Sketch of Dunbarton, New Hampshire Part 2

In the war of 1812, eleven enlisted, and twelve were drafted. Probably Benjamin Bailey was the last survivor. Among those who went to the Mexican War were Benjamin Whipple and Charles G. Clement.

Dunbarton sent more than fifty men to the Civil War; several sent subst.i.tutes. To three men were given captain's commissions, namely, William E. Bunten, Henry M. Caldwell, who died of fever in Falmouth, Va., in 1862, and Andrew J. Stone, who was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Marcus M. Holmes returned a lieutenant and Horace Caldwell was orderly sargeant; Wilbur F. Brown died of starvation at Andersonville, and Benjamin Twiss narrowly escaped a like fate at Libby Prison. He was suffocated in a mine in the Far West not very long ago.

Two young men went to the Spanish-American War who were born in Dunbarton, and had lived here the larger part of their lives, namely, William J. Sawyer, who enlisted in the New Hamps.h.i.+re Regiment from Concord, and Fred H. Mills, who enlisted at Marlboro, Ma.s.s., in the Sixth Ma.s.sachusetts Regiment. He died in Goffstown, June 26, 1900, of disease contracted in the army.

No railroad touches the town, and probably never will, but an electric car route over the hill has been prophesied.

The mail has always come by way of Concord, and the carrier's wagon has furnished transportation for many people. Hon. William E. Chandler drove the mail wagon for a time some fifty years ago. The postoffice was first established in 1817, at the Center; another at North Dunbarton in 1834; a third at East Dunbarton in 1883. In 1899 the free rural delivery system was adopted, giving general satisfaction to the residents.

I have written chiefly of the past history of the town, but I think I may say that the people of the present day are endeavoring to maintain as good a reputation as their ancestors.

Footnotes

[Footnote 1: The early writers generally credited James Rogers with being of Scotch-Irish nativity, owing to the fact that he was confused with another person of the same name, who lived in Londonderry. (See Drummond's "James Rogers of Dunbarton and James Rogers of Londonderry.") The Dunbarton Rogers was undoubtedly of English birth, in which case the term "Mountalona," or "Montelonv," must have had some other derivation than that commonly ascribed to it.--EDITOR.]

[Footnote 2: Probably 1739, and the Rogers family at least came from Ma.s.sachusetts. This with the Putney or Pudney family seem to have been located in the winter of 1839-1840.--EDITOR.]

[Footnote 3: From Dumbritton, the ancient name given to a fort raised by the Brittons on the north bank of the Clyde in early times.--EDITOR.]