My recollections of the war of the rebellion;

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MY RECOLLECTIONS

OF THH

WAR OF THE REBELLION

Bv WILLIAM B. LAPHAM,

Bki-vet-Major U. S. Volunteers.

ritlVATKLY I'l.MXTKl).

AIGUSTA, MAINE:

BITRLEIGII * FLYNT, IMUNTERS

1S9-2.

THE SOUTHERN BATTLE-FIELD.

"Once this soft turf, this rivulet's snuds.
Were trampled by a hurryiiio- crowd,
And tiery hearts and armed hands
Encountered in the battle-cloud.

Xow all is calm and fresh and still;

Aloue the chii-p of tlittiui;- bird,
And talk of children on th(» hill.

And l)ell of wandering' kinc are heard.

No solemn host goes trailing by,

The Idack-mouthed gun and stiiggcring \v;iiii
Men start not at the battle cry. —

O, be it nevei- lieard agnin.""

^U

BeMcation.

®a Pavy (Tynthia,

§c» WiWum

and

JrancciSi §culah

7"///.>- volume is affectionately dedicated and inscribed by
THE/R FAT HER.

PREFACE.

^\'lly do you not write some of your ixTsonal
recollections of the War of the Ivebellion, and relate
some of your })ersoual ex[)eriences tliereiu for the
anuiseuient and editication of your children? The
above ({uestion was propounded to me ])y the
mother of the children, some fifteen or more
years after the war closed, and so pertinent \\as it
that it seemed stranue I had not thoujrht of it before.
I am aware that my experience ^vas by no means
an exceptional one, that there were very many
whose army life ^vas much more replete with thril-
ling adventure than 1 am able to relate, yet in a
service somewhat varied and covering a period
embracing the greater part of the war, there were
circumstances that came und(>r my personal obser-
vation which may be of interest to the })ersons for
whom this record is especially made. The minor
events of a great war are those less likely to l)e
recorded, but even these to a "[)osterity that
delights in details," will not be devoid of interest.

An iirmy is a vast machine of which soldiers, and
subordinate officers are component parts, and un-
questioned ol)edience to the will of the commanding-
general is the chief element of success. This will

18 made known 1)V being handed down throuuh the
various orade.s of offieers until it veaehes the [)rivate
soldier. Whatever the eonnnand may be, whether
to niareh or eneanip, to eni>:age the enemy or retreat
from him, in order that the component' parts of the
great machine^ may act in harmony, no questions
should be asked and no criticisms made, but when
moved upon l)y legally constituted })OAver, one si)irit
should pervade the entire force and that of ])assive
obedience. AVlien in action, a private or subordi-
nate officer knows little or nothing of what is going
on in other })arts of the tield, nor is it necessary
that he should know. His business is to attend to
the work allotted to him, and helj) take care of his
})art of the line. Even the results may not be
known to him for a time, and when ordered to
move, he may not know whether it is in retreat or
advance. So it was with many after the l)attle of
the Wilderness, and so it was after many of the
battles of the late war.

The incidents related in this little volume are
chietly confined to the regiment and battery to which
I belonged, and yet what is true of one organization
whether in cam]) or in the field, is to a certain extent,
true of others. The drill, the guard duty and the
canjp sports are essential 1}^ the same, and since
" w^ar means killing," the methods adopted for this
purpose in every action, are })ractically the same.
The Twenty-third Maine Regiment served its term
of enlistment in doinir uuard dutv on the Potomac,

from AU'Xiindi-ia to Harper's Ferry. It had no en-
aaueiuent with the enemy, and yet the death rate was
uneonnnonly hirge, therehy indicatin<>- the character
of its service. The Seventh Maine Battery joined
the army of the Potomac in the march to the Wikler-
ness, and participated in all the suhseqnent engaa^e-
ments of that uallant army. There were a ninnher
of men, includinir the writer, who served in hoth
of these ori>'anizations and had the varied experience
incident to both. There were no two organizations
that left the State to aid in putting down the rel)el-
lion, that contained a greater pro})ortion of tirst
class men than the two under consideration. Besides
a large numl)er of independent farmers, there were
college graduates, merchants, mechanics, teachers
and other professional men. They enlisted from
purely patriotic motives, and served with an eye
singl(> to the preservation of the Union. More than
thirty }'ears have elapsed since the regiment was
organized, and many "of those who survived the
war, have since gone the way of all the earth. The
scope ot this work will admit of only brief mention
of any of them, 1)ut if such l)rief mention shall in any
manner serve to kec}) green their memories and
preserve the record of their sacrifices and heroic
deeds, its preparation and its })ul)licati()n will not
have been in vain.

The primary oirject of the publication of this book
is the amusement and edification of my children.
From it thev will learn to some extent, of the causes

8

that led to the rebellion and secession of the South-
ern states. They will see how causeless and un justi-
Hahle was the movement, and how pure and patri-
otic was the man on account of whose elexation to
the })residency, they rebelled. They will see how
an ()\ erruling Providence seemed to iiiiide the Shij)
of State during the dreadful storm ; how tem})orary
defeat only served to intensify the })atriotism of the
loyal states, and ho^v it became apparent that the
curse of slavery must be removed before complete
success could crown our efforts. Had success
attended our armies in the earlier ])attlcs of the war,
there is no doul)t that a peace would have followed
\\ ith legalized shivery retained. But this was not
to be, and for the proclamation of emancipation.
President Lincoln is entitled to the lasting gratitude
of the whole American people and of the world.
If there is one thing more than another for which I
am grateful, it is that the slavery question has been
settled, and so settled, in my day and generation,
and has not been left as a troublesome legacy to my
own and to other childi'en of the coming generation.
And there is no act of my life that I look back upon
with so much satisfaction and jiride, as to the
humble part I bore in the war necessary to emanci-
pate the slave. When I think of my years of ser-
vice in the Union army, I feel that my life has not
been entirely in vain.

By the i)erusal of these pages, you, my children,
will learn something of what the preservation of the

union of these states has cost, and you will learn
to prize it all the more highly. You will learn that
it is cemented by the blood of hundreds of thou-
sands of our patriotic people who sprang to arms
to defend and preserve it. You Avill be told how
they uncomplainingly endured every privation and
hardshii), and how they unflinchingly faced the
cannon's mouth to l)eat back the rebel hordes
that would destroy it, and you will learn to respect
and revere their })atriotic devotion to country,
'riiat what you may here read and learn, may
increase your love of country, cause }ou to i)rize
more highly the })rivileges you enj()y and make you
better citizens, is the earnest wish of your

Father.
Augusta, Me., Oct. 10, 1892.

ANTE BELLUM.

As far l)ac'k as I can ienieinl)or, I was, or thouiiht
myself, a Democrat. In my early ehildhood, the
idea was instilled into me that the Tories of the
Eevolution were the most depraved of human beings,
and that the Whigs were their immediate .successors.
I not only disliked the name of AVhig but I was
innnediately i)rejudiced against any j)erson who
called himself a Whig, or who was so called by
others. I felt that there was something wrong-
about him, and that he was not to l)e trusted. The
tirst President of the United States whom I remem-
ber was Andrew Jackson, and to l)e aljle to join in
a hurrah for Andre\y Jackson, I considered a great
})rivilege. Of ^vhat great things he had accom-
l)lished, I was entirely ignorant, but that he was a
Democrat was all that my youthful fancy recjuired,
and I felt that I knew he was a great and good man,
and a patriot. So of Martin Van Buren, his suc-
cessor. When his election was announced, 1 felt
that the country was safe for the time being, and
that the Whigs, the allies of Great Britain and the
enemies of the republic, had met with another signal
defeat.

At the opening of the memorable Campaign of
1840, I was t\velve years of age, and how much I

12

suffered from the noisy demonstrations of the A\'hii>s,
I cannot describe. It was the famous log cabin and
hard cider campaign, and the enemies of the Demo-
cratic party were everywhere aggressive. The
campaign songs in praise of Tij^pecanoe were in
every1)ody's mouth, and accomplished more for the
success of the l»arty. than oratory, eloquence and
arifument. The Wliio- candidates were sung into
office. AVhat signiticance there was in the name
l)estowed upon the President, of "Old Tippecanoe,"
I did not knoAV, or perhaps I might not htive feh so
sure that the success of the Whig i)arty was also tlie
success of the Tories and of England. It was some
years later that I learned that Tippecanoe was the
name of a river in Indiana, upon whose banks Gen.
Harrison had fought a famous l)attle Avith the
Indians, Nov. 11, 1811, near the beginning of the
War of 1812, and that the Indians were incited to
hostilities l)y the efforts of the emissaries of Great
Britain. Nor had I then learned that both General
Jackson and General Harrison, distinguished them-
selves in that war and were equally patriotic. I
only knew that Jackson was a Democrat and Harri-
son a Whig, and that Avas enough for me to know,
and in those days I felt that I knew it all.

I have since learned that soon after the War of
the Ee volution had given freedom to the colonies,
two political parties came into existence having no
reference to the war. One aa.-is led by Alexander
Hamilton and contended for the centralization of

13

})<)W('r ill oi'ck'i' to insure Ji stronu' iiatioiml iroverii-
ment. The otlicr party ^vns impersonated by
Tlioinas Jort'orsoii, the author of the Declaration of
Iu(le[)endenee, who eonteuded for the ditfusion of
power uniong the .states, or in other words, for the
doctrine of state rii>hts. These twosystems of politi-
cal doctrine have come doAvn to us as an inheritance,
and have in })art, formed the issues that have entered
into every political cann)aii>n. It was this doctrine
of extreme state rights that gave a ])retext for the
slave holding states to secede and precipitate war
between the two sections of the country, and it was
the doctrine of a strong Federal government put
in })ractice and thoroughly carried out, that sub-
dued the rebellion and preserved the union of the
states.

The issues which are before the i)eo})le to-day
directly involve these two antagonistic ideas which
are older than the government of the United States.
There are side issues like the money (juestion, the
tariff etc., but the real question is the centralization
or ditfusion of power. On the question of tariti'as
at present existing, the Democratic paily claims
that it is unconstitutional, and the question must
eventually be determined by the courts. The
(|uestion of currency which is forced ui)on the coun-
try as an issue, is presented in a form that brings
into antagonism the State and Federal su})ervision.
Now% I believe in a strong Federal government,
sufficiently strong to protect itself in time of war,

14

whether at home or abroad, but when it conies to
the centralization of power to give national control
to railway and telei>raphic linos, or to other l)ranches
of business that properly belono- to private enter-
prise, I would say to the Federal goverunient,
" hands off." In our })olitical cani})aigns, underly-
ing principles have frequently l)een obscured 1)y
side issues, and it is well to l)ear in niiud that
underneath all these (juestions that are constantly
l)eing brouglit up and })rcsj^cd to the front, lies the
old and fundamental (jucstion of state rights, or the
centralization and diffusion of ])ower. This (jues-
tion, in some form, has been at issue since the
formation of the govermnent, is at issue now, and
will be at issue for 3'ears to come.

President Harrison died in a month after his
inauguration, and I felt that his death >vas })rovi-
dential. That it was the interference of a higher
power to prevent the consummation of the plans
and purposes of the AVhig party. He Avas succeeded
by John Tyler who had been elected ui)on the same
ticket with him. It was generally understood at
the time, that Tyler entertained views sonunvhat
different from those of the leaders of his party, and
soon after assuming the duties of the presidential
office, this fact was fully demonstrated. The East-
ern Argus was about the only })aper that I read in
those days, and I rememl)er how I was comforted
by the assurance found in the A7'(jus, that Tyler,
though elected as a AVhii:-, was in re:ilitv a Demo-

15

ciiit : I t'clt that a second iiulcjx'iulciK'c had hccn

ac'hi(>v(>d and that the country was ai>ain sate. I

rcmcnihcr a little triph't which the Argus printed

and which so impressed itself upon my mind that I

ha\e not forirotton it in the half a century which

has since elapsed. It was as follows :

'' Honor to whom honor ii4 due,
AVe forgive them for ehn'tiug' Tii)pec;nioc
Because they went for Tyler too.""

.Vt this period of my life, I knew hut little ahout
African slavery. I was aware that such an institu-
tion existed in the far South, hut this was before the
days of teleiiraphs and railways, and the multij)iic-
ity of news])a|)ers, so that the knowledge I had of
it was very indetinite. I do remember how shocked
I was, when a colored man living in Paris named
Xatlian Fuller, the tirst and only negro I had e\er
seen, was hired to go to Virginia to cut timber, a.nd
was there sold into slavery by the monster who had
hired him to work, but of the nature of his bondage,
1 knew nothing, and my sympathy for him was
mainly l)ecause he could not return to visit his par-
ents and his brothers and sisters. lie was then
about twenty-three years old, and his friends never
heard from him after the re[)ort came that he had
been sold. He was an intelligent fellow and had
learned to read and write. He was probably mur-
dered in being "• lu'oken in," for he was pnmd
s))irited and woidd prefer death to the kind of bond-
age that awaited him on the sugar j)lantation where
he was sold to i>o.

16

Toward the close of President Tyler's adminis-
tration, the question of the annexation of Texas
began to l)e agitated. Texas had maintained a
heroic struggle for independence, was settled largely
by })e()i)le from the states, and sympathy for the
" Lone Star" was easily excited and quite general.
There were those who shook their heads, and said
it meant more slave territory, but tlie " Lone Star"
shone so brightly as to dazzle the eyes of most
people, that they could not or did not see what lay
behind it. The act of annexation was })assed by
C^ongress, and was signed l)y President Tyler, three
days l)efore the expiration of his term of otHce,
March 1, 1845.

The annexation (juestion had entered largely into
the canq)aign of 1844, although it was not nuich
talked about in the political gatherings in Maine.
I remember that I walked to Bethel Hill, a distance
of eight miles, to hear Nathan Clifford and John
Fairfield discuss the })()litical issues of the day.
Their talk was mainly upon the tariff, but it was
elocjuent and interesting, and 1 was very proud of
them. It was known very well, that the annexa-
tion of Texas would bring on a war with Mexico,
and I afterwards knew that the South desired that
very result. The South knew that not only Texas,
but a good broad area of ^Mexican territory would
be annexed to the United States as the result of
such a war, and that in most if not tdl of this terri-
tory, slavery could ])e made })rotital)le.

17

About this tinic or ;i little hctorc, the imti-slaverv
luoA'cincnt ht'Uiin to (levolop in the tVco states, and
a liheitv party had been formed in Maine. Its
nienil)ers were few in nmnher, hut they were men
of eneriiv and al)ility, conseientious in the work
they had undertaken, men who stood high in the
eonnnunity, and who eould ex})ress their views
either in speaking or writing. Among their tirst
etforts, was the dissemination of anti-shivery litera-
ture in the form of i)am})hlets and books, in whieh
was shown up and painted in glowing eolors, the
enormity of the tratiic in human l)eings, and the
misery whieh followed in its train. The eruelties
])raetieed under the Anieriean system were illustrated
by both pen and peneil, so that the eye as well as
the understanding eould take in the wliole seope of
its atrocities. The separation of families was dwelt
u})on,the unrestrained licentiousness which the sys-
tem })ermitted, and its demoralizing and l)rutalizing
etfect u})on master as well as u})on slave. These
men were generally regarded as fanatical, and
extremists they certainly were. Many of their
statements were flatly contradicted by the political
press, and some of them were doubtless untrue or
lii'eath' exaji'o'erated ; but still, it could not be sue-
cessfully denied that all the al)uses complained of,
were [)ossiI)le.

In the annexation of Texas, and the ac(|uisition
of California and other large areas of new territory,
the South had triiunphed. Sympathy for Texas in

18

her ettbrts to free licr.sclt" from lici' dis!i<>Toe:il)le
connection with the half civilized rei)ul)lic of Mex-
ico, was ke))t at the front, while the real (|iiestion,
that of additional territory for slave labor, wa^; kept
carefully concealed. The aid of poetry was invoked,
and the '• Lone Stiir of Texas" hecanie the theme
of many a })oetical elfusion.

I well remember part of the tirst .stanza of .some
verses which were set to the nnisic of a well known
Scotch sono-, aiid sunu- throuuhout the lenirth and
breadth of the land. This stanza beii'an as follows :

••l\'x:iti.-* \\]u) with lloustou t)le(l,
Texan,* Jat-ki^on often led;
Friends to yon. onr licarts ai'e wcil.
Ignited let ns he.""

The war with Mexico which was brouo-ht on by
the annexation of Texa.s, lasted from l.S4() to 1<S4<S,
when, as was expected, the Mexican armies were
routed, and to secure i)eace, a lari>e area of Mexi-
c:in territory was ceded to the United States.
General Ziichary Taylor had concUicted the opera-
tions aii'ain.st Mexico with distiniiuished ability.
H(^ was an otticer in the rcii'ular army, and in no
way responsible for the war, but after it was declared,
he performed his (Uities like the brave and able
soldier he Avas. In politics, he was a Whi_u", and
^vitli characteristic shrewdness, the AMiius selected
him as their candidate for President in 1(S4<S, and he
was trium])hantly elected. The Democrats nomi-
nated Lewis Cass of Michigan. Thouiih a A'ir-
ginian by birth, President Taylor's views upon

19

the siil)j(H-l of shivery, were not in accord with
those of (he Southern extremists, luul his reconi-
luendiitions in histirst and only message, gave them
i>reat oU'ense.

WhiU' a violent discussion was going on in ("on-
uress rehitive to his rcw)mmendations, and other
measures rehiting to the peculiar institution, Presi-
dent Taylor died after tive days' ilhiess, July !•,
1850. Millard Fillmore of Xew York, Vice-Presi-
dent, now succeeded to the presidential office.

The Mexican War was opposed by Daniel ^^'el)ster
and l>y many other leading AVhigs, partly because
it was a Democratic measure, and partly because it
was regarded by them as waged in the interests of
slavery. On that account, tlie Whig party came to
be regarded as anti-slavery so far as the extension
of that institution into territory where it did not
alreadv exist, was concerned. A ])rovis() was
introduced into the bill relating to the disposition
of the territory actjuired from Mexico, which forever
excluded slavery from it, and this proviso was sup-
ported by the Whigs and l)y many Northern Demo-
crats, and was defeated only by a parliamentary

trick.

In 1S52, the fugitive slave bill was jjassed by
( ouii'Tss and receiving the signature of President
Fillmore, became a law. The President also ex-
pressed his determination to have it rigidly enforced.
This alienated from him many of his strongest
suppoi-tcrs, but Daniel Webster who was hisSecre-

20

tary of State, tstood ])y him. This action of Mr.
Webster was regarded l)y many of his friends and
former Whig associates as a hid for the })residency,
and he never afterwards had their eontidenee and
support.

You may now desire to know what were my views
and feelings u})()n these great (juestions which were
agitating the })ublic mind, fori was then old enough
to have ideas of my own, though I have to confess
that they were warped somewhat by prejudice, and
early influences. I was o])})osed to negro slavery,
believing it to be unjust and wicked. I held it to
be inc()m])atible with the })rinciples of the Declara-
tion of lndei)en(lence, a document \\'hich 1 hiul ever
regarded as sacred, and also as incom})atible with
the fundamental princi})les of our free govermnent.
But it was a local institution, confined to the Soutii,
and I felt that the Xorth had no right to nunldle
with it. It was all wrong, l)utthe South alone was
responsil)Ie for it. 1 did not ))elieve it was recog-
nized in the constitution of the United States, and
therefore, could not in any sense be regarded as
national. 1 felt that Congress had the right to pre-
vent its extension into new territory, but had no
right to al)olish it or in any way interfere Avith it
in those states where it existed when the constitution
was framed and adopted. Had the South been
content to let it remain as it was, in all human ])r()b-
ability, the institution would have remained to
this day and perha])s forever. The slave i)ower

21

w;is aaii'i'cssivc, and was not only determined to
carry slavery into all acquired territory where it
could he made })rolitahle, hut they were constantly
calliuii' for new safeguards to he thrown around it.
\Mien Missouri and ]\Iaine were admitted into the
I nion in 1820, there was a compromise entered
into and em])()died in the liill for the admission of
Missouri, which provided that slavery should not
exist north of a certain line specified.

I had not lost all confidence in the Democratic
])arty in 1852 , although my confidence had l)een some-
what shaken hy the compromise measures, and hy
the passage of the fugitive slave hill, but I consoled
myself that, as this uieasure was passed during a
AVliig administration, the AAHiigs were responsible
for it, although I could not lose sight of the fact
that a })ractically solid South had demanded, and
voted for the ol)noxious measure. Obnoxious it
was, and could not be otherwise. Il recognized
slavery as a national institution, and made every
man a slave hunter. Parties in Congress were
di^'ided upon the question. Democrats and Whigs
supported the measure, and Democrats and A^"higs
voted against it.

Franklin Pierce was nominated for President.
lie was a New England man, and had not l>een
especially prominent in pul)lic aflairs. The plat-
form ui)on which he was placed was plausible and
appeared conciliatory. I had faith in the candidate
and voted for him. Jiut as soon as he was inau-

22

gnrated, he gave evidence that he was only a pliant
tool in the hands of the Southern slave-holders,
who made every other issue and interest sul^servient
to their peculiar in>titution. Durina" his adminis-
tration, the jNlissouri Compromise Act was repealed
and the troubles in Kansas occurred. The South
w as determined that Kansas should be a slave state,
and the North was ecjually determined that it should
be free. There was a reign of violence there, and
all law and order were trampled under foot. The
elections were controlled by people from the neigh-
boring slave state of Missouri, who were not resi-
dents, but came for the sole purpose of controlling
the elections in the interest of the slave-holders.
During this contest, President Pierce was in full
accord with the South, and prostituted his high
office to fui-ther their schemes. He characterized
the lormation of a free state government in Kansas
as an act of rebellion. But it a\ as all to no purpose.
The tiat had gone forth from the millions of the free
North that Kansas should be fiee and a free state it
became. The re})cal of the ^Missouri compromise,
the troul)k^s in Kansas and the intensely })ro-slavery
attitude of President Pierce, created great excite-
ment throughout the country, and it rc(]uired no
prophetic vision to foretell that the old parties must
soon break up and give place to other two great
parties, l)etween which the slavery question would
be the paramount issue. The enforcement of the
fiiiiiti\(' slave law uas resisted l)v lar^e numlicrs in

23

the iVoo states, and •• undei'iiround " railways hy
which fiiiiitivos fVoiii the f^outh were aided in
leaehiiig Canada, were known to exist in nearly
every free state. The anti-Slavery or Abolition party
wliieh at tirst was eharaeterized as a hand of fanatics
and disoruanizers, and was looked uj)()n Avith eon-
tempt hy holh the old parties, had now assinned
larire i)ro[)orti()ns. They had eminent re})resenta-
ti\es in hoth branches of Congress, and some of the
ablest men in the conntry had joined their ranks.

Meantime, a new element had entered into the
politii-s of the State of Maine which for a time over-
sha(h)wc(l all other issnes. This was the Maine
Li(jnor Law is.-ue. in 1S")1, the ]\hiine Legisla-
ture };as.scd a law for the su])})ressi()n of driidvinu'
houses and ti})pling shojis. The legislature was
Democratic in its make-up, but theie was a large
1 umber of \\ higs and a good s|)rinkling of Free-
soilerselei ted. In In.'jO, the Fieesoil candidate for
(loverner in Maine, polled over seven thousand
votes. The i)r()hil)itory law was bitterly o])posc(l by
the leading l)enu)cratic nu'Uibers and l)v a few of the
^\'higs. l)ut it was jiassed In both branches, signed
by (iovernor IIul)bard, and became a law of the
State, (xovcn'uor IIubl)ard. accoiding to Democratic
usage, was ('ntitle<l to a re-election, but when the
convention was held, he was opposed by the anti-
Afaiiu' Law element of his ])arty. and after his
nomination this element met in couNcntion and
nominated an anti-Maine Law candidate which

24

resulted in the defeat of Governor Hubbard. This
year the Freesoil party polled less than two thousand
votes, most of the Freesoilers voting for Hubbard
in order to sustain the Maine Law. In 1853, the
Maine Law men held a convention and nominated
a candidate of their own. This year, the new
party polled about eleven thousand votes, and the
following year, having nominated the same candi-
date, they gave him nearly forty-iive thousand
votes and they not polling (juite enough to elect
him, he was elected by the Legislature. The effect
of the contest over the Maine Liquor Law, was to
break party lines, to bring together those who
thought alike under a new and powerful organiza-
tion, which in 1856, became national and took the
name of the Republican party. This party in Maine
was committed to prohi])ition of the li(|Uor traffic,
and to opposition to slavery extension. In its hrst
campaign under the new^ name, its candidate for
Governor polled nearly seventy thousand votes and
was elected Governor by a large majority. The
Freesoilers had no separate organization this year,
and the Whigs only polled a small vote. In 1857,
there was no Whig candidate for Governor, and
the Republican majority was nearly twelve thousand.
In the national issue of 1856, the two candidates
for the presidency were James Buchanan, Demo-
cratic, and John C. Freemont, Re})ul)lican. The
contest was a very exciting one. The New Fng-
land and most of the Northern and Western stales.

25

voted for Frocinont electors, but the South was
solid for Buc'haniUi, and he was elected, securinii"
174 electoral votes, to 114 for Freemont ; ]Millard
Fillmore, the Whig candidate, secured only eight
electoral votes.

With the campaign of ISoG, the tirst national
campaign of the Ke[)u1)lican party, I was in full
accord, both upon state issues which involved the
re-enactment of the Maine law which the Democrats
the year previous had repealed, and upon the
national question which involved the further exten-
sion of slaver3^ The result of that campaign has
already ))een told. Mr. Buchanan's administration,
like that of his predecessor, was characterized In'
weakness and indecision. Like his predecessor, he
yielded implicit obedience to the slave oligarchy
which had given him the otKce. During his admin-
istration, the troubles in Kansas continued. John
Brown made his famous demonstration at Harper's
Ferry and was captured and hung, and toward its
close, the secession movement began. Mr. Buch-
anan had no word of censure for the South, but
attril)uted the cause of the trou])le to Northern agi-
tation of the slavery question, contending that
Congress had no power to force into submission a
seceding or seceded state. His othcial acts encour-
aged secession, and his subordinates made every
preliminary provision to make it successful. The
Secretary of War dismantled all the Xorthcrn arse-
nals, and transferred the ordnance storesto the South,
2

26

and the Secretary of the Treasury used up all the
available funds of the government, and had not a
dollar to transmit to his successor.

The contest for the presidency in 1<S()(), was a
quadrangular one. The Republicans nominated
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, the Democratic con-
vention nominated Stephen A. Douglass of the same
state, while those who intended to secede in case
the Republican party should succeed, which seemed
quite probable, put in nomination John C. Breck-
enridge of Kentucky. The "Constitutional Whig"
})arty nominated John Bell. Upon the residtofthe
campaign hung mighty issues, and it was one of
the most exciting in the history of the government.
Abraham Lincoln was elected, having secured 180
electoral votes, to 72 for Preckenridge, 39 for Bell
and 12 for Douglass. John Bell of Tennessee was
nominated by the anti-Lecompton Democrats, the
''know-nothings," and the old line AVhigs. JNlr.
Lincoln's election was so decided as to remote all
doubt as to what was the intention of the pe(H)Ie of
the L^nited States u})on the slavery que.-tion, and
the South began to make ])reparations for carrying-
out their threats of secession. As soon as the
result became known, drunnning and drilling began
all over the South. South Carolina was the first
state to declare herself out of the Tnion, and others
followed, until the whole South was arrayed against
the general government.

The conception and aninms of the slave-holders'
relx'llion, and pr()l)ably some of its j)lans had ex-

27

isted for many years, l)ut it-? initial point or Ix'oin-
ninjj- may be placed at the tifth day of Octol)er,
eioliteen hundred and sixty. It had smouldered
loni>- and had broken out at least on two occasions,
but it was at the date alcove named that it took form
and its organization was begun. It was on that
day that the Governor of South Carolina, a state
which had lono; manifested a spirit of disloyalty to
the national government, sent by the hand of a
special messenger, a contidential communication to
the governors of what were generally denominated
the Cotton States. The object of this circular
letter was to obtain an interchange of o})inions
which he might be at lil)erty to submit to some of
the leading citizens of South Carolina. He assured
the governors that as soon as it should become cer-
tain that a majority of Lincoln delegates htid been
chosen, the state of South Carolina would call a
convention, and in case a single state should secede
from the Union, his oavu state would sj^eedily follow.
And should no other state take the initiative. South
Carolina would take the lead, if she could be
assured that other states would follow. He advised
concert of action and sought for information as to
the disposition and proposed action of other states.
Other states Avere not long in responding. North
Carolina being the tirst. The answer of the Govern-
or of this state was quite conservative, lie stated
the election of Lincoln, taken by itself would not
be considered a sutiicicnt cause for disunion and

28

that his .state would })r()l)al»ly not call a convention.
Alabama responded that she would not secede alone
but would declare herself out of the Union if two
other states would go out with her. Mississi})pi
was ripe for the movement and ready to co-operate.
Louisiana hesitated, and the Governor responded
that he should not advise secession and did not
think his state would decide in favor of it. Georgia
would wait for some overt act. Florida, after the
lapse of a month, responded enthusiastically for a
disrupture of the union of the states.

It was thus demonstrated that outside of South Caro-
lina and Florida, the rebellion at this time was l)y no
means a po})uIar movement, but was a cons})iracy
among certain iire-eating politicians, Avhich the
masses (f the people neither desired nor expected,
l)ut which they were e^•entually made to support
and upliold l)y the artful schemes of these same
conspiring politicians. South Carolina had long
been the school of treason, and the writing of the
letters to other states was only a matter of form,
for before the answers were received, the consulta-
tion which they asked for had been held and the
plans for insurrection and revolution fully agreed
ujjon. ^fo the legislature which had l)een elected
in ()ctol)er, and was called together in special ses-
sion Governer Gist, on the fifth of Noveml)er sent
a revolutionary message, this being the first official
notice of insurrection and revolution. From this
time evervthino- was manaoed in a manner to

29

mcroa.se the revolutionaiy furor. The Icaishitiire
of South Carolina ordered a convention, made larue
a])i)ro})riation8 and })a.ssed ]n\h for or<ianizin<>- and
e(]ui})i)ing- the ndlitia ; companies were enrolled in
all the i)rincipal cities ; there were constant drills,
harrangues, bonfires, the disi)lay of secession liags,
cockades, and nothing was left undone calculated
to arouse the popular furor. A new Governor was
elected of a still more pronounced secession type,
and at a convention begun on the seventeenth day
of December, first at Columbia, and afterward by
adjournment, at Charleston, a so called ordinance
of secession was passed on the twentieth, a little
after noon.

It is not within the scope of this work to follow
minutely the })rogress of the secession movement
from this time forward to the beginning of the
great sanguinary struggle which followed the inaugu-
ration of President Lincoln. SufKce it to say that
the secession of South Carolina was followed by that
of all the Cotton States and not only of these but
of Virginia and others. The conspiracy had also
established itself in the highest official circles of the
national administration. Three Southern meml)ers
of the cabinet became ardent and active disunionists,
besides a large num])er of subordinate officials who,
regardless of their oaths of office, lal)ored to the
best of their al)ility to })romote the success of the
c()n!>})ira(y . In the hands of such men, President
Buchanan who had become old and enfeebled in

30

health, was conplclely i)()werle8s. A feeble eflbrt
was made to re-enforce and sup})ly the gavri.son in
Fort Sumter, l)ut the vessel earryinir relief was
tired upon and oblioed to turn back without accom-
plishing her object.

The national ca[)ital was a hotbed of secession,
and treason stalked o})enly and unrebuked through
the streets in broad day-light, liuchanan tried to
arouse himself a little, Imt the members of his cal)-
inet were all traitors, and he had no more power
to act than a dead man, and in fact he was })racti-
ally dead. Some etf'ort was made by Congress to
avert the coming storm. A Peace Congress assem-
bled at Richmond, Va., on the day of the meeting of
the legislature of that state. Among the mend)ers
was Hon. Lot ]M. Aforrill, United States Senator
fnnn Maine. Several pro])ositions were oti'ered and
discussed, but nothing was acomplished.

The new rebel government proceeded to seize
and ai)i)ro})riate all the property of the United
States government in the seceded states. This
included all the custom houses, post otiice buildings,
forts, ai'senals, store-houses, ordnance and ordnance
stores, the sul)-treasury and the mint. As the time
drew near for President Buchanan to retire from
office the Southern members of his cabinet and the
heads of departments, began to sneak away from
Washington, and the officers of the regular army
whose sym})athies were with secession, left their
comnuinds and went South, The convention for

31

the organization of the rel)el g()^•e^nnlent was called
to meet at jMontuoniciy, Alabama, on the fourth of
February when Jctferson Davis Avas chosen presi-
dent, and Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president.

Abraham Lincoln left his home in Springiield,
Illinois, on the eleventh of February, accompanied
by a few friends, for AYashington. I'hrough the
Western states, also through Indiana, Ohio and
Pennsylvania, he was everywhere received with the
honor due to the President-elect ot a great and free
})eople. At Philadelphia he assisted in the raising
of a United States flag over Independence Ilail, on
which occasion he made a very impressive speech.
As he drew near the line which se})arated the slave
from the free states, there was a decided change in
the treatment he received.

The secession element was very strong in Balti-
more, and the })apers of that city had articles cal-
culated to incite tumult and mob violence. It had
l)een openly threatened that Mr. Lincoln should
not live to be inaugurated, and there is no doubt
that his assassination had been decided upon. But
by secretly taking a, train on the evening of Feb-
ruary 22, the day before he was expected to leave,
he passed through Baltimore unknoAvn and unsus-
pected, and on the morning of the twenty-third,
reached Washington. This ste[) was taken on the
advice of his friends and against his own wishes,
but subsecjuent develo})ments showed it to have
been the part of wisdom. He was inaugurated and

32

assumed the duties of his office on the tbuith of
March, l)ut instead of a united government to
uphold and sustain him in his res})onsil)h' (hities, he
stood face to face with another self-constituted
aovernment, holdinu' })()sitions and maintaining
assumi)ti()ns so palpahly and diametrically opposed
to his own, as to necessitate an earlv collision.

