History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

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vre the uiidersigiied agree to place in the hands
of the selectmen the sum of S 15,000 for that
purpose until the same can be legally paid by
the town. Eli Jones, J. B. Winn, Charles Tidd,
Bowen Buckman, Joseph Kelley, M. F. Winn, S.
O. Pollard, L. Thompson, W. T. Grammer, Horace
Conn, M. C. Bean, A. E. Thompson, Cyrus Cummings,
E. N. Blake, John Johnson."
April 4, 1864, the town treasurer was again
authorized to borrow the sum of $15,000, "and
more if necessary," to pay to the families of sol-
diers in the service of the country. §8,000 were
also voted to refund money voluntarily paid by
citizens to persons enlisting to fill the quotas of
the town for the two previous years, provided the
sum should not exceed $ 1:J5 to each recruit. In
August of the same year it was voted to pay to
each volunteer for three years' service one hundred
and twenty-five dollars in gold, if such payment
should be found to be legal. At the April meet-
ing (1865) the sum of S 15,000 was again appro-
priated in aid of the families and dependants of
men engaged in the war, and $500 to purchase
material to be made into useful garments by the
patriotic women of the town for the soldiers at the
front. In the following month (May) §£3,500
were appropriated to reimburse citizens for money
contributed to fill the quota of the town for 1864.
The wiiole amount of money expended by the town
on account of the war, exclusive of state aid, was
$89,066.68. The amount raised and expended
for state aid to soldiers' families, and reimbursed
by the commonwealth, was §51,456.22.
After the dispersion of the members of the Pha-
lanx into various regiments in the spring of 1861,
enlistments went on in Woburn, and in July more
than one hundred men were in the field at various
points. When the 22d regiment was formed,
under the colonelship of Henry Wilson, in the
summer of that year, a company was organized
under the name of the Woburn Union Guard.
Before its ranks were completed it was filled up
from other towns, and ordered to the field with
others. The first of these companies was called
the National Rangers, and was attached to the
39th regiment as Company K. Its officers were
, mander
545
John I. Richardson, captain ; Luke R. Tidd, first
lieutenant; L. F. Wyman, second lieutenant. The
other company was made up largely of the old
Phalanx and young men ^^•ho were that year of
suitable age to enhst. Its term of service was for
nine months, and was attached to the 5th regi-
ment, and went on the expediticm to North Caro-
lina. It was officered as follows : AYilliam T.
Grammer, captain ; Charles C. Converse, first lieu-
tenant; William A. Colgate, second heutenant.
These were the only companies tliat were organ-
ized, as well as made up wholly or in greater part
and officered, by Woburn men. During the years
1863 and 1864 the work of enlistment was carried
on with energy and success. Although the demand
for labor was great among the manufacturers hi
town, yet the pay and bounties ofl'ered to men
were always equal to the occasion, and the government
quotas were promptly filled. These recruits
went to fill up the gaps in broken companies of
infantry, or into the artillery, cavalry, or navr.l
service. The whole number of men (as nearly as
can be ascertained) enlisted in Woburn or made
part of her quota, was seven hundred and forty-
nine, divided among the different arms of the
service, and for different periods, as follows —
:
Iiifantrv, 3 months, -10
" ' 100 dMvs, S9
"
9 moiUlis, 102
1 year, Gl
3 years, 3SS
Cavalry . .
Alaiiy of the above were re-enlistments. The
number of men killed in battle, or dying from
wounds, sickness, and the infamous treatment of
rebel prisons, was eighty-two (for details see the in-
scription on the soldiers' monument). No comof
a regiment, brigade, or other general
officer was furnished by Woburn, but the following
1 were commissioned officers —
:
1 E. M. Burbank, major, 12th regiment ; J. W.
Macdonald, major, 12th regiment ; John J. Ricliardson,
captain, 39th regiment ; S. I. Thompson,
captain, 22d regiment ; J. P. Crane, captain, 22d
i
its regiment. The number of Woburn men in its
ranks was forty-seven, including its officers,
regiment ; William T. Grammer, captain, 5th regi-
ment ; C. S. Converse, captain, 5th regiment ; Luke
Captain Samuel I. Thompson, First Lieutenant
John P. Crane, and Second Lieutenant William R.
Bennett. In 1862 two full companies were sent
into the field, besides enlistments into several
R. Tidd, captain, 39tli regiment; Cyrus Tay, captain,
32d regiment ; James Wyman, captain, 32d
regiment ; John E. Tidd, captain, 32d regiment
Luther Wyman, 1st lieutenant, 39th regiment;
C. K. Conn, 1st lieutenant, 39th regiment ; Wil-
liam McDavitt, 1st lieutenant, 39th regiment;
Geor'^e E. Fowle, 1st lieutenant, 39th regiment;
;