Category:

Politics and Military

The Turner’s Falls Massacre: History’s Ugly Truth Emerges

For generations, the accepted history of colonial New England celebrated the Turner’s Falls Massacre as a daring military victory. But people called it the Battle of Turner’s Falls.

Today, the narrative has begun to shift, as historians and the Nipmuc people themselves work to recover the full, unvarnished truth of what happened at Peskeompskut.

But for centuries the accepted history of the Europeans who entered the New World has long been one of a brave group of explorers struggling to start a new life in a hostile wilderness. Eventually they built a new country through their toil, sweat and sacrifice. They did eventually tame a difficult and hostile wilderness. They moved into lands that seemed, to them, trackless. Everything they needed they either brought with them on their backs or created out of necessity.

This monument marks the site of the massacre. The inscription reads, “Captain William Turner with 145 men surprised and destroyed over 300 Indians encamped at this place. May 19, 1676.

Most of the wilderness hostility, however, did not come from the environment, but from their own making.

The other side of the story was totally neglected in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. A Nipmuc narrative makes that clear:

The English believed in ownership of land while Native Peoples’ belief relied on relationship and responsibility for the land. When English landed on our shores, they reveled in the thought of gaining what they couldn’t have in England–Land. It was an instant clash of cultures. The English thought that owning land was perfectly normal. The People indigenous to the land did not. Realizing this, the colonists used this misunderstanding to manipulate the Native People into giving away something that in our ancestors’ perceptions was impossible to give.

Prelude to the Turner’s Falls Massacre

In 1675, the smoldering relations between the colonists and Native Americans erupted into King Philip’s War. For a year a bitter struggle resulted in rising casualties on both sides. The colonists, though, got the worst of it. By April-May 1676, the fighting eased as both sides caught their breath. They began to test overtures for peace, particularly from Connecticut Colony.

Nipmuc warriors participated in the Siege of Brookfield during King Philip’s War.

Native Americans knew Peskeompskut (in the area of modern Gill, Mass.) as a place of refuge. They used it as an annual fishing camp for 10,000 years. The area had been cleared and included spring planting lands. It was in no way a war camp.

In May 1676, the Nipmuc and other allied Indians had gathered there. The area bordered the Connecticut River, near the Green River. It was the annual time to harvest the abundant fish to store for the coming months. The camp really consisted of two camps–one of warriors and other of dependents across the river, with other Native American camps nearby.

On May 13, 1676, a band of warriors from Peskeompskut raided farms near Hatfield, making away with 70 cattle and horses and two captives. A large feast brought both camps together on the dependent side of the river. After the feast ended, the warriors returned across the river to their camp.

Revenge

No one was killed or injured on either side In the raid near Hatfield. But, of course, the colonists suffered a substantial loss. Many of those colonists had fled Northfield and other areas impacted by Indian raids. Feelings of revenge subsequently ran high.

Two days after the cattle theft, the Natives released the two captured colonists, and they brought with them the knowledge of the location of the camps at Peskeompskut.

While the Native Americans feasted, the colonists gathered for an attack. Capt. William Turner and his second-in-command, Samuel Holyoke, led the assault. Turner led a company of 50 men and was joined by about 100 men from Hatfield, Northampton and Hadley.

However, the Connecticut War Council had specifically ordered Turner not to take any aggressive action because it wanted to negotiate at least a ceasefire. Turner simply ignored the order.

In hindsight, he made a deadly mistake.

From the Gill town line, the Connecticut River now looks like this.

The English Leaders

William Turner, born in Dartmouth, England, in 1623, emigrated to Massachusetts Bay in 1642. He settled in Dorchester. Later he moved to Boston, where his Baptist beliefs landed him in jail. Released after 5 years on condition he recruit men to fight the Indians, he went west. In March 1676 he beat off an attack on Northampton.

Samuel Holyoke, his second-in-command, was born on Nov. 4, 1647, in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He had little experience fighting Indians.

The Turner’s Falls Massacre

With knowledge of the Indian camps’ locations and their numbers, Turner set out on horseback with his 150 men. He had a choice of which camp to attack. The warrior camp was unattractive for two reasons. First, attacking the warrior camp meant that even though they outnumbered them 2-to-1, the warriors would undoubtedly be a tough nut to crack. Second, Turner’s force, while not lacking in enthusiasm, lacked skill in woodland combat. And third, aside from the 50 men in Turner’s company, the other 100 men were little more than an armed mob.

They chose to attack the unarmed camp of women, children and old men who could be expected to put up little or no resistance.

By dawn, the colonists had crossed the Green River near the camps and were now on high ground overlooking the dependents’ encampment. They simply then walked into the sleeping camp and proceeded to kill everyone in sight. Surrounding the huts, they blocked exits and fired indiscriminately into them. Those not killed outright fled to the Connecticut River, where they were gunned down as they tried to canoe or swim away. Captain Holyoke was said to have killed four Indian children with his sword. No one was spared in what must have degraded into mob bloodlust. In the bloodbath, between 250 and 300 unarmed and helpless Indians were slaughtered. One colonist was killed by “friendly fire” when he emerged from a hut.

Once the shooting stopped, the colonists proceeded to destroy the camp, looting anything they deemed useful. At this point, any real command control had probably been lost. They also seem to have forgotten that the sound of the shooting would have reached the warrior camp. They lingered too long–a costly mistake.

Retreat

As soon as the warriors from the other camp heard the firing they began to move toward the sound of shooting. Other warriors from nearby camps joined them. What followed now for the colonists was chaos. Running back to their horses, the colonists began a headlong retreat, pursued by vengeful warriors. Any semblance of military discipline collapsed. Soon, every man fended for himself with little or no leadership.

The colonists quickly discovered that being on horseback provided no advantage in the wilderness. Racing ahead, a group of warriors set up an ambush in a valley leading to the Green River Ford. During the retreat and ambush, the Nipmucs killed 38 colonists, including Captain Turner. They captured some and tortured them before killing them. Captain Holyoke managed to take command of at least some of the colonists. He managed a somewhat orderly retreat when the Indians broke off the pursuit. While no more men were lost, many were badly wounded, and many more would not make it to safety for days.

Several days passed before they could recover Turner’s body and those lying around the ambush site. Not until June did the survivors discover the area where the Natives tortured and killed.

Attack on Hadley

Captain Holyoke survived the retreat. But his health was broken, and he died on Oct. 31, 1676, in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is likely that many of the survivors were wounded and some of them would not survive the year. Of those that did, many would be scarred physically and emotionally for life–but not, one presumes, from their participation in mass murder given the colonists utter disregard for Indian lives but from their harrowing retreat.

On May 30, 1676, 150 warriors attacked Hatfield. While they did not take the town, they killed five more colonists, burned 20 houses, took sheep and slaughtered cattle.

The affair, glorified by the colonists as a battle, was costly for both sides. To say that the colonist’s reaction to a cattle raid was out of proportion to the event, would be an understatement. It cost them dearly. The Indians lost more with whole families wiped out.

Of course, the Turner’s Falls Massacre ended any attempt at peace negotiations. Connecticut immediately sent men to reinforce Hadley. By June, 450 more men, including Mohegan and Pequot allies, were sent to the area, effectively driving the Nipmuc and other tribes away.

Lost and Found: The History of the Turner’s Falls Massacre

In the latter part of the 18^th, all of the 19^th and most of the 20^th centuries, the “Falls Fight” or “The Battle of Turner’s Falls” continued as one more glorified myth of Colonial America. The area of the massacre was named in honor of Turner–Turner’s Falls, Mass. Now it’s an unincorporated village in the town of Montague, named after a mass murderer. Ironically, even the Nipmuc, who suffered the most in the event, had lost track of their history until the 21^st century when a historical and archeological study under the National Park Service was made of the area.

Aerial view of Turner’s Falls, 1877

In 2012, the town of Montague obtained a grant from the National Park Service to study the massacre and included meeting with Nipmuc tribal leaders. Tensions at times ran high. It is often hard to acknowledge historical truths that have taken on a cloak glorious mythology. Through historical research and an extensive archaeological project that seeks to identify the areas of conflict the effort to tell the true history of events is ongoing.

But the truth, long suppressed, is that it was a brutal massacre of unarmed Nipmuc women, children and elders at a peaceful fishing camp. Colonial commanders attacked in violation of direct orders and ended up in a chaotic, bloody retreat.

The author’s 1st cousin, 8 times removed, Nathaniel Alexander, participated in the massacre and survived the retreat. His 1st cousin, 10 times removed, also participated, as did his brother, John Hawks, Jr.