BELLUM.

Foi-t Sumter was an important defensive work in
the harbor of Charlcstown, South Carolina, and was
connnanded l)y Major Robert Anderson of the
reguhir army. After the re]:>els had seized the
government property inCharlestown and elsewhere,
Major Anderson, to avoid a eollision left his (juar-
ters in Fort Moultrie, and with his small force,
retired to Fort Sumter. This was on the night
of December 26, I860. On the fifth day of Jan-
uary, following, the steamer Star of the West left
New York with supplies and re-enforcements for the
beleaguered fort. A dispatch from New York was
immediately sent by secession sympathizers to the
ai^thorities at CHiarleston, informing them of the
sailing of the vessel, its destination and object.
When the Star of the West reached Cliarleston
harbor and attempted to steam toward the fort, she
was tired upon by Fort Moultrie and a battery on
Morris Island, and being struck by a shot, without
connnunicating with Major Anderson, she returned
to New York.^ This was the first hostile gun. On
the eleventh of April, the surrender of the fort was
demanded by General lieauregard, and on its refusal
by the patriotic and heroic Anderson,lire was opened

34

upon it on the twelfth. To man the fort he hud
less than u Inindi'ed men, and only a few guns that
were in a condition to bo used. Besides he was
short of su})})lies of every kind. He made a man-
ful resistance and surrendered only when he could
no longer hold it. flis surrender was made on the
thirteenth, and on the fourteenth, he marched out
with colors tiying. The fort was re})aired by the
rebels, and formed the chief defence of C^harlestown
until the close of the war.

The news of the attack and surrender of Fort
Sumter was inunediately flashed over the country,
and created intense excitement. There was iiulig-
nation in the North which found exju-ession in words
and deeds, and there was (exultation at the South
that the ball had been put in motion, and that the
first victory, though a barren one, was in favor of
the confederacy.

On the fifteenth day of A})ril, the day succeeding
the surrender of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln
issued a ])roclamati()n calling forth the; militia of the
several states, to the mnnl)er of seventy-five thou-
sand men, to be used in the su})pression of the
rebellion and to cau>e the laws to ])e duly executed ;
and also calling an extra session of Congress on the
fourth day of July. This })roclamati()n was received
with general appro\al throughout the free states,
though there were those in every town and com-
nmnity, ^vho sympathized with the South, and who
opposed the coercion back into the Union, of the

35

seceded states. Under this })r()el:iiiiati()ii, one
re<i"inient of infant ly was assigned as the (juota of
Maine.

Not nuieh had l)een done in Maine for many
years toward kee})inu" up the militia. There were
a few companies scattered over the State, which
were officered and some of them were quite pro-
ficient in drill. The Norway' Light Infantry was
the only one in Oxford county, and this was not
officered with any view to active service. This was
the first company to respond to the call of the Gov-
ernor of Maine. Some of its officers having-
resigned, others were ai)})ointed and the ranks
were speedily filled by volunteers from Norway and
the adjoining towns. Quite a large proportion of
the men, and all the officers, were from Norway.
This com})any was assigned to the First Maine
Regiment, went into camp for a short time in Port-
land, and then was ordered to AVashington. Its
term of enlistment was three months, and it re-
mained in the vicinity of the capital during that
time. At the first battle of Bull Uun, it was
ordered to the front, hut the order was counter-
manded l)efore the regiment had started.

At the opening of the "War of the Rebellion, I
was a single man, engaged in the })ractice of med-
icine at Bryant's Pond. I was then thirty-three
years of age, and in the enjoyment of good health.
A year ])revi()us my office had l)een burned, destroy-
iuir mv librarv, medical and suroical instruments

36

jind implements, my stock of medicines, my wear-
ino- ap})arel except what I had on at the time, and
all my private ])apers. There was no insurance,
and the loss was a severe one. I was recovering
somewhat from the shock when the war broke out,
and was achieA^ing a good degree of success in my
profession. I had lieen a strong partisan in the
campaign that resulted in the election of Lincoln,
and I believed that when the overthrow of the gov-
ernment over which he had been called to preside,
Avas threatened, it Avas my duty as well as that of
others, to rally to his sup})ort.

The Legislature of Maine had been called to-
gether by the Governor on the sixteenth of April,
and a large majority Avere enthusiastic in support
of the general government. An act Avas passed
])r()viding for raising ten regiments of infantry, and
authorizing a loan of a million dollars. The lirst
regiment Avas mustered in for three months and
the second for two years. The second Avas
from the eastern })art of the State, Avhile the
first Avas from the central and western portions.
As soon as the legislature had made })rovision for
raising troops, I went to Augusta and took out
enlistment papers, the lirst given to a citizen of
Oxford county. Governor Washlnirn advised me
not to try to recruit a company, but said he Avould
appoint me assistant surgeon of some regiment, the
first opi)ortuiiity ; and, said he, "you may con-
sider yourself the same as appointed if you desire

37

such a po.sition and will take it." But this tlid not
exactly suit my puri)ose. I had talked war iu the
town where I lived, and expressed myself deter-
mined to take a hand in it. I had l)()arded for
some years at a hotel ke})t I)y two Democrats. We
were good friends enouiih in otlier respects, but
diflered widely in i)olitics. In speaking of going
into the army, they had told me that I should
really sacrifice nothing hy going ; that I would go
in my profession ; woidd not he exposed to dan-
ger, and would really he professionally l)enetited
by the experience I should have. It was largely
on account of this talk which had been repeated
again and again, that I determined to go in some
different capacity than my profession.

I received the recruiting papers and returned to
Bryant's Pond. Notice was given through the
Oxford Democrat, and by posters, and men came
in about as fast as I could enroll them. In a tew
days I had two-thirds of a company in canij), and
it became necessary that they should l)e drilled.
I had never had any ex})erience in military affairs,
and not one who had been enlisted was com})etent
for a drill-master. In this emergency, I made
arrangements with Moses Houghton of Greenwood
who had l)een a ca})taiii in the old militia, to take
charge of the company. He could not do this
without compensation, and so we arranged that he
should ])e elected captain and fill that position
until the regiment should be ready for muster into

38

United States service, when he was to retire, and
I was to succeed him. Mr. Hotiuliton was ])assed
middle life, and his health had Ix'come so imi)aired
that he did not think it [)rudent for hhn to yo into
active service at the front. Meantime, I com-
menced drilling and the stndy of tactics, and was
preparing myself to assume command of the com-
})any, at the time agreed u])()n. A full com])any
had been raised and reported, and we were daily
expecting to he ordered into cam|) in Portland.
But the response had been more general than it was
supposed it would he, and after the compk'ment of
the six regiments which the general go\'ernment
wouhl accept from Maine had been made u}),
eighteen full companies, including the one I had
recruited at I^ryant's Pond, were, in accordance
with general orders, ])aid oH' and nnistcred out of
the State service. Tliis was a great disappoint-
ment to many, and not a few Avere thoroughly
disgusted. I believed it to l)e i)remature, and sub-
sequent events justified that belief. I had become
convinced that the South was thoroughly in earnest,
that her resources had been greatly underrated,
and that a protracted and sanguinary contest would
be necessary for a restoration of the Union. It
was not long before there was another call for
troo[)s. The battle of Bull Run had been fought,
the Union troops defeated and had been driven
back into the d(»fences of Washington. The gigan-
tic character of the strui>gle now beuan to be

39

appreciated, and every loyal state was s])eedily ))iit
upon a war footinii'. Duiina- the summer and fall,
Maine reiriments were oriianizcd from the First to
the Fifteenth. Six batteries of Light Artillery
were also raised, and a full regiment of Cavalry.
The First Maine, which was nuistered out early in
August, was reorganized as the Tenth.

After my disapp(»intment at not going into one
of the early regiments, I was in no hurry to re-
enlist. My interest in the contest, however, was
unabated, and I ex[)ected to have a part in it before
it was over. But there was no lack of men during
the tirst year of the war. Regiments were s})eedily
tilled, and when organized, there were always more
than the number required. I had a father and
mother somewhat advanced in years who had for
several years de})ended almost entirely upon me
for their support. Two of my brothers had en-
listed, and after the tirst iiery ardor had abated, I
determined to wait until my services should be
needed. I remained at Bryant's Pond during the
summer. I had enlistment pa[)ers all tlie time,
and during the season recruited a good many men.
Late in the autunm of 18(U, (Governor Washburn
sent for me to go to Augusta, to assist in looking
after the sick of the ditferent regiments in camp at
that i)lace. There was some trouble and delay
al)out the ap])ointment of a surgeon of the Fif-
teenth Maine Regiment, and I was tirst assigniMl to
duty as acting surgeon of that regiment. 1 at-

40

tended the morninii- call^; and })re^icril)cd for the
sick for two or three Aveeks, when a h*ariieon and
assistant Avere appointed, and I Avas relieved.
AVinthro}) Hall had been titted up as a tem})orary
general hospital and put in charge of Dr. Seth
C. Hunkins, and at his re(|uest I Avas assigned to
duty there. There Avere then three regiments of
Infantry, one of CaA'alry and scA-eral batteries of
Light Artillery in camp in Augusta, and there was
a large amount of sickness. Measles had broken
out, and the hosi)ital Avas very soon over-crowded
Avith those stricken down with the disease. The
first attacks were not unusually severe, but many
insisted on returning to their (juarters on account
of the crowded condition of the h()S})ital, before
having tully recovered. They had -Sibley tents for
(juarters, and the cold became very severe. Those
who had returned pi'ematurely to their quarters,
generally had a rela})sc, and Avere sent back to
Winthro}) Hall Hosi)ital to die of jMieumonia. 1
cannot tell how many died, l»ut there were se\eral
deaths each day for several days.

I remained in Augusta until s})ring, when the
troojis left for the front, and I returned to Bryant's
Pond. During the season of 1862, four regiments
of three years men Avere recruited and sent out of
the State. I received j^ermission and papers to
recruit i)art of a com})any for the Sixteenth INIaine
Kegiment, and Avas to have a connnission. I took
my men to Augusta, Init so many commissions had
been promised tliat I Avas again left out.

THE TWENTY-THIRD MAINE
REGIMENT.

During the summer of 18(52, the Peninsular eam-
paign proved a faihire and the army of the Poto-
mac retreated to James river. General Pope then
took connnand and was badly defeated in what was
known as the second battle of Bull Run which was
fought Aug. 30th. The President called for trooi)S
to serve for nine montiis and ^Nlaine wtis called
upon to furnish eight regiments. The Twenty-
third Maine was raised in Oxford and Androscog-
oin counties and went into camp near Portland
early in September. They were here in camp
wdien the battle of Antietam was fought Septem-
ber 17th. A large numl)er of personal friends
joined this regiment so I went to Portland and
enlisted as a private on the quota of Paris. Soon
afterward, I was appointed l)y Col. V\'n\. W.
Virgin, connnissary sergeant, tmd had quarters with
the non-conmiissioned statf. My messmate was
Sanuiel R. Carter, a lawyer from Paris Avho had
l)een appointed quartermaster sergeant. The (juar-
termaster was A^^illiam P>ray of Turner. Company
F of this regiment was made uj) of (luotas from
Paris, Rumford, Dixtield, and some other smaller

42

tonus. Horace X. liolstcr ot" Paris was coiiiiuis-
sioncd captain, .Joseph II. Al)l>ot ot" Ivunitonl, tirst
lieutanant and (too. M. Park, second lieutenant.
When the time came for nuisterin<>- the reuinient
into the United States ser\ice, for some cause never
explained, T^ieutenant Park declined to he nnistered
and there was therefore, a vacancy in Company F,
Solomon C. Bolster, l)rother of the captain, was
orderly sergeant and tirst in the line of jjromotion.
But Quartermaster Bray desired to have his brother
a])pointed commissary seru'eant, and the only way
that this ould be accomplished was to provide
some other place for me. This vacancy nave him
the desired op[)ortunity and he at once set about
getting me into it. He consulted with and gaini^d
over the colonel before ap])roaching me on the
su1)ject. A\'hen he and the colonel })resented the
matter to me, I hesitated. Although enlisted on
the (juota of Paris, I was fnmi the town of lA^ood-
stock, and the (juota from Woodstock had united
witli that from Turner. I knew thtit Sergeant
Bolster Avaiited and expected })rom()tion, and as he
was very popular with the men, I felt that if forced
u})on the com})any without its consent, the place
might 1)6 made uncomfortable for me. I very soon
learned however, that a respectable number of the
rank and tile of the company were not particular
about having the place given to Bolster, and were
willing it should go in ^ some other direction.
When it became known that an elfort was being

43

uiadc to have inc apjjoiiitcd, (fiitc a iuniil)er ciune
to me and desired me to aecept, if ai)p()inted. The
ofiieers l)()tli eommissioiied and non-eommissioned,
l)itterly opposed me, and sent a strong })etition to
Governor Washburn in favor of 15olster. But
Governor AVashburn had previously written me that
he would appoint me if I would aecejjt, and finally,
at the earnest solieitation of Quartermaster l^ray
and others, I wrote the Governor that I would
aeecpt the })Osition. The hostility to me in the
eompany manifested itself in various ways. So
marked was it, that 1 did not mess with the officers
until about the time we were ordered to Washing-
ton. Emmons, the eompan^^ cook, was my friend,
and so 1 did not go hungry. Lieutenant Abl)ot
did not remain long in the service. Soon after the
rei»:iment reached the Potomac, he was taken sick
and sent in his resignation which was promptly
accepted. 1 was then })rom()ted to first lieutenant
and Sergeant Bolster to second lieutenant. This
was satisfactory to all parties, and [)eace and har-
mony prevailed in the com})any from that time.
The company as finally made up Avas as follows :

Captain — Horace X. Bolster.

First Lieut — Wm. B. Lapham.

Second Lieut — Solomon C Bolster.

Fikst Sergeant — James H. Barrows, Paris.

Sergeants — Elery F. Goss, Riris ; Oscar M.
Tucker, Peru; Joseph P. Packard, Paris; Olcott
B. Poor, Andover,

44

Corporals — Daniel II. Voiiiig, Paris; J^cwis B.
Newton, Andover ; Aurotstu.s S. Pcrliain, Paris;
Gill)oi-t E. Shaw, Paris ; Horace Iloliiian, Dixticld ;
Geo. H. Barrows, Paris ; Edward E. Stevens,
Rumford.

Promoted Corporals — Hazen M. Al)bot, Rum-
ford ; Marion Ilolinan, Dixtield ; Hiram 11. Jack-
son, Paris; Henry A. Ryerson, Paris; John F.
Libl>y, Dixtield.
Promoted Sergeant — Aurestus S. Perhani, Paris.

MusiCLVNs — Geo. W. Younu", Paris; Daniel D.
Delano, Peru.

Wagoner — Joseph Brown, Milton plantation.

I'IMVATES.

Bennet, John P., Xewry

Berry, William, Greenwood

Bessee, Isaac R., Paris

Bird, John M., Paris

Brickett, Henry F., Andover

Cole, Geo. W., Jr., Paris

Cununings, Isaac D., "

Cummings, John C, "
Dunham. Chas. W.,

Dunham, James P., "

Eastnnin, Holland F., Dixtield

Emmons, Israel F., Greenwood

Farrar, All)ert A., Paris

Farrar, Granville M., "

Foster, Lysander P., Peru

Frost, Samuel B., Xewry

45

Giles, Dexter,
Giles, Geo. W.,
Goodwin, Joel,
Goodwin, Sanniel,
Golder, Xathan I).,
Gray, Wm. L.,
Gurney, Mctov,
Holnian, Asa,
Hohnan, Fairtield Jr ,
Ilolnian, Horace,
Hopkins, Isaac W.,
Howe, Charles F.,
Jackson, Lewis L.,
Jackson. Samuel C,
Knight, Hiram P.,
Kniuht, Hudson,
Lang, Wm. P.,
Lufkin, Chas. A. E.,
Martin, AVintield S.,
Merrill, John E.,
Mitchcl, Shnon D.,
Morey, Ainsworth W.,
Morton, Charles H.,
:\Iorton, Milton,
Morse, Joseph H.,
Newton, John 1).,
Poland, James P>.,
Porter, John,
Pratt, Edwin P.,
Richardson, Calvin,

Paris

Rumford

Byron
Paris

Dixfield

Rumford
Paris

Rumford

Paris

Byron

Rumford

Andover

Paris

((

Andover
Peru
Paris

a

Greenwood

46

Segar, Jiirvis M., Rumford

Seveiy, Ebon 1)., Dixticld

Smith, Andrew J., Paris

Stevens, Wm. F., Kuniford

Stiles, Enoch D., (Ireenwood

Swift, Chandk'r, J*jiris

Twitehell, (ieo. IL,

Tueker, Hannibal S., Peru

Viro-iu, Chas. K., Ivuniford

\'iroin, Geo. J).,

Virgin, ,James ]\r., '<

AValker, Cahd) E.,

Walker, Geo. E., Paris

Warren, Daniel C, DixHeld

Winslow, Andrew,

Woodis, ^^'nl., Paris

Youiii:-. Freeliind, "

DIED WHILE I\ THE SEltVICE.

Eewis P). Xewlon, NoAeinher 2, 1<S()2 ; Levi X.
lionney, October 24, 1<S()2 ; Silas F. Jones, Novem-
ber 12, 18(52 ; Isaac E. Bessee, l)eceml)er 17, 1<S()2 ;
L'ysander P. Foster, January 24, 1K()3.

DISCTIAKOED FOIJ DISAl'.ILITY.

rioseph P.Packard, January 11, l<S(!o; Daniel
D. Delano, February 2, 18G3 ; John P. Pennett,
March f), 18G3; Hiram P. Knight, Decenil)er 18,
1802: AVilliam Woodis, Fel)ruarv 3, I8(;;j.

47

I!j:tui;ned to the uanks.
George AV. Youiiu', Joseph Brown, Daniel II.
Young.

The reeruits for the regiment began to gather at
tiie rendezvous in Poitland early in Septemher.
The Twenty-tifth and T\vent\'-seventh Maine Reg-
iments oeeupied part of the same eneampment.
The regiment was nuistered into United States
service Se})teml)er 2nth, 18(x2, to serve for nine
months.

FIELD AM) STAFF.

Wm. AVirt Virgin, Colonel : Enos. T. Luce,
Lieut. Colonel; Alfred B. Soule, Major; AVinthrop
II. Hall, Adjutant; William Bray, Quartermaster;
Jesse P. Sweat, Surgeon ; Kiehard K. Ricker,
Assistant Surgeon ; J()se}>h C. Snow, Chaplain ;
Ivoyal E. AVhitman, Sergeant jNIajor ; Sanuiel R.
Crocker, (Quartermaster Sergeant ; A\'m. B. Lap-
ham, Commissary Sergeant; Ste})hen B. Kenney,
Hospital Steward; Wm. AV. Eoss, Drum Major ;
Robert AL Sykes, Eife Major.

Before leaving the State, A\'illiam B. Lapham
was commissioned second lieutenant of Company E,
and Philip P>ray was appointed commissary ser-
geant. The only changes in the Eield and Staff
during the term ot service was the resignation of
Dr. Richard R. Ricker, January 2, l<S(i8, and the
a})})()intment of Dr. William C. Towle as his suc-
cessor, the })romoti()n of Adjutant AVinthrop H.

48

Hall to be Captain of Coiii})any B, and the })n)nio-
tion of Henry A. Noreross, Second Lientenant of
Company A to be Adjutant.

After nuister into the United States service and
while in camp in Porthmd, drilling both comi)any
and reii'imental, was the order of the day. Colonel
\'iriiin had been a militia captain, and was well ii|)
in the tactics, while J^ieutenant (\>lonel Luce made
u[) in enthusiasm and })erseverance what he at tirst
lacked in practical knowledge, and soon l)ecanie a
very etficient otHcer. In pleasant weather, there
was compan\' drill in the forenoon and battalion
(bill in the afternoon every week day. There
was daily })rcscnt, a large number of visitors,
mostly relatives and friends of the soldiers, and
the enlisted men were (juite frecjuently ])ernntted
to visit the city. My duties until nuistered as
lieutenant, consisted in dealing out rations to the
men, consisting of fresh beef, dessicated potatoes,
salt pork, beans, hard bread and sometimes soft
l)read, lodging with the (|uartermaster sergeant and
taking my meals with the cook of C()mi)any F.
Abner F. Jackson of Norway received the a})point-
ment of sutler of the regiment, and had his (|ua,rters
erected and opened for business before the regi-
ment was mustered in. He drove a thriving trade
while the troops were in Portland, and had for
customers many from other regiments.

About the middle of October Colonel \'irgin
received onUns for the regiment to break camp and

49

proceed to Washington. I was mustered in as
Second Lieutenant of Company F on tlic 14tli of
October, and wlien orders to go to Wasliington
came, I was with that company. Tliere was great
interest to Ivuow where we were to be sent after
reaching AVashington, l)ut we could only speculate.
The camp was full of rumors. Some said that we
were to join a secret expedition against some South-
ern stronghold ; others that the department of the
Gulf was our destination. Still others were certain
that we were to go to swell the ranks of the Army
of the Potomac. On the 18th of October we struck
our tents and started for the National Capital. For
two or three days, the camp had been thronged
with visitors who had come to bid the soldier boys
goodbye. There were fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters, wives and sweet-hearts, and many a pathetic
scene was enacted in and around the encam[)ment.
But the boys l)raced up and ^vhen orders came to
"fall in," it was promptly done, and the regiment
moved out with driuns beating, colors flying, and
many of the men singing "John Brown." Our
mode of conveyance was by rail to Boston and Fall
River, thence by sound steamer to Jersey City.
Arriving in Philadelphia, the regiment was pro-
vided with a hot dinner, and received words of
good cheer from the patriotic men and women who
served it. The patriotism of Philadelphia was
unbounded all through the war, and no Eastern
regiment could pass through the city without i)ar-
3

50

taking of its l)()untics. The next place of note
after leaving Phila(lel})liia, was Baltimore, a hot-
bed of secession when the war broke out and long-
after. But the rebellious sjiirit was held in check
l)y the constant presence of troo})s, and no hostile
demonstration was made after the Hrst few months
of the war. The steam cars did not then as now,
pass through the city, Init the cars were drawn
through l)y horses from station to station situated
at the two extremes of the city. There were knots
of people along the street through which we
marched, and there were angry and vicious looks,
showing that the rel)cl spirit was still there, but we
kept closed ranks and had no fears of being mo-
lested. We reached Washington in the early
twilight Monday, and remained at the station of
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad a long time, before
Ave were instructed where to pitch our tents. It
was with great difficulty that any one could be
found who could give us information, and no
one seemed to know what was to be done with
us. We tinally marched a shoil distance from
the railroad, in the suburl)s of the city and
were shown 1)arracks on low damp ground which
Avas covered with the dirt and litter of other
reaiments. We got very little sleep that night and
the next morning were much jaded out. During
the day Ave received orders to go into cam]:) on
Capitol hill, and drew our tents which we ])itched
in a very windy place, but whcic we had a tine

51

view of the city and .surrounding country. The
-weather was cold, the wind hiiih, and the air for
much of the time, tilled with clouds of dust. We
were on an old camping-ground, and there was hut
little turf left and altogether, it was far from a
pleasant encampment .

j\Iy tirst impressions of Washington were some-
what disappointing. It was larger than I supposed,
and it was not as thickly settled. Xothing seemed
to be finished. The Capital building was only little
more than half completed, the Washington monu-
ment was up only a few feet above the nearest
building, while the streets were tilled with nuul and
tilth. The war had been going on a year and a
half and the National Capital Nvas a great military
camp. It was environed by forts, and there were
soldiers everywhere. At the hotels, at the theatres,
and on the streets, almost everyone was dressed in
government blue, and every day one \voukl meet
army and navy officers of every grade. The
uniforms of some were new and shiny, while others
were okl and faded, showing long service in the
field.

We left Washington for Seneca Saturday not
far from noon. It was raining hard, and the march
that day was a very disagreeable one. The clayey
soil was heavy and sticky, and we were soon
drenched with water. We })assed Great Falls and
reachetl a place called Muddy Branch where we
were to camp for the night. By this time wo had

52

scarcely a dry thread in our clothing, our tents
were wet, the wood with which we tried to kindle
our tire was wet, the ground where we put up our
tents was soaked with water, and altogether, we
had a very sorr}^ time tor men not inured to the
hardships of camp life. But there was not nuu-h
complaining and the boys were generally disposed
to make the best of it. We were tired with our
sixteen mile march and turned in (juite early. I
had a very good night's rest and sleep.

The twjnty-sixth we moved up to Oft'uts' Cross
Roads, a few miles from Muddy Branch, and soon
after to Seneca where we were brigaded with the oDth
Massachu ;etts, 14th New Hampshire and lOth Ver-
mont, and called our camp " (j-rover" in honor of
our brigade commander. Col. Cuvier Grover of the
regular army, and Brigadier General of Volunteers.
Colonel Grover was the youngest son of Dr. John
Grover of Bethel and I was somewhat ac(|uainted
with him in ante bellum days. He was an accom-
plished officer, but he did not long remain with us,
l)elng wanted where the duties were more active
and responsible. After he left us. Col. Davis of
the oHth Massachus(^tts assumed command of the
brigade, though it was subse(iuently ascertained
that he was not the ranking officer, and Colonel
\"irgin assumed command. On account of the nuid
march from Washington to Muddy Branch, the
severe drenching which the men had, and it clear-
inir off cold, several were taken sick and the sur-

53

geons were ke[)t (j[iiite ha.sy. The hnirii'eou and
his assistant did not get alono- well t (gether, which
fact greatly impaired the efficiency of the medical
staff. Dr. Sweat was a skillful physician, but Avas
fre([uently ill-tempered. Dr. Kicker was a temper-
ance man, very <]uiet, fairly skillfid, but he could
not stand the aljuse of his superior and after a time
resigned. Dr. Sweat was unpopular with the uien
at large, and having been engaged in regular })rac-
tice liefore entering the service, besides having
l)een previously acquainted with many of the men,
I was often called upon to prescribe for and treat
cases in quarters. I was under uo obligation to do
this, but I could not ^vell refuse, and for several
weeks, much of my time was employed in treating
men in their cpuirters. This was not pleasing to
Dr. Sweat, but I was sustained in this work by so
many of the line officers and by Colonel Virgin,
that we had no open rupture. My extra work was
entirely gratuitous, and with my other duties, ke[)t
me constantly em[)loyed. I kept no record of cases,
l)ut from recollection and from applications I have
had for certificates in pension cases, I think I must
have treated more than a hundred i)ersons.

As before stated, Seneca is situated about twenty
miles above AVashington, on the Maryland side of
the Potomac. The land here is quite high, so that
a fine view is had of the Virginia side. At this
time, the Potomac was the northern limit of the
insurgent states, and we had no troops on the

54

\'ii'i:ini;i side in our \iciiiily. Our rcgiuR'nt w;is
soiiicwhat l)r()k('ii u\), several companies bein*:-
detached to <>uard the fords at different points. Our
si)ecial duty was to guard against raids by re)>el
cavalry conniianded by such partisans as Moseby
and A\'hite. The latter was from Maryland, and
from the same county in which we were encam[)ed.
The strictest vigilance was enjoin'^l upon us, and
yet (hiring the several months that we were in this
service, we never saw an armed rel)el soldier.
What might ha\'e been, hud we n)t been there, we
have no means of knowing. There was a large
stockade fort ab;)ut a mile above our cam]) at
Seneca, from which the view along the river was
grand. But the h;)rr()rs of war were notice;iblc
everywhere, in ruin-vl homsiteid-;, mutilated
forests and general desolation.

The boys built winter (juartcrs here, using rifted
chestnut i)lanks for walls and covering the roofs
with their shelter tents. Fire[)laoes were built of
red earth which is composed of clay and lime, and
when dried by the tire, becomes hard like brick.
They topped them out with })ieces of split chest-
nut laid cob-house fashion, and plastered outside
and in with the same red earth. It was (juite mar-
vel Ions how (juickly the men learned to adai)t
themselves to the service and make themselves
comfortable under snch varying circumstances. It
does not take the Yankees from the farms and
workshops, a great while to become good soldiers.

55

While here, Joel Perhain iimde us a visit and spent
two days with us.

Al)out this time, I received a letter from Hon.
T. A. D. Fessenden stating that a petition had l)een
tiled in the })ost office department at Washington,
asking for my removal as postmaster at Bryant's
Pond, and saying that the petition stated that I
" had gone away and left the office in charge of an
incompetent person." He closed l)y asking me
what action he should take in the matter. I
immediately laid the case before Judge Virgin,
who ad^"ised me to go to AVashington at once and
attend to it, at the same time giving me leave of
absence for ten days. An ambulance from the
regiment was going to Washington in which I took
passage. On arriving, I sought an interview with
the appointing power who advised me to remove that
irresponsible person, and appoint one that would
be responsible. I had already informed him that
the person petitioned for was the one I had placed
in charge of the office. The post office official said
it was a rule of the office that no one should suffer
by reason of having enlisted. My business thus
s})eedily and happily accomplished, I had a few
days in which to see the sights at the Capitol.
Congress was in session and from the galleries, I
had an opportunity of seeing some of the distin-
guished men of the country. In the Senate, I saw
Charles Sumner, Benjamin F. Wade, Henry Wilson,
William Pitt Fessenden and other leadinij members

56

of that branch, and in the House, Bingham, Thad
Stevens, Henry Winter Davis, Vorliees, and others.
I visited the theater where I heard Forrest, Daven-
port, the two Booths, Laura Keene, and many
other leading actors and actresses. I made calls
on Senators Fessenden and Morrill, and on Re})re-
sentatives Fessenden and Frye. The time passed
swiftly and pleasantly, and my leave of absence
being nearly up, I returned to the regiment, on a
canal boat.

While we were stationed at Oftut's Cross Roads,
I visited the headquarters of the brigade, where I
had a pleasant interview with General Grover. He
told me he expected soon to be ordered away. He
soon afterward inspected our reghuent, and I never
saw him again. He served throughout the war,
then did good service in the West at the head
of a cavalry regiment of which he was appointed
colonel, and died some years ago. He was a brave
and true man, and an honor to his town, state and
country. He left us to join Banks' Red River
ex})edition al)out the middle of Noveml)er.

About this time, it had become quite evident
that there would l)e a vacancy in the medical staff
by the resignation of Dr. Ricker and I was offered
the i)lace, and even urged to take it. Governor
Washl)urn had previously offered me such a posi-
tion, but I did not feel that there would be perfect
accord between Dr. Sweat and myself, and l)esides,
I had decided to serve as a comliatant.

57

Thursday, Deo. 2"), I wont down to Otliit's Cross
Roads to soe the siok we left behind when wo oanio
to this })laoo. I found the livino- doino- well, but
three had died. 1 also visited a family by the name
of Connell ^vitli whou] I had become ac(|iiainted.
They were nice people and had been very friendly
and helpful to the sick soldiers. Our former camp
was very near their house. On my return, I visited
a family by the name of Higgins, professionally.
He w^as a coarse, ignorant man, and probably a
rel)el at heart. I took dinner with him, the [)rinci-
pal dishes being boiled bacon and cabbage.

I made a little visit to DarnestoAvn to get a few
things for our com})any moss. It is seven miles
from camp and General Banks at one time had his
headquarters there. There were three stores, a
church, and some thirty dwelling houses, mostly in
a dilapidated condition. In the store I went into,
there was a crowd of rough looking fellows, some
of thoni gambling, some smoking and some drink-
ing. The stock in trade seemed to l)e largely com-
})osed of liquors. One man came in and bought
tive bottles of whiskey and two pounds of sugar.
On the way, I stopped at a plantation owned and
ooou})iod by John B. Dutiotf, a Frenchman. He
had a tine })Iantation of a thousand acres and his
crop of wheat was two thousand bushels. Sickness
seemed to increase, and I was kept cjuite busy
treating men in their quaiters.

There Avere some tine singers in the Lewiston
company, and often in pleasant weather they would

58

get together for a coueert. They eouUl .sing a great
variety of songs inehidiiig tiie hitest war songs.
These coneerts were very enj()3al)le.

Sometimes when I stra3"ed from the camp, I
fonnd wikl })ear trees with fruitage. Tiiough not
ecjual to best home varieties, they were a great
treat. I also gathered persinunons which were
new to me. The skin is astringent and hitter l)iit
after the frosts, the pulp is mildly acid and very
nice. The wood one meets with here is oak,
hickory, sycamore, chestnut and red cedar. There
is also pine. Oak, hickory and chestnut make
excellent fuel, but sycamore is almost incombusti-
ble. When green, it is td)solutely so, and when
dried, it is not much l)etter.

Ours was a pleasant cani})ing ground at Otfut's
Cross Roads and well sheltered. At the north was
a dense growth of pines, and south and east a tine
forest of white oak. Westward was a large tield,
smooth and dry and very convenient for drill and
parade .

Al)out thetirst of Novemljer, we heard cannonad-
ing all day in the direction of Leesburg. It was
very exciting. We afterward learned that it was a
cavalry engagement at Aldie in which the First
Maine Cavalry was engaged and in which its Col.
Doughty was killed. This was the tirst hostile
tiring Ave had heard and it seemed not far aw^ay,
though it actually was <|uite a long distance otf.

