to the front. When one stops to think that this number was recruited entirely from her virile young men, he realizes what it meant to the life of the town. The statistics gathered at the time of the erection of the Soldiers' Monument credited the town with 172 volunteers. According to the Roster of Ver- mont Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, published by
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the state in 1892, one of the men thus assigned, Charles Dodge, enlisted from another town, and this statement is confirmed by members of his family. Two others, Charles Rowell and George Levigne, are not found among the Ver- mont troops, but may have served with the soldiers of other states. Horace Elsworth is credited to Morristown in the Memorial Volume of the Soldiers of the Civil War and in Heminway's "Gazeteer," but to Underhill in the State Roster. C. W. Boardman, a native of Morristown, was first credited to Stowe, but upon his re-enlistment in December, 1863, was changed to Morristown.
Of this body of soldiers, one attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel, three became captains, six first lieuten- ants, three second lieutenants, five sergeants and fourteen corporals. This is no unusual record, but that most of them discharged their duties honorably is attested by the fact, reported in the official records, that fifteen men were wounded, seven died of wounds, and six were killed in action; that is, one-thirteenth of the whole number gave their lives for the Union cause, while the ratio for the Northern Army as a whole was one-twenty-fifth. Sixteen died of disease, while nine suffered the horrors of imprison- ment and one of this number died at Andersonville.
Men from Morristown were found in eleven different Vermont regiments, in the Second Battery Light Artillery, the Second Regular United States Sharpshooters, the Frontier Cavalry, and the First Vermont Cavalry, but the Third, Fifth, Eighth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Regiments contained more soldiers from here than the other organiza- tions. So in briefly reviewing the town's contribution to the cause of the Union, the history of these regiments is given more in detail.
It is no exaggeration of the truth to say that the Northern Army contained no better troops than the famous "Old Brigade," the First Vermont Brigade, which was com- posed of the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Regi- ments, which were joined in May, 1864, by the Eleventh Vermont. The roll of its battles is the record of the major engagements of the Civil War from Lewinsville to Peters- burg, and in its splendid achievements the soldiers from this town bore an honorable part.
Company E, of the Third Vermont, was the first com- pany organized in Lamcille County, although individuals had volunteered previous to its formation. Into it flocked
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twenty-one of the youth of the town, influenced in part by the fact that its first captain was Andrew J. Blanchard, principal of Peoples Academy, whom many of them had come to know and respect in that capacity. The rendez- vous of the Third was at St. Johnsbury on the grounds of the Caledonia County Agricultural Society. The "Lamoille Newsdealer" thus briefly records the beginning of their great adventure:
"On June 12th the Lamoille Company left Morrisville for St. Johnsbury. Their friends gave them a ride most of the way and Col. Earle of this town, Mr. Whipple of Morrisville, Mr. Rankin of the Corners and others went along with teams to help them."
They received their baptism of fire at Lewinsville on September 11, 1861, and from that time on they partici- pated in all the battles of this famous brigade. Of the twenty-one who marched away that bright June day, five never returned. Two of them, Sergt. Amos White and Edwin Burnham, were killed at the Battle of the Wilder- ness, and the other three, George R. Powers, Thomas F. Sawyer and Moses Sawyer, died of disease.
The Fifth Vermont, raised in response to Governor Holbrook's proclamation, was composed of ten companies, one of which was recruited at Hyde Park, and naturally contained many from this and adjacent towns. It had its ' rendezvous at St. Albans, and left for the front on Septem- ber 17, 1861. According to Benedict's "Vermont In the Civil War," this regiment showed a larger percentage of killed and mortally wounded in action than any other Ver- mont regiment, and at the Battle of Savage Station it suffered the greatest loss in killed and wounded ever sustained by a Vermont regiment in action. Morristown gave one son, John Davis, to the Union cause on that battle- field. To the Fifth was accorded the perilous honor of leading the final assault on the enemy's line at Petersburg, and its colors were the first planted on the enemy's works. The Eighth Vermont, recruited in January, 1862. together with the Seventh, was a part of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's New England Division. Owing to the unhealth- ful conditions prevailing around Baton Rogue, the latter regiment had the dubious glory of losing more men by death from disease than any other regiment. One out of every three of the original number died from that cause, and Morristown's loss was in just that proportion, as three
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out of the nine from here fell victims to the unsanitary surroundings, while one-man, Joseph O. Kimball, was killed at the storming of Port Hudson. Later, in 1864, to their great joy the Eighth was sent north to join the Army of the Potomac. Company D, of the Eighth, was one of the companies which formed a permanent organization after the war, and as late as 1914 held its eighth annual reunion in Morrisville, with about sixty veterans present.