Images: Attack on Brookfield By Unknown artist – The Sutro Library, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=783073. Connecticut River from Gill By I, Denimadept, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2417686. Map of Turners Falls O.H. Bailey & Co, and C.H. Vogt. Turners Falls, Mass. [Milwaukee, C.H. Vogt & Co, 1877] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/74693242/.. Marker commemorating the battle By I, Denimadept, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2483583. Featured image created by ChatGPT.

0 comments 1.6K views

Ken Burns’ The American Revolution: Your Guide to Visiting the Historic Sites

You’ve seen the American Revolution unfold on screen in Ken Burns’s The American Revolution—through paintings, documents, narration, reenactments and footage of the landscapes where history happened. What Burns did on PBS, you can do for yourself on foot.

Across New England, the places where ordinary people and famous leaders pushed the colonies toward rebellion still stand—often right beside modern life.

Ken Burns’ The American Revolution Episode I

The series opens before war, in a world of mounting tension.

Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 “Join, or Die” cartoon foreshadowed the need for unity. Though Franklin left Boston at 17, a bust still marks his birthplace on Milk Street.

John and Abigail Adams, whose words frame Ken Burns’s narrative, lived with the fear that Revolution could unleash chaos as easily as liberty. Adams National Historical Park in Quincy preserves their story in three buildings where the Adams family lived and worked for generations.

The trouble started with the British victory in the French and Indian War, which brought crushing debt—and new taxes. Then Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed printed paper. It enraged printers and readers alike because they didn’t want to be taxed without representation. On Boston’s Freedom Trail, you can now visit the Printing Office of Edes and Gill, publishers of revolutionary newspapers. You can also see their presses at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill Mass.

Peacefield, a house Abigail Adams bought while John was away in Europe. Ken Burns quotes extensively from both Adams in his documentary.

Samuel Adams, a brilliant propagandist, rallied resistance. His likeness hangs today at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Stamp Act riots followed across the colonies, including Newport, R.I., where protests at The Old Colony House forced stamp distributors to resign. The Newport Historical Society now runs the little-changed Old Colony House as a museum.

The Townshend Duties

Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but tensions escalated when it passed the Townshend Duties. In order to police unruly Boston, British troops arrived in the town in 1768, landing at Long Wharf, which still exists. Nearby stands the Gardiner Building, once John Hancock’s counting house and now the Chart House restaurant serving seafood and steak. (Hancock’s beanpot hangs from the ceiling.)

On March 5, 1770, a confrontation outside the Old State House ended with British soldiers firing into a crowd—the Boston Massacre. A pavement marker shows where it happened; the victims lie buried in the Granary Burying Ground. Paul Revere’s famous engraving ensured the event would never be forgotten. You can visit his house, in Boston’s North End, year-round.

The Old Statehouse, another spot on Boston’s Freedom Trail mentioned in Ken Burns’ documentary..

Resistance then spread outward. In New Hampshire, the Pine Tree Riot erupted in 1772; a marker in Weare commemorates it. In Rhode Island, colonists burned the grounded customs ship Gaspee, an act still celebrated each summer during Gaspee Days.

The Tea Party

The crisis peaked in Boston. At the Old South Meeting House, citizens debated what to do with taxed tea. On Dec, 16, 1773, they dumped it into the harbor. Today, you can visit Old South, Griffin’s Wharf and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum to see where it all happened.

Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Parliament’s response—the Intolerable Acts—closed Boston’s port, revoked Massachusetts’ charter and replaced elected officials with those appointed by the Crown. Protesters forced all the King’s men to resign. Local historical societies reenact the protests that shut down local government at the original courthouses in Barnstable, Mass., and Westminster, Vt.

Sympathy poured in from other colonies; church bells rang in Lebanon, Conn., whose Green remains rich with Revolutionary history.

By 1774, armed resistance had become organized. Militia companies created special units that drilled as minutemen. When Gen. Thomas Gage sent troops to seize gunpowder in Charlestown, Mass., alarm bells rang across the countryside. The powder house still stands in the middle of a rotary in what is now Powder House Square in Somerville.

The violence escalated. A boy rammed his sled by mistake into a minor customs official, John Malcolm. George Hewes, a veteran of the Boston tea party remonstrated with Malcolm, who beat him senseless. Malcolm was tarred and feathered. Hewes’ portrait hangs in the Old Statehouse, now a museum.

George Robert Twelves Hewes

Patriots formed committees of safety and prepared for war. In 1774, 12 colonies sent delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. John Adams commented that every delegate was a “great man” who must on every question show his oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities. Gage told King George they were a motley crew. You can see John Singleton Copley’s painting of Thomas Gage at the Yale Center for British Art.

A Crackdown Backfires

Gage received orders to crack down on the colonists. John Hancock and Sam Adams left Boston for their safety, staying at a friend’s house in Lexington, on the way to Concord. The Lexington Historical Society operates the Hancock Clarke House as a museum.

Early one morning in April 1775, British troops stealthily marched out of Boston toward Concord. Patriot Joseph Warren got wind of their plan and told Paul Revere. Portraits of both Revere and Warren hang at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Two lanterns were ordered hung from Old North to warn people the British would row across the Charles River. You can visit Old North, and you can also visit the grave of the sexton who hung the lanterns. Robert Newman, in Boston.

Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to Lexington to alert Hancock and Adams and the local militia. Markers along the route commemorate their historic rides. Dawes and Revere are both buried in Boston.

A Shot Heard ‘Round the World

Lexington’s militia assembled on the Green to face the British. A shot rang out, and the firing began, mostly by the British. Lexington has preserved its historic Green, which has monuments, markers and a visitors center. Every Patriots Day in Massachusetts, living history units reenact the battle.

Old North Bridge

The British marched on to Concord and began ransacking the town. The American militia skirmished with them at the Old North Bridge. A replica of the Old North Bridge is part of the 1,038-acre Minute Man National Historic Park.

The British then retreated along the Battle Road as colonial militiamen fired at them from behind trees and fences. The British suffered heavy casualties as they marched through Menotomy (now Arlington). Now on Patriots Day, reenactors perform tactical demonstrations of the shooting, accompanied with lectures, workshops and living history events.

The Battle Road looks much as it did in 1775.

Part II of the Ken Burns Documentary Series

After Lexington and Concord, New England became the war’s engine.

By nightfall on April 19, 1775,, thousands of militiamen had surrounded Boston, beginning the Siege of Boston.

Over the next 11 months, British troops trashed the town, turning Faneuil Hall into a theater and Old South into a riding ring.

A month after Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga. A few days later, Seth Warner subsequently took Fort Crown Point, also in northern New York. By seizing the lightly defended forst, they secured the artillery that Henry Knox would later haul to Boston. The Knox Cannon Trail marks his legendary winter journey, and Fort Ticonderoga, now a museum, offers a robust program of living history events.

Fort Ticonderoga today.

On June 17, 1775, the bloody fight at Bunker Hill proved the colonists could stand against British regulars. A 221-foot-tall granite monument and a museum commemorate the battle on Breeds Hill, where the fight took place.

As the Siege of Boston dragged on, George Washington arrived in Cambridge in July 1775 to take command of the Continental Army. His headquarters, later home to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is now a National Park Service site.

Washington’s Headquarters during the Siege of Boston

The war widened quickly. Benedict Arnold led a brutal expedition through Maine toward Quebec, hoping to capture the British fortress there. You can retrace his route today by driving along the Arnold Expedition Route. (Look for markers.)

Meanwhile the British vowed to lay waste to the ports that provided safe harbor for American privateers wreaking havoc on British shipping. Lt. Henry Mowatt began by bombarding Falmouth (now Portland) in Maine. He burned the entire town in October. A plaque marks Fort Allen, earthworks at the time of British bombardment of Falmouth.

1776

On New Year’s Day, 1776, George Washington ordered a new “Continental Union” flag raised atop Prospect Hill overlooking Boston. A tower marks the spot today in what is now Somerville, Mass. Every New Year’s Day, the City of Somerville reenacts the raising of the first flag of the United States.

The first American flag flying over Prospect Hill in Somerville, Mass.

On March 17, 1776, British commander William Howe evacuated Boston for Halifax, taking 10,000 soldiers and more than 1,100 Loyalist civilians. Washington had driven them out by mounting the artillery from Ticonderoga on Dorchester Heights. Dorchester Heights is now a National Historic Site and public park.

Expecting the British to strike New York next, Washington moved his army south.

Far to the north, Benedict Arnold’s assault on Quebec collapsed as smallpox ravaged his troops, forcing a retreat to Crown Point. Britain escalated by hiring thousands of German mercenaries. New Hampshire delegate Josiah Bartlett, commemorated on the Kingston town green, warned the war would grow harder.

To secure French aid, the colonies declared independence. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration; Rhode Island’s Stephen Hopkins, signing despite palsy, declared, “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.” You can visit Stephen Hopkins’ home in Providence, R.I., now a historic house museum.

