It’s really interesting how close to home history can become if you research enough. This site was created as my honors thesis at Fitchburg State College, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts . For more on all that, check out the Credits section. While doing my research, I came across a little information about the city of Fitchburg during the Civil War. For example, the picture on the left is of Main St. in Fitchburg at the end of the war. The three towers in the picture are all still standing today. I figured I’d dedicate a little section of this site to Civil War era Fitchburg, so here we go...

Fitchburg, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1764, lies about twenty-odd miles north of Worcester, on the Nashua River. The founders of the town originally were drawn to the fertile, rolling hills of the area, but later generations used the power of the Nashua River to transform the Fitchburg into an industrial city. Paper, chairs, scythes, cutlery, cloths, shoes, and iron products were all exported from Fitchburg to other parts of the country. In fact, so much was being exported that traditional transportation became too slow. By the 1840’s it was decided that Fitchburg needed a railroad system, with a line to Boston being a priority.

Money for the new rail system was not a problem for the thriving system, but labor was. Local workingmen had no desire for the low-paying, back-breaking labor of laying track, since they had their jobs in the factories, so the city had to look elsewhere. One of the town’s most enterprising residents, Alvah Crocker, came up with the solution. During the 1840’s, the great potato famine was sweeping Ireland, and thousands were leaving for the New World. Therein lied the solution to Fitchburg’s labor problem. In 1843 Crocker began making trips to the docks of Boston to offer the newly immigrated Irish jobs working on Fitchburg’s rail system for a dollar a day. Many jumped at this opportunity for work, since they had just arrived in the New World and were anxious to settle in.

A new problem immediately arouse, where would the new workers be housed? Once again, Crocker had a solution, a tract of land on the Nahua in the southeastern part of the city was designated as the home for the new immigrants. The new townsmen quickly built rude dwellings out of rough timber provided to them by the railroad. The area where the Irish settled was known as Burbank Flats, but soon became known as "the Patch". The Patch was a maze of dusty, narrow streets, which had no real pattern to them. The residents lived in dingy, dirt-floored one or two room huts, which usually had a loft that was rented out to a boarder for about four dollars a week. The rough walls of the huts were topped by thatched roofs. Heat was provided by small coal burning stoves, and the only light was by candle or camphene lamps. The inside walls of the houses were whitewashed, and the residents took great care to keep them as neat and comfortable as circumstances allowed. Indoor plumbing was non-existent, water was carried in wooden buckets. Next to the other houses in the city, the Patch was quite dreary and run down.

The immigrants worked seven days a week, sunup to sundown, on the railroad, while the women hired out as maids to the well off families for seventy-five cents a week. The endless toil of work and the poor living conditions wore on the immigrants, as did the fact that they were looked down to by the "old" New Englanders, who disliked them for their religious differences and their rowdy nature.

In the later winter of 1845, the forty-nine mile stretch of track between Fitchburg and Boston was completed, and on March 5, 1845, a wood-fired steam engine pulled into town for a dedication. The Irish immigrants, who had worked tirelessly to complete the railroad, were now without jobs for the time being. They would soon find work on the farms outside of town, in the mills and factories, or working to build the new train depot near their neighborhood.

By 1861, the standard of living for all city residents had improved somewhat, the town was quite picturesque. Elm trees and brick and white clapboard two story buildings lined gas-lit Main St. When word of the war in April of 1861 hit the town, the men of Fitchburg rushed to enlist. The Irish formed a large part of their numbers, as they joined their New England counterparts to follow the flag to victory. Alvah Crocker had inadvertently had provided Fitchburg not only with cheap labor, but also with soldiers.

By 1863, though, enlistment was down not only in Fitchburg, but all over the Union, leading to the institution of the draft in the summer of that year. This decision was met with great hostility throughout the Union, with Fitchburg being no different. Those who could afford the $300 to hire a substitute soldier did so, others rushed to Dr. Alfred Hitchcock’s office to get a certificate of exemption for physical disability. The doctor handed out 181 such certificates, and of the 241 men in the Fitchburg quota, only four actually served.

In the late fall of 1863, Levi Lawrence, a thirty-eight year old carpenter and veteran officer of the 25th Massachusetts, was chosen by the town selectmen to raise 120 men for Company F of the new Massachusetts 57th. Lawrence was also to be their company captain. Ad’s began to appear in local newspapers, such as the Fitchburg Sentinel (which still exists today), but enrollment dragged along at a very slow pace. One reason for the slow in enrollment was the recent return of some city residents who had served in the 53rd Massachusetts, which had seen bloody battle. Perhaps seeing the worn soldiers returning broke the spirits of the already war-weary city residents.

When calling to prospective recruits sense of honor failed, the city decided to call to their wallets. A $100 bounty was offered by the city as incentive to enlist, and the state and federal governments bounties of $325 and $300, respectively, were heavily advertised. This was quite a large sum of money in those days, and many of the poor, if they survived the war, could greatly elevate their standards of living by enlisting, possibly even becoming property owners. From December 26, 1863, until January 9, 1864, recruitment meetings were held nightly in the town hall, and all eligible men were urged to attend and enlist. Slowly more and more men enlisted, until finally enough men were signed up to fill the new company.

On January 20, 1864, the new recruits of Company F received their uniforms in Fitchburg. This was unusual because by this time in the war most soldiers received their uniforms when they arrived in camp, receiving them in their hometown was quite a treat. On January 4, 1864, the first group of recruits boarded a train on the Fitchburg and Worcester railroad to take them to Camp John E. Wool, to begin "camp of instruction". The men of Fitchburg were again going off to war.