NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY  (continued)

Notes to Portsmouth Armory Article
By Peter Payette

The author would like to thank the following individuals for providing editorial assistance: Nelson Lawry, Bill Gaines, and Matthew Adams. The author would also like to thank the following for proof-reading and other helpful suggestions: wife Leisa Payette, and father Pierre Payette.

(1) "They Came to Fish" by Raymond A. Brighton, Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1994, pp 239-241.

The Arsenal, or Gun House as it was more commonly known, was built on land ceded to the state in 1808 for storing weapons and other equipment for the wartime use of the state militia when needed to bolster the federal defense at Fort Constitution. A photo of the Gun House appears in Caleb Gurney's "Portsmouth: Historic and Picturesque," 1902. It later became disused and dilapidated, and became a hazardous playground for children of the adjacent Haven School. The Arsenal was finally razed in December 1920, the bricks being used in other city projects. The former Haven School, built in 1846, is still extant.

(2) "Anxious to Have Work Begin" Portsmouth Herald article, 19 February 1914

(3) "Effort Mounted to Save Portsmouth Armory." Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover) article, 3 February 2003

(4) "Ground Will be Broken at Once" Portsmouth Herald article, 16 July 1914

(5) "They Came to Fish" by Raymond A. Brighton, Peter E. Randall Publisher, 1994, pp 239-241

(6) "House Passes Armory Bill" Portsmouth Herald article, 14 April 1915

(7) "Local Firms Lose Out" Portsmouth Herald article, 12 June 1915. The five bidding firms and their bids were: Wallace Construction Company, $9370; Sacco and Wood, $9486; E. A. Peabody, $9987; Burton H. Wiggin of Lowell, Mass., $10,869; and Sidney Trueman, $11,872.

(8) "Work Started: Contractors Begin State Armory Extension" Portsmouth Herald article, 20 July 1915

(9) Possible further research could show that the unit evolved from the Goodwin Guards, which was organized in 1861 and became Company K, 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. The 2nd N.H.V.I. was primarily raised in Portsmouth under the command of Colonel Gilman Marston in April 1861, and was encamped at the South Mill Pond Barracks, a former ropewalk facility on the south bank of the pond, also used as militia barracks in 1814. Company K was mustered into Federal service on 8 June 1861, and mustered out at Cabin Point, Virginia, on 19 December 1865. This unit served with distinction at the Battles of the Virginia Peninsula, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg.

(10) "From Portsmouth Harbor to the Persian Gulf: A Brief History of the 172nd Field Artillery Regiment, the 197th Field Artillery Regiment, and Separate Units of the New Hampshire National Guard," NHARNG Pamphlet 600-82-3, compiled by MSG Stuart B. Lord, NHARNG, Headquarters STARC, Concord, NH, 1994

(11) "Chance to Inspect New Armory" Portsmouth Herald article, 24 March 1916

(12) "Will Dedicate New Armory" Portsmouth Herald article, 11 May 1916

"Military Ball Attended by Two-Hundred Guests" Portsmouth Herald article, 23 May 1916

(13) "Guard Claims He Fired at Three Men at Armory" Portsmouth Herald article 7 April 1917

(14) "Brilliant Masquerade at the State Armory" Portsmouth Herald article, 11 July 1916

(15) "From Portsmouth Harbor to the Persian Gulf: A Brief History of the 172nd Field Artillery Regiment, the 197th Field Artillery Regiment, and Separate Units of the New Hampshire National Guard," NHARNG Pamphlet 600-82-3, compiled by MSG Stuart B. Lord, NHARNG, Headquarters STARC, Concord, NH, 1994

(16) "To Enlarge State Armory" Portsmouth Herald article, 12 November 1920

(17) "The 197th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment" by William C. Gaines, unpublished manuscript

"How They Do It In the 197th C.A. (AA)" Coast Artillery Journal, v. 77 (Jan-Feb 1934), pp. 71-72

(18) "Annual Encampment of the 197th Artillery (AA)" Coast Artillery Journal, v. 59 (Nov 1923), pp. 515-516

(19) "The 197th Coast Artillery (New Hampshire)" Coast Artillery Journal, v. 61 (Nov 1924), pp. 435-437

(20) The superstructure (bridge and conning tower) of the Sailfish/Squalus was saved from the scrap heap in 1946 and placed on the Yard Mall of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (later renamed Squalus Memorial Park), and dedicated as a memorial on Armistice Day, 11 November 1946. The rest of the submarine was sold at auction for scrap for $43,167 in 1948. From "Do Your Job! An Illustrated Bicentennial History of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, 1800-2000," by Richard E. Winslow III, The Portsmouth Marine Society, 2000, p 166

(21) "They were `Mud Guards', Now They're Citizen-Soldiers with a Purpose", by Ray Brighton, Portsmouth Herald article, undated clipping, 1947.

(22) "Portsmouth-Dover National Guard Inherit Wartime Battalion's Record" Portsmouth Herald article, undated clipping, 1947

(23) Brighton, Portsmouth Herald, 1947

(24) Brighton, Portsmouth Herald, 1947

(25) "New Recreation Center Opens Tuesday" Portsmouth Herald article, 23 November 1963

"Ribbon Cutting at New Center" Portsmouth Herald photo caption, 27 November 1963

(26) "From Portsmouth Harbor to the Persian Gulf: A Brief History of the 172nd Field Artillery Regiment, the 197th Field Artillery Regiment, and Separate Units of the New Hampshire National Guard," NHARNG Pamphlet 600-82-3, compiled by MSG Stuart B. Lord, NHARNG, Headquarters STARC, Concord, NH, 1994

(27) New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources - Individual Inventory Form, prepared 23 January 2003 by Diane Kelley Tefft and John Dillon Kelley.