allowing Hartford to gobble up the capital. It is a perpetual
reminder that New Haven in the past has shown a deplorable lack
of public spirit in important crises. It is not a 'chief milestone on
the path of time." Rather is it an encumbrance, a public nuisance,
a bone of contention, an eyesore, a laughing stock, a hideous pile of
brick and mortar, a blot on the fair surface of the Green. The Bos-
ton paper doesn't know what it is talking about."
When about noon, August 8, 1889, Judge Carpenter dissolved the
second temporary injunction to restrain the contractor from pro-
ceeding with the work of removing the building, Benjamin No3'es
was walking in the lobby of the court room. He was asked by a
newspaper reporter what would next be done. He is reported to
have said : " I don't want to talk ; I want to murder somebody."
When the suggestion was made that he (Mr. Noyes), together with
William H. H. Hewett, George Hotchkiss, 2d, George E. Bates,
Ransom Hills, John G. Chapman and B. J. Stone, the petitioners for
the injunction, might be sued for damages for the loss suffered bv
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 23 I
Mr. Montgomery, by stopping his work, Mr. Noyes said : '' Now see
here, I don't care to be the subject of ridicule by you or anybody
else; I am too old a man. What do I care about Montgomery ? Go'
and ask him if he proposes to sue ; what have I got to do with him ?
I want to have the public understand that I am not bereft of reason,
by any means. The newspapers better be pretty careful what they
print about me. I'm a respectable citizen, and I don't propose to
stand any ridicule."
Mr. Noyes, although well along in years, has never ceased to take
an interest in New Haven's local affairs. In his younger days he
was influential in almost every movement of citizens for the glory or
benefit of the city, and the magnificent granite front Insurance Build-
ing on Chapel street, opposite the Green, is a monument to his
energy and good taste. The nomination of Erastus C. Scranton to
the mayoralty was owing to the influence of Mr. Noyes. Mr. Scran-
ton lost his life by being run over by some part of a railroad train on
the New York and New Haven Road, he being at the time president
of the company. A writer to a New Haven paper of June 10, 1888,
in giving his recollections of men sixty and sixty-five years before
the date of his letter, wrote: "The venerable forms of Jonathan
Ingersoll, lieutenant-governor; John Hunt, trial justice; David Dag-
gett and Nathan Smith, in knee breeches and buckles, powdered
hair and queue, crossing the Green, were daily seen." While the
question of removing the State House was being considered in the
Common Council, a friend of the building furnished a newspaper
with the following estimate :
"Removing 50,000 loads of debris at 25 cents per load, $12,500;
carting 25,000 loads of earth, to fill the site, $6,250; cost of grading
and turfing the site, $1,000; total $25,750." Of course the writer
had not interviewed Contractor Montgomery.
The state of feelinor in New Haven at the time of the election of
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, cannot be briefly
told. There were very many excellent and influential citizens who
had voted against him. They anticipated the grief and bloodshed
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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
which would accompany a declaration of disunion by the Southern
States, and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1861. the
inauguration being followed by liie bombardment of Fort Sumter.
April 12 of that year, the people of New Haven were greatlv excited.
Many of the citizens had been educated to believe that the Southern
idea of the confederation of the States was correct and constitutional,
and that each State was an independent sovereignty, with full power
to say whether it would remain in the Union or not. There w'ere
others who forecasted the loss of trade with the South, in case of
war, and still others who declared that in an internecine war the\-
would never point a musket at a fellow-man. So when on Monday
following the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, by the people
of that State, President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 volunteers
for the Union :irmy, to serve three months, New Haven was far
from being a unit in loyal sentiment. The hrst time that the word
" Copperhead " was used, was in an editorial written for the Journal
and Conrir, by James M. Woodward, and it became popular
throughout the North and was indiscriminately applied to all persons
not in sympathy with the Lincoln administration. In derision, a few
citizens had pins attached to copper cents worn on the lapels of
their coats and the wearers found pleasure in calling themselves
copperheads. But in time it grew (o be unpopular to speak openly
against the government and the copperhead badges soon disap-
peared. It is not within the scope of such a work as this, to detail
all that was done in New Haven during the war. The most part of
the Democratic part)- embraced the Union cause. New Haven
patriotism became an energetic, li\ing thing, and enlistments for a
regiment of soldiers was commenced. New Haven was chosen as
the place of rendezvous of a second regiment, called for by the Gov-
ernor. All was hurry and excitement. Fverything necessary for
the soldiers had to be speedily prepared. Women were set at
work making clothing in the Winchester shirt factory building on
Court street. A building for a Home Guard was hired for a year.
