Benjamin Hazard died March 10, 1841. During his lingering illness he derived much comfort and pleasure from the society and attentions of the talented and sympathetic young man. He gladly sanctioned his betrothal with his daughter Margaret, and willingly intrusted the future of his beloved child to one whom he both loved and respected, and in whose character and ability he had the fullest confidence.

The marriage was solemnized by Mr. Brooks, September 8, 1841, in the great parlor of the old mansion, the same apartment which witnessed the wedding of “Charming Polly” and her Revolutionary hero, and of their daughter Harriet and Benjamin Hazard, the parents of the present bride.

It was a quiet and simple ceremony, so soon after the death of Mr. Hazard, but the ample room was well filled with beautiful young girls, the sisters and cousins of the bride, officers in full uniform, the companions of the groom, and old friends of the family. Hither came from Andover the groom’s brother Oliver, and cousin Henry H. Stevens, his West Point friend, Lieutenant Jeremy F. Gilmer, from Washington, Lieutenants James L. Mason, Henry J. Hunt, and Lewis G. Arnold, from Newport, and a goodly number of Lymans and Dunnells from Providence, uncles, aunts, and cousins of the bride.

CHAPTER VI
CHARGE OF WORKS: NEW BEDFORD, PORTSMOUTH, PORTLAND, BUCKSPORT

The wedding journey was to New York by Long Island Sound, and thence up the Hudson to West Point, where they spent several days, and were received with flattering attentions by his old friends. With great pride and pleasure Mr. Stevens presented them to his lovely bride, and revisited with her the romantic scenes of the Point, endeared by so many pleasant associations. They returned by way of Springfield and Boston.

New Bedford, September 24, 1841.

My dear Father,—I was very glad to see Oliver and my cousin Henry at Newport on the occasion of my marriage, and, though your presence would have afforded me much pleasure, yet, as I well knew that it was a busy season with you, and that something very unusual only could induce you to leave home, I was not much disappointed at your not coming. You will certainly see us as early as next Thanksgiving. We had a most pleasant trip, were favored with unusually fine weather, and were disappointed in no one of our anticipations. Margaret had never visited West Point before, and had always lived in a country the scenery of which is very tame compared with the alpine grandeur of the Highlands. I had said a great deal to her about West Point, and I feared that her expectations were raised high above the reality. I was, however, agreeably surprised by her assertion that her ideas had scarcely approached the truth. The day after our arrival at West Point she insisted upon climbing to the Crow’s Nest, which you recollect is two miles from West Point, and commands the plain about twelve or fourteen hundred feet. Finding that my dissuasion had little effect, I took her up one of the roughest ways,—in many places we had to ascend almost perpendicular rocks. In one hour and a half we were on the very topmost height of the mountain. We came back by a rough, winding, long road, and got to the hotel four hours after leaving it. I call that a pretty good feat for a lady. From Hudson to Springfield the road was completed except about two miles near Chester Factories. It passes through a most wild and picturesque country, follows the valley of one of the rivers that empties into the Connecticut for some thirty miles, crossing it frequently and constantly changing direction, and is constructed in a truly magnificent style.

We got back to Newport just seven days after leaving it. There I found orders had been awaiting me two days to repair to New Bedford, to take charge of all the repairs of the old fort. You can judge of the urgency of the orders from my going to New Bedford the next day, and leaving Margaret at Newport, where she has been ever since. We arrived at Newport about four o’clock on Thursday. I left the next day at two o’clock, made an inspection of the fort on Saturday forenoon, issued a hand-bill the same day for mechanics and laborers, and on Monday morning had a gang of about twenty men at work. I never was in New Bedford before, and knew not a single man in the place. Monday morning I fell in with a real full-blooded Yankee, whom I engaged as overseer, and immediately sent around the country for stone-cutters and masons. I went on Monday into a ledge of granite rock, and have already thrown out about two hundred tons of stone, and got about a hundred feet cut. The people in New Bedford are disposed to criticise my plans, but they will find out I know what I am about, and that they had better save their sneers for some other object. After I had been at work three days, I dismissed three men for idleness, which had a very good effect. My plan is to be rather familiar with every man, but at the same time to make every one feel that he must do his duty. To-morrow I am going to Newport after Margaret. I have been so busy that I have had no time to miss her. In fact, this is the very first moment since I have been in New Bedford that I have been able to write home. Now my business has got into a regular course, and will require but little time to attend to it. Whether I shall spend the winter in Newport, or New Bedford, I don’t know. I have at present only orders to get in readiness platforms for nine guns.

Your son,
Isaac I. Stevens.