The location of cani})ing grounds and dates of
events have heretofore been a little confused in

50

those IvccoUoc-tions, lor after thirty years have
chii)sed, the exact order of events is not readily
recalled. On one occasion I made a trip from camp
to AVashinirton in a canal l)oat and took special
notice of })laces aloni>- the route. The captain of
the boat was a roui>h old Pennsylvanian who had
his wife alono- to do the cookinjr. He had two pairs
of nudes to pull the boat, two working at a time,
and the other })air when off duty had quarters on
the deck of the boat. These boats on their down-
ward tri}) were generally loaded with coal or luml)er,
and on the return, with groceries, cured tish and
other family supplies. Its rate of speed was from
two to three miles an hour, including the delay at
the locks. This trip was made in March, and
innnense tlocks of l)irds crossed, at short intervals,
from the Virginia side and passed northward on
their wtiy to New England. Xoticeal)le on the
]\Iaryland side was a large farm and house wdiich
the ca})tain informed me was 0(;cupied by the family
of a Mr. AVhite who was a relative of the guerilla
leader. There was a mixture of rebel and Union
l)eople along the Maryland side and they had a hard
time in this del)atable land. They were robbed by
both armies and obliged frecpiently to repeat "Good
Lord and Good Devil." Many of the sons of the
r(>l)el families were in Lee's army, and oftentimes
the head of the family would serve with AVhite's
guerillas. It ^vas known that they occasionally
visited their homes, arriving after dark and leaving

60

before day. Like other .sections of the South,
the farmsteads in Maryhmd are large and the houses
situated far apart. Looldng across to the Virginia
side, the vistas were scenes of extreme desohition.
There was no sign of life, and occasional stacks of
chimneys where farm-houses had been burned were
graphic monuments of devastating war. After a
time we came to the Seneca quarries. The rocky
formation is a high bluff of dark red sandstone,
deposited in layers and very easy to work.

The material for the Smithsonian Institute build-
ing at AVashington was taken from this (juarry.
Half a mile along are Seneca mills situated on a
creek of the same name. Vast (juantities of \v^";it
are here changed into flour, no small part of which
comes from the upper Potomac l)y this canal.
These mills, since the war bcran had furnished
flour for both Union and rebel soldiers, and very
likely did so again before the contest was over.
Seneca lock is the next thing to attract our atten-
tion. It was in this lock that private True of our
regiment found a watery grave. His l)ody was
found in the lock, his hands clutching his nnisket
as though his last thoughts were fixed u})on his
soldier duties. A "hotel" is hard by here, if a
place where liquors and ])oor food is dispensed and
cleanliness is dispensed with, is entitled to such a
name. In the background was the encampment of
Captain Lamb's Company G of our regiment,
occupying the same ground where a company of

61

the loth VeniiDiit spent the siimnicr. South of the
caini), on a little rise, the white headboards of the
dead Vernionters eould he seen. They lost a large
number of men here, and it is a low, suidceii,
malarious plaee. It was an important ])laee and
needed to be strictly guarded though at great
sacrifice of precious li\ es.

Laurel Hill is next passed, so called ))ecause it is
covered by a thick growth of laurel. The laurel
here is an everii'reen shrub o-vowinii* amono- the
chestmits and locusts. It is about six feet high,
covered with ovate leaves about the size oi those
of the black alder. The leaves are thick and firm,
and contain so little moisture that tlie frost does
not injure them. They are very beautiful in their
liglit green, shining foliage. The water in the
Potomac which has moved quietly along for a num-
ber of miles, here rushes over rocks and through
gorges, its surface covered with foam and its roar
heard for a long distance. Now we come to Muddy
Branch where we cani])ed the first night u[) from
Washington, and which recalls nothing pleasant.
We were here some days, and were very glad to
get away. Company B of our regiment was here
at the time of this trip, doing guard duty in this
vicinity. They had been here a long time and
were heartily sick of the place and its surroundings.
I have not spoken here of Offut's Cross Roads, our
second camping place, l)ecause it was situated back
from the river and could not be seen from the canal.

62

Passing dowinvai'd, we soon re;i:-h (livat Fulls on
the Potoniiic. Here the govenmii'nt h;ul expended
millions of dollars in eonstrueting works to furnish
a supply of water to the District of Columbia. Ah
this was their only dependence during tiie war, it
was necessary to have it strictly guarded. While
the boat was passing through the several locks, I
stepped ashore and was shown througli the works.
Passing the falls, we were sodu at Chain Bridge
and then at Georgetown, the southern termimis of
the cansd. The old boatman had his little son along
with him to whom I gave a doughnut from my
haversack. The little fellow did not know what it
was and carried it to his father for information,
which he failed to get. The old man declared that
he had never before seen anything like it. The
boy ate it after his curiosity was satisfied and, like
Oliver Twist, wanted and asked for "more."

About this time deaths were frequent in our
regiment. There was a funeral almost every day,
antl fre({uently two in one day. The measles had
been prevailing in the regiment for some time, and
the deaths generally resulted from the disease. It
first broke out in (V)nn)any C. 1 was called to see
a sick man and pronounced it measles, at which
Doctor Sweat called me a blank fool, but he soon
had to own up that I was right. Aurestus Perham
had the measles and was the special charge of
myself and Chaplain Snow. He got along very
well and did not have a relapse. The relapse was

63

what itrovcd fatal in many cases. I w:is sent to
A\"asliinLit()n with some siek men inehidim:" Iliram
P. Kniiiht of Paris wiio was to be dischai'ued. He
>v^as too frail for a soldier and never shoidd have
entered the service. Claude Twitchell was sick
and I went to see him before o-oing to Washinaton.
He was in the 14th New Hampshire, and died.

While in Washington I attended a court mar-
tial where I tirst saw General jMcClcllan. 1 was
quite disappointed in his personal ap})earance. 1
made no my mind then and there that he could not
be a very great man. At the same time, I saw
Generals Hunter, Hitchcock, Heintzelman and some
others. In the Senate, I heard Senator Morrill of
Maine reply to Powell of Kentucky in a most
scathing spee(;h. It was the gay season in AVash-
ington, and notwithstanding the impending crisis
and the discouraging state of atiairs, ])alls and
parties Avere the order of the day and night. The
city was full of officers and all the theatres and
other })laces of amusement were i)acked nightly.

December 14tli I gallo})ed across the country to
liockville, the shire town of ^Montgomery county,
to get Baltimore ])a})ers. The })lace was dirty, the
streets muddy and tilthy, and I saw l)ut few people
save negroes.

Saturday morning, December 2()th, we received
orders to leave Cam]) G rover and move to Seneca
though we did not understand we were to make a
long stay thi're. Mc broke camj) at eight o'clock

64

ill the nioriiinu', and reached our })laee ot" destination
l)ct()re niii'lit. Wi' lei't nearly a hundred and fifty
siek at the old eanij). Tuesday night I was officer
of the })icket, and as the place was new to nie, the
duties were quite difficult. I stationed pickets at
five different points, and visited each post several
times during the night. Tliree refugees came into
our lines from over the Potomac Tuesday afternoon
and were detained. They were ragged and filthy,
but hold and defiant in speech.

Friday, December 26th, Colonel Virgin had
orders to leave Seneca and march to P^dward's
Ferry, about ten miles farther up the river, and
establish head(juarters of the regiment there. Our
company and several others were to go. We had
been at Seneca only three days. We marched
Along the tow path of the canal. The day was
warm and with my blanket and overcoat strapped
upon my back and haversack on my shoulder, I
found the march (juite tedious. But the travelling
was excellent, the ground being hard and dry.
While we were on the route, at one point, a large
number of colored peo[)le, })r()bably nearly a hun-
dred came near the river and gave us a character-
istic serenade. They sang numerous negro melo-
dies, scores of both sexes joining in the chorus, and
finally l)egan to dance to the music of several of
our fifes. We stopped and Avitnessed the })erfor-
mance for nearly half an hour. It was Christmas
time and a holiday, and these people were out on

65

a lark. We reached the ferry about two o\-h)ck
in the afternoon, l)ut our tents and cam}) equn)age
which came l)y canal boat did not come u}) until
far. into the night. We borrowed a few tents from
the men of the 39th jMassachusett.s Regiment which
had l^een here some time, and managed to get along
quite Avell. This Edward's Ferry and ])laccs near
by, Conrad's Ferry, Ball's Bluff and Poolesville,
were quite familiar to me though I had not been
there before. Ball's Bluff' Av^as the scene of Union
defeat and the tragic death of the talented and gal-
lant Colonel Baker.

The officers of our company burrowed under a
stack of wheat the first night at Edward's Ferry,
and though annoyed somewhat by mice, we slept
quite well. AVe crawled out early Saturday morn-
ing, and after haying our coffee we were ready for
pitching our tents. Edward's Ferry ^vas not nuicli
of a place any way. There was one store kept by
a man named Viers, and a few old houses. There
Av^as neither ferryl)oat nor ferryman, and there was
no call for any, for all crossing the riyer was pro-
hil)ited. We laid out our camp aliout half a mile
from the ferry, on the Poolesyille road. It was
high and dry and afforded a beautiful pr()si)ect of
the surrounding country and across into Dixie.
Goose Creek empties into the riyer on the Virginia
side just below the ferry, and extends back into the
country nearly at right angles Ayitli the riyer. On
the north side of this creek mounted rebel scouts

66

were said to have been seen tVoni our encampment,
supposed to ')(' some of White's men. 1 saw none.
Most of the ])eopk' al)()ut here were known to be
secessionists, thouizh they, .too, had h'arned to say
"Good liord and (rood Devil," e(|unl to those we
left down the river. Many of the families here
furnished men for AVhite's marauders, and were in
almost constant connnunication ^\ ith the i>uei'illa
chief. White's father lived within a short distance
of our encam])ment, and rockets were sometimes
sent up from his house in t!ie niulit, doubtless as
signals to his son on the other side of the river.
Colonel A'iruin received intelliii'ence to-day (Sun-
day, Dec. 2<S) that a reuiment of rebel infantry
had been seen on the other side toward Leesburg,
and was directed to be on his guard. Colonel
Virgin w;s-; now in command of the brigade, and
Lieutenant Colonel Luce, of the regiment. All
day Sunday the men were at work l)uilding quarters
in the old way ; walls of chestnut, the interstices
tilled with mud, the chimneys of mud and the roof
of canvas.

A long tarry was looked for here. A good start
was made Sunday, and Monday night the camj)
presented a very res})ectal)le a})pearance. We
were situated in a very tine agricultural region l)ut
the farms had l)een sadly neglected during the war.
Wheat is the staple product, and it was stacked in
the tields where it was cut, or near l)y, and threshed
there. The man who owned the larae tield where

67

our camp was situated was a notorious sccossiouist,
and when his stacks of i»rain were burned, nobody
seemed to care. Such flocks of crows I never saw
anywhere, as I saw there. Millions and millions
passing and repassing somethnes ol)sc'uring the
light of the sun. We had ample room for drill
here, and improved it every fair day. Our regi-
ment had l)eeome very proficient in the manual of
arms and in ordinary iield movements. Colonel
Luce was indefatigable, and kept the men at it,
though he ^vas always genial in his intercourse with
otiicers and men. He believed it conduced to the
health of the men to take a reasonable amount of
exercise in drilling, and in this he was doul)tless
riii'ht. Besides it was the duty of officers and men
to try and render themselves proficient in every-
thing [)ertaining to the obligations of a soldier.
The line officers drilled in the manual of arms, so
that in a short time they could handle the nuisket
equally well with the privates and non-commissioned
officers. So the time passed on. We had a field
hos})ital in tents, but we ap[)ropriated a })art of a
house belonging to a widow named Fisher, situated
near our camp. Here we carried our worst cases
of measles.

Quartermaster Bray met with a singular incident
when on his way to Poolseville, Monday, January
13th. When two miles above our camp, his atten-
tion was called to a noise l)y the side of the road.
On examination, he found a nude negro l^aby lying

68

in the gm.ss, all mIoiu'. IIu took it ii[) luul curried
it to a house near by, and after some tallv with a
wench, thirteen years of a<2je, she owned that it
was hers, and took it in clitirge. The incident
caused no little merriment in camp, and Bray did
not hear the last of it for a li'ood while.

Ahout this time ( Vii:ipl;iin S!i:)w went to M:iiiie on
leave of absence. He was the bearer of many ines-
sao-es of love to friends at home from friends in
camp. January lOtli I was offic;er of the [)icket and
was away from camp three days and a h ilf. I had
with me four sergeants, six corporals and one hun-
dred i)rivatcs. These were divided into ten squ;ids
and were detached to guard as many fords on the
Potomac. The reserve, consisting of twenty men,
was stationed three miles down river from camp, at
a point opposite Young's Island. This is one of
the easiest fords on the river. AVhen we left camp,
a rain was falling, and it was (piite warm, but in
the afternoon it cleared off, and the wind l-)Iew fear-
fully for two entire days and nights. It Avas also
very cold, so that in the morning our l)l;inkets were
frozen to the ground. One day while here, I crossed
the ford, the water at no point being more than two
feet deep, and visited a plantation on the opposite
side which was deserted by all save blacks. They
were very shy at first, but soon l)ecame familiar,
and got me up a hot dinner of hoe cake and bacon.
The recent owner was in White's Company, and the
nesjroes said there was considerable coming to and

69

going from the place at night. I wa.s relieved on
the fourth day and returned to camp much jaded
out.

In addition to drill, we had frequent recitations
from the tactics. Col. Luce acted as instructor and
most of the line officers were generally present and
questioned.

While on picket one day, 1 took dinner at the
house of Mrs. JNIetcalf, who was a thorough going
Unionist. She was horn near Pennsylvania line,
and her associations in early life were with people
of northern ideas. She told me that l)efore the
liattle of Antietam, lier uncle was in the advance
of McClellan's tirmy, and as the rebels passed
through Antietam her uncle's wife, who resided
there, raised the Union flag in her doorway, but a
rebel sharp-shooter inmiediately shot it from her
hands. She raised it a second time when her hus-
band, whom she had not seen for months and whom
she was little expecting to see, came along, and
there conunenced the dreadful battle of Antietam,
which he helped to tight in his own door-yard and
in presence of his Avife and children. The wife
carried the flag from the door to an up})er a\ indow
and from there to the house-top. Her uncle fought
bravely and well he might, in defense of his loved
ones and in rheir presence.

Toward the last of January I again visited Wash-
ington in connection with the sick of the reoiment,
and returned Monday, the 27th. I visited Lincoln

70

and Enieiy Hospitals, and saw several old friends.
I was solicited before leavinu" camp to aid a soldier
named Mitchell, who had lonir heen in the hospital
at Washington, in getting his discharge. I got
the papers ready and went to the hospital, but
found that he had been dead three days. Poor
fellow I His desire to die at home, surrounded by
friends and relatives, could not be gratified.

When I returned to camp on the 27th I found
that Col. Yiroin had ijone to Baltimore to meet his
wife, who had come on with Chaplain Snow. I
also found that Lysander P. Foster of our company
had died, lioutine duties were again resumed,
company and battalion drill, recitations, picket
duty, and care of the sick. Col. Virgin and wife
arrived in camp the last of the month. He engaged
board at a private house ■situated a mile or so from
camp.

'Ihe boys enjoyed themselves in various ways
when oft' duty. Card-playing was almost universal
and was encouraged by the officers. It furnished
occu})ation for the mind, and rendered the men less
discontented. Sometimes as I sat in my tent in
the evening a medley of sounds would reach me
that was really anmsing. All the quarteis had can-
vas roots, so that what was said within unless in a
low voice, could be. heard some distance away.
From one direction would come the sound of revelry
and mirth. From another the plaintive notes of
the flute. In one tent, some one was uiviuii'

71

off coniniands in ti loud voice, t^uch as "Parade
rest," '<luides posts," "Forward march," and
would o() through the entire manual of arms.
From another tent comes the exclamation, "We've
euchered you three times," and from a Company A
tent 1 heai'd a roll call and could easily distinguish
the names of "Bagnall," "llewey," "Ladd,''
"Love," &c. From another tent came notes of
music and I heard the words "Meet me by moon-
liuht alone," sung by a quartette of very tine sing-
ers. Then they sung :

•• Thpu take ine to my mountain liome,

My mountaiu home so wild and free ;
And never move I'll wish to roam,
From the cot so dear to me."
This was followed l)y "John Brown," "Marching
Alonu," "The Star Spangled Banner," and "When
this cruel war is over." Then the shrill bugle
strikes u[). calling the sergeants to their evening
recitations. These varied sounds would 1)e heard
until nine o'clock when the lights were put out and
(juiet reigned throughout the encampment. ^Ve
had a tine set of men in (uir regiment, but many
of them were mirthful and full of frolic, and fond
of practical jokes.

February ISth was a snowy day. At four o'clock
the sergeant major jiut his head into our tent and
announced that the companies would appear on
dress parade at t\w call of the bugle without arms.
We <lid not (luite understand what it meant, but the
companies came out and the line was formed. Then

72

the colonel etime out and facing the line said : "If
any wished to engage in snow-l)alling, they could
go in." And they all went in and had a hilarious
time. Four hundred persons engaged in the sport
and a large amount of snow changed hands in a
Ycvy short time.

AVord Avas received at the headquarters of the
brigade that a force of rebels consisting of infantry
and cavalry had occupied Leesburg, a small village
in Loudon county, about four miles from the ferry
on the Virginia side. The news created some little
excitement, but soon died out. Whether the report
was true or not, I never knew. The snowfall in the
late .storm, amounted to a foot, and the traveling
became horrible. The weather was very disagi'cea-
ble for nearly a week, so much so that there could
be no drill. The rise of water in the Potomac
made the fords hnpassa])le and enabled us somewhat
to relax our vigilance.

Though I had l)een commissioned as First Lieu-
tenant for some months and had worn the stra[)s of
that rank, I had not been mustered as such. 80
on March 4th, I took some of our sick on board of
a canal boat and started for Washington. We
went the first day to a })oiut a little l)elow Great
Falls, and laid by for the night. The forenoon of
the tifth we reached Georgetown and AVashington.
I transferred my sick to the hospital and the next
day, I called on Captain De Kussey of the regular
armv who was nmsterini>- officer. He objected to

73

my })apers after a slight examination of them, and
said I nnist have others. I sent to the regiment
to have new ones made out and waited day after
day for nearly two weeks, but no papers came. I
called again on Captain De liussey Avho again
examined my papers and pronounced them correct.
I did not tell him they were the same papers he
had condenmed before. This was the ^vay business
was done in some of the departments during the
entire war. Officers were kept from their com-
mands for days and days on account of some alleged
technicality and then it Avould appear, as in my
case, that there was not even a technicality in the
way. AVhile waiting in Washington, I visited Fairfax
Seminary Hospital and Alexandria. I visited the
house where the gallant Ellsworth was shot and
other points of interest. Alexandria was a rusty
old town and but little business seemed to be doing
except that growing out of the war. I also visited
the 25th Maine Keiiiment on Arlington Heiohts
and found the camp in a very pleasant situation.
They were (juartered in huts covered in with boards
and a})})eared to be very comforta])le. The fortifi-
cations at this i)lace appeared to me to be very
strong, and all the forts l)ristled with heavy guns. I
had a pleasant call on the medical staff. Doctors
Carr, True and Bowker. Doctor True is the only
one that survives at this writing. That evening, I
S})ent with Major David P. Stowell who was feeling
very sore over his supersedure, and also with
4

74

Captain John Quincy Adams of the 10th Maine
who was wounded at Cedar jVIountain and liad not
then recovered.

On the night of the Kth, rebel cavahy made a
raid upon Fairfax court house and carried otf a
Union l)ri<>adier and his staff. They were all
cauiiht sleeping. The conscription act was passed
while 1 was at AVashinoton and alforded great
pleasure to the loyal element in Washington. It
incicated that the rebellion Avas to be put down at
whatever cost. While in Washington this time, I
went to the theatre frequently. Jt was a great
}>leasure to witness Daven})ort's Kichard the Third.
I did not succeed in getting mustered until jNIarch
2<Sth, when I was mustered in by Capt. Pe Kussey
as before stated. March 3(lth I started for the
cam}) at Edward's Ferry which J reached in due
time. April 5th we had quite a heavy fall of snow.
We had previously had l>irds and tlowers, and the
nightly croaking of frogs, but the iandsca})e now
wore a decided winter as}iect. The snow was
accomjianied by a heavy gale, and ])icket duty was
very uncomfortable. I was officer of the })icket
during this storm and was out in most of it. While
I was absent in AA'ashington, our camp w:is moved
to the top of a hill about two-thirds of a mile from
the old encampment. The removal was a great
imiirovement as it took us to a dry and clean ti(»](l
where the grass had made a good start and every-
thing pleasant and nice. Headijuarters of the

75

picket were established at the Ferry, and the officer's
quarters in the warehouse. The snow went off as
suddenly as it came, and was followed by delightful
sunny weather. One day I went out quail-hunt-
ing, in company with Mr. Mers, the trader at the
Ferry. He was an expert at shooting them on the
wing while I was not, and the result was that he
filled his l)ag while I saw game in })lenty l)ut
bagged none. I found him a man of some cidture
and a very pleasant comptmion.

It was rumored at this time that we were soon
to move to Poolesville and that the detached com-
panies would rejoin us. The spring had now lully
come, and the season for activity in the confronting
armies. Changes in the position of troops were of
daily occurrence. We located our camj) near the
little village of Poolesville, but had not got fairly
settled before we had orders to break camj) and
march down the river. I had been appointed on a
general court martial, and the court had just con-
vened when word c:une that ^\e must be ready to
march at three o'clock in the afternoon. \A'e
adjourned our court at one o'clock, ate our dinners
and then packed up. We started as usual in a
drenching rain and marching to Edward's Ferry,
camped there over night in our wet clothes. The
rain })()ured down all night and was })ouring down
when ^ve left in the morning. AVe marched to
Great Falls and again turned in ^vet and cold and
without lire. The next morning we started early

76

and reached Chain Bridiie in the forenoon. We
crossed over and tor the lirst time went into camp
on Virginia soil. ( )ur encani})ment was just over the
])ridiie. A New I'ork reiiinient was in camp here,
commanded by Col. J)e liussey who hekl the rank
of major in the regidar army. He was a brother
of Captain De Kussey who annoyed me so about
mustering me, and they were the sons of an officer
in the old United States army. He praised our
regimental drill, and complimented us highly on
our exerci.es in the manual of arms. He was a
tine officer and a gentleman, and was soon after
made a l)rigadier. ]May 13th we were still in camp
near Chain Bridge. We were situated about six
miles above Washington and in the defenses of the
city. The weather came on very warm, the mur-
cury indicating 90" in the shade. We found the
.s})ring weather here very capricious. There were
very sudden changes, not at all conducive to health.
In the early part of the night, an orderly from
General Heintzleman's headquarters brought the
report that Stewart's rebel cavalry had crossed the
Kap])ahannock and was near our out})osts. A regi-
ment of infantry was sent up to us and cannon
were placed on Chain Bridge and on A(j[ueduct
Bridge at Georgetown. The next day we heard of
this cavalry between us and Bull Run mountain.
Lieutenant Bolster came up from AVashington where
he had spent the niaht and was glad to iind us all
safe. He had heard that we had been attacked and

77

the 2od badjy cut to })icct'.s. It was found ai^ain
that C\)l. Virii'iu was tlic rankino- officer and so he
took couiniand of the l)rigade which Col.De Kussey
relinquished very gracefully. On the 14th, about
5 o'clock, I started out with Major Soule to visit
our outposts. We Avere on horseback. We went
u}) the Leesburg pike about three miles and then
struck off towards Arlington Heights to the Arling-
ton road, then faced about and returned to camp,
distant three miles. We passed many nol)le man-
sions but negroes and women were the onl}'' occu-
pants. Fathers and sons were in the rebel army.
Our advance picket line was al)out three miles from
camp and four miles in length. The detail was
about one hundred privates beside officers. The
exigencies of the case here demanded the strictest
attention to duty, and the cheerfulness and alacrity
with which our men i)erformed their work was
highly commendable. Our camp was situated upon
a side hill where many troops had encamped since
the war began. The Sixth Maine was here a year
before. I was out in charge of the picket the 15th
and IGth.

Hooker's defeat at Chancel lorsville caused great
despondency in our camp for he had been the
favorite and a l)rilliant record was anticipated for
him.

The woods looked very })retty at this time. The
box-wood was in bloom and flowers of various
shades and hues were very plentiful. I ol>tained

78

some Virginia ^iiakc-root and some l)l()()(l-r()()t,
both t)f ^vhicli h-dXQ beautiful 1)1(),s.soiils. Flowers
spriuii' u]) in the ])atli\vay of armies, and it is won-
derful how soon nature asserts herself and hastens
to reelothe the s})ots made bare by violenee and
strife.

^yo Avere still at Chain Bridge on the 17th.
('haj)lain Snow ^vas with us. lieeause he declined
to reeei})t for wood Avliieh he did not liaAe, (Quarter-
master Bray refused him rations. While at Chain
Bridge he l)oarded in our mess. Captain Bolster
was quite sick for several days while we were here
and the command of the company devolved upon
me. Calvin Kichardson was taken sick here and
was (juite feeble for some time. He had been a
good soldier and had always done, his duty without
com})laint or fuss. We were paid off here and I
went to» Washington to forward the money sent
home by the men amounting to $3900. I returned
to cami) the same night. The fruit trees were now"
in bloom, and wheat where it Avas sutiered to grow,
had a good start. At this time, our regiment as a
whole was healthy and in splendid condition for
duty.

Soon afterward, not far from May 24th, we had
orders to ]\f arch to Alexandria. A raid into that
old town was feared. AVe Avent into camp near the
city and conmienced to dig ritle pits which were
extended in dou])le lines all about the })lace. The
streets were also closed by means of palisades and

79

every precaution taken to prevent an attack or to
repel it, if it should l)e made. The men worked
very hard here, and they did it without complaint.
But time })assed and no raid was made or attempted.
In all })rol)al)ility the prompt action taken by the
authorities })re vented it.

On the sixteenth of June, we received orders to
march up the Potomac again, though our precise
destination w'as unknown to us. Gen. Lee was
marching toward Harrier's Ferry, while the army
of the Potomac was advancing to head him oft". An
invasion of the states of Pennsylvania and Mary-
land was now fully expected. A^^e were to leave
our cam}) equipage l)ehind and move in light march-
ing order. Our term of enlistment was so nearly
out that it seemed very strange that we should he
sent away so far. But it was not yet out, and
there was nothing for us to do but to obey orders.
We marched to the vicinity of Poolesville where
we remained a day or two. On the march, we
camped one night near the edge of a wood.

We had no tents and were olilio-ed to g-et alonjr

o o o

with our rubber ponchos. There w^as a severe
shower in the night and I awoke half covered with
water. I stood my back against a tree and
remained standing the rest of the night. Many
others Avere as badly otf. In the morning we
resumed our march and after the sun came up and
our clothes became dry, we felt not the least dis-
comfort from the night's exposure. We were

80

becouiino- hardened and inured to the exposures of
a sokliers life. While the regiment was halted
near Poolesville, Company F was detached to <>uard
the sijgnal station on Sugar Loaf, a conical hill sit-
uated between Poolesvillc and Frederic. We at
once repaired to the place, ])ut were destined to be
there only a short time. While there we had a
tine prospect of the country round about. We
could see Frederic very plainly, and by the aid of
a iield glass saw a rebel cavalry raid, probal)ly
some of AVhite's men, into the town. The regi-
ment was ordered to Harper's Ferry, and our com-
pany was ordered to join the regiment as it passed
along. The entire brigade was in the column and
reached a i)()int ()})posite Harper's Ferry on the
2()thof June. AVe went into camp on jNIaryland
Heights and formed part of the garrison of this
place. Gen. Hooker proposed to evacuate the
place and join the troo})s here to the arm 3^ of
the Potomac, which was now advancing through
Maryland on its way to Gettysburg. The war
department declined to accede, and so General
Hooker resigned. I saw him for a few moments
at the headquarters of General French, the com-
mander of the garrison. On Maryland Heights we
found the half buried dead of the troops that fell
there a yetir before. The soil was thin and sterile,
and in many ])laces, skulls and feet were exposed
aliove the surface. From this point too we could
see the advance of Lee's army crossing the Poto-

81

mjic a few miles al)ove. Evervthinu- indicated a
fearful battle, and although our term of enlistment
had nearly expired, we fully expected to have a
part in it. What the feelings of the men upon the
su1)ject were, it was not easy to determine. They
said but little about it. If any etfort had been
made to keep them in the service until after the
crisis had passed, I fully believe they would have
remained. Colonel Virgin put in no remonstrance,
and did not notify the commanding general that
our time was so nearly up. But there were those
in Washing-ton who were keeping our time, and
on the twenty-seventh of June orders from the war
de})artment were issued to the coumianding Gen-
eral at Harper's Ferry, directing him to furnish
transportation for our regiment to Baltimore.

AVhile here, I crossed over to the Virginia side,
visited the arsenal where John Brown made his last
stand, and other places of interest. So on the
twenty-seventh t)f June, the regiment took the cars
at Sandy Hook and started homeward. In the
evening, we passed the camps or tents of the
advance ot the army of the Potomac. They cov-
ered an immense area, and the glimmer of their
lights in thousands of shelter tents, Avas a beautiful
sight. At Baltimore we remained a day waiting
for transportation which being furnished, ^vc i)assed
on to Philadelphia. Here we were again feasted
and earnestly solicited to remain a few days to aid
in iiuarding the citv from a much feared raid by

82

r(0)el cavalry. But the men liad now turned their
faces homeward and could not be peri-iuaded to
remain. They had fulfilled their obligation, and
mo.st of them intended to le-enlist and did re-enlist,
hut l)ef()re doing so they desired to visit their homes
and families. Some of the ofhcers would have
remained but the enlisted men were evidently unani-
mous or nearly so in their determination to go
home. No vote Avas taken, but the indications
were unmistakable. The regiment again took the
cars and had an uneventf\d trip to Portland and the
old camp, where on the fifteenth of June, it was
mustered out of the service of the United States by
Lieut. Grossman of the liegular Army. The
Twenty-third Maine Regiment had had no fighting,
but it had had a great deal of disagreeable ])icket
duty and no small amount of marching. The loss
by death from sickness was much larger than the
average of Maine regiments, and for the time, ecjual
to many which had been in active service witli the
enemy. Those who blamed the regiment for leav-
ing the field when the l;attle of Gettysbur<r was
impending, were generally ])ersons who did not
enter the service at all, and in all fairness, were
debarred from ex})ressing any opinion upon the
subject. A large number of the men re-enlisted
and served to the end of the w ar. Many helped to
make u\) the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth jNIaine
Keoiments ; others went out as recruits into the
Twelfth Maine and other regiments, while (juite a

83

miiiilKT went into the new ]);ittery of light artillery
known as the Seventh Maine.

As I make this record nearly thirty years after
the events occnrred and have but little data from
which to draw, it can only l)e fragmentary, and
perha})s may he open to the charge of egotism.
But I started out to write my })ersonal recollections
of the war for the benetit and amusement of my
family, and for this reason, I have confined myself
to facts and incidents in which I had a part or
which were known to me.

Many of the officers and men who served in this
regiment are now dead ; how many, I do not
know. The living are widely scattered, but they
were good and true men, and have generally made
res})ectable citizens. Most of them are on the
down grade of life and the period of their final
muster out cannot be very far distant. Colonel
Virgin has been honored l)y several ap})ointments
to the supreme bench ; Colonel Luce has won honors
in the Old Bay State; Major Soule has long been
dead ; Adjutant Hall became insane and died ;
Stanle3S captain of Company K died at the insane
hospital ; Cleaves of Company B has been attorney
general of the State and elected GoA^ernor ; Lieu-
tenant Bolstei is called judge in Boston ; Captain
Bradford of Company D has gone to join the
majority ; Captain Whituian joined the regular
cavalry and invented a saddle tree which made his
fortune ; Captain Prince of Company C has been

84

ill Congress from the South and })o,stni!ister at
Augusta, Ga., while many others, both officers and
men, have hekl various positions of honor and
trust which they have faithfully filled. Sutler
Jackson is a farmer in Norway, and Quartermaster
Bray is seeking his fortune in Texas. -His two
sergeants are both dead ; Crocker became insane,
and Philip Bray died of disease a few years after
the war.

Chaplain Snow, then of Norway, has since had a
settlement in Auburn, and was for a time princi})al
of Westbrook Seminary, lie is now settled over
a society in Haverhill, Mass.

My friend, Israel Emmons, the company cook,
and one of the l)est, still flourishes at West Paris,
having tired of city (Greenwood) life, and sought
a more <]uiet retreat.

A few words concerning the personnel of Com-
pany F must close this part of my story.

Captain Horace N. Bolster is a native of Paris
and still resides there. He l)elongs to a family of
military men and was an efficient officer. After
the return of the 23rd, he was captain of the 16th
unassigned company, was the mustered captain of
Company K, 12th Maine March 21, 18(35, and
resigned August 16, 1865.

He has since the war, lieen engaged in trade at
South Paris and has been prominently connected
with soldier's organizations.

I have not seen Lieutenant Abbot since the war.
He was a blacksmith and a native of Kumford.

85

He was u tiiu; looking officer, but he had .some fail-
ings and was his own o-reatest enemy. Lieutenant
Solomon C. Bolster settled in Roxbury. He was a
law^^er l)y profession and long served as judge of
the munici})al court. He has been successful, as
he has deserved to 1)e. He is a man of integrity,
and has won the res})ect and esteem of a wide circle
of ac(|uaintances. Even when he felt a little hard
toward me for usur})ing his place, I liked and
respected him all the same, recognizing the fact
that he had cause.

Orderly Sergeant Barrows now lives at Bethel
Hill. He has prospered in business and is at the
head of the largest manufactory in that town.

Sergeant EUery F. Goss lives in Auburn and
docs an extensive business in Lewi.ston. He was
a sergeant in Captain Bolster's 12tli Maine Com-
pany. He has l)een a member of the Maine
Legislature.

Sergeant Aurestus S. Perliam resides in Wash-
ington. He has long l)een a trusted officer con-
nected with the pension department.

Sergeant Joseph P. Packard was discharged for
disability, but recovered, and died of some acute
disease, several years ago.

Sergeant Olcutt B. Poor resides in his native
town of Andover, and is an intelligent and thrifty
farmer. Of Sergeant Tucker, I know nothing
since the war.

