Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 190, 1889

By J. Evarts Greene

Daniel Gookin was the first person of distincttion bearing a military title whose name is connected with the history of Worcester. He was appointed in 1665 chairman of the Committee of Proprietors of Lands near Quinsigamond, to promote their settlement. He was appointed in 1681 major-general of the colony, after holding minor military titles for many years. His services were highly esteemed by his associates, as those of a man so justly eminent in the councils and active service of the colony could not fail to be. He never lived here and his part in the founding of Worcester was of a civil rather than a military nature. But no military history of Worcester would be reasonably complete without mention of the name at least of this wise, valiant and humane man.

Worcester, like other early New England settlements, was at first and for many years a military colony. The need and opportunities of defence against the savage inhabitants of the country were considered in clioosing the site of tlie settlement, and among tlie earliest buildings were those strong places, fortified against Indian attack, called forts, garrisons or block-houses, built of squared logs so notched or framed at the corners as to fit closely together, and strongly pinned. The entrance was secured by a heavy door of plank. The upper story was made to project two feet or more beyond the lower, with loopholes for the fire of the garrison, so that an attacking enemy might not take shelter against the walls out of range of the muskets tired from the loop holes in the lower story. Block-houses so built were proof against arrows or the musketry of that time, and perfectly defensible against any attacking force unprovided with artillery. One of these block-houses was built very early, a little to the north of the present site of Lincoln Square, and on the bank of the brook which from it was called Fort River. Others were built later, one about a mile farther south on the west side of the Leicester road, another to the eastward and still another to the northward of Adams Square. At the last named a long iron cannon was mounted, rather to give the alarm in case of danger than for the effect of its shot upon the enemy.

Scarcely had the first systematic settlement of the town begun, with hopeful prospects, when Philip's War broke out, .in 1675. It is unnecessary here to consider its origin or detail its incidents, since Worcester was the scene of scarcely any of its operations nor did its inhabitants, as such, take part in them. The people, few in number, far from succor and in the immediate neighborhood of the haunts of hostile savages, deserted their new homes and took refuge in the older towns. Some of them, however, performed notable feats of valor and leadership. Captain (afterwards major) Daniel Henchman commanded, in April, 1676, a force consisting of three companies of infantry and three of cavalry, co-operating with a force from Connecticut to scour the forests on both sides of the Connecticut River from Hadley northward, to harass the savages and prevent them from fishing there, as was their custom at that season. Lieutenant Ephraim Curtis, described as of Sudbury, was one of Captain Wheeler's company, who were ambushed near Brookfield and suffered great loss, and the survivors of whom were besieged in that town by several hundred Indians. Curtis, after two unsuccessful attempts, eluded the watchfulness of the besiegers and made his way on foot, through the hostile country, at great hazard, to summon relief to the beleaguered garrison.

After the sharp lesson of Philip's War the Indians of the neighborhood were no longer formidable, but the frontier settlements were harried and distres-ed by the incursions of the Western Indians, the Mohawks from beyond the Hudson, and in Queen Anne's War by the French and Indians from Canada.

Among the other consequences of the arrogant egotism of Louis XIV. were the death or captivity of many hapless people in the frontier towns of Massachusetts and the wasting of their homes. The feeble foothold which civilization had gained in the forests and meadows of Worcester was again relinquished, because a foolish old man on the other side of the Atlantic insisted upon making his grandson King of Spain. The weariness of Europe brought peace to New England, which was weary enough, too, of alarm, ambush and massacre. The peace of Utrecht put an end to the raids from Canada, and Worcester was replanted.

But Captain Francis Nicholson, next in authority to Governor Andros, found some people in Worcester in 1688, for he writes near the end of August in that year that, finding the people disturbed by fears of Indian attacks and especially by the gathering of Indians at two forts not very far away, he sent them word not to quit the place, for they might be sure of help. He then went to Worcester, where he found some few men left and directed them to fortify the place and by no means to quit it. Captain Nicholson also visited the Indian forts, finding the Indians there afraid both of their white neighbors and of strange Indians from the West, and he persuaded them to leave their forts and go down "among the English plantations." But in spite of Captain Nicholson's encouragement and the importance of the place as a station on the road to the settlements on the Connecticut, the settlers here not being strong enough in numbers to defend themselves, again abandoned their homes, and the place lay desolate until the attempt at settlement was renewed in 1713.

Peace prevailed without serious interruption for about nine years, but in 1722 a war, not European, but American, in its origin, began. The disturbers of the peace were the Indian tribes on the north and east, the allies of the French in Canada. Five men of Wercester were employed in the defence of the settlements as scouts in the company of Major John. Chandler. Sergeant Benjamin Flagg had two of them under his immediate command in the town ; two others were stationed in Leicester. In the next year seven men of Worcester were enlisted as soldiers in the autumn and served through the winter. In 1724 hostile parties of Indians were discovered or suspected in the forests to the north of the town, and the selectmen, representing to the Governor that Worcester, by its position, covering the long interval between Rutland and Lancaster, lay " much exposed to the Indian rebels," petitioned for soldiers to strengthen the front garrisons and to scout the woods as a relief to the inhabitants, who were very much disheartened by reason of the present danger they believed themselves to be in. Otherwise they feared it would be impossible for the garrisons to keep their stations. Other urgent petitions for relief were made during the spring of this year, but it was not given until the summer was well advanced, when nineteen soldiers were stationed in Worcester and remained here until near the end of October. They had no commissioned officer, but were posted as independent guards under general instructions to keep their stations, watch for the enemy and protect the inhabitants. In the same year Uriah Ward, an enlisted soldier from Worcester, was killed by the Indians at Rutland. No attack was made upon Worcester, though hostile Indians were seen and fired upon by the guard in a garrisonhouse. In the spring of 1725, again, the people were alarmed by the presence of hostile Indians in the neighborhood and petitioned for succor. Twelve men at least, and perhaps more, were sent by Colonel Chandler, whose military charge embraced this town with others. Indians were seen, but no attacks were made. Captain Samuel Wright, who seems to have been in command, reports in a letter to Colonel Chandler: "We have now taken a method to hunt them with dog-, and have started them out of their thickets twice and see them run out, but at such a distance we could not come at them." The Indian troubles were ended for the time at the close of this year by a treaty made with the Indians.

Since that time no public enemy, unless we may include under that description the force gathered in Shays' Rebellion, has appeared in Worcester. Instead of begging for help to defend their own homes, the people of the town have contributed largely, according to their numbers and their means, to the common defence, and never more generously than in the wars with the French and Indians, which were almost continuous from 1744 to 1763. Up to this time the men enlisted or employed as soldiers in Worcester had but short terms of service, and were not trained or instructed to march in compact bodies or to perform those movements and evolutions which are now required of all military bodies, and proficiency in which is expected of every soldier, and especially of every officer. Such training would then have been useless or worse. The operations of that time seldom required a large force - never more than a few hundred - and the nature of the country in which operations were conducted, covered with dense forests or thickets and deep morasses, intersected only by narrow paths, made movements in close columns impossible, while the skulking tactics of the enemy would have made such movements or regular formations ineffective and disastrous, as General Braddock found in Virginia. They were rather scouts than soldiers. Their equipment was simple, consisting of scarce anything besides the long king's or queen's arm, with a few spare flints and powderhorn and bullet-pouch. Their supplies of ammunition and provisions were carried on pack-horses. All the able-bodied men were enrolled in the militia. Each was required to be constantly provided with a gun in good condition for service and a supply of ammunition. All were practiced in the use of their weapons, and most of them were expert marksmen.

The colonel's command had territorial limits. He was charged with the protection of the towns within his district or within his regiment, as the familiar phrase was. It was his duty to be vigilant, to keep well informed of the condition of his frontier, to repel sudden attacks and to report his doings and news of military importance to his superior officers. He received, from time to time, as occasion required, authority to enlist, or even to impress men, for particular duty.

The officers of his regiment - major, captains, lieutenants and ensigns - were expected to look after the military interests of their respective neighborhoods, to take command according to their rank in case of attack and to report to the colonel all military information. The soldiers specially enlisted, when not employed in expeditions against an enemy in force, were posted at the garrison-houses of the frontier towns, often only one or two at a house. Their duty was to be constantly on the alert, to scour the woods in their front, so as to detect the presence of hostile Indians and, in case of attack, to form a nucleus of defence, to which the inhabitants might rally when the alarm was given. The officers were chosen by the men of their commands. The system, except the substitution of popular election for inherited rank, has a certain resemblance to the feudal military organisation, and the duties of the colonel in charge of his portion of the frontier were not unlike those of such mediaeval officials as the " Count of the Saxon shore " or the much later "Warden of the marches " on the Scottish border.

