149. Alonzo Granville DRAPER was born on Sep 6 1835 in
Brattleboro Vt. He died on Sep 3 1865 in Brazos Santiago Texas. (Photo).
He was a great Grandson of Boston Draper.
(Excerpt from "Drapers in America" published 1892)
GENERAL ALONZO GRANVILLE DRAPER
(13I. Alonzo, 12. Benjamin, 3. Boston, 2. Samuel, Thomas.) Eldest s., 2d child of Alonzo Draper and Hannah
Vose Cram. m. Lynn, Mass., Aug. '24, 1856, Sarah Elizabeth, daughter. of Gustavus Andrews, J. P., and Sarah Ann
Lillie, of Boston. She was b. Boston, Dec. 23, 1838.
(DIA) Eldest s., 2d child of Alonzo Draper and Hannah Vose Cram. She was daughter. of Gustavus Andrews, J. P.,
and Sarah Ann Lillie, of Boston. Alonzo Granville Draper evinced an intense thirst for knowledge, assailing his
parents with torrents of questions concerning the meaning of words, and upon the various subjects of conversation
that reached his ear, and he was pronounced a " lawyer in embryo " before he was eight years old.
In
1843 his parents removed to Boston, where he received his education. He graduated from the Otis School in 1850,
receiving the Franklin medal, and after spending one year as clerk, he entered the English High School, and graduated
in 1854 with another Franklin medal and three prizes. His teacher said that he could not allow one boy to carry
off all of the first prizes, but permitted him to choose between the literary and scientific departments.
During a visit to Boxboro, when under fifteen years of age, he delivered a temperance lecture in the little town
house, the people coming from miles around to hear " Uncle Ben Draper's " grandson; and, at the age of
fifteen, he helped to organize a temperance society in Boston, including both old and young, and for which he drafted
the constitution and by-laws. Failing to see the way open to go through college as he had earnestly hoped to do,
he commenced the study of law, which he pursued with his usual determination in such leisure as he could command
from the efforts necessary for his own support.
Marrying, with his father's consent, before he was twenty-one years old, and with the additional care of a little
family, he never wavered in courage and purpose, and, at the time the Civil War broke out, he was prepared to enter
the bar. He settled in Lynn, Mass., in I857, and soon became interested in the condition of the industrial classes,
and Mar. 19, 1859, he commenced the editorship of the "New England Mechanic," a paper advocating the
interests of the journeymen shoemakers, and in 1860 he organized and led the 11 Shoemakers' Strike," which
was the first movement of the kind of any magnitude in the country, and as such challenged general attention.
The
necessity for this movement was occasioned by an overstocked market, and a consequent depression of prices, for
which the only remedy proposed was that they should, for a time, stop work, and thus reduce the supply. This plan
was adopted by the advice of many of the manufacturers, who promised pecuniary and moral support, while others
refused to submit to what they termed the dictation of the laboring classes.
A Lynn paper of September, 1865, referring
to the affair, states that " Draper was a man of ability, and conservative as a leader, invariably counseling
moderation, and deprecating, at all times, any resort to violence." The strike was characterized by a great
deal of sobriety and good humor, with but few acts to condemn, considering the multitude participating, Having
instigated the movement, he next lent his energies to secure funds to keep the strikers from suffering while waiting
to resume work.
He was a fluent extemporaneous speaker, and the interest in the cause was so general that he was
greeted in New York and elsewhere by large and enthusiastic audiences, and money was liberally subscribed. He also
made appeals to the churches, and by various other methods was able, with the aid of voluntary contributions, to
sustain the strike.
A Lynn paper-the " Saturday Union," of Sep. 26, 1885, which devoted an entire number to a description
of the "Lynn Strike" of 1860, copied from Boston papers, with illustrations from " Frank Leslie's,"
says:-" One of the features of the strike was a public demonstration, composed of the military and fire companies
of Lynn and Marblehead, with the novelty of eight hundred ladies in line, followed by four thousand workmen.
The
Lynn City Marshal, fearing there might be a disturbance, telegraphed to Salem and Marblehead for assistance; but
the people of those places were in sympathy with the 'jours',and returned for answer, 'Fight your own battles.'
The strike was general throughout New England, and embraced nearly twelve thousand shoemakers and over three thousand
female stitchers and binders."
At the opening of the Civil War, Alonzo G. Draper was 25 years of age; by occupation Assistant City Marshal of
Lynn, Mass. Among the first to respond to his country's call to arms, he raised a company in Lynn, and for two
months he supplied a drill master, and supported his men by subscription until they were accepted, and he was mustered
in with them as Captain of Company C, 1ST Mass. Heavy Artillery, July 5,1861.
He was promoted to Major, than to
Colonel, at which time He was put in command of coloured
troops. The initial use of African-Americans was quite
controversial during the first part of the Civil War. Alonzo had a very short but brilliant career in the US army
during the civil war. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on Oct 28, 1864. His life was unfortunately
cut short by a stray bullet while he was stationed in Texas in 1865 after the war. He was three days short of his
30th birthday.
He was without doubt the most famous of our Draper line. He is mentioned in a number of Civil War books. Some of
his Civil War exploits are detailed in "Drapers In America" as well.
267 i. 
The Draper Page