Of the other non-commissioned officers, (xilbcrt
E. Shaw, Hazen M. Abbot, Hiram H. Jackson and

86

1)0 1'haps .some others are (leatl,!iud()f the wherea1)outs
of some of the liviii<>;, I know not. John F. Lihl^y
resides in Carthage, Daniel H. Young in Nel)raska
and Edward E. Stevens in Rumtbrd. Many ofthe
l)rivates have fallen into that slee[) that knows no
waking. It was a good company and one that
re(j[uired but little effort to keep in good discipline.
Quite a number of them re-enlisted and served to
the end of the war.

The marches and stations of the 23d Maine Reg-
iment are shown in tlie foUowing tal)le :

i. Mustered into United States service at Port-
land, Sept. 21), 1802.
ii. Left Portland for Washington Octolx'r 1<S.
iii. Reached Washington Monday evening, Octo-
ber 20th, and went into camp on Caj)it()l IIIU.
iv. Left Washington October 25, with orders to
report to General Cuvier Grover at Seneca,
Md.
v. Oct()l)er 2(), went into camp at Lock Xo. 21 ;

called camp "Canq) Gi'over."
vi. General Grover left and the command was

turned over to Colonel P. S. Davis,
vii. Moved to Offutt's (H'oss Roads November 11.
viii. December 21 Com})anies B, D and I were
sent to Great Falls, Comjjany (J to Lock 21,
Companies (y and II to Seneca tmd the others
to Muddy Branch,
ix. Decend)er 26, Company B went to Muddy
Branch, G to Seneca and A, C, E, F and II
to Edward's Ferry.

87

X. Fel)mary, Comp-Ji^^'es D and (i moved up to

Edward's Ferry.
xi. April 18, Companies C and K went to Con-
rad's Ferry, Companies A, B and E remained
at Edward's Ferry under Major Soule and^
H, G, D and F moved to headcjuarters of
brigade at Poolesville.
xii. April 20, Company C moved to Seneca and

K to Muddy Branch,
xiii. INIay 5, regiment moved down the Potomac
twenty-tive miles, crossed Chain Bridge and
went into camp near Fort Ethan Allan,
xiv. May 24, moved to Alexandria and threw up

eai'th-works around the city.
XV. Returned to Poolesville June 17.
xvi. June 22, Company F sent to guard the signal

station on Sugar Loaf,
xvii. June 24, regiment moved to Harper's Ferry
and Maryland Heights, and went into cam]),
xviii. June 27, regiment ordered to Portland,
Maine.
xix. Peached Portland July <i.
XX. July 15, mustered out of service by Lieut,
F. E. Crossman.

I

LIEUT, LAPHAM.

SEVENTH MAINE BATTERY.

AVhilc the Twenty-third Maine lU'ginient was in
the service, the army of the Potomac ^rii stained two
defeats, at Fredricksbnrg and Chanccllor^^ville, and
achieved a grand victory at Gettysl)urg. Fred-
ricksburg was fought on the thirteenth c^f De-
cember, 1862, Chancelh)rsville from May first
to the fourth, 18()3, and Gettyslmrg from July
tirst to the third, following. Yicksburg was
also captured and the Mississippi oijened to navi-
gation to the ocean. But Lee's army was not
captured at Gettysburg and had retreated toward
Richmond in a condition to continue the war. The
situation for the final success of the Union army
was very promising and the success at Gettyslmrg'
though the victory was not as complete as many
thouo;ht it should have been, stinmlated the people
of the h)yal states to continued effort, and by pav-
ing large bounties recruiting was quite brisk, though
drafting had to be resorted to in some localities.
In the latter part of 1863, Maine raised four regi-
ments of infantry, one of cavalry and a light liattery,
thouoh some of the oroanizations did not go to the
front until the spring of 1864. I recruited a com-
pany for the cavalry, with the promise of a cap-

90

tain's coiiiinission, Iiut when the conipaiiy had been
mostly rcrriiitod, at tlu> i'e(iiu'st of the (iovernor
uiid with the consent ot'the men enlisted, I changed
ovei" to liii'ht artillery with the promise of the sec-
ond })osition. The captaincy of the new 1)attcry
was ui\cn to AdeUxnt I>. Twitchell who had seen
honorable service in the Fifth Maine IJattery, and
who had come to Maine to assist in recruit ing the
seventh, f^oren K. Ihiiidy who was orderly ser-
geant of the Fifth Battery was given a lieutenancy,
and the other two commissions were given to Dan-
iel 8ta})les of Old Town and Frank Tlior])e of
Boothhay, hoth of Avhom had seen service in the
infantry. Our conipany Avas made up mostly of
veterans and was designated a veteran organization.
Some of oui" sergeants had previously held com-
missions. fJohn C. (^uimhy had served as lieuten-
ant and caj)tain in the Second Maine, and Sergeant
John E. A\'illis had served as lieutenant in a New
Ham})sliire regiment. Some of our privates were
graduates from college, many of them were students,
and there was scarcely one who liad not received a
good e(hicati()n.

We had very c()mforta])le (juarters and had
c()m})aratively little sickness while at Augusta-
The cavalry regiment was encami)ed on the State
grounds very near us, while the twenty-ninth
and thirtieth were in camp on the Mulliken
farm, a little out on th(» Wintlirop road. The
battery was nmstered into the service of the United

91

States on the 29tli day of Deeciubcr, l>y Lieutenant
Joshua Fessenden of the reiiidar army. Canij) life
in Auiiu.sta was dull and monotonous. The officers
studied the tacties but as Ave had no ouns to illus-
trate the text, it was dry and uninterestinu'. AA'e
had a few men in our company, and only a few,
who would sometimes get intoxicated when they
had the opportunity, and these gave us no little
trouble. We could not keep them in cam}) all the
time, and whenever they went into the city they
were (j[uite sure to get into ti'onble. There were
unscrupulous })eople in Augusta as well as else-
where, Avho seemed to regard the l)ounty money
of a drunken soldier as legitimate plunder. Intox-
icating li(iuors were sold in many places and when
a soldier l)ecame intoxicated in one of the mnnerous
dens, he was sure to be rol)bed to his last dollar.
If a soldier hired a stable team without making a
definite agreement as to the price before leaving,
he was often charged five ;ind six times the regular
price .

I went to Aul)urn one day in January, and was
al)sent two days. When I returned a pleasant sur-
prise awaited me. In the presence of the company
and in their l)ehalf, a fine gold watch and chain
were presented to me by Captain Twitchell, \vhich
I still carry and highly prize.

AVhile in Augusta, the non-commissioned officers
and })rivates made up a purse of three hundred
dollars for the purchase of a horse for Captain

92

Twitc'lu'll. The inoiu'v w:is })Iuc(hI in the haiul;^ of
Corporal Lennan F. Jones who went u}) the Ihie of
the Grand Trunk Kail way and in due time returned
Avith a tine stallion, hlaek as the rav(Mrs win<i-. The
horse was duly presented and |)ro\ cd an exeellcnt
animal for the pur{)ose for whieh he was obtained.
He accompanied the battery during' its entire term
of service, and returned to Maine when the war
was over.

The organization of the Seventh Elaine Battery,
the names of those who served therein, and the
chang-es that occurred during its service are given
below :

Adelbert li. Twitchell, Captain, Bethel.
William B. Lapham, kSr. 1st Lieut. , Woodstock.
Loren E. Bundy, Jr. 1st Lieut., Columbia, N. H.
Daniel Staples, Sr. 2d Lieut., Old Town.

Frank Thorpe, Jr. 2d Lieut., r)()()thbay.

( )slK)rne J . Pierce, Orderly Ser<it. , Albion.
Albert S. Twitchell, Q,. M. Serot., Bethel.

John E. Willis, Sergeant,
Howard (lould, "

William II. Jones, "
John C. Quimby, "

Augu.stus Bradbury, "
Geo. A. McLellan, "

Gorham, N. H.

Portland.

Winthrop.

Abbot.

Fairfield.

Alfred.

Thomas Q. Waterhouse, Corp :)ral, Portland.

Augustus M. Carter, " Bethel.

Omar Smith, " Arrowsic.

Frank J. Norton, " Ileadfield.

Alfred H. Briggs, " AVoodstock.

Benjamin S. Crawford, " Auburn.

Charles Lapham, " Bethel.

93

Joseph T. Merrill, Corporal,

Everett A. Wentworth,

Wm. G. Hutchinson,

Lennan F. Jones, "

Aiioustus P. Grendell, "

William Hilton, Musician,

Frank Q. Bodwell,

Georo-e S. Kicker, Artiticer,

Sewall A. Stil lings,

Algernon S. Chapman, Wagoner,

Moses H. Arthur,
William Andrews,
Stanley C. Alle\ ,
Charles AV. Ackley,
Samuel W. Barker,
Benjamin F. Berry,
Briggs G. Besse,
Luther Brigiis,
Horace Burrill,
John M, Bryant,
Lorenzo Billings,
Charles M. liixhy,
Jesse D. l^isbee,
Zaccheus Baker,
Delphinus B. Bicknell,
AVilliam II. Bean,
Kuel I\L Berry,
Albert Billings,
Joseph W. Bean,
Alexander Boyd,
Charles C. Burt,
Warren O. Carney,
Lyman Carter,
John L. Crie,
Archy S. Cole,
Geora-e ]\r. Churchill,

Private,

Portland.

Bristol.

Rum ford.

Winthrop.

Penobscot.

Norridgewock.

Kumford.

Hallowell.

Gorham, N. H.

Bethel.

Hallowell.

Rumford.

Bristol.

Rumford.

Monmouth.

Wayne.

Bristol.

Minot.

Monmouth .

Woodstock.

Cape Elizabeth.

Norridgewock.

Poland.

Kittery.

Unity.'

Woodstock.

Bethel.

Boothbav.

Bethel. ^

Portland.

Troy.

Unity.

Bethel.

New Portland.

94

Geoi'oe E. Dcwitt,
Charles C. Daltoii,
James E. Diulley,
Asbury E. Eastman,
Edirar P^merv,
Ehen M. Eield,
Albus T. Field,
James S. Field,
Lemuel T. Field,
(leorge H. Farrar,
James II. Fall,
Knfus V. Farnmii,
Alplieus Fuller,
Joseph U. Frye,
John Goudy,
Edward F. Gerrish,
James ({ould,
J. A>'oodman (ierrish,
Sanuiel (joodwin,
Henry H. Goudy,
Joel Goodwin,
Thomas H. Ilyde,
David S. Hawes,
John B. Ilazeltine,
George Ilotham,
George Holmes,
Charles E. Ilaynes,
William M. Hobbs,
George II. Hutchins,
George E. Howe,
Charles B. Howard,
IIerl)ert E. Hale,
William Hamilton,
Ens worth T. Harden,
liobert S. Plysom,
George A. Johnson,

Private,

Presque Isle.

York.

iVIonmouth.

Rumford.

Aulmrn.

Sidney.

4 i

Monmouth.

Dresden.

Dresden.

Rumford.

Woodstoek.

Bethel.

Bristol.

Brunswiek.

Trov.

Bethel.

Rumford.

Bristol'. .

Rumford.

Limington.

Ti'oy .

Monmouth.

Lis1)on.

Mercer.

Norridgewock.

Rumford.

Bethel.

Al1)any.

Norridgewock.

Unitv.

Bethel.

Bristol.

Alfred.

95

Levi D. Jewell, Private,

George II. Kiiiihall, "

Charles G. Kenney, "

John W. Leavitt, "

flames S. Lowell, "

George 8. Landers, "

Charles X. Lindsey, "

Frank Lancaster, "

Daniel H. Lovcjoy, "

Orrin R. LeGrow, "

Joseph La|)h:ini, "
Isaac F. Laphani, Anil). Driver,

A\'illiani iMartin,
James McLoon,
Sylvester JMason,
George W . Marston,
Finson R. Mclveen,
Rol)ert W. Manning.
Ilezekiah G. Mason,
John Mason,
flames B. Mtison,
Alonzo 1>. Merrill,
Gardiner F. MeDaniel,
fl()sei)h K. Niles,
Daniel F. Oakes,
John G. Frehle,
Simon Piper, fir.,
James H. Pratt,
Sanniel fl. Peed,
vVsa A. Powe,
Charles (). Randall,
CharU's A. Reed,
floseph Jiing,
Thomas J. Rowe.
Asa Richardson,
Ezra Ridlon, Jr.,

Private,

Woodstock.

Mercer.

Bristol.

A\"inthrop.

Portland.

Monmouth.

Norridgewock.

Dresden.

AVindham.
Rum ford.
AA'oodstock
Rumford .
Bremen .
Bethel.
]Monniouth.
Dresd(Mi.

]\Iason.

Bethel.

A\'o()dstock.

Ilolden.

China.

Webster.

Fddington.

Gilead.

Weld.

AA'oodstock.

Daniariscotta.

Crilead.

Bangor.

Monmouth.

Ilolden.

Gilead.

Rumford.

AVoodstock,

96

Alfred Ko])erts, rrivatc,

Fordinaiid A. Smith, "

William E. Stevens, "•

FraiK'is F. Stevens, "

Charles Stewart, "

Thomas S. Simms, "

Sanmel Stevens, "

(ieoriie F. Sumner, "

llarve}' B. Sinniions, "

Lorino- C. Simpson, "

Austin F. Twitchell, "■
Albert Towle, . "
William L. Twitchell,

Levi F. Towle, Jr., "

Howard P. Todd, "

Edward 11. ^^'aldron, "

Charles E. Wheeler, "

Frank S. Wade, "

Alfred B. Wyman. "

Apollos Williams, ''
(Charles A. N. Waterman, "

George AVilliston, Jr., "
Edward P. A^'hitney,

Harvey H. AN'ebber, "

Freeland Youno-, "

Durham.

Portland.

Unity

Woodstock.

Norridiicwock.

Portland.

Xorridi>ewock.

Union.

Alna.

Bethel.

Kenduskeao-.

Bethel.

Kenduskeaa*.

Momnouth.

Camden.

Mason.

Norridgewock.

AA'ebster.

(lorham, N. H.

Durham.

J^runswick.

A^'intllro]).

liristol.

Paris.

. JOINED AFTER JANUARY, 1864.

Josei)h H. Anthoine, Private. Windham.

Ebenezer A. Brooks, "■ Winslow.

J()se})h E. Benner, '' Xobleboro.

Oscar Blunt, " Brownville.

Augustus Barden,

Park B. Bachelder,
]\Ioses W. Bagley,
liobert M. Commings,

New Portland.

Troy.

Portland.

97

Andrew L. Cram, Private,

Warren O. Douglass, "

Jonas P. Dudley,

Joseph H. Dunham,

Charles Emerson, "

Willis C. Estes,

Sewell B. Emery,

Samuel Fessenden, "

Francis G. Flao-g,

Frederick C. Fuller,

Leverett W. Gerrish,

Adney C. Gurney,

Asa D. Hazeltine,

George Hewey, "

Lorenzo B. Harringion, "

Ivory C. Hanson, "

David D. Hanson, "

Alfred J. Haskell,

Frank H. Hamilton, "

Elery G. Harris,

Lorenzo A. Jones, "

James Kelly,

Martin V. Knight, "

Elias A. Lothrop, "

Oscar W. Litchfield,

Milfrcd Mahoney,

Isaac J. Marble,

Aaron A. Merrill,

Samuel W. Nash,

James li. Nickerson,

Isaac F. PoUey,

David R. Pierce,

AurestusS. Perham, "

John Reed,

Orrin Ross,

Poi-tland.

Paris.

Readticld.

Paris.

Turner.

Troy.

Poland.

Rockland.

Jeft'erson.

Lewiston .

Paris.

Troy.
Wells.
Lewiston.
New Portland.
Windsor.
Portland.
((

Gilead.

Jett'erson.

Stronii'.

Troy."

Scarboro.

Portland.

Augusta.

Brownvillc.

Pownal.

Jert'erson.

Belgrade.

Portland.

Porter.

Paris.

Porter.

98

James A. Eolierts,

Private,

Paris.

Ashley C. Rice,

( (

Windham.

Charles V. llichards,

( (

Wavne.

Wintield S. Starbird,

4 i

Paris.

Oliver B. Strout,

i I

lV)land.

Llewellyn L. Stevens,

li

Troy.

Charles W. Smith,

i i

i i

Benjamin F. Snow,

i i

Brownville.

fJohn T. Savage,

i I

Portland.

Henry Stockbridge,

i i

Poland.

Samnel Taylor,

i i

( i

William II. Thompson

i i

5

Xew Portland.

Edwin AVoodsnm,

( i

Poland.

Laforest Warner,

((

Paris.

Andrew J. W^oodbury,

( (

Belgrade.

Thomas M. Adams,

k (

Union.

George II. Blake,

i I

Portland.

Joseph L. Bennett,

i i

Bridgton .

W^entworth M. Brown

i i

Poland.

Randall Conant,

i i

Plymouth.

Nathaniel C. Dean,

I i

A\'e])ster.

P>mery C. Dunn,

i i

Dixmont.

Harris W. Jordan,

i i

Wel)ster.

Howard W. Merrill,

i i

Augusta.

David H. Merrill,

i i

Saeo.

William L. Newton,

i k

Portland.

Those who were enlisted for the battery, but
never joined it, and were discharged JVIay 18, 18()5,
on account of the close of the war : —

Alvin J. Poland,
George ^I. Pease,
Perry Russell,
Wesley Strout,
David'O. Sawtelle,
Charles AV. Wormel
Elliott B. Walker,

I^ri vate ,

Portland.

liridgton,

Harrison.

Poland.

Sidnev.

Betlu'i.

Na[)les.

99

Whole number enlisted for the batteiy during its
term of service, 221).

rRo:\[OTioNS.

Corporal Augustus M. Carter, promoted sergeant.
Private Luther Briggs, promoted corporal,

" I)el})hinus B. Bicknell, promoted corporal.
" Finson R. jMcKeen, }n-omoted cor][)oral.
" Ferdinand A. Smith, promoted corporal.
" Harvey B. Sinnnons, promoted corporal.
" All)ert Towle, promoted corporal.
Capt. A. B. Twitchell, ])r<)moted hrevet-major of

artillery.
Lieut. Wm. r>. Lapham, promoted Capt. A. Q. ]\r.

and hrevet-major U. S. volunteers.
Lieut. Loren E. Bundy, promoted senior 1st Lieut.,
not mustered.
" Frank rhorpe, 1st Lieut., not mustered.
Orderl}^ Sergt. O.shorne J. Pierce, 2d Lieut., not

mustered.
Sergt. Howard Gould, ])romoted Q. M. sergeant.
Corporal DelphinusB. Bicknell, promoted sergeant.
Private Joseph H. Anthoine, promoted corporal.

" Stanley C. Alley, promoted corporal.
- " Alfred H. Briggs, promoted corporal.
" Warren O. Carney, promoted ailiticer.
" Herbert E. Hale, ]^romoted corporal.
" Samuel J. Fessenden, promoted 1st Lieut.,

First Maine Battery.
" Levi D. Jewell, promoted corporal.
" Orrin R. LeGrow, promoted corporal.
" Aurestus S. Perham, promoted sergeant-
major First Maine Mounted Artillery,
Fei)ruary 11, ISf)").
" Samuel Y. Keed, appointed l)ugler.

100

CASUALTIES AND DISCHAKGES.

Sergt. William H. Jones, died of disease April 1,

1804.
Musician Frank Q. Bodwell, wounded May 18,

1864.
Artificer George S. Rieker, died of disease March

21,'l8G4.
Private Moses H. Arthur, discharged for disability

April'O, 18()4.
*' AVilliam Andrew, died in hospital August

27, 1864.
" diaries W. Ashley, died in hos})ital July

17, 1864.
" ^^'illianl R. Bean, wounded May 12, 1865 ;

discharged.
" Charles C. Burt, discharged for disability

April 111, 1864.
" Lemuel T. Field, died of disease March

23, 1864.
" James IT. Fall, wounded ]\Ia\' 12, died

May 16, 18(54.
" Samuel Goodwin, died of disease October

4, 1864.
" Georire Holmes, discharged for disability

June 20, 1864.
" John W. Leavitt, died of disease March

16, 1864.
" Robert W. Manning, dro})ped from rolls

as deserter January 11, 1864.
" Hezekiah G. Mason, wounded July 25,

1864.
" Joseph R. Niles, wounded June 3, died

July 26, 1864.
" Asa A. Rowe, died of disease April 19.

1864.

101

Private Charles O. Eandall, ^vounded .May 21,
1864.
'' Charles A. Reed, died of disease lebruyra

17, 1861.
'' Charles E. Wheeler, died of disease Aug.

6,1864. ^ .,

. . Brioos G. Besse, discharged June 2!) , 1 864 .
'^ LoSnzo Billings, discharged April KK

1865. " 1 T 1

- Ebenezer A. Brooks, discharged June i,

186:k .

- lienjaniin S. Crawford, discharged tor dis-

ai)ilitv January 17, 1865.
'- Archy S. Cole, deserted at Augusta, Alarch

1, 1865.
" Georo-e E. Dewitt, died of disease >.ovem-

be?9, 1864.
Asbury E. Eastman, discharged June 2,

1865.
" John Goudy, discharged for disability June

10, 1865.
" James Gould, deserted on furlough Marcli

28, 1865.

'' Thomas H. Hyde, transferred to V et. Kes.
Corps March 15, 18(i5.

" Ellsworth T. Harden, discharged tor disa-
bility January 2, 18(55.

" William C. Hutchinson, discharged June
2, 1865.

" Erank H. Hamilton, absent, whereabouts

unknown.

Georo-e A. Johnson, discharged tor disa-
bility January 13, 1865.

George W. Marston, discharged June 17,
1865.

102

Private Jauics B. Ma.soii, (lischarii'cd for disability
June 10, 18(i5.
" CliarlcsO. Randall, discharged tbrdisability
March 20, iSCo.
Alfred Koberts, dischari2,ed July 17, 1<S()4.
" ApoUos Williams, diseharji'ed May ol.
18(>5.
Laforest ^^^lrller, died of disease January
1, 18(>5.
" Emery C. Dunn, died of disease ^lay 17,

18G5.
" Howard W. Merrill, died of disease ]\Iareli
27, 1865.
Sylvester Mason, died of disease June 20,
1865.
" Alpheus Fuller, wounded by a frairment of
shell in Fort Sedgwick in February,
1865, but continued on duty.

DIED SINCE THE AVAIL

Lieut. Loreii A. Bnndy. Priv. James Gould.

" Daniel Staples. "^ " Tlios. H. Hyde.

Sergt. John E. Willis. " David S. Hawes.

''' Geo. A. McLellan. " J. B. Hazeltine.

Corp. Harve}^ B. Simmons. '' W.C. Hutchinson.

" Orrin R. LcGrow. " Geoi'ge Hewey.

" Luther Briggs. " David D. Hanson.

" Omar Smith. " L. A. Jones.

" Albert To wle. " Geo. A. Johnson.

" Levi D. Jewell. ^' A. B. Merrill.

Priv. Samuel W. P)arker. " John Mason.

' ' Lorenzo Bill i ngs . "Mil fred ^Nlahoney .

" Zaccheus Baker. " Geo.W. Marston.

" Ebenezer A. Brooks. " Frank J. Norton.

" Park B. l^achelder. " J. R. Xiekerson.

" Wm. R. Bean. " Geo. M. Pease.

103

Priv. Charle.s C. Burt. Priv. Joseph Ring.

" Benj. S. Crawford. " Asa Richardson.

" Robert M. Cummino-s. " John Reed.

" Randall Conant. " Orrin Ross.

" Nathaniel C. Dean. " Oliver B. Strout.

'^ Asbuiy E. Eastman. " L. S. Stevens.

" Edgar Emery. " W. L. Twitchell.

" Willis C. Estes. " Ed. H. Waldron.

" Eben M. Field. " T.Q.AVaterhouse.

" Edward F. Gerrish. " Apollos Williams.

There were many discomforts in winter camp
life, at the very best, in this high northern latitude,
thouiih the later reg-iments fared much better than
those that wintered here early in the war. The
early regiments lodged under canvas, while we had
board barracks made warm and comparatively com-
fortable. But the men grew restive under the dis-
cipline we were obliged to enforce, and we were
not sorry when orders came for the Seventh Maine
Battery to repair to Washington. Following this
order, there was considerable stir and bustle in
camp. Men were called in who had received brief
furloughs to visit their friends, the sick in quarters
were examined and those unlit for duty were sent
to the hospital.

The day of departure was fixed for the hrst of
Fel)ruary. Ca})tain Twitchell had been boarding
at the Augusta House, and the legislature being in
session, he had made the acquaintance of many
members and their ladies who became interested in his
battery and were desirous of seeing the men as they
marched by on their way to the cars. Captain

104

Twitc'liell went to the Augusta House leaving me
in charge of the company and the line Avas formed
in two ranks. We had made every effort to keep
li(]uor out of the camp T)y granting no passes t(j
the city for twenty-four hours, and thought we had
succeeded. The men came into line pr()m[)tly and
with great i)recision, and we marched up the avenue
between the elms, reaching the street in front of the
State House. Then taking the center of State
street Ave marched toward the station. The uni-
forms of men and oflicers were new, and the com-
i)any made a very fine appearance. As we reached
the Augusta House where we were to pass in review,
the doors and verandas were filled with gentlemen
and ladies Avho greeted us with smiling faces and
with cheers.

The company had good accommodations on the
train, reached Boston and Providence without
adventure and there took steamer for Jersey City.
1 st()])ped over in Boston to t:dve some sick to the
h()s})ital but overtook the company at Providence.
At Jersey City we were detained for an hour or
t\A'o, and while there Lieutenant Biuidy's sister
who was teaching in New Jersey came to see him.
With us Avas Miss Adeltha, sister of Captain
Twitchcll who went as far as Philadeli)hia. She
was in the South teaching when the war broke out,
and her return to the Noilh Avas attended Avitli
many hardships and difficulties. She afterwards
married a Colonel Thompson wiio had command of

105

a colored regiiuont during the Avar and f^ettled in
Pennsylvania. She died a few years after the war.
She was a lady of al)ility, well edncated and pos-
sessed of many aniial)le (qualities.

At Philadelphia the company was the recipient
of the usual hospitalities and then went on to
Washino-ton. Our first ni£>ht was s])ent in barracks
where there were other soldiers, s(jme of whom
were drunk and noisy and gave us but little chance
to sleep. The next morning, the battery went to
the artillery camp, some three miles from the city
on the Bladensburg road. This was a cam}) of
instruction and kno\vn as Camp Barry. Several
batteries were there Asdien we arrived including the
14th Massachusetts, the 14th New York and the
2d Maine. The latter had been two years in the
service, and was ordered there to recruit uj). AVe
had A'ery nice (juarters and at once entered u})on
the study of the tactics.

Contrabands, as negroes are called, were very
[)lenty about AVashington, and I hired a servant
named Charles. He had been a slave in Virginia
and proved to be a most unmitigated scamp. He
would lie, steal and get drunk and yet he plead for
forgiveness so effectively that he was retained sev-
eral weeks. About his only redeeming trait was
that he was a very tine singer. His voice was
plaintive and as clear as that of a bird, and I never
heard plantation songs and hynms sang with more
touching pathos. But one day I had occasion to

100

ifo to town, and when I rcliirned '* (Charley "' was
uudor arrest and in the uiiard liouso. Little uiorcy
was shown colored })6o})lc in tlu! district courts at
that time, and I knew if the olfenihn* should he
handed over to the ci\'il authorities which would
doul)tless have been the case, it would go very hard
witli him, as his oltence was of an auuravated
nature. So I went to the u'uard house and after a
little i)arley with the officer in charge, he directed
the soldier on duty, to allow the culprit to come
out and see me. Camp Barry was enclosed by a
high board fence yet not so high but a })ers()n of
great strength and agility couhl si)ring up, catch
by the top board and throw himself over. I walked
with Charley out toward the fence, and then turned
to him and asked him if he supposed he could get
over that fence. He said he would like to have a
chance to try. "Well," I said to him, "you have
such a chance now and the (piicker you improve it,
tlie l)etter it will be for you." He re(]uired no
further hint, and was over tlie feuce almost in a
twinkling. I never saw him nor -heard of him
ao-ain. His full name was (yharles Simms. The
guard had the good sense to be looking in the
opposite direction, and when I returned by the
guard house no (questions were asked.

Connected with the batteries in Camp B irry, were
many very hard customers, and hardly a day ])asse(l
that more or less of them were not i)unished by l)eing
tied to the spare wheel. The usual oU'ences were

107

hrcuking from camp, riuiiiing jiway to the city,
drunkenness and disorderly conduct on their return.
]\Iany of them di;l not return until hrouiiht in by
the i)rovost guard. Such were treated as deserters
and tried as such. Ah)ng toward the hist of
February, I was detailed as judge advocate of a
general court martial convened to try a lot of these
fello\vs. I have the charges and specifications, or
many of them, at this date. The court was in ses-
sion some weeks, and some thirty or forty soldiers
were tried and most of them were convicted. The
l)unishment was generally light. Forfeiture of i)ay
and allowances, imprisonment, and police service
in camp were the usual sentences.

AVe had now been at Camp J)arry nearly three
months and as the spring advanced and the time for
active army operations approached, we naturally
began to be solicitious, or at any rate curious, to
know what was to be done with us. We had no
doubt that we should see active service and that
was what we wanted. AVe had had drilling to our
hearts' content and were heartily tired of the routine
of camp life. There were various rumors in camp,
l)ut none could be traced to any reliable source.
And there is something very strange al)out camp
rumors. The most extravaaant stories will go
from mouth to mouth and every effort to trace them
to the fountain head, Avill be utterly unavailing.
Of course they have their origin, but I never yet
knew a case where it was found. Some said that

108

wc Avere to go with a secret expedition to some
])oint in the far South, and wlien it was said that
Burnside was to have charge of the expedition, we
felt tliat there might be some trutli in it, for we
knew the Ninth Corps to be short of fiekl artillery,
and when it landed at Annapolis we had felt and
expressed the opinion th;it our destiny was more or
less involved in the operations of this corps. Nor
did we ol)iect. We had formed a very high o[)ini()n
of General Burnside. We knew him to be every
inch a man ; we knew him to l)e patriotic and self-
sacrificing, nor did we think an}^ worse of him
because he had failed as connnander-in-chief of the
army of the Potomac.

Orders finally came for us to draw our guns and
other necessary articles, and to be ready to join
the Ninth Army Corps which was to reinforce the
army of the Potomac. Tlie Second Maine Battery
in camp with us, and several others were to be
attached to the Ninth Corps. This cor})s was to
come up from Annapolis and march through the
city of Washington, crossing the Potomac at Long-
Bridge, and the batteries from Camp Barry were
to join it as it passed through. Then there was
great hurry and bustle in camp. Horses were
drawn ; harnesses and other necessary articles pro-
cured ; riders were selected and men for the dif-
ferent positions about the guns. Theoretical infor-
mation received from the study of the tactics, was
now })ut in practice, and in this work Lieutenant

109

Bundy who had ])eon orderly scrueaiit in the Fifth
Maine Battery, and was thoroughly familiar with
everything pertaining to this branch of the service,
was a valual)le man. Ca[)tain Twitchell had also
l)een an officer in the same l)attery, and upon these
two devolved chietiy, the duty of })utting things to
rights and in shape for active service.

We had considerable sickness among the men
while in Camp Barry and lost several by death.
Sergeant William H. -Tones from AYinthrop, one of
the most intelligent and accomplished men in the
company, was among the first to go. He was a
graduate of Kent's Hill Seminar}", a line scholar, a
po[)ular teacher and a very promising writer. His
death was greatly deplored. There were several
left behind when the battery went from Washing-
ton, and some started with us who soon fell out l)y
the way. How well I rememl)er the day ^vhen we
joined the long column and crossed over Long Bridge
and into Virginia. We were destined to see many
a hard fought battle before we should return. The
Ninth Corps at this time numbered nearly fifteen
thousand men. There was a division of colored
troops connected with it, and this was the first time
I had seen negroes armed. The men of the corps
had drawn new clothing at Annaj)()lis. and made a
very fine appearance. In passing through Wash-
ington and across the 1)ridge and also while passing
the defences on the Virginia side, the troops
marched in column of four al)reast, and it took a

no

long time for the entire corps to pass any given
})()int. After jjassing through the defences and
reaching tlie line of the Orange and Alexandria
Kailroad, the ,sanie order of march was not insisted
ii})on and it became very much a "' go as you please."
The officers of the battery were mounted, the
drivers of spans were also mounted while the
detachments walked by their guns or rode upon
the caisons.

We now began to tiiid recently deserted camps,
where troops that had been s[)ending the winter near
Washington, or along the railroad, had recently
l)roken cam}) and started for the front. Only a
light guard was left to })rotect the coimniinication
with the l)ase of supplies. Our battery was in the
third division and well toward the rear of the
column. It was not often that we could see much
of the line, l)ut once in a while as we ascended a
hill with a plain beyond, we could see the blue line
for miles ahead, undulating and writhing like the
contortions of a huge blue ser})ent. After we had
reached a point a few miles out, General Burnside
passed us with his staft\ and the men cheered him
right heartily as he rode along. On the march
after that, he would halt at the wayside for the
column to pass, then he would mount and pass to
the head of the column, where he would again halt,
and allow the corps to pass him. His appearance,
no matter how often, was always the signal for
vociferous cheering. He was ever popular with the

Ill

oiilistcd men. He rodo a lari>e brown horse whose
tail was docked and very short. He was a famous
war horse and an animal of o:reat endurance. When
nisiht came we camped in the most convenient phice
ah)ni>- the line of march. We had shelter tents for
the men, while conveniences for camping for the
officers were taken along with the battery. We
had our mess chest with earthern cups, saucers and
})lates, and all other conveniences for getting ui) a
good meal at any time and place. We generally
camped wIkh'c we could get a supj)ly of fuel for
broiling our meat and steeping our coffee, but the
countr}^ through which we were now passing over
had ))een fought over so many times and occu-
pied so long with trooj)-;, that fuel had ' become
very scarce. We soon learned that chestnut, hick-
ory', locust and white oak made good fuel even
when green, and our camping places were generally
in the vicinity of a grove of one of these woods.

