Historic Nantucket, Fall 1993, Vol. 42 No. 3

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From The Acting Director

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Douglas K. Burch, Editor Helen Winslow Chase, Historian Sybille Stillger Andersen, Art Director Photos: NHA collections unless otherwise credited

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The Island Guard Nantucket's first (and only) militia.

By Richard F. Miller

Nantucket Warrior

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The Journal of a Union Soldier.

By Richard F. Miller

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Taking of the Whaler A glimpse of the war at sea.

By Douglas K. Burch Cover Photo: Soldiers and Sailors Monument, at the intersection of Main and Gardner streets, was taken circa 1874 when the monument was new.

Departments What's News at the NHA We couldn't do it without you . . .

Items of Interest The Museum Shop

s I write this report the excitement of opening all the Association properties for the summer seems long ago.

Our Annual Meeting and the dedication of the Bartholomew Gosnold Center on Bartlett Road were highlights in the early season; the Antiques Show once again climaxed the summer's peak; and the daily involvement of overseeing a multiple-site museum operation continues apace.

At times during the busy season it's hard to see the forest through the summer trees, but stopping for a few minutes to reflect (and write this brief report) is a healthy exercise.

It has been most rewarding to see the commitment of the Association's full-time employees and the summer docents as they combined their efforts and enthusiasm to keep the NHA operating so smoothly. Extra hours, answering multitudes of questions, staying flexible, and, through it all, being helpful and friendly have resulted in what has been a successful summer. We thank them all.

I've enjoyed getting to know those many individuals so dedicated to preserving Nantucket's historic heritage. They are in our Research Center, our several properties, and just walking down Main Street. The enthusiasm and concern I've seen from so many members, friends, and employees make the preservation of that heritage seem secure.

Finally, a few comments on our financial health.

Admissions to properties provide the Association with only a third of the funds needed to operate. The major portion of our funds comes from donations, membership, and/or yearend appeals. When it's time to renew your membership or to consider a year-end gift, keep in mind the special need s of your Association, constantly working to preserve the heritage of this special place.

C. Marshall Beale THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

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OFFICERS Ms. Kimberly C. Corkran, President Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell, First Vice President Mrs. William B. Macomber, Second Vice President Mr. Paul A. Wolf, Jr., Treasurer Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr., Secretary and Assistant Treasurer Mr. C. Marshall Beale, Acting Executive Director

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mr. Alan F. Atwood Mrs. Charles Balas Mrs. C. Marshall Beale

~ ~~~~h~;:rSrecker Histln'ic Nantucket welcomes articles on any aspe<;t of Nantucket history. Original research, firsthand accounts, and reminiscences of island experiences, historic logs, letters1 and_)?hotographs are examples of materials of interest to our reaaers. We expecÂŁ articles to be entertruning and instructive for a general audience and to adhere to high standards of historical accuracy. Although Historic Nantucket laCks the space to print notes or bibliographies, we encourage our authors to use documentation and will mal<:e annotated copies available at the !HA's Research Center. Historic Nantucket strives to publish enjoyable reading that will promote public appreciation of antucl<.efs history ana preserve IDlportanÂŁ information about the island's past.

Historic Nantucket OSSN 0439-2248) Is published quarterly as a privUege of membership by the Nantucket Histork:al Asooc:latlon, 5 Washington Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, MA Postmaster: Send address changes to Historic Nantucket, Box1016, Nantuclcet, MA 02554-1016

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Miss Nancy A. Chase Ms. Kimberly C. Corkran

Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell Mr. Erwin L. Greenberg

Mrs. William E. Grieder

Prof. William A. Hance Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr. Mrs. Sharon Lorenzo Mrs. Ea rle MacAusland

Mrs. William B. Macomber Mrs. Carl M. Mueller Mr. I-I. Flint Ranney Mrs. William L. Slover Rev. Georgia Ann Snell Mr. Paul A. Wolf, Jr.

ADVISORY BOARD Ms. Patricia A. Buller Mr. Robert C. Caldwell Mrs. 1-lclen Winslow Chase Miss Nancy A. Chase Mr. Michael de Leo Mrs. Herbert Gullerson Mrs. Robert Hellman Mrs. john G. W. Husted

Mrs. Arthur Jacobsen Mrs. Jane Lamb Mr. Francis D. Lethbridge Mr. Reginald Levine Mrs. )o1m A. Lodge Mrs. Thomas B. Loring Mr. William B. Macomber Mr. Robert F. Mooney

Mrs. FrederickA. Richmond Mr. Alfred F. Sanford Ill Mrs. William A. Sevrens Mr. joseph F. Welch Mr. johnS. Winter Mr. David H. Wood Mrs. joseph C. Woodle

EDITORIAL BOARD Mrs. Dwight Beman Mr. Richard L. Brecker Mr. Robert F. Mooney Ms. Elizabeth Oldham

Mr. Nathaniel Philbrick Mrs. L. William Seidman Mrs. Susan Bcegel Tiffney Mr. David 1-1. Wood

Welcome Aboard Annual Meeting

Mrs. Gosnell receiving Dedication Plaque.

Photo: Sybil le StiUgcr And ersen

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ore than 150 members attended the associa tion's Annual Meeting on July 13. Regular business was transacted and annual reports presented.

