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THE
DEDICATORY PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
Soldiers'. Monument
AT
CHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
August 22, 1904
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
GEORGE C. HAZELTON
M C M V
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Copyright, igo5, by
George C. Hazelton
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CONTENTS
Introduction .
Description of Monument
(North Side)
(East Side)
(South Side)
(West Side)
Line of March
Colonel George A. Hosley (Opening Welcome)
Rev. Chester J. Wilcomb (Prayer) .
Hon. George C. Hazelton (Oration of the Day)
George Sherman West (Acceptance of Monument)
Colonel Henry O. Kent (Dedicatory Exercises)
Hon. John C. Linehan (Address)
Hon. Henry E. Burnham (Address)
Hon. Henry F. Hollis (Address)
James Tanner (Address) .
Hon. Cyrus A. Sulloway (Address)
Mrs. Maria E. Densmore (Address)
Mrs. Louise S. Johnson (Address) .
Hon. Gerry W. Hazelton (Closing Address)
FACE
I
21
22
23
24
26
29
33
67
69
73
77
85
91
107
113
117
123
ILLUSTRATIONS
Monument
Brigadier-General Louis Bell
Bell Post No. 74
Officers of Bell Women's Relief Corps No.
Cyrus F. Marston
Colonel George A. Hosley
Rev. Chester J. Wilcomb .
Hon. George C. Hazelton
Colonel Henry O. Kent .
Hon. John C. Linehan
Hon. Henry E. Burnham .
Hon. Henry F. Hollis
James Tanner
Hon. Cyrus A. Sulloway .
Mrs. Maria E. Densmore .
Mrs. Louise S. Johnson
G. A. R. Club of Massachusetts
Hon. Gerry W. Hazelton ,
Glimpse of Chester Street .
Frontispiece
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INTRODUCTION
The object of this little volume would not be
realized without some reference to the spirit of
patriotism and local pride which prompted the citi-
zens and natives of Chester to take steps to secure
the monument, which was so happily dedicated on
the 22d of August, 1904.
Such monuments do not build themselves.
It required forty years to raise the funds to erect
the Washington Monument at the Nation's capital.
It was not until fifty years after the battle was fought
that the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument was
laid, and it was not until eighteen years later that
they laid the capstone and dedicated to the heroes
of the American Revolution the massive shaft itself.
All such enterprises, no matter how praise-
worthy, have to be taken in hand in the first instance
by a few public-spirited citizens, and frequently it
happens that those who, at first, question the pos-
sibility of success become, later on, the most en-
thusiastic champions of the enterprise, willing and
anxious to aid in its consummation.
1
2 Chester Monument
The Grand Army organizations, which sprang
into being at the close of the War of 1861, have in-
fluenced the erection of soldiers' monuments in
many of the cities and towns of the Northern States
— have been and still are engaged in marking with
enduring memorials the battle-fields where they
fought for the maintenance of the Union, and in
aiding the pen of History in preserving a record
of deeds of valor and sublime heroism that would
otherwise be lost in oblivion.
It was a fitting sequel, therefore, that the con-
ception of the Chester Monument should originate
in the councils of the Grand Army Post located in
that town.
The story is a simple one, but it shows how well
the project was managed from beginning to end,
and the character of the promoters.
" Although a soldiers' monument in old Ches-
ter," says Cyrus F. Marston in a letter to the editor,
" had been thought of and talked about more or
less, nothing definite was done about it until in the
summer of 1901, when, at the meeting of Bell Post,
No. 74, Department of New Hampshire, Grand
Army of the Republic, George A. Hosley, a mem-
ber of Abraham Lincoln Post G. A. R., of Charles-
town, Mass., — but then and now a resident of Ches-
ter, — being present as a visitor, suggested that there
ought to be a soldiers' monument in Chester and.
Chester Monument 3
further, said that he, personally, would contribute
$ioo toward a fund for that purpose."
This was on the 15th day of June, 1901.
The question of ways and means came up imme-
diately for discussion and serious doubts were ex-
pressed by some of the members of the Post as to
the chances of raising sufficient money among the
people of the town to accomplish the desired object.
Then and there, Mr. Marston, one of their mem-
bers, was authorized to prepare and send a printed
circular on the subject to the natives of Chester
residing outside of the State, soliciting contribu-
tions in aid of the enterprise. The responses, as may
generally be expected in such cases, were, with a
few worthy exceptions, too meagre to merit further
mention here.
Happily, at this juncture, another organization
then existed in Chester of a spirit kindred to that
of the veterans who composed the Grand Army Post,
whose mission was a holy one — the Woman's Relief
Corps, an auxiliary of that of the State.
This Corps took up at once the work of co-opera-
tion in the cause, and stood by it with unflinching
purpose and devotion to the end.
Of this Corps, Colonel Hosley writes: "You
cannot say too much in praise of them in your book.
If it had not been for them we would never have
had the monument, at least no such a one as we have.
4 Chester Monument
It was not only the money they raised, but the in-
fluence their enthusiasm and zeal had on the rest
of the community."
The first plan adopted was of a plain, modest
granite shaft, to cost about $675, with the hope that
the town would make an appropriation at its next
annual town meeting of $400, in addition to what
had been already raised and promised by subscrip-
tion and otherwise, to make up the sum.
So the matter awaited the hoped-for action of
the town ; but, when election-day came and the ques-
tion was reached in its order for consideration, in-
stead of an appropriation of money, as expected, a
committee, upon motion of Nathan Morse, since
deceased, consisting of Mr. Marston and Edward
J. Robie, was appointed, with instructions to ascer-
tain for what the monument could be purchased
and to report the result of their inquiries to the town
meeting for the next ensuing year.
During this year, on behalf of the committee,
Mr. Marston obtained the designs of four different
monuments, consulted contractors and dealers as to
the cost of the same and obtained all other data
and information required to make up an intelligent
report on the subject.
The town election for 1903 was held on the
loth day of March.
The proposed monument was the most important
Chester Monument 5
question that came up for consideration before the
meeting on that day. Mr. Marston reviewed the
work of the committee and stated the case in a simple
and convincing manner to the assembled voters, and
then Colonel Hosley followed with a stirring appeal
to the judgment and patriotism of the town, paying a
tribute to the usual liberality of its citizens in the
support of all good causes; and the result was that,
on motion of Nelson Gillingham, an appropriation
of $800 was unanimously voted as a fund to aid in
building the monument, which appropriation was
supplemented, the following year, by an additional
one of $200.
This motion included also the designation of
Colonel Hosley, as agent of the town, to purchase
the monument; but, at his suggestion, others were
elected to be associated with him upon the commit-
tee, namely: John M. Webster, Nathan W. Gold-
smith, Mr. Marston and Walter I. Martin, making
a committee of five in all, of which Colonel Hosley
was recognized as the natural chairman.
For the consideration of this committee, Mr.
Marston then, without making a decided departure
from the original design, but proportioned on a
somewhat larger scale, sketched out a rough plan of
a plain shaft, surmounting a cap and die, the whole
resting on three foundation- or base-stones.
This met with the substantial favor of the com-
6 Chester Monument
mittee, but was not acceptable to the members of the
Woman's Relief Corps, who desired that the base
be surmounted by a statue in place of the shaft,
promising to raise the extra money that this
change would cost, which promise they liberally
redeemed.
They were building better than they knew.
The new proposition, of course, would put an
end to the plans already considered, because the
dimensions determined upon for the shaft would not
be suitable for the statue.
In deference to the request of the Woman's Re-
lief Corps, the change was determined upon, and,
on the 25th day of July, 1903, the committee of
five convened and adopted a resolution empower-
ing Mr. Marston, its secretary and treasurer, to
make a contract for such a monument as in his
judgment and discretion would be most suitable and
practicable, having regard to the amount of funds
available.
Mr. Marston fully realized the responsibility of
the trust thus imposed upon him by the committee.
He at once sought suggestions from the personal
inspection of monuments that he had not seen be-
fore, and investigated the question of values and
prices; and, although he had never been a student
in any of the schools or academies of design in the
land or under any of the masters of the art, he had
Chester Monument 7
a natural eye, wonderful in power and accuracy,
for form, color and symmetrical proportion, which
enabled him to wo-rk out by exceeding care and dili-
gence the beautiful and artistic design which the
sculptor and workers in stone have reproduced in
granite from the quarries of Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Rhode Island.
On the 9th day of February, 1904, he completed
a contract with Messrs. Parmer & Garmon, of Man-
chester, N. H., for the making and erection of a
soldiers' monument in Chester in accordance with
the plans and specifications made by him and of
which the committee had knowledge.
The monument was finished according to the
terms of the contract, and placed in position on the
19th day of July, 1904.
How skilfully the work was done by the con-
tractors, and how considerate they were in the price
agreed upon, is not unworthy of mention in this
connection.
And now, as we reach the end of the first part of
our Introduction and call up in review the facts as
therein narrated, the conclusion, ever worthy of re-
membrance, comes to us that the Soldiers' Monu-
ment in Chester, as it stands at the crossing of the
old highways, owes its existence to the united efforts
and generous co-operation of the Grand Army Post,
the Woman's Relief Corps, and the citizen-voters of
8 Chester Monument
the town at the annual elections of 1903 and 1904, to
the artistic genius of Cyrus F. Marston and to the
liberal contributions of time and money made by
Colonel George A. Hosley, who was its inspiration
and guiding spirit from the beginning to the end.
The 22d day of August, 1904, is destined to be
memorable in the life-history of Chester as " Dedi-
cation Day."
It was the more conspicuous because its festivi-
ties were happily blended with " Old Home Day."
The coming event had been quite well advertised
through the columns of the press and by the near-by
Grand Army Posts, the Woman's Relief Corps of the
State, and the Grand Army of the Republic, at its
annual reunion held in Boston the previous week.
The Derry News, enjoying a wide and well-
merited circulation in the community and voicing
the kindly sentiment of all the press, had given
it their inspiration in language which turned out
to be prophetic:
" The Old Home Day in Chester this year will
be marked with a ceremony of dedication which
will prove a memorable epoch in the history of the
old town. The dedication of the Soldiers' Monu-
ment will prove an event of special interest to all
who may be so fortunate as to witness it."
Chester Monument 9
The conditions in every way were most favor-
able.
All day long, the Saturday before, rain had
poured in torrents from out the heavens, which
served to purify the atmosphere and to moisten the
dry and dusty earth. The intervening Sabbath was
fair, and Monday, the day selected for the ex-
ercises, was most propitious — one of those choice
days not uncommon in New Hampshire when
the rays of the Summer sun are gratefully
tempered with delicious breezes from the distant
mountains.
The flag was in evidence at all the appropriate
points and the village homes were handsomely dec-
orated with the emblems of patriotism.
The dedicatory exercises, which had been looked
forward to with great interest, called out a large
concourse of people and were attended with every
indication of joyous satisfaction — a concourse esti-
mated by conservative judges to be not less than six
thousand people.
There came from all points of the compass vet-
erans of the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army
of the Republic.
Almost the entire population of Chester,
prompted by a genuine spirit of patriotism and sin-
cere local pride, eager to manifest a natural interest
in an event which meant so much for the town,
10 Chester Monument
gathered about the monument long before the hour
appointed.
There were present also many from the sur-
rounding towns, and delegations from Concord,
Manchester, Nashua, Exeter, Portsmouth and other
cities in New Hampshire, and from Boston, Lowell,
Haverhill, Lawrence and other towns in Massa-
chusetts; and some " Old Home Day" comers were
there from States in the Mississippi Valley and as
far west as the Dakotas.
The presence of such an audience, embracing
many persons of distinction in civil, military and
social circles, was not only highly gratifying to the
members of the committee who had labored so
earnestly and faithfully to make the occasion a com-
plete success, but a most decided and delightful in-
spiration to the speakers.
A little after ten o'clock in the morning, the pro-
cession was formed, as previously planned by the
committee, at a rendezvous in front of the hotel,
whence it marched to the grandstand, its objective
point, where the dedicatory exercises were to be
held.
At the appointed time, 10.30 o'clock, the exer-
cises opened at the grandstand.
The order of the ceremonies as arranged by the
committee under Colonel Hosley, President of the
Day, was exceedingly appropriate.
Chester Monument 11
The formal ceremonies of dedication, conducted
by Colonel Kent, according to the ritual of the
Grand Army, followed in course at the close of the
opening oration of the day, but we deem it not out
of place to make reference to them here.
These proceedings, which occupied, perhaps,
three-quarters of an hour in their development, were
both picturesque and pathetic.
They were received by the assemblage with like
effect as if they were witnessing the introduction of
a picture of striking import amid the passing scenes
of some great drama of historic events upon a the-
atrical stage.
First in order, George Sherman West, chairman
of the Selectmen of the town, on behalf of the town,
in appropriate language, gave the monument into
the keeping of the New Hampshire Department of
the Grand Army of the Republic, of which Colonel
Kent was in command.
Next, a detail of the Guard of Honor, consist-
ing of Comrades Emery, Edwards, Brown, True,
Noyes and Edwin Plummer, were posted about the
base of the monument as sentinels for its protection
during the ceremonies, as required by the ritual.