It has already been stated that most of the l)oys
of our battery had seen service l)efore, and knew
iiow to take care of themselves, while the new men
soon learned the lesson of the veterans. The essen-
tials for a good camping ground are wood, water
and a well-drained soil. The tirst thing after halt-
ing when on the march, was to lay out the camp,
l)itch the tents, then get wood and build tires.
The canteens were then tilled with water, and each
soldier tilled his di})per, })ut in his coffee and held
it over the tire until it came to a boil. 'He then

112

put in his sugar and cooled it down to tlie right
temperature for drinking. The coftce furnished by
the government was generally of the tirst (juality,
and nothing could l)c l)etter for the tired soldier
than a i)int of this dclecta))le I)everage. Under its
exhilarating intiuence, he soon lost his tired-out,
exhausted feeling, and in a short time became as
gay and as exul)erant as when he set out in the
morning. I verily ])elieve that but for cotlee, the
rebellion would never have been crushed out,
and if the Southern soldiers could have been
su})plied with it, the contest would h;ive been
much prolonged. Our beef was driven ak)ng
with us and slaughtered as it was wanted. As
soon as the halt for the night was made the Ixief
was -dressed, furnished to (|Uartcrniasters of regi-
ments, by them to companies and by the com-
pany officer to squads, in quantities according to
the number of men to be supplied. Very soon
after it was slaughtered it was divided and sub-
divided into small })orti()ns and stuck upon sticks
and tlien broiled over the fire. At such times
the savory odors arising from l)roiling steak tilled
the air for a long distance beyond the limits of the
camp. The amount of meat per man was about a
pound [)er day, and when it is remembered that
there were tifteen thousand men in the corps, some
estimate may be made of the number of animals
necessary to supply the demand for a single day.
Hard l)rcad, fresh beef, colfee and sugar con-

113

stituted tlic inarchina- ration for tlir soldirr. The
second day out from Washington we readied
Brandy station. We had passed tlie famous l)ull
Kun battle ground where twice, the rel)els had been
successful ; passed Manasas Junction where so much
skirmishing had been done ; by Warrenton Junc-
tion the scene of many a ca\'alry tight ; here we
stopped two days and then passed Catlett's station
and Bealton ; }xissed Ra[)})alianno:'\ station the
scene of one of the more recent encouiters where
the Fifth and Sixth Maine achieved great things,
and tinally we reached lirandy station in Culpepper
county where a portion of the army of the Potomac
had spent the winter. We were now between the
Rappjdiannock and the Rapidan (Rapid Ann), the
latter formino- the dividino- line between Orange
and Culpepper counties, and between the army of
the Potomac and the army of Northern Virginia.
A portion of the army had already crossed the
Rapidan and we halted for a short time at Brandy
station and camped there, waiting for the roads to
be cleared so that we could move on and join the
attacking column.

Of course, the plan of the canii)aign which we
knew had now 0})ened, was entirely unknown out-
side of headcjuai-ters. The army l)eing only a
machine, subordinate otKcers and men had nothing
to do but to obe}^ orders. There was no end to
speculation, for in this free country soldiers will
think and talk, Init as to what was before us, we

114

were all e(|ually in the dark. While at Brandy
station, I called on the Fourth Maine Battery which
had spent the winter there. I saw Lieutenant
Kiinhall and several ])rivate soldiers from Jjethel.
This battery was attached to the Sixth Army Corps,
and was under marching orders. The Second and
Fifth Corps had already left for the tlank movement
toward Richmond. Tlw order for the movement
was issued on the second of ^lay, and the move-
ment was l)egun at inidnii>ht of May Hd. At
(iliu'mania Ford on the Kapidan, General (irant
sent a dispatch to (xeneral Burnside to make a
forced march to join the main army which had then
crossed into the "old AVilderness." The Itth Corps
had not yet been assiiiiied to the army of the
Potomac and was directly under the command of
General Grant. This dispatch was sent at a quarter
past one on the fourth of ]May. At that time the
first division, Gen. Stevenson's was at Brandy Sta-
tion, while the other divisions were back, some of
them nearly forty miles from the Ford. Steven-
son's division crossed the Rapidan on the morning'
of the tiftii, and toward night the other two divi-
sions wei'c across. The division of colored troops
did not cross until the morning of the sixth.

General Lee who had his headquarters at Orange
court house, was fully apprised of the })roposed
movement and his troops left their winter (juarters
almost simultaneously with ours. I do not propose
to give anything like a history of the campaign

115

which had now l)eru {)})ened, for that has ))een
Avrittcu aiiiiin and again hy tliosc who were in a
position to know and \\'h() have wiehled nuieh al>U>r
pens than mine. A subaltern coukl know but little of
what was going on except right around him, and it
is of that little that I pur})ose to speak. 1 was
only ;i small part ot the great machine, and my dnty
was to obey orders without question. The battle
had o})ened ^vhen we were miles away from the
Rapidan river, and the loud booming of the cannon
informed us that the two great armies had again
met in mortal combat. As we drew nearer, volleys
of nmsketry could be heard, followed by that long,
indescribable roll of continuous tiring. We crossed
the Rapichm at Germania Ford, 1)y means of a pon-
toon l)ridge upon which other corps had crossed
and which had been left for us. Crossing the river
we passed into the Wilderness and pushed on
al)out three miles. It was (pdckly understood by
us that light artillery could not be used to any great
extent on account of the density of the undergrowth
which rendered it extremely difficult even for infan-
try to get along. The signs that a great battle was
going on in our immediate vicinity Avere everywhere
manifest. The booming of cannon and rattle of
musketry Avas cjuito constant. The ambulances
were busy in remoA'ing the wounded and army sur-
geons had all the} could attend to. On the morn-
ing of the sixth, the Ninth Corps Avas ordered to
start at two o'clock and take a position l)etween the

116

Second and Fifth (\)r[).s, the first division to remain
in reserve at the Lacy House. Near this tavern,
the battery lialted for the dny. The woody hill
al)()vc the tavern, it was thouLi'ht during ilm after-
noon, might 1)e occupied by artillery, and our bat-
tery was ordered to take jK)sition there. We
accordingly proceeded to the crest of this hill.
Beyond, toward the enemy, the growth was so
dense as to entirely obstruct the view, luit the
enemy saw us from their signal stations, and before
we had unlimbered, the shells began to fall around
us and in^ close proximity. They htul our range
completely and were on much higher ground than
we. The situation Avas taken in from headcpiarters
at the tavern, and an orderly was sent directing us
to get out of there as soon as possible. We were
glad enough to obey and left the hill without tiring
a gun. But the battery had been under fire, and
Ave began to feel like veterans. And here we S[,ent
a large part of the time while the battle of the
AVilderness was beino- foui>:ht.

A large number of batteries Avas in our Aicinity,
and one afternoon an order came for us to harness
u]) and })roceed as (piickly as possible, toward the
lva[)idan. It Avas understood that the rel)els were
l)ressing hard upon our right occupied l)ythe Sixth
Corps, Avith the idea of turning it and cai)turing our
supply trains which Avere then in rear of this corps.
We run our horses at the to}) of their speed, and
Avent into position as directed. Artillery was

117

placed ill position as near t()ii:ctlicr as possil:)lc fou
tlic distance of nearly a mile. AVhether this for-
midal)le array of guns prevented the proposed
attack upon our riirht, I never knew, but it was
not made, and our supply wagons passed safely
along toward our left.

While it was not permissible for any officer to
stray far from his command Avhile a conflict was
going on, yet so little could be accomplished with
artillery that the officers of this branch of the ser-
vice took some lil)erties. I went to the cleared
field not far away, where our hospital tents had
been set up and such a sight as there met my view,
may I never behold again. There were acres of
Avounded men stretched upon the ground and the
few hospital tents were filled to overflowing. A
very large number were only slightly wounded,
and this was one of the peculiarities of the battle
of the Wilderness. In trying to screen themselves
from the foe, tlie men took position behind trees
which were too small to protect the whole })erson,
the arms in the operation of loading being exposed,
so that wounded arms, hands and legs were unusu-
ally common. But there were wounds of every
kind, and the surgeons' knives were kept constantly
))usy in amputating wounded limbs, and other
instruments in probing for l)ullets. And so the
great 1)attle went on. Sometimes one side gained
an advantage, and then the other, but nt) decisive
results could be reached either wav. In the thick

118

tano'le of the forost, squads of men would <>"ot
deliiclied from their rcgiuients and waudei- al)out
and sometimes march directly into the enemy's line.
This ha})})ened not unfrequently to squads from
both armies. 8(]uads from the two armies would
sometimes meet, and the one that was the largest
generally made prisoners of the smaller.

Finally, after this thing had been going on for
some days, there were decided indications that we
were about to move. But where? We were quite
sure that no victory had been won, and l)elieved
that no decided advantage had been gained by
either side. Were we about to retreat, or recross,
as had been the case after Chancellorsville ? There
was great depression in the rank and hie and with
all who did not understand the exact situation.
But we harnessed up and moved off toward the
left with the trooi)s. Still we did not know whether
^^■e were retreating or advancing. Perhaps w(^ had
no business to know, only our army was not made
up of serfs, but of intelligent men, and the meanest
private felt a personal interest in the result.
Toward noon we reached the old Chancellorsville
l)attle ground, and there we sto})ped for dinner.
The place where the r)th Maine Battery was in
position when its horses were shot do^\ n and Cap-
tain Leppein received his death wound, was
pointed out. Less than a year had elapsed since
this terrible battle took place, and the bones of the
slain horse.; were bleaching in the sun on the spot

119

where they fell. And now the (juestion would soon
be decided in our ininds as to whether we were
retreating or advancing. If retreating, we shoukl
cross the lvap])ahannock somewhere near Fredricks-
burg, and if not, we should continue to move by
the left toward Spotsylvania. The latter proved
to be our course, and we were happy. I only
judge others l)y myself, and I was truly ha]ij)y that
Ave were advancing, which indicated that we had
not been l)eaten. The rank and tile of the army
wanted no more retreating, and from the moment
when we passed the roads that led to the Ra})})a-
hannock Fords and continued straight on toward
Spotsylvania, I never had a doubt that General
Gnint would lead us on to tinal victory.

As we advanced toward Spots^dvania, we again
heard the roar of artillery and the rattle of mus-
ketry, showing that the corps which had preceded
us were already engaged with the enemy. The
sanguinary battle of S})otsylvania court house had
begun.

In the battle oi the Wilderness, while General
Lee cannot be said to have l)een worsted, yet he
had failet to acconqjlish his object, which was to
fall upon the Union army and prevent its farther
advance. General Grant hoped to avoid a battle
at this point, and by pushing rapidly forward to
gain the open country beyond, before colliding with
his op|)onent. So up to this time, the hopes of
neither conmiander had been realized. The advan-

120

tage, however, was decidedly with the Union army,
enahling it to continue its flank movement toward
the rebel capital. Our loss in the Wilderness was
very heavy, ))at the losses on the other side were
bv no means small, and the advantao-e <>-ained for
our side, we felt to greatly outweigh the cost.

It was early in the morning, May 9th, that the
9th Corps moved from Aldrich's on the Orange and
Fredicksburg plank road to Gates' house, on the
road from S})otsylvjinia court house to Fredericks-
burg, and then toward the court house, crossing
the Ny river at Gates' house, a mile and a half from
the court house. There are several rivers in this
part of Virginia, the Matt, the Tay, the Po and the
JV?/, and when these rivers converge and form one
stream, the combined water takes the very appro-
priate name of Mattapony. Wilcox' division which
was in front, had a brush with some dismounted
cavalry, and a brigade of Longstreet's corps. It
was over before the other divisions came up. The
battery was jilaced in position and was more or
less engaged for the next three days. It was while
here that the tirst casualties occurred. Three of
our men were very severely Avounded. This oc-
curred on the twelfth of June. The names of those
wounded were William 11. Bean, James H. Fall
Avho died four days after, and Charles O. Randall.
Bean lost a leg and Randall did not return to the
l)atter3^

A little night adventure in which I l)ore a humble
part, occurred while we were at Spotsylvania. The

121

Second Corps was on our right, and the division
next to the ninth was conunanded by General Bar-
low. This division had been ordered to charge
the enemy's works, and General Barlow thought a
little more artillery than he had, might be used to
advantage. So he sent to the Ninth Corps, and
an order Avas issued to detach a section from our
l)attery and send it up to the point whence the
change was to be made. For this purpose, the
right section was detached. The night was very
dark and rainy, and our course was through the
woods and over very rough and miry roads. A
staff officer accompanied us to show us the way,
and about two o'clock in the morning, we reached
a place where we were directed to unlimber and
take the horses back over the brow of a hill, a
short distance to the rear. We lay down near the
guns after mounting a sufficient guard, and had a
little sleep, but as the day began to break we were
awakened and prepared for action. As it grew
light, we found ourselves in an advanced position with
only a light picket line between us and the enemy's
entrenched position . The spring birds sung sweetly
in the trees, but other sounds than bird songs were
to l)e heard ere long. Soon after light, we noticed
a column of union infantry in our rear a:nd advanc-
ing upon us. This was the attacking column, and
the rebels saw it about as soon as we did, and
opened a heavy lire upon it and us. For a few
mouDents the air was full of whizzing, whistling
G

122

bullets and as we were l^etween the advancing
column and the rebel works, we of course had our
share of the ])ullets. We immediately opened
upon the rebel line with cannister shot, and after
the Union coluniu had passed us, we changed to
shell. Our troops advanced with a cheer. Men
occasionally fell, but the ranks were ((uickly closed
up, and after tiring a few rounds, our infantry
charged the works and carried them. We then
chano-ed to solid shot which we continued to throw
into the woods for about an hour. There were
some twenty guns besides ours, and for a little
while, we made things lively. Toward noon, the
union troops returned with the report that the
charge had practically, l)een a failure. Our troops
had charged and captured a second line of works,
but they found a third line impregnable and after
losing many men in a vain effort to capture it, they
withdrew. In the afternoon we rejoined the bat-
tery. And alter several days more of fighting
there were indications of another Hank movement
toward the left. Our guns were withdrawn from
the works, l)ut previously, long columns of infantry
had passed us marching toward the south. It
was just at night that we withdrew our guns and
harnessed up, and about this time active tiring
was heard in rear of our right and for a little time,
we feared that our right flank had really been
turned. We remained where we were for several
hours until the Hrinu' ceased. The ;itt;ick was made

123

by Ewoll's rel^el corps, ^'ith the view of captiiriuii"
our supply trains. It so happened that General
Tyler with some ten thousand heav^^ artillery-men
was on his way to join the army of the Potomac,
and encountered EwelTs troops in our rear. They
at once attacked them, and the sound of their guns
was what we heard. This Avas the first time these
regiments which had been drawn from the
defences of Washington had been under lire, and
they l)ehaved most s[)Iendidly. The loss however
was very severe, as they stood up and fought and
did not take advantage of shelter as veteran troops
always do. The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery was in
this engagement and lost heavily. The second
corps which had started toward the left l)ut had not
gone far, hurried back and liirney's division which
C(mtained several Maine regiments, had a hand in
driving the rebels back which was speedily accom-
])lished.

In the several engagements at Spotsylvania, the
i)th CV)rps lost over three thousand men, in killed,
wounded and prisoners, and most of them were
lost on the twelfth of May. The losses in other
cori)s on that day swelled the number to seven
thousand. The Ninth Corps led in the charge on
that day, and hence its greater loss. Ewell's move-
ment on our right and his defeat occurred on the
IHth. Among the killed of the Ninth Corps was
General Stevenson, commanding the first division.
The number of killed, wounded and prisoners in

124

the Union sinny at Spotsylvania was 17,723, and
inclndini; the hattk' of the Wikk'rness, 33,110.

The movement to the left which was ordered for
the nineteenth of May, l)iit which was jiostponed
on account of E well's attack, commenced on the
20th. Gen. Hancock with the Second (^orps, as
usual took the lead. The Fifth Cor[)s followed
next, and as soon as the roads were clear fV)r us,
the Ninth mo'sed on toward the North Anna river.
The Sixth Corps remained in the works and were
suddenly attacked, but the movement on the part
of the rebels was oidy to ascertain what force was
confronting them.

We marched nearly all niiiht, and as it was rainy
and dark the march was a very disagreeable one.
We reached Guinea Station on the Petersburg and
Richmond Kailroad, about two o'clock on the morn-
ing of jVIay 2 2d. On the 24th we were confronting
the enemy on the North Anna river, and the Ninth
Corps was ordered to take position on the right of
the Second, and seize Oxford, Ixit General Burn-
side found the enemy so strongly intrenched on the
south bank that he did not make the attack. The
Seventh Maine Battery was not re(|uired to do
much here. From the position occupied l)y us, we
had a good view of the enemy's works. An occa-
sional Imllet from a sharp-shooter would reach us
though the rebel line was well nigh a jnile away.
While Lieutenant Staples and 1 were conversing
tou'cther and standing (luite near each other, face

125

to face, a ))all passed between us and stniek his
horse which an orderly was holdinii' a few stci)s
from lis. StapU's directed the orderly to move the
horse a little farther away, l)iit the animal, after
walking a few steps, fell dead. On examination,
it w^as found that a minnio ball had passed through
him and was lodged in the hair on the opposite
side.

The Fifth and Sixth Corps had considerable fighting
on the 24th, somewhat to our right, but near enough
for us to hear the Yankee cheers and the rel)el yells.
These movements developed the fact that General
Lee occu})ied a very strong position and one that
could not l)e carried without great sacrifice of life,
if indeed it could be carried at all. It was there-
fore determined to make another fiank movement,
and this time Cold Harbor was the objective point.
The Union losses at the North Anna, few of Avhich
were from our corps, were not far from 2000. The
army began its fourth fiank movement on the 27th
of May. Our corps w^as directed to cross the
Panninkey river at Hanover Farm, and we crossed
about midnight on the 28th, and after us came the
trains which did not all cross before the 30th.
Wilson's cavalry remained on the north bank until
all had crossed. This river is navigable up as far
as White House Landing, and when the army
reached this point the river was full of vessels bring-
ing supplies of which we had l)een (jiiite short since
leaving the North Anna. For two days, the officers

126

could l)iiy uothiujj:, but we found sonic dry corn in
•d granary by the road side and with this w^e tilled
our pockets and ate as we rode along. On one
occasion we crossed a tield w'here sweet potatoes
had been planted, and it did not take long tov our
boys to dig iq) the seed wdiich they devoured raw.
One day we halted near a large wheat tield. There
must have been iifty or more acres, and the grain
was just heading out. A division of cavalry turned
their horses u})on it, and in a very short time, the
crop was harvested. I asked an old darkey who
was sitting upon the fence watching the operation,
how^ he liked to have his grain harvested in that
way? "I don't care," said he, "I shouldn't have
had any of it." We passed through a portion of
Virginia which had not suti'ered much from invasion,
and the farms and buildings showed but little of
the ravages of war. From one })lace we took more
than three hundred bushels of nice corn. This
place was owned by a general in Lee's army. We
also captured quantities of bacon which the men
highly relished >vith their hard tack.

It was proper for our men to capture stores of
corn, bacon and other su[)plies while passing
through an enemy's country, l)ut some of our sol-
diers were guilty of certain acts of vandalism which
it would have l)een much better to have left undone.
The white inhabitants along our route generally
abandoned their houses which was a very great mis-
take. Our soldiers always treated the inhabitants

127

civilly, and where tliey remained in their houses,
they were not molested. One day as we were
])assing- a house, I noticed that soldiers were going
in and out and every one who came out had a book
in his hand. I dismounted and went in. It was a
tine house, elegantly furnished, and had a very
extensive lilirary. The cases were of solid mahog-
any and the books very expensively bound. The
liln-ary must have contained four or five thousand
volumes of standard works. But the soldiers took
them from the shelves, these volumes bound in
Turkey or Russian leather, resplendent with gold,
and carried them away. It was an act of |)ure
^v■antonness, for ^vhat could soldiers in the field,
liable to go into action at any moment, do with
costly books ? The}^ were soon thrown away and
spoiled by exposure. Had the owner's family
remained in the house, this costly library would
have l)een i)reserved.

The boys sometimes called at houses and asked
for food ; they robbed smoke-houses and hen-roosts,
caught live pigs, and sometimes confiscated a tul)
of butter, but this was only living on the enemy
according to usage when in a hostile country.
There is no doubt that many of these i)e()})le
regarded the Union soldiers as but little better than
savages. At houses where I and others called,
great surprise would be manifested at the civil
treatment the inmates recei\'ed at the hands of the
Yankee soldiers. The colored people were often

128

afraid of us at tirst, having been told that we woidd
surely murder them. At one house where we
halted for water, the lady of the house ran from
room to room, n\) stairs and down, screaming at
the to}) of her voice like a maniac. Nothing that
we could say seemed to reassure her, and after
having drawn a })ail of water and quenched our
thirst, we went away but she continued to scream
as new soldiers came along, until Ave were out of
hearing. The colored people, shy at first, soon
I)ecame familiar enough, and even here where
Yankee soldiers had never before been seen, these
})eo})le had some idea that in some way, they were
mixed up with the contest. They had heard of
"Massa Linkun," and believed that the year of
jubilee was at hand. One old colored woman, as
our column was passing, said to me; "Seems to
me you don't do noffin up norf l)ut make Avhite men ;
I never seen so many men afore in all my life."
The troo])s had l)een steadily tramping by the
l)lace where she lived for more than twenty-four
hours, and it is no wonder the poor darky was
astonished at the number.

On the 30th of May, the Ninth Cori)s with shar})
skirmishing, formed on the left of the Second ( Jorps,
and toward night had crossed the Tolopotomoy
river, our right resting on that stream, near the
Whitlock House, and its left near Shady Grove
church. Our l)attery was near the left. The Eigh-
teenth Corps which had been with General Butler

129

at the nt)rtli of James river, joined the ariny of the
Potoiiiae at Cokl Harlwr, and i)articipated in the
lieree and bloody eno'aaenients at that point. Cold
Harbor was an im})ortant point to the Union army,
as it was on the line of our extension to the left,
and roads concentrated there from l)ethesda church,
from Old church, from White House, direct from
New Bridge, and either directly or indirectly from
all the l)ridges across the Chickahominy above and
below New Bridge. I do not propose to give a
statement of the engagements which took place on
this line. The army of the Potomac remained here
over two Aveeks and our losses here were very heavy.
The battery was engaged here on several occasions,
but for a considera])le portion of the time, was
1)ehind entrenchments and not actively engaged.

June 1st, the battery followed the third division,
and all the guns opened upon the rebel line and
followed it up until dark. One battery man Avas
killed here, and one Avounded who sul)sequently
died of his Avounds. On the sixth of June, the
battery Avent into position at the Cross Roads near
Cold Harbor where it remained until the twelfth.
It occasionally had artillery duels Avith the enemy,
but Avas well protected, and there were no more
casualties.

The Avife of Apollos Williams came to Washing-
ton Avhile Ave Avere in camp there, and by some
means, Avhen the battery left Washington, she AA^ent
Avitli us. Willianifi was mess cook for the officers,

130

iiiid after we had uot .so far IVoiii Washington tliat
his Avife conld not well retni-n, she joined her hus-
band and assisted him in eooking. Williams was
from Gorham, N. II. When we reaehcd Cold
Harbor, our base of supplies was at White House
Landino', and this athjrded the first op|)ortunity we
had had of sending jNIrs. Williams baek to AVash-
ington. Aecordingiy on the tenth of June, as the
battery was in position and not engaged, we had
the aml)ulanee harnessed with Levi D. Jewell as
driver, and with Mrs. AVilliams as passenger, we
drove to AMiite House where Mrs. AVilliams was
})ut on a trans})ort and sent off. This place was
General McClellan's base of supplies during the
seven days' fight, and it Avas here that he l)urned
his immense stores Avhen he left for Harrison's
Landing on the James. I remained here over
night and on my return the next day, I took along
with me a few bushels of C^hesa})eake Bay oysters
which 1 purchased out of a schooner. That even-
ing on arriving at cam}), wo roasted onr oysters by
the camp-fire and it was a rich treat. Ofiicers and
men joined in the feast, and for the nonce forgot the
dangers with which they were surrounded. Ap[)ol-
los Williams was taken sick alxnit the time his wife
left, went to the hospital and never rejoined the
iKittery. He was a frail man and never should
have been acce})ted.

On the eleventh of June, an order was issued
that there would be no more charging over defences,

131

but that the seiu'o of Richinoiul would ho coiumeiiccd
from \vh(H"c wo thou wero, and that tho city would
bo advMUccd u[)()U by rouular a|)i)i'oaohes. On the
vory uext day, thoro was au cngagemont all aloug
the line ; breastworks were charged and very severe
losses sustained by the Union army. The reason
for this charge, I never fully understood. But
after the repulses or perhaps failures is the better
term, of the twelfth, it became evident that another
movement to the left was to 1)0 made. Whether
the movement was to l)e up the north or on the
south side of the .lames river, we did not know,
l)ut the general opinion was that we sh(ndd cross
the James. The Eighteenth Corps Avas first sent
away. The Second Corps pulled out and went
away next and then the Fifth. The Ninth Corps
moved and crossed the Chickaliomin,\ on the four-
teenth. On the next day, we crossed the James
river at Wilcox I^anding, some forty miles below
City Point. Towards night, of the sixteenth, we
reached the front of Petersburg. On the eighteenth,
the battery was engaged with the corps, in driving
the enemy across the Norfolk railroad. As we
neared the vicinity of Petersburg, there was evi-
dence of sharp fighting l)y the Eighteenth Corps
Avhich had captured several redoubts and driven
the enemy back to within a mile and a half of
Petersburg into an entrenched line. Reports came
to us of the capture of Petersburg and the close
siege of Richmond, but we found afterwards that

132

they were groundless. We renuiined in the position
we had taken on our arrival until the twentieth,
constantly throwing shot and shell upon the enemy
to })revent him from changing his position.

We then went into position at the Hare House,
situated within 300 yards of the enemy's entrenched
line, where we remained working our guns for
three days. The enemy kept up a constant fusilade,
and generally picked off every person who showed
himself above the works. On the 23d, our division
moved to the left and our battery took a position
near the Taylor House. This was a much exposed
position, and there was constant musketry firing by
the enemy. Our orders here were not to work t'le
guns except in case of an attack by the enemy, or
unless the enemy's artillery should open upon us.

We remained in this position many days. The
weather was hot and dry, but the nights were cool.
We had no rain for nearly foily consecutive days,
and the supply of di'inking water became a serious
(]uestion. The brooks were dried up and in low
places the little water found was very impure.
The Taylor House near which w^e were stationed
had formerly been a hotel, l)ut wdien we went into
position, the buildings had been burned. There
was a trotting course here, and the place was the
resort of horsemen and others from Petersburs: and
elsewhere. Near by w^as a large and well filled
ice-house, and wdien we made our advance, this ice-
house was between our lines near where our corps

133

joined the Fifth. It was a treasure wortlu-ontendiiiii:
for, and one day after quite a skirmish, in Avliich
we lost several men, we succeeded in l)ringing it
within our i)icket line. This ice lasted us nearly
two weeks, the two corps sharing it alike. A por-
tion of it Avas taken to the hospitals. So vexed
were the Johnies at its loss that they tired upon
every one wdio ap})roached it.

The next morning after the Ninth Corps made
its advance, I rode over to the 32d Maiue llegiment
w^iich was in (leneral Griffin's division. They
were just taking their breakfasts and the ground
all along the line was thickly strewn with dead,
the l)hie and the gray together ; the latter largely
predominated. A letter written the night before
but unsealed, showed how complete was the sur-
prise. It was from a line officer in a North Caro-
lina regiment to his sister. He said there was a
report that the "Yanks" were advancing, l)uthe did
not credit it, "and if they are coming," he wrote,
"we are ready for them and will surely hurl them
back across the James." The writer of this letter
was killed in the rifle })it where he had written it,
and the successful charge was })robal)ly made while
he held his pen in his hand. The rifle pit was fllled
with dead bodies piled one upon another. I found
Captain Noyes of Norway and others whom I knew
here and then started to return to the battery which
was at the right of this })lace. While crossing a
stream which came down from the enemy's line.

134

the pickets got sight of me and o[)en('(l upon nie,
Wlien I was fording the stream the bullets tiew
about me in a very lively manner, striking in the
water quite near and l)uzzing through the air, but
none of them struck nic or my horse, and wIumi I
reached the baidv 1 was screened from view by the
shrul)bery that intervened.

After the advance of the Second Cor|)s on our
right, I rode over the ground, soon after the charge
was made. The 17th Maine and the 1st Maine
Heavy Artillery were in this charge and lost very
heavily. The Union dead over the ground which I
passed, were numerous, though uiauy of them had
then been interred — a work which was then going
on. One day while we were in position, John Mar-
shall Brown who was lieutenant colonel of the 32d
Maine was wounded in our front, and was brought
out past us. I had known him well when we
attended Dr. True's school at Bethel.

I have said that our position near the Taylor
House was a very uncomfortable one. The enemy's
picket line was only a short distance off, and the
pickets kept up a constant tire. When we tirst
Avent into this position, an unsuccessful attack had
just been made upon a strongly entrenched line,
farther towards Petersburg, and the attacking l)arty
had been obliged to fall ])ack, leaving their dead
and wounded where they had fallen. A truce was
asked for to enable us to recover our wounded, but
was refused by the rebel authorities, and these poor

135

fellows remained between the two lines, exposed to
the hot sun by day and chillis damp air at night,
until death came to their relief. Curiosity im[)ened
some of our men, notwithstandinir the extreme
hazard of so doing, to look over the works and the
wounded were seen to move their hands and feet
for two or three days after they fell. It was a ter-
rible, heart-rending sight, but one which could not
be helped. One day as George E. Howe, a private
in our ])attery was sitting down a little too far in
the rear of our works to be entirely sheltered, a
minnie ball })assed over his head so near as to s})lit
his cai) nearly in two, and cut off some of his hair
while ihe seal}) was not injured. One day I was
fitting upon the ])()le of the limber when a ball
struck the pole within a foot of me, and chip})ed
out quite a large piece. These incidents attracted
but little attention at the time, because there were
so many casualties of a serious nature.

The guns of the l)attery remained in i)ositi()n in
front of Petersburg for many days. The famous
Burnside mine was sprung on the 30th of July.
On that morning at four o'clock, all the artillery
along the line was ready to open fire, the explosion
of the mine to be the signal. There was an hour's
delay, but at tive o'clock there was a concussion
that made the earth tremble beneath our feet.
Then came the artillery tire, such as I had never
heard, and never expect to hear again.

Cannon of all sizes belching forth tire and smoke,
shot and shell screeching through the air ; in tive

136

minutes from the opening, the entire landscape was
shrouded in smol^e, wliile the l)urstino; shells pro-
duced a lurid appearance, very diflicult to describe.
While this was going on, the infantry was pouring
into tlie crater, and there was hand-to-hand fighting
and a great slaughter on both sides. All this was
hidden by the clouds of smoke. The w^ounded
soon began to be brought out and ambulances were
loaded for the City Point general hospitals.

Quite early in July, I was taken ill with malarial
fever. After remaining in quarters until the day
of the mine ex})losion, I went to City Point and
from there to Washington. After remaining there
a few days, 1 had leave of absence for thirty days
to go to Maine, which was subsequently extended
to forty-five days. The extension of time was
given that I might recruit for the battery ; and after
obtaining what men I wanted, I took them into
camp in Portland. I then received orders to report
with my men, at Gall()[)'s Island in Boston IIarl)or.
We went to Boston hy boat, and in addition to my
own squad, there were some two hundred and fifty
recruits for dift'erent regiments in the field. On
l)oard the steamer, we found a man who was ped-
dling whiskey at the rate of fifteen dollars per
canteen. We arrested him, confiscated his liquor
which was thrown overboard, and on our arrival in
Boston, the cul})rit was sunnnarily punished. After
remaining at Gallop's Island three days, I was
ordered to assist in taking recruits to City Point,
The steamer Northern Light of the California line,

137

was })resse<l into the '<ervice, and with OOd reciuits
we steamed away for City Point. The day that
we were to sail at ni<iht, I went over to Boston,
and when I reached the wharf to return, I found
that the last steamer for the island, for that day,
had gone. Here was a l)ad tix. The Noithern
Light was to sail at eight o'clock and it was now
six. The wind was l)lowing a gale and ))oatmen
were very loth to cross over. Finally, after many
trials, for the sum of twenty-live dollars, I found a
man who would t;dve me to the island in a small
I)()at. ^Ve started, Init we had not been out for
ten minutes when 1 would have given twice twenty-
tive dollars to have ])een l)ack on the wharf in
Boston. It was fearfully rough, and we were soon
wet to the skin, andthe night was unusually cold for
the season. But we reached the island and that night
we started for the James river. AVe had DOO
recruits on l)oard, and a very hard lot. They were
largely deserters, bounty junipers, and quite a
nuudjer of rebels who had come to Maine and
IVIassachusetts by the way of Canada and enlisted
for the large bounties, then })aid. AVe had a com-
pany of jVIassachusetts Heavy Artillery as guard,
and their nniskets were ke[)t loaded all the way
out. We ke})t the men below at night with hatches
down, and only allowed them to come on deck for
an airing for a few hours each day. About nine
o'clock each evening, wo went l)elow with lanterns
to see what was going on. A more villainous

138

lookino- set of iiicn, I never saw. This party liad
more, tliaii sixty tliousaud dollars in money, and
nnu'li of it eliangcnl hands by <»-aml)linir.