Most of the meeting was devoted to the presentation of a major revision of the bylaws. The revision restates the mission of the association and streamlines the structure of the board of trustees and the ad vi-

sory board. After considerable discussion, presided over by Arthur Reade, the revised bylaws were approved by a unanimous vote.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell dedicated the Bartholomew Gosnold Center following the meeting. The occasion featured a reception and guided tour of the As sociation's new support center. The excellent structure with its state-of-the-art equipment and fixtures was admired and appreciated by the members who attended.

Curator of Collections Michael Jehle summed it all up when he stated: "With this fine facility on line, the Historical Association is well prepared to begin its second century preserving and presenting the priceless C. Marshall Beale, Mrs. artifacts of Thomas H. Gosnell, Kim Nantucket's Corkran, and Mr. Thomas H. magnificent Gosnell at the dedication . heritage."

Photo: Doug 13urch

Photo: Sybille StiUger Andersen

isitors to the NHA headquarters will note two new faces in the staff offices.

Betty Lauria comes to the NHA from the Nantucket school system. A graduate of Pace University, Betty earned her master's degree at Western Connecticut State College and taught English in the Bedford, New York, schools until she and her husband, Tom, moved to the island six years ago. Betty is an active participant in various island musical organizations when not busy with her many duties as NHA's Membership Coordinator.

Jeremy Slavitz spent the summer of 1992 as a docent in several NHA properties. The knowledge he gained from that experience has been invaluable as he oversees the staffing of our museums and buildings in his capacity as Docent Coordinator. A product of the Nantucket school system, Jeremy received his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, last winter.

Before his involvement with the association, Jeremy spent several summers as mate and then captain of the charter fishing boat Moonshadow.

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Edouard Stackpole & Richard Swain

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h e association lost two good and faithful friends with the passing of Edouard A. Stackpole and Richard P. Swain this summer.

Recogni zed and honored internationally as a distinguished maritime historian, Edouard Stackpole was affectionately known as a "walking encyclopedia of Nantucket." For the most part self-educated, he authored twenty-eight books and monographs ranging from historical adventure novels to painstakingly researched accounts of actual whaling voyages.

An accomplished and enthusiastic story teller, he also enjoyed singing as a member of an Edouard Stackpole.

ad hoc barbershop quartet and the North Church choir. His repertoire of sea chanteys was as comprehensive as his knowledge of island history.

Stackpole's service to Nantucket and to the NHA covers almost seven decades. A quarter-century as printer, writer, and editor for the Inquirer and Mirror led to a fifteen-year term as curator at Mystic Seaport. During this period, he served as president of the NHA from 1937 to 1952.

He came home to Nantucket as director of the Chamber of Commerce in 1967, and was appointed director of the association's Peter Foulger Museum in 1969, a position he held for the rest of his life. It was only natural that the library in the NHA's Research Center should be named for him.

It is a fitting memorial to this extraordinary man.

Richard Swain will long be remembered as the NHA miller, for his skilled hands, and for his dry humor and pen-

chant for practical jokes.

In 1970, almost single-handedly, Dick repaired and restored the mill's machinery; and the Old Mill - which had stood idle for three decades- once more caught the breezes and produced cornmeal. He served as the miller for six years until the NHA acquired the Nantucket Lightship. "Captain" Swain took command of that vessel until it sailed off to other ports in 1984.

He returned to his original venue at the Old Mill (which was known, appropriately, as Swain's Mill when it was new two centuries ago) and continued to ply his trade until injuries and illness forced his retirement at the close of the 1992 season.

Dick Swain.

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Clay Lancaster's New NHA Publication

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ell known for his scholarly works on the historic regional architecture of the eastern seaboard, and of Nantucket in particular, author Clay Lancaster shows another facet of his interests and expertise in his new book, Holiday Island.

Here the focus is on the ways by which Nantucketers cared for and catered to visitors to the island, from the grog shops and rooming houses of the whaling era through the halcyon days of the dawn of tourism (and the grandiose plots and plans of developers and speculators) to the beginnings of today's vacation-oriented economy.

The product of untold hours of careful research in the dusty files of the Atheneum, Lancaster's delightfully readable volume is replete with an amalgam of facts, statistics, and anecdotes about Nantucket's people, their fads and foibles, wants and needs, and the events and happenings that shaped many of the buildings and places that contribute to the special charm of the island.

Profusely illustrated with rare pho-

Structures Update

IIDÂŽILIJIIDAW

II S) J1ARJID The Pageant of Nantucket's Hostelries and Summer Life from Its Beginnings to The Mid-twentieth Century

tographs from the association's collection, Holiday Island, with its insights into Nantucketers' dreams, schemes, and businesses - successful and otherwise makes for fascinating reading and adds a new dimension to our appreciation of Nantucket's unique heritage.

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ith t h e long-awaited arrival and installation of the gas chandeliers and Brussels carpet, the renovation of the first floor of the Had wen House is now com- ...._ __.._~ plete. The Chandelier installation. house is so Photo: Sybille StillgerAndersen beautiful that visitors "ooh" and "aah" as they walk through the front door into the impressive foyer and the exquisitely decorated parlors. This luxurious mansion is quite a contrast to the Spartan atmosphere of the Oldest House and provides an important insight into the life styles on the "Court Side" of town during the golden days of the whaling era. William and Eunice Hadwen would be well pleased if they could see their home as it appears today.

