Author: Fred Gooltz

The Matter of Patent #332319 Chalker leverages his title with the Wide Awakes to hang his own business shingle. In his late 20s, with the pressures of an infant daughter at home, Chalker had already failed once trying to start his own business as an importer of high end fabric. Chalker proposes a partnership with a failing…

Sperry and Hinckley’s published marching guidebook. In contrast to the Chalker-Pitkin symbiotic relationship of opportunistic parasites, the five true workhorse founders meet a key collaborator; A student at Connecticut’s military academy, Lieutenant Arthur Hinckley finds Sperry and offers to teach the boys proper marching technique. Hinckley and Sperry write and illustrate a marching guide that they will soon…

Steady “word-of-mouth” growth turns tidal wave following a fight. A fracas in Northern Connecticut on March 15th rocks the state. Now numbering 100, the Hartford Wide Awakes are invited to Waterbury CT to join a Party Convention rally. The boys arrive well-drilled and decked out in matching uniforms. They are amazed to find 500 other young people…

The first office-seeker who comes seeking their endorsement. Each newspaper story about the rally/riot, or about these satellite chapters forming, causes extra waves of new members and even more companies. These new Wide Awake chapters write to Sperry asking for instructions. Quickly outgrowing their cramped headquarters in the long narrow room above Buck’s Drug Store, they quickly…

Party bosses push back against the boys’ liberalism This prominence comes at a cost: with their greater fame, the gubernatorial campaign advisors caution the boys to become more moderate so as to not scare older voters. The youngsters are advised to make themselves a club for white men only; no “Lady Wide Awakes” or African-Americans should be…

How the city hardened the country boy Sidney Gladwin, one of the Pearl Street Church boys from the Wide Awakes’ first march with Rep Cassius Clay returns to Connecticut from his new home in New York City with news: He had just started a Wide Awake chapter in New York City with the help of an Irish…

Resolved: Never Compromise with Evil The Southern Connecticut Republican Party Convention rally begins on New Haven’s green. Hours late, 50 High School kids from a Wide Awake chapter in the racist Southeastern suburbs limp into view. Wrapped in bloody bandages and splints, eleven of their crew are still at the hospital. The boys had marched into a Democratic…

The Wide Awakes run ballots. After the brutal attack, the hospitalized grade school Wide Awakes become the top political story in Connecticut with 72 hours before Election day. Newspapers in Boston and New York echo Connecticut papers implying that if the Republicans go on to lose, it would not be the fault of the Wide Awakes. But…

Nineteen-year-old Pearl Street Church alum, Sidney Gladwin struggles to introduce the Wide Awakes to his new, heavily-Democratic town, New York City. Gladwin partners up with a 29-year-old Irish immigrant mechanic friend named Francis Lambert who teaches the Connecticut farm boy how to cut deals with Ward Bosses for parade permits, how to grease wheels with police for protection…

The symbolism of milestone members 500 & 501.  Using the military’s growth framework, Captains are promoted to Major, more boys are made into Captains. As the Hartford club nears 500 members, Wide Awake chapters from New York City and nearby towns are invited to an “excursion” with Hartford to celebrate the Connecticut Governor’s victory. The Hartford boys…