Henceforth Worcester, needing no immediate defence, was to contribute to aggressive military operations and to distant expeditions. In the latest Indian war the towns of Worcester, Leicester and Rutland had screened Brookfield and Mendon, which, in Philip's and Queen Anne's Wars, had suffered as frontier towns. Now the frontier had been pushed forward to Concord, New Hampshire, and Charlestown, on the Connecticut. In Massachusetts only Northern Berkshire was exposed to attack from Canada and the Northern Indians. The first of the distant expeditions in which men from Worcester were employed was that of 1745, projected by Governor Shirley and commanded by Sir William Pepperell, for the reduction of the fortress of Louisbourg, Cape Breton, esteemed the strongest place on this continent, described by Bancroft as " the key to the St. Lawrence, the bulwark of the French fisheries and of French commerce in North America." Its walls were forty feet thick at the base, and from twenty to thirty feet high, surrounded by a ditch eighty feet wide.

Massachusetts sent for the conquest of this fortress more than three thousand volunteers. Worcester's share, in proportion to her population at that time, would have been, perhaps, eight or nine men. How many of her townspeople enlisted for that enterprise it is impossible now to ascertain, but it is known that the first-born of her native inhabitants, Adonijah Rice, was one, and that another, Benjamin Gleason, died in the service before the surrender of the place. Here our townsmen first saw and formed part of an army, though it was small, scarcely more than four thousand men, and shared in the labors and dangers

In this war, too, there was Indian fighting after the old fashion. Eight Worcester men were of the garrison of Fort Massachusetts, in the winter of 1747-48. This fort stood where Williamstown now is. It was the extreme outpost and had been taken by the French in the year before. The next summer fifty-three Worcester men formed a part of the force of two hundred, under Brigadier Dwight, which took the field to repel an incursion of the French. The enemy retired before them, and the campaign lasted but seventeen days. The officers of the Worcester contingent were Daniel Hey wood, major ; John Stearns, captain ; Tyrus Rice, lieutenant ; Richard Flagg, ensign.

The war was brought to an end, in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, because England and France were just then tired of fighting, and their Colonies in the New World were also well content to rest a while. But, as the treaty settled nothing, and left all the old causes of complaint and quarrel, hostilities were soon resumed - this time for the final death-struggle between England and France for dominion in North America.

In 1754 thirteen Worcester men, under Captain John Johnson, served in Maine, as a part of the garrison of the forts on the Kennebec River. In the next year John Walker, of Worcester, a soldier of experience in the service of the Province, was commissioned captain in the Royal Army. Seventeen men from Worcester served in Nova Scotia, this summer, in the force commanded by the Massachusetts general, John Winslow, and, we must presume, took part in that shameful business - the removal of the Acadians from their homes, which that hard-hearted commander executed with every aggravation of deceit, treachery and cruelty. One thousand of these wretched exiles were distributed among the towns of Massachusetts, and eleven were a>8'gned to Worcester. " These families,'' says Lincoln, in his " History," " torn from their homes, reduced from comparative aflluence to desolate poverty, thrown among strangers of different language and religion, excited pity for their misfortunes. Their industriousand frugal habits and mild and simple manners attracted regard, and they were treated here with great kindness."

In the same year seventeen other Worcester men were stationed at Fort Cumberland ; two were in the expedition against Crown Point, and fourteen others volunteered for enlistment in September, when Colonel Chandler was directed to impress men for the reinforcement of the army.

Fifty-five men of Worcester, therefore, appear to have been in the military service in that year. That was the year in which, of the four great expeditions planned against the French, three (that of Braddock for the conquest of the Ohio Valley, that of Shirley against Fort Niagara, and that of Johnson against Crown Point) came to a disastrous ending, and only the operations in Nova Scotia were successful.

The year 1756 was a time of great military activity in the colonies, activity of preparation, that is to say, for little was acconlpli^hed by the incompetent commanders whom the English Government had sent. Worcester saw more of martial display than it had ever seen before. Colonel Chandler established his regimental headquarters here, and the town was designated as the rendezvous for troops to be mustered into the service. A depot of munitions was made for the arming of the levies as they gathered here to be forwarded to the seat of war, on the western frontier. Detachments of troops arrived, camptd for a while on the hills about the town, received their marching orders and were succeeded by others. One company of forty-three men was raised in the town and fortyfour others were borne on the rolls of Colonel Ruggles' regiment. Many died of disease in the course of the campaign, and three were made prisoners and detained in captivity at Montreal, until the exchange in 1758. After the disastrous surrender of Fort Oswego, Lord Loudoun, commander-in-chief, fearing an attack from the French, now " flushed with success," ordered a levy of the militia for the reinforcement of his army, and the coinpanies of Worcester, under the command of Major James Putnam, marched as far as Westfield, when Lord Loudoun, having got over his fright, countermanded his orders and they returned.

But the spirit of the colonies was not broken by the disasters of that year, and the mother-country was resolved upon the conquest of Canada. On the 20th of July, 1757, Colonel John Chandler, Jr., commanding the First Regiment, made the following report of the condition of his command, which is of interest, as illustrating not only the military demands upon our town, but also the militia system of the time :

Agreeably to an order of the lionorable his majesty's council, of the fifth of July last, requiring me to take effectual care that every person, both upon the alarm and train-band lists, within njy regiment, and the seTeral stocks in said regiment, be furnished with arms and ammunition according to law, if not already provided ; immediately on the receipt of said order, I forthwith sent out my warrant requiring a strict view into the state of the respective companies and town stocks in my regiment, and returns have since been made to me that they are well equipt.

And agreeably to an order of the honorable, his majesty 8 council of the 6th of June last, requiring me, in case of an alarm being made, or notice given of the approach of an enemy by sea, to cause my regiment to appear complete in arms, with ammunition according to law, and each man to be furnished with seven days' provision of meat, I also sent out my warrant, requiring the several companies, in such case, with the utmost expedition to march to Boston, and further to act agreeably to such orders as they shall receive. Agreeably to the order afore-

Colonel Chaadler's regiment, with its Worcester companies, was soon called upon to test its readiness for service. Montcalm, with a force of French and Indians, besieged Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George. General Webb, who was within supporting distance with a sufficient force, and had actually left the fort, with a large escort, just before the place was invested, hesitated and dawdled, and at length sent a letter advising the commander to capitulate. The stout-hearted Colonel Monro held the fort until half his guns were burst and his ammunition was nearly exhausted, and then, on the 9th of August, surrendered. Loudoun, the commander-inchief, and General Webb were terrified by the prospect of attack from the victorious French army, and Loudoun even talked of retreating to Long Island and there making a stand for the defence of the continent. Colonel Chandler was ordered to march with his regiment to the western frontier. All the militia of the town promptly answered the summons. One company of fifty-six men had for Captain, James Goodwin ; for Lieutenant, Noah Jones; for Ensign, Daniel Bancroft, and Nahum Willard as surgeon. The other company, numbering fifty-four men, was commanded by Captaiu John Curtis, and Luke Brown and Asa Flagg were lieutenant and ensign respectively. . With them marched Colonel Chandler and Major Gardner Chandler. But by the time the regiment had reached Sheffield General Webb's terror had abated, the French made no further advance, and the regiment was disbanded on the 18th of August. Eight Worcester men, in a troop of horse commanded by Lieutenant Jonathan Newbold, of Leicester, were in General Webb's army at Fort Edward. Ten from this town, regularly enlisted, served during the campaign.

