History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

During the fall of 1861 seven companies, to serve for three years, were recruited wholly or in part in Bridgeport, — viz., Company D, First Connecticut Cavalry, C'a]>t. L. N. Middlebrook ; Comi)any H, Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, Cajit. Henry Biehel, and Company I of the same command, Capt. Thomas Boudren ; Company I, of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, Capt. Sylvester H. Gray; Company A, of the Eighth Connecticut Volunteers, Lieut. H. M. Hoyt; Companies 1) ami 1, of the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, comnnimled by Capts. Thonuus Coats and Elliott M. Curtis, respectively. Among the field- officers commissioned by the < Jovernor during the same period were Maj. John Speidel, of the Sixth, Lieut.- Col. Richard Fitzglbbon and >[aj. Frederick H. Frye, of the Ninth, Regiments. Several Bridgeport firms also were busy at this time filling government orders for war-material. Gun- carriages and caissons were built by Frederick Wood & Co. ; harnesses in great numbers were turned out by Calhoun, Lacey & Co. ; while the Pacific Iron- works were busy in manufacturing steam-engines for the " Kanawha" and other siunboats. The reverses of the Union army under Gen. Mc- Clellan in the early summer of 1SG2 only (luickened the patriotic spirit of the loyal i)eople of Bridgei)ort. Thursday evening, July lit, 1862, a great war-meet- ing was held, which filled both Franklin and Wiish- ington Halls. Mayor Sterling and Hon. Russell Tomlinson wen' the ])residing oflieers, anil among the speakers were (iovernor Buckingham, Hon. William D. Bishop, Elias Howe, Jr., the inventor of the sew- ing-machine, and others. Twenty thousand dollars was subscribed before the meeting closed, to be ex- pended in carrying on the war; and when Mr. Howe announced that he had himself volunteered as a pri- vate soldier, the enthusiasm w:is very great, and nu- merous young men came forward and signed the roll. During the next few days enlisting went on rapidly, j owing in good degree to the ett'orts of Private Howe, I who went about the streets with drum and fife pick- ing up recruits fiir the Seventeenth, the new Fairfield County regiment. The ranks of the Seventeenth quickly filled up, and in August, 1862, it went into encamiiment at Camp Aiken, the |)re.sent site of Sea- side Park. During its stay here Rev. A. R. Thompson, of the South Congregational Church, acted as chap- lain, and collections were taken up in the churches to provide the regiment with a chapel-tent and a library. August 2ilth a patriotic meeting was held on the green eii.st of the court-house, attended by the Seventeenth in a body, and addressed by Messrs. Barnum, Bishop, Rev. Dr. Hewit, Father Lenihan, and others, and on Sunday, September 7th, divine service was conducted in the sanu' ))lace, and a sermon ajjpropriate to the occasion was preached by Rev. .1. >L Willey, rector of St. John's Church, who had served lus chaplain with one of the three months' regiments. ' Aug. 25, 1862, the Fourteenth Regiment, one thou- I sand and fifteen strong, and containing a company from Briilgeiiort, marched through the streets of Hart- ford under command of Col. Dwight Morris, of this city, and end)arked tor the seat of war. Eight days i later the Seventeenth, whose field-officers were Col. i (afterward Gen.) William H. Noble and Lieut. -Col. Charles Walter, also left for Washington. It con- tained two full comimnies from Bri<lgeport, — D and G, — comnmnded by Capt.s. William H. Lacey and Jamw E. Dunham. Most of the members of Com- pany K were also from this jilace. The Second Connecticut Light Batten,-, Capt. .John W. Sterling eonnnander, wjis also recruited almost entirely from Bridgeport, and received marching orders for Washington, Oct. 15, 1862. During the month of November three additional BRID(?.EPOKT. 103 companies reeruitetl in Hridficiiort, un<ler the call tor nine months' volunteers, left the State tor service in the Department of the (iulf. Tlirsi- wen': ( 'nnipiiiiy I), Twenty-third t'onneetieut \'nluiiteer>, ( 'apt. (_'. W. Hall; Company I. Twenty-third ( 'imneetient Vidun- teers, Cajit. William It. May; and t'omiiany K, Twenty-fnurth ( 'unneetieut ^'ldlULt<■ers, Licnt. K. N. Goodwin, hient.-l'ol. ( '. W. Wordin was also rdui- missioned as one of the lield-nftieers iif tile Twmty- third Regiment. On the (ith of Oetnlier, isi;2, oi-riirri'd an event unprecedented in the annals of Kridgeport, — viz., a numicipal election wijli hut one ticket in the field. Hon. I). H. Sterling was re-elected mayor and a Common Council coiiiposed id' mendiers of Koth political i)arties was chosen without o[i|iosition, the whole number of votes cast heing hut thvvr hundred and sixty-seven. Mention ought to liave Ijcen made .sooner of the organized work of the loyal women of Bridgejiort. The Ladies' Kelief Society was formed Aug. I, ISfil, and from that time forward until the closi' of the war met every Wednesday for work. .Mrs. Woolsey (i. Stcrlin.a: was president until her removal from the city, wdien her j)lace was tilled by Mrs. Daniel Thatcher. The other officers (d' the society were Miss Lydia R. Ward secretary, and Miss Sarah Jane Hawley treasurer. The cash receii>ts of the society from its organization to its tirud meeting, in July, 1SG5, were !