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1832.^1882.
SU1I-CENTENN1AL CELEBRATION
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Address oi the Hon. E. C. SPRAGUE"
Before the Buffalo Historical Society, July 3, 1882.
CELEBRATION OF JULY 4th,
IN CONNECTION WITH LAYING OF CORNER STONE OF
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
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1832.^.^1882.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
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Address of the Hon. E. C. SPRAGUE
Before the Buffalo Historical [Society, July 3, 1882.
CELEBRATION OF JULY 4th,
IN CONNECTION WITH LAYING OF CORNER STONE OF
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PUBLISHED UNDER DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
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PRESS OF
E. H. HUTCHINSON,
12 TO 18 EAGLE ST.. Buffalo. N. y.
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PIEFATOKY NOTE.
The interest awakened by the celebratioq of our city's Semi- centennial, has elicited a large amount of interesting and valu- able historical information whicr] we hope to see placed iq con- venient fornq for preservation. Iq preparing these pages the committee iq charge have felt that they could not do better thaq to reproduce the account of the exercises of the Third of July, substantially, as published in the Buffalo Morning Express, and of the celebratioq of the Fourtrj of July, frorq the Buffalo Daily Commercial Advertiser.
718961
IUESTBATIONS.
Portrait, Hoq. Dr. EBENEZER JOHNSON,
First Mayor, 1832.
Portrait, Hoq. GROVER CLEVELAND,
Mayor, 1882. Port of Buffalo, 1815. Circular of Invitatioq witf] view of City and County Hal and Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
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First Mayor of Buffalo 1832
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At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Buffalo Historical Society, held on the 14th day of March, 1882, at the rooms of the Society, the subject of the celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city was considered, which resulted in the adoption of the following resolution :
Resolved : That the President appoint a committee of five, to make arrangements for a proper observance by this Society of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Buffalo, which will occur April 20, 1882.
Whereupon, the President named Wm. H. H. Newman, Rev. A. T. Chester, William C. Bryant, Wm. Dana Fobes, and Thomas B. French, as such committee.
Subsequently, the Common Council of the city appointed a committee of its members, and of citizens for the purpose of arranging for the anniversary, and also for the celebration of the ensuing national jubilee, and a meeting of the commit- tees was held, at which the subject was considered. The fol- lowing report of the action of the several committees was made to the Board of Managers of the Historical Society, April 16, 1882. William C. Bryant, from the semi-cen- tennial committee, reported that a joint meeting of the Com- mon Council committee, the Citizen's committee and the com- mittee of the Society had been held, and after consulting to- gether it was deemed expedient to postpone the celebration of the event until the 4th of July next, and ask time for further action.
Afterwards it was arranged by the several committees, that the celebration of the anniversary of the incorporation of the city, should be conducted under the auspices of the Buffalo Historical Society, and that the exercises should be held at St. James Hall in the evening of the 3d day of July, and that the commemorative proceedings upon the 4th of July should
6 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
be conducted by the committees appointed by the Common
Council.
The committee finally arranged that the semi-centennial
exercises should be conducted by the Society on the evening of July 3d at St. James Hall, according to the following pro- gramme :
Music — Overture, " Arion " (Schachi) Wahle's Orchestra.
Announcement of Officers --By Hon. James Sheldon.
Remarks, By His Honor, Mayor Grover Cleveland .
Invocation . Rev. Wm. Shelton, D. D.
Reading letters in response to invitations, W. C. Bryant, Esq.
Music — ' ' Gavotte " . Giesman .
Oration By Hon. E. Carlton Sprague.
Music ___<•' Star Spangled Banner. ' '
Benediction Rev. Albert T. Chester.
Music — Grand March, " Boccaccio " ...Suppe.
THE CELEBRATION.
The exercises arranged by the Buffalo Historical Society to commemorate the semi-centennial anniversary of the city were held in St. James Hall on the evening of July 3d. The occasion proved exceedingly interesting, and pleasant as well. Calculated to enlist the particular attention of the old residents, it brought them together in very unusual numbers. The hall was simply yet elegantly adorned. Festoons of red-white- and-blue material were looped from the gallery semi-circle. A temporary railing divided the main floor, so that a number of the rows of seats in front might be reserved for those attend- ing upon special invitation. The stage and its furniture were quite profusely decked with luxuriant flowering plants and ferns, contributed from the conservatories of Mrs. James Shel- don. Below the proscenium arch were drawn curtains of great American flags, one bearing the year of the city's incor- poration, " 1832," the other the year of to-day, " 1882." At the back of the stage another large flag depended, before it standing a portrait of the first Mayor of Buffalo, Dr.
EXERCISES AT ST. JAMES HALL.
Ebenezer Johnson. His daughter, Mrs. John C. Lord, it may be here appropriately noted, was one of the ladies present. On the walls about the hall were hung other portraits of men prominently identified with the early history of the city and its development, among them the famous Indian orator, Red Jacket, ex-President Millard Fillmore, Joseph Ellicott, the agent of the Holland Land Company who laid out the village of New Amsterdam, which became the village and in time the city of Buffalo, Louis Le Couteulx, William Peacock, Myron Hawley who was one of the earliest, if not the first, projec- tor of the Erie Canal, Gen. Peter B. Porter, George Palmers Judge Samuel Wilkeson, General William F. Barry, Williuia G. Fargo, and George W. Tifft. Also there was a picture showing an old street scene in Buffalo, with the Eagle Tavern the prominent feature, a very truthful representation of the leading public house of 1832, and with a fame then shared by few hostelries west of New York.
The attendance was mostly of those who have lived long in the city, or who are descendants of its fathers. Some very old men and women were present, and many whose lives have been closely identified with a considerable period of the city' existence ; too many of such, in fact, to permit the represen- tation of a list which would name all who should in such a case be mentioned. There was much to awaken old-time reminiscence. One very interesting incident may be cited : Side by side sat Mr. Samuel Lake of this city, and Mr. Thomas Faulkner of Wheatland, Monroe County. Each of these venerable men is in his 93d year. Mr. Lake, an American Soldier, was in old Fort Erie when the historic sortie was made during the war of 1812. Mr. Faulkner, a soldier of the First Scottish Fusileers, was one of- the British force which in- vested it. Of the armies of that time few indeed still live, and that these representatives of the then contending troops should thus nearly seventy years later and on such an occasion
8 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
be brought together was an occurrence of a certainly interest- ing character.
The Historical Society's Committee of Arrangements, Messrs. William H. H. Newman, William Dana Fobes, Wil- liam C. Bryant, Thomas B. French, and the Rev. A. T. Chester, D. D., were all early at the scene and busy with re- ceiving the old settlers and other special guests. General Stewart L. Woodford, who is to deliver the address at the laying of the corner stone of the monument on the Fourth, was an evidently much interested attendant at the exercises.
About eight o'clock the programme was begun with an overture by Wahle's Orchestra, after which the Hon. James Sheldon, Chief Judge of the Superior Court, addressed the assemblage as follows :
Citizens : — You are assembled this evening to celebrate the first semi-centennial anniversary of the days when the City of Buffalo was organized and took its place among the sister cities of the Republic. The Historical Society of our city, as the recognized authority, having by its timely and patient labors gathered and garnered the facts constituting the early history of Buffalo and Western New York, has assumed charge of the exercises appropriate to the occasion, and it has been deemed proper that his Honor the Mayor should act as President of the meeting. His Honor the Mayor of the city is therefore requested to take the chair.
Mayor Grover Cleveland then came forward, and was ac- corded an enthusiastic reception. He spoke in the following words, and was frequently applauded :
REMARKS OF MAYOR CLEVELAND.
Ladies and Gentlemen : I ought perhaps to be quite content on this occasion to assume the part of quiet gratifica- tion. But I cannot forbear expressing my satisfaction in being allowed to participate with, you in the exercises of the evening, and I feel that I must give token of the pleasure I experience in gazing with you upon the fair face of our Queen City at the age of fifty.
I am proud with you in contrasting what seems to us the
. Coj.iik lm Co. 8u
J{ if fill lilftlAli,
Mayor of Buffalo 1882.
REMARKS BY MAYOR CLEVELAND. 9
small things of fifty years ago, with the beauty and the great- ness, and the importance of to-day.
The achievements of the past are gained, the prosperity of the present we hold with a firm hand, and the promise of the future comes to us with no uncertain sound.
It seems to me to-day that of all men the resident of Buffalo should be the proudest to name his home.
In the history of a city, fifty years but marks the period of youth when all is fresh and joyous. The face is fair, the step is light, and the burden of life is carried with a song, the future stretching far ahead is full of bright anticipations, and the past with whatever of struggle and disappointment there may have been, seems short and is half forgotten.
In this hey-day of our city's life, we do well to exchange our congratulations, and to revel together, in the assurances of the happy and prosperous future which awaits us.
And yet I do not deem it wrong, to remind myself and you that our city great in its youth, did not suddenly spring into existence, clad in beauty and in strength.
There were men fifty years ago, who laid its foundations broad and deep ; and who with the care of jealous parents, tended it and watched its growth.
Those early times were not without their trials and their discouragements j and we reap to-day the fruit of the labors and perseverance of those pioneers.
Those were the fathers of the city. Where are they ?
Fifty years added to manhood fills the cup of human life. Most have gone to swell the census of God's City, which lies beyond the Stream of Fate. A few there are who listlessly linger upon the bank, and wait to cross, in the sh ide of trees they have planted with their own hands.
Let us tenderly remember the dead to-night j and let us renew our love and veneration for them who are spared to speak to us of the scenes attending our city's birth and in- fancy.
And in this our day of pride and self-satisfaction, there is, I think, one lesson at least, which we may learn from the men who have thus come down to us from a former generation.
In the days of the infancy of the city which they founded, and for many years afterwards, the people loved their city so well that they would only trust the management of its affairs in the strongest and best of hands ; and no man in those days was so engrossed in his own business but he could find some time to devote to public concerns.
Read the names of the men who held places in this mu-
10 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
nicipality fifty years ago, and food for reflection will be found.
Is it true that the city of to-day, with its large population, and with its vast and varied interests, needs less and different care than it did fifty years ago ?
We boast of our citizenship to-night. But this citizen- ship brings with it duties not unlike those we owe our neighbor and our God.
There is no better time than this for self-examination. He who deems himself too pure and holy to take part in the affairs of his city, will meet the fact that better men than he have thought it their duty to do so. He who cannot spare a moment in his greed and selfishness to devote to public con- cerns, will perhaps find a well-grounded fear that he may be- come the prey of public plunderers ; and he who indolently cares not who administers the government of his city, will find that he is living falsely, and in the neglect of his highest duty.
When our Centennial shall be celebrated, what will be said of us ? I hope it may be said that we built and wrought well, and added much to the substantial prosperity of the city we had in charge. Brick and mortar may make a large city, but the encouragement of those things which elevate and purify, the exaction of the highest standard of integrity in official place, and a constant, active interest on the part of the good people in municipal government are needed to make a great city.