In Boston, the Declaration was read aloud and the king’s arms torn down at the Old State House. It’s now a museum on the Freedom Trail.

Episode III of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

By June 29, 1776, the British landed 10,000 troops in New York. The war had become both a fight for independence and a civil war. Patriots imprisoned Loyalists in places like Newgate Prison in Simsbury, Conn. You can visit the prison, an old copper mine, now run by the State of Connecticut as an archaeological preserve.

Washington spread his forces thin; Nathanael Greene fortified Brooklyn but fell ill. Israel Putnam, a brave but not very bright general, replaced him and left a key road unguarded. Connecticut Landmarks owns and operates the Putnam Farm in Brooklyn, Conn.

The British routed the Americans at the Battle of Long Island, capturing Gen. John Sullivan. A plaque and memorial in Sullivan’s hometown of Durham, N.H., honor his service.

Fort Sewall today

Trapped on Brooklyn Heights, Washington narrowly saved his army when John Glover’s Marblehead mariners miraculously ferried 9,000 men across the East River under cover of darkness. Glover’s Regiment still exists as a living history unit. Every Fourth of July, they fire off cannon at Fort Sewall, where they garrisoned for a time, in Marblehead, Mass.

Manhattan soon fell, Loyalists flooded the city, and on Sept. 21, 1776, New York burned. The British hanged captured spy Nathan Hale. Hale’s homestead, now a house museum. stands in Coventry, Conn.

The Northern Theater

Meanwhile, the Americans feared a British invasion from Canada, while disease weakened their forces at Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

You can visit the site of Fort Crown Point, which features the ruins of the stone barracks and stunning views of Lake Champlain.

The soldiers from different colonies fought among themselves, so the New Englanders were sent to the opposite shore to build Mount Independence. Mount Independence State Historic Site, opposite Ticonderoga, stands as one of America’s largest and most preserved Revolutionary sites. A museum showcases exhibits and artifacts.

On Lake Champlain, Arnold hastily built a small fleet and fought the British at Valcour Island in October 1776. Though defeated, the battle convinced the British it would be harder to capture Fort Ticonderoga than they had thought, and it started to snow. They decided to invade in the spring.

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vt., has artifacts and a replica gunboat from the Battle of Valcour Island.

Episode IV of The American Revolution

The fourth episode begins with a quote from Mercy Otis Warren: “No suffering which Britain can inflict will reduce America to submission.”

Mercy Otis Warren lived in Barnstable, Mass., on Cape Cod. Drive by the Barnstable County Courthouse and you’ll see a bronze statue of her.

The Continental Army abandoned Manhattan. As Washington retreated across New Jersey, British and Hessian troops occupied Newport, R.I. You can visit several sites in Newport to learn about the British occupation of the town.

Mercy Otis Warren is quoted often in Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution. A bronze statue of her stands in front of Barnstable County Courthouse.

Washington struck back at Trenton on Christmas night, crossing the Delaware with Glover’s regiment and artillery under Henry Knox. The Hessians surrendered, reviving American morale.

Learn more about Henry Knox at Montpelier, a museum/replica of his home in Thomaston, Maine, and John Glover at his house in Marblehead, now a museum that offers guided tours.

Cornwallis chased Washington across New Jersey, only to lose the Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3, 1777.

John Trumbull, an aide-de-camp to Washington, later painted a scene from the Battle of Princeton. You can see it at the Yale University Art Gallery.

The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton

The Turning Point: Saratoga

In 1777, Gen. John Burgoyne invaded from Canada, forcing the Continentals to abandon Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Burgoyne then beat the retreating Americans at the Battle of Hubbardton. But then he lost 15 percent of his army at the Battle of Bennington because John Stark defeated and captured hundreds of Hessians on a foraging expedition.

Vermont celebrates Bennington Battle Day as a state holiday, and the Battle of Bennington Monument commemorates the victory. Owned by Vermont since 1937, Hubbardton Battlefield hosts annual Revolutionary War reenactments and features a visitor center with a permanent exhibit on the battle. John Stark, New Hampshire’s great hero, returned to his farm in Derryfield, N.H. (now Manchester). It’s now on the National Register of Historic Places. You can also see his words on New Hampshire license plates: Live Free or Die.

Burgoyne pushed on but was stopped at Saratoga, where fierce fighting at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights ended in surrender. The victory would bring France openly into the war.

Take a driving tour of the battlefield at Saratoga National Historic Park, which includes the Surrender Field in Schuylerville. The visitor center in Stillwater explains the whole battle.

Episode V

In the Mid-Atlantic, the British captured Philadelphia. Washington camped nearby in the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, while Benjamin Franklin secured French alliance in Paris. Pvt. Joseph Plumb Martin described the suffering at Valley Force in his memoirs, from which Ken Burns quotes liberally. You can buy a copy of Martin’s memoirs on Amazon and visit his grave in stockton Springs, Maine..

In 1778, John Paul Jones raided Britain’s coast from the ship Ranger, built in Portsmouth, N.H. You can visit the John Paul Jones House in Portsmouth, N.H., where Jones lived while the local shipyard built and outfitted Ranger in 1777 and built and outfit another vessel, America, from 1781-82.

John Paul Jones House in Portsmouth, N.H.

The French Arrive

Finally, the French fleet under Admiral d’Estaing arrived to help dislodge the British from Newport, R.I. The plan called for a joint assault—French by sea, Americans under Gen. John Sullivan by land. But Sullivan advanced early, and then a storm drove the French fleet to Boston for repairs. Left alone, the Americans were then attacked; the battle was inconclusive, and the British retained Newport.

Today the Battle of Rhode Island Association is restoring the fort on the battlefield, which has been partially preserved. The battlefield also includes memorials, including to the 1^st Rhode Island Regiment, a Black regiment that fought gallantly.

The British landed near here in New Haven.

Then in July, British commander Gen. Henry Clinton ordered an expedition in order to destroy Connecticut port towns that harbored privateers: Norwalk, Fairfield and New Haven.

Several sites commemorate the militia men who fought the raiding British: In Norwalk, Mill Hill Historic Park; in Fairfield, the Fairfield Museum and History Center and Experience Fairfield; and in New Haven, Black Rock Park.

The war then shifted south. British forces captured Savannah and Charleston, defeating Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln was born in Hingham, Mass., and his grave can be found in the Old Ship Churchyard in Hingham.

The Final Episode of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

Nathanael Greene then took command of the southern army, wearing down Cornwallis. He usually lost; however, his forces remained intact and he inflicted costly losses on the British, including Guilford Courthouse. Today, the General Nathanael Greene Homestead Association now operates Greene’s home in Coventry, R.I., as a house museum.

The home of Nathanael Greene, called the most underrated revoltuionary general in the Ken Burns’ documentary.

The tide finally turned when French troops landed in Newport in 1780 under le comte de Rochambeau. King Park, the site where the French landed, has a monument honoring Rochambeau and the French.

Rochambeau and Washington then met to discuss strategy in Hartford. In May 1781, Washington and Rochambeau subsequently met again in Wethersfield, Conn., and agreed to join forces north of New York City. They spent several days at what is now the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.

Rochambeau monument in King Park, Newport

They then marched south along what is now the Washington–Rochambeau National Historic Route. Washington from New York and Rochambeau from Newport. Once they met up, they agreed to head south to Yorktown, where d’Estaing and his fleet were also headed. The Washington Rochambeau National Historic Route commemorates the 680-mile march to Yorktown. The spectacular French march through Connecticut has many markers along the way.

Cornwallis had made a mistake by choosing Yorktown to entrench his forces because it was a strategically vulnerably position. French ships then sealed the Chesapeake, and American and French artillery closed in. Then, after a three-week siege, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781. For all practical purposes, the war had ended.

End Notes

Images: Nathanael Greene Homestead By Camanda at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18112163. Longfellow Washington House By Daderot at en.wikipedia – Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original uploader was Daderot at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2929917. Peacefield By Daderot, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3162095. Battle Road By NewtonCourt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106953815. Boston Tea Party Ship By Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada – Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum, Boston (493624), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46943593. Fort Ticonderoga By Mwanner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6967864. Mercy Otis Warren by By Kenneth C. Zirkel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32733257. First American flag By Mmangan333 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132392902. Fort Sewall By Fletcher6 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10266490. Rochambeau Monument By Kenneth C. Zirkel – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58488582.

0 comments 2.3K views

The Many Lives of Edward Augustus Brackett: Artist, Abolitionist, and Visionary

The story of Edward Augustus Brackett is also the story of the remarkable diversity of the 19^th century. In a long life that spanned nine decades, this Boston based polymath was a well-regarded artist, a dedicated abolitionist, a fervent spiritualist, a poet, a horticulturalist, an amateur architect, an animal breeder and a conservationist. He left his mark on all these fields and helped point toward many of the concerns of our own times.