The incompettnt and faint-hearted English commander-in-chief was recalled, and Pitt, the new minister, infused fresh spirit and energy into the councils of his country. He invited the colonies to raise armies for the conquest of Canada, promising that England would provide everything except the levying, pay and clothing of the men, and that the King would strongly recommend to Parliament to make proper compensation for these expenses. Massachusetts answered promptly and generously to this summons. Nine soldiers from Worcester were in the army which General Abercrombie, in the summer of 1758, foolishly wasted in his rash and blundering assault upon Ticonderoga. After his failure. General Amherst, having taken Louisbourg, marched from Boston for the West, with an army of forty-five hundred men. He halted in Worcester, September 17th, for a day, and was here joined by Captain Samuel Clark Paine, with his company, mostly men of Worcester, and having Daniel McFarland for lieutenant.

and Samuel Ward, of Lancaster, for ensign. This company served with the army during the winter and through Amherst's successful campaign of the next year, in which he reduced the fortress of Ticonderoga, and recovered for the English the control of Lake Champlain. In Captain Faine's company were twentythree non-commissioned officers and privates from Worcester, and fourteen more were in other companies of General Euggles' regiment. Besides these were William Crawford, chaplain of Colonel Willard's regiment, and Benjamin Stowell, lieutenant in Captain Johnson's company. Captain Painedied in December, 1759, and Lieutenant McFarland succeeded him in -command of the company. William Ward was made lieutenant, Ensign Samuel Ward having been promoted to the rank of adjutant of Colonel Willard's regiment. Thomas Cowden, from Worcester, was lieutenant in Captain Jefferd's company, which had the names of twelve Worcester men on its rolls. Cowden was made captain in the following year, 1761, and twenty-five Worcester men were in the army in that year. In the last year of the war, 1762, Worcester appears to have had, so far as is known, only nine men in the military service. The population of the town at this time was probably not far from one thousand. From this number she gave to the provincial service between the years 1748 and 1762, according to Lincoln, who made a careful study of the rolls and other records at the State House, which it was not in my power to make, one colonel, one lieutenantcolonel, two majors, six captains, eight lieutenants, seven ensigns, twenty-seven sergeants, two surgeons, one chaplain and one adjutant, besides about four hundred and fifty privates. These numbers do not include those - of whom there were certainly some, but how many cannot be known - who enlisted in the royal army, nor the militia called into service for short terms of active duty. To furnish so much of strength, valor and enterprise required great exertions and sacrifices, and the military rank which so many of its sons attained implied great honor to a little and poor town, which saw but few years of settled peace since its establishment. While sending one-third, at least, of their eftective men into the field, the people of Worcester, in common with their fellow-citizens of other Massachusetts towns, were taxing themselves for war expenses to an extent that would be deemed ruinous and intolerable in these days. The tax in one year was, says Bancroft, thirteen shillings and four-pence on the pound of income, besides various excises and a poll-tax of nineteen shillings on every male over sixteen. Such was the martial temper, and such the generous public spirit of our ancestors. The people of Worcester, and of other towns of New England, were prepared for the great military struggle of the Revolution by almost continuous warfare since the founding of the colony. The Indian wars taught them self-reliance, vigilance, mastery of their weapons, endurance and prompt and strenuous action in emergencies. The later French wars, with their larger armies and the sieges of Louisbourg, Ticonderoga and Quebec, gave them lessons in the art of organizing, disciplining, marching and subsisting a considerable force, in mano3Uvring in the presence of an enemy, in fighting battles, in the use of artillery, in coDstructing, defending and attacking fortifications. Very few, if any, of them were masters, or even scholars of the science of war, but many were admirably proficient in the practical duties of the soldier and the officer. Twelve or thirteen years had elapsed, it is true, since the end of the last French war, before the clash of arms at the beginning of the Revolution, and doubtless much the greater number of the mencalled to arms to maintain the rights of the colonies had no military experience, but many of them had served under Amherst and Abercrombie and Howe in battle and siege. They knew what the King's troops could do, for they had seen and helped them do it. They knew that the man in a red coat, though a good soldier, was no better than his comrade in the dress of the provincial levies, and not always so good. They remembered that the largest and most perfectlyequipped army ever mustered on this continent, commanded by a famous British general, was repulsed with terrible slaughter under the walls of Ticonderoga, and that under the command of a Massachusetts merchant, a much smaller New England army had compelled the surrender of Louisbourg, a much stronger fortress. These veterans leavened the army and preserved it from an inordinate respect for the King's troops.

Political movements tending toward revolt against the authority of the mother country had been in progress for some time when the first action of a military nature was taken, late in the summer of 1774. Some of the Tories of Worcester, about this time, irritated and alarmed by the strong measures adopted by their townsmen, withdrew to Stone House Hill, in the corner of Holden, either for their personal safety, or with some vague notion that the position might be of advantage in case of an advance of the royal army into the interior. They strengthened somewhat the natural defences of the place, and, with their arms and a store of provisions, kept their position for two or three weeks, and then, having no reason for staying longer, they went home. Their stronghold was afterwards known as the Tory Fort. But this was a burlesque of military operations. More serious was the general alarm, given a little later, that hostilities had broken out at Boston, whereupon thousands of the militia set out for that place. In Worcester the companies were summoned and the night was spent in running bullets and in other preparations for the field. In the morning the maich was begun and continued as far as Shrewsbury, where advices from Boston were received, showing that the movement was needless. But the incident proved that the people were ready for resistance, and would not shrink from the conflict of arms, if it must come. The need of preparation was manifest, and it could not wisely be postponed. The Political Society - an organization of patriots, which had for some time taken the management uf town aff"airs - bought two pounds of gunpowder for each of its members, and required each inhabitant to sign an agreement to provide arms and ammunition. Captain Timothy Bigelow enrolled a company of minute-men and drilled them diligently every evening. Muskets had been procured for them in Boston. The town bought four field-pieces, which Jonathan Rice and others, at considerable cost and risk, brought out from Boston, and Captain Edward Craft organized an artillery company. September 21st a convention of the Committees of Correspondence for the towns of the county was held in Worcester, which, among other things, undertook the task of reorganizing the militia. All the subordinate officers were directed to return their commissions to their colonels, and the colonels to publish their resignations in the newspapers. A new division of the militia into regiments was made, the First Regiment including Worcester, Leicester, Holden, Spencer and Paxton. It was directed that the companies should elect their own officers, and that these should meet and elect the colonels and other regimental officers. One-third of the men fit for duty between the ages of eighteen and sixty were to be enrolled, organized into companies and hold themselves ready to march at a minute's warning, and committees were to be chosen to keep them equipped and provisioned should they be called into service. The towns were invited to provide and mount field-pieces, procure ammunition and otherwise make ready for defence. In the general condition of revolt this company of resolute men, the Committee of Correspondence, in harmony with the mass of the people, though without lawful authority, having definite purposes and plans, assumed the power of legislation, and were respected and obeyed accordingly.

Later in the year a depot of munitions and supplies was established here. Provision-i of beef, pork, flour and grain were collected; a quantity of lead was procured, and the inhabitants were requested to give their pewter dishes for melting into bullets. In January, 1775, the company of minute-men were exhorted to meet frequently for drill, and payment was promised them for the time so employed. Early in the spring the town was visited by two scouts or spies sent out by General Gage to examine the roads and other features of the country, and report such topographical information, by sketches, plans and descriptions, as might be useful for the guidance of a force advancing into the interior. Those employed for this purpose were Captain Brown, of the Fiftythird Regiment, and Ensign Berniere, of the Tenth. Their report was discovered among the papers left by General Gage after the evacuation of Boston a year later. Witli it was a plan of the village, with a sketch of proposed works, among them an entrenched and fortified camp for two regiments on Chandler Hill, to the east of the town. These officers, disguised as countrymen, arrived in the town on a Saturday evening, and remained until Monday morning. Their appearance excited suspicion, and their character was recognized by some of the loyalists ; but they took no one into their confidence, and having made all the observations and sketches they wished, went away unmolested.

Tn March the minute-men were directed to train half a day in each week. Each man was allowed one shilling for this duty, and a fine of like amount was imposed for absence from drill. The company, in fact, met nearly every day, and, under Captain Bigelow's command, paraded in the streets or on the Common in fair weather, and were drilled under shelter when the day was stormy. So efficient was their zealous captain as an instructor that the company, when mustered for service at Cambridge, attracted attention and praise for its discipline and proficiency in military exercises.

