Location: Foyer of Northfield Elementary School, 104 Main Street, Northfield
Coordinates: 42°41’53.4″N 72°27’16.4″W
Date dedicated: c. 1912
Design/Manufacturer: Unknown
The Civil War memorial tablet in Northfield is presently located in a foyer of the Northfield Elementary School but its installation there is apparently fairly recent, withing the past 30 years or so. It was originally located in Alexander Hall, a local meeting hall for civic and social events.[1] The hall was part of the old high school building.[2] Sources on the tablet’s origins are elusive. According to Alfred S. Roe’s 1910 inventory of Massachusetts Civil War memorials, the tablet had not yet been created but planning was underway.[3] A Vermont newspaper mentions Memorial Day exercises in 1916 placing wreaths at the tablet in Alexander Hall. This provides a reasonable window for the placement of the tablet. The date of Alexander Hall’s demolition is also unclear. It seems the tablet may have been moved more than once to different Northfield civic buildings before coming to rest in the elementary school.
The tablet lists 81 men from Northfield who served in the war. A local history, published in 1875, lists 129, however these likely included men from out of town who were recruited to fill Northfield’s quota.[4] The tablet is almost certainly more accurate. The 15 who served with the 22nd Massachusetts are noteworthy. Signing up in the early summer of 1861, they were among Northfield’s first recruits. The fact that they ended up serving with the 22nd Massachusetts is a bit unusual as this was largely a Boston unit. However, there was a personal connection between Frederick K. Field of Northfield and David Wardwell of Boston who was the first captain of Company B of the 22nd Massachusetts. Field had served as a sergeant for Wardwell in the 5th Massachusetts at the start of the war. After that unit served its 90 day term, Wardwell began to recruit Company B of the 22nd and Field recruited men for that company in Northfield.[5] Eventually, Field was promoted to captain of Company B and was the highest ranking soldier from Northfield. The 22nd served with the Army of the Potomac in some of the largest battles of the war.
Also noteworthy are the 21 men who served with the 52nd Massachusetts Infantry, the largest group from the town in any unit. This was a nine-months unit recruited in Franklin and Hampshire Counties. The Northfield men belonged to Company F, recruited mainly in the towns of Orange, Montague, and Northfield.[6] This unit served in the Port Hudson Campaign in Louisiana.
[1] Vermont Phoenix, June 2, 1916, 7.
[2] Vermont Phoenix, November 1, 1912, 10.
[3] Alfred S. Roe, Monuments, tablets and other memorials erected in Massachusetts to commemorate the service of her sons in the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865, (Boston: Wright and Potter Printers, 1910), 89.
[4] J. H. Temple and George SheldonHistory of the Town of Northfield, Massachusetts for 150 Years (Albany, NY: Joel Munsel, 1875), 367-369.
[5] John Parker, Henry Wilson’s Regiment: A History of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry, etc. (Boston: Rand Avery, 1887), 7.
[6] John F. Moors, History of the Fifty-Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers (Boston: George H. Ellis, 1893), 12.