History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Gen. Hatch withdrew the Seventeenth from Bald- win, and established it in post at Magnolia, to hold which post and construct a fort it was then ordered, Capt. Kellogg being in command of the portion of the Seventeenth Regiment at that place. But Col. .Xoble was ordered by him the next day to burn the few buildings and to make a raid with some cavalry, artillery, and three regimetits, making a four days' march, and coming in at Magnolia, where he had es- tablished a post garrisoned by the Seventeenth, and awaited the arrival of the expedition. This was ai'- coinplished, and the Seventeentli relicveil lidiii duty at Magnolia and returned to St. Augustine. Soon after, (ien. Hatch took command of Floiida. While Col. Noble was at Slagnolia he ascertained tliat heavy effort was being made in Lower and Middle Florida, east of St. .John's, to recruit companies for the enemy. (_)rders were given to ('id. Noble to de- tail part of his own regiment and tlic Seviaity-filtli Mounted Rifles to proi'ced up the St. .lohn's along its ^i■2 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. eastern bank, while Col. Noble, with artillery and several refrinients and a detaehnient of Massaehusett.s cavalry, proceeded by steanur up the St. ,Iohn'.s and Dunn's Lake, to follow up tlie expedition of said regi- ments. After- landing on said lake on a day's march the Seventy-fifth wiis met returning to St. Augu.stine, having captured a ca])tain and about twenty of his enrolled men, who were afterwards imprisoned in the fort at St. .Vugustine. Soon after tliis Gen. llatcli wa-s succeeded in com- mand by (Jen. Scammon, and all raids abandoned except a miserable one wiiich resulted most disji-s- trously to the regiment. (len. Scammon had learned of a lot of cotton stored on the borders of Dunn's Lake, and directed Col. Wileoxson, with teams and a sufficient force, to gather it in. The order was obeyed and the cotton gathered. The force wa.s about start- ing on its return home when it wa.s attacked by about two hundred of Dixon's Mounted llittes. The attack was sudden and unex])ected. They are easily made I so in Florida, wliich is pretty much all o:ie pine wood. A .summons to surrender Wiis unheeded by Col. Wileoxson, and tire opened. Seeing nci hoi)e of eseai>e, Lieut. -Col. Wileoxson and .\dj. Chatfield at- tempted to cut their way through the enemy. Adj. Chatfield wits instantly killed, and Col. Wileo.\.son shot through tlie shoulder, of which wound he after- wards died at Tallaha.ssee. The regiment in these officers lost two gallant and able men. Two eajttains and about fifty men were captured and sent to Ander- sonville. Prior to this, Col. Noble, the day before Christmas, 1864, while crossing from Jacksonville to St. Augus- tine, in comi)any with two officers of other commands, was captured by tlie enemy'.s .scouts about half-way betwixt these places. He was taken across the St. John's Kiver to Tallahassee, to Macon, Ga., and finally to Andersonville. While there the force of the 17th that had been captured at Dunn's Lake, | and in a subsequent raid of the enemy in the rear of St. .Vugustine, was brought into tliat prison. The officers were Capt. Kreiieli, C"om])any G; Capt. Betts, Com|)any F; Lient. Kuggles, Company K; Cajjt. Quien, Company C. -Vfter this cotton expedition and the captures, the regiment ])assed a quiet and uneventful winter and .''pring. .\bout the .1st of .June, ISG"), it was ordered by (ten. Vodges, then commanding Florida, to Jack- sonville. While there it was sent out on provost-dnty in various places, and was employed in reconstructing the lialdwin and Jacksonville Railroad. .\bout the 1st of July it wa.s ordered to take trans- ports for Hilton Head, to be mustered out of the ser- vice, and at that post, on the liHh of July, ISti"), ended its duties lus part of the army of the republic during its great struggle. ( >i\ no occasion had the people of the county had reii-on to regret the execUons they had made to i)Ut it in the field. Its gallant service had been an honor to them and to the State; no charge ever was or could be made upon them of flinching from any truly mil- itary duty. In post at St. Augustine or in the field, it never failed to win the respect and affection of all with whom it came in contact. In this the Seven- teenth stands alongside of the glorious record of all the Connecticut troops in the war. The regiment, leai-ing unnamed the towns which contributed in small numbers, received its (juota from the following sources: Company .V, all from Norwalk, excei)ting eighteen men from \\'ilton ; Company B, all enlisted from Stamford and Darien; Company C received fifty- eight from Danbury, from Bethel sixteen, from