The ])assaij:c was a rouuh one and I was sea sick
nnieh of the time. In the eonrse of tive days we
reached Bernmda Hundred where we left our re-
cruits and the steamer, and on a smaller 1)()at went to
Washiuiiton to report. The character of the men
we took out may be judged from the fact that of
one hundred sent to the Dth Maine, one-half had
deserted within sixty days, and many of them to
the enemy. I went to AVashinuton an<l reported to
the War I);'partment. After beina- there three or
four days, I was ordered to proceed to the front and
rejoin the l)attery. This was about the middle
of Sei)tend)er. The trip down tlie Potomac by
Alexandria and Mount Vernon was a very pleasant
one. Reaching City Point, I took the cars on the
military railway, and.indue time reached the battery
wdiich was garrisoning Fort Welch at the extreme
left of the army. During my absence, the Weldon
railroad hit been taken, the battle of Peebles
Farm had l)een fought, and our left was then
threatenino- the South Side railroad, one of the oidy
two roads left to suppl}^ the rebel capital, and the
army of northern ^"irginia.

Soon after I reached the front, Captain Twitchell
obtained leave of absence for twenty days to visit
Washington, and I was left for that time, in com-
mand of tlie battery. We were obliged to be

139

vigilant, hecuiisc bcinir on the extreme left tlank of
the army, we were lia])le to I)e attacked. We were
now south of Peterslnirg and so near the South Side
road that we could hear the whistles of the engines
and see the trains moving to and from Peters) )urg.
Quite early in Noveml)er, and while Captain
Twitchell was away, came an order for us to move
a few miles to the right and occupy Fort Alexander
Hayes. AVe accordingly packed u}) and nio\ed
to the })lace which we supposed would he our home
for the winter. We were much })leased with it.
It was situated in a pine forest on a part of the line
where the rel)el entrenchments could not be seen
and not a rebel in sight. We })laced our guns in
position and commenced to build (juarters for the
men, but hardly had we begun, when an order came
directing us to move still farther to the right and
relieve a regular battery of the Second Cor})s, at a
place known on the ])lans as Fort Sedgwick, but
generally called Fort "Hell "' We knew this place
very well, as we had occupied a position near the
right of it. This work Avas laid out in July by
General Roebling of General Warren's staff, and
was built by a brigade of Massachusetts l)elonging
to the Fifth Army Corps, under the direction of
the late General Wm. S. Tilton, for sometime
Governor of the Soldiers' Home at Togus. It was
built under tire of the enemy, and was somewhat
irregular in its outline. The fort propermounted four
guns. Then there was a battery on each side called

140

battei'ie.s iiiuiil)er 21 and 22, each arranged for two
guns. The work was on the Jerusalem Plank Road
whieh leads into Petersburg, and from this fort the
si)ires of the churches in that city could plainly be
seen. It was an elevated i)lace and from the to})
of the magazine, more than three miles of the
enem3^'s line and works could be seen. It was so
constructed that a tremendous artillery tire could
be concentrated upon it, from l)otli Hanks and from
the front. The building of the fort was commenced
on the third day of July, and it was not completed
until the time of the mine explosion, on the 8()th.
It Avas constructed of logs, earth, sand bags and
gabions. There were flankers to protect the men
wiiile working the guns. Why this work w^as
named Fort Hell I am by no means sure. One
story Avas that an ambitious officer of the Engineer
Cor})s applied his own name to it, which, coming
to the ears of the divisi(ni commander, l)r()ught out
an ejaculation which was at once given to the wa)rk.
It w^as a rule amonsj the connnanders to name all
forts after officers who had fallen in action and the
real name of the work in question w^as Fort Sedg-
wick, named so in honor of the l)rave commander
of the Sixth Cor})S, who was shot dead at Spotsyl-
vania court house. But the place might ap[)ro-
priatcly have borne the other name assigned it,
without seeking for any other reason than the fact
that it w^as so situated that the rebels could concen-
trate a fire upon it, which they did not scruple to

141

do upon the .slightest occasion, and sometimes for
no apparent reason at all. The change from Fort
Alexander Hayes was made as ordered, in the night
time, either the last day of November or first day
of December, 1<S(34. The ajjproach to the fort
was by a covert or hidden Avay which was a trench
or ditch sufficiently broad for the gun carriages to
pass through and so deep that on entering the
horses ears could not l)e seen above the surface.
.It was also a winding way, with frecjuent angles as
sharp as possible and allow the horses and guns
attached, to pass up to the fort. This covert Avay
as well as the reports of the officers of the regular
battery relieved, gave the boys of the Seventh
Maine to understand something of the nature of
the position and of the duties which lay before
them.

The camp of the battery was located about three
miles in rear of the fort and near the headquarters
of the c(n-ps. Quarters were here put up for the
horses, and a certain number of men were kept
here to care for them. Captain Twitchell and
Lieutenants Bundy and Thorpe also had quarters
and spent most of the winter here while Lieutenant
Staples and I remained during the entire winter at
the fort, with the guns. Captain Twitchell occasion-
ally rode up to the fort to see how matters were
going on, but did not remain long and lodged every
night at the camp.

In addition to the six guns of our battery, we
had one section of the Third New Jersey Battery,

142

under command of a Prussian Lieutenant, Carl
Machewsky, making eight pieces in all, and as I
was the ranking officer, the immediate command of
the artillery in the fort dc\'olved upon me. The
first step on moving in, ^vas the erection of suit-
able winter quarters for officers and men. The
infantry was quartered along in our rear, but of the
fort itself, the artiller}' men belonging to the two
l)atteries before named, were the sole occupants.
As the fort was in an exposed position and the
rebels had its range so completely that they could
droi) in their sixty-four })Ound mortar shells at will,
it was necessary to construct liomb proofs for the
protection of the officers and men at night and when
ort" duty.

The country in the rear of the fort when first
occupied by our troops, was covered by a heavy
growth of pine timber, and much of this was stand-
ing when the Seventh Maine Battery took its posi-
tion in the fort. The men, most of whom were
familiar with the use of the axe, having become
familiar with it in the forests of Maine, at once fell
to work cutting timber and bringing it into the fort.
The officers' quarters were constructed in the centre.
An excavation was first made al)()ut fifteen feet
square and three feet deep. Timber about a foot
in diameter, square at the ends and eight feet long,
were then set close together around and in the
excavation save only a place for a door. Timl)ers of
the same thickness were then cut of the required

143

length, and laid across the upright timljers for a
covering. Earth was then })iled around and upon
the whole to the depth of nearly ten feet, bags or
gabions of sand lieing placed on each side, and
upon the top at the rear, to keep the sand in place.
A chimney was built at the rear side or on the side
not exposed to the enemy's tire, and on this side
also was a glass window taken from some reliel
house, and a door. A descent of three steps took
one into the interior where there was a room
al)out twelve feet s(i[uare and eight feet high,
with tire-place, door and window on one side, the
other three being timber backed with earth.

The magazine was connected with the quarters
as a sort of L with entrance from the outside, and
protected in the same way. The quarters of the
men were similarly made only they were not as
large and were calied by them "gopher holes."

In this fort the winter of 1864-5 was spent and a
portion of the s})ring, until the battle of Five Forks
on our left was fought, and the battery broke
through and pursued the fleeing re])els into Peters-
burg. And that entire four months was a period
of constant watchfulness and anxiety. The posi-
tion was regarded as an important one, and constant
vigilance was urged upon us by the cor})s comman-
der. Our orders were, and they were strictly
complied with, to have one detachment of men
constantly at the guns by night, to have two men
with a light in the magazine, and a guard in our

144

own quarters to awaken us at a moment's notice,
and the offiL-ers to sleep in their uniform, Tliere
was })rol)al)ly no time durinii" the winter when we
could not have opened upon the enemy with artillery
at half a minute's notice. Our fort was within
four hundred yards of the enemy's main line, and
within one hundred yards of his entrenched picket
line, and deserters who almost daily came in had
some story to tell of preparations being made to
mine us and l)low us up, which from our position,
could have l)een done. These rumors kept us on
the qui vlve, and deep wells were sank in the ditch
outside the fort, and the depth of the water therein
constantly noted, as we knew that if mines were
beino- sunk, the water was liable to be suddenly
drawn otf.

From their picket line, the Johnies fired upon
us every night, l)eginning with twilight and ending
at break of day. At all times of night when
awake we could hear their musketry and the zip-
ping of the 1)ullets passing over our heads. So
accustomed did we become to these sounds that
the}^ were conducive to sleep, and a cessation for a
few moments would awaken us from the deepest
repose. The reason why they kept up their picket
firing l)y night has been variously explained.
Deserters said it was to })revent desertions to our
side, but if this were the true reason, many took
the risk, for desertions were of nightly occurrence.

A battery of sixty-four pounder mortars was
situated a little to our right and they had practiced

145

on us so much that they had our range completely.
Ahuost every day more or less of these shells were
dropped into the fort. These monsters could be
heard at some distance when approaching, and alter
the report of the discharge the boys would listen
for the shell and the moment they heard it they ran
for cover, unless they could see it and made up^
their minds that it would not come near them. It
they burst a few feet above the ground, their frag-
ments woukl be thrown in every direction and woe
to the unlucky soldier who stood in their way ; but
if they buried themselves in the earth l)etore
exploding they generally did but little damage
except to throw dirt. Several times during the
winter our quarters were struck, and each shell
would throw out a ton or more of earth, but none
penetrated to do any harm. It was indeed bomb-
proof. Sometimes these shells would explode
among the infantry in our rear and I have known
terribte havoc to be made by a single shell. One
day I was on the top of our quarters when a shell
passed over to the rear and I instantly saw fi'ag-
nients of 1>edding, furniture and cooking utensds,
coming up through the top of an officer's quarters
which the shell had unceremoniously entered.

The rebels would occasionally open on us with
tield artillery from their earth works in our front, l)ut
our works were so high and thick that they could do
us but little harm. As nothing could be gained by
these artillei V duels and a waste of ammunition was

146

about the only result, our orders from the chief of ar-
tillery were not to open on the enemy unless the
enemy first opened on us, and never to tire a gun un-
less in our next morning's report we could give a good
and sufficient reason for so doing. The commander
of the infantry that garrisoned the fort, it being the
same officer who had charge of excavating the
famous Burnside mine the summer before, a few
days after we got settled sent me a note requesting
me to visit him at his quarters. At the interview
which followed he asked me why I did not occasion-
ally open on the enemy's works in front ? He said
he felt himself ros}:)onsil)lc for the safety of that part
of the line, and thought 1 ought to practice some
and get the range and distance of their main line,
so as to be able to assist in defending the fort if
attacked. I told him that I received my orders
direct from the chief of artillery at corps headquar-
ters, and gave him in detail my instructions. This
did not seem to satisfy him and he insisted that as
the ranking officer, the artillery in the fort should
be subject to his orders. Of course I did not con-
cede the point, l)ut I told him if he would give me a
written order so that I could have something to fall
back upon, I would obey it. He said he would not
give it to me that day, but would think it over and
proba])ly give me such an order as would })rotect
me on some other occasion.

A few da3\s afterwards the adjutant of the regi-
ment waited on me with a written older from his

147

colonel, for iiic to o}ien upon the enemy's works
with the eight guns under my charge. Preparations
were soon made, and we opened with solid shot
and shell upon the astonished rebels. They imme-
diately re})lied to our fire with gun and mortar,
and a sharp duel continued for several minutes.
The colonel made his appearance in the fort, and
the reason for his singular order was a})parent. He
was intoxicated and could hardly manage to keep
upon his feet. As he came along by the officers*
quarters, a sixty-four pounder mortar shell came
doNvn near him and broke through the frozen earth
with which they were covered, and ex[)loded.
Many fragments of frozen earth were thrown into
the air, one of which, weighing several pounds,
struck the tipsy colonel and felled him to
the earth like a bullock knocked down for
slaughter. He lay. quivering for several seconds,
when he was taken u[) and carried to his quarters.
After coming to himself he sent word to me, sug-
gesting that I had done enough for the ])resent.
The result was that three or four of his men Avho
had come in to see the sport, were killed, several
wounded by an explosion of mortar shells, and so
far as we ever knew, the enemy received no damage
from our guns. A re[)ort was made out in accord-
ance with the facts and with the colonel's order, and
sent to headcjuarters ; and we were annoyed no
more during the Avinter l)y suggestions from infantry
otBcers, that we "ought to open on the enemy's

148

works." This colonel who coiniiiiiiulcd a Pennsyl-
vania regiment was a braAe and capable officer, hut
like too many others, he indulged too freely in
drink, and like other infantry commanders too, he
thought he had a right to order the light artillery,
a right which artillery officers would never concede.
They would take orders only from general officers
or those acting as such, and from ranking officers
in their own arm of the service. The colonel to
whom I have just referred has long since been dead.
Fort Hell was a spot well known all along the
army line, and visitors to the army of the Potomac
did not like to return without carrying away some
memento from this famous place. I have already
said that it was a very connnanding ]3osition and
from the to}) of our central l)omi)-proof when com-
pleted, the rebel lines could l)e seen for several
miles; also in a clear day, as stated before, the
spires of the churches in Petersburg were plainly
in view. The consequence was that we had many
visitors, though people as a general thing did not
care to remain long after the rebels commenced
shelling us. They did not often open on us on the
Sabbath, and we generally had more company that
day than any other. I remember one Sunday
morning after a severe rain which had converted
the Virginia clay in our fort into mortar, a large
party came in and asked permission to go u}X)n the
bomb-})roof. Among them was a farmer from the
interior of Pennsvlvania who was nearlv six feet

149

and a half tall, and wore a tall, st()ve-pii)C hat
which made him look like a giant. I climbed upon
the quarters ^vith them and they were much i)leased
with the objects that I i)ointed out. But happening
to cast my eye across to the rel)el fort in our front
1 saw the end of a sponge staff appear above the
])ara|)et and then disapi)ear, and I knew y)retty
well that they were charging a gun. In less than
half a minute a rifled gun was discharged, and a
shell })assed over the l)oml)-proof, only a few feet
above our heads and exploded a little distance in
our rear. The etfect on our visitors was most
remarkable. They leaped down the side of the
earthwork and rolled, slid or tumlded into the mud
below. The Pennsylvanian lost his balance and
came down head tirst, and got up and walked away
with a "shocking bad hat." One shot more was
tired, and then we could hear the derisive laughter
of the rebels across the way, Avho had enjoyed the
sport no less than the boys of the Seventh Maine
Battery.

The jokes, however, were not always played by
the rebels. One day as I was looking across the
enemy's line into an open tield, I saw a large party
coming out of a forest beyond, each man having a
log of wood u[)on his back. There were pro])aljly
a hundred or more of them. Calling one of the
sergeants, I pointed out the party to him and
directed him to drop a shell as near them as he
could and not hurt them. He complied, and the

150

t\vclve-i)ound l)oiiil) })a.s.sc(l over the heads of the
party and ex})loded ))eyond ; and such a fall in tire-
wood has rarely been known. Eaeh man threw
down his log and ran for eover into the fort, and
our l)()ys set up a shout which nnist have reached
the ears for which it was intended, for the
wood party was less than half a mile away. Our
fort was so near the rebel picket line that conversa-
tion could quite easily be carried on between our
boys and the Johnnies. They were not allowed to
do this as a rule, but sometimes the rule was vio-
lated. One day I recollect of hearing a rebel picket
ask one of our boys what battery he belonged to,
anl he })roniptly replied, "the 107th Maine." The
Johnny said he did not sup})ose Maine furnished so
many organizations, and, said he, "You must have
every man out." This same joke was [)layed by
other regiments until it became very stale.

One morning as we were l)usy al)out our routine
duty, I noticed a stranger looking over the works,
and as this was of itself a suspicious circumstance,
I decided to keep my eye on him. He was short
in stature, had a dark complexion, black mustache,
and seemed like a foreigner. He went round and
appeared to l)e inspecting everything, and I \vas
on the point of asking him his business when the
Johnnies rendered it unnecessary^ by sending over
a salutation in the shape of a sixty-four })ound
mortar shell which exploded in the fort. This was
speedily followed by another, and our visitor was

151

g'lad to cease his inspection and seek .shelter in our
l)onib-proof. He spent the greater part of the day
with us as the l)omhardnient was Ivept up, render-
ing it unsafe to leave the works, a large number of
shells exploding in the rear. We found him social
and full of anecdote, and enjoyed his stay very
much. We found that he was no stranger, though
we had never before met him face to face. He was
Thomas Nast, the inimitable caricaturist oi Harper's
Weekly^ and was then out on a professional tour
and filling his portfolio with sketches of scenes
along the army line.

One of the red letter days of the winter was the
one upon which commissioners came through the
lines to meet Secretary Seward and others, at
Ham})ton Koads, to attempt a negotiation for a
cessation of hostilities. By common consent, a
truce was declared all along the line and between
the picket lines, the l)lue and the gray mingled in
friendly intercourse. Wood was getting scarce in
our vicinity, and there were several large trees
growing (ai the neutral o-round between the two
lines, which neither side had been able to secure.
On this day delegations went out from each side,
cut down the trees and divided the fuel between
them, each carrying its jwrtion to its respective
(juarters. The " Yanks" exchanged hard-tack and
other rations with the hungry "Johnnies" receiv-
ing tobacco in rc^turn, and there was a general
swapping of knives and trinkets. We found that

152

the rel)el ration at that time eonsisted of three-
fourths of a pound of corn meal and a fourth of a
pound of very lean beef per day, with nothing l)ut
water to drhik. Many of our boys divided their coffee
rations with the rebs on that day, which to them
was a great luxury. But towards night we learned
through the rebels that negotiations had failed and
the word came " Down Yanks, we've got to shoot,"
and at twilight picket firing was resumed as usual.
Occasionally^ during the first part of the winter,
there was an interchange of newspapers l)y oflicers
in charge of pickets, though this Avas a breach of
military discipline and against orders. But such
orders were not always rigidly enforced, and gen-
eral otficers were often glad enough to })eruse the
papers obtained in this clandestine way. It was
while between the picket lines to obtain a pai)er
that the rebel General Roger A. Pryor was made a
prisoner and marched to head(|uarters. I did not
regard his capture as exactly honoral)le as he had
been encouraged to do so by the action of our own
officers. General officers frequently came into the
fort during the winter to take a look at the formid-
able works of the enemy in our front. On one
occasion General Grant and his staff'. General Meade
and staff", and General Parke, commander of the
Ninth Corps, all came in together. General Hunt,
chief of artillery of the army of the Potomac was
a frequent visitor. Such visits though formal, were
always agreeable, serving jxs they did to break the

153

iiionotony :uul relieve the tedium of camp life.
For even the bombarding of the rebels by day and
theii- picket tiring l>y night became monotonous after
a while.

During the day, when off duty, the boys amused
themselves in various ways. Card-playing occu-
l)ied much of the time, but the Seventh Maine l)oys
never gambled. Lieutenant Sta})les, Lieutenant
Machewsky of the New Jersey Battery and I, occu-
pied the bomb-proof quarters adjoining the maga-
zine, each of us having a bunk to sleep upon. One
of us was on duty all the time. Machewsky was
a Prussian by l)irth, a thorough soldier, and brave
as his countrymen generally are. We could not
mess together for Machewsky must have his dessic-
ated potatoes, beef steak and almost everything
else cooked in vinegar, l)ut we lived in the greatest
harmony. Some of the boys occupied their time
in making rings and other ornaments from the gilt
metal of which the rebel fuses were made. A
section of the fuse was tiled off and then l)y means
of a hie and other simple tools, it was wrought into
a ring and oftentimes (juite artistically done. One
of the boys sent a ring thus made to a lady friend
in Maine and received a poetical answer which we
venture to re})roduce here.

"I'm atniid that not for luauy

Are matches 'made iu heaveu,' as we've heaicl tell ;
But fewer still it seems to me, if any,

deceive a letter and a ring from hell !

154

"Tli«)ui>li to ))(' serious, I do not Hat tor

Myselt upon the niissiou of tlu^ I'iu^';
Your love for nie is (luite aiiotlr.'r matter.

And far from thoughts of match or marrying.

"Yet witli no sort of douhtiug, there are legions

Of pretty women versed in CupiTs lore,
Who would (and wisely) tempt the lower regions

To win as true and l)ruve a heart as yours.

'•And if I were to choose, or it it mattered.

What I might clioose, 1 scruple not to tell;
I'd much prefer to know your heart were shattered

By a girl's smile, than by a re1)el shell.

"Farewell I Heaven keep you safe and free from trouble,
And prove what I have always known full well :

A brave, true heart, a purpose pure and noble.
May live unscathed, e'en mid the tires of liell!"

Some ()fthel)oy8 spent c-()iisi(l('i'al>le time in \yrit-
inii' to their friends, and it' all the letters written
from this fort durino; this mcmoral)le fonr months
could be prodnced, they would not only give ii
graphic account of the siege, I)ut \vould be a scath-
ing criticism on the concUict of the war, for almost
every private soldier felt that he knew just how the
war should l)e conducted to ensure success. A
letter before me dated "In the Fort," February 9,
1(S()5, says : "AYe had ([uite a severe engagement
on our left abotit ten miles from here recently.
The action w^as connnenced by the Second Corps
which advanced against the South Side railway.
Our troops were successfiU on that day driving the
rebels some distance and ca[)tiiring a number of
prisoners. That night it snowed and the next day

155

chanired to rain and sleet. On this day the re])els
attacked a division of the Fifth Corps which was
out of aniniunition, causinii' itto retreat inconfusioii,
and the ^^ liole corps fell back through the woods
three miles. Our loss in prisoners was quite heavy.
Here the matter rested for the night, and an awful
night it was for the wounded, the cold rain and
hail continuing through the entire night. Our
troo[)s attacked the reljels at day light and driving
them back re-established their lines. We have
recently captured a rebel fort from Avhich Ave can
shell the trains on the South Side railway."

Another letter dated Fel)ruary 25th, says : "Last
night we received marching orders and were n\) all
night, but a heavy rain prevented the intended
expedition whatever it was. For the winter our
part has l)een to prevent Lee from sending troops
against Sherman ; soon it will be ours to advance
and assist in completing the line of l)ristling l)ayo-
nets which is closing in around the doomed rebel
army." These extracts are given merely to show
how freely the common soldier commented on the
war and the prospects ahead. Another letter dated
the same has the following: "A few days ago, I
saw a little mouse skipping around in the corner of
my quarters and I felt as proud as Diogenes did
when he found one in his tub. It really seemed
like civilized life. But since then they have come
in great num])ers and are a nuisance. The}^ gnaw
our clothes, eat our candles and actually run over
our faces when Ave are asleep and awaken us." * *

156

* * "I have just been out to examine the
rebel picket line. The poor fellow.s are only half
clad and are suffering severely. Hardl}' any of
them have overcoats and walk around with blankets
over their shoulders. This weather must be fear-
ful for the soldiers in our front whose home is in
the sunny South. Yesterday morning, an old
fellow seventy years of age W'ith hair as white as
snow, deserted and came over to us. He said all
he asked was a shelter to protect him from the [)iti-
less storm. He was pressed into a service for which
he had no love and in which he had no faith."

I will close these extracts from letters by giving
a few sentences from one dated January 2()th.
"AVe were quite startled ]\londiy night 1)y hearing
heavy firing on our right. The night was dark anj
rainy, and all was quiet on our front except the
usual picket firing, when all of a sudden there com-
menced a most terrific roar of artillery. We were
all on the qui vive in a moment, but found the firing
so far away that after we saw the fiash lighting up
the inky blackness, it was seventy-two seconds
before we heard the report. It seems that four or
five rebel rams, taking advantage of the rise in the
river and the darkness, had made their way down
to our lines, thinking, doubtless, that our fleet was
at Wilmington. Their object was to destroy our
base t)f supplies at City Point. But they w^ere
disappointed. One of them ran aground, two were
destroyed and two succeeded in getting back very

157

iiiucli (luniaued-" * * * * "The .stonii has
cleared away and tlie aii- is now delightful. I was
never in a place where the weather was so tickle ;
to-day cold and st(n'ni3% next day cold and windy,
and the next warm and s[)rino:like. We are now
repairing the damage done to our works by the
storm. I have a detail of fifty infantry at work
besides our own men." « * * "-One hundred
and ten deserters came over to us Monday night.
They come over, more or less of them, nearly every
night, and they tell the same story of suffering
from cold and hunger. They say the rebellion is
a])()ut })layed out." Some slight changes were made
in the disposition of the guns early in January, but
they were only temporar}.

Slowly passed away the winter months. AVith
artillery firing l)y day and picket shooting at night,
it was almost like a continuous engagement, and
few who had a part in it will soon forget this long
period of watchfulness. The minor events of the
war, as previously stated, have faded from the
memory, but the four months' watch in Fort Sedg-
Avick will never be forgotten. The strain upon the
nervous system by so much care and responsi1)ility,
the exercise of such constant vigilance and the lack
of a proper amount of rest and sleep, left their
impress indelibly stamped upon officers and men.
But time passed, and the bloody drama was drawing
toward a close. Firmly intrenched on the south
of the James, from that river to near Hatcher's

158

liiiu, threateniiiii: the South Side railway, the only
conimunicatiou but one between Lee's army and his
source of supplies, it was a|)parent to every one
that the sanguinary conflict ^vhich had lasted four
years Avas nearin<>- a close, (len. Lee foresaw as
clearly as any one the speedy downfall of the Con-
federacy, unless it could be aA'crted by a concen-
tration of his forces and a telling blow upon some
of the armies that encircled him. Looking the
ground over he decided to make an attack ui)on a
point in our lines in front of Petersburg, hoping
thereby to force our army back to City Point.

The confederates had great hopes of the success
of this movement, as I was afterwards informed by
liev. Nathaniel Head, a very intelligent Methodist
clergyman and Presiding Elder of the Richmond
District, whom I met while we ^vere following Lee's
retreating army, at Xottoway court house. The
time was even set when our army in front of Peters-
burg was to be cut in twain and the southern half
driven back pell mell u})on the other in the direction
of City Point. The same authority informed me
that when the attack had been made and had failed,
his hopes of success and that of many others,
entirely died out. The point selected for the attack
was Fort Steadman, at some distance to the right
of Fort Hell. All the available troops of General
Lee's army were massed in front of the foit during
the night, and an attack was made on the morning
of the 25tli of March. So far as being a complete

159

sur[)ri.se, the attack was a marked suecess. Gordoirs
men charged at daybreak and soon passed over the
narrow space between the lines and rushed into
Fort Steadman, which was garrisoned by the Four-
teenth New York Heavy Artilhny. The garrison
was taken wholly by suri)rise and made luit a
feeble resistance. The guns were captured without
a struggle and inmiediately drawn out at the rear
and turned on the adjacent forts.

The news spread along the line like wihltire, and
foratime everything was in confusion. A German
officer whose name I cannot recall l)ut who was an
inspector on the staff of General Tidball, chief of
artillery of the Ninth Army Corps, hearing the tir-
ing mounted his horse and rode to the front. In
the darkness he could not understand the situation
and soon found himself a prisoner. He cheated
his captors, however, and soon escaped minus horse
and watch. After the capture of Steadman, the
rebels marched on to Fort Haskell and attacked it
in the rear. But on our side order soon began to
ccmie out of chaos. The guns in Fort Sedgwick
were taken out at the rear, the whole company
being at the front, and under command of Captain
Twitchell they were turned on the rebel column
that was attacking our neighbor. Meanwhile the
gallant General Hartranft in command of a division
reached the scene, and though his men were mostly
raw recruits, they behaved like veterans. The
rebel attacking party, tinding themselves unsup-

160

l)orte(l \)y the 20,000 iiu'ii Lcc had iiuissed in our
front, and lieing 8har})ly attacked l)y Hartranft's
infantry, and at the same time exposed to a raking
fire of shot and shell from the guns along the line,
jorefcrred to surrender rather than retreat through
the terrilile storm of iron hail. Two thousand sur-
rendered and as many more were killed or disabled
by wounds. This was the last otfensive movement
of Lee's army, and General Meade, taking advan-
tage of their confusion, attacked their intrenched
l)icket line a little to our right and held it.

After the Fort Steadnian affair, which <>ave the
boys of the Seventh INIaine Battery about as nuich
excitement for a few hours as they cared to have,
events, which in two weeks culminated in the sur-
render of the rebel army of northern Virginia,
followed each other in rapid succession. General
Grant issued an order for another left flank move-
ment to l)e made on the twenty-ninth. The Second,
Sixth and Fifth Corj[)s were withdrawal, and the
Ninth Corps, with a division of the Eighteenth,
was stretched out to man the works and hold the
line formerly occupied by the four corjjs. The
flank movement was made by the three corps with-
drawn, assisted by Sheridan's Cavalry. The battle
of Five Forks was fought soon after, and the rebel
line hopelessly broken. On the morning of the
2d of April, an order was given for an attack on
the rebel works in our front, and the attack was
made at (hiy-brcak. Our line was thin, ])ut that

161

of the rebels much more so. Their outer line of
works was speedily ciiptured, and the i»:uns of the
7th Maine and od New Jersey were transferred to
the rebel forts which had so long menaced us in
front. Lieutenant Sta[)les and his detachment were
the iirst artillery men to occupy the rebel forts.
Lee's army still held Petersburg, and Heth's divi-
sion of A. P. Hill's cor})s was ordered to make a
charge with the view of retaking some of t!ie works
just captured 1)y our c()r[)s. The attack was sharply
made but successfully repulsed. General A. P.
Hill, one of the ablest of Lee's generals, l)eing
shot dead in an attempt to rally his men. This
was the last lighting in which the Seventh Maine
Battery took })art. That night Petersburg was
evacuated, and so quietly that our pickets, who
were within a stone's throw of the abandoned
lines, knew not that the enemy was moving until
the next morning when they were gone.

The Ninth Cor[)S then })roceeded in the wake of
those which had preceded it, through Petersburg,
Sutherlands, Nottoway court house, Burkesville
Junction, Rice's Station and High Bridge to Farm-
ville, where we arrived on the day of the surrender
of Lee at Appomattox court house, about twenty
miles beyond. Straggling soldiers in gray were
constantly being passed all along the line of our
march ; small arms, cannon and camp equipage
were strewed along the roadside. While at Farm-
ville I was detached to take charge of a hundred

162

iiieu to })ick y^^ tlio rebel artillery, and wo lauded
at the railway station, near High Bridge, more than
a hundred guns of ditt'erent sizes, from the old-
fashioned six-pounder to the elaborate and costly
Armstrong gun, manufactared onlij for iht English
government. Some of the comi)licated fuses belong-
ing to these guns I still have in my possession, and
keep them as mementoes of liritish neutrality in
our great struggle for national existence. While
at Farmville we heard of the murder of the Presi-
dent. The first report we received was that Wash-
ington was in Hames and the President and all the
members of his cabinet assassinated.

The rebel army of Northern Virginia having sur-
rendered, the Ninth Corps with others was ordered
to City Pv)int. Rejoicing at the termination of the
great rebellion, but sorrowing at the loss of the
nation's chief magistrate, the members of the
Seventh Maine Battery took up the line of march
from Farmville to City Point, thence by steamer to
Washington. After remaining at the National Caj)-
itol a few days, the battery was ordered to Augusta,
and on its tirrival was mustered out of the United
States service, June 21, 18(')5. While at Washing-
ton we took part in the grand review of the army
of the Potomac, ours being the only Maine Battery
accorded that privilege.

Of the history of Fort Sedgwick between the
time of its erection and our occupancy, I knoAV but
little, only I know that it had the rc[)utation of

163

bciuu- about the hottest plucc along the line, (icu-
eral C'hamherhiin received one of his wounds either
within the fort or in its innnodiate vicinity, and
many were either kiUed or wounded at this [)oint
daring the summer and autumn of 1S(U. During
our occupancy we did not h)se a man kiUed, and so
far as I remember oidy one was wounded and he
not severely. This was Alpheus Fuller of Wood-
stock, who was wounded in his foot by a fragment
of shell. But during the same time many infantry
soldiers were either killed or wounded, mostl} in
our rear, but some in the fort itself where they had
come when the cannonading was going on. Tn the
last assault upon the rebel lines, the first of April,
18B5, General Potter, commanding a division of
the Ninth Corps, was wounded through the body
while in Fort Sedgwick, and was taken into our
quarters and laid upon one of our l)unks until he
could l)e removed to the hospital at City Point.
In (Ireely's American conflict, and in fact, in all
the histories of the lvel)ellion, Fort Sedgwick alias
Fort Hell, is spoken of as an ex[)osed situation
where skirmishing or fighting was going on much
of the time.

In the pursuit of Lee's retreating army, there
were a few little episodes that may l)e worth men-
tioning. The battery camped at Nottoway court
house, and after we had put up our tents a gentle-
man who lived near ))y called on us and asked that
an officer of the flattery come and spend th(^ night

164

with him. lie thouiiht n coinmis.sioned officer
might })r()tect him tVom [)redatoiy A^sits by the
soldiers. I vohiuteered to i>(), and spent a very
l)lcasant evening with him. He was Rev. Nathan-
iel Head, a Methodist clergyman, and presiding
elder of the Richmond District. He told me that he
was tuUy committed to and in sympathy with seces-
sion, and had done everything in his })ower to keep
n}) an interest in his district. He said the people of
Virginia had the utmost confidence in the ultnnate
success of secession until General Grant crossed
the James river and began to threaten their com-
munication with the South. At the Wilderness,
S[)()ttsylvania and Cold Harbor, they were told
that the Union army had been beaten, and still
that army kept on until it crossed the James river
and entrenched itself there.

This discouraged them, but when the attack was
ab:)ut to be mide on Fort Ste;idniin, thsy were
promised that the Union army would surely l)e
hurled back to City Point, and communication with
the South made sure. This movement proved an
utter failure, and from that time Mr. Head said
they had been waiting for the end. -Fust as the
war broke out, Mr. Head had written a denomina-
tional work the copy for which he had sent to the
Harpers for publication. The book had been
published Mr. Head said, an d he had seen a notice
of it, but had never seen the book. That night at
the evening devotions, Mr. Head prayed for both

165

iiniiies and bath ii'overnineuts, for notwithstandinof
the diseouraghig outh)ok, I coukl not fail to see
that my entertauier had still a little hope that
Lee's army would escape, and that the confederacy
would gain a new lease of life. When the battery
returned after the surrender I again spent a night
with Mr. Head, birt this night he only prayed for
the Union army and the Federal Government. lie
had abandoned all hojie. He was quite aged, over
seventy, and a man of culture and al)ility. I have
never heard from him since. His wife had died
during the war, and his daughter kept his house.
I have no doubt . that he has long since passed to
his reward. I have since examined a copy of his
book and it was ably written.

