Sheffield — Following a Veterans Day dedication at Barnard Park, a sign was unveiled at the corner of Maple Avenue denoting the Brigadier General John G. Barnard Memorial Highway. The stretch of Route 7 between Barnard Park and the American Legion Hall about a mile to the north will now also be known for the 19th-century general, an engineer of crucial importance in the Civil War who happens to hail from Sheffield and probably deserves to be better known.
Sheffield Historical Society president Paul Mullholand hosted the ceremony, which included remarks from State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli (D – 3rd Berkshire District); State Sen. Paul Mark (D – Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire District); and Historical Society Trustee Kevin Larkin, whom Mulholland thanked for “spearhead[ing] this entire operation” and bringing the story of General Barnard to light. “We are thrilled to have with us as well,” said Mulholland, Lieutenant General Steven Gilland, the Superintendent of West Point—a position General Barnard also held, in 1855, succeeding Robert E. Lee.
As Larkin later told those assembled, General Barnard was at the Appomattox Courthouse when Robert E. Lee surrendered. “Just think for a moment how that must have been for General Barnard,” watching “the man that he succeeded at West Point in giving up.” A week later, General Barnard found himself part of the honor guard that accompanied President Lincoln’s body from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Ill. As Larkin also noted, “General Barnard was also an accomplished composer, and he wrote the funeral march for that burial ceremony.”
State Rep. Pignatelli, who, with State Sen. Mark, filed the bill to dedicate this stretch of highway, thanked Francesca Heming, District One MassDOT director, for all her help. “I admire so much the great work that the Sheffield Historical Society does to dig in to, to discover not only the town’s history, but history for America,” he remarked. “What an amazing story. Can you imagine a 14-year-old today going off to West Point, becoming a highly decorated Civil War general? And he was deaf.” As Kevin Larkin noted, Barnard suffered from a hereditary disease that left him hard of hearing and eventually deaf.
Before introducing West Point’s Lieutenant General Steven Gilland, State Sen. Mark noted that “the first battles fought for this country were fought here on the soil of Massachusetts,” and next year, the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill would be commemorated as part of the 250th anniversary of the revolution. He called on Massachusetts to “lead on serving those who have served.”
“One of the roads in West Point is named Barnard Loop,” said Lieutenant Gilland, “but today he gets an entire highway named in his honor, which I think is much more appropriate for a leader of his stature. General Barnard’s story of service is one spanning nearly half of a century, taking him from his home in the hills of the Berkshires to the banks of the Hudson River as a 14-year-old cadet.” At the age of 18, in 1833, he graduated second in his class.
He served with distinction in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, as a chief engineer for the army of Ulysses S. Grant. “Barnard’s leadership and expertise were crucial to the union’s victory,” said Gilland. As West Point superintendent in between the wars, he “undoubtedly inspired many cadets who would go on to serve and defend our nation in one of its most tumultuous periods.”
“He also improved the quality of life for the cadets, authorizing them to play chess while in camp,” Gilland laughed, probably the equivalent “of allowing our cadets today to have their phones with them in the field.” Barnard was a warm person, and soldiers noted “his cordial appreciation of the good work done by them.” Barnard also co-founded the National Academy of Sciences, and his “numerous writings on history, engineering, and scientific topics were among the most authoritative of his day, helping to promote the development of scientific literature.”
Kevin Larkin thanked the Sheffield Historical Society “for providing me access to and helping with the research on this project” before giving his account of General Barnard’s accomplishments, noting first that as a boy, Barnard “could be found hiking in the beautiful Berkshire mountains that surround the town that he loved.”
His engineering posts included work on fortifications of rivers and harbors, coastal defenses, improvements to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and lighthouses, recounted Larkin. During the Civil War, it was “due to his brilliance in the engineering field” that he did not serve in combat but was “in charge of building fortifications, garrisons, and defense systems for the army.” Barnard was “a self-taught and curious scientist as well as mathematician” who wrote over 90 books and articles on “various engineering and military techniques.”
Several members of the Barnard family were recognized at the ceremony. “We knew of him, we knew of his prominence, but we didn’t know the extent to which he really contributed,” said Judy Fulton Higby, one of three great-great-granddaughters present. “It’s interesting that they didn’t say more to us about him growing up,” said Milly Fulton Dunfey of Westbourough, Mass., who spent many years ritually stopping by Sheffield to see her grandmother and other descendants.
Great-great-granddaughter Toni Tucker, publisher of the online magazine BerkshireStyle, notes that the family gave what is now Barnard Park to the town of Sheffield when she was very young. “I have a picture of me, aged very little, during the unveiling ceremony.”
Judy Fulton Higby has a stunning portrait of Barnard that she said is currently in her garage waiting to go to her son in Canada. “He was a very poised-looking guy.” When she was in the process of moving from Connecticut to Upstate New York, she came across a book that General Barnard had written containing his notes and gyroscope diagrams. “A friend of mine who was a very high end collector bought it from me, and I could kick myself for not giving it to the historical society,” she lamented.
“And we also have General Barnard’s bed, and nobody can fit it in their house,” she laughed.
“I wish more people knew about Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, his older brother who tutored him,” Higby continued. During the Civil War, he became chancellor of Columbia University. “He wanted to allow women and make Columbia co-ed, but the Board of Trustees wouldn’t let him.” So he started Barnard as a women’s college in 1889. “So now every woman who graduates from Barnard gets a Columbia degree. That’s not well known,” said Higby.
John Barnard worked through his retirement in 1881, died shortly after, and is buried in Sheffield in the center cemetery. Larkin posed the question, “What would the history of John Gross Barnard and the United States be if General Barnard had not been deaf? I fully feel in my own mind with all that he accomplished, this man could have been president of the United States. I firmly believe that.”
