History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

"After the November cleL-tion all this changed. Trogiesa came to a stand-still as ahriiptiy as it" it Inid been mounted with an air-brake. Hat- ting went under, and drajj;gtHi with it, as is its custom, every other branch of industry. Men had little to do but to stand around and talk. And the result was as sure as taxes. Dyspepsia set in, and gloom followed. Dunbury's liver was full of gall, and Danbury's blood crawled sluggishly through its veins. Sumter was the blue pill for tlie occasion, and most thoroughly did it do its work. "It wiis three o'clock on the afternoon of Satunlay, April 13, ISGT, when Iianbury received the news of the fall of Sumter and thi? first vic- tory for the secessionists. All that day anxious men intested tlie tele- graph-<;'ffice in search of the intelligence they tlreaded to meet. M'hi-n it came there was a shock. It was as if the batteries that i)layed against the doomed fortress had been galvanic, with their wires niuning through our hearts' very centre. "The next forty-eight hours were full of compressed life. They were mental yeast-cakes. No excitement ctjnaled it since that Ajuil <lay nearly a century dead when the face of a foreign foe was turned our w ay anil the tramp of an enemy's feet pressed our borders. "Now we knew theie was to be a war. Even tiic mckst ranguine of a bloodless ending to the trouble gave up the hope of peace, but not the de- termination to win it. In that first flush of indignant shame i)aity lines Went under, and only tlie fact of the outrage and the desire to avenge it appeared aU've the sea of jtatiiotic passiou that swept over Daubury. "You all know how thronged Blain Street is on a Saturday evt_'ning- "We have a sort of national reputation in this particular. Hut, as com- jiiired with that Saturday night nineteen years ago, the one id the pree-i-nt IS ;is barien of life as a law library. "There Wiis but little sleep in Danbury that Saturday night; there was noue whatever the next day, although there wore eight churches here. St. Peter pave way to saltpetre in the theology of the hour. *' Danbury showfd its colors promptly on tiie reception of the news from Sumter. The first flag appeared from the residence of Hon. Koger Averill, and others immediately tollowod, — in such numbers, too, that tlie village looked like an army with banners. An interesting incident occurred with the unfurling of Ooverniir Averill's flag. Many present distinctly remember the venerable Col. Moss White. Several years before the war he wiis stricken with paralysis, and never recovered from the shock. He moved about with great dithculty, and lost all control of Terbal expression except two words, iu the foini uf an injunction, wbii-h were, *Como all!' Vii seeing the flag he tiUiotL* bis breast with bi-th hands and cried aloud again and again, 'C'unie all I Come all !' .\nd the record shows that the able-bodied ineu of his native town almost liter- ally responded to the cry. "On the Slonday following the eventful Saturday, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand troops to march ti_» the defense of the government. On Wednesday, Governor Ituckinghani's call for Con- necticut's quota of this number was receivetl in I)anbury, and on Friday — only forty-eight hours later — our dear old mother had a company of her eons, nearly all armed and equipped, on their way to the State ren- dezvous, ready for action. These were the Wooster Guards, tlie first com- pany to leave Danburj', and tlie first in the State to report for duty. Is not this something to be proud of? Glorious as is the minie the dead "WooBter left us, it rei.eived new brightness from the lustre of this act. "The day the Wuoster Guards departed for New Haven was an event- ful one in the histoid of our b'wn. It might have been called both tioud ami Black Friday, — Gootl because of the devotion to principle thus mani- fested. Black because of the gloom in the hearts of those whose tiying I mission was to stay at home and tmit. "It was only for three months that this di-votcil company were to bo gone, but the eye of atfection saw every bitter possibility crowdeil « itliin that brief B|'ace, and hearts stood still at the sight. " You may rest assured that a hearty godspeed accompanied Danbury 's first offering upon the nation's altar. People were sutTering umler a mighty tension of excitement, and any escape that presented itself was [ironiptly used. And so when this first company went awiiy then? wos a parade, and the touching off of powder, and the waving of hats, and a j shouting and yelling as if every man had a telephone of his mvn and 1 wanted a doctor. "The town's military hall was then on the top floor of 1>. P. Nichols' building, corner of Main and White Streets. There the Guards assem- l bled and received recruits, and prepared for the advance. But it «as in i 17 Concert Hall, on the spot where to-day was unveiled the mnmnnetit, that the brave band were conserraterl to the holy cause of national Hie. and the God of