Cape Vincent, Jefferson, NY

Wars Since 1812

THE "PATRIOT" EXCITEMENT

This topic is treated elsewhere, and it need only be said that no person at the present hour attempts to justify the patriot movement in 1838.

After the United States, as well as the State authorities had pronounced strongly any action on American soil in aid of the Canadians, whoever sympathized with the cause ought not to have used the protection of the stars and stripes to secretly assist it. The sympathizers should have gone into the Dominion, and not have stolen arms and held secret meetings here. Many who read these words will remember the hunter-lodges, the mysterious language of signs among members of the lodges, the discussions that were in the night air about attacking Kingston, the robbery of the Watertown arsenal, the burning of the "Sir Robert Peel" near Wells island, the memorable trip of the "United States" across the lake and down this river, when the patriots gathers at Windmill Point and the delusion came to a quick and disastrous end.

THE GREAT REBELLION

During the Civil War the State of New York placed 426,000 men in the army and navy. Cape Vincent contributed of this number her full quotas. The quota under the call of October 17, 1863, was 44; under that of February 1, 1864, it was 70; March 14, 28; July 18, 56; December 19, 40. The guns which battered Fort Sumter in 1861 were scarcely cold before the loyal citizens of this town began to urge the necessity of saving the nation from the disgrace which that act was designed to bring upon it. On the 6^th of August, 1862, a permanent war committee was appointed at a meeting of the citizens, which continued till 1865. In February of this year (1865) the committee reported that $235.85 still remained in its hands unexpended of the money raised to pay bounties. They were authorized and directed to use the balance at their discretion in providing for the families of the volunteers. A special town-meeting was held on the 12^th of January, 1864, when it was voted--263 against 52--to tax the town sufficiently to pay a bounty of $300 to each person who should thereafter volunteer into the service of the United States and be credited to Cape Vincent. Previous to the appointment of this war committee the volunteers received little or no bounty although small sums were given them by individuals as they left home, and they went under the stimulation of a patriotism that no man could lay to the charge of greenbacks. Nor must we forget the meeting of the ladies on Thursday evening, the 21s^t of August, 1862, when arrangements were made for a Union festival, which was held a week later, in the freight depot, with great success. Several hundred dollars were then raised for the purpose of establishing a soldiers' relief fund, and this sum was increased from time to time by the ladies as the families of soldiers here needed help, or requests were made to them for hospital supplies at the front. At the preliminary meeting the committee of the village was made to include two ladies from each school district of the town, whose names are given in the report of the proceedings. It seems that certain cows and sheep had been donated to the ladies for the benefit of the relief fund, and on the occasion of the festival they were sold. If we had the names of the farmers who gave the stock they would be put in this place.

During the years of the war, large meetings were held in different parts of the town,--four-horse teams sometimes starting out of the village of Cape Vincent with banners and music, gathering audiences at Millen's Bay, St. Lawrence, or around the steps of the church in French Settlement,--at which the citizens would endeavor to inspire one another with the vital responsibilities of the hour. The meetings of this village were usually held in Hemlock hall. A large crowd once convened in the passenger depot. A celebration was held on the Fourth of July, 1863, for Union funds; and the energy displayed here through those anxious years of blood and suffering, those years when sons went from some of our homes never to return, those years when it was as much a glory and a martyrdom to sincerely fight for the liberty of the nation as ever characterized the land of the brave, those years which made centennial freedom possible, from the grand old river to the great Gulf--the war energy exerted in Cape Vincent then must go on record as a constituent element of the county and the State, which made the town a loyal and patriotic one. (Jefferson County History, by L. H. Everts, 1878)

Transcribed by Holice B. Young

Html by Debbie

December 27, 1999

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