At the proper time, the Guard of Honor " set
up " against one side of the monument-base an
anchor, crossed with a boarding-pike — the symbol
of the Navy — and stationed Gilman E. Brown,
12 Chester Monument
dressed in the uniform of the Union sailor, in the
attitude of a sentinel for its protection, with his
cutlass at salute; and, as emblematical of the Army
service, they placed against the opposite side in
proper combination the musket with fixed bayonet,
canteen, haversack and knapsack, and in charge of
this symbol they stationed Charles F. True, in the
uniform of the volunteer Union soldier, with his
arms at present, thus exhibiting to the eye a living
tableau of attractiveness and artistic beauty.
When Colonel Kent had finished reading from
the pages of his ritual, which embraced passages
from the Scriptures appropriate to the occasion, and
a prayer had been said by the Chaplain, the flag
hitherto held in reserve was unfurled for the first
time; and, as it floated out upon the breeze, the
Kingston Band welcomed its appearance with the
stirring strains of the " Star Spangled Banner," and
the vast audience rose to it, and uncovered in its
glorious and inspiring presence.
Acknowledgments are due from the people of
Chester to the press, and to their able correspondents
who were in attendance, for the interesting and in-
structive reports of the proceedings and exercises
which they published in their newspapers on the
following day and during the remainder of " Old
Home Day " week, notably to the Manchester Union,
the Mirror and American, The Derry News and The
Chester Monument 13
Boston Globe, which last was conspicuous among the
press outside of the State for the generous promi-
nence which it gave in its columns to a faithful ac-
count of the proceedings.
It was a subject of congratulation that Mr. Burn-
ham, the junior United States Senator from New
Hampshire, and Mr. Sulloway, the Representative
in Congress from the District, were able to be pres-
ent and participate as they did in the proceedings,
and one of regret that Governor Bachelder and Mr.
Gallinger, the senior Senator from the State, and
Mr. Currier, Representative in Congress from the
Second District, were unavoidably absent. The ab-
sence also of General John C. Black, on account of
severe illness, was a source of disappointment,
especially to the old veterans, on account of his
relation to the Grand Army of the Republic as its
late Commander-in-Chief and of his fame as a
public speaker.
It is to us a matter of regret that, while we have
the disposition, we have not the space here to men-
tion the names of the many distinguished people, and
of the many dear personal friends, from far and near,
who honored the occasion with their presence; but
this omission is fortunately supplied by the list of
names gathered at the time by Miss Fitz, the Libra-
rian of the town, and also is of less moment because
of the fact that a liberal mention of those present
14 Chester Monument
may be found in the various reports published in the
newspapers of the time.
It remains to be said that nothing in connection
with the notable occasion was more heartily appre-
ciated than the generous act of Mr. Thayer in plac-
ing the use and control of his hotel (then temporarily
withdrawn from the public service) in the hands of
the Committee of Arrangements, who opened wide
its doors and made it available for the comfort and
enjoyment of the public and for the hospitalities so
bounteously provided.
This old hostelry, which has a most interesting
history and which has long been recognized as one
of the ancient landmarks of the town, has in its time
played many parts, but none more opportune than
that which it took in the festivities of " Dedication
Day."
To its well-arranged tables, when the regular ex-
ercises at the grandstand had closed, came the in-
vited guests, members of the press and others to
partake of and enjoy the bountiful dinner prepared
and served, on the unsurpassed New England plan,
by the Woman's Relief Corps.
This was followed in due time by the witnessing
on the part of some of the people of the near-by field
sports that had been advertised as a part of the pro-
gramme, and by speeches, recitations, songs and the
usual camp-fire exercises on the part of the veterans
Chester Monument 15
and others upon and around the hotel veranda, un-
der the leadership of the Grand Army Club of Mas-
sachusetts, while across the way, upon the beautiful
lawn that lies within the residence-grounds of the
late lamented Dr. Emerson, love-makers walked arm
in arm, old friendships were renewed and new ones
formed, greetings were given and farewells said;
and still later on, and into the shadows of the even-
ing, the Kingston Band discoursed sweet music on
the village green, and wellnigh on to midnight the
voices of merriment could be heard, gradually dying
away, until at length the last loiterer of the day's
vast multitude of six thousand people had vanished
from the streets, leaving the Soldiers' Monument,
still carrying the emblems of its dedication, standing
in its place, under the mild light of the eternal stars,
imposing, silent and alone — a fitting symbol of the
Nation's love for its loyal and brave defenders.
Washington, D. C. G. C. H.
I&
Bell Post No. 74, Department of New Hampshire,
G. A. R. (1904)
Officers
Isaac N. A. McKay. .
.... Commander,
James Buchanan
....S. V. C.
Charles F. True. . . .
....J. V. C.
Albert F. B. Edwards
....Adj't.
Edward J. Robie ....
....Q. M.
Samuel G. Healy. . . .
Surg.
Samuel S. Parker. . . .
.... Chap.
James H. Hardy. . . .
....0. D.
James Gerah
....0. G.
George W. Davis . . .
. . . . S. M.
Henry C. Cobb
. . . . Q. M. S.
17
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1 - - "1
Officers of Bell Woman's Relief Corps No. 78,
Chester, N. H., Auxiliary to G. A. R. (1904)
Sarah A. Buzzell President.
Emma B. Marston S. V. P.
Anna E. Edwards Jr. V. P.
Sarah J. True Secretary.
Orissa A. Sargent Treasurer.
Mabel M. Green Chaplain.
Helen A. Shackford Conductor.
Abbie S. Hardy Ass't Conductor.
Cynthia J. Brown Guard.
Eliza J. Brown Ass't Guard.
Jennie P. Hazelton Patriotic Instructor.
Lavinia J. Wason Press Correspondent.
Emeline F. Robie ist Color Bearer.
Mary E. Merrill 2d Color Bearer.
Josie S. Whittemore 3d Color Bearer.
Lurana McKay 4th Color Bearer.
Julia A. Lawrence Musician.
19
Members
Bean, M. L.
Brown, Cynthia J.
Brown, Eliza J.
Brown, Lizzie
Brown, Nellie M.
Buswell, Mary E.
Buzzell, Sarah A.
Chase, Linda B.
Edwards, Anna E.
Ellis, Abbie L.
Gerah, Sarah A.
Greene, Mabel M.
Hardy, Abbie S.
Hazelton, Jennie P.
Healey, Melissa
Heath, Jennie A.
Jack, Jessie A.
Jones, Mary A.
Lawrence, Julia A.
Mackintosh, Marilla
Marston, Emma B.
Merrill, Mary E.
McDuffie, Vena V.
McKay, Lorana
Noyes, Carrie P.
Parker, Ellen A.
Preston, Emily A. D.
Robie, Emeline F.
Robie Emma A.
Robie, Sarah J.
Rowell, Emma
Sargent, Orlssa A.
Shackford, Helen A.
Smith, Ida L.
Smith, May L.
Smith, Ruth A.
Stevens, Sarah A.
Southwick, Rose
Tenny, Harriette D.
Thayer, Addie W.
True, Sarah J.
Wason, Lavinia J.
Wells, Luna Moore
West, Mary J.
Whittemore, Josie S.
20
DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT
The pedestal, except the die, is of Concord
granite, all hammered except the first or bottom
base, which is " rock face " with margin lines.
The die is of medium-dark Quincy granite,
polished.
The statue is of blue Westerly granite.
Dimensions: First, or bottom base, 6 ft. lo x
6 ft. lo X I ft. 8 in. ; second base, 5 f t. 2 x 5 f t. 2 x i
ft. 3 in.; third base (or plinth), 4 ft. 2x4 ft. 2xr
ft. 9 in.; die, 3 ft. 3x3 ft. 3x4 ft. i^ in.; cap,
4 ft. 2 X 4 ft. 2 X I ft. 9 in ; plinth, 2 ft. 8 x 2 ft. 8 x i
ft. 2 in. ; statue, 6 ft. 6 in., including its base, making
the figure itself about 6 ft. 2 in.
The dimensions of the base are on the finished
margin lines. If the measurements were made on
the projecting rock face, it would be full 7 feet
square.
The foundation contains upward of 250 cubic
feet of solid stone and best Portland cement, the
whole resting on solid rock or ledge.
The total height above the foundation is 18 ft.
2 in.
21
(North Side, or Front)
Died in the Service
Louis Bell, Capt. Co. A, ist N. H. Vols.; Lieut. Col. 4th
N. H. Vols., when organized; promoted to Col.,
March 11, 1862; Ins. Gen. and Chief-of-Staff under
Gen. Thomas W. Sherman; in January, 1865, com-
manded a brigade in the successful assault upon Fort
Fisher, where, on January 15th, he received a mortal
wound, and died on the i6th, near the scene of the
battle; and, by command of President Lincoln,
given, by Secretary Stanton, the brevet rank of Brig.
Gen., bearing date, January 15, 1865, the day he
received his wound.
Andrew S. Nichols, Co. C, 2d N. H. Vols.
Joseph Everett, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols., and Co. F, 8th
N. H. Vols.
Alphonzo P. R. Smith, Co. K, 3d N. H. Vols.
Charles H. Weymouth, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols.
Charles L. Seavey, Co. C, 4th N. H. Vols.
William M. Locke, Co. C, 6th N. H. Vols.
Joseph W. Haselton, Co. I, 5th N. H. Vols.
Henry D. Davis, Co. A, 7th N. H. Vols.
Harrison Sanborn, Co. D, 7th N. H. Vols.
Page R. Smith, Co. D, 7th N. H. Vols.
Robert Wason, Co. D, 7th N. H. Vols.
Warren J. Hills, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
Henry N. Brown, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
22
Chester Monument 23
Milton S. Brown, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
John S. Currier, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Albert V^ason, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols.
Albert B. Goldsmith, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Henry H. Hook, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Alonzo A. Busher, Co. D, 7th N. H. Vols.
Franklin C. Weeks, Cos. F and C, 14th N. H. Vols.
Charles S. V^ells, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
(East Side)
Honorably Discharged
Wallace T. Larkin, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols., appointed
Lieut, and promoted to Capt. In 83d Inf. (old), and
73d and 117th Inf., U. S. C. T.
John A. Hazelton, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
D. La Roy Sanborn, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Samuel V. Osgood, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols., and Co. D,
i8thN. H. Vols.
John W. West, 2d, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols., and Co. K,
1st N. H. H. A. Vols.
Luther C. Stevens, Co. K, 15th N. H. H. A. Vols., and
Co. L, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Marston L. Brown, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Matthew Forsaith, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Benjamin F. Spofford, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Samuel S. Adams, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Wlllard E. Colburn, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Richard H. Currier, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols.
24 Chester Monument
Malcomb W. Tewksbury, Co. C, 104th III., appointed
Capt.
Stephen D. Underhill, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
William S. Greenough, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols., ap-
pointed Capt. and promoted to Major by brevet for
gallant service.
Augustus P. Greenough, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Richard C. Lawrence, Jr., Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Perley C. Ingalls, Co. D, iSth N. H. Vols.
Silas F. Learnard, Co. H, iSth N. H. Vols., appointed
Capt.
John T. Lovett, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Ephraim Nichols, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Fred D. Morse, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
George S. Smith, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols.
William B. Robie, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Benjamin F. Underhill, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Charles B. Robie, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
William H. Underhill, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Cyrus S. Dolloff, Co. H, i8th N. H. Vols.
Isaac F. Underhill, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols.
Frederick Spollett, ist N. H. Battery.
(South Side)
Honorably Discharged
Cyrus F. Marston, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Jacob J. Elliott, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols., and Navy,
served on U. S. S. Ohio, Penguin, Seminole and
Jacob Bell ; discharged as Paymaster's Steward, July
27, 1864.
Chester Monument 25
Joseph W. Chase, Co. C, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
George F. Tebbetts, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
John W. Haselton, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Clement A. West, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
George H. McDuffee, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Charles H. West, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
George W. Wilcomb, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Charles F. True, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Elbrldge Wason, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Charles P. Abbott, Co. K, ist N. H. H. A. Vols.
Edward J. Robie, Co. G, ist N. H. Cav. Vols.
Mark Carr, Co. A, ist N. H. Cav. Vols.
John L. Blaisdell, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols.
Silas W. Tenney, Co. F, 2d U. S. V., Sharpshooters.
Nelson Gilllngham, Co. A, nth N. H. Vols.
John Robinson, Co. F, 8th N. H. Vols.
William A. Brown, Co. B, 6 ist Mass. Inf.
Samuel S. Parker, Co, B, 6 ist Mass. Inf.
Franklin A. Morse, Navy, served on U. S. S. Ohio, Ben-
ton, St. Clair and Ouachita.
Oliver Dunaven, Navy, served on U. S. S. Ohio, South
Carolina and Niagara.
Daniel Osgood, Co. F, 14th Mass. Inf.
Francis Savoie, Co. D, i8th N. H. Vols.
26 Chester Monument
(West Side)
Honorably Discharged
Aaron Everett, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols.
George L. Brown, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols.
Joseph R. Morse, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols., and Co. H,
1 8th N. H. Vols.