Let it be said of us when only our names and memory are left, in the Centennial time, that we faithfully admin- istered the trust which we received from our fathers, and religiously performed our parts, in our day and generation, toward making our city not only prosperous but truly great.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
The following Vice Presidents and Secretaries were then named by Judge Sheldon, and appointed :
Vice Presidents — William Hodge, E. G. Spaulding, Lewis F. Allen, Augustus C. Moore, Orsamus H. Marshall, Sherman S. Jewett, John L. Kimberly, Bronson C. Rumsey, James C. Harrison, Ernst G. Gray, Warren Bryant, Gibson T. Williams, Edward L. Stevenson, Jonathan Scoville, P. P. Pratt, Wm. H. Glenny, Sherman S. Rogers, George Howard, Henry Martin, Dr. George N. Burwell, Francis H. Root, Philip
INVOCATION BY DR. SHELTON. 11
Beyer, Jewett M. Richmond, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, Henry Kip, John Wilkeson, Myron P. Bush, John Allen, Jr., Jacob H. Koons, James M. Humphrey, Charles W. Evans, William P. Letch worth.
Secretaries — Edward Bennett, David F. Day, John S. Trowbridge, A. Porter Thompson, Edward P. Beals, Charles E. Young, Asaph S. Bemis, Warren Granger, Samuel M. Welch, John McManus, William C. Demarest, Elias O. Salis- bury, Leon F. Harvey.
The venerable William Shelton, D. D., then stepped to
the reading-desk to pronounce the invocation. He was
greeted with a round of applause, which testified to the general
respect and affection in which the rector of more than half a
century is held by the community. The prayer was as
follows :
THE INVOCATION.
We look to God for a blessing upon this assembly, and upon the occasion which brings it together. We look to Him for a blessing to our common country, our government and laws, and our courts of justice, that they may always know the right, that they may defend the fatherless and befriend the poor. We bless the God of all Truth that He hath, from the day of Columbus, blessed our land and distinguished it by the miracles of His providence, and in a wonderful manner made it to be the home of the needy and industrious of all lands. We look up for a continuance of His favor upon the institu- tions of religion and learning, without which we are lost to all advancement and true and permanent prosperity. We look to God with profound thankfulness, who has so graciously reared this great and grand country, and filled it with the riches of His material blessings, and with abundance of his spiritual gifts. As a people we continue to invoke His paternal care, always believing that the good providence of the Al- mighty is ever present to bless . or to punish virtue and vice, good and evil, and that without a trust in an Almighty rule there can be no continued national or private prosperity. Finally we are to seek for private worth, real and true virtue, honor and honesty, and Divine religion. That our beautiful country may preserve her lofty stand among the nations of the earth, and ever be the favored of God and man. We shall
12 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
thus perpetuate the favor of our Almighty author and the happiness and grandeur of this mighty people.
The invocation concluded, Dr. Shelton in a few words
said if he had the power he could tell much of the past, but
long sickness had made him weak. He could look back
further than most present. He had been pastor of one of the
churches fifty-three years. He had seen the prosperity of the
town from its very infancy to its present position as one of the
most dignified, thoroughly respectable and prosperous of the
nation. As such he hoped that it would continue.
RESPONSES TO INVITATIONS.
William C. Bryant, Esq. was next, according to the programme, to read letters in response to invitations. He had a box of such letters, the box of good size and closely filled. To read all would, he said, take the whole time allot- ted to the exercises ; to read a portion would be invidious. Accordingly it had been decided to omit the reading.
The letters so received were from the following named persons :
Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States.
U. S. Grant, New York.
B. H. Brewster, Attorney Gen'l of the United States.
General W. S. Hancock.
David D. Porter, Admiral of the Navy.
Wm. M, Evarts.
Charles Devens.
Horatio Seymour.
General Wm. B. Rochester.
John D. Long, Governor of Massachusetts.
A. H. Littlefield, Governor of Rhode Island.
Wm. E. Cameron, Governor of Virginia.
Thos. T. Crittenden, Governor of Missouri.
Alvin Hawkins, Governor of Tennessee.
David N. Jerome, Governor of Michigan.
Governor Hoyt of Pennsylvania.
Abram S. Hewitt, Representative in Congress.
James Wadsworth, Representative in Congress.
LIST OF INVITED GUESTS. 13
R. P. Flower, Representative in Congress.
W. E. Robinson, Representative in Congress.
C. D. Prescott, Representative in Congress.
Perry Belmont, Representative in Congress.
Jonathan Scoville, Representative in Congress.
David Davis, U. S. Senator.
Angus Cameron, U- S. Senator,
Waldo Hutchins, Representative in Congress.
Frank H. Hamilton, M. D., New York.
Scott Lord.
Seth Low, Mayor of Brooklyn.
Henry Lang, Mayor of Newark, N. J.
John Breen, Mayor of Lawrence, Mass.
J. L. Baudry, Mayor of Montreal.
Mayor Parsons of Rochester.
General M. T. McMahon, of New York.
Wm. L. Heyward, Mayor of Providence.
General Brayman, J. O.
Rt. Rev. A. Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of W. N. Y.
T. B. Bullene, Mayor of Kansas City, Mo.
William L. Ewing, Mayor of St. Louis.
John L. Miller, Mayor of Dayton, O.
W. H. Furman, acting-Mayor of Jersey City.
Chas. T. Sibley, Mayor of Portland, Me.
Jos. A. Shakespeare, Mayor of New Orleans.
H. K. Braley, Mayor of Fall River, Mass.
Chas. D. Jacob, Mayor of Louisville, Ky.
Francis U. Burdick, Mayor of Utica.
William R. Grace, Mayor of New York.
John F. Wheaton, Mayor of Savannah, Ga.
John M. Stowell, Mayor of Milwaukee, Wis.
Joseph B. Carr, Secretary of State, Albanv-
John Betts, aged 82, Danville, N. Y.
Thos. D. Smith, Muscatine, Iowa.
Thos. G. Alvord, Clayton, Jefferson County.
Wm. M. Hall, Stamford, Conn.
Gideon J. Ball, Erie, Pa.
Ellis H. Roberts, Utica, N. Y.
Wm. Pinkney Whyte, Baltimore.
H. B. Bigelow, Governor of Connecticut.
M. W. Bulneley, Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.
S. Seymour, State Engineer and Surveyor.
Francis H. Tows, New York.
Oran Follett, Sandusky, Ohio.
Governor Ludlow of New Jersey.
14 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
A. C. Rand, Minneapolis, Minn.
Wm. Means, Mayor of Cincinnati.
Henry B. Lovering, Mayor of Lynn, Mass.
Mayor Green of Boston.
Josiah Dent, President of the Board of Commissions, District of Columbia.
A. M. Clapp, Washington, D. C.
George W. Clinton, Albany.
Leslie W. Russell, Attorney General, Albany.
The Rev. Albert H. Plumb, pastor of the Walnut avenue Congregational Church of Roxbury, Boston.
Judge M. F. Force, Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Rev. James Remington, East Saginaw, Mich.
Mr. Jas. V. Campbell, Detroit.
Mr. Lyman C. Draper, Madison, Wis.
Mr. Joseph Stringham, Oshkosh, Wis.
Mr. George W. Lewis, Fredonia.
Mr. Sheldon C. Townsend, Ransomville, N. Y.
Mr. R. J. Chard, New York.
Dr. Flint, New York.
Sam'l Wilkeson, Cape Cod, Mass.
Jacob Romeis, Mayor of Toledo.
Rudolph W. Ransom. "]
Lyman D. Hodge. [ 0 „ . ,T.
Warren Granger \ St. Paul, Minn.
Geo. W. Robertson. J
H. C. Van Schaack, Manlius, N. Y.
P. P. Barton, Lewiston.
Geo. W. Mason, Nunda, N. Y.
Alonzo Raynor, Clarence, N. Y.
D. J. Gillmore, Mayor of Paterson, N. J.
M. Brayman, Ripon, Wis.
Wm. P. Letchworth, Glen Iris, N. Y.
Wm. F. Jordan, Mayor of Bradford, Pa.
John Demong, Mayor of Syracuse, N. Y.
Walter S. Wilson, New York.
Charles Henry Hart, Philadelphia.
Charles L. Bailey, Harrisburg, Pa. .
Trevor & Co., Lockport, N. Y.
G. M. McCauley, Harrisburg, Pa.
W. H. McMurrich, Mayor of Toronto.
J. E. Mayhew, Jamestown, N. Y.
Chas. Magill, Mayor of Hamilton, Ont.
C. M. Taintor, Southport, Conn.
W. Miller, U. S. Senator.
LIST OF INVITED GUESTS. 15
V. Wright Kingsley, New York.
Albert D. Shaw, Consul.
Wra. C. Blake, Mayor of Sail Francisco, Cal.
Theodotus Burwell, New York.
Jacob B. Jackson, Governor of W. Virginia.
Edmund B. Dikeman, Mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich.
H. L. Johnson, Kansas City, Mo.
Lt. John B. Eaton, Little Rock, Ark.
Freeman J. Fithian, New York.
F. Langelier, Mayor of Quebec, P. Q.
Ira Davenport, Comptroller, Albany, N. Y.
Alfred C. Coxe, Utica, N. Y.
S. D. McEvery, Baton Rouge, La.
Geo. C. Perkins, Sacramento, Cal.
After another selection by the orchestra, the following oraMon was delivered by the Hon. E. Carlton Sprague :
ADDRESS.
Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Buffalo :
Before proceeding with the address which I have had the honor to prepare for this occasion, I take the liberty, on behalf of this audience, of offering our congratulations to the vener- able rector of St. Paul's*, that after a service in the ministry, which has lasted through the entire life of our city, his health and strength enables him to take a part in our anniversary ex- ercises this evening, and to receive this unaffected and spon- taneous tribute of the respect and affection of his fellow-citizens.
On the 20th day of April, 1832, an act was passed by the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled "An act to incorporate the City of Buffalo." An election was held on the 26th day of the ensuing May, of two aldermen from each of the five wards of the city, which resulted in the choice of Isaac S. Smith, Joseph W. Brown, Henry Root, John G. Camp, Ira W. Blossom, David M. Day, Major A. Andrews, Henry White, Ebenezer Walden and Thomas C. Love. They held their first meeting in what we have been accustomed to call the old Court-house, on Washington Street, on the 28th of the same month, and elected Ebenezer Johnson. Mayor, Henry R. Seymour, Treasurer, and Dyre Tillinghast, Clerk. Its. govern- ment being thus organized, it may be said that the City of Buffalo was born on the 28th of May, 1832.
We do not therefore meet to-night upon the precise anni- versary of the birthday of Buffalo. We must remember, how- ever, that we have assembled to commemorate not only the city's birth, but also its arrival at the fiftieth year of its active and progressive life, and there is no time more suitable for such a celebration than the eve of the Fourth of July. It is emi- nently proper than we should solemnize the city's and the
* The Rev. Wm. Shelton, D. D.
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 17
nation's festival together; for there is no other city whose life and character have been more directly affected by the seed which was sown on the Fourth day of July, 1776, and by the Union and Constitution which grew therefrom. We all under- stand how seriously our fortunes are affected by the fact that Canada still holds its motion in another sphere. But what would the history of Buffalo have been if Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin had been foreign states imposing hostile tariffs, burdensome tonnage duties, and restrictive navigation laws upon the commerce of the lakes? What would have been its fate if the history of the jealous and belligerent kingdoms of Europe had been repeated in America ? Undoubtedly Buffalo, even under such circumstances, would have become a town of some commercial and military importance, but it would not now be the city with whose streets and homes we are familiar. We may well be devoutly grateful that we have not assembled here this evening to rehearse the story of vicissitudes and mis- fortunes, endured amidst the struggles of rival states and the "clash of resounding arms." Whilst we pay our tribute of respect and affection to the men and women to whom we directly owe whatever is worthy of praise in the City of Buff- alo, let us not be unmindful of the services of the soldiers and statesmen whose exertions in a broader theatre of action so largely contributed to make Buffalo what it is and is to be.
