July 2002:  Mysterious Hampton

 

     From time to time we have mentioned things that we don't know about our town.  Last month we speculated about " Erastus and horse" being shipped over to Iowa via Wells' Ferry.  This winter we discussed the strange little room that was attached to Francis Black's house and how the mystery was solved when Black's great-grandson sent some letters Black had written to his son in the 1870's telling how he had built the room to accommodate his sister who became destitute in Massachusetts and how she couldn't get along with anybody.  Not exactly a cheerful story but one that explains the mystery of the strange little room.

     We have a few other mysteries in our town's history.   We are reminded every Memorial Day that there is an unknown soldier buried in Hampton Cemetery.  The grave marker is near the main entrance and is the traditional GAR stone.  It reads "US soldier, 1st US Cavalry".
     How did he come to be buried here?  If he were some kind of vagrant or tramp, how would they know if he was a Civil War veteran, much less what unit he belonged to.  We have heard, but never verified, that there existed an organization after the War that would arrange for a community to have an unknown soldier buried in their cemetery.  A macabre idea, but possible.  One would think some record of some kind or media article would exist but none has come to light.  Maybe it is so gruesome the media wouldn't touch it.  That's hard to believe.  We can surmise a few things.  Since the unit was "1st US Cavalry".  This meant he was in the regular army.  If you examine other Civil War tombstones in the cemetery, they will say something like "89th Illinois Infantry" or "6th Maine Cavalry".  During the Civil War the states had the responsibility of recruiting soldiers.  Right after South Carolina seceded, Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion.  100,000 joined up, but only for 3 months.   This caused the frantic rush that ended at the battle of Bull Run with a defeat of the Union's half trained troops by the Confederate half trained troops.  Fortunately for the Federal cause, the Confederates were as disorganized by victory as the Union was by defeat, or the war might have ended right there.  The second call for volunteers signed men up for 3 years.  There was a regular army before the war.  Something like 15,000 men mostly scattered around the west trying to protect settlers from the Indians and vice-versa.  It was possible to join the regular army throughout the war but few men did, partly because you often received a bonus, called a bounty, for joining a State unit, but didn't receive it for joining the regulars.  Consequently, those who joined the regular army were usually men who didn't know better, generally new immigrants.  Often men would come from Europe and when they found the streets weren't paved with gold, didn't know what to do.  Sometimes they joined the regular army which was ironic since escaping military service was one of the motives for coming to the United States.  It could be that our unknown soldier was one of these, with little facility in English, and with no identification.  ID badges were not issued in the Civil War, though many soldiers bought them privately.  All of this is blind speculation of course.

     Another mystery involves Black's store itself.  On the south end of the second floor, are 3 rooms, outfitted as living quarters, plastered and with mopboards and other amenities.  The middle room had a hole into the chimney and we're pretty sure housed a stove.  It had no window so it's unlikely anyone lived there.  The rooms were not there when the store was built.  In Black's records is a letter he wrote enquiring about insurance

in 1852.  In it he describes the building and its uses.  He does not mention these rooms and says the second story was used for storing grain.  Our restorer, Ron Nelson, looked under the plaster and found clean walls, indicating the rooms were made early on.  We have examined the records a little but were unable to find anything about these rooms.  Hopefully, we will come up with information with more research.  Speculations about use includes the conjecture that the rooms housed Black's clerks.  Clerks in that era worked sun-up to sun-down and would have found it good to live there.  another speculation is that steamboat Captains and Pilots might have stayed there on layovers.  This is a dangerous spot on the river and boats might have not wanted to shoot the rapids at night or in bad weather.

     A 3rd mystery is why Henry McNeal and Joel Thompson decided to build their cabins here in 1828.  They went into business supplying wood for the growing steamboat business but as to why this particular place was chosen is not known.  Perhaps Hampton Historian Morris Heagy had the answer.  He believed they stopped here because of the beauty of the surroundings, which was the same reason Heagy returned to his old home town after years of working as a banker in Rock Island, and built the house on 1st Avenue now occupied by the Clarks.  Heagy called it "Sunset View".  Take a walk by it some evening and you'll see why.