Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 459
Sumner, Charles Francis Adams, E. Rockwood Hoar, Francis W.
Bird, and others. Allen Bangs, of this town, was on the State
committee appointed by the convention. At a mass convention of the
Sixth Congressional District, at Northampton, to continue the anti-
Taylor movement by sending delegates to Buffalo, some fifty Spring-
field citizens were present, mainly of the abolitionist stripe. John Mills,
who had come out for anti-slavery measures, headed tlie delegation.
The whig State convention was held m September, 1848, at
"Worcester, George Bliss, John Howard, and Mr. Vose figuring in the
proceedings. In October, Charles Sumner advocated Martin Van
Buren's election as an anti-slavery candidate. Ashmun was returned
to Congress and Briggs reelected governor, and the whigs were m
clover.
The county commissioners of 1847 granted thirty-six liquor
licenses for Springfield, and as Hampden county was the only one in
the State with licensed bars, there was much talk. Possibly this was
why the various orders of temperance held their national festival iu
Springfield in that year, which was followed a few weeks later by
lectures by John B. Gough.
The body of John Quincy Adams arrived in Springfield in the after-
noon of March 9, 1848 ; all places of business were closed and many
buildings draped. Minute guns were fired when the procession
passed down Main street, and all the bells were tolled. The military
companies, both local and from surrounding towns, were under the
command of Colonel Shurtleff, father of Judge W. S. Shurtleff, fol-
lowed by the congressional and legislative committees, members of
the bar, and the clergy, fire department, armorers, and many others.
The remains were placed in the broad aisle of the First Church, a
funeral car having been built for it by David Smith. The congres-
sional committees stopped at the Union House.
The frequent visits of Daniel Webster to Springfield were probably
due in part to the firm friendship subsisting between him and
Ashmun Morris, and several other men of prominence here.