Our city derives its name from the river at whose mouth it is situated. How this stream came to be called Buffalo is somewhat doubtful. In a treaty made at Fort Stanwix, now the village of Rome, in 1784, between the United States and the Iroquois Confederacy, the name of Buffalo Creek was ap- plied for the first time in any known written document to what is now known as Buffalo River. Whether this name was chosen because the buffalo had at some time grazed upon its banks and drunk its waters, or whether, as was supposed by President Fillmore, it was adopted by a mistake in the inter-
18 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
pretation of its Indian name, cannot be certainly determined, although there is strong evidence to support the conclusion that both banks of the stream were in early days bounded by oak-opening prairies, occupied at times by herds of buffalo. However this may be, Buffalo was from the year 1784 adopted by the Indians as the name of the creek, and subsequently ap- plied to the village and city at its mouth.
The territory now constituting the city formed a part of the region granted to the Council of Plymouth by Charles the First in 1620, and by Charles the Second to the Duke of York in 1664. It was claimed by both New York and Massachu- setts under these conflicting charters- until in December, 1786, by what may be termed an amicable partition, the title or rather the pre-emption or the exclusive right to purchase the lands of the Indians was vested in Massachusetts, with the ex- ception of a strip one mile wide, extending northerly from Lake Erie along the Niagara River, the pre-emption of which was vested in New York. The Indian title was gradually ex- tinguished by treaties in 1797, 1838, and 1842. In 1791 Massachusetts conveyed its interest to Robert Morris, who, in 1792, conveyed it in trust for certain gentlemen residing in Holland, who, being aliens, were unable to hold the legal title. This disability was removed by an act of the Legislature pass- ed in 1798, and the lands were conveyed to the members of what has since been known as the Holland Land Company. Thus the present title to the territory in Buffalo embraced in the mile strip is derived from the State of New York, and to the remainder, from individuals composing the Holland Land Company. So much as to the tenure by which we hold the soil on which we live.
This soil, early in the 17th century, when it was first seen by white men, was occupied by a peaceful tribe of Indians known as the Kahquahs, called by the whites the " Neutral Na- tion." About the year 1650 the Kahquahs were conquered
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGTJE, ESQ. 1 9
and exterminated by the Iroquois. The lands remained un- occupied from that time until 1780, when the Senecas, one of the largest and most warlike of the Six Nations constituting the Iroquois confederacy, but whose villages between Seneca Lake and Batavia had been destroyed by Sullivan's expedition, dispirited and diminished in numbers, settled near Buffalo Creek, about four miles from its mouth. They occupied the site of Buffalo as a hunting ground, shooting squirrels within its present limits with bows and arrows, down to the time of its incorporation as a city in 1832. They were familiar to our streets and visitors in our houses until 1843 and 1844, when their last lands having been sold they departed from the home of their fathers, some of them joining their brethren who had previously emigrated to the Cattaraugus and Alleghany Reservations, and the remainder finding a home upon reserva- tions allotted to them in Kansas. The former owners and occupants of our soil claim a place in the reminiscences prop- er to this occasion. Among the Senecas known to our citizens were some gifted men, like the orator " Keep-' em- Awake," better known as Red Jacket. Others who combined solid worth and weight of character with vigorous intellectual powers, such as Cornplanter, the Pacificator, and Farmer's Brother; others who in default of more solid attainments, fortified themselves with names designed " to fright the souls of fearful adversaries," such as " Ghastly Darkness" and the "Devil's Ramrod." Many were indefatigable drunkards and as idle as lotus-eaters ; but to the last there remained a few chiefs, wise in council, courageous in action, dignified in demeanor, who by their presence and conversation vindicated the tradition that as statesmen and warriors the Senecas were proudly emi- nent among the Six Nations whose confederacy was the terror of North America, from the Canadian Lakes to the Carolinas, and from the Hudson to the Mississippi.
In 1797 the Holland Land Company employed Joseph
20 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
Ellicott to survey their lands in Western New York. His is a name which we must not let die in Buffalo. He was a younger brother of Andrew A. Ellicott, then Surveyor-General of the United States. He had assisted him in laying out the City of Washington and adopted it as a pattern for our broad streets, diagonal avenues, and public squares. His plan in- cluded most of the principal streets lying south of Chippewa Street, as we know them, such as Church, Erie, Commercial,
and parts of Main, Niagara, Seneca, and Swan Streets
Chippewa Street being the most northerly highway of the future metropolis of his imagination.
Most of these streets bore the names of members of the Holland Land Company, and the entire settlement was chris- tened " New Amsterdam." For his personal delectation he curved Main Street westerly from Swan to Eagle Streets. Within this space, known subsequently as " Ellicott' s Bow Window," he proposed to place a palatial residence from whose piazza he could obtain an unobstructed view of Main, Erie, Church, and Niagara Streets, and enjoy the gorgeous sunsets for which Buffalo is so justly celebrated. So Mr. Ellicott proposed. But towns and villages, as well as republics are ungrateful. There were none so poor as to do reverence to the name of New Amsterdam. The inhabitants contempt- uously sniffed at the inharmonious names of Willink and Van Staphorst, Busti and Vollenhoven, Stadnitski and Skimmel- pennick, and summarily ejected them from the premises. Mr. Ellicott' s scheme faded like the sunsets which he expected to enjoy. But his fame has survived its wreck, and he will be always remembered in the annals of Buffalo as the first man who appreciated its geographical position, who prophesied its greatness, and planned its highways on a scale suitable to its future fortunes.
In 1803 the village of "New Amsterdam" was surveyed into lots by William Peacock, but its inhabitants persisted in
ORATION RY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 21
calling it Buffalo, and Buffalo it has remained up to this day. Lots began to be sold in 1804, and the history of Buffalo as a place of residence for white men may be said to begin at this date. A few settlers, however, had already strayed within its limits. Cornelius Winne, the first white settler, about 1789, Martin Middaugh about 1794, Asa Ransom in 1796. In the fall of 1797 a daughter was born in Asa Ransom's house near the corner of Main Street and the Terrace, the first white person born in Buffalo.
In 1799 arrived General Timothy S. Hopkins, the father of the Hon. Nelson K. Hopkins. Joseph Wells, the father of Aldrich, William, and Chandler J. Wells, first saw Buffalo in 1800 and settled here in 1802; Aldrich Wells is supposed to be the first white man born in Buffalo. David Reese, the blacksmith, came in 1803 ; John Despar, a French baker, during the same year; also, Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, the most famous of the first settlers of Buffalo and our earliest physician. His daughter, Louisa M., now Mrs. Thaddeus Weed, was born here in 1803 and is to-day, so far as I have been able to ascer- tain, the oldest resident of Buffalo. In September, 1804, Captain Samuel Pratt astonished the inhabitants by driving into the settlement with his wife and children in the first fami- ly carriage ever seen in Erie County. Among the children was a little girl, now Mrs. George Burt, who ranks next to Mrs. Weed as a resident. The precedence over the male sex of Mrs. Merrill, Mrs. Weed and Mrs. Burt in respect of birth and residence in our city was prophetic of the leading position of the women of Buffalo in all good ways and works. Our climate has always been favorable to the longevity as well as the beauty of our women. In 1805 William Hodge settled here with his son William, the latter of whom has, I believe, resided in Buffalo longer than any other man now living. Our patriarch, like the patriarch of the race, has been through life a gardener and horticulturist, but he has never fallen from
22 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
his original uprightness, and in a serene old age retains his paternal Eden, excepting such portions as he has voluntarily conveyed. If our first parents had pursued the same course,
we might all of us but I forbear indulging in envious and
useless speculations.
Louis Stephen Le Coulteulx, a French gentlemen of noble family, and the founder of St. Louis Church, settled here in 1804, and, excepting at short intervals, resided here until his death in 1839. Some of my audience will remember his usual appearance on our streets ; his surtout of the pattern of the French revolutionary era, his ruffled sleeves and shirt, his gold- headed cane, and the courtly grace with which he offered snuff to his friends from the jewelled box presented to him by Loui XVI.
I abandon in despair the attempt further to recall even the names of the early settlers of Buffalo. " I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," if their exploits and virtues were adequately portrayed.
In 1810 the town of Buffalo was created by an act of the Legislature, the giant parent of a comparatively dwarfish progeny, for it included what are now known as Grand Island, Tonawanda, Amherst, Cheektowaga, the north part of West Seneca, and the City of Buffalo.
The village of Buffalo was incorporated in 1813.
A new charter was obtained in 1822, under which its affairs were administered until the organization of the city government.
One most memorable event had occurred almost imme- diately after the incorporat:on of the village. On the 30th day of December 1813, it was burned by a force of British regulars and Indians, which, crossing from Canada, had land- ed at Scajaquada Creek, and fought its way up to North Street. Only seven or eight houses were unconsumed. On the first
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day of January, 1814, the enemy reappeared and burned the buildings that remained excepting the Jail, Reese's black- smith shop and Mrs. St. John's dwelling house, situated on Main Street, opposite the present Tifft house. I cannot dwell upon the afflicting scenes which accompanied and followed the destruction of the infant village. They are graphically des- cribed in the " Centennial History of Erie County," by Mr. Crisfleld Johnson, a most valuable and interesting book, to which I am indebted for many of the facts contained in this address.
On the sixth day of January, 1814, William Hodge re- turned with his family. Ralph Pomeroy immediately followed They rebuilt their demolished homes. Buffalo revived slowly* but it was not a new community. It was composed for the most part of its former inhabitants. Its history continues to date from 1804, On the 10th of April, 1814, General Scott assumed command in Buffalo, and it became the base of active military operations until the 17th of September, when the victory of Fort Erie, won by the valor of Scott, Brown, Porter and Ripley, brought peace to the Niagara Frontier.
Millard Fillmore settled in Buffalo in 1822. General Porter had taken up his residence at Black Rock in 1810. Nathan K. Hall became a citizen of Buffalo in 1832. I collate these dates here for the reason that General Porter was Secre- tary of War under President John Quincy Adams, and Judge Hall was Postmaster-General under President Fillmore. Con- sequently, Buffalo enjoys the unrivalled distinction of having furnished to the country a President and two members of the Cabinet of the United States.
The year 1825 was enlivened by a visit from La Fayette, and is one of the most conspicuous dates of our history, it be- ing the year in which the Erie Canal was finished. In 1821 there settled in this city a man famous in his time, John Kuercher, more commonly known as Water John, or Dutch
24 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
John. He is supposed to be the first German who put his foot upon the soil of Buffalo. Jacob Seibold came here in 1822. In 1828, when such important families as the Greys, the Bey- ers, the Rooses, the Mesmers, the Haberstros, and others of equal note came to this city, they found about seventy Ger- mans already settled here. In the same year Jacob Schanzlin appeared upon the scene — a memorable event, for he was the first man who taught the Buffalonians the taste of lager beer. These emigrants were the forerunners and the forefathers of that great German population which has contributed so largely to the prosperity, and exercised such a poweriul influence upon the character, of our community. What that influence is like- ly to be in the future may be to some extent judged by a single fact. It appears from the report of the Board of Health for 1879, that in 1878, of the children born in thiscity, 1,975 were of German descent ; of all other descents, 2,056, a difference of only 81. And thus omitting a hundred events and a hundred names, which I should have been glad to chronicle did time permit, for every one that I have mentioned, we come to the year 1832, when the village awoke to the fact that it contained a population of about 10,000 people, and resolved itself into a city.