Joslah D. Morse, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols., and Co. F, 8th
N. H. Vols.
James Buchanan, Co. K, 2d N. H. Vols., and Co. B, nth
N. H. Vols.
Arthur T. Learnard, Co. E, 2d N. H. Vols.
Joseph Dane, Co. K, 2d N. H. Vols.
Charles J. Rand, Co. C, 2d N. H. Vols., and N. H. Bat-
tery.
Charles A. Dearborn, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols.
Lloyd G. Gale, Co. K, 3d N. H. Vols.
James Gerah, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols., and Co. B, Vet.
R. C.
Stickney S. Gale, Co. K, 4th N. H. Vols.
Converse L. Weymouth, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols.
Edwin Jones, Co. B, 3d N. H. Vols., and Co. B, Vet.
R. C.
David J. Dearborn, Co. A, 5th N. H. Vols., and Co. B,
i2thN. Y. Inf.
James M. M. Elliott, Co. A, 8th N. H. Vols., and Co. I,
iithN. H. Vols.
Franklin A. Brown, Co. I, 4th N. H. Vols.
Samuel C. McDuffee, Co. F, 8th N. H. Vols.
Charles H. Kent, Co. F, 8th N. H. Vols.
Chester Monument 27
Dudley J. Marston, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
Cyrus E. Roberts, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols., and Co. D,
7th N. H. Vols.
Sewell W. Tenney, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
Daniel S. West, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
William E. C. Coolldge, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
John Underhill, Co. I, nth N. H. Vols., and Lieut, in
Co. D, 1 8th N. H. Vols.
Nathaniel West, Jr., Co. I, nth N. H. Vols.
David F. Clay, Co. K., 15th N. H. Vols.
Emerson H. Childs, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
Albert F. B. Edwards, Co. K. 15th N. H. Vols., and Co.
D, i8thN. H. Vols.
David C. French, Co. K, 15th N. H. Vols.
^
LINE OF MARCH
Battalion of Police;
Chief Marshal, Judge Alfred D. Emery;
Kingston Cornet Band;
Bell Post No. 74 G. A. R. and delegates from Derry Post,
Louis Bell Post, of Manchester, and Joseph Hooker Post,
of Raymond, acting as escort to the Department officers of
New Hampshire G. A. R., Colonel Henry O. Kent, Com-
mander, and Frank Battles, Assistant Adjutant General.
State colors of Massachusetts, under guard of Abraham
Lincoln Camp No. io6 S. of V. from Boston, Mass.,
William D. Barber, Commander, and A. W. Mechan,
Color Sergeant.
Grand Army Club of Massachusetts, acting as escort to
the Department and Post Department officers of Massa-
chusetts and National officers G. A. R., Colonel Joseph W.
Thayer commanding.
Hon. George C. Hazelton,
Orator of the Day.
Selectmen of Chester:
George Sherman West, Leroy D. Morse and William T.
Owen.
29
30 Chester Monument
Monument Committee:
Colonel George A. Hosley, John M. Webster, Nathan
Goldsmith, Cyrus F. Marston and Walter
I. Martin.
" Old Home Day " Association, with invited guests and
speakers.
Officers of Chester's " Old Home Day " :
President, Colonel George A. Hosley; First Vice-Presi-
dent, W. B. Underhill; Secretary, F. E. Roble; Treasurer,
George S. West; and Executive Committee, William
Jones, A. F. B. Edwards and Edward Jones.
Colonel George A. Hosley, President
OF THE Day:
Fellow-Citizens, Comrades of the Grand Army,
Members of the Woman's Relief Corps and
Visitors:
We welcome you here to-day for a double pur-
pose, that of celebrating " Old Home Day " and to
dedicate our beautiful monument.
I wish right here to thank the citizens of Ches-
ter for the liberal manner in which they came for-
ward and contributed toward this monument, and
also to say that it is owing to the exertions and work
of Cyrus F. Marston that we have been able to get
so good a monument for the money.
But you are not here to hear me talk, so we will
commence the exercises by prayer.
I take great pleasure in introducing the Rev.
Chester J. Wilcomb, a native of Chester.
31
^
Rev. Chester J. Wilcomb:
Great God, our Father in Heaven, Author of
life, Giver of every blessing, v^e humbly bow before
Thee in gratitude for the blessings of the past —
to our country, to our tow^n, to our homes and to
ourselves.
As we are met here to-day, O God, we pray that
Thy blessing may rest upon us and upon the exer-
cises of this occasion. Wilt Thou bless those who
have survived the great conflicts of the past. Bless,
we pray, the homes here represented and this peo-
ple, and grant that the exercises of this day and this
week may be an inspiration to us all to love and
serve Thee, so that, when our life's course shall
have been run, and the last battle fought, when the
last call shall be given, it may be our pleasure to
receive the reward of those who have been faithful
even unto death. And to Thy name we will give all
praise for ever and ever. Amen.
^
Colonel Hosley:
I now take great pleasure in introducing one who
is a native of this town, in fact, needs no introduc-
tion to citizens of Chester. He was born here and
roamed over these hills when a boy. I now intro-
duce to you the Hon. George C. Hazelton, of Wash-
ington, D. C, for three terms a Representative in
Congress from Wisconsin.
36
<&
Hon. George C. Hazelton, Orator of the Day:
Mr. President^ Officers and Veterans of the
Grand Army, Fellow-Citizens, Kindred and
Friends:
The strength of a free government like ours may
be fairly measured by the love it bears to those of its
citizens who ofifer up their lives in the hour of its
imminent peril, either in the defence or in the asser-
tion of its just rights, on land or sea.
Reversing the rule of the monarchies, we make
the military power subordinate to the civil, and we
place our main reliance upon the volunteer armies
and navies who come, at the Nation's call, from the
reserve power of the people, to protect its honor and
to fight its battles.
This power has never failed us or been sum-
moned in vain.
By the achievements of two great volunteer
armies, the army of the American Revolution and
the Union forces of 1861, we have established our
free, representative Government and our enlightened
civilization.
The seven long years which ended at Yorktown
37
38 Chester Monument
and the five longer years which ended at Appomat-
tox constitute the two great heroic periods of our
history, and I think of the history of the world.
They are linked together by a golden chain of
patriotic memories and by the dramatic unities of
kindred events in the evolution of free government.
They are beacon-fires that will burn on and on
forever more.
It was by the achievements of the first army that
the way was opened and the Republic made possible
in the new world.
It was by the achievements of the Union forces
that the Government was preserved in its integrity
and given a new birth of freedom.
The new-born Republic in an early day paid ofif
the expenses of the first war, a mere pittance of one
hundred and forty million dollars; and the last sol-
dier on the first pension-roll of honor in our history
has been paid and his account with the Government
closed by the hand of death.
But the places where their camp-fires gleamed
and where they fought the battles for American in-
dependence are still well known; new monuments
arise to their memories within the thirteen original
States; History and Romance are writing of their
deeds and valor new pages for our literature; and
the Daughters of the Revolution, and the Sons of the
Revolution, and other lovers of liberty are, day by
Chester Monument 39
day, and year by year, gleaning up " the scattered
ashes into History's golden urn."
The redeemed Republic has not been unmind-
ful either of the responsibilities that rested anew
upon the Nation by reason of the heroic services of
her armies and navies in the War of 1861. Already
the pension-roll of honor has reached proportions
far exceeding in munificence that of any other na-
tion, either of ancient or of modern times.
If a man shall give his life to save mine, how
shall I estimate the value of such service? If, in
saving my life, he shall become totally or partially
disabled for the performance of manual duty, shall
I not give him out of my bounty at least food,
raiment and shelter?
And what is this in comparison to the obligation
to the soldiers and sailors of the War of the Rebel-
lion that rests upon this mighty Nation, whose life
they saved — an obligation that no pension-roll can
meet, as priceless as the inalienable rights of man,
as the air we breathe — an obligation that no line
or rule known to science or mathematics can
measure?
If all the sands of all the seas " were pearl, the
water nectar, and the rocks pure gold," and they
were ours to give, they would not compass the mag-
nitude, the heights, the depths of the debt we owe to
these men for this, our free representative Govern-
40 Chester Monument
ment, resting in the will of the people and carrying
to all alike the guarantees of " life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness."
Since Appomattox, the Nation has gratefully ex-
pended out of the treasury of the people twelve
million dollars, in round numbers, to purchase, set
aside and adorn eighty-four national cemeteries, ia
which sleep forever its immortal dead. These ceme-
teries are located generally hard by the battle-fields
where these dead fought and fell.
Within these sacred reservations, an army of
three hundred and thirty-seven thousand Union sol-
diers lie buried; and of this number one hundred and
forty-eight thousand are nameless, resting in graves
that are marked " Unknown."
At each of these sacred reservations, the Govern-
ment has placed a guard that never sleeps. Every
morning, at the rising of the sun, the starry emblem
of our national authority is unfurled; and, when it
shall cease to float over these consecrated grounds,
there will be naught of this Government but the bare
walls to tell the reason why.
Every year, when the Spring-time comes, with
new leaf and bloom, the Nation repairs to these holy
shrines, and, in the solemn presence of the monu-
ments and headstones that commemorate brave
deeds, with reverent step and bowed head, upon the
green graves that cover sacred ashes, lays lovingly
Chester Monument 41
and tenderly her wreaths of laurel and garlands of
flowers, ever votive and beautiful,
Roses that love, and pansies that deplore them,
And lilies, weeping from their hearts of snow I
In the same pathetic spirit, we gather here to-day
to dedicate this monument — so far as we can dedicate
it — to the honor and the memory of the one hundred
and six sons of Chester who left their loving homes
to join the army and navy of the Union in the defence
of their Government, in the great crisis of 1861.
It has risen to its place here partly by the aid of
the township which it honors, and partly by the
voluntary contributions of men and women who
love the cause it represents, while its fair propor-
tions and its successful completion are largely due
to the untiring zeal and faithful supervision of
Cyrus F. Marston, whose name, with his comrade-
soldiers, is enrolled upon its heroic scrolls.
In this connection permit me to say a word as to
myself.
The soil whereon I stand is mine by birthright;
my family name and lineage run back to the earliest
settlement of the township. Here is the homestead ;
here was the school-house and the play-ground; here
sleep many generations of my fathers; and here are
the graves of the early loved and lost, whose " mem-
42 Chester Monument
ories were the same as mine and who launched life's
bark with me."
Many of the men whose names are enrolled upon
the tablets of this monument were once my comrades,
school-mates and friends.
I therefore share naturally in all the pride and
glory which this occasion brings to the people of
my native town; and I pause here to speak an his-
toric word in her behalf.
The town of Chester has now passed the line of
the first and is well advanced into the second century
of its life.
It was here fifty years before our flag was un-
furled or known; it was here when the three great
monarchies of Europe, with the native tribes, held
in their grasp all the eastern Canadas and all the
territory now embraced within the boundaries of the
Republic; it was here when the first king of the
House of Hanover put on his crown.
It was in his name that its grant of titles was
given.
You can trace, at a glance, on the arch that spans
the line of its development, the transformation from
the solitude of a primeval wilderness, where the in-
fant colony was cradled, to the cultivated fields and
fruited orchards that now open to our view — from
the tepees of the red men, for they were here, to
these temples of worship, seats of learning and
Chester Monument 43
homes of comfort and refinement that have taken
their places.
The permanency of the settlement was assured
from the beginning. It was assured by the character
of its pioneer settlers and by the great purposes for
which they sought new homes in the new world.
Its population was made up from the three lead-
ing races of the earth — the English, Scotch and Irish
races.
The English were of the flower of the English
people, and of those who had planted the fore-
runners of civil and religious liberty in the old
world, which took root in the soil of the new. The
Scotch were of the Highland Scotch, who sang
the songs of Burns. The Irish — from the Em-
erald Isle, " where the shamrock grows green from
the cliffs to the shore," — were fired with the splendid
sentiment which. Grattan voiced on the floor of the
Irish Parliament: " I wish for nothing but to
breathe in this, our island, in common with my
fellow-subjects, the air of liberty. I never will be
satisfied so long as the meanest cottager in Ireland
has a link of the British chain clanking to his rags.
He may be naked — he shall not be in irons."
From time to time, men and women came from
the colony of the Pilgrims, from the early settle-
ments at Portsmouth, at Haverhill, at Hampton and
at Exeter, and from the community of Scotch Pres-
44 Chester Monument
byterians from the north of Ireland, the best
equipped of all, who, after many wanderings, finally
rested their moving tents, and organized their new
township, upon adjoining territory, in the name of
Londonderry.
It was a marvellous combination of human con-
trarieties in disposition and temperament, marked by
strong individual characteristics, by independence of
thought and action, furnishing a character for every
act in every play on every stage of life, but speaking
a common language and on all the main lines of
human progress a unit.
They were so true to governmental authority
that they maintained their loyalty to the English
crown until that allegiance was absolved by the
Declaration of Independence and by a successful
revolution. They were Protestant in their religious
faith, as were all the colonies, except that which
was planted by the Calverts in Maryland. They be-
lieved in the principles of civil and religious liberty,
as did all the colonists of New England, as defined
in the compact made by the Pilgrim Fathers in the
cabin of the Mayflower, upon which the liberties of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts now rest, and
which were carried into the formation of this and
all other township governments in the colony of
New Hampshire.
