Photo courtesy of Dick Whitney’s History Site
In my previous post I recalled the events of the Town of Southbridge in the year of 1861. In today’s post the actions of the Board of Selectman will take center stage. Most votes of the Board of Selectman in 1862 had to do with authorizing the expenditure of monies to support those who had volunteered for military service and their families.
The population of the Town of Southbridge in 1860 was 3,575. Southbridge sent 400 men to fight in the Civil War, far above the required amount. The Board of Selectman in the Town consisted of Verney Fiske, Malcolm Ammidown, and James Gleason. The Town Clerk was Daniel F. Bacon and the Town Treasurer was Samuel M. Lane.
July 1, 1862 the following resolutions, which were preceded by a preamble, were presented by Hon. E.D. Ammidown and adopted:
Resolved, That the treasurer be authorized to borrow the sum of four thousand dollars to pay soldiers and the interest on the money so borrowed, giving to each soldier, not to exceed thirty-eight, the sum of hone hundred dollars; said bounty to be paid to each soldier when mustered into the military service for three years and credited to the quota of the town.
Resolved, That the town-clerk be requested to obtain the names of volunteers who belong to Southbridge and are mustered into the United States service, and enter the same on the records of the town.
August 25th, the treasurer was authorized to borrow six thousand dollars for the payment of a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer, to the number of sixty, who shall enlist for nine months’ service and be credited to the quota of the town, provided the whole quota of the town under the recent call of the President can be filled by voluntary enlistments, and provided further that no volunteer shall be holden to serve unless the whole quota can be so raised.
Based on information from the book; The History of Massachusetts in the Civil War Volume II, William Schouler, 1871, Boston.
Related Posts:
Southbridge in the Civil War 1861
Southbridge and the Battle of Gettysburg