So far I have hardly alluded to the most important factor of. our history — the commerce of Buffalo — a subject so extensive that it is utterly impossible to treat it historically within the limits of this address. I shall allude to a few of its most impress- ive features, illustrating the wonderful changes that it has under- gone during the last sixty years. I ask you in the first place to picture in your imagination the scenes transpiring at Buffalo, before the construction of the Erie Canal, when the trade be- tween New York and Black Rock was carried on by the Hudson River to the Mohawk, by the Mohawk and Wills Creek, with their land portages, to Oneida Lake, by Oneida Lake and Oswego River to Oswego, by Lake Ontario from
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Oswego to Lewiston, and from Lewiston in wagons and boats to Chippewa, Fort Erie and Black Rock. But even this long and tortuous journey did not bring the carrier to Lake Erie. The current from the lake to Fort Erie and Black Rock had yet to be overcome. There were then no steam tugs darting through our waters, instinct with life and motion. A strong and favoring breeze might occasionally waft a schooner to the lake, but oftener the mariner was obliged to depend upon what the sailors derisively called a " horn breeze" — that is, a tow of oxen, which constituted one of the chief motive powers of our infant commerce. In 1818 our earliest steamer, the Walk in the Water, started upon her first voyage from Black Rock, where she had been launched, and breasted with con- temptuous pride the opposing current. " Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope," hearken to the humiliating sequel. In vain the owners prayed to Hercules for help. Equally in vain did the firemen stuff kindling wood into the furnace. In this singular contest between steam and water power, the water power came out victorious, and the pioneer of the majestic steamers of later days, yielding to hard necessity, and aided by a " horn breeze" was literally goaded up the river to the lake. During this period the ladies of Buffalo visited their aristocratic friends in Fort Erie and Chippewa to study the latest fashions and the customs of good society. Batavia and Black Rock appeared upon maps designed by geographers to whom the existence of Buffalo was unknown. A bar of hard gravel and sand stretching across the mouth of the creek and into the lake, fordable on foot in dry weather, presented an apparently insuperable obstacle to commerce. Fort Erie and Black Rock were rival sisters contending for the hand of the Fairy Prince, who should control the future commerce of the lakes. Buffalo was the humble Cinderella of those early days. I shall not rehearse the ofttold tale of the construction of
26 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
the Erie Canal — an event bearing about the same relation to the future of Buffalo as the discoveries of Columbus to the his- tory of America, or the creation of Adam and Eve to that of the human race. I pause, however, upon this anniversary to record the grateful appreciation of the City of Buffalo of the services of such men as Colles, Watson, Morris, Hawley, For- man, Colden, Bouck, and Clinton, whose genius suggested and whose perseverance accomplished the mightiest commercial and engineering enterprise of their time. One fact also de- serves special notice upon the eve of an anniversary of our revolutionary era. Washington as early as 1774 foresaw that the Atlantic City which should first connect its harbor with the lakes would become the metropolis of America, and urged the building of canals which should connect the James River with the Ohio and Cuyahoga, and provide a water communi- cation from Norfolk to Cleveland. After the war he renewed his investigations, by journeys to the Ohio River and as far west as Rome in this State ; and in a letter to Thomas Jeffer- son, dated March 29, 1784, speaking of his project of unit- ing James River to Lake Erie, I find this pregnant sentence: •"I am satisfied that not a moment ought to be lost in recom- mencing this business, as I know the Yorkers will delay no time to remove every obstacle in the way of the other commu- nication, so soon as the posts of Niagara and Oswego are surrendered, and I shall be mistaken if they do not build vessels for the navigation of the lakes." The "Yorkers," after a longer delay than Washington anticipated, fulfilled his prophecy. Virginia lost her opportunity. New York seized it, and became the Empire State.
Two events more and I close the history of the founda- tions of our city. The construction of the canal being determined upon, the question whether it should terminate at Black Rock or at Buffalo turned the two villages into hostile camps. Then was inaugurated a war waged with "all the
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means that God and Nature had placed in the hands" of either party. The objection to Black Rock was the rapids in the Niagara; to Buffalo, the bar across the creek. I invoke your attention to one of the most momentous scenes in our history. In a room at the Eagle Tavern in Buffalo, at a meeting of the Canal Commissioners, in the summer of 1822, with De Witt Clinton as presiding officer, an argument is being had which is to decide the fate of the rival communities. It is the most important cause ever argued in Erie County. For Buffalo appears Samuel Wilkeson, a man educated in the school of adversity, the twin brother of Andrew Jackson in height, in erectness, in mental vigor, in terseness of speech, in energy of will. General Peter B. Porter, one of the most famous of the Americans of his time as a soldier and a statesman, pleads the cause of Black Rock. No pains or expense had been spared to prepare the case for argument on behalf of Buffalo. Her citizens, with Wilkeson and Charles Townsend and George Coit at their head, have with their own hands dug out and extinguished the bar which formed the chief obstacle to the city's hopes, and have demonstrated that with proper piers Buffalo can furnish a harbor in which all the commerce of the lakes can find a shelter as long as their waters shall journey to the sea. How cheerfully would we exchange one of the orations of Demosthenes or Cicero for a full report of the speeches of that day ! Governor Clinton sums up the argu- ment of counsel. Buffalo wins her cause, and to-day Black Rock, incorporate in Buffalo, enjoys in full and equal measure all the beneficent results of the decision rendered just sixty years ago.
One picture more will close this eventful history. The Erie Canal was completed and opened for navigation on the 26th day of October, 1825. We may well believe that it was a day of rejoicing in Buffalo. A procession was formed by her citizens, among whom rode DeWitt Clinton, who, with a
28 Buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
committee from New York, had arrived the preceding eve- ning. The procession escorted them to the canal, where they embarked upon the canal boat "Seneca Chief," which pro- ceeded upon the first eastward trip ever made through the Erie Canal. I am informed that our respected fellow-citizens the Hon. George W. Clinton, and William Wilkeson, Esq., were passengers upon this trip. DeWitt Clinton carried with him a keg of the waters of Lake Erie, which, on his arrival at New York, were poured into the Atlantic. A committee of the citizens of Buffalo accompanied the Governor to New York, obtained a keg of the waters of the Atlantic, and upon their return mingled them, with due solemnities, with the waters of the lake. They were not aware of the full significance of these baptismal rites. It is not even yet sufficiently understood how inseparably mingled for weal and for woe are the fortunes of Buffalo and the City of New York. The report of a cannon announced the instant when the " Seneca Chief" started upon her voyage. It was repeated to Albany and back by artillery placed at proper distances along the route. The salute of Buffalo was returned to her ears by Albany in three hours and twenty minutes. The remainder of the day was deveted to banquets at the Eagle Tavern aad the Mansion House, to speeches and odes, to hymns of praise and solemn prayer. We cannot fully appreciate the emotions of the people of the little village upon an occasion which crowned the labors and struggles and aspirations of years with such complete success. The future greatness of Buffalo was secured. The tide of its prosperity began to rise at once. Its population of 2,412 in 1825 rose to 8,680 in 1830. Its subsequent development into a city in 1832 was the natural fruit of the labors of the men who made us a harbor, and fixed the terminus of the Erie Canal.
It was a little city, erected^upon the substance of things hoped for rather than of things seen. It contained a few
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scattered brick buildings and perhaps twenty handsome dwell- ings mostly of wood; but the bulk of the city consisted of frame houses, generally from one to two stories high, even on Main Street. The ridge of land running from Exchange, then known as Crow Street, northerly, lifted Main, Franklin and Eilicott and the intermediate streets out of the bottomless mud east of Eilicott Street, and the miry clay which, west of Franklin Street, absorbed in its adhesive depths the wheels of wagons and the boots of pedestrians. Niagara Street, crossed and hollowed by running streams, was sometimes impassable to man or beast. Extending from the corner of Main Street and the Terrace westerly around to Court Street was a high bluff, down which the boys coasted through Main and Com- mercial Streets. The streets were unpaved and the darkness of Main Street was made visible by a few oil lamps. But all the people knew each other, even in the dark, and congregat- ed at the Eagle Tavern, the Mansion House, the Buffalo Hotel and Perry's Coffee House, and, on pleasant days, in Main Street on the various corners from Court to Seneca Streets, cracking jokes and discussing politics. Conversation had not then become one of the lost arts, and absorbed the time now devoted to newspapers. Albert H. Tracy cultivated it to the highest degree of perfection. The city was full of plucky men, who did not hesitate to speak their mind, like Reuben B. Heacock and Thomas C. Love ; of pungent wits like Manly Colton and David M. Day ; of quaint humorists like Harry Slade and Guy H. Salisbury, the Charles Lamb of Buffalo ; of peripatetic philosophers like Roswell W. Haskins, the Socrates of our city. The daily street costumes of some of our leading citizens, in ]832, was a black or blue dress* coat, with costly gilt buttons, a voluminous white cravat, a ruffled shirt, accompanied by the " nice conduct" of a gold-headed cane. Main Street presented a picturesque variety, including elegant- ly dressed gentlemen and ladies, blanketed and moccasined
30 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
Indians, and emigrants in the strange costumes of foreign lands. Most of the business was done upon the west side of Main Street, between Mohawk and Exchange. Mayor John- son's stone cottage, now occupied by the Female Academy, stood in solitary state on Delaware Avenue, which was devoted for the most part to lumber yards and soap factories. The dwellings north of Mohawk Street were few and far between. It was considered a long walk to Chippewa Street, and a hard- ship to walk as far as Tupper Street.
It appears by the Directory of 1832 that the city contain- ed six churches, eight " institutions," including some debating societies, two banks, and an insurance company, and a library of "nearly 700 volumes." I have looked in vain for the record of a single charitable association. There were sixteen public and private schools in the city, but the scholars in them all would not equal those attending one or two of the great schools of the present day. Sixty mails a week during the winter and eighty-eight during the season of navigation were " received, made-up and dispatched at the Post-office." Of the amount of property shipped from this port it is stated that no certain information can be obtained, but we are informed that there were " ten store-houses for the transaction of lake and canal business." Even then, however, the steamboats on the lakes, though few in numbei , were among the best in the country, and were crowded with passengers, who had arrived from Albany on the canal, and were seeking a home in Ohio and Michigan.
There were some forty manufacturing establishments in the city, perhaps altogether not equaling in capital and men employed one of the great establishments of the present day.
I should be glad to dwell more particularly upon the sta- tistics and characteristics of our infant city, but other topics demand my consideration. I close here the historical portion of this address. I fear my audience may be disappointed by
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my apparent neglect of the distinguished men and excellent women who in the professions, in commerce, in the mechanical arts, and other departments of life, have adorned the annals of our city during the last fifty years. Still more will you miss the history of the churches, the schools, the scientific and literary societies, and the charitable institutions, which bear such various and honorable testimony to the character of our people. But a moment's reflection will convince you that such a narrative is impossible on an occasion like this. It would necessarily be so incomplete as to be useless, or a mere chron- ological table of names and dates. It would take hours to tell how the city was visited in 1832, and in other years, by cholera and by fire ; how during the speculations of 1835 it rose " like a rocket," and, in 1837, " dropped like the stick;" how its population and wealth have increased from decade to decade j how its various religious and charatable institu- tions have been founded and maintained ; how its public works and buildings have been built and paid for ; how its literary, artistic and scientific associations have been establish- ed and sustained ; how its manufactories have been planted, and watered, and borne abundant harvests ; how its press has multiplied and grown in efficiency and usefulness ; how its school system has been developed into its present magnificent proportions j how the railroads centering in this city have been organized and constructed ; how, in 1838, the burning of the Caroline draped our peaceful city in the dread habili- ments of War; how, in 1844, the city was submerged by the great flood ; how, finally, in spite of flood, and fire, and pesti- lence, and panics, it has steadily pushed forward and spread and multiplied into the Buffalo of 1882.