The event was at hand for which these preparations had been made. Before noon on the 19th of April, a horseman, dusty and weary with hard riding, galloped through the town, shouting: "To arms ! to arms ! The war is begun I" His white horse, bloody with spurring and spent with fatigue, fell near the meeting-house. Thus came to Worcester the news of the affair at Concord, - the first encounter of the war whose issue was to be the independence of the United States. The alarm rang out from the meeting-houae bell, and the long cannon, which, in the infancy of the town, had given warning, from the block-house north of Adams Square, of the approach of savage enemies, now from the ridge at the back of the court-house roared, from its iron throat, a call of the people to arms, and defiance to King and Parliament. The men of Worcester were ready. Captain Bigelow's company of minute-men reported for duty at once, and were paraded under arms on the Common. The village pastor, the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, invoked the God of battles in their behalf, and the citizen-soldiers marched out, seventy-six in number, besides their commis'-ioned oflicers, to meet the enemy. Captain Timothy Bigelow was in command; Jonas Hubbard and John Smith were lieutenants; the sergeants were William Gates, Nathaniel Harrington, John Kannaday and William Dana ; the corporals, John Pierce, Cyprian Stevens, Joel Smith and Nathaniel Haywood; Eli Putnam beat the drum, and John Hair and Joseph Pierce were filers. When Captain Bigelow and his minute-men marched. Captain Benjamin Flagg, with William McFarland, lieutenant, and Ebenezer Lovell, ensign, and twenty-eight enlisted men of the militia, was almost ready. They moved within an hour or two, and overtook the minute-men at Sudbury, where they had halted for a short rest. Both companies then marched on together to Cambridge. There the militia which had assembled was, within a few days, reorganized. Captain Bigelow was appointed major in Colonel Jonathan Ward's regiment. Fifty-nine Worcester men were enrolled in a company under Captain Jonas Hubbard, promoted from lieutenant, and Lieutenants John Smith and William Gates, the latter having been first sergeant in Captain Bigelow's company. Seventeen other Worcester men were enlisted in other companies of the regiments commanded by Colonel Ward and Colonel Doolittle, and twenty more were enrolled in Colonel Thomas Crafts' artillery regiment, in which Edward -Crafts, who had organized the Worcester battery, was captain, and William Dana and William Treadwell were lieutenants. Dana had left Worcester a sergeant in Captain Bigelow's company ; William Treadwell had marched in the ranks of the same company as a private, and Captain Crafts had marched as a private under Captain Flagg.

The town had now put more than one hundred men into the field, and was pledged to keep them there until their purpose was accomplished. This would require exertions and sacriQces greater than those made in the French wars, which had so drained the resources of the town a few years before. One hundred men, with their equipment and maintenance, certainly bore a larger ratio to the numbers and means of the town than five regiments of a thousand men each, and their support, would bear to its present resources. If they had known from the beginning how long the war would last, and how grievous would be its demands for men and money, perhaps our forefathers would have shrunk from entering upon it. But when the demands came, faster and heavier, for men, for clothing, for provisions, for ammunition and for money, they made the necessary eflbrts without much flinching. And when, by these efforts and losses, they had achieved the independence of their country, they were not quite exhausted, though inexpre-sibly glad of the return of peace.

In the army besieging Boston the Worcester men in Colonel Ward's regiment were with the right wing at Dorchester. Fifteen prisoners of war, captured from the British army, were sent to Worcester for safe keeping early in May, and many more came later. They were paroled and encouraged to find work in the town. The Assembly of Massachusetts made provision for their support.

In the months of May and June two requisitions were made upon the town for blankets and clothing lor the men in the service - one for thirty guns with bayonets, and one for powder, of which the town supplied three barrels, retaining only half a barrel for its own possible needs. Two cannon, owned by the town, were delivered to the Board of War in November for the defence of Gloucester.

volunteers for Arnold's daring, arduous and futile expedition against Quebec. On the 19th of September they sailed from Newburyport, lauding the next day near the present site of Augusta, on the Kennebec. Thence they made their way up that river and across the divide into the valley of the St. Lawrence. The march was toilsome in the extreme. Their baggage, ammunition and provisions were conveyed in boats, which were forced up the rapid current with great labor, and had often to be dragged or carried past un navigable rapids or across the water-sheds between the sources of one stream and those of another. On the route Major Bigelow, in order to make out their route more clearly by the view from its summit, climbed the high mountain which still bears his name in Northern Maine, near the head-waters of the Kennebec. It is a monument to this heroic townsman of ours, grander and more lasting than any ever reared by human hands,

Arnold's little army at length arrived before Quebec near the middle of November, having suffered terribly from cold, as well as from hunger and excessive labor, for the winter sets in early in that northern region. The town, besides its great natural strength of position and its formidable defensive works, had a garrison exceeding Arnold's force in numbers. With admirable impudence he sent a flag of truce, demanding the surrender of the place. But the commander would neither surrender nor come out to fight, and Arnold did not see his way to getting in. He had, moreover, only five rounds of ammunition for each man, and was therefore in no condition to maintain a siege, even if he had force enough to invest the town. So he moved up the river twenty miles or more to await the orders of Montgomery, who, in a campaign of extraordinary brilliancy, had made him-elf master of the Lake Champlain country, the Upper St. Lawrence and Montreal. On the 3d of December Montgomery arrived with three hundred men, artillery and provisions, and what Arnold's men needed most, a supply of clothing suitable for the season, which was intensely cold. That patriot army, after their dreadful march through the Maine and Canadian forests, were barefooted and in rags.

Montgomery, though not sanguine, thought there was a chance of success in attempting to storm the place in a night attack. On the 30th of December the attempt was made, one party, led by Montgomery in person, attacking the defences of the lower town from the southeast, and another, under Arnold, assaulting at the same time from the northwest. The fall of Montgomery at the head of his column by the first fire from the enemy put an end to the attack in that quarter. Arnold's command, with which were Major Bigelow and the Worcester men, had at first better success. Arnold was disabled by a severe wound in the leg. Captain Jonas Hubbard was also wounded beneath the walls, and, refusing to be removed, died of exposure to the fierce snow-storm. Major Bigelow and some two hundred others, under the command of Colonel Christopher Greene, of Rhode Island, carried the first battery, and penetrated so far into the town that, when they were repulsed at the second barrier, and, instead of retreating, as would have been prudent, held their position, their retreat was cut off and they were comDelled to surrender. Sergeant Silas Wesson was killed and Timothy Rice mortally wounded in this attack ; both were Worcester men. Major Bigelow and the other soldiers from this town were made prisoners and held in captivity until November of the next year.

In the mean time the people at home were not allowed to forget that men were wanted in January, 1776, to reinforce the army before Boston. Worcester's share was thirty-two. In May blankets were wanted, and Worcester supplied on requisition twenty-seven. In June it was men again, five thousand from the State to oi>erate in Canada and New York. Worcester's quota was fifty-six, and the men were provided. Now, for the fir:,t time, we begin to read of bounties for enlistment. The Slate allowed to each man under this call a bounty of three pounds, with eighteen shillings in addition for the use of his arms and equipments. The town voted to add nine pounds to the bounty of its soldiers, and a tax of four hundred and eighty-six pounds was levied for that purpose. In July the General Court ordered that every twenty-fifth man on the train-band and alarm lists, in addition to those already raised, should be imtinto the service to form two regiments for duty in the Northern Department. In September there was further need of men, and one-fifih part of the militia was mustered for service with the army in New York, and at the same time a fourth of the remainder was directed to be completely equipped and held ready for the field upon receipt of orders. In December the Governor of Rhode Island called for help, fearing an invasion of his State. Two regiments marched promptly to his relief, and many from Worcester were volunteers in the ranks. Eight men of Captain William Gates' Worcester company were killed in battle or died of disease this year in the army under General Washington in New York.

In January, 1777, thirty-two blankets for the array were demanded of Worcester, and later in the same month every seventh man over sixteen years of age was drafted for eight months' service at least, to fill the quota of Massachusetts in the Continental army. In February Worcester, like all other towns in the State, was required to furnish clothing, including shirts, stockings and other articles, at the rate of one suit for every seven male inhabitants over sixteen years old. The number required at this rate was sixty-two. In March a bounty of twenty pounds, in addition to the State and Continental bounties, was voted to every volunteer who should enlist to fill the town's quota, and a tax was levied of £1,656 2s. 2d.

to pay bounties and other war expenses. A committee was also chosen at this time to ascertain how much each person had paid for the support of the army, and who must pay and how much to equalize the burden. A little later the town voted to buy one hundred muskets and bayonets and a supply of powder, to be sold to the militia at a reasonable price. As the soldiers generally furnished their own arms, there was an obvious advantage in keeping a supply for sale at a fixed price. Every sixth man was drafted in August to serve three months in the Northern army.

The experience of the French War was repeated with singular accuracy this summer. Just as Loudoun and Abercrombie, in a panic, called for immediate reinforcements to repel an invasion by the French, so General Schuyler, alarmed by the steady advance of Burgoyne, urged that every available man from New England should be sent to strengthen his army. Massachusetts responded promptly, as she did twenty years before. Again the Worcester militia - sixtyeight rank and file - commanded by Benjamin Flagg, a lieutenant-colonel by this time, with Captain David Chadwick and Lieutenants Abel Holbrook and Jonathan Stone, marched westward for Albany, but when they arrived at Hadley, the success of Herkimer at Oriskany and Stark's brilliant victory at Bennington had brought relief, and they were ordered to return.