Edward Augustus Brackett

Brackett was born in 1818 in Vassalboro, Maine. His father, an itinerant farmer and watchmaker, led the family on a peripatetic journey throughout the Northeast. Finally, they settled in Cincinnati in 1835. Edward Brackett, by then 17, had spent his adolescence trying to reconcile his desire to be an artist with his father’s demands that he settle on a practical trade. In Cincinnati he discovered sculpture. Brackett developed his skill as a tombstone carver, then the purview of artists who, like him, came from humble backgrounds.

An undated photograph of Edward Augustus Brackett

Brackett achieved modest success as an artist in Cincinnati, although sadly, none of his works from this period survive. But recognition stirred his ambition. While many of his fellow sculptors set off for Italy, Brackett lacked the money and patronage to make the trip. Instead, he made his way back East. He settled first in New York, where he began to make inroads by sculpting portrait busts of the cultural and political elite. His subjects included such luminaries as poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet and editor William Cullen Bryant and the very short-lived U.S. president, William Henry Harrison.

But not content to be a mere bust carver, Brackett also created a sculpture titled The Binding of Satan, a two figure work based on a passage from the Book of Revelation. He failed to sell this now lost work. But its positive reception gave him the confidence in 1841 to move to the more culturally sophisticated Boston.

Move to Boston

Boston proved a happy choice, and he would remain in the area for the rest of his life. Brackett married his Cincinnati sweetheart, Amanda, and set up a studio in Boston. He made his living and supported a growing family (eventually he would have five children) through a variety of enterprises. He carved portrait busts of prominent citizens, gave art lessons and embarked on various side ventures in the fields of horticulture and animal husbandry. But Brackett still had grand ambitions as an artist. In 1848 he created his most monumental work. Shipwrecked Mother and Child was inspired by reports of a tragic shipwreck in 1841. It depicts the naked corpses of a mother and child flung up on the shore.

Shipwrecked Mother and Child by Edward Augustus Brackett, 1850, marble, Worcester Art Museum.

While a few critics objected to the sculpture’s realism, it caused a sensation when exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Audiences reportedly wept and trembled at its representation of the terrors of untamed nature and violent death. Brackett had high hopes of selling the work to a major institution, but he never pulled that off. Then, as tastes changed, it disappeared from public view. His masterpiece languished, yellowed and chipped, for many years in the basement of the Worcester Art Museum. However, the wheel has turned. Thanks to a major grant from the Luce Foundation, Shipwrecked Mother and Child has been restored and returned to its former glory. It now occupies pride of place in the museum’s 19^th century gallery.

The Crow’s Nest

Despite his failure to sell this work, Brackett felt sufficiently comfortable by 1850 to set about building a house for his family. He chose four acres of undeveloped land in what would become Winchester, Mass. This project was inspired by Orson Fowler’s book A Home for All, which detailed plans for an octagon shaped house. Thanks to Fowler, a thousand such sparely ornamented, relatively inexpensive homes were built across the country in the 1850s. However, Brackett’s version was extremely original. Instead of a single large octagonal shaped exterior, he joined together five room-sized octagons, each of a different height. Sitting high on a hill, this design suggests a castle whose central two-story octagon rises like a battlement over the stepped components below. Thanks to its lofty position, the house was dubbed The Crow’s Nest. Attesting to its uniqueness, the National Register of Historic Places now lists Brackett’s octagon house.

The Edward A. Brackett House

The passions that would culminate in the Civil War tore Boston apart. Brackett’s choices of portrait subjects make his political sympathies clear. He created busts of most of Boston’s most prominent abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips. These associations led to his most famous work, a bust of the notorious rabble-rouser John Brown.

Edward Augustus Brackett and John Brown

The story of his creation of this work almost seems made for cinema. Inspired by a chance sighting of Brown on the streets of Boston, Brackett determined to create the bust following Brown’s ill fated raid on the armory at Harper’s Ferry. With the help of Charles Stearns, a member of the “Secret Six” who had funded Brown’s raid, he traveled to Charles Town, Va., where Brown awaited execution in prison.

In Charles Town, Brackett battled resistance from public officials who had been warned that he was “an Abolitionist and a spy.” Finally, with the assistance of a sympathetic assistant jailer, Brackett was secreted into the cell. There he met Brown and made the sketches necessary for his project. Before returning to Boston Brackett accepted a set of dispatches written by a pro-abolitionist reporter posing as a writer for a pro-slavery publication. Literally going undercover, Brackett wound the sheets of paper around his body beneath his clothes. Thus, he managed to bring this firsthand account of Brown’s trial to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune.

John Brown by Edward Augustus Brackett, 1860, marble, Tufts University permanent collection

The subsequent bust gives Brown the aspect of an Old Testament prophet. It was unveiled to great acclaim in a ceremony attended by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe, Bronson Alcott and other abolitionist luminaries. After the war, the bust disappeared from view. It was only rediscovered in 2015 when Laura McDonald, registrar for the Tufts University Art Galleries, stumbled across it, nose broken and swathed in plastic, in the galleries’ storeroom. Like Shipwrecked Mother it has been rescued, restored and is regularly displayed.

Edmonia Lewis

Brackett’s abolitionist sympathies also explained his association with Edmonia Lewis, the first female artist of color to achieve international recognition. An artist of mixed Black and Indigenous descent, William Lloyd Garrison introduced her to Brackett after several other prominent Boston sculptors had refused to work with her. Brackett mentored her, taught her how to model figures in clay and permitted her to create a medallion of John Brown based on his bust. She then sold the medallion at anti-slavery meetings.

Edmonia Lewis

Brackett didn’t mentor Lewis for long. They fell out for reasons that are not clear. Lewis went on to spend most of her career in Rome while being championed back home for works that touch on issues like abolition, slavery, Native American identity and mythology. She is currently the subject of a traveling exhibition organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art. The exhibition includes Brackett’s bust of John Brown.

The 1870s

The 1870s were a time of great change for Brackett. In 1871 his wife, Amanda, died. The following year he remarried. His new wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Amanda’s sister. He began to wind down his art career, closing his Boston studio in 1873. Meanwhile, his avocation as an animal breeder landed him a position with the newly formed Massachusetts Commission on Inland Fisheries. As commissioner and then chairman, he had responsibility for stocking streams and ponds with game fish. Those duties later expanded to include preservation of wild game and protection of endangered birds.

Edward Augustus Brackett and his animal pens, undated photograph.

He would hold this position for the next three decades. During that time his accomplishments included the patenting of a “fish ladder” designed to help migrating fish swim upstream across dams and culverts to reach their spawning grounds. He also joined the campaign against the use of bird feathers in fashionable women’s hats. And he championed the public’s rights to the nation’s waterways.

Edward Augustus Brackett, Spiritualist

But if Brackett had one foot in the camp of conservation and science, he planted his other foot in the world of spiritualism. He shared that interest with his second wife, Elizabeth. Judging from poems he wrote in her honor; it was one way of dealing with the death of his first wife Amanda. Spiritualism confirmed Brackett’s essentially positive vision of reality. For Spiritualists, death was not the end, but rather another stop on the path to human perfectibility. Because Spiritualism was associated with freedom from organized religion, patriarchal and racial hierarchies and class-based divisions, it found adherents among abolitionists, feminists, labor organizers and other social reformers.

Brackett wrote extensively about Spiritualism and his conversion from doubter to believer. He attended hundreds of seances. Many observers reported their amusement as he paraded around seance rooms on the arm of a “materialized apparition” of his dead niece Bertha. Brackett also participated in efforts to provide a scientific basis for Spiritualism. This caused him to lock horns with William James, the more skeptical founder of the American Society for Psychical Research. But Brackett made common cause with Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution. Wallace’s disappearance from history is often linked to his embrace of Spiritualism.

Legacy

Brackett died in 1908, just six months short of his 90^th birthday. Obituaries cited his many achievements, his art career, his abolitionist activities, his poetry and other writings and his work with the Fish and Game Commission. Today, when experts zealously guard the borders of their disciplines, it is refreshing to see how Brackett, an autodidact from a humble background, could move so fluidly between different branches of knowledge. His life and work reconnect us to a time of hope, belief in progress and a much-needed striving for connection.

Eleanor Heartney is contributing writer to Art in America, Artnet, Artpress and the Brooklyn Rail and author of many books and essays on art. Her most recent book is Edward Augustus Brackett: the Life, Art and Tumultuous Times of an American Original.

***

Click here to order your copy today.

Images. Brackett house by By User:Magicpiano – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11661817. Featured image created by ChatGPT.