Still more hopeless would be the task of describing the careers and characters of our distinguished men : Lawyers (and I speak only of the dead) like Love, Fillmore, Sheldon, Smith, Ford, Barker, Hall, Cook, Babcock, Stowe, Haven,
32 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
Sill, Rogers, the Austins, Bowen, Verplanck, Masten, Hoyt, Sherwood, Ganson, Nichols, Laning and Greene; Physicians and Surgeons such as Chapin, Marshall, Trowbridge, Burwell, Sprague, Loomis, Wilcox, Bristol, Barnes, Pratt, Winne and White; Bishops, Pastors and Preachers, like Timon, Hawks, Fillmore, Searle, Eaton, Hopkins, Clark, Hotchkiss, Lord, Heacock, Grabau, Hosmer, Smith and Guenther; Business Men, such as Siebold, Wilkeson, Barton, Bird, Coe, Sey- mour, Thompson, Townsend, Coit, Heacock, the Grosvenors, the Pratts, Joy, Webster, the McKnights, the Weeds, Handel, Orlando Allen, Blossom, Dorsheimer, Zahm, Palmer, Aaron Rumsey, the Riches, Wilson, Richmond, Noye, Sawyer, Tifft and hosts of others of equal importance, whom the flight of time forbids me to mention. »* If you seek their monu- ments look around you." They are to be found in every street and square in Buffalo.
Let me not forget, however, the name of Joseph Dart, the modest and unassuming man, who, in 1843, devised and erected in Buffalo the first steam-elevator of grain ever built in the world ; an instrument of commerce second in importance only to the steamboat and the locomotive, among the inven- tions of modern times, and without which it would be utterly impossible to move to the seaboard the enormous crops of the Western States. Nor should we fail to remember among the men of our own time, Captain Eben P. Dorr, indefatigable in his benevolence, and Oliver G. Steele, to whose enterprise and public spirit we are so largely indebted for the perfection of our public works, and of our school system.
One scene, however, in the drama of our history it is a sacred duty and satisfaction to commemorate on this anniver- sary. On the morning of the 15th day of April, 1861, the news of the sin render of Fort Sumter reached Buffalo. On the third of May four companies of volunteers, completely organized, left the city for the State Camp of Instruction at
3
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Elmira, escorted to the cars by the Union Continentals, under the command of Captain Fillmore. From that day to the 13th day of June, 1865, when we welcomed back to Buffalo the slender and war-worn remains of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, the record of our soldiers for bravery, fortitude and devotion to duty is unsurpassed in the history of the War, and confers imperishable renown upon Buffalo and Erie County. I call to witness the campaign under Pope, the battles of Rappahannock Station, White Sulphur Springs, Grove- ton, South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg, on behalf of our first-born regiment, the Twenty-first, under the command of Col. Rogers. I recall to your recollection its famous charge in the face of a deadly fire of infantry, and enfiladed by a storm of grape and canister, at the second battle of Bull Run. I desire to commemorate the fearful history of the Forty-ninth, under Col. Bidwell; how, over and over again, its ranks were decimated and how its officers perished during the Chickahominy campaign, at the terrible battles of the Wilderness, in the assault on Fort Stevens, and at the battle of Cedar Creek, hallowed by the death of the gallant leader of the regiment which he had organized. Never let us forget the services and sufferings of the Hundreth at Williamsburg and Seven Pines, nor the fame it achieved at Gaines Mill, at the siege and cap- ture of Forts Wagner and Sumter, at the capture of Fort Darling, Drury's Bluff and Deep Bottom, at the siege of Peters- burg and the capture of Fort Greig.
Equally precious to Buffalo should be the remembrance of the career of the One Hundred and ' Sixteenth, crowded with sad and glorious memories; the victory of Fort Plain, the assaults which terminated in the surrender of Fort Hudson, where Chapin in the full glory of his youth, gave his life to his country; the toils of the Red River campaign of 1864; the victories of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill ; the still more glorious triumphs of Opequan and Cedar Creek and
34 Buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
Winchester. Nor should we forget the One Hundred and Eighty- fourth, organized in the fall of 1864, which, although it only served nine months, won unfading laurels at the battle of Hatcher's Run.
Besides these five regiments which Buffalo and Erie Coun- ty furnished to the country, we commemorate on this occasion the services of the German Battery, organized by Col. Michael Wiedrich, which won enduring fame at the battles of Cross Keys, Freeman's Ford, the second battle of Bull Run, Chan- cellorsville, Gettysburg, Lost Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, at the siege of Atlanta, and on its march with Sherman to the sea. Let us not omit in this record Batteries Twenty-seven and Thirty-three, under Eaton and Wheeler, and the compa- nies under Byrne, Graham, Kelly, Wells and Stevenson — all of which, in various regiments, rendered gallant and effective service in the great cause.
To these are to be added the achievements of the Second Mounted Rifles, under Col. Fiske, and the 10th, 11th, 12th and 25th Regiments of New York Cavalry, whose ranks and whose officers were recruited largely from Buffalo and Erie County. The narratives of Stowits, Clark, Mills and John- son, are most affecting and eloquent tributes to the fortitude and bravery of our troops. There are no regiments in the War that can produce records of more battles fought, hard- ships endured, labors accomplished, and victories achieved. May the recollection of their heroic deeds be cherished in grateful hearts by the people of Buffalo from generation to generation.
The efforts of our soldiers in the field were ably seconded by the unswerving devotion to a vigorous war policy of our representatives in Congress — Mr. James M. Humphrey, Mr. John Ganson and Mr. Elbridge G. Spaulding. Mr. Spauld- ing framed, introduced and urged through Congress the first bill authorizing the issue of legal-tender Treasury notes, and
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 35
his financial experience exhibited in this and other kindred measures was in constant demand and of invaluable service to the administration of President Lincoln.
Our soldiers will be the first to acknowledge how con- stantly they were cheered and supported by the Buffalo branch of the Sanitary Commission, and by the sympathy and exer- tion of all our citizens. I shall not undertake to mention or to number the men and women of Buffalo who consecrated themselves to their service ; but I could hardly forgive myself if I omitted upon the present occasion, the beloved and honor- ed name of Elizabeth Seymour.
I choose as the last topic of this address the City of Buff- alo in 1882 as compared with Buffalo fifty years ago. Such a comparison forms in itself a condensed history of our city during this period.
In regard to our commercial and manufacturing interests, it is difficult to convey an idea of their amazing growth, because the figures are simply unthinkable, and make no defi- nite impression upon the mind. The commercial editors of our great newspapers, and Mr. Thurstone in his " Five Minutes' Talk about Buffalo," which should be read by every citizen, tell us that in a single year we have imported into the city 4,000,000 head of live stock, 175,000,000 bushels of grain (including flour), 2, 500,000 tons of coal and 364,000,000 feet of lumber ; that our elevators have a storage capacity of 8,000,000 bushels ; that in a single year we have manufactured 1,250,000 barrels of flour, malted 4,000,000 bushels of barley, brewed 300,000 barrels of beer, manufactured $5,000,000 worth of leather, $1,500,000 worth of boots and shoes, and so on through column after column ; but our minds are incapable of grasping these enormous figures. For commercial purposes the geographical position of Buffalo has but few rivals among the interior cities of the continent. The great lakes consti- tute the Mediterranean Sea of America. Their commerce is
36 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
yet in its infancy, and the towns which are favorably situated upon their borders may reasonably expect to rival in greatness the most famous maritime cities of the ancient world.
It is certainly true that we are fast becoming one of the great centers of iron manufacture ; that we are competing with the largest cities in the country in the production of leather, clothing, starch, soap, grape-sugar, and furniture, and in lith- ographing, printing and engraving. Our manufacturing industries have largely increased since 1879-1880, and by the returns of the National Census compiled in those years, it ap- pears that Buffalo was then the eleventh city of the country in the rank and the number of its manufacturing establishments. The number is stated to be 1,137, and the value of their products over $40,000,000. One hundred and fifty-eight departments of industry appear in the returns.
The wholesale mercantile business of the city has not kept pace with its manufactures, but it has steadily grown with the concentration of railroads at this point, and is destined to in- crease with the growth of our facilities for transportation.
Passing from these details let us devote a moment to a more general view of the material results of the labors of the past fifty years. Our population has reached at least 170,000. Our territory has grown to be nine miles in length and about five in width. Niagara River protects Canada from invasion, but there seems no limit to its outgrowth toward the East, and as we travel over and through its acres of tracks and cars, we might imagine that we were in the railroad center of the world. The tracks of fifteen railroad companies terminate upon our soil. Others are proposed. They are and will be each and all rich sources of our present and future wealth. Nevertheless let us not suffer to perish the good mother who gave us birth, who nursed us through our infancy, who has always been to us a faithful friend — the grand old Erie Canal. The argument of Buffalo upon the subject of canal and railroad transporta-
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 37
tion is short and, to my mind, convincing. The pre-eminence of Buffalo and of the State of New York depend upon the maintenance of New York City as the metropolis of the Union. This cannot be accomplished by railroad competition only. Let him who doubts this read Mr. E. H. Walker's statement that the railroads of New York State have delivered at Atlantic ports during the last four or five years only one-third of the cereals reaching the Atlantic by rail, while the other railroads have delivered the remaining two-thirds. The pre-eminence of New York City and New York State can be preserved — it can only be preserved, it must be preserved — by making the canal a free highway, ample for all demands, and by the united efforts of the canal, the railroad companies, and the people of the State, to keep the State whatNatuie designed it to be : the chief highway of the commerce not only between the Western and Eastern States, but between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. With a hearty and intelligent accord between these interests there would be business enough for all, and we could defy competition. The level valley of the Mohawk is the key to the commerce of the Continent if we know how to use it. If the State is faithful to itself I prophesy that when the North- ern Pacific Railroad is completed, there will flow through Buffalo to New York City the bulk of its freightage ; not only the products of the immense wheat fields of the Red River region, but a large proportion of the commerce of Asia with the Eastern States and with Europe. There is not a kingdom in the old world that would hesitate a moment to expend a hundred millions of dollars for the purpose of securing this trade. I have no time for details. Examine the map of the world for yourselves. You will see why the projectors and managers of railroads — sagacious and far-seeing — are strug- gling for approaches to the International Bridge, and pouring out money like water for real estate in Buffalo.