It stood on Olive street and had been used for the presidential cam-
234 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
paign. Soldiers from out of town were quartered there. Other out
of town volunteers slept on the Green at night or found shelter in the
Slate House, occupying Representatives' hall, and other rooms. A
large meeting of citizens, at Music hall, Crown street, at which
Mayor Harmanus M. Welch presided, on the evening of April 22,
was addressed by Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon. Rev. Dr. Cleaveland,
James F. Babcock, James Gallagher, Thomas H. Bond, William S.
Charnley, Thomas Lawton, Charles Ives, Cornelius S. Bushnell, Ira
Merwin and Rev. W. T. Eustis, and vigorous action was urged. Of
the speakers on that occasion. Bacon, Cleaveland, Babcock, Bond,
Ives, Charnley. Merwin, Eustis and Lawton are dead. The women
of New Haven earnestly engaged in work for providing the soldiers
with comforts and necessaries. They met in the State House and
elsewhere and were very helpful. The State House steps were occu-
pied by the speakers, who addressed large crowds and encouraged
the people to fill up New Haven's quota. The First Regiment left
New Haven May 9, after being reviewed by Gov. William A.
Buckingham, the war Governor of Connecticut. May 10, the Sec-
ond Regiment, under Col. Alfred H. Terry, left for the Southern
battle-fields. Before going they were, while on the Green, presented
with a set of colors. One company of the regiment was largely com-
posed of members of the New Haven Grays. The Third Regiment
of three months' men, came to New Haven from Hartford the 20th
of May and went immediately to the scene of the war. The return
of the three months' men and the immediate re-enlistment of most
of them for a service of three years, will be read about in any of the
numerous books and pamphlets which have been published since
the war. The noblest work ever done in the State House was that
of the New Haven branch of the United States Sanitary Commission.
It was organized in October, 1861, Alfred Walker being its most
effective officer. He gave notice on the loth that he would receive
supplies for the sick and wounded soldiers, and on the 19th the first
box was despatched. By the 6th of November he had sent 287 boxes.
In the first year of the organization, 371 boxes of hospital supplies
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 235
had been sent from New Haven to the Sanitary Commission and forty-
four boxes to Connecticut regiments. In the second year of this benefi-
cent work, the New Haven Soldiers' Aid Association was organized
and occupied rooms in the State House. For three years, ladies of
New Haven industriously labored in this relief work. All the towns
of the State contributed money and clothing, as the organization had
been authorized to act for the whole of Connecticut. Mrs. Aaron
N. Skinner was first directress of the New Haven association and a
large number of ladies were of the organization. Other officers
were : Mrs. B. S. Roberts, Miss J. W. Skinner, corresponding secre-
taries ; Mrs. H. T. Blake, recording secretary ; Mrs. Emily M. Fitch,
treasurer. The advisory committee consisted of Alexander C.
Twining, Charles Carlisle, Thomas R. Trowbridge, Alfred Walker,
Stephen D. Pardee, Dr. Moses C. White, the latter being in this
year, 1889, the medical examiner for New Haven, under the present
county coroner law. His testimony, as an expert in the use of the
microscope, has been frequently sought by the courts, in the trial of
parties accused of murder. There was exhibited on the Green a
chaplain's tent and some were sent to the chaplains in the field.
The Chaplain's Aid Society or Commission was organized and fur-
nished books and chapel tents. On the east part of the Green stood
the recruiting tent of the Townsend Rifles, named after ex-Senator
James M. Townsend, the liberal patron of the company. Other
recruiting tents were established near it during the progress of the
war, and Colonel Nelson L. White, of Danbury, commenced his ser-
vice for the country as a private soldier and was drilled with his com-
rades, on New Haven Green. His gift to Danbury, of a building for
a library and reading room, has been of much advantage to the young
people of that towm. August 21, 1862, the Governor having made
it known that there would be a draft of men September 3 to fill Con-
necticut's quota, the loyal citizens of New Haven made every elTort
possible to find volunteers enough to render drafting unnecessary.