As we were marching one day toward Farm vi lie,
I saw a piece of paper l)lown before the wind which
lodged against the fence by the roadside. I dis-
mounted and picked it up. It proved to be an
inventory of goods belonging to an estate of which
James Madison was trustee and was made out and
signed in his well known hand writing. I still
preserve the paper. A house situated at some
little distance from the main road, had l)een entered
and robbed by stragglers from our army, and it
was here doubtless that the paper had been let
loose.

I did not return to Maine with the l)attery. In
Feln'uary I received an appointment from President
Lincoln as quartermaster with the rank of captain.

166

I did not accept the a])p()intnient until Lee's and
Johnson's armies had surrendered, and the war
had come to an end. After the battery left, I
rej)orted at the (luartermaster-general's office and
was directed to wait in AVashington for further
orders. The battery meantime reached Augusta,
and was soon after mustered out. The battery, on
the whole, had been fortunate. None of the officers
and few of the privates had l)een hurt ; many died
of disease, but the narrow escapes from severe or
fatal injury were numerous, and a detailed account
of them would make a long story. The immense
earth works at Fort Hell, have in great part l)een
levelled to the ground, but the site of the fort is
still pointed out to the visitor, and a few years ago
^vhen Dea. Edward Nason of Augusta was there,
he cut a young apple tree which had sprung up in
our qutirters, and brought it home and presented it
to me. It is large enough for a walking stick and
is highly prized.

Concerning the personnel of the Seventh Maine
Battery, I have spoken but l)riefiy and in general
terms, and I shall content myself with a few l)rief
notes on individual members. In o-eneral terms,
the battery was made up of a fine class of men and
as a general thing of men below middle life or age.
There were a few exceptions to this, as would be
expected in a company comprising about a hundred
and fifty men. Ca])tain Adelbert B. Twitchell was
the son of Al})hin Twitchell of Bethel, and had

167

had every advantage that a young man could have
for qualifying himself for usefulness in life. He
fitted for college under the instruction of Dr.
Nathaniel T. True and graduided from Bowdoin
College in LSGO. He tiuight in Newark, N. J.,
until after the war broke out when he enlisted and
for a short titne ^vas qu-artermaster sergeant in the
5th Maine Kegiment. He then served as second
and first lieutenant in the Fifth Maine Biittery and
had an excellent record. From that battery he
came to the captaincy of the Seventh Maine Battery.
After the war, he settled in Newark, N. J., and
engaged in the lumber busine-is. He married there
and has a family. He is an elder in the Presbyte-
rian church an:l his been connected with the man-
a2:ement of the pu1)lic scliools. He has met with
the members of the battery only once since the war.
First Lieutenant Lorren E. Bundy came from
Columbia, Coos county, N. H. Of his parentage
and early life, I know l)ut little. From his own
talk it would appear that his means for ol)taining
an education were limited, and that he did not, to
the fullest extent, avail himself of those he had.
He spent his early life with stage and stal)le men,
and was a very good judge of horses. He enlisted
with the Fifth Maine Battery and for efficiency was
promoted along to first sergeant. From that posi-
tion, he came to our battery. After the war he
married and settled in Newark, New Jersey, where
he died su(hlenly in the spring of 1891, and his

168

reiiiaius were 1)r()u<iht for ])uri:il to his old home at
Cohmihia, N. H.

Lieutenant Daniel Staples was born in Franklin
county, l)ut eanie to us from the Penobscot where
he had been long employed as a surveyor of lumljer.
He had served two years in the 2nd Maine liegi-
ment, and had an excellent record. He was the
only married man among the commissioned officers.
He was not an ideal sojdier. He was slack in
taking care of himself, cared nothing for dress or
show, but he was whole-hearted, conscientious,
upright antl ])rave. He never shrank from any
duty however disagreeable or dangerous, and was
always genial and pleasant. No officer was more
popuhir with the men than he. After the war, he
settled in Dexter Avhere he was in trade, but did
not succeed, and was then night watchman for the
Dexter Woolen INIills. Here he died, and his was
the tirst death among the commissioned officers of
the battery, ;ind the only one until Bundy's death.
He belonged to the battery association and gener-
ally attended its meetings.

Lieutenant Frank Thorpe came to us from
Boothbay where his father's family then lived. He
attended school at Brunswick and titted for college,
l)ut did not go through. He served as second
lieutenant in the 28th Maine Volunteers. He
mastered the artillery tactics in a very short time,
and l)ecanie a very efficient officer. He was some-
what strict with the men at times, and bv this

169

means made some enemies, but he was courageous
and faithfully performed every duty. After the
war, he entered the regular army as second lieu-
tenant of artillery and is now captain in the 5th
Regiment and stationed in California.

First Sergeant Osborne J. Pierce came to us
from Clinton. He was a good officer and was
appointed second lieutenant but not commissioned
on account of the close of the war. He had a
romantic corrcs})ondence with a Bethel girl named
Twitchell, a distant relati^^e of the captain's, during
the war, and subsequently married her and settled
in Chicago. He was an artist and is doing business
in that line at his place of residence.

Quartermaster Sergeant Albert S. Twitchell,
was of Bethel, and this was his first service. He
had been educated at Bethel Academy, and was a
distant relative of Captain Twitchell. His consti-
tution was not strong and after the l)attery went to
the front, his health soon failed, and he s[)ent a
considerable part of his term of enlistment in the
hospital, in which, for a time, he was on detached
service. His position made him for the most })art
a non-combatant. After the war, he studied law
and has since been in practice in Gorliam, N. H.
He has filled the position of railroad commissioner
in New Hampshire and on one occasion polled the
vote of the delegation from Coos county as candi-
date for governor. He has been very cons})icuous
in Grand Army circles and veteran organizations,
8

170

and has served more or less on the governor's staff.
He is a pleasant, agreeable gentleman, of good
ability, a good writer and somewhat given to
rhyming.

Sergeant George A. McLellan should receive
honoral)le mention in this connection. He hailed
from Worcester, Massachusetts, l)ut enlisted on the
quota of Alfred. He was promoted to sergeant
from the ranks, for efficiency in the i)erformance of
every duty as well as for conspicuous bravery.
He was a model soldier, always cool and collected
in action, social and genial in camp and with no
1)ad habits. After the war he became an engine
driver on the European and Xorth American Rail-
way and was killed by falling under his engine as
it was thrown from the track.

Sergeant John E. Willis was a native of Bethel,
son of Adam AVillis, l)ut came to ns from Gorham,
N. H. He had served as second lieutenant in a
New Ham})shire regiment. He was a married man
of excellent character and was a good soldier.
After the war, he served as deputy sheriff and was
killed while attempting to board a train while it
was in motion.

Sergeant Howard Gould was the son of Edward
Gould of Portland and was only nineteen 3'ears of
age. He was afterward made quarter-sergeant.
He was efficient and faithful, and after the war and
since that time until recently has l)een conncu-ted
with the Eirst National liank of Portland. He has
been married since the war.

171

Sero^caiit AYilliaiii II. Jones ^vas with us only a
short time, Ix'ino- anionii' the tirst to succumb to
and die from disease. He was a young man of
tine mind and principles, a writer of considerable
merit and deservedly popular with the company.
He died at Washington April 1, 18 (54.

Sergeant John C. (^uinby came to us from AI)bot.
He had served as lieutenant and captain in the
2d Maine Infantry. He was a very efficient officer
and remained with the l)attery to the close of the
war. After the war, he was city marshal of Lew-
iston and then went West.

Sergeant Augustus Bradbury was of Fairfield
and still resides there. He was a quiet man, of
excellent habits and faithful in the discharge of
every duty.

Sergeant Augustus M. Carter from Bethel, was
promoted from corporal. He Avas the son of Hon.
Elias ]\I. Carter and grandson of Dr. Timothy
Carter, an early physician there. He was a good
soldier and since the war, has l)een a good citizen.
He engages in farming, lumbering and in civil
engineering. Ho married jNIiss Stanley after the
Avar.

Delphinus P. Bicknell of Poland was promoted
sergeant for conspicuous In'aver}', and was Avell
deserving of it. He enjoyed being in a fight and
could not have too much of it, though in the bat-
tery he was peaceable and quiet, and much liked
bv officers and men. Since the war he has been

172

employed by the Gran I Trunk R.iilroatl and has
hid charge of their t'enchig .so far as their road
traverses this State.

Alfred H. and Luther Briogs, brothers, came
from Woodstock. Both had served in the Tenth
Maine. They l)oth served as corporals, but the
former was reduced to make a place for the latter.
They were good soldiers. After the war, Luther
became a railroad man and was killed at Indianap-
olis ; Alfred H. married and resides at Mechanic
Falls.

Corporal Joseph T. jMerrill was of Portland, and
I never knew anything of his family. lie was a
good soldier. A few years ago, while tiring at a
celebration in Portland, he was severely hurt.

Corporal Lennan F. Jones was a brother of Ser-
geant Jones. He is small in stature but very lively,
and could make things decidedly lively when he
chose. He performed his duties well in the service,
and when I visited Andover a few years ago where
he has since lived upon a farm, f learned that his
iighting days were not over when he left the army.
He has made a success of raising Jersey stock.

Cori)oral Augustus P. Grindell was from Penob-
scot town and Penobscot Bay. His father has been
a prominent man in Hancock county, and the son
has served in the legislature. He was a quiet man,
a faithful soldier, and has been a good citizen since.

Corporal Ferdinand A. Smith was from Portland,
and of his family I know nothing. His service

173

wu.s credittil)le, and since the war I have not known
him.

Corporal Harvey B. Sininions I remember very
well as a good soldier and a good fellow, but I did
not see him after the war, and have known nothing
of his family. He was from the town of Union?
and died several years ago.

Corporal Finson R. McKeen I can vouch for as
a good soldier, but of his history and family I
know nothing.

Corporal Albert Tovvle of Kenduskeag died in
1889. He was a reliable man everyway, and took
a deep interest in the battery organization.

Corporal Charles Lapham was too independent
to suit the captain, and was reduced to the ranks
which in no way troubled him. He was a reliable
man and soldier, of good ha])its which he stood by
to the end. He had served in the 10th Maine.

Herbert E. Hale of Xovridgewock was promoted
corporal for faithful services in every position in
which he had been placed. He has not changed
his residence since the war.

Levi D. Jewell, son of Jonathan Jewell of
AVoodstock had creditable service in the Tenth
Maine. He was quiet and reticent, but a brave
and willing soldier. After the war, he died from
the effects of injuries received while unloading freight
from the cars of the Grand Trunk Railroad, at
Gorham, N. H.

Orrin R. Legrow of Windham was promoted
corporal for faithful and efficient service in the

1Y4

])atteiy. lie inaiTiotl and settled in Portland after
the war, where he engaged hi the hnn])cr trade.
He died in 1889.

Anrestiis S. Perhani, son of ex-CioNernor Per-
liani, served in the 2ord iVIaine. lie eame to the
Ijattery as a recruit in the autumn of 18(54. lie
was for a time in P'ort Sedgwick, hut February 11,
was promoted to sergeant major of the regiment
and went to AYashington.

Sewall A Stillings, blacksmith, was of CTorham,
N. H. He was a good workman but fond of his
cu})s. When the battery left Augusta, he remained
l)ehind and was taken up as a deserter. The fact
is, when the l>attery moved, he Avas druidv in a
saloon on Water street, and when an officer
entered to arrest him, he jumped from a back
window and f(dl nearly twenty feet. He broke his
leg, and it was several months ])efore he joined us.

Algernon S. Chapman, son of George Chapman
of Bethel, serv^ed as wagoner and until taken sick,
did his work well. After the Avar he went South a
few years, and then settled at Bethel where he has
engaged in various pursuits.

Corporal Thomas Q. Waterhouse had l)een a
teleo-rapher on the Grand Truidv, and after a few
months with us, was detailed for the same kind of
Avork on James river. He died soon after the war.

Corporal Onier Smith did not long serve as such.
He was a brave man and possessed of great i)hysi-
cal strength. He was addicted to drinking, and

175

when under the influence of drink was quarrelsome.
He was the only man of the battery that was pun-
ished l)y being- lashed to the spare wheel. He
was a sailor and followed the seas since the war
until his health broke down and he went to the
Soldiers' Home and died there.

Frank J. Norton was corporal at first but returned
to ranks and was put upon detached service. He
was not long with the company, and of his family
I knew nothing. He enlisted on the quota of Read-
field.

One of the first corporals was Benjamin S. Craw-
ford of Auburn. He was soon taken sick and was
discharged for disability.

AVilliam C. Hutchinson was appointed corporal
at the organization of the l)attery. He was absent
sick soon after we went to the front and was dis-
charo^ed durino- the summer. He enlisted from
Rumford and had a family. He has since died.

Everett A. Went worth was an original corporal,
but was returned to ranks at his own request. I
have not seen him since the war and never knew
his family.

Frank Q. Bodwell, l^ugler, enlisted from Rum-
ford. In front of Petersl)urg while at the roar, he
claimed to have l)een wounded by a ball in his foot.
The wound wdien examined indicated a pistol shot
wound and powder was blown into it. He had a
long furlough and applied for admission to the
Veteran Reserve Corps, l)ut on representations made

176

fVoiii the buttery, his application Avas refused. He
returned to the l)attery and served out the remainder
of his time as a common soldier. Since the war,
he has lived in Massachusetts.

William Hilton from Norridgewock was the other
bugler and a faithful one. He served out his time,
and I have met him at various times, since the war.

Samuel Fessenden, son of ex-Congressman Sam-
uel Fessenden, and nephew of William Pitt Fes-
senden, was a meml)er of our ])attery, and until he
received a })romotion Avhich took him away, he
faithfully performed every duty as a soldier, even
to digging in the trenches. He has since l)ecome a
famous politician and secretary of the Republican
National Committee.

James Gould of Troy was a noted member of the
battery, but noted for gluttony rather than bravery
in action. He would eat three or four men's allow-
ance and then look starved. He sold all his extra
clothing for hard-tack. He went on furlough in
March, 18()5, and never returned.

Jesse D. Bisbee was Captain Twitchell's help.
He enlisted from Brunswick, and since the war has
been a conmiercial traveller. He moved West.

Lorenzo Billings from Woodstock never did any
service. He was attacked with rheumatism when
we were on our way to join the army, and soon
after Avent to Maine, where a few years later he
died.

Warren O. Carney of Portland became an artiti-
cer, and alter the war, was in business in Portland.

177

He has been route agent * between Portland and
Bangor, and Grand Tyler of the Grand Lodge of
Masons. He served well.

James S. Lowell, ("Jimmy") son of Abner
Lowell of Portland, was one of our youngest
recruits. He served faithfully and after the war
became a telegrapher.

Isaac F. Lapliam was ambulance driver. He had
served in the 10th Maine. His health broke down
in the battery, and he has been much of an invalid
since the war. He is on a farm in Litchfield.

One of the coolest men in acjtion in the battery
was Joseph C. Lapham, known as "Joe," who
enlisted from Rumford. He was somewhat given to
drink, l)ut when there was lighting going on, he
was in his element. He would })erform his duty at
the gun, chew tobacco and smile and joke, when
the minnie balls were flying through the air and
shells bursting all around.

David S. Hawes was credited to the town of
Troy, but had lived in various places. He was a
man of good character and lial)its, had seen some-
thing of the world, and treated every one with
kindness and respect. After the war he went
West, and died several years ago, it is said from
the eftects of an injury received in the service.

Benjamin F. Berry was active and energetic and
l)roraptly did his duty on all occasions. After the
war, he settled in Kansas and has been very suc-
cessful in business.

178

J(),sei)h W. Beiin was (juitc youilii' Avhen he
enlisted, but he soon hardeiu'd into a soldier ca[)a-
l)le of endiirinLi' without eanipliint the hardships
incident to the soldier's life. He now does business
in Boston.

David K. Pierce came to us as ;i recruit and
serv(ul in the last canipaiiiii of ^he ai'iny of the
Potomac. After the war he sludied law and has
become proticient in his profession. He resides at
Great Falls, N. H.

Charles G. Kenney enlisted from Bristol and
served throuuhout with irreat credit. He enlisted
to take his chances in an extremely hazardous occu-
pation, and was not surprised that he did not find
a downy bed of case. His service was highly
creditable, and so has been his life since. He
resides in Portland.

Howard P. Todd came to the l)attery from the
eastern part of the State, and since the war has
resided in Aroostook. He was small in stature
but had a well knit frame, and became a good
solcb'er.

George H. Hutchins enlisted from liumford and
served all through, but his work was to care for
horses in which he was very proticient. After the
war he married and settled down in Andover where
he now lives.

Jaines McLoon, our jolly teamster, survived the
war and now lives in Damariscotta. "Jim" once
had a revolver drawn on him bv a general officer

179

because lie [jcivsisted in carrying out the instructions
of his captain. That night the officer sent for him
and lie expected it was all u[) with him sure. But
when he reached the officer's (juarters, the general,
Avho was alone, asked him his name, where he lived
and what battery he belonged to, all of which was
answered, when the general asked him if he ever
took anything. This was a turn which Jim had not
ex})ectcd and with face wreathed with smiles, he
answ<!red "sometimes." The general then called
his attention to a jug and told him to help himself,
which he reijuired no second invitation to do. Then
the general dismissed him, after asking him to
forget the little unpleasantness of the afternoon,
and acknowledging that he himself alone was at
fault.

William Andrews and Charles W. Ackley, both
Rumford men, died in hospital after quite long
})eriods of sickness. They wore both good men.

All)ert Billings from AVoodstock was a faithful
soldier, and remained throughout. For many years,
he has 1)cen road master on the Portland and Ogdens-
burg llailroad.

George E. Dewitt from Presque Isle was taken
sick and died. He was young, only eighteen, but
a very i)romising young man and a good soldier.

El)en M. Field was com})any clerk, and a more
upright, conscientious man, it would be hard to
find. He died of consumption soon after the war.
He was from Sidney, ]VIaine.

180

James B. Mason from Woodstock ])roved a
rather feeble man, but he survived the war and has
successfully engaged in bee culture at Mechanic
Falls, for which he has a natural aptitude.

George E,. Niles was severely wounded June 3rd,
at Cold Harbor, and died in Augusta July 26. He
was from Hallo well.

Ezra Kidlon, Jr., had served in the 10th Maine.
He survived the war and returned to Woodstock.
He was disabled more or less by sickness.

James H. Pratt from Woodstock was a faithful
and reliable man though not particularly robust.
He returned and still lives.

William L. Twitchell, l)rother of Sergeant
Twitchell, went out Avith the battery, and ser\ed
throuii'h, but his health became much shattered and
he died soon after the war.

Apollas Williams left the l)attery soon after his
wife did and did not return. He died many years
ago.

James Kelley came to us in 1864, and was our
mess cook. He excelled in this, and we regarded
him as a treasure. He is now in the Home at Mil-
waukee.

James A. Roberts who came out as a recruit in
1864, is a lawyer in Buffalo, New York, and a man
of wealth and influence. For second wife, he mar-
ried Martha, daughter of Judge Dresser of Lewis-
ton,

181

Hezckiah G. Mti.sou of ]\Iu.sou was wounded July,
1864, but recovered and returned. He was a good
soldier.

John Mason of Bethel was another of this family
who never shrank from any duty and remained with
the battery throughout its term of service.

Asa A.. Eowe of Gilead was taken sick in Wash-
ington and died there A])ril 19th, 1864.

Alonzo 15. ^lerrill from Holden went out with
the l)attery and staid with it throughout. He faith-
fully performed his duties and niade a good record
as a soldier. He resided in Bangor, and had been
engaged in various enterprises. He has taken great
interest in keeping u^) the battery organization. He
died in March, 18!) 2.

Austin F. Twitchell was of Bethel and a distant
relative of the C4iptain. He had seen battery ser-
vice before he joined ours. He was jealous of his
rights but faithful to his trusts. Since the war he
has lived in Auburn and Portland, the latter being
his present })lace of residence.

Frank Wade was from Norridgewock and has
resided there since he was mustered out at the close
of the war. He was a good soldier and faithful in
the discharge of his duties. He is a member of
the Battery Association, and (|uite constant at its
meetings.

Joseph U. Frye was another good soldier from
Bethel, and since the war, he has his home in the
West.

182

('harle.s V. Richards is now a dentist at Skowhe-
lian. He joined the battery as a recruit in 18G4,
and served to the close of the war, always faithful
in the discharge of his duties.

There are many others whom I would like to
mention, but some of them 1 never knew intimately,
never knew" of their families, and have never seen
them since the war. Some of the reci'uits who
came to join us late in 18(54, I never knew and
perhaps never saw. They came when the guns
were at the front and remained at the camp in the
I'ear until the rebel lines were broken and the war
was over. I have l»een asked for ceititicates to aid
in getting pensions, from persons whose names
even, I did not remember or recognize. The char-
acter of our men answered our expectations as a
general thing, though among the recruits were
some not as good. Only four deserted and two of
those left us while in Augusta. Those who died
from ^vounds and sickness or were discharged for
disability were : Serireant Wm. H. ,b)nes. (ieorge
8. Ilicker, Moses H. Arthur, William Andrews,
Charles W. Ackley, Wm. H. Bean, C^harleB C.
]^>urt, Lemuel T. Field, James H. Fall, Samuel
Goodwin, George Holmes, John Y. Leavitt, Joseph
R. Niles, Asa A. Rowe, Charles A. Reed, Charles
E. Wheeler, La Forest Warner, Geo. E. DeWit,
Briggs G. Besse, Lorenzo Billings, Ebenezer A.
Brooks, Benjamin F. Crawford, Asbury Eastman,
John Goudy, Ensworth T. Harden, Wm. C. Hutch-

183

intsoii, Gcoriic A. Johnson, (Jeo. A\'. Marston,
James B. Mason, Charles (). Randall, Alfred Kob-
erts, Apollas AVillianis, Emery (\ Dnnn and Howard
W. Merrill. Thomas W. Hyde was transferred
to the Veteran Reserve Corps. George H. Blake,
who joined us as a reeruit in the fall of 18G4, had
been a preacher, and althouiih he received a large
bounty and enlisted as a common pri\'ate, he thought
he ought to be excused from active (hity and be
permitted to lal^or for the good of souls. We
made uj) our minds that as he was an enlisted man,
he should l»e treated accordingly.

One little incident I onn'tted in its })r()])er [)lace,
may be recalled here. When on the march across
the Peninsula, some of our boys caught a cow that
was feeding by the roadside, and putting a rope on
her horns, hitched her to one of our teams. That
night we had milk in our coffee and continued to
have it with considerable regularity, to the close
of the war. Several of the organizations had ca})-
tured and were keeping cows, and late in the fall,
there was issued an order for all such to be turned
over to the hos})ital. We then dug a hole about
ten feet square and lowered the cow into it where we
fed and milked her all winter. She went with us
in the })ursuit of Lee's army as tar as we went, and
after the surrender and we had returned to City
Point, we disposed of her after we had kept her
about a year.

I was ap[)ointed (piartermaster Fei)ruary 21,
18G5. My commission bears date May 11, 1865,

184

and I was to take rank from February 21, })reced-
ing. It is signed by Andrew Johnson and counter-
signed by E. M. Stanton. I did not resign from
the l)attery. After I was mustered, my first order
required me to remain in Washington and wait
further orders. The trial of the conspirators, and
accessories to the murder of President Lincoln was
to come on and I was able to attend the hearing
})efore the military tribunal throughout. It so
happened that General Hartranft, to whose brigade
we had l)een attached at the Wilderness and beyond,
was the officer in charge of the court-room, and as
I was well acquainted with him, he gave me a pass
covering the Avhole })eriod of the trial. I was
exceedingly fortunate in this, as the court-room was
every day crowded, and many who desired admis-
sion were turned away. I remember vividly to
this day just how the prisoners looked as they came
into court in irons, and took their seats. Mrs.
Surratt was a very large and rather vicious looking
person, and as cool and unmoved during the trial
as any of the lot. Paine was a giant physically,
but evidently of weak intellect. Dr. Mudd was
ihe ty})ical southerner, with long hair and somewhat
sinister expression.

Atzerodt had a villainous looking face judging
from which, he would be ready for any kind of
mischief. The face of Harold showed weakness
and indecision, such as one would expect to find on
a person who was a mere tool as this young man

185

was of tlic priiK-iiJul cons})irator. There were three
other persons on trial, 1)iit they were comparatively
insigniticant. The trial lasted many days, and
then all were brought in guilty though Avith difter-
ent degrees of guilt. IMrs. Surratt, Paine, Atze-
rodt and Herald were sentenced to be hanged and
were executed accordingly. Dr. jNIudd Avas sen-
tenced to life imprisonment at Dry Tortugus, and
the other three to lesser terms of im})risonment.
The last three were pardoned by Andrew Johnson
and Dr. Mudd has since been pardoned. I believe
the trial was an impai'tial one, and had I been a
meml)er of the court I should have brought in as
the others did. Much was said at the time against
hanoing; a woman, but there was not the least doubt
of her guilt, and there would have been no justice
in treating her diiierent from her fellow-cons})ira-
tors. Except Booth, she was evidentl^^ the leading-
spirit in the affair. She exhibited but little emotion
during the trial, and bore her death sentence with
almost stolid inditference. There could be but one
outcome of the trial, and she was aware from the
beginning what the result nuist be. Conscious of
her guilt, she could expect no mercy at the hands
of a court which so al)ly represented an outraged
nation.

About the middle of June or a little later, I
received an order assigning me to duty in the state
of Vermont. I was directed to ])roceed to Bi-attle-
boro, report to Colonel Eastman, United States

186

provost marshal for that state, and then go to
MoRt})eIier and await further orders, I did as
directed, visiting my home in Oxford county on
the Avay. I found there was very little for me to
do in A^'rmont. (Quartermaster Frank C). Sawyer
had been stationed there during the war, and had
the full run of the business. I was expected to
assist him l)ut ho soon gave me to understand that
he needed no help. I then went in for a good
time. I had free transportation, and visited at
})leasure Montpelier, Burlington, Brattleboro, Rut-
land and Saint Albans. I visited the h(mie of
Kev. Dr. Estes in Jericho, and with him made the
ascent of ]\Iount Mansfield. I went down the lake
from Burlington, visited Ticonderoga, Lake George,
Whitehall and other points of interest, also Platts-
burg, Rouse's Point etc. Then I obtained leave
of absence and returned to Maine, thinking that
my service Avas really over, but I had hardly
reached Bryant's Pond, when I received notice
from Colonel P^astman informing me of the sickness
of Captain Sawyer and directing me to proceed at
once to Brattleboro. I was there in two days.
jMy first duty was to proceed to Saint Albans and
dispose of the horses of the First Vermont Cavalry
at auction. ]W the time this duty w-as performed
which occupied only a few days, (^aptain Sawyer
had so far recovered as to resume charge and I was
again a gentleman of leisure. I remained in Ver-
mont until October, when I received an order

187

directing mc to proceed to my home in INTaine and
there await fnither orders. On the thirtieth (hiy
of October, LSI)'), I received an order from the
war department which honoraldy mnst(>red me ont
of the service of the United States on the gronnd
that my services were no longer needed. On the
same day, I received a commission from President
Andrew Johnson, a}>pointing me major of United
States Vohmteers hy brevet, to take rank from
October 30. I went to Portland and was paid by
Major, afterwards Governor Robie, receiving three
months extra pay jiccording to orders. I was
mnstered in on my commission as qnartermaster,
at Alexandria, Virginia, ]May 2(5, 1865, by Lieu-
tenant Edward Rose of the 56th Massachusetts
Volunteers, assistant mustering officer of the
second division of the Ninth Army Corps. I was
therefore in the service of the quartermaster's
department a little over five months, I then returned
to civil and private life. This live months' service
was a very pleasant closing up of my military life.
I had receipted for but little property during this
time, so that my accounts were readily and easilv^
settled, and my bondsmen relieved from all res])on-
si])ility.

I was glad to exchange my uniform for the dress
of a civilian, and since the close of the war, I have
taken no part in military atJairs. I was never in-
terested in the dress })arade of the home guard, and
the experience of the war taught us that it requires

188

but little service to make a reliable soldier of the
average American citizen. Few in the volunteer
service, had a more varied experience than I. At
first in the State recruiting service ; then on the
medical stafi' at Augusta ; next in the commissary
department ; then a line oflicer in the infantry, and
then an officer in the light artillery. Lastly, I was
assistant quartermaster and as such was nmstered
out of the service. I was three times detailed on
general courts martial, twice in the capacity of
judge advocate. Of the quality of my service in
these several positions, it does not become me to
speak. I have only to say that I tried to do my
duty, and was never accused of any dereliction. I
have not cared to talk nuich about the war, believ-
ing that Avhen the rebels surrendered, it was over,
and as it had been a war between sections of the
same country, the less said about it, the better.
Enough for me it is, that the rel^ellion was thor-
oughly sul)dued ; that the institution of slavery
which caused it, is forever abolished ; that a common
country was left us, and that the union of the states
is insoluble.

In the preceding pages which are limited to an
account of the service of two organizations, but
little idea is given of the magnitude of the great
rel^ellion, and the numbers engaged. In 18(il,
there were one hundred and fifty-six engagements
including skirmishes ; in 1862, five hundred and
sixty-four ; in 18()o, six hundred and twenty-seven ;

189

in 18H4, seven hundred and seventy-nine ; in 1865,
one hundred and thirty-tive ; total, two thousand
two hundred and sixty -one. The great battles of
the war were as follows :

Bull Run, July 21, 1861; AVilson Creek, Mo.,
August 10, 1861 ; Lexington, Mo., September 12
to 20, 1861; Mill Springs, Ky., January 19-20,
1862; Roanoke Island, February 8, 1862; Fort
Donelson, February 14-15, 18(52 ; Pea Ridge , March
5-8, 1862; Winchester, March 28, 1862; Shiloh,
April 6-7, 1S62 ; capture of New Orleans, April
18 to 28, 1862 ; Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, May
31 and June 1-2, 1862 ; Cross Keys, Va., June 8,
1862 ; James Island, June K), 1862 ; Malvern Hill,
July 1, 1862; Baton Rouge, August 1, 1862;
Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862; Second Bull
Run, August 30, 1862 ; Harpers Ferry, September

12 to 15, 1862; Mumfordsville, Ky., Septeml)er
14-1(5, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 1862;
Pocotaligo, S. C, October 22, 18(52; Fredericks-
])urg, December 13, 1862 ; Chickasaw Bayou, Miss.,
December 28-29, 1862 ; Stone River, December
31, 1862, and January 1-2, 1863; Port Hud-
son, March 14, 1863 ; Fort Pemberton, March

13 to April 5, 1863; Port Gibson, May 1, 1863;
Chancellorsville, May 1-4, 1862 ; Vicksl)urg, May
18 to July 4, 1863 ; Port Hudson, May 27 to July
9, 1863 ; Beverly Ford, June 9, 1863 ; Winchester,
June 13-15, 1863; Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863;
Chickamauga, Ga., September 19-20, 1863; Chat-

190

anooga, Xov. 23-25, ISGo ; Olustee, Fla., February
20, 1864; Sabine Cross lloads, April S, 18(34;
Jenkins' Ferry, Ark., April 30, 1864 ; Wilderness,
May 5-7, 1864; Spotsylvania, May 8-18, 1864;
North Anna, May 23-27, 1864 ; Cold Harbor, June
1-12, 1864 ; Kenesaw Mountain, June 9-30, 1864 ;
Briee's Cross Koads, June 10, 18(54; Petersburg,
June 15-19, 1864 ; front of Petersburg, July 1-31,
1864; Deep Bottom, etc., July 27-28, 1864;
Opequan, September 19, 1864; Fisher's Hill, Sep-
tember 22, 1864; Weldon Eailroad, October 1-5,
18(54 ; Nashville, December 15, 1864 ; Fort Fisher,
December 25, 1864, and January 13-15, 1865 ;
Petersburg, March 25, 1865 ; Five Forks, April 1,
1865 ; Petersburg, April 2-6, 1865 ; Apj^omattox
Court House, April 8-9, 1865.

During the war there were general officers as
follows : One general, two lieutenant generals,
eleven m;ijor generals. United States Army ; one
hundred and twent3'^-eight major generals of volun-
teers ; thirty-six brigadier generals, United States
Army ; ti> e hundred and sixty-one brigadier gen-
erals of volunteers, making in all, including those
having a brevet rank, two thousand five hundred
and thirty-seven. Of these general officers, thirty-
eight were killed in action, twenty-nine died of
wounds, and thirty-five died from other causes.

The total number of men who went into the army
under the difierent calls of the President was
2,859,132 ; the total number of colored troops was

191

18r),097 ; enlisted in the regnlar army during the
war, 67,000. Maine furnished in all, thirty-three
regiments, seven batteries and twenty-five compa-
nies , an a2;oreo;ate of 7 2 , 11 4 enlisted men . D uri ug
the war, the following casualties in the Union army
were reported: Killed in action, 61,362 ; died of
wounds, 34,773 ; died of disease, 183,287 ; acci-
dentally killed, 306; missing in action, 6,749;
honorably discharged, 174,577 ; discharged for dis-
\\h\\\\\, 224,306 ; dishonorably discharged, 2,693 ;
officers dismissed, 2,423; officers cashiered, 274 ;
officers resigned, 22,281 ; enlisted men deserted,
199,045. Ihislist does not include men who were
mustered out at the close of the war. The total
loss by death during the war: AYliites, 250,697 ;
colored, 29,039; total, 279,235. About thii-ty
thousand died while prisoners of war, not included
in the above account.