Our city contains about three hundred and fifty miles of
38 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
avenues and streets, over one hundred of which are paved, and about one hundred and fifteen miles of sewerage. Its street railways afford facilities for approach to every quarter of the city. Its supply of the pure waters of the great lakes, by means of works which have cost three millions of dollars, amounts to eighteen millions of gallons daily delivered through about one hundred and twenty-five miles of water mains. Our humblest citizen can take his morning bath in the waters of Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, St. Clair and Erie. The city is abundantly lighted with gas, the price of which affords an unfailing topic of denunciatory conversation. Our City and County Hall, erected at a cost of a million and a half of dollars, is admirably adapted to its purposes. Falconwood, Oakfield, and Beaver Island afford us pleasant and refreshing resorts. Our Soldiers' Monument, after a too long delay, will soon lift its lofty column in memory of our heroic dead. Our public parks embrace more than six hundred and twenty acres of land, including the lake and about ten miles of noble park- ways, and will, when their elms shall have attained their growth, be an object of wonder to all who shall enjoy their sunny slopes and shady avenues. We have streets which, in the beauty of their trees and residences, are unsurpassed in this or any other country. We are within an hour's ride of the Falls of Niagara. Adding to these features a climate as healthy and a temperature as free from extremes as any in our latitude, and considering that as a summer residence it is perhaps superior to any of our large cities, we may say without extravagance than Buffalo combines very remarkable attractions as a business centre and a place of residence.
Our social, educational and religious institutions are not unworthy of our increasing prosperity. There are nearly twenty thousand registered pupils at our thirty-eight public schools, besides those attending between forty and fifty other schools, including such institutions as the Buffalo Female
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 39
Academy, the Normal School and the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo. More than a hundred thousand volumes are to be found in the libraries of the Young Men's Association, the Grosvenor Library, the German Young Men's Association, the Buffalo Catholic Institute, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Mechanics' Institute, the Erie Railway Library Association and the Buffalo Law Library. The Fine Art Academy needs further endowment ; but individ- ual generosity has adorned it with pictures and statuary, which afford pleasure and instruction to the lovers and students of art. The collections of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences furnish a striking example of what can be accomplished by zeal and perseverance in the face of disheartening discourage- ments, and I congratulate the society that by the munificence of our lamented fellow-citizen, Dr. George E. Hayes, the society is established upon a foundation which will so largely increase its usefulness and reputation. Ourclubs are elegantly furnished, and our places of amusement well conducted. Our Fire Department is as perfect as experience can devise. Our police force continues to maintain its ancient fame. Our mil- itary organizations are the objects of the just pride of our citi- zens. More than one hundred churches, synagogues and other places of worship — some of them excellent specimens of eccles- iastical architecture — have been erected and are supported by the voluntary offerings of our people; nor is it possible to esti- mate the consolations, the charities, the earnest faith and the holy lives of which they have been the source and inspiration. Time fails me even to enumerate the hospitals, asylums and other benevolent institutions, which, from the foundation of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum in 1837, to that of the Fitch Institute during the present year, are an expression of the humane character of our era and of our city. There are in Buffalo to-day about two hundred and fifty corporations and associations for the promotion of temperance, for the care of
40 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
the insane, the deaf and the dumb, for the benefit of the widow and the orphan, and the relief of every form of suffering and sorrow. Twenty cemeteries, from the humblest to Forest Lawn, whose natural beauty is a solace and delight, have been dedicated by affection to the repose of the dead. These evi- dences of a refined and Christian civilization, afford a decisive answer to the mourners who go about the streets lamenting the want of public spirit among the people of Buffalo. It is true, nevertheless, that too many of our most deserving charities, such as our hospitals and asylums, are still almost struggling for existence for want of more liberal endowments. But we should reflect that a large proportion of the first half century of a city's life is itself a struggle for existence. Endowments are the slow products of time as well as of wealth.
" Cast in some diviner mould,
May the new cycle shame the old."
But for one I am persuaded that at the end of another cycle of fifty years the generation of that day will look back not scornfully or reproachfully, but rather with grateful admiration upon the achievements of the first half century of the life of the City of Buffalo.
Before closing this address, I beg leave to congratulate the Buffalo Historical Society, under whose auspices we have met this evening, upon the success which has thus far attended its efforts to collect the material for, and to encourage the study of, the history of our city and of Western New York. Its col- lections and historical papers are invaluable. It has already done much to promote public spirit, to encourage a proper municipal pride, and to cultivate friendly and helpful inter- course among our people. It should receive the cordial sup- port of every member of the community. Indeed, no citizen can be said to have honorably graduated, and taken his full degree as a Buffalonian, until he has enrolled himself as a member of the Historical Society.
ORATION BY E. C. SPRAGUE, ESQ. 41
Having said so much in regard-to our advantages let me add a concluding word as to our duties as citizens of Buffalo. We may without hesitation confide the interests of the city to the generation to whom we elders are transmitting the guardian- ship of this great inheritance. The trust will be more intelli- gently administered and its objects more generously sustained, as the city grows in population, wealth and culture. Two duties especially they and we are bound by every consideration of interest and honor to perform, these, namely: in all matters touching the welfare of the city to speak our honest thought courageously, and to vote, neither asking nor fearing the favor or the hate of any man or party whatsoever. If to the enter- prise and public spirit of our citizens we shall add a pure and enlightened city government, we can hardly expand too wide- ly the horizon of our hopes, This object demands the vigor- ous assertion by speech and by vote of the honest convictions of every citizen. Our Mayor and all our public officers who are endeavoring to maintain good government should be sus- tained by a united and out-spoken public sentiment. It is only on rare occasions that any question of national or state politics, or the victory of any political party, is as important to the people of Buffalo as the question whether we shall enjoy a wise and honest administration of our municipal affairs. The time has come when all hesitation and timidity upon a subject which involves so deeply our personal interests and the reputation of our city should be cast to the winds. Politi- cal parties, however useful or necessary, should, like govern- ments, be the servants and not the masters of the people. I honor party loyalty ; I perfectly appreciate the necessity of a reasonable party discipline ; but when any political organiza- tion seeks to coerce the votes of American citizens in behalf of unworthy candidates, by application of the party lash, by threats of exclusion from party honors, and of excommunica- tion from the party fold, then discipline becomes an odious
42 buffalo's semi-centennial celebeation.
tyranny, and it is time to issue a new Declaration of Indepen- dence. We celebrate to-morrow with unusual ceremony, the anniversary of the Declaration of 1776. Let the people of Buffalo consecrate the day by a solemn resolution that from this time forth they will support no man for any public trust whose personal character shall not afford ample security that its duties will be faithfully and intelligently discharged.
Let us separate to-night, devoting ourselves anew to the service of our beloved city, and rejoicing in the hope that when the next fifty years shall have finished their course, the full-orbed century of our city's life will be crowned by the complete fulfillment of our most sanguine prophecies.
The " Star Spangled Banner " was given by the orchestra, the Rev. Dr. Chester pronounced a benediction, and while the strains of the grand march from " Boccaccio " filled the air, the audience dispersed.
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JNIVERSIT71
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT IS82.
Proceedings on the 4th of July, 1882.
(Fro?n the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, July 5, 1882.)
The weather, unfortunately, interfered to some extent with the grandest celebration of American Independence ever organized in Buffalo. The monster demonstration was also in honor of the semi-centennial birthday of the city, and the oc- casion was appropriately improved to lay the corner stone of the Soldiers' Monument. We are enabled to give our readers in this paper a very complete account of the entire observ- ances.
The sun rose yesterday morning, clear and bright, but soon became overclouded and did not again show his face dur- ing the day. More and more threatening grew the skies, and the temperature was unusually chilly. " The coldest Fourth of July ever known," was the remark of many old residents. The expected rain, however kept off, until about 1 p. m., when a light shower began to fall. Soon it came down heavier, sadly interfering with but not postponing, the cere- monies of the corner-stone laying. A light drizzle ensued, continuing most of the afternoon, and in the evening about 8.30, it began to pour again, thus effectually putting over the fireworks display, which was postponed until this evening. So much for the weather.
Notwithstanding the unusual extent and character of the celebration, the day was really one of the quietest and most orderly holidays we have ever had. There were no serious disturbances, no extensive thefts, so far as we could learn, and less than the usual number of accidents, owing largely, no doubt, to the wise and salutary police order in regard to can- nons, and toy pistols, which not only prevented personal injuries, but also relieved us of much of the banging and noise generally incident to the " Glorious Fourth."
44
The crowd of people from the surrounding country, who came in to participate with us in the festivities of the day, was, we think, fully as large as expected. They came pre- pared to have a good time, and they had it, as a general rule, in spite of the rain. All the early trains leading into the city were crowded with excursionists, and by 10 o'clock in the morning thousands upon thousands of strangers, were massed upon the principal streets, waiting for the procession. Among the visitors, it is needless to state, our country cousins were in a large majority. Of course our own city folk all turned out to see the sights, and greater crowds were never known on the principal thoroughfares of Buffalo. Though enthusiastic and on pleasure bent, more orderly throngs of people were never seen.
The decorations of the city, were not, as a rule, so elabo- rate as on the Centennial Fourth, but everything was tasteful and appropriate. The great dry-goods houses on Main Street, and the arch of triumph erected by the Messrs. Bronner, at- tracted most attention. But it is unnecessary to describe the decorations in detail, and without further preliminary, we come to a descriptive report of the observances of the day, be- ginning with
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.
It was a happy thought on the part of the Rev. Dr. Brown to open old St. Paul's for a service of praise. The spacious cathedral was crowded to overflowing ; camp-chairs and settees placed in the aisles accommodated very many ; but hundreds of people went away, being unable to get even a glimpse at the interesting services. The church was tastefully dressed with the national emblems. Dr. Brown's address was very short, and principally to bring before the audience the claims which the venerable Dr. Shelton had upon the love and re- spect of every citizen of Buffalo, in which he has served at his
THE GRAND PROCESSION. 45
post for over a half-century. Dr. Shelton made a very feel- ing address in response. The musical part of the service wai most successful. The chorus consisted of about seventy-five persons. The opening anthem was finely rendered, as was Lloyd's " Te Deum," in which Mrs. Tanner sang delightfully. Signor Nuno conducted with his usual ability, and much cred- it is due to Mr. Hobart Weed for the unqualified success of the musical portion of the service, which was unanimously pronounced by all fortunate enough to be present, to be the best-conceived and best-conducted service of the kind ever in- troduced in any church in Buffalo.
THE GRAND PROCESSION.
The great military and civic procession, over three miles long, and taking more than an hour and a half to pass a given point, not counting halts and breaks, was undoubtedly the most interesting feature of the day. Column after column of description might be written on this " Jumbo " of a proces- sion, without exhausting the subject, but where is the neces- sity ? Everybody saw it, and there was but one opinion — that it was the grandest demonstration of the kind ever wit- nessed in Buffalo. We shall endeavor to put its organization and appearance on record, as briefly as possible.
The several divisions were formed according to the orders of the Chief Marshal, and the head of the line started from the Terrace promptly on time (11 o'clock,) the signals being three guns fired by a squad of Linderman's Battery. The procession was formed in twelve divisions, the first being en- tirely military, as follows :
Detachment of 18 police, Captain Yox commanding. Maj.-Gen. W. F. Rogers, Chief Marshal, commanding 4th
Division N. G. S. N. Y., and staff. Brig. -Gen. John C. Graves, commanding 8th Brigade and staff.
7th Regiment Band, 80 musicians.
46 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
7th Regiment N. G. S. N. Y. of New York City, Col. Em- mons Clark commanding. 65th Regiment Band. 65th Regiment N. G. S. N. Y., Col. Thomas S. Waud com-
manding. Titusville Citizens' Corps, Captain J. B. Olmstead.
74th Regiment Band. 74th' Regiment N. G. S. N. Y., Colonel Louis P. Reichert
commanding. 7th Battery N. G. S. N. Y., Capt. H. W. Linderman com- manding.
The second division was also a military one, including visiting soldiers and posts of the Grand Army of the Republic.