The Eleventh Vermont was the largest regiment sent from this state and contained the largest number of volun- teers from this town. Between the twelfth and fifteenth of August, 1862, ten companies were recruited for it, and Company D, organized at Hyde Park under the captaincy of Urban A. Woodbury, contained twelve from this town, two of whom, Chester Dodge and D. J. Safford, were destined to have a colorful military experience. The lieutenant-colonel was Reuben C. Benton of Hyde Park, a rising young member of the Lamoille County Bar.
A little less than a year later, on July 11, 1863, the regiment was increased by the addition of Company L, under Capt. D. J. Safford of Morristown, which group was mustered in at Brattleboro with nine men from here, and in October of that year Company M, with its quota of local men, joined their comrades at the front. In all twenty- five men from this town fought in this regiment, whose losses in action in proportion to the time it served exceeded those of the other five regiments of the brigade.
Aroused by the reverses which the Union Army sus- tained in the Peninsular Campaign, in August, 1862, Presi- dent Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 militia to serve for nine months. According to the General Order there would be no recruiting officers, but the town officials and patriotic citizens would be expected to handle the details of enlistment. The Morristown Company, formed in response to this appeal and containing men from Stowe, Eden, Cambridge, Wolcott, Johnson, and Westford also, was completed by September 8 and became Company E of the Thirteenth Vermont. Joseph J. Boynton of Stowe was its captain and afterwards was promoted to the rank of major. It was assembled at Brattleboro, and in October was sent to the front where it was joined with the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Regi- ments to form the Second Vermont Brigade.
The most notable work of this body of troops was their
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part in the repulse of Pickett's charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, an event which many a man of Company E counted the most important event in his military career. They returned to Brattleboro and were mustered out on July 21, 1863, only, in many cases, to re-enlist. In fact a surprising number of men who had tasted the realities of war upon the expiration of their term of enlistment re-entered the service, thus proving beyond question their devotion to the cause for which they had already suffered.
The victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg led many to look for a speedy termination of the war. They little dreamed of the stubborn defense by the enemy which made the final surrender of Lee such a bloody affair. In August, . 1863, Governor Holbrook issued an order for recruiting a new regiment. But enlistments were slow. The glamor of war which had tempted many adventurous boys to volunteer was gone. In addition the bounty for recruits in the new regiment was only $100, a third of the sum offered to such as enlisted in the older organizations. Naturally any who were willing to enter the army pre- ferred to fill vacancies in the existing regiments. Finally the War Department remedied the situation by equalizing the money paid, and early in 1864 the work of completing the companies of the Seventeenth Vermont was finished. Morristown was especially interested in Company C, which consisted of men from this and adjacent towns, and was commanded by Capt. Frank Kenfield, who had already learned the game of war in Company E, of the Thirteenth Vermont.
The company, consisting of eighty-six officers and men, was organized at Burlington, and went from there directly to the terrible Wilderness Campaign, where the list of the killed and wounded of the regiment exceeded that of some of the larger regiments. It joined the Brigade on the twenty-fifth of April, and on May 5 took an honorable part in the Battle of the Wilderness, where Captain Kenfield was shot through the left arm. From here they went to Petersburg, leaving two men, William Bassett and Corp. Lucian Bingham, on the battlefield of Cold Harbor. In the first attack on Petersburg, Morris- town lost Corp. James Glines and Lieut. Guy H. Guyer, whom Benedict called "one of the bravest officers in the regiment." His death was deeply felt by his comrades, with whom he was very popular. He had first enlisted in
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