Thousands of people met at the north portico of the State House on
the specified day for the draft. A meeting with Thomas R. Trow-
236 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
bridge, chairman, and Edwin A. Tucker, secretary, was organized,
and forthwith citizens commenced to make liberal offers of money
for volunteers. Joseph Sheldon, on behalf of Arthur D. Osborne,
offered $15 each for two volunteers in addition to what bounties thev
might otherwise receive. James Gallagher offered a Hke sum for
one volunteer. Others who offered money were N. I). Sperry, John
Woodruff, Thomas R. Trowbridge, Hiram Camp, and there were
others. As the interest quickened, larger sums were offered. S. 'i\
Parmelee offering $100, and David J. Peck 350. The draft was to
be begun at four o'clock in the afternoon, but as the quota was
being rapidly filled, it was delayed a half hour, when N. C. Hall
announced that the quota was complete. Wild cheers went up from
all the people who soon thereafter dispersed. But a draft was found
to be necessary. It was ordered July, 1863, that Connecticut should
furnish 7,692 men and that a draft of 11,539 men should be made.
There was developed in New Haven as in New York and -other
places a hostility to the draft, and angry men walked the streets in
small squads, threatening that there should be no draft. Some timid
citizens forsook home and business and fled to Canada. Mavor
Morris Tyler caused guns and cartridges to be carried into the cells
at police headquarters and jDrecautions were taken to prevent rioting.
These were dark days in New Haven. The draft took place in the
State House, on the ffoor of the main hall. Col. Benjamin S. Pardee
conducted the affair, his pistol being within easy reach of his hand,
and distributed among the spectators were men having weapons con-
cealed about their jjerson, but ready for use had there been an attack
made upon the drafting officers. At this time many families in New-
Haven were sorrowing over their unreturning bra\-e. The death
of Capt. Jedediah Chapman, Lieut. -Col. Henry j\Ierwin, Maj. E.
Walter Osborn, Col. Frank H. Peck, Maj. Theodore Winthrop,
Lieut. Henry M. Button, Maj. Edward F. Blake, Capt. Addison L.
Taylor, and many fine young men saddened the jDCople of New
Haven. The heroic conduct of these men should be studied as it is
found written by competent biographers. The funeral of Com-
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 237
r.Miider Andrew Hull Footc, after whom was named the First Grand
Army post in this city, took place from his family residence, a large,
white wood dwelling on the corner of Chapel and Temple streets.
He died in New York June 26, 1863, of disease caused by his atten-
tion to duty in the war. His services on the Mississippi river are
on record in all histories of the war. There was public rejoicing, a
national salute was fired on the Green and all the bells in the city
were rung, on April 3, 1865, when news was received that Petersburg
and Richmond, Va., had been evacuated. Sunday evening, April 9,
came the news of Lee's surrender. The whole city turned out and
spent the night in marching, burning bonfifes, listening to speeches
from the Mayor and well-known patriots •^vho were visited at their
homes. Long after daylight the rejoicing continued, those who had
been marching and shouting all night appearing not fatigued.
There was a great procession of citizens who called upon E. C.
Scranton, Cyrus Northrop, Henry B. Harrison, C. S. Bushnell, N. D.
Sperry, E. K. Foster, John Woodruff, Edwin Marble, William H.
Russell and other citizens, who made short addresses of congratula-
tion and expressive of the deep joy felt at the conclusion of the war.
