An account of the Abolitionist fervor in the Feltonville section of Marlboro, MA (later to become Hudson), and the activities of Co. F, 13th Mass Volunteer Infantry (then known as the Feltonville Rifles) during the Civil War.

1. Feltonville: Abolitionism and the Civil War

2. Presented by Paul Brodeur For the Hudson Historical Society

3. Special Thanks to the Following Sources for Making This Presentation Possible

4. 13 th Mass Website at www.13thmass.org Copyright 2008 Brad Forbush And especially for all the personal assistance from Brad Forbush

5. Brigham’s Early Hudson History as written by Wilbur F. Brigham compiled and edited by Katherine Johnson and Lewis Halprin

8. Cyrus Felton's two volumes of local history: Four Hundred Fifty Events Six Hundred Events Charles Hudson History of Marlborough Ella Bigelow Historical Reminiscences

9. John Buczek's History of Marlboro Website at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~historyofmarlborough/contents.htm#Fire containing Paul Polewacyk's History of the Marlborough Fire Department

10. And The Just Released History of the 125 th Quartermaster Company by Leonid E. Kondratiuk Director, Historical Services The Adjutant General’s Office Worcester, Massachusetts 2011

11. 1. Absolutely Abolitionist Feltonville 2. The Motivation of the Fire Department 3. John Brown's Raid and the Strange Story of Ledra and Seth Coolidge 4. Marlboro Mirror, November 10, 1860 5. War!!

12. Absolutely Abolitionist Feltonville

15. Charles Hudson, In Memoriam by Henry M. Smith

16. Charles Hudson, In Memoriam by Henry M. Smith Speeches: Discriminating Duties, 1841; The Annexation of Texas; The Tariff, 1846; The Wheat Trade of the Country, 1846; The Mexican War; The President’s Message on the War with Mexico, 1846; The Three Million Appropriation Bill, 1847; The Cost of the Mexican War, and the Finances of the Country, 1848; The Constitutional power of Congress over the Territories and the Right of Excluding Slavery Therefrom, 1848.

17. Charles Hudson, In Memoriam by Henry M. Smith

19. Timeline 1848: Marlborough Free Soil Meeting 800 in attendance (Cyrus Felton) 1848: Harpers Ferry firehouse is built to house the equipment and fire bell for the National Armory (National Park Service)

20. Timeline Sept 18, 1850: The Fugitive Slave Act is passed, requiring any Federal Marshall or other official to aid in the return of slaves to their rightful owners. This begins the acceleration in the Underground Railroad throughout the country. A number of houses in Marlborough and Feltonville are converted to assist in the conveyance of slaves to Canada.

21. Timeline Nov 11 1850: The Substance of Resolutions passed this day in Marlborough Town Meeting. (Cyrus Felton) “ Massachusetts cannot become the hunting ground for slaves.” “ We most decidedly disapprove of the Fugitive Slave Law, and will not aid, but will in all suitable and proper ways resist its execution.” But very few voted nay.

22. Timeline April 12 th 1851 the East Meeting house bell tolled 75 times because Thomas Sims, a colored person was taken from Boston back to Georgia as a slave. It was 75 years since Independence had been declared. (Cyrus Felton)

23. The West Village of Marlboro, centered around the Second Parish Church (Unitarian), was a hotbed of Abolitionism led by Rev. Horatio Alger, father of noted Rags to Riches author Horatio Alger Jr.

26. The State Disunion Convention held at Worcester, Mass. in January of 1857 was a unique exercise in northern secessionist thought.

28. (Gathered) for the purpose of considering the “practicability, probability, and expediency of a separation of the Free and Slave States”. Organizer: Rev. T. W. Higginson (Member of John Brown’s Secret Six) Among the six Vice Presidents: William Lloyd Garrison, Boston (publisher of The Liberator) Charles Brigham, Marlboro

29. “ Uncle Charles Brigham, ... a great temperance laborer and anti-slavery man, very public spirited and one of the founders and leading men of the Unitarian Church (Feltonville).” Ella Bigelow Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough

30. “ If the Union cannot stand the practical working of the truths enunciated in the Declaration of American Independence, it seems to me its value has been calculated. I am not, however, prepared to believe that the triumph of freedom requires the dissolution of the Union.” O.W. Albee Letter to the Worcester Disunion Convention

31. The Motivation of The Feltonville Fire Department

34. In 1850 Marlboro there were three villages, each distinct enclaves of small factories and closely packed multi story houses surrounding small commercial areas and a central main Church. All areas between the villages remained farmland with sparse housing.

36. The Village of Feltonville 1856

38. This was the answer. An 1849 model hand tub pumper from the Howard & Davis Co. Boston. This is the actual pumper from the Marlboro East Village Torrent Company.

41. Marlborough Firefighters and the Fireman's Muster July 4, 1849, the first fireman's hand engine muster was held in Bath, Maine. Marlborough that year received three new engines and two years later were contestants for the first time. Since that time Marlborough's engines have been prominent in most musters held in New England where they originated. Several of the largest, and best, were held in Marlborough". H.H Esterbrook, Westboro, circa 1922 Quoted in Paul Polewacyk's history of the Marlboro Fire Department on John Buczek's Marlboro History Website

43. John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry and the Strange Tale of the Coolidge Boys

45. An overhead view of Harpers Ferry. The Potomac River descends from the north and the Shenandoah comes in from the west. The white arrow is the relative position of the Engine House and the Red arrow is the substructure of the railroad bridge destroyed by the Confederates in the summer of 1861.

46. The bridge from the Maryland side looking at Harpers Ferry. The buildings left of center are the Wager Hotel buildings and just to the right a small water tower. Behind the tower sits the Engine House (not visible). Historic Photo Collection, National Historic Parks

47. These overhead street maps are from The Business Enterprises and Commercial Development of Harpers Ferry Lower Town Area, 1803-1861 by Charles W. Snell The circled area is the water tower. The Potomac River is to the right.

