In October of 1861 the following advertisement appeared in the New Hampshire Sentinel.

The Civil War had begun only a few months earlier, but New Hampshire had already put out a call for its sixth regiment of volunteer infantry. It was becoming painfully clear that the war might continue for a long time.

The Sixth Regiment was recruited throughout the state, but more than 230 of its original 885 members were residents of Cheshire County. As soon as the companies were filled, the men were ordered to report to Camp Brooks at Keene. The camp was located at Cheshire Fair Grounds, now the site of Wheelock Park. The first company arrived on November 9 and the recruits spent their first two months as soldiers in camp at Keene.

This initial rendezvous of the members of the 6th Regiment will be commemorated with a Civil War Living History Weekend on the grounds of the Historical Society's Wyman Tavern period house on September 10th and 11th. This first "Camp Brooks Rendezvous" will include a full weekend of living history activities featuring the 6th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, a uniformed historical organization representing the very same Civil War regiment that gathered in Keene 144 years ago.

Many members of the original 6th Regiment fondly recalled their time in Keene in the late autumn of 1861. All ten companies had reported by November 27. Nelson Converse of Marlborough was appointed colonel of the regiment and Simon G. Griffin, a native of Nelson, was made lieutenant colonel.

Howard Rand of Rindge wrote home to his cousin that he had arrived at Camp Brooks on Wednesday November 26. He was inspected by the surgeon and mustered into the service the following day. The members of the regiment received their enlistment bounties on Friday and many of the men went into the village where "a good many got tight and made a good deal of disturbance…" One of Rand's first military duties was to go downtown and arrest the intoxicated members of his own regiment. He informed his cousin that: "We have got our uniform and look like bully soldiers."

The procurement of alcoholic beverages became something of a challenge for some members of the regiment in Keene. The guards were instructed to search the soldiers coming into camp from the town and to seize any alcohol they found. Some of the men devised ingenious methods of getting their drink into camp. One fellow promised to get his mates two gallons of rum. The men scoffed at the pledge, feeling that he could not possibly complete the task he had set for himself. The fellow used his pass to visit the village and left camp with a pail. When he reached downtown Keene he filled the pail with rum. He then filled a pint bottle with water, slipped it down into his boot, and started back to camp. When he reached the guardhouse gate, the officer of the guard stopped him and proclaimed, "I shall have to search you." The clever soldier had stationed one of his friends near the gate and called out to him, "Bill, take this pail of water to the cook, while I am searched." Bill took the pail of rum and the other soldier submitted to the search, during which the guard found the bottle in his boot and confiscated it. The officer of the guard was very pleased with his success, as were the men who enjoyed the two gallons of rum.

The ladies of Keene treated the enlistees with a Thanksgiving Day feast. The meal delivered to the camp consisted turkeys, geese, chickens, puddings, pies, cookies and doughnuts for all of the men. The regiment did limited drilling in Keene, but many residents of the region came to view the activities in camp.

The regiment's last week in Keene was a difficult one as the ground was frozen solid and the snow was piling up. The men struggled to keep the fires going to warm their large conical tents. On December 19 the troops marched to Central Square where they formed a circle around the common and were addressed by Governor Berry. The governor inspired the men with a patriotic speech and presented the regiment with its state banner and national colors.

On Christmas morning the soldiers broke camp and marched the 1½ miles from Camp Brooks to the train station through more than a foot of new snow. The Sentinel reported that the men were "heartily cheered by an immense crowd that had assembled to witness their departure." The reporter went on to state that, "Taken as a whole, we doubt if a better body of men has gone to the war from this State." The regiment boarded 22 passenger cars and rolled off to war, joining Burnside's expedition to North Carolina two weeks later.

The 6th Regiment was involved in many of the war's principal battles, including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Petersburg. Twenty-two year old Howard Rand, who had bragged in his letter to his cousin in November of 1861 that he looked like "a bully soldier" after receiving his uniform at Keene in November of 1861, lay dead on the battlefield at Antietam, Maryland ten months later from an enemy bullet to the forehead. Like young Rand, 248 of the original 885 enlistees (28 percent of the regiment) died in their attempt to preserve the Union.

Please join us at the Wyman Tavern on September 10 and 11 to learn what life was like in camp for these recruits, and to commemorate their sacrifice for their country. The men and women in the camp will offer insight into camp life of the time and the Wyman Tavern period house will be open for tours (see detailed schedule in newsletter). This event is being co-sponsored with Gen. Simon G. Griffin Auxiliary #11 and Camp #10, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Back my popular demand, Max Ferro will return to Keene to give a second lecture on the changes of style in American architecture. Max offered an insightful, standing room only, lecture in July on the changing architecture of New England between the colonial period and the early republic at our first Tavern lecture this year. His second lecture, entitled "American Architecture from 1840-1900: Building in the Age of Scholarship," will pick up where he left off in July. This lecture is free and open to the public on Thursday October 6th beginning at 7:30 p.m. We will hold this lecture at the Historical Society (not the Wyman Tavern), so no reservations are required and everyone will have a seat.

