Departure of the Wooster Guard (1st Conn. Regiment) from Danbury Conn, April 1861

The reaction of the town of Danbury Connecticut to the attack on Fort Sumter and the subsequent call for volunteers by President Lincoln in April of 1861 is detailed in James Montgomery Bailey's "History of Danbury Connecticut 1684-1896" (published in 1896). The Wooster Guard (local militia of which Horace Purdy was a member) was one of the first units to answer the President's and Governor's call travelling immediately to New Haven Connecticut where they were mustered into the first regiment from the state.

From the "History of Danbury Connecticut 1684-1896" pages 381-384:


It was three o'clock on the afternoon of Saturday, April 13th, 1861, when Danbury received the news of the fall of Sumter, and the first victory of the Secessionists. All that day anxious men besieged the telegraph office in search of the intelligence which they dreaded. When it came there was a shock. It was as if the batteries that played against the doomed fortress had been galvanic, with their wires running through our heart's very centre.

The next forty-eight hours were full of compressed life. They were mental yeast cakes. No excitement had equalled it since that April day, nearly a century dead, when the face of a foreign foe was turned our way and the tramp of an enemy's feet pressed our borders. Now we knew there was to be a war. Even the most sanguine of a bloodless ending to the trouble gave up the hope of peace, but not the determination to win it. In that first flush of indignant shame party lines went under, and a sea of patriotic passion swept over Danbury. There was little sleep in Danbury that night, there was none whatever the next day, although there were eight churches here. St. Peter gave way to saltpetre in the theology of that hour.

On April 15th President Lincoln issued his call for seventy five thousand volunteers, and Governor Buckingham supplemented it with a call for volunteers to rendezvous at Hartford. Danbury was among the first to awake to the necessities of the hour. Her patriotism was aroused, and her flags were unfurled, showing her to be true to her colors. Hon. Roger Averill flung out the first flag, and he was followed by others, until houses and hilltops were crowned with the emblem that had ever led the armies of our country to victory. An interesting incident occurred in connection with the unfurling of Governor Averill's flag. Many distinctly remember the venerable Colonel E. Moss White. Several years before the war he was stricken with paralysis, and never recovered from the shock. He moved about with great difficulty and lost all control of verbal expression except two words, in the form of an injunction, which were, " Come all!" On seeing the flag he smote his breast with both hands and cried aloud, again and again, "Come all! Come all!" And the record shows that the able-bodied men of his native town almost literally responded to the cry.

Governor Buckingham's call was received here on Wednesday, and on Friday, the 19th, the Wooster Guards, commanded by Captain E. E. Wildman, started for New Haven. It is a fact to the honor and credit of the Guards that even before the governor's call had been issued, the services of the company had been tendered him, which he had promptly accepted.

The departure of the Guards for New Haven, which had been made the rendezvous, was a grand, sublime, and yet a touching and pathetic scene. Soon after dinner the Guards met at their headquarters, then Military Ball, in the top story of D. P. Nichol's Block, on the corner of Main and White Streets. Hundreds of people met with them, and forming in line, escorted by a cavalcade of citizens and a band, they marched to Concert Hall, where now appropriately stands the Soldiers' Monument erected in memory of some of that brave band, whose courage was equal to the test of giving up their lives for their country. Filing into the hall, they were seated, and Rev. E[lijah]. E. Griswold, presiding elder of this district of the Methodist church, offered a prayer to the Throne of Grace for their welfare and that of the country. The services concluded the company re-formed, and escorted by the crowd, which had by this time swelled to thousands, they marched to the Danbury and Norwalk Railway station to take the cars.

Note: Elijah E. Griswold is the father of Anne Augusta Griswold Purdy, wife of Horace Purdy, and my direct ancestor.

The large square on the north of the station now became the scene and centre of the most intense and exciting interest. The place was a condensed mass of humanity. Wives, mothers, fathers, and children stood in tearful mood, but withal imbued with firmness and patriotism and heroism, and exchanged. Good wishes and farewells. Here, amid the huzzas of the crowd, the bursts of martial music, the waving of flags, the boom of Cannon, the Wooster Guards went forth, the first company in the State of Connecticut to pledge itself to the defence of the untarnished honor of the commonwealth and the nation.