48. The Wager House Hotel complex including the Potomac Restaurant/Hotel was at times run as separate hotels but mostly as a single unit. The slaves of our story all would have worked in this area.

49. The Engine House where John Brown was isolated sat behind a fence and gate within the Armory complex and stood throughout the Civil War although all the buildings around it were totally destroyed.

51. Born a Slave But Made His Escape to Freedom Exciting Days In the Life of a Marlboro Barber “ Young (William) Geary was one of those who carried the breakfasts to the imprisoned men and in this way he had the opportunity of meeting John Brown.” Marlboro Daily Enterprise Wednesday, June 5, 1901

53. from the Marlboro Enterprise – Monday, 30 May 1914 Mrs. Fanny Stanley, Who Died Saturday, Knew John Brown Personally “….when he was hung, she saw him go to his death on the scaffold. She was in a hotel at the time. She knew that he was to go to his death on that day and climbing to the topmost part of the hotel she saw the enactment of a tragedy that has gone down the ages. Mrs. Stanley said that when the drop was pulled, his face turned toward the north, prophetic of future development.”

54. “ In my Company was a man who knew every secret hiding place in the mountains around Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights and it was whispered that he had been one of John Brown's men who had escaped capture, he would point out places where he had been with Brown's band - his name was Ledra Coolidge, a quiet, earnest sort of man.” Charles Roundy, Co. F

55. “ In connection with these incidents, another of intense interest comes to our knowledge and that is that Silas Coolidge, a son of Rufus Coolidge, was one of the John Brown party and was wounded in the leg during the fight. He turned up in Hudson just prior to the war and when the war broke out enlisted in the 13th Regt.” Marlboro Enterprise, November 4, 1892

56. Of these two stories, the one concerning Ledra Coolidge probably has more validity. It is a first person account with direct observation albeit written years later as a memoir. The story concerning Silas Coolidge is problematic in that there are other parts of the news article that are probably false, and is written without attribution of source. Silas Coolidge died during the Civil War. Clearly, there may be a realistic connection. Charles Brigham was a fellow abolitionist in the circle of T.W. Higginson, one of John Brown’s Secret Six. Feltonville was a small village and any with strong abolitionist leanings would be known to each other. Was Brigham a financial supporter? Was one or both of the Coolidge boys involved in John Brown’s Raid? Intriguing! None of the histories of the raid make any mention of them. Only some local or family history tying them to known conspirators would certify the historical rumors.

57. Items from the Marlboro Mirror November 10, 1860

59. Items From the Marlboro Mirror November 10, 1860 Anti-Slavery Lecture Mr. H. Ford Douglas, of Chicago, will lecture in Town Hall next Wednesday evening, Nov. 14 th at 7 o'clock. He will also lecture in the Baptist Church in Feltonville, on Thursday evening, 15 th at 7 o'clock.

60. H. Ford Douglas was a prominent Black Lecturer from Lincoln’s home state of Illinois. It is uncertain what words he spoke those two days in Marlboro, but it is likely that it reflected his disdain for the popular Lincoln as in this speech he gave in Framingham earlier that year.

62. Douglas was correct. Although Lincoln was against slavery, his strategy was always to preserve the Union at whatever cost.

63. War!!

66. Photo depicts the award ceremony for the 125 th Quartermaster Company for the Lexington – Concord Battle Streamer at the Massachusetts Army National Guard Historical Museum, October 16, 2011

70. Ft. Independence at bottom of photo. Boston’s Logan Airport is top center

72. Regiment attached to Gen. Banks Division Army of the Potomac assigned to patrol and outpost duty on the Upper Potomac. Winter camp spent in Williamsport. The blue line from the left of the slide is the Potomac River, the line from the bottom is the Shenandoah River. The Potomac was the dividing line between North and South.

74. This photo was taken at Williamsport, MD, probably by George L. Crosby a photographer and artist from Marlboro who had signed up with Co. F and brought his equipment with him. The camp follower slaves were known as ‘contraband’. There is every possibility that the two women to the right are Arenia and Fanny Geary, who relocated to Marlboro along with other Harpers Ferry slaves. Without pictures to compare there is no way of knowing for sure.

75. Crossing the Potomac in the beginning of March, their strategy was to stay between the troops of Stonewall Jackson and Washington DC. There were skirmishes but no battles in this period.

79. The 13 th Regiment continued its wandering movements through August of 1862, finally reaching Manassas at the end of the month. Due solely to illness, their troop strength had been cut in half from their original 1000 men.

80. On August 30, 1862, the 13 th engaged in their first serious battle, 2 nd Bull Run. It was also their worst engagement, with heavy losses. A few weeks later, they participated in Antietam, again with heavy losses. Starting with 500 men, they were down to 165 after both engagements.

81. Through the end of 1862 and spring of 1863, having been decimated by battle and illness, they were only minimally involved in battles to the south. At Chancellorsville, their old nemesis Gen. Stonewall Jackson, was killed by friendly fire.

82. Becoming aware that Gen. Robert E. Lee was marching north, the Union troops followed in pursuit. After three weeks of constant marching, the 13 th reached Gettysburg on July 1 and were immediately thrown into battle.

83. Slide prepared by Alan Cham berlain

84. July 14 th 1864 13 th MVI term of service ends – recent recruits and reenlistments transferred to 39 th July 18 th 3yr veteran William F. Brigham, Co. F, dies in Washington, DC Aug 1 17 officers and 265 men were mustered out from 13 th MVI on Boston Common

86. The following record of soldiers from Three Years in the Army by Charles E. Davis 1894