Whaling Museum's Bright New Look ong a favorite landmark for visitors L and Nantucketers alike, the hand-

Captain George Grant, the museum's first curator, the sign has received many carved wooden sign that hangs on the minor repairs over the years, but this east wall of the Whaling Museum sports a summer marks its first full-scale restora bright new look today. tion.

Originally built and carved in 1930 by Supervised by Curator of Collections Michael Jehle and Curator of Structures Rick Morcom, and with the help of the Nantucket Electric Company's "cherry picker" crane truck, the sign was removed from the Whaling Museum wall and taken to the NHA workshop.

Jehle and local artist Melissa MacCleod Melissa MacCleod putting finishing touches on the sign. worked weekends Photo: Sybille Stillger Andersen restoring and

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The sign in midair.

Photo: Sybille Stillgcr Andersen

repairing, and it is now back where it belongs, welcoming visitors and reminding us all of Nantucket's glory days as the whaling capital of the world.

IWE COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU. ..

Antiques Show 1993

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION ANTIQUES SHOW COMMITTEE HONORARY CHAIRMAN MR. WALTER HEINECKE, JR.

CHAIRMAN MRS. ROBERT L. CHAMPION

COMMITIEE

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Antiques Show Committee Honorary Chairman, Walter Beinecke, Jr., and Chairman, Mrs. Robert L. Champion.

MR. & MRS. DWIGHT E. BEMAN MR & MJ{S. MAX N. BERRY MR. ROBERT L. CHAMPION MR & MRS. NORMAN E. DUPUIS lli MR. & MRS. ALAN M. FORSTER MR & MRS. THOMAS H. GOSNELL ERWIN GREENBERG MRS. MARTHA GROEfZINGER MRS. HERBERT GUTTERSON MR & MRS. HAMILTON HEARD, JR. N1NA HELLMAN MR. & MRS. HUDSON I IOLLAND, JR MARYBETH KEENE MR. & MRS. FRANCISCO A. LORENZO MR. & MRS. WILLIAM B. MACOMBER PAMELA MYERS

KI!YIBERL Y C. CORKRAN AND BRUCE MILLER JOSEPH MCLAUGHLIN AND RHODA WEINMAN

Photo: Sybille Still ger Andersen

he hundreds of hours of planning, organizing, and just plain hard work contributed by the faithful voluntee r committee members under the direction of Laurie Champion resulted in what both visitors and exhibitors characterized as the best NHA Antiques Show ever.

"Terrific show," "outstanding quality," "great variety and selection," were typical of the comments heard repeatedly during the three-day run of the show.

Surrounding the gala preview party hosted by our title sponsor, the Chase Manhattan Private Bank, a full round of social and cultural events provid ed the show's benefactors, patrons, and sponsors with a busy and enjoyable week, climaxed by a Sunday brunch aboard The Grand Finale.

This year's raffle featured a number of unique and valuable items. The lucky winners were Jean Sullivan, R. F. Tucker, Susan Eclman, Virginia Ohanian, Rosemary Looney, Penny Fox, and Harold Cohen. However, if the reactions of those who came to the show are an accurate indication, everyone who attended was a winner.

As is the NHA itself with another excellent and successful Antiques Show in the record books - a proud addition to our tradition of quality presentations.

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MR. & MRS. MIGIAEL PEACOCK MEGRAMIS MR. & MRS. II. FLINTRAN!'.'EY MR. & MRS. ARTHUR}. READE MR. & MRS. THOMAS RHODES MR. & MRS. WILLI A.'vi SEVRENS MR. & MRS. THOMAS F. SI lANNON MR. & MRS. SAMUEL R SI-UPLEY Ill MR. & MRS. RUSSELL A. SIBLEY WILLIAM L. SLOVER )OSULLIVAN MR. & MRS. EDWIN K. THROWER MR. & MRS. JOSEPH F. WELCH MR. & MRS.JmiN K. WIIITNEY LISA WOLFF MRS. BRACEBRIDGE YOUNG

JUNIOR COMMITTEE MISS COLETIE BECKER MISS ELIZABETH BERRY MISS STEPHAN1E BERRY MR. DAVID BERRY MRS. JEANETTE GARNEAU MISS JE!'.'Nlf'ER GROVES

MISS ELIZABEfH HOPKINS MISS KIRSTEN KA LKHURST MISS JACQUELINE KERNS MS. MEGAN KEE!'.'E MS. 51 lANNON KEENE

MR. A 1DREW MALTBY MR. MICHAEL McDN!T MR. ROBERT ORAM lli MS. MARJ'\JlE RUBIN MISS BRYN WILLIAMS MISS GWENN WILLIAMS

Shopping at the Antiques Show.

Photos: Sybille Stillger Andersen

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Nantucket's First (and only) Militia

The Island Guard

By Richard F. Miller

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screamed the headlines of the lead story in the May 1, 1861, Nantucket Inquirer. A little more than two weeks had passed since the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, and the island was in an uproar of patriotic fervor. "Flags seem to be the order of the day," observed the Nantucket Mirror in the April 27, 1861, edition, noting that " ... from every available point in town and from the shipping in the harbor floats the banner of our country, the glorious 'Stars and Stripes."'

Flag waving was just the beginning.