The following is the roster of the company:

Captain, E. E. Wildman.
First Lieutenant, Jesse D. Stevens.
Second Lieutenant, John D. Bussing.
Sergeants: Andrew Knox, Milo Dickens, William. Moegling, Samuel Y. Petit.
Corporals: George B. Allen, E. S. Davis, Alexander Kallman, Nathan Couch.
Musicians: Edward H. Dann, Grandison D. Foote.

Privates: John Allen, Harris Anderson, C. H. Anderson, John Bogardus, Charles A. Boernm, James Blizzard, William H. Blizzard, Thomas T. Bussing, James Bradley, Theodore B. Benedict, A. H. Byington, George W. Banker, Charles A. Benger, Niram Blackman, Thomas D. Brown, Henry E. Buckingham, William K. Cowan, Lemuel B. Clark, William R. Doane, Josiah L. Day, Edward H. Day, Joseph L. Duuning, Ezekiel Eaton, C. Fieldstone, Dennis Geliven, Christopher Grimm, Charles A.. Gordon, H. W. Gibbs, Carl W. Hillbrandt, William O. Hoyt, W. P. Hoyt, David B. Hoyt, Alfred H. Hoddinott, Thomas Hooton, Otto Hagement, James Howath, Jesse L. James, Ernest T. Jennings, Isaac N. Jennings, George D. Keeler, Morris A. Krazynsky, William J. Murphy, Emil C. Margraff, James Martin, Andrew B. Nichols, Horace Purdy, Francis W. Platt, Joseph W. Raymond, James Reed, James R. Ross, Timothy Rose, George L. Smith, Alson J. Smith, Benjamin F. Skinner, David Sloane, Grandison Scott, Louis Shack, Eli D. Seeley, Augustus Staples, George Sears, James H. Taylor, Joseph Tammany, Darius A. Veats, Edgar L. Wildman, Howard W. Wheeler, John Waters.

The [Danbury] Times of May 2d, 1861, in speaking of the commanders of the Danbury companies, has the following: "Captain Wildman is a young, energetic, straightforward, and highly esteemed citizen. His response to the call of the governor was, 'Our country needs our services and it is our duty to go,' and by his manly, resolute course inspired his whole company with confidence and courage. It cannot be otherwise than a source of gratification to those who have friends and relatives in the guards to know that their services will be performed under a brave, gallant, and honorable commander."

The company arrived in New Haven at six 0' clock, and there they were met by the Grays, a company from that city, and by thousands of people, who gave them a hearty welcome. They were escorted to the New Haven House, where they made their headquarters.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory, who escorted the boys to New Haven, returned Saturday evening, and a meeting was called in Concert Hall. He, with the band, was escorted to the hall, and after the organization of the meeting by electing Isaac Smith as chairman, Colonel Gregory responded to loud calls, and reported the arrival of the boys in New Haven, their reception there, and what other information he possessed concerning them. The excitement was at a fever heat, and papers, pens, and ink. Were called for and a roll started for a second company. This was in little over twenty-four hours from the time of the departure of the first company. As one after another put his name to the paper, cheer after cheer were given.

Other Accounts of the First Connecticut Volunteers in 1861

Horace Purdy was only one of thousands of volunteers that answered Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers in April of 1861 and only one of hundreds who enlisted in the First Connecticut Regiment. However, finding the accounts of these volunteers is very difficult because although almost certainly letters of other recruits exist, only a handful have surfaced. Probably the best known account of the three month regiments from Connecticut are found in the 1872 book "Wooden Nutmegs" at Bull Run by Elnathan B. Tyler (writing as Frinkle Fry) of the 3rd Connecticut Regiment. This is a well written and humorous account of the Connecticut regiments from April through July of 1861 and highly recommended to anyone interested in these regiments or even in events leading up to the first battle of Bull Run.

Another existing but little known account was published in the Lincoln Herald in 1965. Titled "Bully for the 1st Connecticut" (written by Lester L. Swift) it recounts experiences of Gustavus Sullivan Dana of Company A of the First Connecticut Regiment and includes entries from his enlistment to a good detailed description of the unit's role at First Bull Run, the best that is known.

Dana was a 22 year old machinist from Hartford Connecticut and was a member of the Aetna Hose Company and the Hartford Light Guards. Many of these early volunteers were firefighters and/or members of local militia units. He offered his services on April 19th and formally was mustered in on April 22nd in New Haven. Dana later reinlisted in the 6th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. After the war he was president of the Lincoln Guard of Honor, which was organized to prevent the theft of the casket containing Lincoln's body (Swift, 1965).