0 comments 2K views

The Phelps Sacrifice: A Family’s Civil War

The Phelps Sacrifice is the second part of a two-part series about one family’s tragic experience of the Civil War. Read Part I here.

Having already lost their father to the ravages of the Civil War, Leroy and Levant Phelps enlisted in the Union Army on Dec. 9, 1863, for three years. The Phelps sacrifice was far from over.

Garrison Duty in Washington

The Phelps brothers were assigned to the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment. This unit had a complex history. Originally organized on July 5, 1861, as the 14th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, it was reconstituted as an artillery regiment on Jan. 1, 1862. The regiment was sent to Washington, D.C., to help man the forts protecting the capital through 1862 and the first half of 1863. In June 1863, Company I was sent to the Shenandoah Valley and participated in the Second Battle of Winchester and the retreat to Harper’s Ferry. with Companie B, C, H, and I assigned for the rest of the year to the Department of West Virginia. The bulk of the regiment was assigned to the Department of West Virginia.

Defense of Washington, D.C. during the Civil War

By December, most of the regiment was back manning the forts around Washington, D.C., Here Leroy and Levant Phelps would have joined as replacements. With the one exception of Company I, the regiment had seen no major action, nor had it sustained any significant losses beyond illness and injury. At least their mother could take some solace in the fact that Leroy and Levant would not be directly involved in combat, the threat of Confederate forces attacking Washington being greatly diminished. Alas, it was a false hope.

Conversion to Infantry

By 1864, the need to keep large artillery regiments around Washington had diminished. But at the same time, the need for additional infantry had risen significantly. The army now began to look at the manpower of the heavy artillery units that had not been depleted by combat. And thus, on May 15, 1864, the regiment, while maintaining its artillery designation, was converted to infantry. It then joined the Army of the Potomac at Belle Plain, Va. Privates Leroy and Levant Phelps were now infantryman. While they may have been reluctant to tell their mother, they were probably initially glad to leave the dull, uneventful daily grind of manning the Washington fortifications. As the Regimental history noted:

At last, after long months of garrison duty, days of waiting and impatience to the majority who wanted action, a share in the fighting and glory of achievement; of disappointment to those who wanted to be in the field with other regiments that had won the laurels of war; of all who wanted to hasten the day of victory, and of peace that was consummately desired; at last came the orders which brought the regiment into the midst of the bloodiest conflicts of the war.

Baptism of Fire at Spotsylvania

In 1864, monumental battles took place in Virginia. Leroy and Levant would see their first real combat at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 19-21, 1864, just three days after the regiment’s conversion to infantry. It would have been a rude awakening for the regiment since they had only rudimentary training in ground combat. On the first day of the battle, at Harris Farm/Fredericksburg Road, the regiment found itself in the thick of the fighting.

Privates Leroy and Levant Phelps were in Company D. The regimental history has an entry written by a member of the company.

The right company, F, and our company, D, were detached as skirmishers and filed to the right of the line. The regiment passed on and the two companies under Maj. Holt started off to the right. Co. F left us to relieve the picket of the 4th N. Y. in our front, while our company marched on to the right. Here we halted near the picket reserve of the 4th N. Y. and waited for orders.

Soon after we halted, the pickets commenced exchanging shots and soon the firing became quite hot, but the reserve of the 4th N. Y. picket was ordered in to support this line.

The firing began to increase in intensity; the bullets hummed over our heads and we began to think there was a skirmish in earnest. Just then the first battalion under Rolfe came up in double quick, formed in line of battle to the right of us.

‘Fix bayonets, forward’

Maj. Rolfe said to his command: “Men, we want to see if there are Rebels in those woods; if there are we must drive them out. Battalion, fix bayonets, forward, guide centre, march.” And down they went. They reached the woods, joining the 4th N. Y. The fight began soon.

Co. D was ordered to the right or near the centre, where we could see the whole fight. Maj. Rolfe was riding up and down his line urging his men on. I thought he was rash, for he was in uniform and a conspicuous target. Our company was sent to cover behind a house close by. Some of our men were wounded, but our ambulance corps was not on hand. DeMeritt of our company, severely wounded in both legs, I placed in a 2d N. Y. ambulance. After a time the Rebels were too strong and our company had to fall back.

Our second battalion came up and we rallied in the woods and drove the Rebels from the house we had just left, but they came back and again we reformed in the woods. Here the battery on the hill in our rear opened on the Rebs and two of their shots struck among our men, killing one of Co. G and taking a leg off one in D. The 2d N. Y. came up and fired a volley into us instead of the enemy.

We gained the house again and, protected by that and a rail fence, held the position until reinforcements came, when we helped drive the Rebels down the hill.

The 2d N. Y. were entirely disorganized. They had the line in advance of ours in the evening and, while our troops were putting in their volleys the 2d N. Y. broke and fell back on us.

The 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment bury dead Confederates at the Alsop Farm May 19, 1864.

The Cost of Harris Farm

Company D lost four killed and 18 wounded.

As the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery monument at the Harris Farm states:

In commemoration of the deeds of the First Regiment Heavy Artillery Massachusetts Volunteers (Armed as Infantry) three hundred and ninety eight of whose members fell within an hour around this spot during an action fought May 19 1864 between a division of the Union Army commanded by General Tyler and a corps of the Confederate forces under General Ewell.

Considering their lack of training as infantry and that they were seriously outnumbered, the regiment and the Phelps brothers acquitted themselves well. They were lucky to survive unscathed. The remaining men had to learn their trade on the fly since, only two days later on May 23rd, they were involved in the fighting at the North Anna River and at Totopotomoy. In both instances, they did not engage heavily with the enemy.

A Respite During the Battle of Cold Harbor

The regiment was then involved in the Battle of Cold Harbor (June 1-12, 1864). Though a bloodbath for the Union Army, fortunately for the regiment it did not suffer as heavily as others. The regimental history has an interesting entry regarding a quiet phase of the battle when even the Confederates appear exhausted.

June 7, Cutler writes: This is the first day for some time that we have not been under fire. We have had some good resting spells lately and feel greatly refreshed after the hard service we saw after starting from the forts.

The Rebel pickets opposite our lines are quite sociable and quiet; not a shot has been fired by either side. The firing last night was on the right of us. They are North Carolina troops. Our pickets trade coffee and sugar with them for tobacco. They have no coffee or sugar, but plenty of other food. One man gave himself over to our forces. He says he has plenty to eat, but his family is suffering. They all think the war will not last much longer, but say that Grant will have a hard time taking Richmond…

A Truce, and the Siege of Petersburg

On the seventh a truce was arranged from 6 to 8 p.m., to get off the wounded and bury the dead. Some of the wounded had lain exposed to sun and rain on the battle fields since the third, and their sufferings were terrible. The stench from dead bodies was unbearable. The terrible scene seemed to have an effect on both armies and, though the firing of musketry was heard later, many a shot went high in the air. Cutler says he did not hear a picket shot on the eighth. In the afternoon he enjoyed corn bread secured from the Rebs and he wanted more of it. In the evening the batteries exchanged shots…

Unburied dead on the battlefield

Only four days after Cold Harbor, on June 16, 1864, the regiment joined the Siege of Petersburg. They would fight in the siege lines and in the various battles in the area until Petersburg fell on April 2, 1865. For the remainder of 1864, Pvts. Leroy and Levant Phelps participated in the First Assault on Petersburg. Then they fought on the Jerusalem Plank Road, Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains, Peeble’s Farm, Boydton Plank Road/Hatcher’s Run and the Expedition to Weldon Railroad.

Hatcher’s Run

The Final Campaign

Through early March 1865, the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery was involved in only one significant action at Dabney’s Mills/Hatcher’s Run (Feb. 3-7, 1865) other than service in the siege lines. Then on March 29, 1865, Grant and the Army of the Potomac began their final campaign, the Appomattox Campaign.

On March 31, 1865, the regiment and the Phelps brothers found themselves in a familiar area near Boydton Plank Road. It was a minor affair given their previous combat, but it would be a lasting memory for the Phelps’ family. The regimental history describes the action:

March 31, 1865. After being moved to the left in the morning, our brigade and the 5th Mich, were sent forward at 11 a. m. and three hours later advanced upon a Rebel fort under a terrible fire, that somehow proved very ineffective. We came to an impassable morass just in front of the fort and lay down there, maintaining a heavy fire, and exposed not only to the fire from the enemy’s infantry in the works but to canister from their battery. Staff officers in the rear of our lines sat on their horses, coolly surveying the enemy’s works through field glasses, under fire. After half an hour, retreat was sounded and we retired in good order. The regiment lost one man, Peleg Swift, Co. A, aged 45, the oldest man in the regiment killed, and had ten wounded. The left of the brigade rested on the Boydton Plank Road and the battle was not far from that other engagement of Oct. 27, 1864.