These provincial townships, as a matter of neces-
Chester Monument 45
sity, consolidated their interests on one line, of ad-
vancing civilization. They made common cause
with one another. They endured alike the hard-
ships and privations of frontier life. They were im-
bued with the same spirit and sentiment in public
afifairs. They were equally resolute and brave in
the hour of danger.
It would have made no difference if the English
redcoats had opened the war at Portsmouth or
Hampton, at Londonderry or Chester; they would
have been met by the same splendid resistance that
was made at Lexington and Concord, when " the
embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard
round the world."
It was to ascertain as accurately as possible to
what extent this spirit prevailed among the people
that the Continental Congress instituted the test of
loyalty to the cause of the colonies by their resolu-
tion of March 14, 1776.
The war had actually begun, and this resolution
was to draw the line between the loyal and disloyal
— to sift the wheat from the chaff.
It was a wise precaution.
A Committee of Safety came here, as well as to
all the other provincial towns in New England, to
find out who were for and who were against the
cause.
The sentiment of this town is written in the
46 Chester Monument
pledge that was submitted by the Continental Con-
gress : " We the Subscribers do hereby solemnly
engage and promise, that we will, to the utmost in
our Power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes,
with ARMS, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the
British Fleets and Armies against the United Ameri-
can Colonies."
This pledge was of the spirit of the Declaration
of Independence, that soon followed.
Two hundred and twenty men,* indicating a pop-
ulation in the township then of about one thousand
people, signed their names to this pledge, — signed
it in the frowning presence of a government of over-
whelming power, signed it in the very teeth of the
English law of treason, knowing full well that each
and all of them, in the event of failure, would be
subject to the forfeiture of their lives and their
property.
Twenty per cent, and more of these signers made
good the pledge on the battle-fields of the Revolu-
tion.
I find along the line of this town's history three
prominent characters, whose ability and heroism
would add lustre to any age or generation of men.
Colonel David Webster was born here in 1738
and was identified with the township and its people
for twenty-five years.
He was a man of heroic mould. In his boyhood,
Chester Monument 47
he was the master of all the manly sports. At the
age of nineteen years, Stark and Rogers came
here and chose him, from out a military organi-
zation, to meet the dangers of the ranger service,
on account of his superior manliness and personal
bravery.
He was a born soldier and was promoted through
all the grades from private to colonel for gallantry
in the service. He held an important command
under Stark in the early Crown Point expedition.
He held an important command under Stark in the
battle of Bennington. He evinced the tact and
bravery of Sheridan in hurling back upon the main
column for surrender a fleeing detachment of Bur-
goyne's army.
I judge from the annals of his life that he had
the beauty of Apollo and the strength of Spartacus;
that he would not surrender a principle for the sake
of peace ; that he was as brave as he was strong, and
as good as he was brave.
He was inured to all the hardships and priva-
tions of frontier life; there was no mountain here
he could not scale, no river he could not cross, no
forest through which he could not find a way and no
ambuscade he could not penetrate.
He was the kind of man, of all men, to carry
" a message to Garcia."
He was one of the founders of the town of
48 Chester Monument
Plymouth, in this State, and died there, rich in years
and rich in honor.
His name and deeds are a sacred heritage to the
town of Chester.
The second of these illustrious characters came
here from the Highlands of Scotland, straightway
through the gates of the sea, and, within a year from
the time he settled here, like John Burns to the army
at Gettysburg, went to the American army at Bun-
ker Hill, the eventful night before the battle, and
helped to construct the flanking defences to Pres-
cott's redoubt, fought valiantly for his country with
Warren and Putnam, Stark and Prescott, Pomeroy
and Gridley on the following day, saw Warren fall,
" the first great martyr in this great cause," returned
to his home and later appeared in the front ranks of
Stark's army on the battle-field of Bennington.
I know that no Highland chief that ever broke a
lance in the battles of the Scottish clans was braver
than this man, David Currier.
His heroic blood reasserted itself in the veins of
his two grandsons, bearing his family name, one of
whom received a wound at Chantilly, that will never
heal, and the other promotion for gallant service
under Grant and Hancock, in the fierce battles of
the Wilderness.
This is a second heritage for the town of Chester.
The third name, which adorns its civic history,
Chester Monument 49
is that of Joseph Blanchard, who settled here in 1772
and whose grandfather had been a judicial officer
in the provincial courts.
He was a man of agreeable personality and
endowed by nature in a marked degree with the
well-balanced brain, the even temperament, the mar-
vellous self-control, which enable men to command
the will of others and to shape the destiny of public
afifairs. He was possessed of the power of common
sense, which neither learning nor colleges can give.
In all the public and private trusts of life, he bore
himself with integrity and honor. In his day and
generation, he was the administrator of estates and
the guardian of orphans. He was the earliest at the
bedside of his sick or dying neighbors and among the
warmest sympathizers at the burials of their dead.
His countenance was open and free and his smile as
sweet as summer: He
Loved the angle and the gun,
The story and the song.
He had a distinguished public career as the
chosen representative of this town for a term of five
years in the House of Representatives and of two
years in the Senate of the State; he was of the
Advisory Council of the Governor; and, in the Con-
stitutional Convention of 1792, as a prominent dele-
50 Chester Monument
gate from Chester, he helped to enact into the or-
ganic law of the State the " New Hampshire Bill
of Rights," which, in the clearness of its diction and
in the wide range it takes in the definition of human
rights, civil and religious, as the basic principles of
free, representative government, surpasses, in my
judgment, the one that came from the brain and pen
of George Mason, in the early days of Virginia, or
any other that I have read in the political history
of the world.
The supreme event of his public service came
when he was chosen to represent this town in the
convention of this State of 1787 that ratified the
American Constitution. This convention convened
first at Exeter, in the Fall, and consummated its work
at Concord, in the coming Spring.
The approval of nine States was required to se-
cure the ratification of the Constitution. New York
and Virginia had not yet voted upon the important
question, and it was of supreme importance that
New Hampshire should cast the vote — as the ninth
State — that would give it life.
Blanchard caught at once the splendid perspec-
tive of the incoming Republic. He knew the weak-
ness of the Articles of Confederation, and he com-
prehended fully the provisions of the proposed
Constitution and the strength and power that its
adoption would give to the American States.
Chester Monument 51
The people of his own town, under his influence,
stood as a unit for its ratification; and, all winter
long, he had labored with the chosen delegates of
the adjoining towns to co-operate with him in the
convention.
Against Atherton and his followers, who com-
bined to defeat its adoption, he stood like a rock
in its favor with the elder and the younger Langdon,
with John Sullivan, with Jonathan Chase, with
Ebenezer Webster and with other distinguished
men, who together secured its ratification in the end,
by a vote of fifty-seven to forty-six.
This majority vote was, perhaps, the most im-
portant ever cast in the history of governments.
Whether or not it hastened the approval which soon
took place in the New York convention under the
influence and leadership of Hamilton, and in the
Virginia convention under the guiding wisdom of
Washington, Madison and others, it of itself made
certain the Republic.
That the merit of New Hampshire being the
ninth State might be assured for all time, they caused
to be entered upon the records of the convention
the very hour, as well as the day and year, that the
final vote was given which ushered in the new Na-
tion.
He was the personal friend of John Langdon and
Nicholas Oilman, and he was the contemporary of
52 Chester Monument
the other wise statesmen who framed this Consti-
tution ; he knew that he could rely upon their states-
manship and their patriotism; and so he was at the
launching of the ship : and his hand helped to send
her down the ways, with the flag at her masthead,
into the great political ocean of the world, the best
and the stanchest ship of state that ever sailed its
waves.
He knew better than any of us
What master laid her keel,
What workmen wrought her ribs of steel,
Who made each mast and sail and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat.
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of . . . [her] hope.
All hail, then, to the memory of Joseph Blan-
chard! From now on make him a household god
in every home in Chester.
It was his good fortune during his public career
to represent the old town at a time when it embraced
within its boundaries the crystal waters of the Mas-
sabesic, upon the shores of which he lived and died.
He sleeps in the old burial-ground, by the long
meadows, where they laid him down in sorrow
seventy-one years ago, in a grave now shaded by
solemn pines and marked only by a simple slate-slab
inscribed with the dates of birth and death and with
Chester Monument 53
the name, which is inseparably connected with the
consummation of the best and most illustrious system
of government in mankind's history.
How young this Nation is when we count its life
by centuries; and yet it has passed through so many
wars that it stands out to the eye of the world like
some old, battle-scarred warrior.
Leaving out of consideration the Spanish War,
which gave to Cuba independence and to us the
unending problem of the Philippines, we have had
wars innumerable with the Indian tribes, the War
for the Independence of the Colonies, the War of
1812, to establish the freedom of the seas, the Mexi-
can War, waged primarily and essentially for the
conquest of new territory out of which to carve ad-
ditional slave States for the American Union, and
the War of 1861, the greatest of all the wars, within
whose fields of military operation, at the supreme
moment, one million two hundred thousand Union
soldiers stood in arms, grappling in deadly conflict
the power of eleven States of the Union, consoli-
dated in an armed rebellion, the best equipped, the
fiercest and most determined, the bravest in action,
and the wickedest in its declared purposes that was
ever organized and set in motion on this earth
against the authority of law or government, freedom
or civilization.
The opening scenes of this eventful drama and
54 Chester Monument
the marshalling of the Union armies are called to
mind by the present occasion.
We are with them again to-day; and, in the
matchless language of Ingersoll's " Vision of War,"
**We see them all march proudly away under the
flaunting flags, keeping time to the grand, wild mu-
sic of war, marching down the streets of the great
cities, through the towns and across the prairies,
down to the fields of glory, to do and to die for the
eternal right."
The heroes whose names grace this " Roll of
Honor " attested their devotion to the cause of
human liberty by the greatest sacrifice known to
mankind.
One, rich in the inheritance of family eminence
and gifted in the arts of war and peace, rose from
the command of a company to the command of a
brigade.
Of the " Honorably Discharged," thirteen gave
proof of their valor by wounds received on the fields
of battle; sixteen were discharged for disability in-
curred in the service. One,t bearing a Captain's
commission, was promoted by brevet to the rank of
Major for wounds received and daring deeds per-
formed in the face of the enemy at the siege of
Petersburg.
Three whose names add lustre to these rolls were
of a band of seven brothers — sons of a patriot father,
Chester Monument 55
of Chester, all of whom in the flower of life, for-
saking the loves of home for the higher love of coun-
try, among the earliest took their places in the ranks
of the Union army.
The military service of these seven volunteers
— these seven brothers — is recorded on the historic
army-rolls of the Government, where it will remain
forever.
It stands there unrivalled for family devotion to
the Nation's cause.
It stands conspicuous for exceptional merit, in
that they bore far more than their proportionate
share of the burdens of the war; conspicuous again,
because of the intrinsic heroism with which they
bore these burdens, as if it were one heart that beat
and one arm that struck the blow; and not less so,
because of the irreparable loss of life and manly
strength which they incurred and the bodily angin?h
endured.
One was killed outright while leading his com-
pany in the fatal assault upon the ramparts of Fort
Wagner, and one on the battle-line at Cedar Moun-
tain; one was discharged at the expiration of his
term of service, bearing wounds inflicted by the
enemy at the the battle of Petersburg still fresh upon
him; two surrendered up lives of pain and suffer-
ing in hospitals, at Port Hudson and Morris Island,
more dreaded by the soldier than death on the battle-
56 Chester Monument
field — leaving the surviving remnant of the noble
band broken and war-worn for life.
In a word, they dedicated their lives to the
public service on fields of war, that the Nation
they loved and honored might be preserved
and free.
Who shall weave a laurel wreath worthy to
crown the brow of such a brotherhood? J
Of the men whose names appear upon these tab-
lets, many were freeholders and the heads of fami-
lies; some were of the learned professions; some
were engaged in trades and the mechanic arts; all
were enlisted in some honorable industry of the land.
Best of all, they thoroughly understood the prin-
ciples of the Government and the full meaning of the
cause for which they fought, and with that abiding
faith which springs from the love of home and coun-
try each one carried out to the letter his contract
with the Government.
What an honor to the town they represented,
with its population of less than twelve hundred
people, is this array of Union volunteers, exceeding
in number a full one-third of its voting power I
No war ever taxed the valor and the fibre of men
like this war.
Some one of these heroes was identified with a
regiment of New Hampshire on every battle-field
from the first Bull Run to the final surrender
Chester Monument 57
at Appomattox. Two of them, one for a short term
and the other throughout the war, served on battle-
ships that were a part of the Atlantic Squadron,
engaged in maintaining the blockade of Southern
ports, from the mouth of the Potomac to the Rio
Grande.
I shall not do injustice to the memory of the
beloved and gallant Colonel who fell at Fort Fisher
or to any other of these heroes if I call up for special
mention from the " Roll of Honor " the name of
Arthur S. Nichols.