Public rallies, replete with bunting, patriotic airs, parades and orations by eminent townspeople, were held at the Atheneum and the Atlantic Straw Works. Students at the Pol pis School ceremoniously raised the flag while children and parents alike cheered the cause of Union and President Abraham Lincoln. The temper of the times was such that it was not necessary to schedule a rally for one to take place.

When merchant Obed C. Parker raised the

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national ensign from his store, a crowd quickly gathered and the highly esteemed Nantucket Brass Band hurriedly assembled and performed "national airs" without charge.

Yet, lurking just below the facade of speeches, music, and patriotic display was an anxiety verging on hysteria.

Nantucketers shared the conviction that the island would soon be invaded by Confederate pirates. On May 13, 1861, a frightened Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to send a heartfelt plea to President Lincoln requesting a Navy gunboat to cruise Nantucket Sound and protect the island from " ... the hostile vessels of those in rebellion to our Government."

Few Nantucketers had an accurate idea of who or what a Confederate was. For years before the war began, the Northern press, including Nantucket's two weekly newspapers, the Inquirer and the Mirror, had served readers a steady diet of articles

and editorials maligning Southerners and the South. The attack on Fort Sumter served to confirm the worst fears of Northern unionists. To their earlier perceptions that secessionists were drunken fops, cowards, and mentally deranged were now added "true" accounts of rebel butchery of innocent civilians, massacres of unarmed prisoners of war, and, perhaps most frightening to Nantucketers, a series of dispatches claiming that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was assembling a fleet of international pirates to lay waste seacoast communities in the North.

It is easy to understand why the Selectmen, in their letter to President Lincoln, called the rebels " ... Privateers ... lawless freebooters [and] lawless pirates ..." who would invade Nantucket, " . .. levy contributions on the inhabitants ... " and then-suggesting fears shared by civilians since time immemorial-burn the town and violate the women and children.

There is no record of President Lincoln's response, but Nantucket's citizens didn't wait for help from Washington. Less than two weeks after the outbreak of war, a number of island men of military age banded together and formed an armed militia-an organization that was unthinkable just days earlier.

Further, as the Selectmen set forth in their appeal to the President, " ... a portion of the Inhabitants of Nantucket are of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and their descendants, and warlike preparations have, by reason of the peculiarities of their doctrine, been always discountenanced."

Nantucket had never had a militia. The island managed to avoid the Indian wars that prompted so many New England towns to create and maintain a permanent military company. During their young nation's war for independ ence and the War of 1812, Quakers dominated the island's population and pursued a selfpreserving policy of neutrality consistent with their pacifist values. Even attacks by both Continental and Loyalist-refugee raiding parties did not compromise Nantucket's neutral stand. That stance was

maintained during the conflict of 1812 through the persistent bipartisan efforts of otherwise hotly contesting DemocraticRepublicans and Federalists.

Nantucketers who believed that the War Between the States was somehow inconsistent with the Christian principles they had embraced from earliest childhood had merely to consult with island clerics like Reverend Brayton of the Congregational Church or Reverends Bodfish and White of the Methodist Episcopal Church to learn that, whatever may have been true in the past, it was a just war.

Faced with the specter of bloodthirsty rebel pirates lurking just beyond the horizon, the people of Nantucket lost no time in sanctioning the martial bent of the island's young men . Specially convened

The author in uniform as a member of the Island Guard.

Photo: Sybille Stillger Andersen

Town Meetings appropriated funds to outfit and arm the fledgling militia, now officially designated the Island Guard.

Included in the budget was an amount sufficient to purchase " . . . two bronze cannon with accouterments . . ." to serve as shore batteries to protect the harbor in the event of a seaborne invasion.

Shortly after the Town Meeting approved the expenditures, a hundred muskets and a stock of ammunition were delivered for the use of the Guard. Private subscriptions paid for their uniforms and provided headquarters space. But there were those Nantucketers reluctant to leave the defense of the island exclusively to the all-male Guard. One letter to the Mirror suggested that the threat of "piratical invasion" required not only that " ... every man should have his gun ... ," but that " ... even the ladies should be provided with light rifles."

At its peak in the summer of 1861, the Island Guard numbered about sixty citizen-soldiers. Drills in the manual of arms and close-order marching were an almost daily occurrence, many of which took place right on Main Street. Contemporary accounts note with satisfaction that the Guard " .. . presented a decidedly soldier like appearance ... " which helped to allay the fears of the sponsoring community.

In July, A. P. Moore, editor of the Inquirer and co-commander of the Island Guard, stated that the two rifled cannon the town had purchased " .. . would be of little use were a boat's crew of pirates to land in the night or on most parts of our shores." But he assured his readers that there was no cause for alarm, as " ... the Home Guard would easily dispose of such visitors in a summary manner."

If calming islanders' fears by showing the flag was an important part of the Guard's mission, the record shows that they performed splendidly. The annual Nantucket High School picnic featured the Island Guard marching with the Nantucket Brass Band for an afternoon of " . . . music, dancing, sweetmeats and military tactics." A few days later, the Guard figured prominently in the town's July Fourth celebration. Dressed in their new uniforms, they marched through town in the morning, performed exercises in target shooting at the Fairgrounds that afternoon, and sponsored a soiree at the Pantheon Hall in the evening. All through that summer of 1861 the Island Guard could be counted on to provide just the right flourish to welcome distinguished visitors, at flag presentations, and representing Nantucket at war rallies throughout the state.