HSCC will sponsor a second reception honoring Keene artist Dorinda Jarest and highlighting her art on the evening of September 23, 2005. More than 40 of her oil and watercolor paintings will be on exhibit and available for purchase at the reception. Mrs. Jarest bequeathed to the Society most of her art that remained in her possession at the time of her death. Much of this work will become part of the Society's per-manent collection, but a number of pieces will be sold to benefit the Society, as she requested.

The Society held its initial Jarest reception one year ago this month. That event was very successful and we have had many requests to host another reception and sale. Dorinda was known for her paintings of New England's colorful landscape from seashore to mountain. Trained as an architect, she also combined architectural precision with her love of watercolor, painting many historical New England buildings ranging from barns and sugar houses to homes and churches.

Mrs. Jarest studied art with Eliot O'Hara, John Chetcuti, Paul Strisik, and Carl Schmalz, Jr. She taught art at Keene State College and illustrated several books, including Upper Ashuelot a History of Keene N.H. Her work has been exhibited at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, New Hampshire State Library, University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, Sharon Art Center, Currier Gallery of Art, Boston Symphony Hall, Rockport Art Association, and Southern Vermont Art Center. Her works now reside in public and private collections across the country and abroad, including the collections of Bowdoin College, Cheshire Medical Center and Keene State College.

Please join us for an evening of art, elegant refreshments, and to learn more about this long-time Keene artist. One of Dorinda's paintings will be given away as a door prize. The reception will be held at HSCC at 246 Main Street in Keene from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public, but space is limited and reservations are required. RSVP to the Historical Society at 603-352-1895 by Monday September 19, 2005.

The Historical Society's 9th annual benefit auction will be held at the Society at 246 Main Street in Keene on Saturday, October 1, 2005. Many quality antiques and collectibles have already been received for this fund raising event. These include furniture, paintings, prints, Staffordshire, historical glass and pottery, local history books, and a wide variety of other quality antiques and collectibles. The staff of the Gallery at Knotty Pine Auction Service has once again generously donated its time to manage the sale, with Knotty Pine's John Pappas serving as auctioneer. The auction will begin at 10:00 a.m. on October 1, with a preview being held on September 30th. Plan to attend this fun and important event; you may find a treasure! More details will arrive in your mailbox soon.

The fall meeting of the Monadnock Historical Societies Forum will be on Thursday October 20th at the Pisgah State Park headquarters in Winchester at 9:30 a.m. This meeting will be hosted by the Friends of Pisgah. We will meet in their newly relocated and restored barn that will serve as the park's museum and educational center. For further information, contact Tom Haynes at 352-1895.

The Tavern's summer season will come to a close on Saturday September 3. The Tavern will be open through the fall until November 11 by appointment. To make an appointment please call 352-1895.

The third lecture in our 2005 series on The Built Environment: Constructing a Landscape, will be presented by Kevin Gardner of Hopkinton, NH. His lecture will be on "Discovering New England's Stone Walls," which will explore the history and construction of stone walls. Kevin has more than 30 years of experience constructing stone walls and has published "The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls" in 2001. The lecture will be held on Thursday September 8, at 7:30 p.m. at our Wyman Tavern and is free and open to the public, with reservations encouraged due to limited seating. To make a reservation or for further information, please call 352-1895.

The Wyman Tavern and the Horatio Colony House Museum will open their historic doors for an open house on Friday October 7th from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Build in 1762, the Tavern will be lit with candles recreating an 18th century atmosphere (without the smoke and beer). Both museums are located on Main Street within easy walking distance of each other. The Tavern is located at 339 Main Street and the Colony House Museum at 199 Main Street. For further information, please call HSCC at 352-1895 or the Horatio Colony House Museum at 352-0460.

Susan Landers Gilbert, President
Jane Reynolds, V. President
Kim Bergeron, Treasurer

Trustees
Ernest L. Bell, Richard Church, William Faulkner Joslin Kimball Frank, Verne Greene, John W. Harris, Christopher Kaufer, Gregory Knouff, Jim O'Neil, David Proper, Stillman Rogers, Philip Taaffe, Paul Vincent, Christine Weeks, Suzanne Whittemore

Harry York is a familiar face to many patrons of the Historical Society. For many years now, Harry has been a dedicated volunteer spending countless hours in the Wright Room Library assisting patrons and staff. He has become very knowledgeable on our local history and a valuable researcher, conducting on and off site research on a number of projects and exhibitions. Harry spent numerous hours doing research on our very successful Baseball exhibit.