Like others who enlisted at this time Dana believed that the war would be over quickly, "the general opinion was that the trouble would be ended and that we would be home at the end of the three months for which the first troops were enlisted" (Swift, 1965:73). In this expectation Dana left his tools in the charge of the shop superintendent and was told his job would be available when he returned; however, as stated earlier Dana served for the entire duration of the war and the fate of his tools and career as a machinist is unknown. He died in 1916 (Swift, 1965).

The accounts of Dana, Tyler, and Purdy are currently all we have telling the detailed story of the three month men from Connecticut. I have some leads on other possibly surviving letter collections, but nothing else for certain at this time. Thus, the details on this units as somewhat vague, and because the three regiments were dissolved in July of 1861, these units do not have the long histories or reputations as many of the later Connecticut regiments. Still their story is an important one that should be told, providing us with a glimpse of the early months of the war, and a unique one as at one point these units were at the forward position of the Union advance in northern Virginia. It is my hope that more accounts of these regiments will surface at some point for they must surely exist.

REFERENCES

Swift, L. L. (ed.). 1965. "Bully for the First Connecticut": The recollections of a three month volunteer. Lincoln Herald 67(2):72-82.

Tyler, E. B. 1872. "Wooden Nutmegs" at Bull Run. George L. Colburn Steam Print, Hartford. (reprinted by Gale Archival Editions on Demand).

Excerpts from the Journal of Horace Purdy (1st Connecticut Volunteers) April 13th - 18th 1861 - the Fall of Fort Sumter and the Call for Volunteers

These entries reflect the attack on Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln's subsequent call for 75,000 volunteer troops. Purdy's response was typical for many of the young men of the time. He enlisted without hesitation despite his job, obligations to his church, and the fact that his wife was pregnant with their first child.

Saturday April 13th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“It is reported in the papers today that the rebel batteries together with Fort Moultry [sic] have opened fire on Major Anderson in Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor S. Carolina and the Major has returned fire. I went into the street in the eve to get the news if there was any. The news by telegraph states that Fort Sumter is on fire with the flag at half mast and the Harriet Lane is on fire. It may be correct and perhaps not”.

[The attack began on April 12th and Anderson surrendered at 2:30 PM on the 13th. The garrison was evacuated the following day. The rumor that the USRC Harriet Lane was on fire was incorrect].

Sunday April 14th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“The telegraph has been at work all day receiving the war news. It says that Fort Sumter is on fire and Major Anderson has surrendered to the rebel forces under Gen. Beauregard. I don’t believe it myself, neither shall I until I hear something more tomorrow”.


Monday April 15th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“The surrender of Major Anderson at Fort Sumter is confirmed. The fire from the rebel batteries was too hot for him, burning the inside of the fort until all the wood work the officers’ quarters was consumed by the red hot shot and shell. The President has issued a call for 75,000 troops from the militia of the adhering states”.


Tuesday April 16th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Our Co[mpany] assembled at the drill room in the eve. We are expecting to be called into the service of the government immediately as the President has issued a call for 75,000 men from the states adhering to the Union. We are hourly expecting an order from our Governor”.


Wednesday April 17th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“I worked in the shop all day. Attended a special meeting of the [Wooster Light] Guards at our hall in the eve at which we volunteered our services to the Governor (Buckingham) as volunteers in the NE states service in answer to the President's call for 75,000 troops. There were a large number of spectators at the room and when we with our voice offered our services a long loud shout went up from the people”.


Thursday April 18th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Today has been spent mostly in parading the streets and hoisting the Stars and Stripes. I received my pay from Mr. Crofut preparatory to going away. The bells began to ring in the P.M. on account of a dispatch from the Governor accepting our services for the Government. Supposing that we are to leave this afternoon I went home, immediately packed what clothes I intended to carry, bid goodbye to wife and friends and started for our hall, but we did not go so I returned home again”.

Excerpts from the Journal of Horace Purdy (1st Connecticut Volunteers) - March 11 - April 2 1861

I apologize for the blogging hiatus, it's taken me a few weeks to get back into things. This batch of journal entries deals with the quiet time right after Lincoln was inaugurated and leading into the Connecticut gubernatorial election of 1861. The first posts are a reminder of the times in the nineteenth century when diseases like smallpox were still prevalent and feared. Deaths were practically an everyday occurrence for these people, but nothing like the horrors they are about to face. Things are about to get much more interesting because of an April 1861 event that took place in Charleston, South Carolina.