In September again the Northern Army, now under Gates, and preparing to entrap Burgoyne, needed reinforcements, and the General Court recommended that at least half the militia of Worcester and the western counties should march to strengthen it. In December a committee to provide for the families was appointed. The sums spent in this behalf from this time to the end of the war were consider.able. A report of the selectmen shows that sixty-eight men of Worcester were serving at this time in the Continental Line under enlistment for eight months, three years or the war, and received their clothing for the most part from the town. In February Worcester again furnished sixty-two suits of shirts, shoes and stockings for the array in obedience to a requisition. In April the town furnished fifteen men for service in Rhode Island with a battalion from the militia of the county, and in the same month twelve men were drafted for nine months' service to fill up the quota of the State in the Continental Army. Six more were drafted in June for an expedition to Rhode Island, and four to serve as guards for the prisoners of Burgoyne's army. In March, 1779, the town levied a tax of two thousand pounds for war purposes, and the militia officers were instructed to raise men for the service by enlistment or draft. Ten soldiers were enlisted in June, and the town borrowed £5,200 for the payment of bounties. Sixty-two suits of clothing were again provided, and in September thirty-one blankets. The selectmen about this time reported that forty-eight soldiers then in the service had received $1,906 as bounties on their enlistment for three years. The families of nine of them had needed assistance, and had received it during the year at the cost at current prices of £.509. In August £892 was granted to pay for clothing. In September eight soldiers were raised for the army in Rhode Island at a cost for bounties of £638, and in October thirteen more for Washington's army on the Hudson. To these thirty pounds each was paid in bounties, and they were enlisted for three years. Their support by the town cost £2,515 10s.

Demands upon the town for men and supplies for the war continued unabated, if not increased in frequency and weight during the next year. In June no less than three calls for men were made and answered. Twenty-two were enlisted as the town's share of three thousand nine hundred and thirty-four required of the State for six months' service with the Continental Army. Each of these, by vote of the town, received twenty-seven pounds in agricultural produce, at the prices of 1774. In the same month twentyeight three months' men were obtained, and five at the same time for duty at Springfield. In December twenty-nine men more were wanted for three years or the war, but the endurance of the people seemed to be exhausted and the means hitherto effectual for obtaiuing recruits failed. As bounties did not tempt the young men, and as the people were disinclined to submit to the process of drafting, as heretofore practiced, a new scheme was hit upon. The inhabitants were divided into twenty-nine classes, of equal taxable valuation. Each class was required to supply one soldier, and provide for his wages and maintenance. Each member paid his equitable portion of the expense, and if he was delinquent the amount was added to his tax for the next year, and collected by the usual process. By this means the men needed were mustered in February.

Worcester was required to draw heavily upon iis resources of money and supplies as well as men. In May forty-three sets of blankets, shirts, shoes and stockings for the army were required ; in July, twelve horses. About the same time 17,640 pounds of beef was provided at a cost of £539, and in December about twice the quantity of beef, for which £1270 was paid. In this year a tax of £30,000 in Continental currency was levied for the payment of the town's soldiers. There was no relaxation of the war exactions for the next year, 1781. In June twenty-three men for three months' service were raised by great exertions, and Worcester supplied her share of a force of five hundred for service in Rhode Island. A quarter of the militia were required to hold themselves ready to march to reinforce General Washington's army. The annual demand for blankets and clothing required from Worcester twenty-nine blankets and forty-nine sets of shirts, etc. The town this year would vex itself no more with the paper currency of the time, but voted hard money to the amount of £414 for the payment of its soldiers and £400 for another purchase of beef for the army. The last demand for men came in March, 1782, when six were drafted for three years.

During seven years of war much more than half of Worcester's adult male population must have been in the military service, either by enlistment in the line or by being summoned for special tours of duty as militia. The whole number of Worcester men doing military service in the war is thus stated by Lincoln in his history, - one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, two majors, seven captains, ten lieutenants, five ensigns, twenty sergeants and three hundred and eightynine privates.

In later wars, until that of the great Rebellion^ Worcester bore no part that need be mentioned here, except that the gallant service and death at Buena Vista oi Captain George Lincoln must not be passed in silence. Captain Lincoln was the son of the late Governor Levi Lincoln, an officer of the regular array, and at the time of his death was serving as assistant adjutant general on the staflF of General Wool, who said of him : " He was as brave, gallant and accomplished an officer as I ever knew."

At the outbreak of the Rebellion Worcester had among her citizens, available as military leaders, no veterans of former wars, or men of experience in actual service, but she had a considerable number who, by long service as officers of the militia, had acquired such military knowledge and training as can be gained in that service. These men, with the true instinct of the patriotic soldier, came promptly forward when the country called her sons to her defence. The value of a trained militia, as a preparation for war, was proved by the honorable military record of such soldiers as Devens, Lincoln, Ward, Sprague, Pickett, Studley and others, who in the uniformed and disciplined militia of Massachusetts, had learned the duty of the soldier, the elements of tactics and the rudiments of military organization. Some of them were unusually proficient in the discipline and movements of small bodies of troops, and were as competent to instruct and organize companies and regiments for service as professional soldiers would have been. The troops whom they commanded and prepared for the field, after a few months' practice with arms, and training in camp and on the march, became efficient soldiers, winning applause from generals commanding in the field, for their military obedience, promptness and precision of movement, steady valor and all the qualities of veteran soldiers.

The great Civil War was the third period in the military history of Worcester, as of New England. The first period, covering nearly a century, was a war for existence, against the savage tribes at first, and later against the French of Canada, and their Indian allies. Then, after a short interval of peace, began the war for political independence - a strenuous and exhausting struggle of seven years, against the military power of Great Britain, demanding intense exertion and gritvous sacrifices, which were given with a cheerful resolution and intrepid constancy that win our admiration. Then followed eighty years of peace, for in the War of 1812, with Great Britain, and that with Mexico, in 1846, Worcester, as a town had no part, and very few of her citizens were Ja the military service.

The third military period was shorter, but the conflict was not less terrible, and the demands of the country for men and supplies, peremptory and exacting as they were, were all honorably and cheerfully met. It is interesting to note how the methods and conduct of the rural village of Worcester, in 1775, were repeated by the busy city eighty-six years later, with such variations as the enlarged resources of the community, and the changed conditions, brought about by the wonderful progress of nearly a century in science and the mechanical arts, made possible and necessary. In each case, popular assemblies were stimulated to patriotic eftorts by ardent orators. In each the people, in their municipal capacity, promptly took the initiative, without waiting for the slower movement of State and national governments. In each the town or the city raised money for the equipment and training of soldiers. In each the citizens, and especially the women, by voluntary organization and effort, provided for the relief of the families of soldiers in the field. In each the municipal government offered liberal bounties to encourage enlistments. In each resolutions were passed and pledges given by the town or city to fortify the courage of the soldiers in the field and the patriotic purpose of the general government. This close repetition by the men of Worcester, in 18(51, of the acts of their forefathers, in 1775, was not the result of conscious imitation, but was due to the fact that the spirit of the people was the same and their native vigor of character had not diminished ; that they had kept their political institutions and habits substantially unchanged, and therefore met an emergency in the nineteenth century with the means suggested by the genius of the people and supplied by their municipal institutions and habits of association, as their fathers had met a like emergency nearly a century before. Like causes, acting under similar conditions, produced like effects, differing chiefly in magnitude, because the people were now more numerous and their resources larger. On Sunday, the 14th of April, 1861, the news of the evacuation of Fort Sumter, after a bombardment of two days, was received in Worcester. The heart of the people was stirred as it had never been before within the memory of men then living. Wrathful and determined, they gathered in the streets, snatched eagerly and read with fierce indignation the shameful story, hastily printed in special editions of the newspapers, that the flag of their country had been displaced on one of the national forts by the ensign of rebellion. The next day lanie the President's proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, and calling for a force of seventy-five thousand men to take the field immediately. The Governor's order promptly loUowed, requiring the militia companies to hold themselves in readiness for active service. There were then two militia companies in the city, - the Light Infantry and the City Guards, both having been organized for many years and having officers of long experience in the militia service. The former was attached to the Sixth Regiment of the State militia ; the latter, to the Third Battalion of Rifles. Besides these, was another volunteer company, - the Emmet Guards, - a purely voluntary organization, not a part of the State militia, but efficiently officered and well drilled.