Slashing and Retreating

Among Gardner’s papers were found abstracts from the diary of Sergeant Bradley, not printed in the memorial book. He fails to mention that Captain Littlefield complimented him on the field for rallying men during the charge of March 31. But his story is perhaps the best of those preserved:

March 31, 1865. The sun came out about ten; it was most welcome. At eleven orders received to be ready to move in light marching order. The 1st Mass. and 5th Mich, passed over the work through the slashing into the heavy timber, past the picket lines. In about half an hour we were flanked on both sides, moved to the right a short distance, went forward to some slashing, ordered to retreat to the works, which we did; one killed and two wounded.

Another Phelps Sacrifice

All in all, the fighting on March 31, 1865, was a minor affair, except that one of those wounded that day was Pvt. Leroy Phelps. He must have suffered a serious wound. While it is not recorded, his brother Levant would have been nearby when Leroy was wounded since they were in the same company. Certainly, if he had not witnessed the actual event, he would have spent time with his brother before he was sent for further medical care.

The war did not stop for the regiment or Pvt. Levant Phelps. Both went on to fight in the final battles in Virginia. Petersburg fell on April 2, 1865. Then the final major battle with Lee’s army took place at Sailor’s Creek on April 6, 1865. There was one more small affair at High Bridge/Farmville on April 7, 1865. Then Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Pvt. Levant Phelps and the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery attended the event. It was not the end of the war, but it was the end of fighting in Virginia.

Pvt. Leroy Phelps was quickly evacuated to the Union’s Satterlee Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., where he died on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee’s surrender. Whether he knew of Lee’s surrender is unknown, but the news would have reached all of the North at the time. His mother’s undoubted joy at the end of the fighting in Virginia would soon be dashed when word reached her of her son’s death. His brother Levant may not have heard of the death for quite some time. Pvt. Leroy Phelps was interned in the military plot at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Homecoming and a Second Phelps Sacrifice

After Lee’s surrender, the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery stayed in Virginia before marching to Washington, D.C. While there it manned several fortifications. It took part in the Grand Review on June 15, 1865. Eventually, the regiment mustered out in Washington on Aug. 16, 1865. Sent north to Boston, the regiment and Pvt. Levant Phelps were discharged at Gallop’s Island, Boston Harbor, on Aug. 25, 1865.

Levant Phelps attended the Grand Review of the Union Army. He may or may not have known of the latest Phelps sacrifice.

Levant Phelps’ homecoming must have been bittersweet. His widowed mother would still have been mourning his brother Leroy. But at the same time, Levant’s return must have overjoyed her. At least now she had a semblance of normal family life with her two surviving sons and daughter.

On June 3, 1867, Levant Phelps married Ella Lovinia Prince in Goshen, Mass. Finally, an event happened to bring some joy to the Phelps’ household. and his mother could now perhaps look forward to a grandchild.

But tragedy would once again strike the family. On 28 Nov 1869, Levant Phelps died of heart disease. He was only 25 years old. There is nothing to indicate a congenital condition, and it is entirely possible that the condition came about because of his hard war service. In any event, there were no children from the marriage. His mother Erryphila must have been a strong woman to survive – within 8 years she had lost a husband and two sons.

A Mother’s Enduring Scars

Erryphila Wheeler Phelps never remarried. She died on April 18, 1899, at Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. She apparently lived at the time with her daughter and her family. Her son Laselle and her daughter Ella Jane survived her. Both had children. Unfortunately, she had to survive one more tragedy when Laselle’s infant son died in 1896.

In one way or another, every family in the United States was left with the scars of war. The Phelps family was an ordinary family living, and dying, in extraordinary times. As such, they differed little from many of the families on both sides at the time.

Read more about the Phelps sacrifice here.

Abner Phelps was the author’s 2nd Cousin, 4 times removed, and his sons Leroy and Levant Phelps were his 3rd Cousins, 3 times removed.

***

Now available in paperback and as an ebook from the New England Historical Society! A collection of stories about the French people who came to America. Click here to order your copy today!

0 comments 2.5K views

The Phelps of Massachusetts: An Ordinary Family’s Civil War Odyssey

This is the first part of a two-part series about the Phelps family sacrifice during the Civil War.

When the Civil War started in April 1861, Abner and Erryphila Phelps were an average New England farm family, living in Goshen, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. With three sons and a daughter, there was nothing to set them apart from any other local family. Absent the Civil War, the Phelps’ family life would have led a normal, routine, unremarkable and uneventful life, just your average family with not even a brief historical mention beyond the boundaries of their local town.

Abner Phelps was born in July 1817 in Goshen, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Phelps (1791-1857) and Sally Pelletreau Mayhew (1796-1871). Through his mother’s Mayhew line, his New England roots ran deep. His many times great-grandfather Gov. Thomas Mayhew, the Elder (1593-1682), founded of the first European settlements on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the Islands.

In about 1844, Abner married Erryphila Wheeler (1817-1899). The marriage produced three sons — Leroy Phelps (1846-1865), Levant Phelps (1844-1869), Laselle Phelps (1854-1912) and one daughter, Ella Jane Phelps (1858-1915).

When the Civil War started, both sides assumed the fighting would be over in a matter of months.

Northerners were so confident of an easy victory — and so unaware of the horrors of war — that they traveled to an early battle, Bull Run, to watch and enjoy a picnic.

Abner Phelps Joins Up

At the time, Abner Phelps had no reason to join up. Indeed, he was 45 years old and well beyond the normal recruit age for a soldier. There would have been no expectation for him to enlist, and his two oldest sons were just turning 16 and 17 so they were too young. Had the predictions of early victory for one side or the other held true, the rest of the Phelps’ family story would have passed to uneventful oblivion. However, the rose-colored victory glasses soon turned black. An early resolution faded into the smoke of battle.

In August 1862, the immediate need for fresh troops for the Union was critical. President Lincoln called for the raising of 300,000 troops to serve in various state regiments for a 9-month period. Numerous 9-month regiments were raised in Massachusetts. Among those was the 52^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On Sept. 15, 1862, Abner Phelps, then 43 years old, enlisted as a private. On Oct. 11, 1862, he mustered in to Company I, 52^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Camp Miller, Greenfield, Mass.

Just why Abner Phelps enlisted is unknown. Certainly, to have enlisted at an age 20 years older than most of the men he would serve with, especially in the infantry, denoted a high degree of patriotism beyond the norm. Of the 90 men in Company I when the unit was formed, Abner Phelps was the only one from Goshen.

Camp Miller

As the “History of the 52^nd Regiment” notes:

Of life at Camp Miller not much is to be said. The days were spent in company and battalion drill; and in the nights, if some of the farmers in the neighborhood lost their poultry and their green corn, it was no more than could be expected…

Camp Miller, November 10 – The day was rainy and unpleasant; but precisely at a quarter to three the regiment, number 930 men, formed a line with their knapsacks, haversacks, and canteens on, when the adjutant read the order for their departure for New York…

If “the boys” thought they were playing soldier, and were off for a prolonged picnic, they were disabused of that idea when they reached New York. The rain fell in torrents: no provision had been made for their coming. They marched, dirty and hungry, through the muddy streets to the Park, and toward morning are let into the City Hall to get what rest they can on the stone floor, at least they are out of the rain and the mud…

New York City Hall in 1860. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Seaborne and Seasick

Conditions in New York gradually improved. But if the regiment and Abner Phelps thought that conditions had been unpleasant, it was just the start. The experiences of the regiment were probably typical of most units sent by sea. In the case of the 52^nd Massachusetts, virtually none of the men had even seen a major river, let alone an ocean.

Nov. 28, 1862, saw the regiment board the steamer Illinois.

We are in pretty close quarters, but are as comfortable as can be expected on board a vessel with 1,200 men.

They still had no idea that their destination was Louisiana. On Dec. 2, 1862, they set sail.

It was a novel experience to most of us. No land in sight, and we knew not when there would be. The sea became very rough, and multitudes were very sick. The fact is, most of us were dry-land sailors, though some had crossed the Connecticut River once or twice.

It was not a pleasant voyage.

Our quarters are crowded, food was poor, somewhat limited in quantity: the condensers were not large enough for such a multitude. So our tea and coffee were well flavored with salt water and grease…

Crowded, kept below deck most of the time, even in good weather the conditions would have been stifling. Conditions did not markedly improve, even when they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, and death came to the regiment before it even hit land.