Monday March 11th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Dr. Bennett has eight cases of small pox in town. Widow Wilcox’s youngest son has it just out on the corner. After I finished my work in the shop I went to Tweedy Brothers shop to see Lieutenant John W. Bussing about electing Frederick Starr Captain of the Guards.”

[John W. Bussing was the 2nd Lieutenant of the First Connecticut Volunteers.]

Tuesday March 12th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“I went to Andrew Knox and got a little paint to put on my rooms upstairs before renting.”

[Andrew Knox was a sergeant in the First Connecticut Regiment.]

Friday March 15th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Philander Betts having had the varioloid in his family came to the shop for the first time since. The men, thinking him to be a dangerous person to be in the shop, called the men together and by a unanimous vote requested him to leave the shop and to stay away until it was safe for him to go out from his family without exposing other people.”

[Varioloid is a mild form of small pox that occurs in someone who has previously survived the disease.]

Monday March 18th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Mr. Betts came to the shop again this morning and wanted to go to work, but the men being yet afraid to work with him on account of the varioloid, which he had had himself and in his family, voted unanimously to request him to stay away another week, but still he hung around the shop seemingly intent on exposing every man in the factory if it was possible.”

Tuesday March 26th 1861 Danbury Connecticut

“Warm and pleasant. The snow is disappearing pretty fast. Anna Beers died this morning at four o’clock. On my way home from the shop I took a letter from the office for Father Griswold from his brother (Uncle Dwight) bearing the intelligence of the death of Aunt Kate. She jumped from her chamber window. In a short time after she died. She was deranged.”

Thursday March 28th 1861 Danbury Connecticut

“I attended prayer meeting in the eve, after its close I stopped at concert hall a short time to listen to O. S. [Orris Sanford] Ferry addressing the Republicans previous to the state election on Monday next. Anna Beers was buried at 1 o’clock this P.M.”

[Orris Sanford Ferry was a Connecticut State Senator, Colonel of the 5th Connecticut Volunteers and later a Brigadier General. After the war he was elected to the United States Senate for two terms.]

Friday March 29th 1861 Danbury Connecticut

“I went to the drill room in the eve but there being only four members present we adjourned and went home. A Mr. Perrin who is speaking to the Democrats of Danbury this eve at Concert Hall is undoubtedly one cause of the vacant drill room.”

Saturday, March 30th 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“Cyrus W. Northrup of Norwalk spoke to the Republicans in the eve at the Concert Hall. I went and heard him. Our brass band was there, also the Bethel Glee Club.”

[Northrup was a President of Yale College and later President of the University of Minnesota. He was a Lincoln supporter and a popular Republican orator of the time.]

Monday April 1st 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“State election.”

Tuesday April 2nd 1861 Danbury, Connecticut

“I came home by way of Geo[rge] Starr’s shop and got a bag of shavings. Geo was at the Democratic meeting last eve at the Concert Hall and while setting down the figures of the election returns for his own gratification, was mistaken for the Jeffersonian’s reporter and three groans were given for him and then a vote taken to put him out, but he saved himself the trouble by going himself. The returns which they received last night were quite favorable for them and they thought that they had carried the state. But today the scale has turned and they laugh from the other sides of their mouths. We have carried the state. Gov Buckingham is elected by a larger majority than last year. We have a majority of both branches of the legislature, but we have lost O. S. Ferry of this district for Congress."

Excerpts From the Journal of Horace Purdy, Danbury, February 13th - March 5th, 1861

These excerpts from the journal of Horace Purdy (Wooster Guards/1st Conn. Vols.) deal with the final determination of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, and some of the rumors involving him inauguration. Also included here are some more interesting occurrences in the town of Danbury. Fires and deaths (mainly from the Smallpox) are common throughout the diary and remind us how much times have changed with childhood vaccines, modern elctricity and firefighting equipment, and instantaneous news sources.

Wednesday February 13th 1861 Danbury

“Abraham Lincoln has undoubtedly been declared the President of these United States in the halls of Congress at Washington.”

[Although Lincoln won the popular vote with 39.7% on November 6, 1860, the electoral college did not make the win official until February 13th, 1861.]