battles was invoked to wiilch over them. It was a ttiiinqih- antmai"ch to the hall, and a triumphant march from there to the laihvay- statiiin, and all along the route the way was hedged in with sympathetic and eftervesccnt humanity. At the station itself the (-urrents becanie an ocean into which the Guards were absorbed as completely ;is if Ibey had gone down into a real ocean. Every man in that company wiis a hero in the eyes of the multitude, and every nianifestatiim of approval uas showered upon them. It wjis a wonder to iis iiow the train i-ver got away fix>m the station with its precious freight without crushing scores of humans in its moving. But it did move away free from all obstacle, and the Guards went out from among us with hearts so full of purpose that grief found no entrance therein. "Capt. E. E. WiMman was in command; Jrsso D. Stevens wan first lieutenant; John W. Bussing was second lieutenant. These three men are still with us. I am going to read to yon the mu.ster-roll of that band who took their lives in their hands to go out upon an untried enteipii-e. I wouhl like to repeat from this platfoim the name of every volunteer from our town, but linio will not permit it. The chief interest centres about this company because it wilm fhe jhst. This is the li«t : "Sergeants, Andiew Knox, Milo Dickens, William Moegling, Samuel M. Petit. "Coritorals, George B. Allen, E. S. Davis, Alexander Kallman, Nalban Couch. "Musicians, Edward H. Daiin. Grundison D. Foote. "Privates, John Allen, Harris .\nderson, C. H. Andereon, John Bo- gardus, Cliarles A. BoiTum. .lames HH/zard, William H. Blizzard, Thomas T. Bussing, James Biadley, Theodore B. Benedict, A. H. Byington, Georgo W. Banker, Charles A. Bengor, Nirani Blackman, Thonuis D. Brown, Henry E. Buckingham, William K. Cowan, Lemuel B. Clark, William K. Doane, Josiah L. I'ay, Ed. H. Day, Joseph L. Dunning, Ezekiel Eaton, C. Fieldstone. Denis Geliven, Clnistopher Grimm. Charles A. (Jordon, H. W. Gibbs, Carl W. Hillbrandt, William 0. Hoyt, W. P. Hoyt, David B. Hoyt, Alfred II. lloildinott, TlmniJis Hooton, Otto Hagement, Jam<-s Howath, Jesse L. James, Earnest T. Jennings, Isaac N. .Tennings, George D. Keeler, Morris A. Krazynsky, William J. Murphy. Emil C. IMargnifV, James Martin, Andrew B. Nichols, Horace Purdy, Francis W. Piatt, Joseph W. llayinoud, James Iteed, James K. Ross, Timothy Itose, George L. Smith, Alson J. Snath, Benjamin F. Skinner, David Sloane, tirandison Scott, Louis Shack, Eli D. Seeley, .Augustus Staples, George Sears, James II. Taylor, J<»seph Tammany, Daiius A. Veats, Edgar L. Wildnian, How- ard W. Wheeler, John Waters. "The papeis of New Haven spoke highly of the apjiearance of the company, and lauded the promptness with which it re8iK»n«led to the nation's cry for help. It is a grout deal to be the first in an enter[nise fianght with danger, because the ilanger itself is uiitiied an<i all the more formidable. It was a brave thing fiir the fitmilies of these men to give up their own. but both those who went and those who sent them had no lack of the spirit whicli constitutes heroism. "There are two incidents recorded in the New Haven Junntnl of that time which vividly show how blight and clear burned the fire of patiiut- ism on the altar set up in Danbury. I quote from the Jnnrnnl: " 'The men are in the best of spirits, and are determined to vindicate the untarnished huiior ot old Connetti^-ut. One of them received a letter fnmi his wife, Saturday evening, saying, "I do wish, Koburt, you could return ; but if it is not consistent with honor and duty, go! Guod- by.and remember always to be faithful to our country, ami to fight man- fully for our glorious flag." Said the brave fellow, trying hard to rei)ress a tear as ho peruseil the i)recious missive. "Who couldn't fight when mtrh a wife commanded it?" .\nother member of the company was met by his father on the green, who said, as he handed him a wallet cuntain- iiigsonie thirty dollars in gold, "My son, take your father's blessing and this slim puise. It is all I can gi\e you. Do your duty. It is hard for your aged niother and me to pari, with you, but God bless you, go ! If you fall, give your dying blessing to your comrades. Good-by."' " These are specimens t)f the men who went iu that first company from I>atibury, and of those who gave them up. Of the mjiterial that com- posed this land the larger i>art reappeared to credit in subsequent organ- izations. Some of tbem reached distinction as officers. Many cd' tlteni are with us to-day. Many have passed through the Valley of the Shadow. Olio who marched in the ranks on the departure from Danbury does not appear in this list. He was objected to on account of age, ami although lie tried in various ways to be mustered in was not successful. This was Nelson L. White, afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the First Oonneclicnt Heavy Artiller}*, and now gone to his eternal rest. " Another prominent name is that of William Moegling, who euteied 250 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. \