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[448] The selectmen in 1861 and 1862 were Henry A. Snow, Benjamin Randall, Albert Kenneson, Charles H. Guild, Thomas Cunningham; in 1863, Henry A. Snow, Thomas Cunningham, Levi Timson, John R. Poor, S. C. Whiteher; in 1864 and 1865, John R. Poor, Levi Timson, Francis Houghton, Nelson Howe, George W. Hadley. The town-clerk during all the years of the war was Charles E. Gilman. The town-treasurer in 1861 was Clark Bennett; in 1862, Robert A. Vinal; in 1863, 1864, and 1865, Thomas Cunningham.1 1861. The Somerville Light-Infantry Company having been ordered to Washington with the Fifth Regiment, to which it belonged, a large meeting of citizens was held on the 17th of April. Several speeches were made; a subscription paper was opened, and in a very short time $4,308.50 were subscribed and paid in for the benefit of the members and their families. Seven hundred dollars were given Captain George O. Brastow for the immediate use of the company, and smaller sums to each member. The remainder of the money was placed in the savings' bank, subject to the order of the selectmen of the town.2 April 29th, A legal town-meeting was held, at which suitable provision was made for the soldiers' families. Five thousand dollars were appropriated for that purpose. 1862. April 28th, Six thousand five hundred dollars were appropriated for State aid to soldiers' families. July 19th, Ninety-two men for three years service having been called for as the quota of the town, it was voted to pay a bounty to each volunteer to the number of one hundred, so as to make a full company; the bounty to be paid when the men were mustered in and credited to the town. A rallying committee of sixty was appointed to procure enlistments. August 27th, Voted, to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer
1 This gentleman was recruiting officer of the town during most of the war.
2 After its return from three months service the unexpended balance of this fund (about $2,000) was appropriated by a vote of the Company to the erection of a handsome marble monument, on which is recorded the names of sixty-eight Somerville men who fell in battle or died of disease or wounds while in the service of their country.
1871. E. P. DUtton and Co. Boston,.
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