As the regimental history goes on to describe:

Daniel W. Lyman, Co. K, wrote to the Northampton Gazette: “On the morning of the third day a stiff breeze was blowing, which soon increased to a gale. The heaving of the ship brought out all the sea-sickness, and but few escaped. Such a scene as we presented on board I shall not attempt to describe. I never witnessed the like before, and I hope I never shall again. This Sabbath morning was a sad one to our regiment. Richmond, of Co. E, was stricken with typhoid fever, and died in less than a day after he was taken ill. The funeral services were held on the hurricane deck, and his remains consigned to a watery grave.”

Private Phelps at Port Hudson

The regiment reached Baton Rouge on Dec. 17, 1862, after sailing up the river past New Orleans. After 19 days on the boat, the regimental history reported, “…orders came for the 52^nd to land, which they did cheerfully…”, which must have been the understatement of all time! They then remained in and around the area for the next three months, with some companies occasionally detailed to other places guarding supply lines. Then on March 13-14, 1863, Private Phelps and the regiment participated in a joint Army-Navy operation against Port Hudson, La., when Adm. David G. Porter tried unsuccessfully to force a river passage. The regiment got within several hundred yards of the fort, but saw no action, returning to Baton Rouge thereafter.

Union soldiers dig a trench in anticipation of the siege of Port Huron.

It next participated in the Bayou Teche Campaign designed to remove a Confederate flanking threat for Gen. Nathaniel Banks’ upcoming assault on Port Hudson. The regiment was involved in some skirmishing, but saw no sustained fighting. It remained in the area for over a month, guarding various supply lines and reacting to suspected Confederate threats.

On May 27, 1863, the Union army made the first assault on Port Hudson, but the 52nd Massachusetts was still in Bayou Teche and did not reach the Port Hudson siege lines until May 30. On June 14, Private Phelps and the regiment took part in the second assault on Port Hudson, where the terrain and heavy Confederate fire stopped the regiment. They were then deployed as flankers and skirmishers. One can only marvel at the stamina and courage of Phelps, who at 43 years old, was probably suffering physically much more than the younger men around him.

The Battle

As the skirmish line advances, the reserves are ordered up. Capt. Bliss, of Co. G, an efficient, promising young officer, is carried off the field, mortally wounded. Lieut. Rice, of Co. B, an equally meritorious officer, is severely wounded. One soldier of the reserves is struck in the hand, and another in the leg; and our rank and file are killed and wounded along our long skirmish line, in uncertain numbers. We wonder how those brave lads, in that long, irregular line, can live at all in such a ‘leaden rain,’under such a deadly fire. The roar of cannon, the plunging, shrieking, and bursting of shells, and the discharge of small arms are continuous on both sides.

Soon we observe that the assaulting column is checked in its advance, apparently with heavy loss; but our gallant skirmishers, under the immediate direction of the lieutenant colonel and major, still press forward. They soon gain position within pistol range of the entire line of fortifications, covering a front of one-fourth to one-third of a mile; and, as the main column does not advance, they now halt, dig rifle-pits, roll up logs, utilize stumps, pile up brush, and otherwise protect themselves as best they can from further loss. And from this poorly sheltered, advanced position ‘the boys’ soon silenced the enemy’s artillery in their front. If a rebel sharpshooter shows his head above the ramparts now, he does so at his peril.

Attack on Port Huron

Aftermath

But it is now apparent that the grand assault has been repulsed. Artillery firing mainly ceases. Only sharp-shooters on both sides seem to be busily engaged; but they evidently have business enough on hand, particularly in our own neighborhood. About this time our most anxious, perambulating colonel is made aware of the fact that he in particular has become an object of considerable interest, — a sort of revolving, moving target for several Confederate gentlemen of that obnoxious persuasion; and, as there appears to be no further need of personal exposure on his part just now, he promptly seeks out a good-sized stump, on high, commanding ground, extemporizes it into regimental headquarters, and occupies them in person without formal ceremony.

The bullets come ‘thud, thud, thud,’ into the tough old stump, and continue to ‘zip’ and whistle about these new and novel yet strictly ‘military’ headquarters, until the sun is well down in the west. We cannot yet move to bring off our wounded or to bury our dead. The reserves are mostly under cover a short distance to the rear; and thus we remain on the battle-field until the following morning. As was necessary, we went into the fight in light marching order, and have unavoidably suffered much from want of our blankets during the damp, chilly night.

The Death of Abner Phelps

After retiring, they remained on picket duty for the next three weeks in an exposed position under daily fire until the Confederates surrendered on July 9. 1863. The regiment stayed at Port Hudson until July 23, but the soldiers were now nearing the end of their enlistment. The regiment was then sent by steamship up the Mississippi (and later by rail). The fall of Port Huron and Vicksburg opened the river, which made the 52nd Massachusetts the first Union regiment to travel up the Mississippi. It reached Greenfield, Mass., on Aug. 5, 1863. Pvt. Abner Phelps then mustered out with the regiment on Aug. 14, 1863. It must have been a joyful homecoming for his wife and children, a blessed relief after nine months of anxiety.

During the Civil War, camp life was always more deadly than actual combat. The 52^nd Massachusetts lost 11 men mortally wounded or killed in action, but 101 men died of disease. Typhoid, malaria, dysentery and diarrhea were major killers during the war. They resulted from overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor water supply and a general ignorance of the causes. On Sept. 1, 1863, 18 days after mustering out, Abner Phelps died at home in Goshen of diarrhea. The short period between his discharge and death strongly suggest that he was ill during his return from Louisiana. The cause of his death was directly related to his service. It would have been a devastating blow to his wife and children. They had just welcomed him home and thought he was at last safe from the terrors of the war.

Honoriing Their Father

By the time of their father’s death, two of his three sons, Leroy and Levant Phelps were 18 and 19 respectively. We can only imagine how the death of their father affected them, but on 9 Dec. 9, 1863, most probably to honor their father’s sacrifice and to the undoubted horror of their mother, they both enlisted as privates in Company D, 1^st Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery. Both signed up for 3 years.

To read Part II, click here.

Abner Phelps was the author’s 2^nd cousin, 4 times removed, and his sons Leroy and Levant Phelps were his 3^rd Cousins, 3 times removed.

***

Now available in paperback and as an ebook from the New England Historical Society! A collection of stories about the French people who came to America. Click here to order your copy today!

Images: “Attack on Port Huron” colorized by ChatGPT.

0 comments 2.6K views

The Forgotten Revolution of 1774: When Massachusetts Won Independence Before the War Started

In the fall of 1774, Massachusetts farmers won a revolution months before the war broke out at Lexington and Concord. While every American fifth-grader knows about the shot heard ’round the world, almost no one knows the story of the nearly bloodless uprising that freed the colony from British control outside of Boston. This is the story of the Forgotten Revolution — an organized and decisive overthrow of the Crown’s authority. American history, however, has nearly forgotten it.

The British Parliament lit the spark in London. Furious over the Boston Tea Party, the lawmakers passed the Coercive Acts to punish and isolate Massachusetts. The most devastating of these was the Massachusetts Government Act. It decreed that the people would no longer elect judges, sheriffs and Governor’s Councilors. Instead, the royal governor — Gen. Thomas Gage — would appoint them. The law also banned Town Meeting except for once a year. The patriot propaganda machine called it an attempt to impose “abject slavery” on the people of Massachusetts.

General Gage by John Singleton Copley

For the plain folk of the colonial countryside, this was an existential threat. The courts of Common Pleas met four times a year, and they mostly adjudicated unpaid debts. They also had the power to seize property as a remedy for indebtedness.

Now, a judge appointed by the Crown, not answerable to the community, could seize on farmers’ small debts to foreclose on their land. The colonists feared the Crown-appointed judges would use the law to reduce them to serfdom. Invisible hands across the Atlantic would strip them of their independence.

The Forgotten Revolution

When the new law took effect on Aug. 1, 1774, the people were ready. They had armed themselves and drilled. Then, from mid-August to mid-September, they took part in an unprecedented uprising. Tens of thousands of plain folk from the Berkshires to Cape Cod gathered at meeting houses, closed the courts and forced the newly appointed judges, sheriffs, barristers and justices of the peace to resign. They also intimidated nearly all the 36 newly appointed Governor’s Councilors, including the lieutenant governor, to resign. And they held Town Meeting with impunity — in Salem, right under Governor Gage’s nose.

By the end of September, the British government’s authority in Massachusetts outside of Boston had ended. Few plaques mark these events, textbooks don’t mention how the farmers, tradesmen and common citizens of Massachusetts won their independence from Britain. This is the story of their forgotten revolution.

Worcester Beginnings

On Sept. 6, 1774, the Court of Common Pleas for Worcester County was due to convene at the meeting house (now City Hall). The king’s newly appointed judges arrived to find Main Street lined by nearly 5,000 militiamen from 37 different towns — half the county’s adult male population. The protesters proclaimed that the courts should not sit on any terms.”Then they humiliated the court officers, forcing them to walk back and forth 30 times, hats in hand, repeating that they resigned and would not open the courts

The people of Worcester County then set up their own government. They freed all prisoners charged with debt, fired any public officials who wouldn’t resign, stopped sending tax revenue to British authorities in Boston and established seven new militia regiements.