He was not known to me and he was not known
to fame; he was a private soldier in the Second New
Hampshire; but I can measure the intensity of his
patriotism by his enlistment in response to the first
call made by Lincoln for volunteers to serve three
years and by the peculiarly tender ties that bound
him to his home.
I can judge of his valor by the glorious record
of the regiment whose badge he wore and in whose
ranks he served.
He was the only one of these heroes whom the
fortunes of war brought to the battle-field of Gettys-
burg, where, throughout those three Summer days of
deadly conflict, in 1863, forty thousand men, friend
and foe, were killed or wounded, and where the
Rebellion received its death-blow and the Ameri-
can Union was made one and inseparable — a decisive
58 Chester Monument
victory that thrilled the great heart of the North
with joy and gratitude and that rung the bells in
every tower of human liberty throughout the world.
It was on the evening of the second day, during
the encounter of Longstreet's veteran forces with our
Third Army Corps under Sickles, at the peach-or-
chard, that this brave man, somewhere within the
envelopment of this terrible conflict in which the
officers and men of the Second New Hampshire did
the work of demigods, sacrificing then and there in
their country's cause more than one-half their
number in dead and wounded, was overpowered,
with other Union soldiers, and made a prisoner
of war.
The precious offerings of human life that this
State gave that afternoon on the gory fields where
her Second and Fifth Regiments fought in defence
of the Union, and the agonies and privations he en-
dured for twelve long months in the prison-dens of
Andersonville and his pathetic death there amidst
hostile strangers, typify to us to-day what it cost to
save this Nation's life and make it free.
The proudest monument that Europe boasts is
the Bavarian Lion which surmounts the summit on
the field of Waterloo. It was placed there by the
mailed hand of kings and royalty, to symbolize their
cause and the victory won by their allied armies.
Our heroic monuments rise into the heavens as
Chester Monument 59
symbols of the sovereignty and the victories of the
American people. We build them to the honor of
the private soldier as well as to the honor of the
commanding officer. They are all Freedom's monu-
ments.
The one we dedicate to-day follows in its place
in our immortal line of heroic commemoration.
And, as I stand here and gaze upon this ideal
soldier of the Union army, chiselled in native gran-
ite, it seems to quicken into life and to breathe the
spirit of the great national anthems of human liberty.
It seems to point with confidence to the future. It
seems to speak to us and to tell the story of the war,
and what these heroes did to give the Government
of the fathers the victory.
Let it remain here, then, in the faithful keeping
of the loving hearts and strong arms of the people
of this staid, old New England town; and in each
of the coming years let them repair to this hallowed
spot and deck its manly form with the emblem of
our nationality, and around the firm base upon
which it stands let them place the sweetest flowers
that the Spring-time brings.
Spirit that made these heroes dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid time and nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
60 Chester Monument
NOTES
* John Crawford, James Rankin, William Lock, Anthy Somb. Stick-
ney, Samuel Blunt, Edmund Stickney, William Tolford, David Wether-
spoon, Daniel Greenough, Peter Aiken, Robert M'^Kinley, John Grimes,
Matthew Forsaith, Jr., Matthew Templeton, Edward Robie, William
Underhill, Edward Robie, Joseph Dearborn, Archibald MaKafee, David
Crage, John Webster, John Underhill, Nathan Morse, James Pearce,
Sam'. Emerson, William White, Henry Moore, Nathan Pitts, Stephen
Morse, James Dunlap, Joseph Linn, Nathan Webster, Jr., Daniel Webster,
John Hasseltine, Moses Hills, Peter Dearborn, Stephen Dearborn, Peter
Hasseltine, Jonathan Hall, Nathaniel Blasdall, Adam Wilson, Ebenezer
Basford, Stephen Lufkin, Benjamin True, Robert Calfe, Samu^' Hassel-
tine, Jasiel Harriman, Simon Bayley, Ebenezer Townsend, Moses Under-
hill, Junior, Nathaniel Glidden, Stephen Hills, Wilks West, Richard Has-
eltine, Caleb Hall, Jonathan Dearborn, Wells Chase, David Foss, Moody
Chase, Isaac Blasdel, Stephen Merril, Josiah Hall, Alex. Weatherspoon,
Pearson Richardson, Robert Craige, Samuel Kinsmand, James Aiken,
Sam' Wilson, Bracket Towl, John Knowles, Anthony Towl, John
Knowles, Jun'., Benjamin Melvin, Nathan Knowles, Parker Carr,
Joshua Prescott, Ezekiel Morse, Joseph Long, David Currier, James Wil-
son, Robert Rowe, Nathan Webster, John Dearborn, James Waddell,
Jethro Colby, Amos Merril, William M'^Master, Josiah Bradley, Benj"
Hills, Francis Towle, Samuel Hills, Jacob Hills, Ezekiel Worthen,
Thomas Haseltine, John Shackford, Jun., Benjamin Hasekinc, Aaron
Townsend, Jabez Hoit, Theod' Shackford, Benjamin Fuller, Daniel Rich-
ardson, Samuel Jones, Moses Richardson, John Tolford, Isaac Forse,
Hugh Tolford, Isaac Forse, Jr., John Robie, Jonathan Forsaith, Gideon
Rowell, Thomas Wason, John Coulby, Rob' Wilson, Samuel Rowel,
Will" Wilson, Samuel Forster, James Wason, Henry Hall, Charles
Moore, Peter Hall, Samuel Moore, Sam' Jacks, David Fuller, Simon
Berry, Benjamin Hoyt, Thomas Berry, John Hoyt, John Willson, Joseph
McClellan, James Shirlee, Stephen Marden, Hugh Shirley, John Pain,
William Shirlee, Joseph Knowles, Sam' Robie, Amos Pain, James Rich-
ardson, Nathan Norton, Ebenezer Dearborn, Samuel Brown, John Gross,
William Brown, Mark Carr, William Gilchrist, Thomas Fowler, Junior,
Abram Sargent, James Wetherspoon, Wintrup Sargent, Daniel Wether-
Chester Monument 61
spoon, John Karr, Mansfield McAfee, William Mills, Samuel Aiken,
Robert Grahams, Robert Patten, John Grimes, Samuel Crombey, John
Mills, William Miller, Nath' Sweetzer, Hugh Miller, Samuel M'Ferson,
Thomas M'^Master, Robert Dickey, William Gilchrist, Parker Morse,
David Dickey, Josiah Morse, Robert Dinsmore, Edmund Sleeper, Benja-
min Pierce, Joseph Morse, Samuel Pierce, Joseph Blanchard, Barnard
Bricket, Abner Hills, Joseph Hills, Jabez French, David Underhill, Isaac
Hills, Jonathan Emery, James Randall, Hezekiah Underhill, John Lain,
Jonathan Underhill, Daniel Dolbeer, Isaac Towle, John Butterfield, John
Orr, John Lane, Jr. , John Burley, Jonathan Norton, Joseph Hall, Joseph
Norton, Joseph Clark, Jonathan Berry, Edward Presson, Joseph Smith,
Cornelius Morgan, John Sevi, Samuel Worthen, Ellet Berry, Edmund
Elliot, Benja. Hills, Paul Healey, David Richardson, Moses Underhill,
Bradbury Carr, Jacob Perley, Joseph Carr, James Hidden, Charles Moore,
Junior, Samuel Davis, Benj. Currier, William Brow^n, John Quimby,
Francis Carr, Robert Gordon and Timothy Carr.
•j- In Livermore's History of the Eighteenth New Hampshire Volun-
teers may be found an interesting account, furnished by Major William S.
Greenough, of a visit of President Lincoln, in the closing days of the
Civil War, to the hospital at Cedar Point, then crowded with disabled
heroes fresh from the battles before Petersburg, of whom the thrice
wounded Captain Charles H. Houghton, of the 14th New York Heavy
Artillery, among the bravest of the brave, was the central figure. It says:
** On the night of the 6th of April, there came a serious crisis in
Houghton's case through a secondary hemorrhage of an artery of the am-
putated limb. Surgeons and nurses worked until daylight to assuage the
flowing life-blood. All in the ward were deeply interested, and there was
many a sigh of relief from his companions when, in the early morning,
word went down the line of cots that the artery had been ' taken up,' and
there was yet ground for hope. About nine o'clock of the following fore-
noon the door — which I lay facing — opened, and from the surgeon
in charge of the corps hospital — Dr. McDonald — came the command,
'Attention: the President of the United States.' To myself, and prob-
ably to most of us, this was unexpected, for we had not known that
President Lincoln had been visiting the army.
" Raising my eyes to the doorway, I had my first sight of the Presi-
62 Chester Monument
dent, and it was not an impressive one! His clothes were travel-stained,
ill fitting, and very dusty; his hat was an immensely exaggerated type of
the * stove-pipe ' variety; his neckwear was awry, and his face showed
pressing need of the services of a barber. In short, his whole appearance
seemed to justify the caricaturists of those days in their worst cartoons.
" Unescorted, except by the surgeon, the President, bowing his tall
form to enter the low doorway, stepped in, turned a step or two to the
right and, tenderly placing his hand on Houghton's forehead, stood for an
instant looking into his face; then, bending down to the low cot, — as a
mother would to her child, — he kissed Houghton's white cheek.
" In voice so tender and so low that only my near proximity en-
abled me to hear, he began to talk to him, telling him how he had heard
from Dr. McDonald all the story of his bravery in battle, his heroic fight
for life and quiet cheerfulness in hospital, and of the sad happening of the
night.
*' Poor Houghton could only reply with faint smiles and whispers
that were too low to reach my ears, but Mr. Lincoln heard, and a smile
came to his grave face. Turning to the surgeon the President asked to be
shown the major's wounds, especially the amputated limb. Dr. Mc-
Donald tried to dissuade him by saying the sight, especially after what had
just taken place, would be too shocking. But the President insisted,
turned down the light coverings, and took a hasty look. Straightening up,
with a deep groan of pain, and throwing up both his long arms, he cried
out, 'Oh, this awful, awful war!' Then bending again to Houghton
with the tears cutting wide furrows down his dust-stained cheeks, and
with great sobs shaking him, he exclaimed, * Poor boy! Poor boy! You
must live! You must!* This time the major's whispered answer, *I
intend to, sir,' was just audible. (And here let me say in parenthesis —
he did live, many long and useful years.) With a tender parting hand-
stroke and a ' God bless you, my boy,' the President moved to the next
cot in line, and to the next, and soon down the right and back on the left
side of the ward, with a warm handclasp and a simple, kind, fatherly word
for each one. Then he passed out the same door he had entered perhaps
fifteen or twenty minutes before.
" But for us it was a different place — we had seen there the soul of
our chief."
Chester Monument 63
I WAR DEPARTMENT,
The Military Secretary's Office,
Washington, May 23, 1905.
Mr. George C. Hazelton,
Washington Loan and Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: In response to your personal inquiry of yesterday relative to
the seven sons of Eliphalet Brown of Chester, New Hampshire, who
were in service during the Civil War, it being your desire to learn, for
memorial purposes, who of them were killed or wounded during service,
I have the honor to advise you that the official records show as follows:
Otis D. Brown, Company K, ist Massachusetts Heavy Artillery,
was wounded at the battle of Petersburg, Virginia, June 16, 1864.
Warren E. F. Brown, Company K, 7th New Hampshire Infantry,
was killed in action in the charge on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, July
18, 1863.
Walter G. Brown, Company I, 4th New Hampshire Infantry, died
in hospital at Morris Island, South Carolina, September 16, 1863, of
dysentery.
Franklin A. Brown, Company I, 4th New Hampshire Infantry, was
discharged from service on surgeon's certificate of disability, July 6, 1862,
on account of chronic rheumatism.
Frederick H. Brown, Company C, 2d Massachusetts Infantry, was
killed in action at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862.
Marston L. Brown, Company K, 1 5th New Hampshire Infantry,
was mustered out of service with his company August 13, 1863,
Martin S. Brown, Company K, i 5th New Hampshire Infantry, died
July 5, 1863, at Port Hudson, Louisiana, of fever.
Except as before stated, no record has been found of any o( these
men having been wounded while in service.
Very respectfully,
F. C. AiNSWORTH,
T'ke Military Secretary.
4^
Copy of resolution of Committee of Safety of New
Hampshire of April 12, 1776, transmitting copy
of resolution of the Continental Congress of March
14, 1776, and proposed declaration, sent to the
Selectmen of Chester, with the signatures thereto.
(Reproduced in facsimile for the first time. The original is at
Concord, N. H.)
di^£ ^-LL.^..
COLONY OF NEW HMIPSIUR^
In COiMMITTEE of SAFETY,
yipril i2ib, 1776.
IN Order to carry the underwritten KliiiOLVE of the Hon'ble
Continenta CONGRESS into Execution, You are rcquefted
r^- ^"^^"^^^"^^^l^abov^/wenty One Years of .^ge(Lunatick5,
Idiots, and Negroes excepted) to fign to the DECLAR^ TlOr^J oa
this Paper ; and when fo done, to make Return hefcof, together
v^Kh the Name or Names of all who Hiali refufc to figu , he fame
to the GENERAL-ASSEMBLY, or Committee of Sa/etyonhU
Cow. M. IVeare, Chairman,
In CONGRESS, March 14th, 1776.
