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Page 27
The Honorable Nathan Crosby was appointed justice of the police court in
1846, and still continues in office. The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad
was incorporated this year, and the population of Lowell numbered
29,127.
[Illustration: SAINT ANNE'S CHURCH, 1840.]
President James K. Polk visited Lowell in 1847; and the city met with
the loss of Patrick Tracy Jackson, a man whose name should be always
honored in Lowell. The great Northern Canal was completed this year by
James B. Francis, the most distinguished hydraulic engineer in the
United States. It was a stupendous work and stands a monument to the
genius of its constructor. Daniel Webster, in company with Abbott
Lawrence, rode along its dry channel, before the water was admitted, and
fully appreciated the immense undertaking.
The Salem and Lowell Railroad was incorporated in 1848, and was opened
for travel two years later.
The reservoir on Lynde's Hill was constructed in 1849.
Gas was introduced, and the Court House on Gorham Street built, in 1850.
In 1851, Centralville, previously a part of Dracut, was included within
the city limits, and the Lowell Reform School was established.
In 1852, George Wellman completed his first working model of his self
top card stripper--one of the most valuable inventions of the present
century; Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited Lowell; and the
Legislature of Massachusetts enacted the first prohibitory liquor law.
The City Hall was reconstructed in 1853. The Lowell Jail was built in
1856. Thomas H. Benton visited Lowell in 1857. Washington Square was
laid out in 1858.
[Illustration: OLIVER M. WHIPPLE.]
During the dark days of the Rebellion, Lowell responded loyally to the
appeal for soldiers and money, and of her young men many of the best
were sacrificed to preserve the Union.
The fall of Fort Sumter produced a profound sensation in Lowell. Four
companies from the city hastened to join their regiment: the Mechanic
Phalanx, under command of Captain Albert S. Follansbee; the City Guards,
Captain James W. Hart; the Watson Light Guard, Captain John F. Noyes,
and the Lawrence Cadets (National Grays), Captain Josiah A. Sawtelle.
They assembled at Huntington Hall, the day after President Lincoln's
call for troops, and were mustered into the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment
under command of Colonel Edward F. Jones. They at once proceeded to
Boston and were joined at Faneuil Hall by the other companies of the
regiment and the next day were on their way to the seat of war. A
detachment of the regiment had to fight their way through a mob in
Baltimore, and four of the Lowell City Guards were the first to lay down
their lives in the great drama of war known as the Rebellion. Addison
O. Whitney and Luther C. Ladd, of Lowell, were the first martyrs; their
last resting-place is commemorated by a monument in a public square of
the city. The regiment arrived at Washington, were quartered in the
Senate Chamber, and formed the nucleus of the rapidly gathering Northern
army. The Hill Cadets, under Captain S. Proctor, and the Richardson
Light Infantry, Captain Phineas A. Davis, were formed the day after the
Baltimore riot. The company known as the Abbott Grays, under Captain
Edward Gardner Abbott, was organized five days later. That called the
Butler Rifles was organized May 1, by Eben James and Thomas O'Hare.
[Illustration: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 1860.]
While these active preparations for war were progressing, Judge Crosby
called a public meeting, April 20, at which the Pioneer Soldiers' Aid
Association, the germ of the Sanitary Commission, was formed. The city
government was liberal, too, in its appropriations for the families of
absent soldiers. In September, Camp Chase, a military rendezvous, was
established at Lowell.
[Illustration: KIRK-STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1840.]
Among the first, and most distinguished, of the citizens of Lowell to
offer his services to the general government at this crisis, was General
Benjamin F. Butler, already a lawyer and orator of great reputation, who
had previously held high rank in the militia. Six companies from Lowell
joined his expedition to the Gulf.
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