prayer and read the Scriptures. Dr. Hill then led in prayer, and Rev. Dr. Sweetser made an excellent address, adapted to the occasion. He was followed by Messrs. Chapin, Shippen and Richardson. At the Universalist Church, Rev. Mr. St. John was outspoken and patriotic. And at All Saints Church, Rev. Mr. Huntington delivered what was characterized as “a powerful and patriotic discourse." Dr. Oramel Martin was appointed in May, by the president, surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for this Congressional District. The Worcester State Guard was organized on the twentyeighth of May, at a meeting in City Hall. Mayor Lincoln I was in the chair. This corps was independent of the Home Guards, but a man might be a member of both. The Home Guards were disbanded voluntarily, on the sixteenth of June. A full narrative of the action of the Home and State Guards will be found in a subsequent chapter. On the sixth of July came news of the glorious results at Gettysburg following the three days' battle. This was soon followed by the equally gratifying news from Vicksburg. Bellowing guns and pealing bells expressed the general rejoicing. Recruiting went on slowly in the spring and summer of 1863. Two years of war had already called into the field. the large majority of those who could easily be spared from home, as well as thousands of those who were sadly needed in all the ranks of society and business. And though some progress had been made in subduing the rebellion, yet the end seemed far in the future. Men did not come in and offer themselves according to the wants of the service. Congress passed an act providing for a draft from the enrolled men of the country, and a new enrollment took place in consequence. The president issued his call for a large levy of troops, to be filled by a draft on the first of July, if volunteering did not supersede the necessity of it. There was no great effort to fill quotas here or elsewhere, as drafted men could be exempted from service, by furnishing a substitute, or paying the government a commutation of three hundred dollars. The terrible riot in New York, and the incipient outbreak in Boston and other places, in the summer, evinced the feeling of opposition to the draft, which was felt wherever the fires of patriotism burnt low. In this city the authorities took proper precautions, and the State Guard were at hand, ready for any emergency. But there was no need of repressive measures towards any of our citizens. The "roughs" who came here for the sake of bounties or commutation money, with the intention of deserting, and cheating the government, found themselves in hands from which they could not escape until they were delivered over to the national authority. Drafting began at the City Hall on the eleventh of July, at 10 o'clock, A.M. The process was as follows. The names of all the enrolled, written on a slip of paper, were deposited in an octagonal, church-like instrument, which was turned by the commissioner, Samuel V. Stone, and the names were drawn, one by one, by Mr. S. S. Leonard, whose blindness made him an excellent man for the purpose. Mr. Leonard handed the slip to the provost-marshal, who untied the string with which it was bound, and read the name and characteristics of the conscript. For example :-" Peter Bilney, 25, white, carpenter, single," &c. The name was then given to a clerk who recorded it. Well-known names were greeted with cheers. from the crowd in the room. The number drafted in the different wards was as follows. In ward 1, 88; 2, 85; 3, 39; 4, 89; 5, 87; 6, 91; 7, 121; 8, 102. One of the papers spoke of the "Humors of the Draft," and gave the following facts. Many Cambridge graduates in the city of the proper age-eight in all-were drafted. Eight were taken from the rolls of the Bay-State House. The grocery store of the Messrs. Cobb was cleaned out, the proprietors and clerks all being taken. Three brothers were drawn in ward six. The three clerks at the Court House were taken. The conscripts were provided with good music, as the Allen brothers, and Messrs. Bent, Stearns and Thayer were included. There were eleven Yale students in the county,- nine of them in this city, of whom eight were drafted. The names of those who served in person, who furnished substitutes, or paid $300, will be found in a following chapter. The result of the draft was as follows, as reported on the last of August. There were seven hundred men drafted. Of these, one hundred and eighty-two were accepted; disabled, one hundred and seventy-five; special exemption, two hundred and thirty-one; not reported, one hundred and two. Of these, ninety-nine paid commutation; forty-nine procured substitutes; eleven entered the service; twelve furloughed; four not reported. On the eighteenth of October, Rev. Mr. Souther delivered a sermon in the Central Church, appropriate to the times. He showed what woman had done in the war, and what she had yet to do. The City Council, at a meeting held October 28, unanimously voted, on the call of the president for three hundred thousand volunteers, that the quota of Worcester should be promptly filled by voluntary enlistment. The following resolution