UefohecirV^^^^ ^^ ^^ recommended to the feveral AffembJics,
■ -■■ Conventions, and Councils, or Committees of Safe-
ty ot the United Colonies, immediately to caufe all Perfons to be
tTr ''';''"" their RefpediveColonies, who are notorio^y dif-
affeaed to the Caufe of AMI.RICA, Or who have not affikted/
and refufe to aflociate, to defend by ARMS, the United Colonics
Qgamft the Hoftilc Attempts of the Britilh Fleets and Armies-.
(COPY) Extrr.a from the Minutes.
Charles Thompfon, Set^ry,
TN Confequence of the above Refolution, of th6 Hon. ContinenT
tal CONGRESSy and to fhew our Determination in joining our
American Brethren, in defending the Lives, Liberties, and Proper-
tjcs of the Inhabitants of the UNITED COLONIES .-
WE the Suh/cribers, do hereby folemnly engage, and promife,
that we will, to the utmoft of our Power, at the Rifqueofour
Lives and Fortunes, with ARMS, oppofe the Hoftile Proceedings
y^UL,UNIES%
<^)
/^^
a^yu^
^J^'^-i^r^^y^.^,^
^^^^^^^(J-^
J„^ AK^-^f
-6/^
'"'"'^^ d3<K^..
cf0yht^
}Js<^
l/rhzJi^H^ ^^fpfe^f^
^C\ /^ /7^
aO^^
/ 3a
c$^^^<^S^e<^^^
Colonel Hosley:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I now take pleasure in presenting George Sher-
man West, chairman of the Board of Selectmen,
who will present the monument to the members of
the Grand Army for dedication.
65
>&
George Sherman West:
Members of the Grand Army :
I have been authorized at this time to accept this
memorial and to request you to dedicate it to the
noble purpose for which it has been erected.
67
^
Colonel Henry O. Kent:
Mr. Chairman of the Board of Selectmen:
In the name of my comrades of the Department
of New Hampshire, I thank you and those you
represent for this memorial.
Dedication of the monument by Henry O. Kent.
(See " Introduction," p. ii.)
69
>fe
Colonel Hosley:
We have not the Governor with us to-day, but
he has sent a representative, and I now take pleasure
in introducing the Hon. John C. Linehan, of Con-
cord, N. H.
71
>fe
Hon. John C. Linehan :
Mr. Chairman, Comrades and Friends:
As announced by your President, I am here to-
day as the representative of one whom you all honor
and respect, His Excellency, Governor Bachelder,
of New Hampshire.
In his behalf, I desire to tender to you, the sons
and daughters of the historic town of Chester, to the
comrades of the Departments of New Hampshire
and Massachusetts Grand Army of the Republic,
to the honored President of the Day, Comrade Hos-
ley, who has done so much to make this occasion a
success, to the gallant veteran of the Civil War,
Comrade James Tanner, and his wife, and to all
others a most cordial and hearty welcome to the old
Granite State.
With you, I have enjoyed the address of the
speaker of the day, Mr. Hazelton, and feel that I
can say truthfully that, from my stand-point, it is
one of the best, as well as one of the broadest, I have
thus far heard on any similar occasion. When he
said that we in New Hampshire are descended from
three great races, the English, the Irish and the
Scotch, he made a concession to the Irish race not
73
74 Chester Monument
found elsewhere outside of the provincial papers of
New Hampshire; and, as a native of Ireland, I as-
sure him his words will be appreciated by those of
that race who are versed in the early history of the
Province and the State.
In the dedication of this monument as a me-
morial to the men and boys from Chester who fought
and who died in the war to preserve the Union, you
have done a work that will live long after the most
of us are forgotten. A pleasing feature about it is
that from base to apex it is constructed of our own
New Hampshire granite, so emblematic of the State.
Again I give you all a cordial welcome, and trust
when you leave for your homes you will take with
you none but pleasing memories of Chester's " Old
Home Day " for 1904.
Colonel Hosley:
We have the United States Government repre-
sented here to-day. I take pleasure in introducing
Senator Henry E. Burnham, of Manchester, N. H.
75
^
Hon. Henry E. Burnham:
Veterans of the Grand Army, Fellow Citizens and
Friends:
To-day a grateful and honored town, assisted by
the Grand Army of the Republic, dedicates with
impressive ceremonies an enduring monument to
the memory of her heroic sons, the brave one hun-
dred and six who went forth to save their imperilled
country in the gloomy night of civil war.
Happily the day so wisely chosen for this service
is associated with the home-coming of the sons and
daughters of this favored town.
From far and near they have come, each anxious
to join with those who have remained at the old
homestead in paying tribute to the men whose patri-
otism and valorous deeds have crowned with death-
less honor their much-loved native town.
Who were these men whose names are now upon
the lips of all? They were born here, young men
with hopes that kindled in their hearts the love of
life and kindred, with ambitions that would lead
them on and up to success and honor in the paths
of peace. They left their homes and exchanged the
77
78 Chester Monument
warm grasp they gave to loved ones for the cold
clutch of steel, the sword, the gun, the awful en-
ginery of war.
They went out from the embrace of love, some
into the embrace of death, all into the dark un-
known, into the blackest gloom that ever yet had en-
shrouded this fair land; they marched in Summer's
heat and Winter's cold, and in the angry storm; they
slept with only the stars or the threatening clouds
above them; they suffered in hospital and prison-pen
with cruel pain and anguish; they climbed the crim-
son ridge of battle and fought on gory fields where
Death was king; they triumphed at last and they
laid anew the foundations of the Republic, with no
stone stained or black, but all as pure and spotless
as the morning light, binding together each and ev-
ery part with bands that no storm can rend asunder
nor the ravages of Time destroy.
Nothing can add to or detract from the undying
glory and honor of the Union soldiers. Their past
is secure. No statue, however reared or crowned,
no monument, however broad its base or however
far it may tower above the clouds, can make more
glorious or enduring the memory of their deeds.
But the living, impressed by a heaven-born sense of
gratitude, would pay them tribute and in town and
city would rear the sculptured marble, the chiselled
granite and the lettered bronze. Imperishable
Chester Monument 79
fame! When material things fashioned by man
have lost their form and crumbled into dust, yet will
the achievements of these heroic men live on through
the unbounded reach of time.
For the good deed through the ages,
Living in historic pages,
Brighter grows and gleams immortal.
Here, as to some sacred shrine, the living of to-
day, their children and their children's children will
come and gaze with rapt and impassioned look upon
this noble monument, from whose statue will breathe
forth, as from a thing of life, the mystic spell that
kindles into being a lofty and self-sacrificing patri-
otism, the noblest sentiment of mankind.
Here, too, will come those who inherit the
patriotic blood of the men whose names are written
upon these tablets of bronze, and in their loving
hearts will be cherished a grateful appreciation of
what this town and her citizens have done in honor
of her patriots, living and dead.
It needed only such deeds, and the men whose
names are inscribed upon this " Roll of Honor," to
make complete the record of Chester's great services
to the State and Nation. Here has been found from
her earliest history a nobility of character and worth
seldom equalled and nowhere surpassed. From her
families of wide renown have gone forth men who
80 Chester Monument
have honored the loftiest stations in the service of
our Government.
The spirit and patriotism of the great North in
the Civil War were nowhere better illustrated than
in this historic town. Among her brave soldiers, all
native-born, all bearing names that are precious in
your hearts to-day, one may be mentioned first. He
was a type of the young manhood that was sacri-
ficed upon our country's altar during the war —
brave, noble, patriotic son of Chester. He re-
sponded to the first call to arms. Wounded again
and again in battle, he fell at last upon the crimson
ramparts of Fort Fisher; and, when his life-blood
was fast ebbing away, he prayed that he might live
to see the colors of his gallant Fourth New Hamp-
shire float in triumph over the captured fort. His
dying wish was gratified, and then, his last sacrifice
made, his life-work done. General Louis Bell joined
his comrades on the farther shore.
Lives like this have reflected priceless honor
upon town and State and Nation, and have enriched
and glorified the annals of mankind.
How best can we respond to the lessons of this
hour? How best can we obey the voices that seem
to come to us to-day from the soldiers' graves at home
and in the far Southland? How best perform our
duty in the presence of the still-surviving maimed
and suffering veterans of that great war?
Chester Monument 81
They gave to us, and to generations yet to come,
the glorious heritage of a restored Union. They
placed again upon our unconquered flag the stars
whose quenchless light will grow brighter with the
lapse of years. They removed forever from our
land the curse of human thraldom and made pos-
sible that mighty progress of the Republic which
has continued until its homes are upon the hillsides,
the valleys, the prairies and the mountains from the
Atlantic to the golden shores of the Pacific, and until
our flag, now respected and honored everywhere at
home and abroad, floats over the tropical islands of
distant seas.
Let us, as we would honor the memory of our
dead and pay tribute to our living heroes, keep in-
violate and undiminished the heritage their valor
gave us I Let us preserve in all its force and vigor
the old Constitution and those Amendments that
were written by the blood of martyrs in the cause of
Liberty and Union! Let us make our country still
greater and grander in all that most conduces to her
permanency, her strength and her progress; and let
us preserve our institutions and our form of govern-
ment as a blessing to all our people and an example
for all the nations of the earth!
Thus will we do our part in serving the cause
and the Republic for which so much precious blood
was shed and so much treasure freely given in the
82 Chester Monument
War of 1861-65; and thus will we profit by the les-
sons that come to us from this occasion and from that
silent, yet eloquent monument which has to-day been
dedicated to the memory of the Union soldiers of
the town of Chester.
Colonel Hosley:
We have with us another New Hampshire boy,
one whose parents and grandparents were natives of
Chester and whose father was a member of a New
Hampshire regiment. I now introduce the Hon.
Henry F. Hollis, of Concord, N. H.
83
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Hon. Henry F. Hollis:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen and Friends:
It is not a matter of great consequence, perhaps,
but I wish to make one correction in regard to the
introduction by your chairman. My father is not a
native of Chester. If he were, I should find it diffi-
cult to explain why his name is not in the roll of
honor upon this monument. As a matter of fact, he
was not a member of a New Hampshire regiment,
but he was enrolled in the 45th and 56th Massachu-
setts regiments, and served honorably throughout the
Civil War.
Referring now to the exercises of the day, we find
it difficult to realize that a century has grown old and
died, a new century has been born, forty years have
well-nigh passed since the close of the conflict which
proved the bonds of American union to be free from
flaw and forged for all eternity. In twoscore years,
old men have died, young men have aged, children
have become grandfathers and new-born babes have
grown to full maturity. The progress of mankind
has kept pace with the progress of the years.
We have reared upon this spot a monument to
our honored dead. It can raise no thrill of grati-
85
86 Chester Monument
tude in the breasts of those whose names adorn its
shaft. It can testify no more to those surviving
heroes who honor us by their presence here to-day
than we can testify by spoken word. It is not in-
tended as a reward for past services, or an induce-
ment for future patriotism. It pays no debt, it meets
no obligation to others. If there be a debt which
it discharges, it is a debt which we owe ourselves.
And that debt is a debt of sentiment. Disguise
it as we may, we build monuments to our dead sol-
diers to testify to ourselves and to our children our
own appreciation of the finer qualities of human
nature — a matter of pure sentiment.
It is indeed a luxury to indulge a fancy for senti-
ment, to make occasionally something superfluous,
something that is not strictly required, something ac-
tually foolish in the eyes of many, like a beautiful
library, a memorial church, or even an " Old Home
Day " celebration. But sentiment has its part, and
a very important part in the human breast.
There is, for example, close by our State House
in Concord a magnificent building of granite and
marble, more sumptuous and ostentatious perhaps
than is required by a State Library. But to every
citizen of New Hampshire who enters it, there
comes a sense of pride and decency and self-respect
which repays a hundredfold his particular share of
the taxes that building has cost.
Chester Monument 87
And so of " Old Home Day." If some can find
a material recompense in the dollars to be earned
by selling land for homes to returning sons and
daughters, or by keeping summer boarders, well and
good. But if " Old Home Day " brings no greater
return than a cluster of fragrant memories, a hearty
hand-shake, or a cordial welcome to the old farm-
house, we are well repaid.
And so with memorials like this. Children who
play about a soldiers' monument will never forget
that shaft. They may not know the names of those
who lie beneath, nor the battles in which they fell,
but the rough granite, the dusky bronze, or the grass
about its base will furnish through life a permanent
spot to revisit in person or in memory.
But let us not forget that we owe one debt to our
dead soldiers and to those living soldiers who are
happily spared to us — a debt that cannot be paid by
erecting monuments, or expressing thanks and grati-
tude — a debt that can only be discharged by pre-
serving the traditions of our fathers in all their an-
cient purity and strength. No matter how strong
and perfect the bonds of union may be, or how high
the sentiments expressed in our statutes and Consti-
tution, eternal vigilance is required to preserve our
rights and our liberties.
No war was ever fought which could not have
been avoided by wise and patriotic statesmen, and
88 Chester Monument
I have heard it said that there would never be a
war if those who brought it on were obliged to carry
the muskets. It is always possible that a trivial act
by President, Governor, Congress or Legislature
may incite or avert a mighty conflict.