Friday February 15th 1861 Danbury

“I went to drill in the eve, while there an alarm of fire was raised. It soon became quiet again and we supposed it was a false alarm, but on my way home from drill I found out that it was a reality. It was McDonald Ford’s dry goods store. It was soon extinguished but not before it had done a great deal of damage.”

Friday February 22nd 1861 Danbury

“The anniversary of Washington’s birthday. The Wooster Guards assembled (or a portion of them voluntarily) to fire a national salute. At the second volley a horse becamed frightened, threw the driver out, and broke the wagon at which we stopped and closed the windows to the hall (for we were firing from the windows.) I attended drill in the eve.”

Saturday February 23rd 1861 Danbury

“The news tonight by the N. York Evening Post is that Abraham Lincoln, the president elect, was to be assassinated at Baltimore on his way to Washington and that he escaped by disguising himself. He intended to arrive there today and undoubtedly did.”

[Read more about the 'Baltimore Plot' here.]

Saturday March 2nd 1861 Danbury

“I waited on Fred Starr to see if he would take the command of the Wooster Guards, he consented on certain conditions.”

Monday March 4th 1861 Danbury

“Abraham Lincoln, commonly called Honest Old Abe, has undoubtedly today been inaugurated President of the United States, if the southerners have not murdered him as some have believed they would.”

Tuesday March 5th 1861 Danbury

“Today’s papers gives us an account of the inauguration at Washington which was peaceable and without disturbance.”

[Read his inauguration address (from March 4th 1861) here. See a photo of the event here]

Excerpts from the Journal of Horace Purdy, Danbury, January 25 - February 9, 1861

Friday January 25th 1861 Danbury

“He (Geo.) staid [sic] until evening and went with me to drill. Our Capt. Having had orders from the Gov[ernor] to drill his men and look to our arms and equipments and hold ourselves in readiness to march at short notice to fight for our country. The co[mpany] was better represented than it has been for a long time before. Three new recruits were proposed for membership. Two of them were accepted – Fred Starr and Geo. Brockett. When I returned from drill I drew up the minutes of the meeting and retired.”

Tuesday February 5th 1861 Danbury

“Joshua R. Giddings lectured here this eve before the Young Mans’ Christian Association. The subject – John Q. [Quincy] Adams – the rowdies and roughs of the Democratic Party threaten to give him a smell of rotten eggs. I attended drill and on my way home I stopped a few moments outside the hall to see what was going on, but the crowd was made up of such a clup [?], and so obsene [sic] and disgraceful was the conversation that I thought to do justice for myself I had better leave and did so forthwith.”

Saturday February 9th 1861 Danbury

“I went into the street in the eve to buy something for breakfast and got into a political discussion with Edgar Wildman which detained me longer than I intended.”
[Edgar L. Wildman was a private in the First Connecticut Regiment.]

Excerpts from the Journal of Horace Purdy, Danbury, January 10-14, 1861

Thursday January 10th 1861 Danbury

“There was about two inches of snow on the ground this morning. The papers today state that the Star of the West, carrying reinforcements to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter Charleston Harbor S. Carolina was fired into as she attempted to enter the harbor. She turned around an put out to sea.”

Friday January 11th 1861 Danbury

“Colder – no work in the shop. We did not get the news papers until the freight train came in at 2 o’clock. South Carolina has actually declared war against the United States. Major Anderson is now awaiting orders from the President through one of his Lieutenants who he has sent as a messenger to Washington. He will undoubtedly have orders to blockade the port and protect the Stars and Stripes. I painted a little upstairs after dinner. I attended the quarterly meeting of the Guards [Wooster Light Guard] in the eve. There was not a quorum present.”

Saturday January 12th 1861 Danbury

“I went into the street in the eve to get the news. The Star of the West has returned to N. York with her troops, she not being able to land at Fort Sumter. Out of 17 shots fired at her from Morris Island and Fort Moultry [sic] only two struck her. The President has determined to remain inactive and to send no troops to take the forts which are on the coasts of the Gulf States thinking that the secession difficulty can be managed better without arms than with. This is the news tonight in the N. York Evening Express.”

Monday January 14th 1861 Danbury

“No work in the shop. I waited there until the ca{rs?} came in and then went up for the papers. I brought them to the shop where we all read the news. The return of the Star of the West to N. York is confirmed. The troops were landed Sunday morning at their barracks on Governors Island. The war steamer Brooklyn is lying off Charleston Bay. It’s real object is not definitely known.”