It was inevitable that the war that created the need for a Nantucket militia would

be the cause of its eventual demise. As fears of invasion by rebel forces diminished, William Summerhayes, co-commander of the Guard, petitioned Mas sachusetts Governor John A. Andrew to accept the Island Guard as a distinct military unit of company strength to serve with one of the many Massachusetts regiments then being formed. The Governor did not approve, so members of the Guard began to fall out in order to enlist in one or another of those regiments.

Summerhayes was commissioned as a captain by the colorful soldier-politician General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler. A. P. Moore sold the Inquirer and left Nantucket to muster into the 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, but never made it. He was killed in a train accident en route to the 45th's Leadville encampment near Boston . Other members of the Guard joined islander George Nelson Macy to serve with the "Bloody 20th" Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and many others enlisted in the United States Navy.

By November of 1861 the Island Guard had served its purpose and no longer had a place in the Nantucket community. The few remaining guardsmen hosted a fair to raise money to pay off outstanding debts and to close out the organization's books.

By then, Quaker roots notwithstanding, Nantucket could boast of at least one-hundred-eleven sons serving with Union forces on land and at sea.

That autumn had brought other, sadder news to island families. Along with the rest of the 20th Massachusetts, Macy's Nantucketers had undergone their baptism of fire at the Union disaster of Balls Bluff. Some died, some were wounded, and others were taken prisoners by the Confederates. The names of the dead and wounded printed in island newspapers then were just the first of many more to come as nearly four hundred of Nantucket's young men went off to the war which nearly one in four did not survive.

Rebel forces never did invade Nantucket. By war's end, the only harm islanders suffered from the tiny Confederate Navy were a few small claims resulting from the damages inflicted by the famous rebel cruiser Alabama on commercial vessels in which islanders had a financial interest. As the casualty lists grew longer, islanders learned that the real enemy was not the Confederate-backed "lawless freebooter," but rather an army of young men much like the island boys but dressed in butternut instead of blue, young men who, just as ours did, left their homes convinced that God was on their side.

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Photo of the back side of the framed photograph (appearing on pages 48 & 49) with Josiah Fitch Murphey's poignant comments.

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Photo: Courtesy of Francis W. Pease

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The Civil War Monument

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his issue's cover photo of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, at the intersection of Main, Milk, and Gardner streets, was taken circa 1874 when the monument was new.

The monument cost $3,500, nearly all of which was raised through individual voluntary contributions of a dollar or two.

Its base is a single granite millstone once used at the Old North Grist Mill.

The granite shaft was cut and polished by the Quincy Marble Works and shipped to the island by schooner.

The names of seventy-three islanders who gave their lives for the Union are chiseled into the base of the shaft, listed on a bill from Quincy Marble Works as "1,057letters at 3 cents ... $31.71."

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument replaced the "Liberty Pole," which stood at this spot in Monument Square for nearly a century.

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/ '

The Journal of a Union Soldier

Nantucket Warrior

By Richard F. Miller "When the war broke out I was employed as a clerk in the Union Store [and] I caught the fever in August, 1862. Being a minor, I had to get the consent of my mother and [I] signed the rolls [in] one of the ante rooms of the old Pantheon Hall, then used as a recruiting office ... " o begin the reminiscences of Nantucketer Josiah Fitch Murphey, a veteran of the Civil War. Written thirty years after the war, they include a diary he kept while on the march during the Union debacle at the battle of Chancellorsville and later, during the bloody Wilderness Campaign. Murphey's narrative gives us a striking picture of an ordinary Nantucketer transformed by an extraordinary war.

The early pages reflect the excitement and enthusiasm of a young patriot who sings as he travels to boot camp:

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I' m a raw recruit With a bran[d] new suit One hundred dollars bounty I'm going down to Washington, To fight for Nantucket County.

Just two years later, we sec the disillusionment of a war-weary veteran who rejects the offer of an officer's commission if he re-enlists. "I did not choose to remain," he wrote thirty years afterward, "as it was too hard a life for me."

Nearly 280 Nantucket men served in the army during the Civil War, eighty of whom, including Murphey, served in Company I of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Josiah Fitch Murphey.

Infantry. Raised by islander George Photo: Courtesy of Aulhor Nelson Macy (later a major general) the "13loody 20th," as it was informally but heading toward its rendezvous with appropriately known, was a veteran of the tragedy in the streets and on the hills of Union disaster at Balls Bluff and of Fredericksburg, Virginia. This battle was General George B. McClellan's failed destined to be the deadliest fight of the Peninsula Campaign at the time Murphey war for both Private Murphey and his regenlisted. And a bare three weeks after he iment. His description of the killing fields joined his comrades in the field, the 20th of Fredericksburg is vivid and concise: Massachusetts incurred terrible losses near Antietam Creek in what became the bloodThe Country back of Fredericksburg rises iest afternoon in American military history. to quite a height and the hills are called But Murphey's war was just beginning.

Marye's Heights. On these heights the Within six weeks after Antietam, the 20th rebs built their lines of works, three or four of them, one overlooking the other Massachusetts was on the march again,

like seats in a theatre, only farther apart. Each line could get in its work by firing over the heads of those in front, a little risky, perhaps, but then they take risks in battle. The rebs also built a line of breastworks in front of the city next to the river where they were to make their first resistance.