Tiie sky was illuminated by fireworks and the vast throng of people
sung as with one voice "John Brown's Body " and " Praise God from
whoni all blessings flow." An iron cannon was fired at intervals
throughout the night, from the front window of the Journal and
Courier^ and the heat from an enormous bonfire broke a large plate
glass window in the jewelry store in Brewster's building, corner of
Chapel and State streets. The second night of the rejoicing, can-
nons were fired on the Green and all the bells were set ringing. A
committee appointed to arrange for a grand celebration, performed
no function of their appointment, for news of the murder of President
Lincoln reached New Haven Saturday. Then New Haven went
into deepest mourning, x^t noon there was a great gathering of the
people at the south steps of the State House. It was the largest
public meeting of New Haven citizens ever held. Rev. Dr. Leonard
^acon prayed. Resolutions appropriate to the sad occasion were
238 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
passed and there were addresses made by James F. Babcock, Rev.
Edwin A. Harwood, James E. English, Rev. W. T. Eustis, Heniy B.
Harrison, E. K. Foster, Ralph I. Ingersoll, Rev\ Dr. Bacon and Rev.
S. Dryden Phelps. Mayor Tyler by proclamation appointed Wed-
nesday, the 19th of April, for a public demonstration on the day of
the funeral of the murdered President. The day was observed in all
the churches and all business was suspended. The city was draped
in black.
When the President of the United States, George Washington,
visited New Haven, October, 1789, the people appear not to have
been so demonstrative as they would be at this day, should a party
of western editors, or Sothern, the actor, arrive in town. He went
to Trinity Church, Sunday, having arrived Saturday afternopn. A
few distinguished men dined in his company, among whom was
Roger Sherman, at that time Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives. He attended Rev. Mr. Edwards' church in the afternoon and
he left town Monday. Mr. Edwards was pastor of the White Haven
Church. The Legislature and the Congregational ministers presented
him with resolutions. He came to New Haven again, November 10,
1789, and left for New York the next morning. The Chamber of
Commerce, which, as every citizen is aware, has done a great deal
to promote New Haven's business affairs, has been in existence
since April 9, 1794. Its annual dinners at Compounce Pond and
the New Haven House have been occasions contributing to our
harbor improvements and other things calculated to make New
Haven respected by the mercantile world. Its present president,
James D. Dewell, is the life and soul of the. organization. The
Chamber stands in relation to the Common Council in a somewhat
similar relationship as did the Jacobin Club, of Paris, to the constit-
uent legislative body of France in the troublous period of its history.
It discusses various measures for the general weal, and the news-
papers report all their meetings. When in 1795, Timothy Dwight
became president of Yale College, he wrote an interesting paper,
descriptive in part, of New Haven. In this he says ;
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 239
" The original settlers of New Haven, following the custom of
their native country, buried their dead in a churchyard. Their
church was erected on the Green or public square, and the yard laid
out immediately behind it, in the northwestern half of the square.
While the Romish apprehension concerning consecrated burial
places and concerning peculiar advantages supposed at the resurrec-
tion to attend those who are interred in them, remained, this location
of burial grounds seems to have been not unnatural. But since this
apprehension has been perceived by common sense to be groundless
and ridiculous, the impropriety of such a location forces itself upon
every mind. It is always- desirable that a burial ground should be a
solemn object to man ; because in this manner it easily becomes a
source of useful instruction and desirable impressions. But when
placed in the centre of a town and in the current of daily intercourse,
it is rendered too familiar to the eye to have any beneficial effect on
the heart. From its proper, venerable character, it is degraded into
a mere common object and speedily loses all its connection with the
invisible world, in a gross and vulgar union with the ordinary busi-
ness of life."
Those who read this opinion from the departed president of Yale
College, will perhaps think differently as to whether a burial ground
ought to be a " solemn object." To many minds Death seems to be
the best bestowal upon human nature, of all that has been granted.
Even St. Paul, a few years before his departure from earth, expressed
his wish to go. The greatest statesmen, merchants, poets, men of sci-
ence, are apt at some time or other to indulge in the sweet reflection
that there will be for them in some good time, a chance to be at rest
in the cool, purifying ground, when there shall be no more experi-
ences of the uselessness of taking medicine — of worrying about notes
to pay in bank — of grief at the loss of precious loved ones — of anger
at misrepresentations of personal conduct — of the pain of cancers
and all other afflictive troubles — a time when, as the poet Poe said,
" the torture of living is over at last." A very distinguished but
none-the-less kind-hearted man, said a little while ago that he wished
WHY THE STATE HODSE WAS EEMOTEB !
