SPRAGUE'S COMMITMENT TO THE WAR EFFORT
ON THE HOME FRONT
Abraham Lincoln's Favorite War Governor

On behalf of the A & W Sprague Manufacturing Company,
the Sprague's offered the state $100,000 to equip the Rhode Island Volunteers.

Providence, April 17, 1861

Dear Sirs:

We notice that the Legislation have made an appropriation of $500,000 for the purpose of enlisting men into Service of the United States.    We take pleasure in offering though your Excellency to take $100,000 of that amount in such installments and of such times as you may desire.    Wishing the State of Rhode Island God speed in the patriotic endeavor to save our beloved Country in this hour of her distress from disunion and anarchy we remain.

Respectfully Yours,

A. & W. Sprague

His Excellency William Sprague

Governor of State of Rhode Island

      Governor Sprague participated in the first Battle of Bull.    He rode a white horse into battle, which was shot out from under him.    He quickly mounted another horse and bravely rode on.    It was the first bloody encounter with the enemy.    Eleven men of the 1st Rhode Island were killed on July 21, 1861, including Liuetenant Henry A. Prescott of Company D, thirty-men were injuried.    The Second Regiment of Rhode Island had lost twenty-eight men, including Colonel John S. Slocum, Major Sullivan Ballou, Captain Levi Tower and Captain Samuel J. Smith.    Fifty-six officers and men were wounded.    The First Battle of Bull Run left no doubt the Southern Rebellion would not be a two day war.

      In the wedding of the year, on November 12th, 1863 Senator Sprague married the belle and most talked about woman in Washington, Kate Chase the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase.    Sprague's wedding gift to his new wife was a tiara of matched pearls and diamonds that cost more then $50,000, in the 1860s more than three times the sum that most Americans could ever hope to make in a lifetime.    During the wedding, as the bride entered the room, the Marine Band played 'The Kate Chase March', music that composer Thomas Mark Clark had written for the occasion.

      The Sprague's maintained two households.    In Washington they lived with Kate's father, Secretary Chase, on E and Sixth Street, NW.    In Rhode Island Kate and William lived in Narragansett at the Canonchett Farm.    For a few summers Kate was content to live in the old farmhouse until she decided they should build the most extravagant mansion in the area (predating the Newport Mansions by several years).    The mansion she had built was a hodgepodge of gothic, Victorian, Italian, and Oriental Styles, most of which Kate had purchased on her buying trips to Europe.    With 68 rooms the mansion was well equipped to accommodate the Spragues' many gatherings where important political and business figures were entertained.    The socially prominant Mrs. Kate Sprague then made their place at Canonchett elegant with the idea it would serve as the summer White House where she would be hostess for her widowed father who had been confirmed as United States Supreme Court Chief Justice.

      Following his divorce William Sprague married Dora Inez Clavert of West Virginia.    He somewhat regained his interest in politics and became the first Narragansett Town Council President in 1900.    He and his second wife restored Canonchet Mansion and lived there in the summers for several years.    However, gone where the massivie furnishing and dark colors of Kate.    In their place Inez prefered vivid color schemes and gay patterns.    Gone also were the quiet parties, replaced by gay dances and singing concerts.    Inez thought herself quite the singer and would sing to her guests who politely tolarated her screeching voice.

      On October 11, 1909 apparently due to a faulty chimney flue, the Canonchet Mansion burned to the ground.    Despite the best efforts of the 69 year old Sprague to save his diaries, he was overcome by smoke and had to be revived.    He recovered just in time to see all his papers and all his valuable artifacts lost to the fire, as well as the house he once called, "A tribute to a woman's folly".    The Canonchet Mansion was completely destroyed.

      On September 11, 1915, William Sprague's life ended.    He died of meningitis and old age.    Following a simple funeral service in France, his body was brought back to Rhode Island draped in a American Flag.    He received full military honors and was laid to rest in the Sprague Family Tomb at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence.    It is likely Sprague wouldn"t have minded that his obituaries were short, often inaccurate, and written by men who did not know or remember him.    But, surely he would have regretted missing the last great review of the Grand Army of the Republic, which started a few days after his death.    Twenty thousand strong, the loyal Union veterans marched before President Wilson in commemoration of fifty years of peace between the North and the South.    How Sprague would have liked to have been there, riding his white charger at the head of his Rhode Island troops, with yellow plume on his hat streaming out behind him, and the slim young girl he loved waiting with her father for him in the shadows.    Belden Thomas G & Belden Marva R., "So Fell the Angels", Little, Brown & Co. New York, 1956, P355.

CHS inquires please email
Lydia Rapoza

RI MOLLUS inquires please email
Gregg Mierka

Copyright Protected Material.    This Webpage is managed by Gregg A. Mierka, RI MOLLUS Webmaster and chief writer/editor of "Rhode Island's Own", Internet Rhode Island Civil War Biography Series.    All non-MOLLUS material contained herein is granted by permission of the Cranston Historical Society, Lydia L. Rapoza, President, ©2003, used with permission granted only to RI MOLLUS.    All rights reserved.    Most information on this site is the property of the Cranston Historical Society, RI MOLLUS, and the author.    Copying or use of this information or images is forbidden without the written permission.

For Additional Information about other Rhode Islanders in the Civil War,
Go to the R.I. Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, War Papers Index Home Page to access the 10 Volumes of "Personal Narratives", published under the R.I. Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society representing MOLLUS in Rhode Island from 1870 to 2001,
transcrbed for the Internet by Gregg A. Mierka and Douglas R. Niermeyer, MOLLUS PCnC,
Click HERE

RI MOLLUS
Supporting the Cranston Historical Society, the Governor Sprague Mansion
and the RI Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum’s 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial events, endorsed by
the Governor’s Rhode Island
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

~ CREDITS ~

You have listened to the wonderful period music of "Alisa Jones", and acompanying musicians, song: "Salley Guarden", from her CD, "Irish Dreams",
©All Rights Reserved, Green Hill Productions, Nashville, TN.

Use of any of the music on this Website must be licensed.
Our thanks to the General Nathanael Greene Homestead Museum, Spell Hall, Coventry, Rhode Island for allowing RI MOLLUS to play the songs of Alisia Jones and Ed Sweeney.   See the Homestead Education Center HERE for contacts to acquire recommended music for schools, teachers and students.
A special thanks also to all musicians for their wonderful music helping define the character of the American People and the history of Rhode Island in the Civil War.
NOTE: Viewers are not authorized by law to copy the sound or imagry contained on this Web Page.   FBI Warning: Unauthorized duplication or recording of this material is prohibited by U.S. Federal Law and is protected by copyrights including all sound and imagery, which are ©2006 RI MOLLUS, National MOLLUS, the Nathanael Greene Homestead Museum, Spell Hall, Alisia Jones, Greene Hill Productions, and/or, by all other contributing artists, designers and authors of this Website.