Fredericksburg lies just across the Rappahannock River from the site of the winter quarters of Union commander Ambrose E. Burnside's 100,000 troops. Burnside's plan was to construct a pontoon bridge and cross his army to attack the Confederate forces, under the command of Robert E. Lee, in and around the town, but he delayed for almost a month while waiting for his pontoon bridge to arrive.

On the other side, Lee used this critical time to create some of the most formidable defensive works of the war.

In the early hours of December 11, 1862, Private Murphey was recalled from picket duty and ordered to pack up for the attack on Fredericksburg. Burnside may have been oblivious to the perils of a frontal assault, but the men in the Union ranks were not. Murphey remembers: Well we knew what was in store for us, we knew that we were to make an attempt across the river and gain the city and the heights beyond, and knowing how strongly fortified the rebs were, we knew what a reception we should get, and that many of us would never see the light of another day.

At dawn, the drummer beat the long roll and the Nantucketers of Company I fell in with their comrades to begin the battle. Murphey relates that the commanding officer then asked one of the men to stand as a color guard, a great honor but an extremely dangerous one. The regimen-

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the sense of danger and excitement that pulsed through the young soldier's veins.

The air was alive with the greasy slide of Confederate minie balls as the assault began:

tal colors were a prime target for enemy fire. Murphey says of the volunteer: He immediately [accepted], but at the same time made this remark, 'Good-bye boys, you will never see me again,' expecting to be killed, as it was the most exposed place in the regiment. Well, he was not killed, but so badly wounded that [we] never did see him again.

Permission was granted and it was planned that the boats would be ready on the shore and the troops at a given signal should rush down to the bank of the river, jump into the boats and pull quickly across and d1arge up the bank on the other side. It was a desperate game ...

As the Union ranks waited anxiously, Burnside was faced with a situation that should have been obvious from the start.

An early-morning fog had obscured the river, allowing the engineers to begin construction of the pontoon bridge with very little harassment from Confederate sharpshooters on the opposite shore. By midmorning, with the bridge only a third of the way across the Rappahannock, the fog burned off and the engineers were exposed to the full force of enemy fire.

Taking heavy casualties, the engineers retreated and the bridge was left unfinished.

Burnside then called for volunteers to cross the river in boats and take Fredericksburg by storm. Colonel Norman J. Hall, commanding the brigade which included the 20th Massachusetts, volunteered his troops for what was to become one of the most heroic actions of the war.

And Private Josiah F. Murphey, along with his fellow Nantucketers, was square in the middle of it.

Murphey's account of the bravery of Nantucket's sons on that dark day conveys

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What happened next would literally mark the nineteen-year-old Murphey for the rest of his life. It was his own red badge of courage, although he neither sought it nor coveted another's.

Murphey's tour through the streets of Fredericksburg was destined to be brief: We lay under the bank of the city and as soon as the troops began to cross we were ordered forward. [Company I] formed in two platoons of about thirty men earn at the lowest end of a street called Farquier

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52

Sometime later, bleed ing profusely, Murphey regained consciousness. While "the balls were still flying thick around [him)," the fighting had moved some distance away. If evidence were needed to illustrate his generally good temper, the next few minutes would provide it, beginning with his realization that he had been shot in the face:

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Map of Fredericksburg drawn by Murphey.

We had now arrived at the corner of a cross street [and 1], being on the left flank of the company, turned to look down the street to see if anything could be seen to fire at, and bringing my gun to the ready at the same time. At that momen t I felt a sharp stinging pain on the right side of my face and presto, I knew no more.

I got up rather faint, and a feeling of madness came over me. I swore. I cursed the whole southern confederacy from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico. But on second thought I realized it was war and banished such thoughts from my mind, and made my way across the river to a hospital called the Lacy house . ...

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As soon as we carne in sight of the rebels who were concealed in every house and behind every fence, they opened a terrible fire on us at short range and our men began dropping at every point, those struck in the vital parts dropping without a sound, but those wounded otherwise would cry out with pain as they fell or limped to the rear.

But despite the terrible fire we pressed on up the street. Where men fell and left a vacant place other men stepped into their places and although death stared us in the face there was not a man who faltered. Our chief company officer Capt.

H.L. Abbott said,' ... hold your fire, boys, until you see something to fire at."

After getting into the boat two men sat down at the oars. One was Thomas Russell of this town, the other man I do not remember, but he pulled Russell right around and headed the boat upstream.

Lieut. Leander F. Alley [also a Nantucketer] said to me, ''Murphey, take that oar," which I did and we soon had the boat across on the other side where she grounded a few feet from the shore.

We jumped out and waded to the land.

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street (see Murphey's diagram below) and began our advance up the street."

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Burnside hurled regiment after regiment against Lee's entrenchments, but failed to take Marye's Heights. The battle of Fredericksburg is still regarded by many as the most senseless bloodletting of the Civil War. Murphey's 20th Massachusetts lost 163 men killed or wounded in the futile assault. It is reliably reported that of this total, 97, including Murphey, became casualties in the twenty minutes it took to move from the banks of the Rappahannock to the corner of Farquier and Caroline streets.

Nantucket's share in this harvest of death came to 9 dead and 12 wounded.