It was headed by Schultz's band of eighteen pieces. Then came " D" Company, Buffalo City Guard, sixty men commanded by Gen. Adrian R. Root ; Buffalo City Guard cadets, eighty men, under Lieut. J. G. Haffa ; the celebrated De- troit Light Infantry, forty men, commanded by Capt. Harry Milward. Bamberg's band led the Grand Army Posts, at the head of which marched the color guard, Captain George Morgan, bearing the old battle flags, some mere rags and tat- ters. The flags and their bearers were as follows : Twenty- fourth cavalry, August Luckenbach ; 27th battery, George Codling ; 100th infantry, Donald D. McKay, Quincy A Sie- bold, James Pitley and B. Duggan ; 116th, Charles Wall, Robert Taggert, George W. Ebbs and Fred Wander j 94th, G. Grosskopfand G. R. Waldo; 155th, T. Wylie and John Q onohue ; campaign of 1862, Frank Busher, and E. H. Pix- ley ; 74th, Louis Daniels ; 12th, John Beck; Invalid Corps, Edward Curtis ; 78th, S. F. Mc Arthur ; 179th, Lawrence Van- derbuch ; 50th, Joseph Hoag ; 21st, Austin Salsbury ; Farra- gut's battle flag, Edward Sniggs ; 2nd Pennsylvania cavalry Frank Baumeister ; 54th Massachusetts infantry, Charles E. Warren. This proved a most interesting feature, and the sight of the torn and tattered standards that had been through so many baptisms of fire and blood, could not fail to awaken
THE GRAND PROCESSION. 47
patriotic emotions. The G. A. R. Posts which followed were Chapin No. 2, composed of 200 men, commanded by Dr. J. H. Dye ; Bidwell-Wilkeson Post, No. 9, seventy-five men, commanded by Capt. Henry Stambach ; McMahon Post, No. 208, forty men, commanded by G. A. Cowan ; Scott Post Band of Tonawanda, and Scott Post, No. 129, sixty-five men, commanded by Edwin Goodrich j James Ayer Post, No. 202, forty-five men, of Angola, under the command of Dr. Thomp- son ; Cady Post, No. 236, Brockport, forty-five men, under command of John Gibson; Curtis Post, No. 114, Albion, fifty men, commanded by Capt. J. C. Curtis ; Taylor Post, No. 219, of Attica, composed of forty-one men, armed and uniformed, under the command of Capt. Wm. H. Smith ; Alexander Mahon Post, No. 125, of Sanborn, N. Y., forty men, under E. H. Cox, came next in order. A delegation of fifty from Titusville, commanded by E. H. Bettes, another of forty from Oil City, commanded by E. O. Flaherty, and another of thirty from Franklin, Pa., with a small number of scattering delegates, and two Herdic coaches filled with crippled veterans, completed the division.
The third division, headed by the Philharmonic Band, was composed entirely of the Masonic fraternity, under Chief Marshalship of M. W. Christopher G. Fox. The order was as follows :
Occidental, No. 766 — Wallace Hill, Master ; Orson A. Mosher, Marshal.
Harmonie, No. 699— A. J. Stutor, Master; F. H. C. May, Marshal.
De Molay, No. 498 — John C. Burns, Master ; Charles Pooley, Marshal.
Ancient Landmarks, No. 441— Wm. H. Kennett, Master ; Wm. H. Barber, Marshal.
Queen City, No. 358 — M. Lockwood, Acting Master ; John Love, Marshal.
Modestia, No. 340 — Philip Weber, Master ; Frederick Rickert, Marshal.
48 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
Parish. No. 292 — Isaac Morris, Master j Max Cohen, MarshaL
Washington, No. 240 — Charles R. Fitz Gerald, Master j Charles Caligan, Marshal.
Erie, No. 161 — Thomas A. Laird, Master j Alexander Sloan, Marshal.
Concordia, No. 143 — N. Moerschfelder, Master; John G. Klein, Marshal.
Hiram, No. 105 — Hawley Klein, Master; Eugene S. Knapp, Marshal.
The lodges were followed by Kehr's band, Hugh de Payens Commandery No. 30, Knights Templar, Eminent William Hengerer, Commander, and Lake Erie Commandery No. 20, Knights Templar, Eminent Horace A. Noble, Com- mander. They acted as an escort to a line of carriages occu- pied by Most Worshipful Benjamin Flagler, of Suspension Bridge, Grand Master of the State, and David F. Day, Wm. A. Brodie, John W. Vrooman, Edward M. L. Ehlers, Charles E. Young, Rev. William E. Gibbs, John S. Bacon, W. Lin- coln Sage, George A. Newell, John R. Slick, Herman G. Carter, John Hoole, Zachariah Dederick, William Hengerer, Henry Smith, John B. Sackett, John H. Bosher, Cassius C. Candee, and William H. Baker, officers and acting-officers of the Grand Lodge. The Masonic turnout was a strong one, as was proper, the brethren having an important part to play in the corner-stone laying.
The Fourth Division, led by the Jefferson Cornet Band of Attica, comprised the Select Knights of Buffalo Legion, No. 2, A. O. U. W., Walter E. Locke commanding, and at the head of their line marched officers of the Grand Legion, Erie Legion No. 1, Lockport Legion No. 9, and Empire Legion No. 13. The remaining organizations were the Knights of Pythias, J. J. Herbold, commander; the Benevolent Knights, J. H. Schmall, commander; the Eureka Turners, Charles Eifenbach commander ; and the Machinery Moulders' Union No. 84, F. Schnell, president.
THE GRAND PROCESSION. 49
The Fifth Division was composed of fifteen carriages two abreast, occupied by the orator of the day, His Honor the Mayor, members of the Common Council, city officials and distinguished guests.
The Sixth Division, headed by Lay's Indian Cornet Band, was composed entirely of the Buffalo Fire Department, and the display of the burnished machines and equipments, the powerful horses, etc., was a splendid one.
The Seventh Division, headed by Young's Band, com- prised the Butchers' Association, mounted, in red shirts, and making a fine appearance. In the rear were two large wagons, filled with little girls and boys, waving flags, mak- ing a pretty sight. Then came the display of the Life Saving Station, with their boat and life car, mortar, etc. This was very attractive.
The remaining divisions were devoted entirely to the trades and industries of the city, mostly represented in gaily decorated wagons. Never was there a grander or more creditable pageant of the kind on Buffalo streets. Extended description is uncalled for, and special mention would perhaps be regarded as invidious. Suffice it to say that every impor- tant branch of trade and manufactures of the city was well represented, and on most of the wagons were appropriate mottoes and emblems, besides elaborate decorations. This part of the display was intended more particularly for the benefit of our visitors from abroad, and was doubtless fully appreciated by them.
THE LINE OF MARCH,
was from the Terrace to Main Street, to North, to Delaware, to Court, and up Court to Main. The chief attraction was the famous Seventh Regiment of New York, of which we speak more in detail elsewhere. The Seventh was cheered and ap- plauded enthusiastically, and ladies waved their handkerchiefs
from every available window. On reaching Delaware Avenue and Chippewa Street, the Seventh was halted and formed in line on the west side, while the remaining military, G. A. R., and Masonic bodies passed them, the Regiment being at " present arms." Then the Seventh marched past the other bodies in the same way. The Titusville Citizens' Corps and the Detroit Light Infantry each made a splendid appearance and attracted great attention, while the home regiments, Company " D" and the Cadets, never did better, each man in line being determined to do his very best.
THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
LAYING THE CORNER STONE.
The great length of the procession delayed the exercises for the laying of the corner stone of the Soldiers' Monu- ment an hour or more beyond the expected time, and long before the last of the procession had passed Lafayette Square the exercises were well under way. The Grand Army of the Republic marched first into the Square, followed by the color guard bearing the tattered battle flags of the rebellion. The Masons came next, and after them, His Honor, Mayor Cleveland, Judge Smith, Gen. Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, the orator of the day, the Rev. Patrick Cronin, the Rev. G. W. Cutter, members of the Common Council and General Committee. At twenty minutes of two o'clock Judge Smith announced the exercises ready to begin. The Rev. Mr. Cutter offered prayer. The Liedertafel Singing Society under the direction of Prof. Mischka, sang in fine style the chorus "To Thee, O Country, Great and Free." The Rev. Father Cronin was then introduced and read in a very effective man- ner the Declaration of Independence. Judge Smith then said : "I have now the honor of introducing to you, fellow
soldiers' and sailors' monumemt. 51
citizens, the distinguished soldier, statesman and orator, Gen. Steward L. Woodford, who has kindly consented to address you on this occasion."
The rain which had commenced falling in a drizzling way before the exercises opened now came down quite freely and those who were not fortunate enough to have umbrellas had long ago left the scene, while those who remained were subjected to much inconvenience.
As Gen. Woodford was announced, he removed his over coat and hat, mounted the corner-stone, and, declining the offer of an umbrella, made the following brief but eloquent remarks :
GEN. WOODFORD'S REMARKS.
Mr. President, Citizens and Comrades :
In this driving storm, and at this hour, I shall attempt no formal speech. The day, the hour, these scarred and tattered flags, speak the meaning of these exercises with a voice of deeper eloquence than I can command. On this birthday of the nation, so filled with holy memories of heroic deeds, so rich in glorious heritage, we are gathered here to erect a lasting memorial to those who in life and death upheld the glory of their country and the honor of their ancestors ; and may we from the inspiration of this hour, from the deep sig- nificance of this occasion, from the battle-worn faces of the veterans before us, gain a higher conception of our loyalty and allegiance to the great Government whose blessings we enjoy. Let the progress of our past be the augury of our future ; and here on this stone, rendered sacred by the blood of the loyal dead, let us venture to hope that as the centuries roll up, when the fifty millions of to day shall have swelled to three or four hundred millions, when the wealth of the present shall have doubled or tripled in the future, the corner-stone in the structure of our liberties shall still be the free press, the free school and the free church. I have the honor of bidding you adieu.
As Gen. Woodford stepped down Major J. M. Farquhar, on behalf of the Grand Army of Western New York, presented him with an elegant basket of flowers.
52
The Liedertafel then sang the hymn, " My Country, 'tis of Thee."
