History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

Wheeler were chosen a committee to recruit eight
men at least to serve the town as volunteers, and
the treasurer was authorized to borrow twenty-five
hundred dollars for the purpose. October 21,
1865, it was "Voted, To refund to the citizens the
money subscribed aud paid by them last spring for
procuring recruits to fill the quota of the town."
Various other sums were voted during those years
for expenses incidental to the war and for bringing
home aud burying their dead. Of those who sac-
rificed their lives for their country in this war, the
following deserve especial commemoration —
:
First-Lieutenant Thomas J. Parker enlisted as
a private at the breaking out of the war, and con-
tinued in active service until his death. He was
twice promoted for meritorious conduct, and was
mortally wounded before Petersburg, March 25,
1865.
George Weston enlisted in the 41-th regiment
September 13, 1862, and was commissioned
second lieutenant in tlie 18th regiment March 4,
1863. He was wounded while leading iiis company
in the attack on Rappahannock Station, November
7, 1863, and died of his wound January 5,
1864. He was a young man of fine promise, a
graduate of Harvard of the class of 1860, and
designed for the profession of law. A faithful
delineation of his character may be found in the
second volume of the Harvard memorial.
Elijah H. Wellington enlisted in the 44th regiment
at the same time as Lieutenant Weston, and
died of disease at Newbern, N. C, in the winter of
1862. He was a. young man of excellent charac-
ter, universally respected and beloved.
The votes of the town given herewith convey,
at tlie best, only a faint idea of the spirit whicli
LINCOLN. 43
and most of the war business transacted. The
writer of this narrative served the town on its
board of selectmen, as its treasurer, and on all its
recruiting committees during the war, and can
testify that he never wanted for a dollar, — never
asked of any of his fellow-citizens any service or
assistance connected with the war, which was not
promptly and cheerfully rendered.
Nor were the women of the town wanting on
their part. They early enlisted in the work of
providing hospital stores and comforts for the sick
and wounded soldiers,—a work always "sanctified
and ennobled by the blessed spirit which prompted
its undertaking, and which kept alive to the last
hour of need the earnestness so noticeable in a
New England community."
Lincoln furnished seventy-nine men for the war,
which was a surplus of four over and above all
demands.^ The amount of money raised and expended
by the town on account of the war was
§ 10,385.50, all of which was paid before the close
of the year 1865. The town also expended S 3,9 15
for aid to soldiers' families, of which sum $3,205
were reimbursed by the state.
The history of the town to be complete should
contain notices of its college graduates and the dis-
tinguished men who were born here, and early left
their home for more promising fields of usefulness
and enterprise. A history of the Brookses and
Browns, Farrars and Flints, Hartwells and Hoars,
Pierces and Eussells, and others, would of itself
fill a volume, and be a valuable contribution to
New England literature. But the writer must
stop here. He commends the task to some one of
the gifted sons of the town, who were trained in
the halls of learning, and have the ability and cul-
animated tlie town during the war of the Eebellion. ture to do the subject justice.
They were, in fact, only the embodying in legal
form and registering the spontaneous outbursts of
enthusiasm and patriotism which characterized the
citizens' meetings, where measures were discussed
1 This number does not include Mr. N. F. Cousins, who
enlisted for three years, went to lynufielJ in August, 1862, was
prostrated by heat while preparing the camp-grounds, aud came
very near losing his life.