'Purifying fires'

Civil War memorial on the common of Amherst, N.H. The town was named for mass murderer Lord Jeffrey Amherst. (See below.)

“The Republic needed to be passed through chastening, purifying fires of adversity and suffering; so these came and did their work and the verdure of a new national life springs greenly, luxuriantly, from their ashes.’’

— Horace Greeley, New York City editor, publisher and essayist, in Greeley on Lincoln. A native of Amherst, N.H., he was and is widely quoted. He is famously reputed to have said: “Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.’’

Greeley birthplace

Settled about 1733, Amherst was first called "Narragansett Number 3", and then later "Souhegan Number 3". In 1741, settlers formed the Congregational church and hired the first minister. Chartered on Jan. 18 1760, the town was named for General Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who commanded British forces in North America during the French and Indian War. Lord Amherst is also known for promoting the practice of giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans in an effort "to Extirpate this Execrable Race" (as quoted from his letter to Col. Henry Bouquet on July 16, 1763). His actions may have killed at least 100 people.