The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-20
JAMES M. TOWNSEND DEAD
(Continued from First Page.)

N1Luck6S History or the New t1dVen f Grays': In letter expressing high x personal regard and warm commenda- tion and appreciation of Captain Town ' sends services in the Grays, the Warm-
 est and best wishes of the company N were expressed to the retiring com mander and beautiful letter of thanks x and testimonial of regard were spread upon the records" One of the most fla N miliar sadornments of the armory is portrait of Captain Townsend as he ap- { peared at that time. From that date to this he had been one of the most de- voted and helpful of the many influen- 7 tial friends of the Grays. When the company went to the front to enter up- on its three months campaign during the rebellion, all members of the organ
 ization who were unable to procure ar & ticles of necessity or convenience not ss Included in the government supplies
 were supplied by MT. Townsend out of
 his private purse, his first thought be- ing for the comfort of his old command. After the Grays had seen some six
 N weeks service in Virginia MT. Town X send visited them to look after their { welfare and ascertain if he could still further serve them. Before he returned < to New Haven he purchased one hun Ndred new quarters dollars and gave one to each member of the company. The recipients had one side of the coin made Z smooth and inscribed thereon the date 4and a brief record of the presentation
 Of the souvenir Many wore them as R1nedals or kept them as pocket pieces
 Sto the day of death, and those still liv ing. when they meet the giver remind him of the occasion by displaying their ( treasured mementoes. Upon the ex- Splration of their three months service,
 many of the Grays desired to re-enlist flor three years, but as it was impossible Ito do so and retain the uniform which | Shad distinguished them from other Snilitary organizations and had given | them their company name, the army regulation demanding the wearing of | the government uniform, new organi- fzatfon was decided upon. A deputa- | Stion sent by those interested called up- l gUnF Mir. Townsend and requested his per Sai1ission to apply to the new company !the title of the Townsend Rifles" This | company was re-enlisted in August, |
 1861, under the command of Captain | Edwin S. Hitchcock. who had been with | Rfhe Grays in their three months service, | lnsi Company G, attached to the Seventh 'Connecticut Volunteers. It was desig- mated as above by MT. Townsend's per- mission, most of it's members New Ha-
 wen men who had come to regard him 'as the friend and father of the boys Iii blue" from his native city.
 Captain Hitchcock was killed at Seas 'aionville, s. C., June IA, 1882 The com- 'pany served continuously and with 'xreat credit from the date of muster, |September z, 1861, to the close of the war, participating in no less than IS f On the departure Of the r.
 Townsend Rifles from New Haven they
 Were presented with flag by MT.
 Townsend, which was borne proudly L Through the war.
 yS Tt was the first Union flag raised in
 Georgia after the rebellion began and
 fioated from the Lighthouse on Tybee
 Island and was in the van at more than
 npe victory. It has been carefully pre-
 He, E4ffd can be seen in the rooms of the New Haven Historical society
 Where 1t was deposited on it's return to
 New Haven.
 The company was partially equipped at MT. Townsend's expense and during i its entire service he looked carefully af ter it's welfare, receiving, boxing and monthly free of cost to send ere or receivers, such supplies and deli cacies as the friends and families of the boys at the front wished to send them, together with his own contributions to their comfort. ,
 HIS oversight and care of destitute families and members of the company , were as praiseworthy as they were un- , When volunteering began , to lag, to aid the filling of the quota of f troops from his home town (East Ha- ; verD he offered five dollars to each Fair { 1Iavener who enlisted and on muster Z day visited each regiment and paid f such volunteers according to promise. i
 It may be noted that Mir. Townsend f had been reared in the faith of an old f Iine whig. Until the beginning of hos f tilities he had counseled peace. When r the inevitable war was precipitated by z the attack on Fort Sumter, he became e Bn advocate of the forcible suppression a of the rebellion, and from that day on q until peace was assured, he was for f var" with his whole soul, devoting to a lie salvation of the Union his thought, S KS energy and his fortune. V
 The polit ical honors which he had &C., | septed lad been so many as to render V nfIn conspicuous figure in New Haven r nfStory. He had served as justice of a Ehe peace. member Of the common ,ouncil and member of the board of I .ducation of the city of New Haven He a vas secretary of the whig convention at IT Baltimore which nominated Willard o Fillmore for the presidency, and had h ,eei1 many times delegate to the I fate. congressional and national con- u vet1tio He had been repeatedly of e ered the nomination for representative V o the Connecticut legislature from the a own of East Haven, where nomina- r ion was equivalent to an election. t While absent from the state he was l by the republicans as D lrion candidate for state senator. His "
 uccess was enthusiastically predicted n md the prediction was verified. P
 He was renominated for this office by A lis party the following year but de- C lined the nomination. At a time when P Ne whigs were in the majority he was u ,ffered by the chairman of the whig U tate committee the nomination to the ,fice of state treasurer, but declined. n 5e was subsequently offered by the re- t