Harry's genealogical roots have a long history in the region, going back to the late 18th century. He served in the military during the Vietnam War, and has a history degree from Keene State College.

We thank Harry for the tremendous amount of time and energy he has contributed to HSCC. It is volunteers like Harry that help make the Society the successful organization it is.

- Library Computer Assistant: To prepare record and manuscript group finding aids for the web site.

- Research Assistant: To work with the Director of Education.

- Typist: To prepare a wide range of correspondence for mailing.

- Library Shelf Reader: To maintain order and location of books in library and archive.

If you are interested in volunteering or would like further information, please contact our volunteer coordinator Gail Currier at 352-1895.

Our trip to see the Red Sox play the Oakland A's on Thursday September 15th is almost here. Tickets are sold out. The bus will leave HSCC at 3:30 p.m. Please be on time. Thank you for your support of this fundraising event.

We continue to work on our World War II commemoration. We are organizing a series of programs and events with the Peterborough Historical Society and the Monadnock Institute of Nature, Place, and Culture that will tell stories of people's experiences during the war years in the Monadnock region. Members of HSCC have responded well to our request for stories, letters, and memorabilia. We are still looking for more, however, and here is how you can help.

Letters: We are looking to collect letters that were written during the war years that were either sent to service or support personnel from the Monadnock region or letters that these men and women sent home to family and friends in the region.

Home Front: We are looking for stories and experiences about what it was like to live and work in the region during the war. We are especially interested in what women experienced.

War Front: We are looking for stories about what you did and experienced in the military or as support personnel during the war.

If you have a story, letters, or an experience that you would like to share as part of this commemoration, please contact Tom Haynes at 352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org. By collecting, preserving, and communicating our local history we can help celebrate and educate our community on one of the most important events in the 20th century. Thank you!

The Wednesday October 19th meeting will be a program on "Immigration and Naturalization," and presented by the National Archives Northeast Regional Office in Boston. Participants in the meeting will learn how to locate individuals in Passenger Lists and Naturalization records, and how information in one record is related to information in another record. This meeting will be held at HSCC at 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For further information, please contact Tom Haynes at 352-1895 or dired@hsccnh.org.

The September membership meeting will feature Richard Monahon and a program will explore "Main Street." This exploration will examine a number of Main Streets in the region to identify their importance to a community, their architectural character, and the importance of preserving this character. Richard is an architect based in Peterborough.

This membership meeting will be held on Monday September 26th at 7:30 p.m. at HSCC and is free and open to the public. For further information, please contact HSCC at 352-1895 or hscc@hsccnh.org.

Albert Ruger's wonderful "Birds Eye View of Keene, Cheshire Co. New Hampshire, 1877" is available for purchase once again. Ruger was well known for his bird's eye view maps. He spent the summer of 1877 in New Hampshire producing views of ten cities and towns, Keene among them. A local business produced a very good quality reproduction of this unique map more than 20 years ago, but the reproduction has not been widely available in recent years. The remaining stock of these detailed reproductions was recently donated to HSCC to be sold for fund raising purposes. Because of this generous contribution, the Society can now offer these maps for sale at the attractive price of $10.00 each.

For further information, call 603-352-1895 or visit our web site at www.hsccnh.org.

Saturday - September 3
Wyman Tavern closes for the season. Open by appointment during the fall.

Monday - September 5
HSCC will be closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Thursday - September 8
Wyman Tavern Lecture Series. Kevin Gardner. 7:30 p.m. at Wyman Tavern. (see related article).

Thursday - September 15
Red Sox Game. Bus leaves HSCC at 3:30 p.m.

Friday - September 23
Dorinda Jarest Reception & Sale. 6:30 p.m. at HSCC (see related article).

Monday - September 26
Membership Meeting. Rick Monahon on "Main Street." 7:30 p.m. at HSCC (see related article).

Saturday - October 1
HSCC Benefit Auction. 10:00 a.m. at HSCC (see related article).

Wednesday - October 19
Genealogy Group Meeting. Immigration & Naturalization. 7:00 p.m. at HSCC (see related article).

Thursday - October 20
Roundtable Forum. Meeting at Pisgah State Park at 9:30 a.m. (see related article).

Tuesday - October 28
WW II Exhibit Opening and Lecture.