The Masonic ceremonies then began. Most Worshipful Benjamin Flagler, of Suspension Bridge, Grand Master of the State, was invited to lay the corner, stone. The officers of the Grand Lodge took their places around the stone, as fol- lows :
M. W. Benjamin Flagler, Grand Master.
R. W. David F. Day, Deputy Grand Master.
R. W. Wm. A. Brodie, Senior Grand Warden.
R. W. John W. Vrooman, Junior Grand Warden.
R. W. Chas. E. Young, Grand Treasurer.
R. W. Edward M. L. Ehlers, Grand Secretary.
R. W. Rev. William E. Gibbs, Grand Chaplain.
R. W. Rev. John S. Bacon, Grand Chaplain.
R. W. W. Lincoln Sage, Grand Marshal.
R. W. Henry Smith, Grand Standard Bearer.
R. W. John B. Sackett, Grand Sword Bearer.
R. W. Geo. A. Newell, Grand Steward.
R. W. John H. Bosher, Grand Steward.
R. W. Cassius C. Candee, Grand Steward.
R. W. Wm. H. Baker, Grand Steward.
R. W. James McCredie, Senior Grand Deacon.
R. W. John R. Slick, Junior Grand Deacon.
R. W. Herman G. Carter, Grand Librarian.
R. W. John Hoole, Grand Tiler.
R. W. Zachariah Dederick, Trustee Hall and Asylum.
R. W. William Hengerer, District Deputy Grand Master, 25th Masonic District, Buffalo.
In accepting the duty the Grand Master said :
Men and Brethren here assembled : — Be it known unto you that we be lawful Masons, true and faithful to the laws of our country, and engaged by solemn obligation to build buildings, to be serviceable to the brethren and to fear God the supreme architect of the universe. We have among us secrets, but those secrets are lawful and honorable and not re- pugnant to the laws of God or man. They were intrusted in peace and honor to the Masons of ancient times, and having been faithfully transmitted to us it is our duty as men of honor and integrity to convey them unimpaired to posterity. Unless our craft was good and our calling honorable we could not have lasted for so many centuries, nor should we have been
soldiers' and sailors' monument. 63
honored by the patronage of so many good and illustrious men in all ages who have shown themselves ready to promote our interests and defend us from all adversaries. We have as- sembled here today in the face of you all and have in accor- dance with the rules of our ancient craft laid the corner-stone of the foundation of a monument to be erected by the people of this city and county as a memorial to those brave men who gave their lives that their country might live. This monu- ment, while it will be inanimate, will not be mute, for it will tell to the generations to come of the men who in their death took with them immortal glory and the gratitude of a great nation. It will tell of heroic deeds and great sacrifices. It will tell that
** They never fail who die
In a great cause. The block may soak their gore,
Their heads may sodden in the sun, their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls ;
But still their spirits walk abroad. Though years
Elapse and others share as dark a doom,
They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts
Which overpower all others, and conduct
The world at last to freedom."
We esteem it an honor that our fraternity has been in- vited to participate in this great work, and therefore we have this day, with joy and gladness, performed the task assigned us. As it is our custom to invoke the blessing of Almighty God upon our work, the Grand Chaplain will offer prayer.
Prayer was then offered by the Rev. John S. Bacon, of Niagara Falls.
The Masonic ritual was then proceeded with. As it is familiar to most readers no details are necessary.
The inscription on the square copper box is as follows :
" The Corner Stone of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monu- ment, erected by the City of Buffalo and Ladies' Monument Association on a public square was laid in ,Masonic form by M. W. Benjamin Flagler, Grai\d Master of Masons, in the State of New York, on the 4th day of July, A. L. 5882, A. D. 1882.
Chester A. Arthur — President.
Alonzo B. Cornell — Governor.
Grover Cleveland — Mayor."
The contents of the box were read by the Grand Secre- tary, as follows :
54
BY THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL AND
CITIZENS.
A copy of the revised charter and ordinances of the city of Buffalo, edition of 1881.
A copy of the manual of the Common Council, edition of 1882.
A copy of the printed proceedings of the Board of Super- visors of the County of Erie for the year 1881.
Memorial of the city and county hall.
The manual of the Legislature of the State of New York for the year 1882.
A map of the State of New York.
A list of the names of the Monument Committee of the Ladies' Monument Association.
A copy of each of the following newspapers :
Buffalo Co?nmercial Advertiser. The Buffalo Daily Courier. Buffalo Morning Express. Buffalo Sunday Morning News. Buffalo Sunday Morning Times. Buffalo Evening News. JBuffalo Evening Republic. The Evening Telegraph. Buffalo Daily Demokrat. Buffalo Freie Presse. Buffalo Catholic Union. The Christian Advocate. .Buffalo Volksfreund. The Law and Gospel Tribune. Buffalo Daily Transcript. The Queen City. Buffalo Tribune. The Fraternal Censor. The Royal Templar's Advocate.
BY THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
A copy of the journal of the fifteenth annual session of the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, iheld at Indianapolis, June 15th, 1881.
The printed journal of proceedings of the annual and -semi-annual encampment of the State of New York, held in ithe years 1881 and 1882.
soldiers' and sailors' monument. 55
One of the metal badges of the Grand Army of the Re- public.
BY THE NATIONAL GUARD.
A copy of the annual report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the year 1882.
The annual report of the Inspector-General of the State of New York for the year 1881.
BY THE ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.
A copy of the proceedings of the ninth annual session of the Supreme Lodge, held at Detroit, in June, 1881.
Proceedings of the ninth annual session of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, held at Rochester, February,
1882.
BY THE MASONIC FRATERNITY.
A copy of the constitutions and statutes, rules of order and code of procedure of the Grand Lodge of free and ac- cepted Masons of the State of New York.
A copy of the transactions of the Grand Lodge of New York, at its one hundredth annual communication, held in June, 1881.
The printed report of the committee on foreign corre- spondence made to the grand lodge of New York, in June, 1882.
A copy of the. grand master's address at the annual communication of the grand lodge of New York, June 6th, 1882.
A list of the grand officers, 1882-3.
Copies of the by-laws of the several lodges in the city of Buffalo.
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS.
A copy of the constitution and by-laws of the Buffalo Liedertafel, together with its history and a list of members.
The first copy issued of the Buffalo City Directory for the year 1882.
Baldwin's official railway guide issued June, 1882.
A photograph of the drawing of the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument.
A photograph of the City and County hall.
An engraved map of the city of Buffalo.
After the box had been placed in its receptacle the corner- stone was raised by workmen under the direction of contrac-
56 buffalo's semi-centennial celebration.
tor, D. W. McConnell, and placed in its position. The bal- ance of the exercises were brought to a speedy close and the assemblage scattered to seek dryer quarters.
VISITING MILITARY.
THE SEVENTH REGIMENT, N. G. S. N. Y.
The famous Seventh Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., arrived at Niagara Falls, from New York, on Monday night, by special train, and marched to the International hotel, as guests of the City of Buffalo. They were met by a Reception Com. mittee from the city, including the staffs of the Fourth Divi- sion and Eighth Brigade, and a delegation of the Common Council and citizens headed by President Patridge. The lat- ter made a short address of welcome, which was neatly respon- ded to by the Commandant, Col. Emmons Clark, a very handsome and distinguished-looking soldier, with grey mous- tache and goatee. The Seventh came 540 strong, including thirty-three officers, fifty musicians in the splendid band, fif- teen buglers and twenty drummers. The, uniform is of gray, with gold trimmings, white cross and waist belt, white helmets, and white trousers. The field and staff officers are as follows : Col. Emmons Clark, Commandant ; Lieut. -Col., George Moore Smith ; Major, Richard Allison ; Adjutant, W.' Bacon ; Quartermaster, J. P. Burrell j Commissary, C. H. Cowell ; Surgeon, Daniel M. Stinson j Assistant Surgeon, Moreau Mor- ris ', Chaplain, Sullivan H. Weston.
The following is a a list of the Companies and their offi- cers.
Company A — Captain A. W. Conover ; 1st Lieut., Willard Fisk, Jr. ; 2d Lieut., Victor Voorhees.
Company B — Captain, Henry S. Steele ; 1st Lieut., E. W. Jones ; 2d Lieut., James E. Ware.
Company C — Captain, Don Alonzo Pollock ; 1st Lieut., John W. McDougall ; 2d Lieut., William M. Massey.
VISITING MILITARY. 57
Company D— Captain, William H. Kipp ; 1st Lieut., Benjamin Parr ; 2d Lieut., S. B. Hyatt.
Company E— Captain, G. B. Rhoades ; 1st Lieut., A. T. Wyckoff j 2d Lieut., Frank Munn.
Company F — Captain, Daniel Appleton j 1st Lieut., G. W. Rand j 2d Lieut., W. H. Palmer.
Company G— Captain, James C. Abrams ; 1st Lieut., E. G. Haight; 2d Lieut., J. B. Dewson.
Company H — Captain, James L. Price; 1st Lieut., John A. Tackaberry ; 2d Lieut., Edgar Mills.
Company I — Captain, William C. Casey ; 1st Lieut.* Daniel Chauncey, Jr.; 2d Lieut., James T. Harper.
Company K — Captain, Joseph Lentelhon ; 1st Lieut. Walter Kobbe ; 2d Lieut., J. Egmont Schermerhorn.
The regiment arrived at the Terrace promptly on time, and was at once formed for parade, Company " C," the crack company which includes a number of former Buffalo boys on its roll, having the right of the line. The officers were provi- ded with the horses used by the mounted police. The pro- gress of the gallant New Yorkers up Main street and in fact all along the line, was a continual ovation of the most enthusiastic kind, and well the troops deserved it, for so fine an organization never trod our streets. They are conceded to be the best trained body of citizen soldiers in the country — the flower of our National Guard system. The precision of their rapid marching, in close order, excited great admiration. The whole regiment moved as one man, and their march was a sight long to be remembered. The band of the regiment (Cappa's), is a magnificent one, and their street music is, like everything else about the regiment, perfection.
After the procession the Seventh took street cars for the Parade House, where a splendid collation " municipal ban- quet," prepared by Teal, of Rochester, was served the hungry
58 Buffalo's semi-centennial celebration
and thirsty heroes. It was greatly enjoyed. The Band fur- nished music and everything passed off nicely. The members of the regiment afterwards indulged in a little jollity in their own way, and were as happy a set of men as we ever saw. Afterwards the drums beat the call and the gallant boys sprang to arms, for the review and dress parade, on the broad grounds in front, given in honor of Mayor Cleve- land and Generals Rogers and Graves, with their respective staffs. The entire regiment was at its best, and did its best. The most competent military critics who witnessed the manoeuvres and dress parade, said that every movement was simply perfect. And what more could be said ? From a non- military point of view it was a very beautiful spectacle, and was witnessed, with great admiration, by an immense crowd of people. The rain at this time was not heavy enough to seriously retard the movements.
The weather last evening would not permit of carrying out the entire program of entertainment offered by members of the Buffalo Club, and the promenade concert and lawn fete had to be abandoned. After retiring from the Parade House, the regiment went to their special train, for changes of cloth- ing, and afterwards a very large number of them accepted the hospitalities of the City Club. Later in the evening came the reception at the Buffalo Club, which was conducted inside the mansion, and was a very brilliant and enjoyable affair, a large company of ladies and gentlemen being present. The lunch was a sumptuous one. Inspiring music was furnished by the Regimental Band and Poppenberg's orchestra, in the billiard room. At the close ot the reception the regiment went to their special train and returned to Niagara Falls.
The members of the regiment expressed much gratifi- cation at their cordial reception and entertainment in Buffalo. They are as fine, thorough-going, unpretentious a body of gentlemen as we ever met, and their visit here
VISITING MILITARY. 59
will long be pleasantly remembered. The Seventh repre- sents great wealth and the best elements of New York society and its esprit de corps, socially as well as in a military point of view, is not to be surpassed. They leave the Falls for home at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon.
OTHER VISITING MILITARY.
The Detroit Light Infantry, forty strong, Captain Mil- ward, arrived at 7.15 yesterday morning, over the Canada Southern, and were met by the Buffalo City Guard Cadets, whose guests they were. The Company is a very fine one, and they wore a very showy light uniform, with white shakos. They marched exceedingly well, and attracted much atten- tion. The Detroiters started for home on the late train last night.
The crack Titusville Citizens' Corps was the guest of Company " F," 65th Regiment. They have visited us be- fore, and are well known as one of the finest independent military companies in the country. Their uniform is very similar to that of the Detroit Light Infantry. They left soon after the parade.
FIREWORKS POSTPONED.
The display of fireworks to have taken place on Niagara Square last evening was after consultation with the manufactu- rer, postponed on account of the rain.
718961
Pi 3-1
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY