Evarts W. Farr (1840 - 1880)
Born and died at Littleton (NH).
Lawyer and politician.
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1881.
Presented to the State by Mrs. Farr, 1882.

Evarts Worcester Farr as a child attended school only during the winter term. The rest of his year was taken up with farm duties. At age 15 Farr ran away and secured work driving a milk wagon over a Boston (MA) route. This experience convinced Farr that a) his family's farm life was not all that bad; and b) that he should pay more attention to education. From that day forward Farr attended three schools instead of one, and he studied assiduously. The work got Farr into the Thetford (VT) Academy, where he studied between September 1856 - July 1859, and then into Dartmouth College (Fall 1859). Farr left Dartmouth at the end of his first year, and began to study law in his father's law office. And then Fort Sumter was bombarded, and the Civil War began.

Farr was the first man in Littleton to sign up for the required three months of military service. Additional recruits signed up and before they left Littleton Farr was elected captain. when the Littleton contingent jointed the 2nd New Hampshire volunteers then forming at Portsmouth (NH), in May 1861, Farr was appointed first Lieutenant. In January 1862 Farr was commissioned captain of Company G, 2nd New Hampshire volunteers.

On June 20, 1861 the Second New Hampshire left Portsmouth for Washington, D.C., and shortly thereafter Farr's contingent was assigned to Colonel (later General) Burnside's brigade and fighting at Bull Run (VA). Farr was ill and in hospital at Washington during this battle, but on December 9, 1861 the captain commanding the regiment died, and Lieutenant Farr was promoted to Captain and put in charge of the regiment.

The Second New Hampshire was now under the command of General "Fighting Joe Hooker", and by April 1862 the regiment was fighting on the Yorktown Peninsula (VA). At Williamsburg (VA) Farr was hit and the bone shattered; his arm was amputated above the elbow, and Farr was sent home to New Hampshire to recuperate. But Farr rejoined the Second New Hampshire at Harrison's Landing (VA), July 1, 1862. His amputated arm prevented him from doing much, however, and a month later (August 9, 1862) Farr was sent back to Littleton (NH) to recruit more soldiers for the war effort.

Farr had said farewell to the Second New Hampshire, but on September 2, 1862 he was appointed Major of the Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. The Colonel of his regiment was Walter Harriman, a future governor of the state (1867 - 1869) but a poor military commander. At Fredericksburg (VA) Harriman, seeking replacement troops for his regiment but fearing they had been forgotten by the military command, withdrew the Eleventh New Hampshire from their positions without orders. Major Farr and Captain Pingree brought charges against Harriman for "desertion of his post while on duty before the enemy", and Harriman's commission was withdrawn. The 1905 History of Littleton says that when the charges were read to Colonel Harriman the colonel asked that he be permitted to resign his position. The charges were dated June 2, 1863; Harriman resigned June 5, 1863, and returned to New Hampshire.

After the siege and capture of Vicksburg (July 4, 1863), Major Farr and Captain Pingree returned home on leave - and back in New Hampshire they found that a move was under way to restore Harriman to his former position. At a meeting with Governor Gilmore and the Executive Council, August 15, 1863, Harriman, Farr and Pingree made statements about the proposed reinstatement of Harriman. Gilmore and Harriman stepped out of the room; when they returned Governor Gilmore said he had handed Harriman back his commission and that if they didn't like it, Farr and Pingree could seek Harriman's court-martial. The History of Littleton continues, "A turbulent scene of crimination and recrimination followed" (p. 549). The footnote which follows says:

Political, as well as military, strategy and tactics played an important part in those days. In our State their power could not be better illustrated than by the simple statement that they prevented the promotion of Col. Edward E. Cross [whose biography is elsewhere in this volume-Ed.], and made Walter Harriman a Brigadier-General. As furnishing a background and motive for the above proceedings, it should be said that at the election in the preceding March, Colonel Harriman had been the candidate of the "War Democrats" for Governor, Joseph A. Gilmore the candidate for the Republicans, and Ira A. Eastman the Democratic candidate. The vote cast for each candidate was: Walter Harriman - 4,372; Joseph A. Gilmore - 29,035; Ira A. Eastman - 32,833; and 363 votes were classed as scattering. Judge Eastman lacked 439 votes of a majority. Governor Gilmore was elected by the Legislature in June. He owed the position more to Colonel Harriman than to any other person.

Farr returned to his Littleton home and resumed the study of law after his Civil War career ended. He held a number of official positions and was a member of the Governor's Council in 1876; he was elected to the United States Congress in 1879, and served on the Committee on Pensions, an important assignment in the post Civil War period. Reelected to Congress in November 1880, he contracted pneumonia and died November 30, 1880.

Location: First Floor, State House