All these companies were promptly recruited to their full standard ; private business was arranged, and every man held himself in readiness for the word of command. In the mean time the citizens who had yet no call to arms cheered the young soldiers by act and word. Young men and maidens, and many whose blood age could not cool, wore the national colors as a symbol and pledge of loyalty. From every flug-stafir - and there were never before so many in Worcester - flew the flag of our Union, "not a stripe erased or polluted, not a single star obscured." The air was cri.sp with patriotism ; men inhaled it with every breath. The whole community was aglow with devotion to the Union and defiance to its enemies. Doubtlei'S the general belief was that the conflict would be short. The bombastic vaunts of the Southern politicians had become so familiar, and seemed so ridiculously inflated to Northern ears, that our people could not believe that every fantastic display of the garb of rebellion had a real man inside it, and that behind the melodramatic eloquence of treason was a resolute and solid purpose. Northern people also knew their immense superiority in numbers, wealth and military resources, and therefore had no doubt that the Rebellion would be crushed by a few heavy blows or speedily strangled in the grasp of its mighty antagonist. These beliefs made the popular spirit more cheerful, if not more determined. The soldiers about to respond to the call of their country were encouraged by the sympathy and admiration of their companions. Banks and other employers assured thetr clerks that enlistment should not deprive them of employment at home; but their places should be reserved for them on their return. A meeting of citizens passed without di.«sent a resolution, which was confirmed by the City Council at its next meeting called for the purpose, that four thousand dollars, as the citizens' meeting passed it, - five thousand, as it was adopted by the Council, - should be appropriated "in aid of the families of such of the troops of the city as have been or may hereafter be called into the service of the country, and to provide uniforms and supplies for such members of the company as may need them."

The call came first to the Light Infantry, who, in the evening of Tuesday, April IGth, received orders to report in Boston to the commander of the Sixth Regiment. At ten o'clock the next morning the company marched with full ranks to the Boston and Worcester Railroad station. The rollicking, yet pathetic, strains of " The Girl 1 Left Behind Me,'" filled the air of that rav/ April morning with a melody which was to become sadly familiar during the next four years. People of the city and from neighboring towns thronged the streets to see the martial display, and bid the departing heroes God-speed. Several eminent citizens made parting addresses of praise and cheer, and thus the first Worcester men, with high hopes and dauntless courage, marched gaily into that vortex of Civil War, whose awful depths would engulf so many of our worthiest and dearest. Captain Harrison W. Pratt commanded this company ; George W. Prouty was first lieutenant, and J. Waldo Denny second lieutenant. The company left Boston for the seat of war in the evening of the same day, and on Friday, the 19th, passed through Baltimore, where the regiment was attacked by a city mob. The regiment was the first militia regiment from any State to report with arms and equipments complete, ready for active service. Its term of service was three months, and it was employed chiefly in guard duty at Washington and Baltimore and on the railroad line between those cities.

In the mean time the Emmet Guards had been incorporated with the State militia and assigned to the Third Battalion of Rifles, which now consisted of three companies - the City Guards, Company A ; the Holden Rifles, Company B, and the Emmet Guards, Company C. Their ranks were full ; the men were hardy young fellows, instinct with courage and patriotism. They waited with impatience the order of march. Charles Devens, .Tr., then the foremost advocate at the Worcester bar, who had formerly held rank in the militia, was elected major, and reluctantly accepted the responsibility for which he doubted his own fitness, and the honor which he thought should be given to one who had earned it by more continuous service in the militia. He was persuaded, however, to withdraw his objection and to accept the command of the battalion. On Saturday, the 20th, permission came from the Governor that the battalion should go to the front. That afternoon, affecting farewells having been spoken at a public meeting in Mechanics' Hall, Major Devens started for the front. His command comprised two hundred and thirty-eight men of all ranks. The commissioned officers were : Major, Charles Devens, Jr. ; Adjutant, John M. Goodhue; Quartermaster, James E. Estabrook ; Surgeon, Oramel Martin.

These three months' troops were not actually engaged with the enemy. But their service was valuable. They protected Washington from attack, and opened and maintained a new route to the city, avoiding the dangers which, for a time, attended the passage of Union troops through Baltimore. The turbulent and treasonable elements of that city were, however, speedily quelled by the energy of General Butler and the efficiency of the troops he commanded, prominent among which were the Worcester company of the Sixth Regiment and the battalion of Major Devens, which latter was stationed during most of its term of service at Annapolis or at Fort McHenry, near Baltimore. The term of service of both these corps expired just before the disastrous battle of Bull Run. They had not been mustered out when the confusion and discouragement consequent upon the defeat of our army before Washington made it necessary to retain in the service all the troops near the Capitol whose courage and organization had not been shaken by the disaster. They cheerfully responded to the appeal to remain on duty for a few days longer, while the defeated army was reorganized. The Light Infantry, with the Sixth Regiment, had marching orders for home on the 29th of July, and arrived in Worcester on the 1st of August. The battalion of rifles began their return on the 30th of July, and were welcomed in Worcester on the 2d of August. Both, of course, were received with rejoicing and hearty congratulations.

Major Devens did not return in command of the battalion, for he had already been commissioned as colonel, and had taken command of the Fifteenth Regiment, comprising ten companies, recruited in Worcester and the towns of the county, which, since the 28th of June, had been encamped on the Brooks Farm, near South Worcester, the place being known then and for years after as Camp Scott. The regiment was busily occupied with the work of organization, discipline and instruction, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel George H. Ward, a capable and hard-working officer. This regiment was composed of the stanchest material, the sturdy yeomen and mechanics of Worcester County. Except the colonel, the surgeons and the chaplain, there was scarcely a professional man in the regiment, commissioned or enlisted. Colonel Devens took command June 26th. As the military plans of the commander-in-chief did not call for large and rapid additions to the force already assembled near Washington, and as this regiment was composed for the most part of officers and men who had the whole duty of the soldier to learn, not having yet been even in the militia service, it was the original purpose to retain them in their camp of instruction for two months longer. But the result of the battle of Bull Run changed the plans of campuign. The army was to be reorganized by General McClellan, and troops were huiried forward to Washington from all quarters.

On August 8th the Fifteenth left the city, having received the day before a beautiful flag at the hands of the Hon. George F. Hoar, as a gift from the ladies of Worcester. Mr. Hoar's speech iu presenting the flag and Colonel Devens' remarks in accepting it were eloquent and affecting. The Fifteenth passed through Baltimore near midnight of the 10th of August. The streets were thronged with people, many of them sullen and defiant in manner, but quiet. They did not want a lesson in deportment from the men of those ten great companies, a full thousand in line, all told, who marched steadily and swiftly through the streets in that hot summer night, with their muskets loaded and their ranks as firm and well closed as if they were marching in review. The accidental discharge of one of the soldier's muskets caused a momentary apprehension that the Baltimore mob would have a lesson, but nothing came of it. The next day the regiment arrived in Washington, and as it marched up Pennsylvania Avenue by company front, with alert and martial tread, its long company lines, with one hundred men in each, filling that spacious avenue from curb to curb, with the National and State colors waving in the summer air and the muskets flashing bright in the August sun, the Fifteenth presented a spectacle such as Washington, even in those days of military activity, had seldom seen.

From Washington the regiment marched, a few days later, to Poolesville, a little Maryland village, about half-way to Harper's Ferry, and there came under the command of General Charles P. Stone, who was forming a corps of observation for the Upper Potomac. With daily drills and the routine duties of camp life, varied by picket duty at the river, the time passed until October 21st, when the regiment first met the enemy and showed by the trial of battle of what stuff' its soldiers were made.