How then can we better discharge our debt to
those who have helped preserve the Union in the
past than by taking an earnest, honest, active and
personal interest in our duties as citizens? Shame
to the man who is too busy to take an interest in the
politics of his town. State and Nation, and more
shame to him who feels that politics is a dirty busi-
ness, beneath his dignity and unworthy of his no-
tice. Politics is now, and ever will be, just as good
or just as bad as the men who dominate it.
And so long as any man feels himself too good or
too fastidious to engage in politics, and waits for the
character of politicians to improve before he does
his part to preserve the liberties of the Constitution
and transmit them untarnished to future generations,
so long has he failed to discharge his duty to his
country, and pay his debt to those soldiers, who died
that their country might live.
Colonel Hosley:
I now introduce the Judge Advocate General of
the Grand Army of the Republic, Comrade James
Tanner, of Washington, D. C.
89
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James Tanner:
Mr. Chairman, Veterans, Ladies of the Relief
Corps, One and All:
These have been great days of late for the sur-
viving veterans of the Union army. We have been
almost swallowed up by the kindness of the great
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To our own
amazement, where we had expected that with ad-
vancing years there would come a great diminution
in our ranks in point of attendance, we found
twenty-seven thousand of the old comrades marching
through the streets of Boston. The people turned
out, it seemed, no less than a million, and from their
eyes, and by the expression that found voice at their
hands and through their throats, there came to us
the welcome assurance that the day had not yet come
for us to be forgotten.
Now, in addition to all that, I and a few
others are privileged to take part in this ceremony
of to-day, and to bow with you in reverence before
this beautiful monument erected in memory of the
citizen-soldiery of Chester, who have served our
Nation so well, so many of whom have gone to their
last resting-place. This is the first time in my life
91
92 Chester Monument
that I have been privileged to be within the confines
of your town, but already my mind is made up on one
point, and I desire to say to you that if my parents
had consulted with me on that important matter, I
too would have been born in Chester.
In the few moments which time will permit me
to occupy, I want to say to you that, though I come
from the old Empire State, I did not have to wait
to come to New Hampshire to form an acquaintance
with your sons.
On every battle-field I trod, I saw your boys
somewhere down the line, and we never felt alarm
about the representatives of the old Granite State, for
they stood as firm as their native hills. One thought
I would put out to you to-day with great earnestness.
The dead whose names are commemorated on this
shaft have made their record, and what we may say
or do here is of no moment to them. We are not so
much honoring them as we are honoring ourselves,
and while we are performing no service material to
them, we are performing a service material to the
present and future generations.
We are too much apt when we come to consider
the greatness of our country to get out our mental
telescope and look half-way or clear across the con-
tment before we discern its heroes. You citizens of
Chester do not have to go across the continent to look
for your heroes, for right here there have gone in
Chester Monument 93
and out among you for years men who stood as
brave and as true when cannon roared and rifles vol-
leyed as are found anywhere in this great Nation.
So I bow in reverence to the statue before us, com-
memorating the heroes gone before, and I bow also
to the living comrades of this little Post, and greet
them as equally exalted heroes as the world has
seen. I take a great deal of stock in what a friend
of mine, the Rev. Dr. Deems, of New York, once
said : *' If I have ever done anything that pleased you,
tell me of it, if you will, while I am alive to hear
it. Do not wait until my ears are deaf and my eyes
closed, but tell me while I am alive, while my pulse
throbs. I would give more for an ounce of tafify than
for a pound of epitaphy."
We can but epitomize that which is in our hearts
to-day, for the day, the month, nor yet the year would
be long enough to tell what the boys did in those
grand old times. It would be no more of a shock
to you to-day to have the news come that our coun-
try had been attacked and needed our sons in defence,
than it was to us in 1861 when the storm broke. Life
looked as peaceful and promising to us in those days
as it does to the young men of the present time.
Hope welled as high in the hearts of us who were
the young men of 1861, ambition fired our brains as
thoroughly, business prospects looked as promising
as they do to the young men of 1904. Aye! and you
94 Chester Monument
may take my word for it, woman's eye beamed upon
us as kindly, her cheeks looked as rosy and her lips
tasted as sweet in 1861 as they do to the young men
of to-day. Then the blow fell, and the shotted guns
that belched the wrath of secession at Sumter's walls
rocked the Republic from centre to circumference.
Then the cry of the stricken Nation was heard,
voiced by the greatest American of all time, bar
none, Abraham Lincoln.
How magnificently her sons answered. From
mountain-side and prairie, from valley and canon,
from hamlet and city, from home, shop, counting-
room and student's closet, they came. Their iron-
shod heels rang in musical rhythm on the paved
streets of our great cities as they pressed forward,
making the air ring with their anthem.
We are coming, Father Abraham,
By the hundred thousand more,
till at last they stood on the borderland, a belted line
of blue, their fearless hearts a breastwork against
which vainly beat the baffled hosts of the Southland.
They trod two thousand fields of battle and skirmish,
and four hundred thousand on battle-field, in hospi-
tal and in prison-pen went down to death among the
Nation's defenders.
In this epitome, we bear in tender remembrance
Chester Monument 95
the great host of the maimed and diseased, the
almost countless throng of widowed and fatherless.
I may not under the circumstances surrounding
us go very much into particulars to-day, but one
thing I wish to say of these veterans who are here
to-day with the badge and the button on — I can say
for them as I can say for a particular class of our
disabled. Circumstances and my own condition
have naturally brought me largely in contact with
men all over the Nation who have had the knife and
the saw sever limbs from their bodies, but never
have I met one who has voiced a single regret for
what he did for the salvation of the Nation, fearful
though the price was which they paid.
For long years we were prone to find our illus-
trations of great, heroic deeds in the annals of other
nations. But ere the close of the national travail of
1861-65, we found we could in our time match the
great deeds of history.
In our boyhood days, we had our blood stirred
by the story of the charge of the Six Hundred at
Balaklava. You recall the incident, which occurred
in the war between Great Britain, France and
Turkey joined against Russia. In the course of the
contest, an order was delivered commanding a
charge by the Six Hundred. Somebody had blun-
dered — we shall never know who, as the officer who
delivered the order was killed a few minutes later.
96 Chester Monument
At the head of the Six Hundred rode Lord Cardi-
gan, the only scion of one of England's lordly lines.
He knew that someone had blundered, but he was a
soldier and he knew that a soldier's first duty is to
obey orders.
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die.
It is said that, as he finished reading the order, he
drew his sword-belt one buckle-hole tighter and with
a muttered, " Here goes the last of the Cardigans,"
gave the order to charge, and the Six Hundred rode
to destruction and immortality.
We can match it. Come with me, if you please,
to Chancellorsville on that May day in 1863 when
the line broke. On the far side of the break, there
sat in their saddles a detachment of the 8th Penn-
sylvania Cavalry, Major Peter Keenan in command.
On the near side, a mass of artillery, unaligned.
Yonder came the eagle of the Confederacy, Stone-
wall Jackson. His quick eye grasped at once the
vital importance of throwing his force into that gap.
Had he succeeded in so doing, the results would have
been disastrous to the Union cause to the last degree.
Fortunately at this moment down our line came gal-
loping that splendid soldier. General Alfred Pleas-
onton. His eye was as quick as Jackson's. With-
Chester Monument 97
out halting, he cried out to the officer in command
of the artillery: "Align those guns, double-shotted
grape and canister, three-second fuses! " Then dash-
ing along the break, he cried out, " Major Keenan,
you must charge that column and hold it in check
ten minutes or this field is lost!" Major Keenan
was a cultured Irish gentleman. There awaited
him in his distant home a fair young wife and loving
children. In his dreams at night, as he lay in his
tent or on the bosom of Mother Earth, " with his
martial cloak around him," his soul had leaped for-
ward to the sweet bye-and-bye when peace should
have come and he would once more enfold them in
loving embrace, but when Pleasonton gave him that
order he knew that their reunion was for heaven
only.
Saluting, he responded, " General, we'll do it,
and we'll die ! " He gave the word to charge, and
led the way in the teeth of Jackson's ten thousand.
Jackson thought it impossible that such a small body
of cavalry would make such a charge unless they
were to be strongly supported, and halting, threw
his men into line of battle. His rifles volleyed, and
Keenan's saddles were emptied. When we got our
dead, Keenan's body had received nine bullets; his
adjutant who rode by his side had received fifteen.
But the field was saved by the sacrifice, for when
Jackson pressed forward he was met by crushing
98 Chester Monument
volleys of grape and canister, and the Third Corps
closed the gap.
One more comparison. Take Napoleon at the
bridge of Lodi. It was an absolute necessity to his
cause to possess that bridge. Three times, the forces
of France were repulsed. Napoleon realized that
it were better for his fame in history that he should
die there than to concede the battle lost and retire.
So, seizing the standard of France, he cried out, '' En
avant, mes braves!'' and under his leadership they
captured the bridge, and the battle was won.
There came another day, the 17th of September,
1862, when for the Union cause a bridge was to be
held. I refer to Antietam, where Burnside held the
bridge though pressed to the last extremity. Aide
after aide had galloped to McClellan, asking for
support. McClellan turned to Fitz-John Porter,
who sat in his saddle near him in command of the
Sixth Corps, in reserve. Porter understood the un-
spoken question and with a shake of his head an-
swered, " It won't do. General. If we meet with
disaster on this field, my corps is our only hope."
So McClellan sent answer to Burnside as follows:
" Tell General Burnside that I cannot send him a
brigade, a regiment nor a man, but I charge him to
hold the bridge to the last man, for with it he holds
our success this day."
That knightly New England soldier held the
Chester Mo^iument 99
bridge and saved the day, and I fear no contradic-
tion from you when I assert that Burnside holding
the bridge of Antietam, with no dream of dynasty
or personal aggrandizement before him, but simply
as a corner-stone of our great ark of liberty for all,
was a grander character than Napoleon forcing the
bridge of Lodi in pursuance of his own ambitions
only.
The fortunes of war sent me home early, but I
went in early, September, 1861, a lad of seventeen,
and I frankly say to you that I did not put down the
Rebellion. I was privileged to be in at Yorktown,
Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, seven days in front of
Richmond, Malvern Hill, and then came the second
battle of Bull Run, where Stonewall Jackson mus-
tered me out with a piece of shell. Then after a
while back to the old farm, where I lay gathering
strength for the unusually strenuous battle of life
which lay before me, and as time ran away, I had
to hear much adverse criticism of our boys from lips
that were hostile to our cause. That adverse criti-
cism came from those who were with us, but not of
us; men who were too cowardly to fight under any
flag; who made themselves hoarse crying, "Why
don't the army move? " and " On to Richmond," but
who, when Father Abraham called through the
channels of the draft, were to be found with the
draft-list in one hand and a time-table of the
100 Chester Monument
nearest route to Canada in the other, ready to skip
across the border, if they were among the chosen.
For a long time, they constantly predicted the
ultimate defeat of our cause, but finally, when it was
evident that we were going to win, then they said,
" Yes, you are wearing them out, but at what an
awful price will victory be purchased." The ten-
derest sentiment these people had to express regard-
ing our veteran comrades was that, under the in-
fluences of camp and march, bivouac and battle-field,
it would prove that they had lost all memories of
the sweet, pure teachings instilled in their youthful
hearts as they had stood by mother's side, or gathered
in the Sabbath-school and in the house of general
worship. In short, they predicted that the army
when it came home would come a rampant, disor-
ganized mob of men, above all law and all restraint.
No woman's honor was to be safe in all the land
" when Johnny came marching home again." Oh,
the infamy of it!
Sir, inexpressibly proud as I am of the history
which my comrades wrote with their bayonets'
points, punctuated with their leaden periods during
those four awful years, I am no less proud of the
splendid manner in which they bore themselves
When the battle-flags were furled
And the war-drums ceased to beat.
Chester Monument 101
Many of you have stood on the sea-shore, when
the waves came rolling in, almost mountainous in
their height, seeming as if they would sweep every-
thing to destruction before them. You have seen
them at the dividing line break and sink back into
the bosom of Mother Ocean. So our victorious
legions came in the Spring days of 1865, dashed over
the mountain wall of war, kissed the shores of peace
and quietly assimilated themselves to all the ways
of peaceful life.
In an hour, so to speak, this Nation lost an army
of over a million of men, but I assert that thereby
and to an immeasurable degree, the forces of civili-
zation and Christianity were enlarged. What
course then was pursued by these heroes of a thou-
sand fields? They returned to their old homes;
they greeted again the parents who in the years of
anxiety and woe had had their brows wrinkled and
their eyes dimmed by the sorrow of their hearts.
They went in great numbers each to the " girl he
left behind him," and in loving embrace poured
into her ear the old, old story, telling her that at her
hands and before the altar of God alone could he
receive the reward he demanded for his patriotic
self-sacrifice.
Then, to a tremendous extent, they spread them-
selves out over the mighty West. They swept away
the mirage which had obscured our vision and cre-
ated the impression of a great American desert.