When Hartford became the sole capital our State House
became an '* eye sore" to many people. Impaired vision ren-
dered it impossible for them to behold its grandeur.
There were
Ili:usaiiis loss I;ss Dil M Fo:us ilike !
and thousands more who were troubled with error of refrac-
tion of the eyes.
Tie Stale House is Gone aM tliere Is Ho Eeiely ;
but for those who could not see it as others saw it there is a
remedy which will enable them to read its history, and as it is
portrayed learn that it was a magnificent structure, and that
can remedy all their eye troubles and repair or sell them a
Watch, Clock, Ring, Jewelry or Diamonds,
For Less Money, Quality Considered, Than Any Other Man.
The Troiilile is witli Our Eyes, we Don't See Alike '
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
241
health were contagious. Boards of Health have never 3^et found it
s«o, or have never seen fit to so report. Grove Street Cemeterv
contains the ashes not only of great men, as were Jehudi Ashniun.
Leonard Bacon, Governor Eaton, President Clan of Yale College.
President Stiles of Yale, Colonel Humphreys, Noah \Yebster, Ro^er
Sherman, Eli Whitney and hundreds of men renowned for learniu'^-,
patriotism, talent, wealth and various virtues, but were it located on
Chapel, between Orange and State streets, it could never be the
•• common object " suggested in the wMitten opinion of Dr. Dwight.
who died in 1817. For there lie our young and good and fair, our
little ones of whom we are told "of such is the kingdom of heaven."
From a cursory inspection of the stone memorials of the dead in
Grove Street Cemetery, the notion will present itself that New Haven
could well support a true artist, devoting himself to the production
of designs for memorials. He need not be another Canova, but
monument makers appear lacking in ideality and copy too much
from each other. The alunmi of the Sheffield Scientific School have
had in mind for some years the erection of a monument to the
patron of the school, after whom it was named. The idea was to
have a tall and elegant shaft of bronze, with a hollow globe at its suni-
niit, and inside it, an electric light to be forever kept alive, the light
showing through the interstices of a Sheffield monogram. In front of
some of the temples of Japan, lights are perpetually burning to com-
memorate the departed. How very near to us are the graves !
It is but a little walk from the railroad station, where life is
especially full of interest and activity, to any of New Haven's birry-
ing grounds.
The New Haven Colony Historical Society occupied rooms in the
State House from 188 1 to the time when work on pulling down the
building was begun. The society was organized in 1862. It has a
library of about two thousand books and se\eral thousand pamphlets,
besides a rich treasure in portraits and pictures of historic value,
coins and objects which serve to illuminate the past. Should New
Haven build a building for its Free Public Library, provision should
16
242 THE HISTORY OT THE STATE HOUSE.
be made for the accommodation of the society, as it is and must ever
be an educational institution for posterity.
For nineteen days the Superior Court was busy, in the State
House, trying the divorce case of Mary A. Bennett against George
Bennett, a pill maker, of rather a jealous mind, hard of hearing and
having the misfortune of being older than his wife, who was a beau-
tiful woman and fond of company. She was granted the divorce
and the custody of two children and was allowed alimony. Alfred
Blackman, Ralph I. Ingersoll and Joseph Sheldon were Mrs.
Bennett's lawyers ; Roger S. Baldwin, Henry Button and George H.
VVatrous were Dr. Bennett's. There is a book in print, reviewing
some of the features of the trial. The " doctor " was so enraged at
lawyer Joseph Sheldon, who worked hard and successfully for his
client, that he hired boys to parade the streets with large placards
elevated on poles, and these placards had on them abusive allusions
to Mr. Sheldon. The boys elevated these placards as high as the
second-story window of the house in which Mr. Sheldon lived, so
that members of his family might see them. This being a novel
way of committing an assault, for which there did not appear a suffi-
cient law of prevention, Mr. Sheldon went before a legislative com-
mittee, at whose recommendation was passed an admirable law, now
in the statute books of this Stale, which provides for a penalty for
following, mocking or abusing citizens, by obnoxious printing and
otherwise. The law has been found very efficacious in neighbor-
hoods where scolding women reside, and also since certain troubles