SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR DEAD
THE
LIST OF NAMES
ON
THE SOLDIER'S MEMORIAL
Monument Square
Concord, Massachusetts
This monument is an largish triangular rock, a field stone found in Concord along the "Great Road" to Boston, "grey with weather and lichens", set at the north end of Monument Square facing The Concord Inn. A committee of fifteen, headed by Edward W. Emerson, chose Mrs. Anna M. Holland who "executed in clay a memorial tablet, in the form of a Gothic window, bearing the inscription approved by the committee, bordered by branches of oak and laurel in honor of the citizen soldiers, while above shines their guiding star of inspiration." [Concord Town Report 1907, 143. For more about the monument, see Part Two below.]
The bolted brass plaque reads:
Concord
Places This Stone
Honouring The Memory of
Corporal Ralph P. Hosmer
Private Charles A. Hart
Private George E. Adams
Of Concord Company
Co. I Sixth Massachusetts Infantry [.]
They Died At Utuado Porto Rico
In Service of
Their Country
During The War with Spain
MDCCXCVIII
REGISTER-style genealogies are in preparation. If completed, they can be ordered at an inclusive cost of $10 each. The whole series is targeted for publication in 2010.
RALPH P. HOSMER
Ralph Prescott was the son of Cyrus and Anna Eliza (Prescott) Hosmer, born in Concord on 25 May 1877. He died d.s.p. of typhoid at Utuado, Puerto Rico on 11 September 1898. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. [SSofC, 59]He was survived by his mother, who was born in Groton 12 January 1839 and who died in Concord on 22 March 1923, and his brothers Cyrus, born 13 October 1874, and George Salisbury, born 25 October 1879, both of whom married and left descendants. Ralph's father had died at Concord 8 April 1885. Cyrus and Anna had married 17 June 1873. [Hosmer Genealogy II, 147.]
Ralph's Hosmer ancestral line runs as follows: Ralph-9 -> Cyrus-8 -> Cyrus-7 -> Cyrus-6 -> Joseph-5 -> Thomas-4 -> Thomas-3 -> James-2 -> James-1.
Charles Abraham Hart's death on 26 September at Utuado, Puerto Rico is recorded in Concord Vital Records on September 29. His age was given as 16 years, 11 months 26 days. His birth place is given as Springfield, occupation as student, and his parents as Charles S. Hart, born in Fall River, and Clara Dodge Hart, born in Albany, NY. He is buried in Sleepy hollow Cemetery. [MAVR 482:191; SSofC, 60.]He is likely the grandson of Abraham G. and Lydia P. Hart of 134 North Main Street, Fall River with whom Charles S. Hart, aged 24, born RI, was living in 1880. [U. S. Census 1880 Mass., Bristol, Fall River, RGT9 Roll524, page 201.] Abraham, son of Jonathan and Susan Hart, born in Tiverton RI and aged 22, married 13 June 1853 Lydia Peirce daughter of Jabex and Mary Perice, who was born in Rehoboth and aged 26. [MAVR 69:108.]
A MA death record is not recorded for Adams, nor is there a card for this person in Concord Death Records, the Munroe Special Collection, CFPL. He is buried in River View Cemetery, Waltham. [SSofC, 59.]
PART TWO: THE MONUMENT [Concord Town Report 1907, 69, 143-44.]
PART THREE: THE UNIT HISTORY
"Before April [1898] was over war was declared and the President called for volunteers on the 23rd. A town committee was formed at once to send aid and comfort to the soldiers as was done during the Civil War. Sherman Hoar had anticipated the committee and started to raise money for this purpose by popular subscription and many had guaranteed sums to be drawn on by the committee for its needs while in service. A Women's War Committee was also formed to furnish supplies and relief for the men of the Army and Navy.""The members of the company volunteered almost to a man when organized on May 6 and six or seven boys not yet graduated from high school were allowed to join, bringing the total who marched out to sixty-three. The night before the departure a farewell supper was served at the First Parish Vestry, and before entraining the following morning Captain Cook marched the men to the Common escorted by the Concord Post of the G. A. R., and the Battery which fired the National Salute of forty-five guns. The square was filled with the townspeople and friends to hear the farewell speeches. Escorted back to the railroad depot, the company left for the Muster Grounds at Framingham. Here, on May 12 they were enrolled in the service of the United States."
"Before this there were some changes made in the personnel of the company due to the failure of eleven men to pass the physical examination. Also the strong feeling of the community that married men should not be recruited was expressed by a large citizens' committtee and endorsed by the Selectman and twenty leading citizens in the vote "that it is the sense of the meeting that none but unmarried men should be recruited, and we request Captain Cook to allow those married who have already volunteered, to withdraw." As a result, six more men were sent home and after the company left Framingham May 20 for Camp Alger, Virginia, Captain Cook returned to Concord and recruited thirty-two additional men. These, on June 29 were given a send-off similar to that for the previous detachment."
"The final roster of the company totaled 106 men and 3 officers. [See SSofC for the complete list.] Of these 45 men and 1 offcier lived in nearby towns but there were 16 other Concord men who joined elsewhere or served with those organizations to which they were already attached."
"Company I of the 6th Regiment, the Concord Company, entrained for Charleston, South Carolina on July 5 and boarded the S. S. Yale, arriving at Santiago July 11, a week after Sampson's naval victory. As the city surrendered within days, the Yale was directed to Puerto Rico, but not until July 25 did the troops land at Guanica after a token resistance by the Spanish forces. On August 12 a Protocol was signed ending the 113-day war."
"The next two months occupation were trying times and many suffered from the climate and tropical fevers. Some of the sick could be sent home to finally recover but three died of typhoid fever during September and October. At last the regiment was relieved and sailed for Boston to arrive October 27 and proceed by steam train to Concord where they received a warm welcome led by the saluting Independent Battery." [Richardson, 128-129.]
SOURCES:
Concord Town Report, 1907. Hudson, Mass.: E. F. Worcester Press, 1907.
Ronald S. Hosmer, The Hosmer Genealogy Book II. Taylor, Michigan: The Author, 1981. [Continuation of George L. Hosmer, Hosmer Genealogy, 1928.]
The Soldiers and Sailors of Concord. Report of the Committee Appointed by the Town to procure a list of names of those who served in the Civil War and Spanish-American War. Concord, Massachusetts 1908.
Lawrence Eaton Richardson, "Concord Chronicles, 1865-1899", typescript, Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.
Robert M. Gerrity
NOTE:Updated 01/27/07.
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