102 Chester Monument
Out of those Western vastnesses, they carved great
States. They erected their modest homes, lighted
the cheerful fires on hundreds of thousands of do-
mestic hearthstones, builded new altars innumerable
to the God above us and strengthened the Republic
in countless ways.
Young people of to-day, turn your thoughts in on
your own hearts. Are you not inexpressibly proud
of the great riches of this great Nation of ours to-
day? — proud of its wealth and purity, proud of its
standing among the nations of the world? Then
remember that all you have you take as the heirs
of the men in whose honor we are met to-day, heirs
of them and their comrades.
Let us be just. We had help, glorious help.
There were innumerable men left behind who did
just as patriotic service, service just as necessary as
we did, without putting on a uniform. Besides this,
joined to the favor of God, we had the sweetest
and purest influences all our land contains — the
prayers and the efforts of the womanhood of our
land. For every tear they shed, for every word of
encouragement they penned, for every effort they
made, we thank and bless them to-day.
You, right here in Chester, know full well what
women can do, what they have done for this monu-
ment. All honor to the women of the Relief Corps
all the land over, and particularly the glorious Corps
that has its habitation here in Chester.
Chester Monument 103
We have lived to see great things, my comrades.
I have said many times in the years that lie behind
us that, if ever the tocsin of war sounded again, and
sons of ours were called to battle, we would find
that they would go as bravely as their fathers went,
and it has been proven in our time. We have been
permitted to see our sons raise our flag higher than
we ever were permitted to raise it and to carry it
in honor ten thousand miles farther than we were
privileged to do.
It is a wonderful record yonder shaft commemo-
rates, and which it will carry down to other genera-
tions. Out of a total population of one thousand and
a voting population of one hundred and ninety-four,
one hundred and six of the citizens of this com-
munity bade good-by to loved ones, put behind them
the peace, serenity and joy of life amid these
beautiful surroundings and went out to battle in
behalf of our imperilled Nation.
As we stand in the presence of this mute memo-
rial to-day, it incites us to higher thoughts and
nobler deeds and irresistibly draws us to larger and
better views of life.
Such will be the effect of this scene to-day as the
story shall be passed along the corridors of time to
the generations yet to come. And the manifold
blessings shall rest with all.
^
Colonel Hosley:
We have with us another representative of the
United States Government, one whose name is a
household word. I now introduce to you the Hon.
Cyrus A. Sulloway, the Member of Congress from
this District.
105
>%<
Hon. Cyrus A. Sulloway:
Mr. Commander, Ladies, Soldiers and Friends:
I am not here to-day to make a speech. I had
an arrangement with Colonel Hosley that I was to
come here to-day, but was not to talk. He said that
you had plenty of orators; and I know you have.
He said, " Cy, we want one ornament, and you must
come." It was on these conditions that I am here
to-day; and how could I resist so affecting an ap-
peal? And, to tell the truth, I wanted to come.
Now this beautiful monument and the eloquent
and patriotic words we have listened to remind us
of those terrible days when they who are dead, and
you, their surviving comrades, left their homes —
homes so dear that nothing but patriotic love of
liberty could have torn them and you away. My
God, what days those were: when mothers kissed
their beardless boys good-bye; when husbands and
fathers kissed the babe in the cradle farewell, and
looked with tearful eyes into the eyes of the wife
and mother and read the agony her heart contained
as they parted — she to guard the home and care for
the children — he to protect the flag and it may be to
die struggling for liberty beneath its folds!
107
108 Chester Monument
To-day, you dedicate this monument, consecrated
to their memory, their valor and their sacrifices. It
will be a monument inspiring patriotism, to be proud
of for all time to come. I wish the names of the
mothers and wives who gave their sons and their
husbands might have been inscribed thereon also;
but, unfortunately, such is not the custom. My
friends, as long as letters last, as granite endures,
years after mankind shall have forgotten where the
most of us who participate in the ceremonies to-day
are buried, they who live after us with loving hands
will plant flowers around this beautiful monument
that you to-day dedicate, and their fragrant blos-
soms will be moistened with tears of patriotic grati-
tude, and they will give thanks to God that old
Chester had so many sons and daughters ready to
sacrifice all for country and liberty.
I am a believer in an army and navy. No nation
has a moral right to be without such. There are
those who talk of disarmament and arbitration. I
want to say to you that there is nothing in Holy
Writ, nothing in the life or history of nations, to lead
a thoughtful mind to any such conclusions. The
advocates of disarmament forget that Christ said,
speaking of war, pestilence and famine. " These
things must needs be." They ever have and always
will be until humanity is annihilated. Nations
were born on fields where armed men met, where
Chester Monument 109
sabres clashed, bayonets glittered, rifles cracked and
cannons thundered, and where heroes died on fields
red with blood; and they passed out of existence in
the same way.
A nation that would disarm would be a nation
of cowards inviting its own destruction. Sneak-
thieves rob unlocked houses; only the boldest and
most desperate burglars attack bank vaults. I
believe we should increase our navy as rapidly as
our revenue and our ship-yards will permit, and our
army to at least one hundred thousand men. To do
so, in my belief, is economy and an assurance of
peace. One hundred well-equipped battle-ships will
do more toward preserving peaceful relations with
the nations of the earth than all the peace congresses
could do if constantly in session until the end of time,
and I would rather submit to such an armament to
determine our rights than to all the crowned heads of
the world. We should feel that as a Nation we were
to have a fair trial and be very confident of the result.
We have grown since the days of the Rebellion.
To-day, it has been said here that we own possessions
in all quarters of the globe. If you station one
battle-ship at the Philippines, one at Cuba, one at
Porto Rico, one at each end of the canal we are
about to build, or, I ought to say, really are building,
and one for every thousand miles of our sea-coast,
we haven't battle-ships enough to go round.
110 Chester Monument
It is an insurance. It is a safety. There are no
arbitrators that are equal to an army of a million
men.
When we are asked to arbitrate, I hope the men
at the head of the Government will point to the army
and navy and say, " There are my arbitrators; reason
with them." In that way, there will be no doubt
about the result. We cannot afford as a Nation to
be without a nucleus of an army. To-day, we have
only about fifty-six thousand men.
Now, my friends, I know that you are weary.
You have been stimulated by noble and patriotic
sentiments that have sent the blood tingling in your
veins. I know it has tingled down to my fingers,
and sometimes I felt it down to my toes, as I have
sat here and listened to the inspiring speakers of
to-day; but, at the same time, I know that you weary.
I want to thank you in closing for the invitation and
for the opportunity to be here, and I congratulate
you on the occasion that enables you to dedicate this
beautiful monument to-day.
Colonel Hosley:
I take pleasure in introducing, at this time, Mrs.
Maria E. Densmore, President of the Woman's
Relief Corps of the Department of New Hampshire.
Ill
!%•
Mrs. Maria E. Densmore:
A Nation like ours will not soon forget the sol-
diers who fought, suffered and died for their coun-
try, and what more fitting memorial can we erect to
them than such a monument as you dedicate here
to-day, and each Memorial Day you will place the
evergreen and floral tribute on this mound made
sacred to their memory.
It was my pleasure two years ago to visit Gettys-
burg; it was an exceedingly interesting and enjoy-
able, as well as a sad, visit. There, every few rods
for miles, was a monument erected in memory of
some noble officer. We saw monuments that
marked the spots made historic by some notable
event of the battle. The cemetery had its row after
row of small stones that marked the resting places of
unknown heroes. It was a good history-lesson, but
one day was too short a time for its study.
While we do honor to those who have fallen, let
us not forget the living, but try and strew their path-
way with as much sunshine as possible.
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Colonel Hosley:
I now take pleasure in introducing Mrs. Louise
S. Johnson, of Manchester, N. H., the past President
of the Woman's Relief Corps, Department of New
Hampshire.
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Mrs, Louise S. Johnson:
From the North and the South was heard the
bugle call to arms. Chester's noble sons responded
and went forth to battle for the right. We will not
dwell upon those harrowing scenes from '6i to '65.
Those years in all their wretchedness are known
only to the defenders of the flag. We know that the
battles were fought and the victories won.
It was then that these veterans reared for them-
selves a monument that shall last for all time, viz.,
a Republic, the Government of which is of the
people, by the people and for the people — a Gov-
ernment, the key-note of which is " One country, one
language and one flag, with liberty and justice
for all."
It remains for us and for future generations to
keep untarnished this monument.
The auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Repub-
lic, the Woman's Relief Corps, is an important
factor in educating the future citizens of our country.
It is not the Corps' only task to carry cheer to
some saddened home, to lighten the burden of the
heavily laden, to perpetuate the memory of our
heroic dead, but to keep the fires of patriotism
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118 Chester Monument
brightly burning. Through its efforts, patriotic
teaching has been introduced in our public schools
and flags float over our school houses.
It is woman's hand that twines the wreath with
which to crown the victorious heroes, thus teaching,
by her example, the young to reverence those men
who left to us so great a heritage.
Such women are found in our Corps. Bell
Corps, here in your midst, tells the story of what is
being done by the patriotic women of our land. To-
day this Corps unites with you. Veterans, in dedi-
cating this beautiful monument to the memory of
Chester's heroes.
This shaft shall stand for ages, speaking to future
generations of Chester's share in that great struggle
for liberty. And, as we pass it by, let us pause for
a moment and reflect upon our duty to those whose
names are inscribed thereon — a duty we owe to our
country, and to ourselves, that we may be worthy
sons and daughters of the defenders of the Union,
worthy of the sacred trust they have left us.
Colonel Hosley:
I wish to take this opportunity right now of
thanking the Department of Massachusetts and its
officers, who have come up here and joined hands
with the comrades of New Hampshire to assist in
the dedication of this monument. I thank you from
the bottom of my heart. We have with them Abra-
ham Lincoln Camp of Sons of Veterans of Charles-
town. They are in command of Joseph Thayer.
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Colonel Hosley:
Now, we have with us one more, a native of this
town, born here, raised as a boy, and is a boy still, and
younger than any of us. He will make the closing
remarks to-day. I take great pleasure in introduc-
ing the Hon. Gerry W. Hazelton, of Milwaukee,
Wis., formerly a Representative in Congress from
the Capital District of that State.
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Hon. Gerry W. Hazelton
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends:
At this late hour, realizing that you are all weary,
I should be very presumptuous to detain you with
any extended remarks, and it is not my purpose to
do so.
This is a great and glorious day for Chester.
There have been other days since the settlement of
the town in 1719 of great local importance but no
day which in its historical significance, in its rela-
tion to great events, can be compared to this. It
reaches back to the most momentous civil war in
history, and projects itself on indefinitely into the
unseen and untried future.
It is a great pleasure to be present and to witness
the exercises and to listen to the addresses which
have been delivered here in our hearing. These
addresses have been most felicitous and delightful,
and this occasion, I am sure, will linger in our
memories through all the years that are reserved
to us.
It will linger in the traditions of this community
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124 Chester Monument
when the youngest person present here shall have
passed away, and then it will be gathered into the
golden urn of history to be treasured forevermore.
I would like to supplement what has been said
about the town of Chester by another statement, that
it may become part of the record of these services.
Here is a rural township never containing more than
eight hundred or one thousand people, never boast-
ing of a manufactory of more importance than a
saw-mill, never boasting of an institution of learning
above the grade of a common school, and yet this
town has furnished two Chief Justices of the Su-
preme Court, three Governors and one Attorney-
General of the State, three United States Senators,
two Members of Congress, a consul for many years
at Genoa, a clerk of the National House of Repre-
sentatives for ten years, a First Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury during three national administra-
tions and ministers and doctors of divinity galore.
I know of no town in New England or outside of it
with such a record.
It was a happy thought which led the Governor
of the State to set aside a week during the Summer
season and to define it as " Old Home Week " ; to in-
vite those who were natives of the State to return and
spend a few days in the haunts with which their early
life was familiar. It was not necessary, however,
for the Governor to invite me. I have been in the
Chester Monument 125
habit of coming back to my native town for
an annual vacation for many years, and I never
come without pleasure, and never go away with-
out pain.
I love to go back on the old farm where I grew
up to early manhood. Every rod on that farm is
familiar, and associated with memories that are
sacred and imperishable. It is true, life was not so
crowded with exciting events at that time as now.
Telegraphs and telephones were unknown. Not a
daily newspaper was ever seen in any of the rural
communities, and in the cities their circulation was
limited and the range of their information restricted
within narrow limits. But there is much reason for
claiming that the life of that period was just as en-
joyable, homes just as happy and conceptions of duty
just as high, as to-day; and I may add, with pardon-
able pride and with the loyalty of a native of the
town, that the fathers and mothers of those early
days have never been excelled and never can be.
But I must not detain you. God grant that the
great Republic founded by the fathers and rescued
from deadly peril by the sons — the Republic under
whose proud flag we are assembled to-day — may
endure through all the coming generations to illus-
trate the beneficence of free institutions; to teach
by example as well as precept the value of civic
righteousness, and to inspire the nations of the earth
126 Chester Monument
with more exalted ideas of the true aims and objects
of human government.
So shall glory without end
Scatter the clouds away,
And on her name attend
The hopes and benedictions of mankind.
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