Ridge- field twelve ; (,'omi)any D, forty-four from Bridgeport, seventeen from Monroe, from Huntington nine; Com- pany E received fifty-one from Wcstport, twenty-five from Newtown, fourteen from Bridgeport, ten from Weston ; Company F, almost all from Norwalk, ex- cept fourteen from AVilton ; Company G, Ridgefield fifty-three, Bridgeport twenty-three. Redding twenty ; Company H, mostly from New Canaan ; Company I, mostly from (ireenwich ; Company K, thirty-five from Bridgci)ort, Fairfield thirty-five. In all these com- panies there were members from other towns, making up the quota of the regiment, — a thousand and one men. There were individuals in every town most active in promoting the enlistment of this regiment who.se services should not be forgotten. The distinguished inventor of the sewing-machine, Elias Howe, Jr., was very active in this service, himself enlisted lus a pri- vate in its ranks, and on one occasion, by permission of the Secretary of War, advanced the pay due the regiment, ab(mt fourteen thou.sand dollars, on their march towards Fredericksburg. The materiel of this regiment was of a character among the privates fit to have officered a dozen regi- ments. Wherever stationed they were commended for their morale and soldierly characteristics. William Henry Noble, .son of Rev. Birdsey G. Noble (Yale cla.ss of 17-1), was born in Newtown, Conn., Aug. Hi, \»VA. He lived at Middletown, Conn., with parents till fifteen years old ; spent the last four years, from eleven to fifteen, at Par- tridge's Military School, Middletown, Conn. ; thence to Trinity (then Wiushington) College, Hartford. 1S28 to ISIiO; 1S:50 to 1832, Yale; graduated; taught a school one year and a half at Stamford, Conn. He then removed to Bridgeport, where he studied law, and in 183G was admitted to the bar of Fairfield County ; was for many years clerk of court and State's att<irncy for said e(mnty. In 1«3!> married Harriet J. Brooks, daughter of Benjamin Brooks, Rsq., of Bridgeport; ran for Congress in 18.)(l, and was de- fi^ated. In lS.il he laid out East Bridgeport, and in 18.'«2 reorganizetl the operation with P. T. Barnum on a larger scale ; built bridges, houses, factories, giving to Bridgeport the foundation of a great city. In IStJO MILITARY HISTORY. 63 helped organize the Union movement in Connecticut wliicli spread tlirouirh the country, and in July, 1S()2, \ was commissioned Ijy Governor Buclcingham colonel , of the Seventeenth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers; ] •\vent out 8eptenilier .'>d, destined to Eleventh Corps, Army of the Potomac ; stii)iped by ( iriicral Wonl at IJaltimorc; stati(jned at Fort Marshall a month and a half; sent thence to defenses of Washinirton, Fort Kearney, and Tennallytown ; thence to Eleventh < 'urps at Gainesville ; with Eleventh Cori)s in reserve ninved on Fredericksburg at Burnside'sjittack; .StafibrdC 'durt- llouse and lirook's Station, Va., winter of lS():i anil 1S(;;5. At battle of Chancellorsville, under Howanl (see "(ireeley's Conflict," vol. ii., chap, xvi., page ijoO: only regiment named] ; wounded in left arm liy minie-ball, severing main artery; ordered liomc by .Surgeon Hubbard, medical director of the Eleventh Corps; forty days' leave ; left to reach advance towards Gettysburg; at Gettysburg, Cemetery Hill, third day ; liiurth day, command of brigade ; moved in pursuit of Lee; at Hagerstown, Md., in front of the rebel line when ])reparing to cros.s the Potomac ; continued the march into Virginia; thence was sent with Ames' bri- gade. Eleventh ( 'orps, to South Carolina; on Morris and Folly Island- about six months; at siege of Sum- ter and Wagner for a month ; daily under fire ; saw first gun fired on Sumter; walls powdered and Wagner siirrenilered ; in trenches at Wagner, in command of reserves, and sui)]i<irting f irce with and without regi- ment many days. In February, 18G4, went with Ames' brigade to Jacksonville, Fla. ; there )iut in , command ni' brigade; at Jackscmville about a month and a lialf; assijrned in Ai)ril, L^(i4. to command of St. Augustine; placed in command of brigade and all the country east of tlie St. John's River; com- maiide<l brigade at capture and destruction of Raid- win, I'la. ; sent in command of cavalry, artillery, and live regiments South to Sand Lakes, and to cripple <'e(lar Keys Railroad; returned to Magnolia, (ph St. Jidm's; in command of Fort Construction and jiost at Magnolia, and force there, and of the posts and forces east of the St. John'.s, including St. Augustine, .August and Se|)tend)er, 1864; sent during September, lS(i4, with cavalry, infantn,-, and artillery, i)er land and steamer, uj) the St. John's River and Duns Lake, Fla., to break up Confederate recruiting-station, cap-