Private Murphey recovered from his wound and returned to his regiment in March 1863, in time to see further action in the Battle of Chancellorsville, from which

ever refers to the books. As we talked is taken prisoner with him, people constantly asked him by the rebels, questions and he never once failed to give and ultimately, a correct answer. He knew people, names, perhaps to his dates, occurrences, marriages, deaths and own surprise, births. He did not trouble to take people records the relief to his office, he just scratched his head he feels at being and it came to him. Uncle Cy would make able to converse an ideal hotel clerk. We venture to predict and trade newsthat even in the Waldorf-Astoria with its papers with six hundred arrivals a day, he would be Confderate solthe same satisfactory official as he is in litdiers during a tle old Nantucket. truce following the carnage at On May 2, 1931, at the age of 88, Josiah Cold Harbor.

Fitch Murphey joined the permanent ranks Murphey's of his beloved Army of the Potomac. The period of enlist- Inquirer and Mirror obituary used phrases ment finally such as "sterling citizen," "won the admiended on July ration of the entire community," and "won 16, 1864. His and held the respect of his fellow townsterse entry for men." But one suspects that Murphey, vet"Trading Contraband Near Fredericksburg," anonymous, circa 1870. that day serves eran of so many battles in so bloody a war, Painting: Courtesy of Author to sum up the might have seen himself in a light not visiseverity of his ble to any save other veterans of that conhe emerged unscathed. But in June 1863, experiences during the preceding twentyflict. Two years before his death, in a hand while on the march to Gettysburg, he con- four harrowing months: shaking with age, he wrote: tracted typhoid fever and was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., for another long stay.

We leave for home today, yes, Home, the "Boston Herald said [after the battle of In October, Murphey was pronounced dearest spot on the earth to me, how it Fredericksburg) that Murphey who was cured and rejoined the 20th thrills my every nerve to think of going reported yesterday mortally wounded Massachusetts. That winter was relatively home. might possibly recover.' quiet, but with springtime came a new Union commander and a new aggressive Josiah Murphey spent the rest of his "He did and lived to be over 85 years old. philosophy for the Army of the Potomac. long life on Nantucket. He served as postHe is writing this."

On May 3, 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant master, and later successfully ran for the ordered his Army of the Potomac to cross office of town assessor, and, finally, town the Rapidan River and undertake a gruel- clerk. He also served several terms as ing and bloody six-week journey toward Commander of Nantucket's Thomas M. Richard F. Miller, a Nantucket resident, is a Richmond. That twenty-four-hour-a-day Gardner Post 207 of the Grand Army of long-time student of the Civil War and activetrek of marching and fighting became the Republic. ly participates in reenactments of events of known as the Wilderness Campaign, and Murphey's real importance in the that era.

Murphey was right in the thick of it.

Nantucket community cannot be meaHe saw action at the Wilderness, Todds sured by the number of times he was electTavern, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania, North ed to public office or honored by his comAnna River, Po River, Totopotomy, Cold rades in the G.A.R. That his influence and Harbor, Petersburg, and the Jerusalem character far transcended these tangible Plank Road. And through all this he some- symbols of respect and affection is amply how found time to keep a daily record of attested to by this excerpt from an .----------= events. article describing a visit to Among the incidents noted in his jour- Nantucket that was published in nal is the sight of General Grant passing the Salem (Mass.) Dispatch on the 20th Massachusetts. Murphey's regi- August 24, 1910. In it the correment cheered Grant so loudly that the spondent tells of an unusual sixtyrebel troops across the way, thinking that seven year-old gentleman he met all the hubbub was the beginning of a while there: Union attack, opened fire.

Murphey describes the gruesome We were introduced to a certain "Uncle Cy," an uncle of our host. details of being forced to witness execuHe was a native Nantucketer and tions for desertion, rape, and murder. He although an old Civil War veterbanters with a general while the pair are an, rode a bicycle and bathed in made a special target by Confederate the surf. Uncle Cy is a marvel. sharpshooters. He captures a Confederate We asked him questions galore soldier and debates the respective merits about Nantucket people and he of Generals Grant and Lee with his Mr. and Mrs. Murphey on the steps of their home at the answered every one of them. He Georgian prisoner. He watches helplessly holds some town position like corner of Westminster and Hussey streets, circa 1885. as a fellow Nantucketer, William P. Kelley, town clerk, but we doubt if he Photo: Courtesy of Francis W. Pease

53

A Glin1pse of the War at Sea

Taking of the Whaler Levi Starbuck

by Douglas K. Burch

W

hile the island remained safe from Confederate naval attack, Nantucket ships and their crews did not.

This painting of the whaler Levi Starbuck, sunk by the notorious Rebel raider CSS Alabama, hangs in the Whaling Museum as a reminder that natural perils of the sea were not the only dangers Nantucketers faced when they sailed around Brant Point during this turbulent period.

The log of the Alabama includes this entry for Sunday, November 2, 1862: A fine day, with light winds from the S.E. At 8:30 gave chase to a ship to the N.W. At 11 mustered the crew and read the articles of war. At 11:30 hoisted the North American Flag, being some four miles distant from the chase, the chase responding to the same colors. At 12:30 hove the chase to with a gun; and having come up with her, sent a boat on board and brought the master alongside with his papers. She proved to be the whaling ship Levi Starbuck five days out of New Bedford bound for a voyage of thirty months to the Pacific Ocean. Received from her such articles as we needed,

Confederate States Steamship Alabama.