Royal Gov. Thomas Gage had seen it coming. He wrote to Lord Dartmouth , Secretary of State for the Colonies, telling him that in Worcester County the colonists openly threatened armed resistance, bought gunpowder and guns and cast ammunition. But Gage couldn’t do anything about it.

The Forgotten Revolution Spreads

The rebellious colonists coordinated their response to the Massachusetts Government Act, and the forgotten rebolution spread to Springfield, Great Barrington, Plymouth, Cambridge, Taunton and Barnstable.

On Sept. 6, 1744, several thousand protesters and armed militia marched to the Springfield meeting house, so crowding it the judges couldn’t sit down. They then forced the court officers to take off their hats and sign their resignations. An eyewitness described the scene:

The people of each town being drawn into separate companies marched with staves & musick. The trumpets sounding, drums beating, fifes playing and Colours flying, struck the passions of the soul into a proper tone, and inspired martial courage into each.

In Great Barrington, 1,500 unarmed men filled the meeting house and the roads leading to it on Aug. 24, 1774. They prevented the judges from entering the building and forced their to resign. They also intimidated one of the king’s justices of the peace into fleeing from his home to Boston for safety.

In Concord so many people filled the meeting house the newly appointed judges, barristers and sheriff couldn’t get in. The court officials repaired to Wright’s Tavern and offered a compromise: If they could enter the building, they wouldn’t conduct any business. Their answer came at sundown: No.

On Sept. 27, 1774, the new lawyers and justices tried to open the Court of Common Pleas in Plymouth. They had as much luck as the others. As many as 3,000 militiamen and protesters blocked the courthouse and forced the court officials to publicly resigm.

A Cape Cod Family Affair

Col. James Otis, Sr., accepted a royal appointment as presiding justice of the Barnstable County Court of Common Pleas on Cape Cod. But the patriots of Cape Cod viewed the royally appointed court officers in the same light as the patriot in the rest of Massachusetts.

James Otis, Sr.

According to “The History of Barnstable County,” the residents of Sandwich, joined by many from the towns west, marched to Barnstable to intercept the sitting of the court.

Otis addressed the crowd: “As is my duty, I now, in his Majesty’s name, order you immediately to disperse.”

Nathaniel Freeman, the leader of the protest, replied, “We thank your honor for having done your duty, we shall continue to perform ours.”

In the end, all the Crown-appointed judges in Barnstable County agreed they would ignore Parliament’s new law.

The Barnstable courthouse then and now (currently the A Tales of Cape Cod Museum

Some accounts claim the crowd was led by James Otis, Jr., the ardent patriot leader who popularized the term “taxation without representation.” But James Otis, Jr., suffered from mental illness and was probably quite mad by then. However, two of the judge’s other sons, Joseph and Solomon, did participate in the protest against their own father. Their sister, Mercy Otis Warren, also supported the patriot cause and wrote a history of the American Revolution. Her statue and her famous brother’s both stand in front of the new stone Barnstable County Courthouse.

The Forgotten Revolution in Taunton

Taunton, a hotbed of patriotism, took the rebellion a step further. Thousands from the surrounding towns met in Taunton and adopted a resolution against the “pretended authority of the British government.” They surrounded the courthouse, preventing it from opening. then attacked the house of Daniel Leonard, one of his majesty’s justices of the peace and a barrister who refused to resign. Leonard had to flee for his life when they fired bullets into his house. Peter Oliver, another of the king’s justices of the peace, was driven from his home in nearby Middleborough and also fled to Boston.

A month later, Taunton’s Liberty and Union flag was unfurled on the town’s green -– the town’s own declaration of independence.

The Taunton Flag, adopted by the people of Taunton in 1774

Executive Council Wiped Out

For Royal Gov. Thomas Gage, the rebellion in the towns crippled his government — not just his judges, sheriffs and barristers, but also his Governor’s Council. The Council performed vital government functions as the upper legislative body and the highest court in the colony. Under the Massachusetts Government Act , he appointed 36 new councilors.

But the patriots intimidated most of them into resigning or refusing to take office.

Gage had appointed Thomas Oliver of Cambridge as his lieutenant governor. Oliver soon wished he hadn’t. Four thousand men attacked Oliver in his house, forcing him to resign. That didn’t pacify the patriots, who foightened him into to fleeing to Boston for protection.

The House of Representatives, which remained intact under the law, refused to recognize it and formed their own shadow government — the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. The Provincial Congress essentially replaced British authority. It began collecting taxes, regulating trade, organizing militia units and buying military supplies. For the first time, an American colony had created a fully operational, independent government that ignored royal authority.

Not Forgotten in New York

Months later, the people of Westminster, Vt. , took over the county court after a bloody confrontation. The town then belonged to New York Colony. On March 13, 1775, tensions between local patriots and Loyalist officials came to a head in the Cumberland County courthouse. Patriots, fearing economic ruin and the seizure of their farms by Loyalist courts, had occupied the building to prevent a session. Despite a promise from the chief judge that they would be unmolested, an armed posse led by the sheriff arrived and fired upon the protesters, who were armed only with sticks. One young farmer, William French, was mortally wounded and tormented as he died in a cell.

By the next morning, over 400 patriot militiamen had surrounded the courthouse, forcing the surrender of the officials inside and effectively ending New York’s authority in the region a full month before the battles of Lexington and Concord. While New York’s governor decried the event as a “dangerous insurrection,” the outbreak of the wider revolution soon overshadowed it.

The Westminster Massacre, though largely forgotten, is considered by many Vermonters as the first bloodshed of the American Revolution.

Westminster, Vt., meeting house

***

Walk in the Footsteps of Heroes.
Your Guide to the Living History of New England’s Revolution is Here.

Go beyond the history books and stand where America’s fight for independence began. This isn’t just a guide—it’s your time machine. The newly updated third edition of Revolutionary War Sites in New England is packed with everything you need to plan an unforgettable journey through the past.

Fully Updated & Expanded: This third edition includes new itineraries, a hundred new landmarks and even more stories to enrich your adventure.

Click here to order a paperback or ebook.
With thanks to Ray Raphael, “A People’s History of the American Revolution.”

Images: Featured image created by ChatGPT. Image of the Westminster meeting house courtesy Jesse Haas, president of the Westminster Historical Society.

0 comments 4.1K views

Newer Posts

Older Posts

Politics and Military

The Turner’s Falls Massacre: History’s Ugly Truth Emerges

Prelude to the Turner’s Falls Massacre

Revenge

The English Leaders

The Turner’s Falls Massacre

Retreat

Attack on Hadley

Lost and Found: The History of the Turner’s Falls Massacre

Ken Burns’ The American Revolution: Your Guide to Visiting the Historic Sites

Ken Burns’ The American Revolution Episode I

The Townshend Duties

The Tea Party

A Crackdown Backfires

A Shot Heard ‘Round the World

Part II of the Ken Burns Documentary Series

1776

Episode III of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

The Northern Theater

Episode IV of The American Revolution

The Turning Point: Saratoga

Episode V

The French Arrive

The Final Episode of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

End Notes

The Many Lives of Edward Augustus Brackett: Artist, Abolitionist, and Visionary

Edward Augustus Brackett

Move to Boston

The Crow’s Nest

Edward Augustus Brackett and John Brown

Edmonia Lewis

The 1870s

Edward Augustus Brackett, Spiritualist

Legacy

The Phelps Sacrifice: A Family’s Civil War

Garrison Duty in Washington

Conversion to Infantry

Baptism of Fire at Spotsylvania

‘Fix bayonets, forward’

The Cost of Harris Farm

A Respite During the Battle of Cold Harbor

A Truce, and the Siege of Petersburg

The Final Campaign

Slashing and Retreating

Another Phelps Sacrifice

Homecoming and a Second Phelps Sacrifice

A Mother’s Enduring Scars

The Phelps of Massachusetts: An Ordinary Family’s Civil War Odyssey

Abner Phelps Joins Up

Camp Miller

Seaborne and Seasick

Private Phelps at Port Hudson

The Battle

Aftermath

The Death of Abner Phelps

Honoriing Their Father

The Forgotten Revolution of 1774: When Massachusetts Won Independence Before the War Started

The Forgotten Revolution

Worcester Beginnings

The Forgotten Revolution Spreads

A Cape Cod Family Affair

The Forgotten Revolution in Taunton

Executive Council Wiped Out

Not Forgotten in New York

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Thanks for Signing Up!