was passed : "Resolved, That the City Council will afford every possible aid to the state and national authorities, and will cordially co-operate with the people in raising the number of volunteers appointed to this city." The draft called for three hundred and forty-seven men from Worcester. In reference to this, Rev. Mr. Richardson preached a sermon on "The Nation's Call, and the Citizens' Duty." Other clergymen preached able and patriotic discourses, bearing on the special wants of the government, and the corresponding duties of the people, on Thanksgiving day, the twenty-sixth of November. An abstract of a very seasonable discourse by Dr. Hill was published in the Palladium of the second of December. A series of meetings was held in the closing weeks of the year, to aid in raising the requisite number of soldiers. These meetings will not be reported at length, inasmuch as the same arguments and persuasives were used on different occasions; but each meeting will be noted, and occasional speeches will be given so far as the limits of this work will admit. The first of the series was held in Mechanics Hall, November 21, and was largely attended in spite of a raging storm. His Honor, the mayor, was in the chair, supported by a long list of prominent gentlemen as vice-presidents, including Levi Lincoln, Charles Allen, A. H. Bullock, Stephen Salisbury, Isaac Davis, Ichabod Washburn, John S. C. Knowlton, and others. The president stated the object of the meeting, and called on the people of Worcester to do their duty. After the "Star-Spangled Banner" had been sung, the Hon. Isaac Davis was introduced. He spoke with great spirit, and closed by quoting from Fenelon this noble sentiment:-"That any man should love his family before himself, his country before his family, and his God before his country." Make this principle yours, and if need be, take yourself away from home and friends, in the noble work of sustaining our government. It was moved by P. Emory Aldrich, Esq., that a large committee be appointed to aid in recruiting. This was adopted, when the Hon. A. H. Bullock was called out amid cheering, and spoke in this strain: "We will renew, this night, one and all, our allegiance to the fortunes of our afflicted country. There is no alternative. The war must go on. We stand in the breach to rebuke timidity, to cheer and succor those who stand by the flag and country in its hour of trial. The door of peace lies through steady, persevering war, culminating in victory. War with all the vigor of the government, all the power of our armies. War, war, should be the universal impulse. Standing as we do between our own living and dead, not a leaf in the forest, not a ripple on the farthest shore, should whisper peace. Alternations of victory and defeat belong to all history. But if we be true and earnest, patriotic and enduring, out of these vicissitudes the orb of the Union will emerge at last in precious luster. 'So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore After the "Marseillaise Hymn," Rev. Mr. Richardson was introduced. He said: "Before us lies one mighty, perilous work. It is the work of president, cabinet, governor and mayor, and it is equally the work of every daylaborer in the land. But young men ! remember, you are the ones upon whom devolves the duty of going. Remember that your loved families shall not be forgotten by us at home; remember that you shall not be forgotten in the prayers of those who remain at home. We want three hundred and forty-seven men; let us not wait for the draft. There lies the duty; yonder lies the glory; and can the young men of Worcester afford not to have part in this glorious struggle for yourselves and your children, for freedom and for God?" The war committee raised at this meeting chose the following gentlemen as a sub-committee to co-operate with the committee of the City Council in procuring volunteers, viz.: Dr. Merrick Bemis, T. W. Wellington, Colonel A. B. R. Sprague, Captain Nicholas Power, George Crompton, Alzirus Brown, P. Emory Aldrich, Major E. A. Harkness, and Loren Coes. The proceedings of the above meeting may be fitly supplemented by the following extract from the Spy of the twentysixth of November. "A BRIGHT EXAMPLE. Among the volunteers in this city who have responded to the last and probably final call of the president, we notice the name of Rev. Samuel Souther, the well-known and respected city missionary, and who has been a useful member of the legislature from this city for the last two years. He has enrolled his name at the headquarters of Lieutenant Gird. His patriotic example we believe will soon be followed by many others who are beginning to feel that the noblest opportunity of a lifetime is before them." An immense gathering in Mechanics Hall, in spite of the powerful rain, November 28, evinced the public feeling. The meeting was called to order by Hon. Stephen Salisbury, when, on motion of George M. Rice, Esq., the mayor was called on to preside. After congratulations on the success of our arms in Tennessee and in Virginia, he urged the young men to be up and doing if they wished to take a part in the final and speedy overthrow of the rebellion. |