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NEW BEDFORD MILITARY COMMITTEE : 1861 - 1865 ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN ONE-OF-A-KING AND FASCINATING RECORD BOOK OF THE MILITARY COMMITTEE OF NEW BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS, DETAILING THE MANY MILITARY AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THE CIVIL WAR ON A SMALL NORTHERN CITY

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is an exceptional historical document, the Military Committee Record of the town of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1861, the first year of the United States Civil War. The record book, is a fascinating, complex, and detailed description of the the impact of the Civil War on the entirety of the city (1860 population: 22,300). This book is a true treasure, showing a deep and prolonged look of the effect of the bloodiest war in American history on a typical American city. The pages of the ledger are full of original information and the pages pictured are just a sampling. This is the day to day story of how one Union city dealt with and contributed to the War effort and it contains over 150 pages describing this effort. It includes the minutes of meetings of the Military Committee, copies of letters to and from the Committee, lists of soldiers who received extra pay from the city and a complete listing of the families that were impacted by their soldier going off to war and what the City did for them up through 1864. It also shows how the committee worked to create the companies of soldiers that needed to be mustered into service from the City and the interaction that it had with the officers that they chose to lead them as well as the military gifts they gave to the officers that included pistols and swords and the determination of soldier bounties for enlistment. The first page of the book reads “Records of the Military Committee New Bedford. Sept. 5th, 1861. Ordered, that a committee, consisting of His Honor, the Mayor and one alderman, with such as the Common Council may join, be appointed to take such measures as they may deem expedient, with authority to offer a bonus, not exceeding Fifteen Dollars, per man, to enlist one or more companies, for the war now existing for the defence of our National Existence as a free and Independent Government. Adopted in concurrence, Attest, Sandford S. Hoton. City Clerk.” It then lists the Committee members: “Hon. J.C. Jacoby, Warren Sadd, Cornelius Howland, Frederick S. Allen, and William S. Rodman.” The following pages contain details of Committee meetings, descriptions of special ordinances, copies of letters dealing with the Military Committee and its correspondence with the wider Massachusetts state government, and official orders for raising infantry to fight in the war. Typical entries read as such: “Sept. 7th, 1861. Present. The mayor, Sadd, Howland, and Allen. The Mayor and Mr. Howland were appointed a Committee to meet on Mr. Samuel C. Hart and extend to him an invitation to take command of a Company of Infantry, to be raised in accordance with the vote of the City Council. Alderman Sadd was appointed a Committee to meet upon Gov. Andrew and ascertain if he would accept such Companies and Commission such offices as were selected by the Committee. Warren Sadd was chosen clerk.”; “October 11th, 1861. The Mayor, reported, that in company with Mr. Conyon, the City Treasurer, he had visited Camp Schouler, at Lynnfield, and paid to the men mustered into the Clifford Guards and the Fifth Battery the Monies of Fifteen Dollars each, as authorized by the City Council in their order of Sept 5th. It was voted that notice be given the owners of Concert Hall that the city will vacate it on the 18th inst. The following bill was appointed and ordered to be paid.” This is followed by a list of names and companies and the money owed to them by the council. Many pages in the book contain lists of the men who answered the call to fight in the War. One pages states it contains “a correct copy of the Roster of the Clifford Guard. The bonus of Fifteen Dollars, authorized by the City Council, was paid to each member. Company D. 23rd Regiment.” A list of all names, in their entirety follow, all under the command of Cornelius Howland. A note next to two of the names states that Lewis H. Cable “died Apr. 14/62, typhoid fever” and Charles Cavanaugh was “wounded, died Nov. 26/62”. Another states “Below is a correct copy of the Roster of the Taber Guard, Capt. S. P. Barrett, to whom a bonus was paid. The company is attached to the 28th Regiment, Col. Monteith, and is designated as Company B. There are also pages of detailed financial information pertaining to the war, mostly of payments the city made to the brothers, sisters, wives, and widows of the men fighting in the war. These are broken down into sections of “City Beneficiaries,” “Army Beneficiaries,” and “Navy Beneficiaries,” broken down month by month. In July of 1862, the Military Committee votes to “effect a loan of a sum not exceeding Twenty six Thousand Dollars...in the payment of a bounty of One Hundred dollars each, to such parties as may enlist in the volunteer service from this city, and be mustered into the services of the United States. A newspaper clipping around the same time states “The City has provided the recruits when individually mustered into service shall receive $50, and when the Company is mustered an additional sum of $50 in addition to the bounty from the National Government of 25 dollars, and the month’s pay in advance.” Many pages around this time (summer 1862) also list the wives of soldiers who have applied for state aid. The record book does not state if any application was turned away, though it seems unlikely judging from the large amount of women who received aid from the state. The last quarter of the book deals not with the Military Committee, but with the State Aid Relief Committee, a committee set up in January 1864 to deal specifically with the applications for financial relief from the families of soldiers fighting in the war. The secretary of this committee is different from the Military Committee as evidenced by the change in handwriting style. Much of the last part of the book is written on the opposite side of the page, so the book must be turned around for the entries of the State Aid Relief Committee to be read. The committee deals with each case individually to judge whether or the not the family of a soldier is eligible to financial relief. For those that are, there is a large script “E” (for “Entitled”) written over the entry. After each case was reviewed, the secretary put a large X over the entry, almost every case has some sort of X mark over the writing. This usually does impede readability but can make reading some words harder. While most cases have little written about them before a judgement is made, there are a few that take up an entire page or two. One entry, entitled the “Case of the Wife & Children of William Lane.” The case is whether a the family of a soldier, one of the first to enlist from New Bedford, can receive state aid, even though they live in the Seychelles, in East Africa. The discussion continues for four pages and is an extraordinary indepth look into the workings of the State Aid Relief Committee. This is a very unique item that would work well in a specialized Civil War collection or as a centerpiece to the New Bedford, Massachusetts Civil War Collection located at the Fort Taber Military Museum. The entire book is in excellent condition, the handwriting (for both sections) is legible and perfectly unsmudged. There is some wear on the spine, but the book is remarkably well bound. In the State Aid Relief Committee section, marks made in red ink have faded to a pale pink with age.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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