The following preamble and resolution were adopted at a legal town meeting held on May 17th, 1861.

Considerating the present position of our country, not as waging war against the South, nor a party device, but an essay of the people to sustain their own rights, preserve their own institutions, give efficiency to their own laws, invigorate their execution, and perpetuate the inheritance of our fathers unimpaired,---

RESOLVED, That we, the loyal people of Topsfield, in town meeting assembled, constitute ourselves a National Guard for the preservation of our national integrity.

RESOLVED, That we appropriate the sum of three thousand dollars to meet the exigency of a national requisition of any detachment of our National Guard, giving a bounty of ten dollars to each one who may conform to this requisition. 

RESOLVED, That there be a discretionary committee of five, chosen by ballot, to furnish good and sufficient support from such appropriation to the families of those who may be detailed by our Government into its service, giving said committee power to draw our treasury for the same.

VOTED to appropriate a sufficient sum to pay each soldier twenty dollars a month while in the military service.    (Dow,  1940, p. 206-207)

 The records of service of Topsfield men may be found in the sources listed below.

On July 25, 1914, the Wounded Color Sergeant monument, located on Veterans Memorial Green was dedicated in order "...to commemorate the lives of the citizens of Topsfield who enlisted in the U.S. army in defence of the country in the Great rebellion of 1861-1865" (Dow, 1940, p. 230).

References / Further Reading

Dow, G.F. (1940). History of Topsfield, Massachusetts. Topsfield, Mass.: Topsfield Historical Society.
View Library Catalog record; read online at the Internet Archive

Record of the Massachusetts volunteers, 1861-1865. v. 1 : published by the Adjutant General, under a resolve of the General Court. (1868-1870).  Boston: Wright & Potter.  View Library Catalog record; read online at the Internet Archive

Record of the Massachusetts volunteers, 1861-1865. v. 2 : published by the Adjutant General, under a resolve of the General Court. (1868-1870).  Boston: Wright & Potter.  View Library Catalog record; read online at the Internet Archive

Topsfield Historical Society. (1937). Topsfield in the Civil War. In Topsfield Historical Society's The Historical collections of the Topsfield Historical Society, vol. 30 (65-112). Topsfield, Mass.: Topsfield Historical Society.
View Library Catalog record; read online at the Internet Archive

Contents

Topsfield Times: A Community and Local History Resource

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