I cannot here describe the battle in detail or discuss the causes of the disaster in which it ended. Briefly, General Stone was apprised by General McClellan of certain operations of the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, and was directed to reconnoitre the enemy's position at Leesburg, on the Virginia side of the river, opposite the station of the

Fifteenth. A scoutiDg party having reported a small camp of the enemy between Leesburg and the river, and a mile or two from either, Colonel Devens was directed with five companies of his regiment to cross the Potomac on the night of the 20ih, surprise this camp, if possible, and then reconnoitre in the direction of Leesburg. The remaining five companies, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, were to march to the river and be prepared to support Colonel Devens if necessary. Some companies of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts and a portion of Baker's California regiment were also ordertd to the river in the morning. Colonel Devens fi,und that the scouts had been deceived and that there was no camp where he expected to find one. Keconnoitering cautiously toward Leesburg in the early morning, he encountered a troop of cavalry with which he had a short skirmish, and then fell back towaril the river.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, hearing the firing, hurried his battalion across the river to reinforce Devens. In the river at this point was Harrison's Island, about a mile long, which delayed and embarrassed the crossing. The river was much too deep to be forded ; the boats provided were few and small ; not more than a company at a time could be transported, and it was necessary to cross the Maryland arm of the river, then march across the island and embark again for the Virginia shore. The landing was at the foot of a steep bluff"; along the face of this ran a narrow, crooked trail, up which men could scramble with difficulty. Colonel Ward's battalion arrived at the top of the bluff a little before noon, and moved forward at once across an open field of a few acres surrounded by wood to join Devens, who was still skirmishing with the enemy. After the regiment was united the firing ceased for a short time, but a brisk attack was >oon made upon our position, and easily repulsed. The regiment then fell back to the bluff" and there found that the portions of regiments already mentioned had arrived aud also three pieces of artillery - a twelve-pound rifle-gun and two light howitzers. Colonel Baker took command l)y seniority of commission and formed his line of battle with the Fifteenth on the right and his own regiment on the left. Colonel Cogswell came up soon after with two companies of his, known as the Tammany Regiment. During nearly the whole of the action the enemy were concealed in the woods in the front and on the flanks of the Union force, which they considerably outnumbered. A scattering fire of skirmishers and sharp-shooters had been going on for some time, when about two o'clock the regiment forming the enemy's left wing opened the action with a volley which silenced the light guns in front ol the position of the Fifteenth, killing or disabling almost every man serving them. They had been discharged not more than twice.

illustrating the steadiness of these Worcester County boys under fire for the first time : While the Fifteenth was exchanging a sharp fire with the rebels in its front a small ibrce of the enemy, under cover of the woods, passed around its flank and opened fire from the rear. The line did not waver, but at the word of command faced "about," charged into the woods, dispersed the force attacking from that direction and then returned to its former position and renewed the fight with the enemy in front. The steadiness which this unexpected and most alarming attack did not shake would have been creditable to veteran troops of any army.

Toward the close of the afternoon the right wing was diawn in and the Fifteenth took position at what had been the centre of the line, and another vigorous attempt was made to drive the rebels from their position. By this time Colonel Baker had been killed and Colonel Cogswell had assumed command. The ammunition of our men was exhausted ; the rebel fire continued. Further resistance seemed hopeless, and Colonel Cogswell directed Colonel Devens to retreat. " Will you please repeat the order in the presence of my major? " said Devens. Major Kimball was called up (Lieutenant-Colonel Ward having some time before been carried from the field severely wounded) and the order was repeated and obeyed. The regiment fell back to the river-bank, where some were shot by the enemy from above, some escaped across the river, some were drowned and some were shot in attempting to cross, and the remainder were taken prisoners. To whatever causes the disaster may have been due, it was not the fault of the soldiers of the Fifteenth, whose valor and steadiness could not have been surpassed. They saw many greater battles in the three following years, but it is not too much to say of them, on their first battle-field, that they would have gone anywhere and done anything that could have been expected of veteran troops in the highest state of efficiency. They would then have attempted some things which they would not, after three years of experience had taught them the limitations of military achievement.

The Fifteenth Regiment went into action with six hundred and twenty-one men. The killed, wounded and missing were three hundred and ten. Among the killed was John William Grout, second lieutenant, from Worcester. Lieutenant-Colonel Ward was wounded ; Captain Studley, of Worcester, was taken prisoner. This engagement has been described at some length, because it was the first in which Worcester men met the enemy in battle. The news from the regiment caused a great sensation in Worcester. Public meetings were held to express the general admiration for the prowess of the regiment and sorrow for its losses. Energetic efforts were made to s-upply, by enlistments, the places of the fallen and captured and to make good the losses of clothing and personal equipment. Letters of applause, sympathy and en- couragement were received in great numbers from friends in Worcester and elsewhere, and tlie valor of the regiment and its commander received fitting official commendation.

Other incidents of the war must be mentioned more briefly. The next regiment organized in Worcester was theTwenty-first, composed of men recruited chiefly in Worcester County, though companies rai.sed in Springfield, Pittsfield and Belchertown were also included in it. Its camp, on the grounds of the .-Agricultural Society and named Camp Lincoln, was first occupied by six companies on the 19th of July. Its colonel was Augustus Morse. It had one Worcester company, commanded by Captain B. Frank Rogers. This regiment marclied for the front August 23d. Within a month Governor Andrew authorized Edwin Upton as colonel and A. B. R. Sprague as lieutenantcolonel to raise another regiment in Worcester. Recruiting was begun about the middle of September, and on the last day of October, with full ranks, armed and equipped, the regiment, designated as the Twentyfifth, left Worcester for the seat of war. This regiment, more than any other, was then and has since been regarded as the Worcester Regiment. Seven of its ten companies were recruited in the city; the other three in Milford, Fitchburg and Templeton, respectively. It was a splendid regiment of stouthearted, intelligent, faithful men, and it could be matched by few in the service for the cheerful heroism and gallantry of its soldiers, their hardshij)8, labors and losses in action. These two regiments, the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth, were assigned to the expedition destined to operate in North Carolina, under the command of General Burnside. Early in the year 1862 they were engaged with great credit in the capture of Roanoke Island and Newbern. The Fifteenth lay at Poolesville all winter. In March, after a short and unimportant advance by way of Harper's Ferry up the Shenandoah Valley, the regiment, as a part of the Army of the Potomac, embarked at Alexandria for the momentous Peninsula Campaign under General McClellan. It fought bravely at Yorktown, Fair Oaks, the seven days' battles before Richmond and returned to the vicinity of Washington in season to take part in the unfortunate campaign of General Pope. In September the Fifteenth was again at the front in the great battle of Antietam and suffered terribly. The number of officers and men of the Fifteenth who went into action was almost precisely the same as that of the famous Light Brigade at Balaklava. The time they were engaged was very nearly the same and the proportion of losses was almost precisely equal. On that 17th of September, at Antietam, twenty-four officers and five hundred and eighty-two enlisted men of the Fifteenth went into that murderous corner. Twenty minutes later the killed, wounded and missing numbered three hundred and forty-three. Of the killed were five officers and sixty enlisted men; wounded (one officer and many enlisted men mortally), six officers and two hundred and forty-eight enlisted men ; missing, twenty-four men. A loss of nearly three-filths in less than half an hour is an experience that has befallen few regiments or companies.

The Twenty-first Regiment also had a period of harassing and dangerous service in the autumn and winter of 18G1. Transferred from Norlh Carolina to Virginia in August, it wa.s engaged in Pope's campaign in the battles of the Second Bull Ruu.of Chaiitilly and later at Antietam, doing heroic and valuable service and suffering heavy losses, and in December it was in the hottest part of the battle in General Burnside's ill-planned and disastrous attack upon Fredericksburg, in which the Fifteenth, too, as usual, had a place of honor and of danger, and also, as usual, lost heavily. The loss most grievously felt was that of its heroic and devoted surgeon, Samuel Foster Haven, Jr. The Twenty-fifth during this year had been doing arduous and useful service - marching, scouting and fighting.

During the summer and fall of 18G2 three more regiments were orgiyiized in Worcester, - the Thirtyfourth, Colonel George D. Wells ; the Thirty-sixth, Colonel Henry Bowman, both of these for three years ; and the Fifty-first, Colonel A. B. R. Sprague, for nine months. The Thirty-fourth left Worcester on the 15th of August, the Thirty-sixth on the llth of September and the Fifty-first on the 25th of November. All of these, regiments did heroic service. The Thirty-fourth, composed of companies raised in the five western counties of the State, of course, including Worcester, was noted throughout its terra of service for the promptness and precision of its movements, the neatness of its quarters and its equipments, its endurance of marches and labors and its ardor and prowess in battle. These comprehend all the valuable qualities of the soldier, and it is not extravagant praise to say that the Thirty-fourth excelled in all of them. It was commanded during most of its service by Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Colonel) William S. Lincoln. The Thirty-sixth traversed more miles in its time of service than any other Worcester regiment. It served in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia again and North Carolina. The fortunes of these regiments and others cannot be followed in detail. They were all fighting regiments, and did their full duty on such days of carnage and of fate as those which are recalled by the names of Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Cold Harbor. They endured exhausting marches and sieges, hunger, disease, wounds and the horrors of rebel prison pens. This is equally true also of other regiments raised in Worcester, or of which Worcester men formed a part, especially of the Fifty-seventh, whose frightful losses in its first engagement, that of the Wilderness, were only a prelude to a service, which, though short, compared with that of some other regiments, was splendidly heroic, and crowded with labors and losses. Nor can I mention here the names of many of the Worcester heroes. The officers have their meed of fame in the histories of their respective regiments and in the more elaborate histories of the war. The private soldiers, who deserved as well, are too many to be designated by name here. Sergeant Thomas Plunkett, of the Twenty-first, whose arms were struck off by a fragment of shell at Fredericksburg, just as he had snatched the regimental colors from the relaxing grasp of the dying color- sergeant, must never be omitted when the deeds of Worcester's heroes are recounted. But their names are all perpetuated in the roll of honor ; their memories will be fondly cherished for a few years by surviving comrades and kinsfolk and proudly treasured, let us hope, among the most precious family possessions by generations of descendants, who will admire and imitate their patriotic devotion.