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Painting by J. Fowles, circa 1845. brought the crew on board, consisting of twenty-nine persons, and a little after nightfall set fire to her, and filled away to the southward. Papers to the 28th ultimo.

No news of importance; the armies on the Potomac remaining in status quo. The

Yankee fleet is bestirring itself in our pursuit. Latitude 36°13 '26"; longitude 66°01 '15".

The Alabama was built in Liverpool in 1862 and bought by the Confederate government for use as a raider and blockade runner. In her twenty-one-month cruise to the four corners of the globe, Alabama wrought havoc among United States merchant shipping, taking more than sixty prizes valued at nearly $6,000,000. The most famous of the Confederate cruisers, her very existence caused the Federal Navy Department to divert warships from the blockade to intercepting positions at focal points on the world's trade routes.

Northern shipowners were compelled to delay sailings, pay increased insurance premiums, and, in many cases, transfer ships to foreign registry.

Alabama was intercepted off Cherbourg, France, by the USS Kearsarge and, after a furious fight, was sunk on June 19, 1864, writing finis to one of the most daring chapters in naval history.

ITEMS OF INTEREST Notes from the Research Center

A

great day at the Research Center is when someone telephones the curator and says, "I have a collection of letters and journals written by an ancestor who lived on Nantucket. Would you like to have it?"

Fortunately, there have been quite a few such days recently and, interestingly enough, many of the calls have come from people far away. For example, Mr. James P. Pray called from Arizona about a month ago to offer a fascinating collection of letters and documents concerning the famous Nantucket bank robbery of 1795. It appears that they had been gathered by his great-grandmother, Maria L. Owen, a well-known botanist and benefactor of the Coffin School. Mr. Pray felt the historical material belonged here. You can imagine how wholeheartedly we and the many researchers who come here agree with him and how grateful we are.

Of course, we can't help but wonder when our next great day will be!

Yankee Trader ften, whaling captains carried trade items for personal profit. During the Civil War, Nantucket Captain John Beebe took a number of skirt hoops aboard the bark Brewster. By the time he reached the Molucca Archipelago (Spice Islands) in the Indian Ocean, the iron had rusted. He managed to sell the skirt frames to a native t-rader at a loss. To his amusement, the bare-breasted native women bought them all to wear outside their tightly wrapped skirts and created a unique fashion statement.

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Dates to Remember October 10 All properties except Whaling Museum close until next year. The Whaling Museum will remain open from 11 am to 3 pm on weekends only.

December 5 Whaling Museum closes until next year.

Tall Case Clock Returns Home

S

tanding proudly in its place of honor in the Peter Foulger Museum is the Walter Folger, Jr., tall case clock.

Ma de more than two hundred years ago by the inventor of the astronomical clock which is displayed in the Fair Street Museum, the tall case clock includes several pieces of that famous timepiece in its assembly. A few years after Folger built this clock it was taken from the island to upstate New York where it remained until early this summer.

The Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association purchased the clock and brought it back to its birthplace here on Nantucket. This priceless artifact is one more treasure given to the NHA by these loyal and caring Friends, whose contributions to our collections are so important to the fulfillment of our mission.

Entrance to the new Bartholomew Gosnold Center at the opening ceremony and annual Photo: Sybille Stillger Andersen meeting.

Back to School

S

tudents at the Nantucket Community School this fall will travel through four centuries in just six weeks as NHA's own historian, Helen Winslow Chase, presents A Nantucket History Overview.

The course's comprehensive curriculum incorporates just about every facet of Nantucket living from the earliest recorded times to the present. Included are sessions on the populations, occupations, wars, tourism, and all the other diverse elements that have shaped Nantucket's unique character down through the years.

The Nantucket Community School is a continuing education program offered to all Nantucket residents. The evening sessions at the high school include courses in a vast selection of subjects, some of which qualify for college credits. Those students who sign up for Helen Chase's class will leave with a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, Nantucket's marvelous heritage.

Corrigendum he picture caption on page 24 of the Summer 1993 issue incorrectly identifies Charles W. Sayle, Sr., as Commodore of the Wharf Rat Club. At the time this photo was taken, Pete Grant was Commodore. Sayle succeeded him in that capacity.

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The Walter Folger tall case clock.

Photo : Sybille Stillger Andersen

55

THE MUSEUM SHOP

William H. Chase's Sailor Boy whirligigs are among the better known and most popular reproductions created especially for the Museum Shop. The original of this adaptation of a weather vane was reproduced at the turn of the century

by Chase, one of the last Nantucket boat builders and a widely respected wood crafter and model boat builder. Several of his ship models are now in the Smithsonian Institution.

The Sailor Boy whirligig shown above was made for us by Steve Ketcham, a talented craftsman who has contributed several fine reproductions to the shop's treasures. It is one of the many pieces from the Nantucket Historical Association's collections that have been reproduced for the shop. Others include our selection of Eldred Wheeler furniture, porcelains from Mottahedeh, Staffordshire plates, and shorebirds by Will Kirkpatrick.

We hope you will stop in to browse and enjoy these and all of our wonderful pieces on your next visit.

The Museum Shop Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Reproductions and Adaptations Featuring Fine China, Furniture, Brass, and Silver Adjacent to the Whaling Museum, Nantucket (508)-228-5785 Members of the Historical Association are entitled to a 10% discount upon presenting their membership card.