|!3814.3t). Large quantities of supplies were also contributed, chiefly by Bridgeport, but also from fifteen other towns. The main work of the society was in preparing and forwarding hospital garmeids and stores, eo-operatiiig in this gooil work with the Sanitary Comnussion ; but boxes of provi- sif>ns, and packages of mittens, stockings, etc., were also forwarded to most of the Connecticut regiments. The average attendance of ladies at tlic weekly gatli- erings was about thirty, but over one hundred were sometimes present. The following extract from the final report of the secretary. Miss Lydia R. Ward, is worthy of special notice: "Volcil to place the balance reinaiidng in tlic hands of the treasurei* ($:!7').T4| in trust tor the benetit of the destitute children ol' soldiers, in the hope that as early as Se|)teniber a ]ilan may be de- vised, wdiich may lie ado|ited liy the citizens ot' Bridgeport, to found a iLome for these and other des- titute children." The first meeting of the Soldiers' .Vid Society was held July 19, 1S(>2, wlim the tolliiwing officers were elected: Mrs. D. II. Sterling, Rresidrnt ; Mrs. Mon- son Hawley, Vice-rresident ; Mrs. L. H. Norton, Secretary; Mrs, William K. Scidey, Treasurer. The membership of this ^mii-ty was very large, and its work correspondingly iiii|iortant. During the tir>t six months of its existence its cash receipts were over two thousand five hundred dollars (this amount liaving been raised by a pajier circulated liv .Messrs. I). IL Sterling and Henry R. Parrott), and twenty-two boxes had been sent to regiments. In Deciaaber, ixi;:!, it issued ait ajijical to the people of the State lor fresh vegetaldes for the soldiers, which was liberally re- sponded to, and several thousand barrels and boxes were received and duly forwarded, ^Ir. Henry It. Parrott, at that time agent of the .\dams lOxpress Coinpany, having charge of tin- sliipiiient. The League of Loyal Women of Ilridgi imrt was another organization, begun in .\pril, bsCi.'i. >h's. S. S. Clapp was president and Miss K. \',, Whiting sec- retary, and one hundred and twenty-nine ladies signed the constitution, whiidi pledged them to wear the I'niou colors and to "give the preference in trade to those known to be truly loyal." Li the suiiimer of ISVi'A drafting was begun in P.ridgeport to lill the (piota of this and other places under the re]icated calls of rresident IJncoln, the headquarters for the Fourth District being at the corner of Main and State Streets, over the Pequmi- noek Bank. The draft had not proi:ressed very far when it became so unpopular that it wa- -n-pended, and from that time forward to I he end o, the war recruits were obtained only through the siilistitute- broker. Knormous bounties were otfered, Imt, as a rule, the value of the recruit was about in inverse proportion to the aniount of the bounty jiaid. Some few of thi' substitutes were lionorable men and did good service, but the great majority were troin the slums of New ^'ork City, and deserted upon the first opiMirtunitv. The wdiole history of the substitute business rcHeets but little credit upon the people of Ciiimecticut, and it was putting a grievous insult upon the volunteers wdio Were lighting the battles of the country at the front to send out such men for their comrades and companions, though it must be admitted that a great many never reached the front, but de- serted en route. Upon the pith of April, l.SCi."), there was a grand illuniiiiation in Bridgeport in honor of the fall of Richmond and of Petersburg, and the surrender of Lee's army. Five days later news was received of I President Lincoln's assassination. .\ meeting of citi- zens was immediately called, :inil a committee of thirty was appointed to make arrangements for public funeral exercises. The Common Council met, and ]iassed appropriate residutions. Mayor Morford issued his proclaniatiiin, and on Wednesday, April HHh, which w;is the iqqiointed day, all business was sus- pended, places of ainiisement were closed, the bells ot all the churches were tolled, and the citizens assem- bled in their resiiective jdaces of ]iiiblic worship, which were drajied in mourning, and particijiated in meniiirial serviccs.in honor of the martyred President. ( )ne of the earliest of the three years' regiments to return was the Fourteenth, which had |iarticipated in all the leading engagements of the Army of the Po- tomac from Antietam to Apponiatox, and, after wit- nessins the surrender of Lee's army and marching in 1U4 H18T0RY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONiNECI'IcrT. triumph through Riehniond at the head of the Second Army Corps, had participated in tlie grand review at Washington. June 3, 1865, the surviving memliers of tlie command, numbering two hundred and thirty- four, readied Hartford, and a weei< hiter tlie small detachment from Bridgeport was received at the depot and marched to the Sterling House, where a col- lation and many kind words of welcome awaited them.