Besides the regiments which were raised and organized in the city, almost every other Massachusetts regiment had Worcester men in its ranks or among its officers. A large number al^o in the aggregate served in the artillery, in military organizations of other States, in the regular army and in the navy. It is impossible even now to state with precision the number of men whom AVorcester contributed to the War for the Union. Governor Bullock, in his address at the dedication of the soldiers' monument, estimates it at " not far from three thousand," and that seems to me a moderate statement. Yet, when we remember that it is more than one in three of the adult male population of the city at that time, the number seems almost incredible. They served in fifty regiments of infantry, five of cavalry and fourteen batteries or regiments of artillery organized under the authority of Massachu.setts, and probably in fifty other military organizations. Among these Worcester soldiers were one major-general, by brevet; five brigadier-generals, by brevet; four colonels, three lieutenant-colonels, twelve majors, fifty-two captains, fifty-four first-lieutenants, fifty -three secondlieutenants, eight surgeons, four chaplains. These were all in Massachusetts organizations or received promotion while serving with Massachusetts troops. Of Worcester men serving with other troops there were five brigadier-generals, two majors, a captain and a lieutenant, besides one commodore and several lieutenants and ensigns in the navy.

This brief sketch of the military history of Worcester during the Civil War may seem to do less than justice to its subject, as of course it does. A series of volumes, instead of a single chapter, would not exhaust the theme. Names, even of those most deserving of honor, have been mentioned but rarely. It seems invidious further to distinguish by special eulogy those whose rank gave them distinction and personal advantage at the time and whose names will be perpetuated elsewhere, while thousands of obscure men, no less daring, devoted and unselfish, laid down their lives cheerfully, unnoted, except as units in the great aggregate of patriotic sacrifice. Since the great commanders will not lack their meed of praise, let us here express our admiration and gratitude for the valor, constancy and devotion of the armies, rather than the prowess of the generals.

Even in Worcester, where courage and loyalty were as abundant as anywhere, voluntary enlistment did not supply all the enormous and exacting demands of the military service. Bounties for enlistment were offered after thefirstglow ot patriotic ardor had cooled a little. No bounties were paid for the men, about twelve hundred in number, who enlisted in Worcester under the President's call for volunteers in 1861. But in 1862 the city paid a bounty of one hundred dollars for each volunteer. In 1863 the draft was ordered under an act of Congress, and Captain Samuel V. Stone was appointed provost marshal for the Eighth Congressional District, with headquarters at Worgester, to enforce it. No disturbances took place here while the draft was in progress. Precautions wisely taken to prevent or suppress disorders happily proved unnecessary, or .so completely successful as to seem superfluous. Of the men drafted in Worcester, 103 paid the commutation fixed by the law, 53 furnished substitutes, 59 enrolled citizens supplied substitutes before the draft was made. The amount paid by the city and by citizens for bounties and recruiting is estimated at nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the sums paid by individuals for commutation and for substitutes under the draft was nearly one hundred thousand dollars more. In order to ascertain the price in money, besides the cost in blood and sorrow, which Worcester paid for the Union, must be added to this the sums contributed to the Soldiers' Relief Committee, to the Sanitary and Christian Commit'sions, and to various other forms of military charities, and the city's share of the State bounties and State aid to soldiers and their families, which still continues under the nobly generous, yet wisely-guarded regulations prescribed by Slate laws ; and lastly, Worcester's contributions to the national revenues expended in the prosecution of the war, the payment of the debt and the annual cost of pensions, of which latter sum alone, Worcester pays, without realizing it, not less than one hundred and fifty thousand dolhars annually. Truly with a great price we vindicated our title to the precious inheritance of national union.

The oldest of the militia companies now existing here is still known by the name given it in its original charter by a special act of the General Court in 1804, the Worcester Light Infantry. It was preceded in point of time by the Worcester Artillery, which appears to have been organized in 1783. Its organization was maintained until the autumn of 1838, when the last entry on its record is " Company disbanded and officers discharged." Both these companies offered their services in the War of 1812 with Great Britain, and the town voted bounties for enlistments, but the Governor declined to comply with the President's requisitions for troops, alleging some constitutional objections, and the Worcester troops were uot then called to the field. Two years later, however, when the aspect of the war had become more serious. Governor Strong ordered the militia of the State to be in readiness for active service. Two companies of militia were drafted from the county and served in the forts in Boston harbor, and a little later the Light Infantry, and the Artillery marched to the seaboard, and were stationed at South Boston for about six weeks, being discharged on the Slst of October. The Light Infantry as a company of the Sixth Regiment, promptly answered the call of the President, and was among the foremost of military organizations to arrive at the national capital at a critical moment, as already narrated. At the end of the three months' service the Light Infantry returned to Worcester. A large number of its members enlisted or were commissioned in other commands.

The City Guards, organized in 1840, was for many years designated as light infantry, but afterwards became a rifle company, and was attached to the Third Battalion of Rifles, in the State militia. As such it was called into the three months' service with the battalion. The Emmet Guards, organized as a company of the State militia after the first note of civil war had sounded, were also attached to the Third Battalion of Rifles. The two former of these companies, upon being mustered out of the service of the United States, maintained their existence in fome form, and upon the reorganization of the State militia, after the war, were re-established and assigned to regiments, in which they have maintained a high reputation for soldierly bearing, discipline and efficiency. The Emmet Guards in 1888 were organized anew and accepted by the Governor for the State service. They are not surpassed for the exact performance of all military duty and for precision and smartness in drill.

The artillery company known as " Battery B " was formed in Worcester at the reorganization of the militia after the war. It has had a succession of competent and zealous commanders, and has been often complimented by superior oflicers for proficiency in artillery exercises, the admirable condition of its arms and equipments and its evident readiness for any service.

Immediately after the departure of the city militia companies for the seat of war in April, 1861, the honorary and past members of the Light Infantry and the City Guards organized each a company by itself as a Home Guard, and with the intention also of maintaining an active list of volunteers, from whom the ranks of the parent companies in the field might be recruited from time to time. These companies performed various service, at military funerals, as escorts on occasions of public ceremony and as areserve force in case of threatened public disorder, until the organization of the State Guard, in June, 1863, under the authority of a law of that year. The State Gaard , besides the functions of parade and ceremony, which militia companies are often called upon to discharge, performed duties of real value in preserving the peace of the city, which was endangered, though happily not greatly disturbed, by the elements of discontent and mischief introduced by the bounty and substitute systems of recruiting, and stimulated to an alarming activity by the example of the draft riots in New York and elsewhere. Members of the Guard were detailed for guard duty under the orders of the provost marshal, and the whole company was, in the latter part of July, 1863, on duty for several days at the provost marshal's command, guarding drafted men, preserving the peace of the city and escorting a body of conscripts to the rendezvous at Boston. The State Guard ceased to be a part of the militia of Massachusetts by the repeal, in 1866, of the act under which the company was established. Its existence was maintained, however, as a voluntary organization, and in the next year the Legislature granted the petition of its members for a special charter, under which the company was maintained for several years and for a time was organized as a battalion of two companies.

Thus we close this outline of Worcester's military history. The community has cultivated the arts of peace with signal success, but has never shrunk from doing its whole duty when honor and patriotism called for the labors aud sacrifices of war. Her sons were daring, patient aud skilled in military arts. These were their qualities from the times when Ephraim Curtis, of Worcester, brought relief to the sorely-beset garrison of Brookfleld, and when, a century later, Timothy Bigelow, of Worcester, led his command in that terrible winter march through the wilderness of Maine and Canada, and hurled them in a hopeless assault against the impregnable fortress of Quebec, to that time, after almost another century, when Charles Devens, commanding, by a happy coincidence, another Fifteenth Regiment, made his heroic stand on the banks of the Potomac at Ball's Bluff. And while the men of Worcester marched and fought and died, the women of Worcester, with a constancy and patience deserving of all reverence, suffering the pangs of anxiety and sorrow, toiled and saved to alleviate the lot of their husbands, sons and brothers. Our people may claim as appropriate to their own community, the motto of the older Worcester in England, " A City Faithful in War aud Peace."