In the winter of 1861, the entire armies of the
United States numl)cred only 16,367 men ; in May,
1865, at the close of the war, they numbered 1,000,-
516. The ligures oiven in these few statistical
pages, represent only the Union army, but the rebel
army was made up of American citizens, and was
nearly as large and the losses about as heavy, so
that the losses of men occasioned by the rebellion
were nearly double those already given. The
innnense sacrifice of human life constituted the
greatest loss, for the wealth of any country con-
sists largely in her stalwart sons, l)ut there were

192

other losses growing out of this needless war that
were of immense consequence ; the destruction of
pu])lic and private property ; the forced suspension
of valuable productive industries ; the desolation
of homes in the track of hostile armies ; the mak-
ing of countless widoAvs and orphans whose lamen-
tations went up from every part of the land ; the
creation of an innnense national del)t the l)urden of
Avhich is still weighing us down — these are only
some of the terrible results of our internecine strug-
gle— the cost of subduing the slaveholder's rebel-
lion, and of preserving national unity on the basis
of freedom and equality before the law.

RETROSPECTION.

A generation lias been l)orn, has grown up and
entered u})on the workl's Inisy stage since the ck)se
of our Civil War. Nearly three decades of years
have passed, and they have been eventful ones, to
our own country and to the world. They have
been years of progress in every department of
human knowledge. In our own countr3\ the issues
that brought on the war having been settled by its
results, those which grew out of it have been
settled ])y legislation in which a large majority of
our people, have acquiesced. Peace reigns every-
where within our borders. The new South has
entered upon an era of prosperity, and is now
ready to admit that chattel slavery was a curse
rather than a blessing. Some little feeling is still
kept UD between the two sections, by the action of
political })arties and for partisan purposes, but it is
ra])idly dying out, and will entirely disappear with
this oeneration. There Avill never bo any more
w^ar for the dissolution of the Union, for there is
no longer any occasion for that sectional strife
which seeks redress in arms. There will be issues,
for without them political parties cannot exist, l)ut
they will, as has recently been the case, be settled

194

by the arbitrament of the ballot, and to its decision
all will yield a cheerful obedience.

Not until the reconstruction that followed the
war, could it l)e said of us that we had a connnon
country with all interests connnon. The institu-
tion of slavery re((uired special protection by spec-
ial leiji slat ion, and this at length became a continual
source of strife. Now we are a reunited people,
having the same interests throughout the length
and breadth of our ample connnonwealth. It is a
source of inexpressible satisfaction to me that the
great question of chattel slavery was settled, and
settled forever in my day and generation ; that it
is not left as a troublesome and dangerous legacy,
to posterity. I am proud that I bore even a humble
part in sustaining the government and the country
against the tremendous shock that was inevitable
to the abolition of slavery, an institution older than
the government itself and whose gro\^i:h of two cen-
turies had given it such deep root that its eradication
could not l)ut imperil the union of the states. This
justitia])le pride, I bequeath as a priceless legacy to
my children.

In looking back after the lapse of thirty years
since the l)reaking out of our Civil AVar, I remeinl)or
many things during its continuance which cause-;
me to feel proud of my native State. Tlie outburst
of patriotism was unbounded, tremendous. Fathers
who were too aged or infirm to go into the service,
encouraged their sons to enlist, and motliers buckled

195

the harness upon their sons and ])ade them li'od-
.s})eed, with nK)ro than Spartan firmness. Of
course, there were some exceptions to this, for no
cause however sacred, has ever yet united an entire
people, but the patriotic spirit was so much in tlie
ascendant that opposition was hekl in abeyance and
scarcely showed itself. During the first half of
the war, men offered them-;elves to the government
as fast as they could l)e organized, equipped and
sent to the front, and these enlistments embraced
the best young and middle aged men in the
State. After the great drain of this class of men
whose patriotism would not admit of their reniain-
ino- at home, recruitin<>" be2:an to he more ditiieult,
and it was then that douI)tful patriotism began to
show itself in the offer of large bounties to recruits
by cities and towns. People tried to make them-
selves believe that this was patriotism, but it was
really an act of cowardice and resorted to only to
prevent conscription. When a nation's life is
imperilled, it is the duty of every able bodied man
to spring into the breach, without waiting to be
hired or drafted.

The patriots were either at the front or were
filling ])atriots' graves, and still the war raged with
unabated fury, and when and how it would end, no
one could tell. Many young men who were too
young to enlist when the war broke out, entered
the service as they became of suitable age, and made
excellent soldiers. There were others who would

196

enlist only for Itirge bounties, and still another class
who Avere determined not to go into the service
under any circumstances. 80 these two classes, one
composed of mercenaries and the other of cowards,
concocted the scheme of raising funds u})on the
credit ot the towns to pay for tilling their f[uotas,
and many municipalities thereby, l)ecame ahnost
hopelessly involved. The mistaken i)olicy of such
practice is shown in the class of jackals and
buzzards which it brought to the surface. It
developed a diss of scoundrels who l)0ught and
sold recruits as they would cattle for the shambles.
There were brokers dealing in men in all the cities,
and most infamous were the schemes resorted to
for carrying on their business. Men who had an
appetite for drink would be made drunk, and when
they had soldered off, they would tind themselves
])ound to militarv service, and be sent otf, perhai)s
in irons, to the nearest provost marshal's otiice.
Some of these brokers went to Canada and hired
men to work in the logging s^vam}) or to cut cord-
Avood , and they signed a contract to that etfect . These
documents were either written or printed in Eng-
lish, and the French Canadians signing them not
understanding the language, found on arriving at a
provost marshal's office in the State, that they had
enlisted to servo for three years, or during the war,
and were at once hustled otf to the front. It is l)ut
fair to say that some of them on making representa-
tion of the facts to the officials, were permitted to

197

go liouic, l)ut their ubductors were not punished as
they should have 1)een. This practice l)ecaine so
connnon, and the attending circumstances were so
outrageous, that the Canadian government ottered
a Lirge reward for the apprehension of those engaged
in it, aiid this practically put a stop to it.

One of the most active and most successful tirms
engaged in this infamous business, had an ofhce in
different parts of the State, and at each of them,
men were bought and sold like slaves in the vSouth ;
and it \vas a travesty on the chief issue of the war
which was to make men free and not to place them
in ljondao:e. I refer to this firm because its chief,
of all the men engaged in the business, in this
State, was the only one })unishcd, and he not by state
authorities. He was sentenced to ten years'
imprisonment and was pardoned out before he had
served out one-tenth part of his term. There were
scores if not hundreds of men in the State who
dabbled more or less in the same kind of transac_
tions, to the extent of their abilities. Agents
appointed to fill the quotas of towns, after having
purchased a squad of men, if they were ofiered an
advance by some broker or the agent of another
town, would either sell out, or charge their towns
an advance on the men equal to the advance ofiered.
Of course, this was highly re})rehensil)le, yea, dis-
honorable, but in the mad pursuit of gain, justice
and honor seemed to be regarded as of no account.
Then quotas of towns were credited on men who

198

only existed on paper. These were the famous
"Paper Credits" about whieh so much was said and
written immediately after the close of the war,
when an effort \vas made by the legislature to
investig-ate these things. This paper credit busi-
ness could not ha^e been successfully carried on,
Avithout the connivance of officials, both of the
State and the general government for it took both
these classes of officers to supervise enlistments
and get recruits into United States service. It also
required the influence of somebody in C'Ongress,
because to accomplish what was desired a change
had to be made in the official representing United
States authority in INIaine. As the paper credit
swindle was a success, it is l)ut fair to presume that
all the conditions were favorable. By this method
of tilling quotas, hundreds of credits representing
recruits having no existence, were sold to towns
for live or six hundreds dollars each, and the pro-
ceeds divided among those having a hand in the
deal.

In 1870, after two efforts had been made to
investigate these matters through joint committees
of the legislature, a commission was provided for
by an act of the legislature, to investigate the
whole subject, having authority to summons wit-
nesses and obtain documentary evidence. The
commission was an exceptionally al)le one and their
report made over five hundred pages of printed
matter. A large edition was printed, but after

199

twenty years it is quite dilficult to find u copy. At
one time, after the general distribution, there were
hundreds of copies at the State House, but they
suddenly disappeared. It is supposed that impli-
cated persons or their friends had something to do
with the disappearance of these reports.

The reports of the commission, though followed
by no prosecutions, served to open the eyes of the
people to the demoralized condition of things dur-
ing the closing years of the war, and how it entered
into the transactions of very many towns. The
evidence went to show that ao;ents for fillino; the
quotas of toAvns though liberally paid for their
services, would receive a bonus from the broker
for each man contracted for, the receipt given as
a voucher, being made large enough to cover the
extra amount paid.

Men enoaoed in this substitute brokerao-e busi-
ness, accumulated great wealth thereby, and lived
like princes. Money obtained so quickly and so
easily, especially in the hands of those not accus-
tomed to it, does not generally remain long, and
except in a few rare instances, it did not in this
case. Some spent it in extravagant and riotous
living, ^vhilc others plunged into speculation —
engaged in selling patent lights that were worth-
less, in sinking wells that yielded no oil, and in
mining schemes that produced no ores. And so
their ill-gotten gains were swept away and left them
stranded, and obliofed to start in life anew and in a

200

more humble Avay. Some of them did not com-
mence operations until near the close of the war,
and appeared much disgusted when peace came and
cut short their career.

Many of the persons named in the report of the
connnission were then and still are unknown to me.
Some of them were insignificant, mere flies upon
the l)ody politic, who tried to get a trifle while the
jackals and buzzards Avere gorging themselves.

On two occasions the Maine Legislature made
eH'orts to investigate these frauds, but without
results. There were a few members — enough to
move an investigation, Avho had clean hands and
clear consciences, but enough others had been more
or less guilty of maladministration in fllling the
towns' quotas, to neutralize all ettbrts for an
exhaustive inquiry. Committees were appointed
with a show of fairness, but scarcely any eftbrts
were made to obtain evidence, while stumbling-
blocks were constantly thrown in the way of inves-
tigation. Witnesses were out of the State when
Avanted, and some of those who came before the
conunittee either evaded a direct answer or tried to
burlesque the whole proceedings. Of these trans-
actions very little can be found on record at the
State House, for interested parties have made every
eftbrt to relegate the whole subject to darkest
oblivion. There Avill be those Avho will think it
better that these circumstances should not be re-
called ; that everything relating to this unpleasant

201

phase of "■Elaine in the War," shouhl l)e forgiven
and forgotten. There is no i)hase of the Avar that is
not unpleasant to some peo})h;. There were rei)els
in Maine all through the struggle, who rejoiced when
union })eople mourned , and mourned when union peo-
ple rejoiced. These are facts of history, unpleasant
to acknowledge and remember, yet they cannot be
forgotten ; and no more can the acts of those
be forgotton, who, taking advantage of the country's
peril, swindled l)oth State and nation out of their
just dues and the soldiers out of their rights.
While we should hold in grateful remembrance the
names of Howard, Berry, Chaml)erlain, Connor,
Jameson, Shepley, Burnham, Doughty and scores
and hundreds of other Maine citizens who earl^^
went down to the war, we should remember only
with scorn and contempt, the names and deeds of
those who remained at home and tried to lay up
fortunes l)y the grossest swindling and at .the
ex})ense of the government and its defenders. I
have not recalled the names of these })ersons for
obvious reasons, but if any one desires to know
who they were, they have only to examine the
Report of the Commissioners. They will there
learn no doubt greatly to their surprise, that many
who were implicated in these frauds were at the
time, leading men in church and State, and since
the. war, have been leaders of political parties, and
recipients of high honors at the hands of the gov-
ernment they so wickedly swindled and betrayed.

202

1 will not })ursue this i)h;iso of the fsuhjcct farther.
A\'hat J have felt ol)liiie(l to say, is humiliating', but
I could not say less and make the record intelligi-
ble. I have shown that while the hearts of a large
majority of the })eo})le of this State, during the
entire contest for the ])reser\'ati()n of national unity,
l)eat responsive to the inusic of the Union, there
Avere a few whose sordid love of gain became a
ruling passion, ovcrcauje their })atriotism, and
resulted in the connnission of uidawful and grossly
disloyal acts. That they have sutibred more or less
for their wrong doing, there is no doubt, for while
virtue iH'ings its own reward, it is ecjually true that
vice is its own tormentor.

APPENDIX.

SUMMING UP.

The Seventh Maine Batteiy left Canii) Coburn,
Augusta, Mo., for Washington, February 1, 1864,
and on arriving there went into Camp Barry,
which Avas a camp of instruction.

On the twelfth of April, the battery received its
guns (light 12 pounder brass pieces) and on the
tifteenth was assigned to the Ninth Ai:my Corps,
which it joined while the corps was passing through
Washington, on its way from Annapolis to the
front, April 25th.

The battery enc:un[)ed the first night out, two
miles beyond Alexandria, and on the twenty-
seventh took up its line of march, passing through
Centreville and crossing Bull Run creek, arrived
at Warrenton Junction on the twenty-eighth, where
it remained in park until May 4th.

On the fifth the battery crossed the Rapidan
river into the old Wilderness, and went into posi-
tion near the Lacy house Avhere it was for the first
time under fire.

On the sixth the battery with many others was
massed on the right and rear of the Sixth Corps,
to repel an expected attack to cut oft' our sui)ply
train .

204

Tlie battle of the Wilderness having been fought,
the battery withdrew and followed the third divi-
sion of the Ninth Corps on the march through
Chancellorsville, continuing the march on the
eighth and arriving at the Ny river on the ninth
where their guns Avere i)]aced in jwsition near the
Gale house. and opened fire on the enemy's lines,
the guns bearing on a point on the left of the turn-
l^ike road leading to Spotsylvania court house. At
night Lieutenant Bundy's left section crossed the
Ny river, threw up a lunette on a hill to the left of
the road and placed the two guns in position.

On the tenth two guns were placed in position
on the line of the third division, one bearing t ) the
right and one to the left of the road leading to the
court house.

On the twelfth the left section (Bundy's), took
an advanced position on the front line and opened
on the enemy with shot and shell. Subsequently
the other two sections took similar })ositions and
the entire l^attery being several hundred yards in
advance of any other battery, engaged the enemy
and was much exposed. Here we had our first
killed and wounded. The guns were then with-
drawn and placed in the same position as on the
tenth and eleventh.

On the twelfth, in the evening, the right section
(Lapham's,) moved to the right to assist in an
attack to lie made the following morning by a
division of the Second Corps under General Bar-

205

low. The iiJiiht wa.s dark mid rainy and the .sec-
tion found its way throiiuh the woods with extreme
difficulty. Arriving at the point where the attack
was to l)e made, the men lay down and obtained a
couple of hours of slee}). The attack was made at
daylight, and for a time the battery >vas exposed
to a galling lire of nnisketry. The section with
other artillery, opened at first with cannister, then
used shell and lastly solid shot, being eugaged for
a couple of hours, when it returned and joined
the battery.

On the seventeenth the l)attery ^vas placed in
position on the right of the Ninth Corps line and
joined the third division on the eighteenth. On
the nineteenth the guns were again placed in [)osi-
tion on the front line of the first division, remain-
ing there until the night of the twenty-first, when
they were withdrawn, and the l)attery took u[) the
line of march towards the North Anna river, where
it arrived on the twenty-third and threw up a line
of works.

During the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth, the
battery had sharp artillery practice ^vith the enemy,
our guimers showing superior marksmanship.

On the twenty-seventh we uiarched with the
division and crossed the Pannuikey river on the
twenty-eighth.

On the thirtieth, we advanced with the division
and placed one section in position, liearing across
the creek. The next day, another section was
placed in position on the front line.

206

On the iiiiilit of June Lst, the battery foUowed
the third diA ision train to the left in rear of the
line of l)attle, and on the afternoon of the 2d took
})osition on the line of the division, when the
enemy pressed our right flank. All the aims were
opened on the enemy and kept ii[) a ra})id firing
until dark.

Durino- the nio;ht our works were much strenofh-
ened, and on the following morning, we again
opened fire with marked effect. Soon after, by
order of the division connnander, the battery was
l)laccd in a })osition within 350 yards of the enemy's
works, where we were much exposed. After throw-
ing up earthworks to protect the gunners, the pieces
were turned against the enemy and threw shot and
shell with marked effect.

At dark, the battery was withdrawn and placed
in the position of the morning. We here met with
losses in killed and wounded.

On the fourth of June, the l)attery Avas moved
to a position near the Cross Roads at Cold Harbor
and placed in position where it remained until the
twelfth, 0})ening occasionally upon the enemy's
entrenched line and often provoking a return tire.

On the fourteenth we crossed the Chickahominy,
and the James river on the 15th, and marching up
the right l)ank, reached the front of Petersburg on
the sixteenth.

On the eighteenth when the Ninth (Jorps drove
the enemy across the Norfolk railroad, we took a

207

})osition on the crest of a hill, coiinnandino- the
enemy's new line of works, where ^ve ke})t up a
constant tire, to prevent him from strengthening
his worlvs, and to assist our troops in making an
advance. We remained in this position until the
twentieth, when with the third division, we moved
to the right.

We next took u}) an advance position to the left
of the Hare house within 300 yards of the enemy
where we o})ened on his works.

On the night of the twenty-third, the third
division returned to the left, where the battery was
placed in the works near the Taylor house about
fifty yards in advance of the rodoul)t afterwards
known as Fort Morton.

The Taylor house was in front of and 700 yards
distant from the point wdiere the famous Burnside
mine was sprung on the thirtieth of July. The
battery remained in this position during the entire
month. I'here was constant firing from the rebel
entrenched picket line in our front, and no man
might with impunity, raise his head above our
breast work. During the mine explosion and the
confiict which followed, our battery did good ser-
vice.

On the fourth of August, the battery was relieved
from a ])osition which it liad held under a burning-
sun for forty-four consecutive days, a longer
period, it is believed, than any other battery on
the line, remained exposed to a constant fire ))y
night and by day.

208

On the tbiirtci'iith of Aiiiiii.st, wo were ordered
into position at Fort Rice, a mile to the left of the
mine.

On the nineteenth the enemy opened a sharp tire
upon us which was continued for an hour, wound-
in'X one man and disablinii' one gun.

On the twenty-fourth the battery joined the third
division near the Weldon railroad, and on the
twenty-tifth nmrched to the support of the Second
Corps near Ream's station, returning at night.

Se})teniher 0th, the guns were placed in a redoubt
on the Jerusalem Plank road, near the Williams
house, and remained until the twenty-ninth, when
Ave moved to the Gurley house. On the thirtieth
we passed the Yellow tavern, and halted at
Peeble's farm, near Poplar Spring church.

October 1, the battery was ordered into jjosition
at the Peeble's house and remained during the day
and night, and on the morning of October 2d we
moved out and took a new })()sition near the Pegram
house, under a heavy artillery tire, in which two of
our horses were killed, and the liml)er of one gun
disabled.

On the afternoon of the fourth, the enemy
opened on us with artillery, at the same time,
advancing a line of infantry which forced back our
pickets. We replied with energy and continued
until the enemy ceased firing.

October 5th, our guns Avere placed in Fort Welch
at the extreme left, and remained there untd

209

Noveinber oOtli, ^\^\wn we moved t()^^'a^d the right
again and took position in Fort Alexander Hayes.
We remained here only two days, when we moved
still farther to the right, and took up our old posi-
tion in front of Petersburg.

In the evening of December 2d, we placed four
of our pieces in Fort Sedgwick (Fort Hell), and
the other two in a l^attery adjoining, known as
battery 21. The guns in the fort and batteries
were in the immediate command of Lieutenants
Lapham and Staples of the Seventh Maine, and
Lieutenant Machewsky of the Third New Jersey,
the former being the ranking officer. The batteries
of the corj)s had now been organized into an
artillery brigade, under command of Gen. Tidl)all,
chief of artillery of the Ninth Corps. Here the
battery remained until the opening of the spring
campaign, on the first of A[)ril, and an account of
its service wdiile here, has already been given.

April 1st, the l)attle of Five Forks having been
fought, and the enemy's line broken, orders came
for us to open all our guns upon the enemy's works,
as a general assault all along the line was to be
made at midnight. It was not, however, made
until the next morning at daylight.

At four o'clock, April 2d, all the guns opened,
firing rapidly for fifteen or twenty minutes, then
suspending for the infantry to charge in our front,
which was done in splendid shape, and the rebel
line captured just before the l)reak of day.

210

Artilleiyineii boinir wanted to man the rebel
guns, Lieutenant Staples volunteered, and with the
men of the second section, placed the guns in posi-
tion and was soon discharging them upon the retreat-
ing rebels.

At noon on the third of A})ril, the batt(My broke
camp, and i)assing through Petersburg, cani})ed at
midnight ten miles beyond the city.

The l)attery being with the rear cor[)s in pursuit
of General Lee's retreating forces, encamped on
the night of the 4th near Saw Mill station, on the
South Side railway, and the next night twenty
miles beyond at Melville station. On the (3th we
were at Burksville, and on the 10th at Farmville,
where Ave were at the time of the surrender.

While at Farmville, Lieutenant Lapham, Avith a
detail of 100 men, was engaged in hunting up and
sending away by rail, the artillery which the rebels
had dumped into the runs, rivers and swamps on
the line of their retreat.

We were at Farmville, Avhen we heard of the
assassination of President Lincoln. The official
order communicating the sad news, directed that a
salute of twenty-one guns be tired, at noon, April
19th, and the honor was assigned to our battery.
At the appointed hour, from an eminence beyond
the town, the cannon s})oke in loud tones, the
re(|uiem in respect to the illustrious dead.

April 20th the l)attery took up the line of march
for City Point, and on the 26th, going on board

211

tr;iii,sj)()rts arnvcd in Alextuidriu on the 28tli, and
cncam})ed ne lu Fairfax Seminary. After the grand
review of tlie army of the Potomac, in whicli the
battery participated, and the review of Sherman's
army, the liattery was ordered home, and was
mustered out of the service, June 21, 18(i5.

The I)attery during its term of service achieved
the riglit to have inscribed upon its colors, the
following engagements.

Wilderness.

Ny River.

SrOTSVLVANIA.

North Anna.
Bethesda Church.
Cold PIarbor.
Norfolk Railroad.
Before Petersburg.
Weldon Railroad.
Poplar Spring Church.
Pegram Farm.
Fort Sedgwick.
Capture of Petersburg.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

T>ETTER8 FROM CAMP BARRY.

Camp Barry, which is the largest artillery camp
of instruction in the United States, if not in the
world, is situated on the Bladensburg Pike, about
one and a half miles northwest of the Capitol.

It was laid out and organized under the immedi-
ate direction of Brig. Gen. W. F. Barry, who was
chief of artillery of the army of the Potomac during
the time Gen. McClellan had command of that army,
and who has since, until recently, been inspector
of artillery, U. S. A. The location has grea" nat-
ural advantages for a camp, beside being one of
the pleasantest spots in the suburbs of Washington.
It slopes gradually toward the south, sufficient to
drain off the water (juickly after a storm, an all
im):)ortant consideration in this changeable climate.
At the base of this slope, a few rods south of the
camp, is a small stream of pure water, affording
ample facilities for watering the thousands of horses
in this camp and in the other camps near by. The
grounds for the camp were surveyed, and the camp
laid out about tifteen months ago. Lieut. Col.
Munroe of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment Light
Artillery was the first post commander and he was
succeeded by Maj. Jame» A. Hall, formerly the
able and efficient commander of the gallant Second
Maine liattery. The post commander receives his
orders from the inspector of artillery, whose head-
quarters are in the city. Gen. Barry has tiUed

214

that office until recently, wlien he was onlered to
Chattanooga to reorganize the artillery of that de-
partment. He was succeeded by Brig. Gen. A. P.
Howe of ^Nfaine. Gen. Howe is a graduate of West
Point and was formerly attached to the regular
artillery. His inspector and chief of staff is Maj.
Charles Hamlin, son of the Vice President.

The new organizations are all ordered into this
camp where they receive their horses, guns and
equipments, and remain here until they become
efficient in drill and discipline. Commissioned offi-
cers recite in the tactics to the })ost commander and
the non-counnissioned to the officers of the com-
})any. Reviews and inspections occur at regular
intervals and the progress of the different batteries
is narrowly watched and carefully noted by the
ins})ector. Old organizations whose numbers have
been reduced in the tield are also sent l)ack here
to recruit.

There are now in this camp fifteen batteries, six
of them being from New England and three from
Maine. The old Second INIaine, which has been
with the army of the Potomac for over two years
and has participated in all its hard fought battles is
now here. This battery for efficiency and discipline
stands second to none from our State, and few, if
any in the volunteer service has a nol)ler record.
Capt. Davis Tillson who came out with the battery
is now brigadier general, and connnands the
defence of Knoxville. Captain Hall who succeeded
him is now major, and in connnand of the camp.
Captain Ulmer was the next in connnand and re-
signed on account of (Usability. Ca})tain Albert F.
Thomas is now in connnand and is an able officer
and very popular with his men. The battery is
now filled u]) to the maxinuun standard and will l)e

215

ready to pjirticipate in the near ap})roacliing cam-
paign .

The 3rd Maine is also here. This battery was
first commanded by Captain Swett, of whom Gen.
Webster said in his report, "His flashing eye would
melt down a six j^ounder at a glance." When the
18th jNfaine was reorganized and changed to Heavy
Artillery, this battery became Company "M," of
that regiment. Captain Svvett resigned, and the
preference of recridts for that regiment so aug-
mented its numbers that Company "M" again
became the 3rd Maine Battery. It recently came
into this camp under connnand of Captain Mayo.

The 7th Maine has been here about two months.
It came here with a hundred and forty-three men,
one deserting and three being left sick at Augusta.
There has been much sickness in this company
since its arrival. The measles soon made its
appeai'ance and as usual a large number had never
had it. Others had the mumps, and several were
attacked Avith erysipelas. A peculiar afi'ection of
the throat and fauces went through the entire com-
pany. Four have died, viz : Charles A. Eeed,
Presque Isle ; John W. Leavitt, Winthro}), George
S. Ricker, Hallo well, and Sanuiel F. Field of
Presque Isle.

Several men, induced no doubt by the lai'ge
bounties, enlisted into this ))attery and managed to
deceive the sui'geon, who are unfit for service and
always will l)e. One man has fits and has been dis-
charged from the service once on account of it. Anoth-
er has a withered leg and has never done any service ;
a third has a breach, a fourth is troubled with
scrofula and there are several who now freely con-
fess and even claim that they are unfit for service
and knew Ihey were not when then they enlisted.

216

The government has l)cen awfully swindled l)y these
"hospital bummers," since such liberal bounties
have been paid, and they should immediately be
discharii'ed from the service and be made to disgorge
the money they have so dishonestly received.

The health of the compan}-, as a whole, is im-
proving. Several have recently returned from the
hosjjital and we have but one or two cases now
wiiich are in any manner dangerous.

The Second and Third Maine Batteries have the
10-pounder ritied gun, but the Seventh has the light
12-pounder smooth bore. At long range the rifled
guns have the advantage, Init at short range the

light 12-j)ounder is vastly superior.

* * * * * ,

The weathei- has been unusually mild even for
this latitude since we came here. There have been
but few cold days and we have had much more
duvst than mud. Spring is already l)eginning to
put on its beautiful garments and birds and flowers
are seen on every hand.

With the advent of spring comes the time for
active operations in the fleld. Already troops are
marching in large num])ers toward the front, and
the army of the Potomac, I'eorganized and rein-
forced, and under the leadershi}) of the victorious
Grant Avill soon be on the war path.

A large portion of the heavy artillery stationed
about Washington has ])een ordered to the front as
infantry. This is as it should be. Many of these
regiments have been stationed here over two years
and numl)er two thousand men each. They are
well drilled as infantry and will make a fine addi-
tion to active service. It is understood their places
are to be filled to a certain extent by the \^eteran
Reserve Corps (late the Invalid Corps).

217

The National Fair at the Patent Office has l)een
very successful. It closes by a <>rand l)all this
evenino-. The President and his lady have honored
it on two or three occasions by their presence, and
a few evenings since Gen. Sickles was present and
made an excellent speech. March 29, 1(S()4.

DOWX AT THE FROXT.

Having received from the "military powers that
be," in this department, a bit of })aper on which

was stated that "Lt. had leave of absence for

three days to visit the army of the Potomac on
important })rivate business," I took it to the provost
marshal who vised it so as to allow the l)earer
transi^ortation on the United States military rail-
road, :nid then without further ceremony I was off
to the "Front." The term, "Frpnt," though suffi-
ciently definite, can hardly be said to have a local
habitation, for at different periods during the war
it has run in })arallel lines all the way from the
Potomac to the Pai)idan. At the present time it
is as far from Washington as it ever has been.

Cars now connect with the Baltimore trains run-
ning along in front of the capitol, through iNIary-
land aA'onue, until it crosses Seventh street, where
a "military necessity," has caused the erection of
a way station for the benefit of those who are going-
down to the battlefields. The cars now run over
long bridge, but a raib-oad bridge is in process of
erection, some fifteen or twenty rods below, and
will soon be finished.

Leaving AVashington, the road winds along down
the Potomac to Alexandria. Near that city was
where the Twenty-third Maine was encamped last
10

218

spring and the long line of riiie pits attest to the
great amount of fatigue duty performed by the reg-
iment while there. From Alexandria it branches
otf from the river, and |)assing along through the
chain of forts which comprise the defences of Wash-
ington, we steamed away through held and wood-
land, the former cut up with a complete network of
roads, and the latter terribly mangled by the wood-
man's axe. Halting at several little way-side
stations, around each of which Avas a little collec-
tion of canvas tents, the tem})orary homes of the
railroad guard, who at short intervals all along the
road is seen dark and weather beaten with nuis-
ket in hand ready to defend with his life, if
need be the thoroughfare which alone conunu-
nicates with, and feeds the great "army of
the Potomac." Fairfax is soon reached and passed,
and still farther we pass the Bull Kun stream and
battlefield, a })ortion of which is seen on the right,
stretching away toward the Bull Kun mountains,
then we come to Manassas Junction where the rebel
army of \'irginia encamped during the memorable
winter of 1862. On the right al)out Iialf a mile
from the road stands a large brick house, sur-
rounded with trees. Here were the head(|uarters
of Gen. Beauregard. Formerly there was (luite a
res})ectable little village at Manassas Junction, but
at this present time there is not a building standing,
except a few temporary huts built by the govern-
ment for the use of the soldiers stationed here.
Fairfax, Centreville, Bull Run, Manassas I A mel-
ancholy interest invests all these places and the
numl)erless mounds where sleep the early lun'oes of
the war, tell their own sad story.

The country from Manassas to the Rappahamiock,
a distance of forty miles, is a nearh^ level plain,

219

crossed occasionally l)y little branches and rivers.
There are continuous fields of hundreds of acres,
enclosed before the war by broad belts of woodland,
givino' diversity and ])eauty to the landscape. But
the aspect of the country has sadl\' chanjied within
the past three years. At Manassas Junction com-
mences the "Abomination of Desolation." Fields
are laid waste, fences are destroyed, the inhal)itants
have fled and hardly a solitary house is standino-,
and to make the desolation still more complete, our
ears are continually orceted with the cawin<>- of the
carrion crow and the screams of the buzzard, those
foul birds which ever follow in the wake of war and
slaughter.

At l\ap|)ahannock station is the place where such
brilliant laurels were' won b}' the ")th and ()tli Maine
at the time of the advance of our army in Novem-
ber. It must have required stronu" nerve and hearts
of steel to have climbed that hill, at the apex of
which was a strong earth-work frowning Avith can-
non, and to the right of which were triple lines of
rifle pits, from behind which the rebels poured
volley after volley of "leaden rain and iron hail."
But nothing daunted, the Union soldiers pushed
forward and carried the works at the point of
the bayonet, ca})turing the entire force which
largely outnuml)ered them. A correspondent of
the New York Times, who pointed out to me the
scene of the conflict, remarked that it was one of
the most l)rilliant things of the war. Crossing the
liai)pahannock we pass Bealton, and the next stop-
})ing i)lace is Brandy Station which has l)een the
scene of so many desperate cavalry flghts. In fact
the whole country from the Eapidan to the Ilappa-
hannock has been fought over inch l)y inch, several
times durino- the war. At Brandv we left the cars

220

iiiul .struck off acros.s the country, passing army
headquarters on the way, and erossino- Hoyl river
we found the little remnant of the alorious 5th
Maine encami)ed on the extreme right of the army.
The history of the 5th is so well known as to make
superfluous anything said in its praise in this j^lace.
We were very kindly and cordially received by
our friend, Colonel Edwards. The regiment is
encamped in a grove on the outskirts of a large
])lantation, owned by a Mr. Major, who })asses
within the rel)el lines when the country is occupied
by our troops. The police regulations of the camp
wevii excellent, and not a speck of loose dirt could
be seen anywhere. They had only one sick in
hospital, and he was laid up with rheumatism.
The term of service of this regiment Avill exjjire on
the fourth of June when most of its members will

return to Maine.

*****

Here we came across our old friend, A. M.
Edwards, who went from Bethel to Detroit, and
edited the first temperance paper published in that
state. When the rel)ellion broke out he joined a
three months regiment as a })rivate, was taken
prisoner at the first Bull Run, and remained at
Richmond nearly a year. On being released he
raised a com})any for the 24th Michigan Infantry,
of which he was chosen ca])tain. Since the battle
of Gettysl)urg where the regiment was badly cut up,
he has ))een commissioned as major.

Leaving the Fifth we returned to Brandy Station,
calling on Lieutenant Kimball commanding the
Fourth Maine Battery, with whom we had a |)leas-
ant interview. Captain Robinson who formerly
commanded the battery has recently been in com-
mand of the artillery of the Third Corps. His

221

health is very delicate and he will })ro])ahly be
ol)liged to resign. At Brandy we again took the
train and passed down to Culpepper. All along
the road on either hand the fields were dotted with
white tents. Culpepper was named for an English
lord of that nanie to whom the land where it
stands was formerly deeded. The town is com-
posed of quite a number of substantialbrick houses,
two churches, several stores and I believe three
public houses. The court house and other county
buildings are also here.

General Grant's present headquarters arc at this
place. A storm of snow and rain had made the
roads in. a horrible condition 1)ut we came down to
see the sights and pushed on. Passing up from
Culpepper towards the east we found the Fifth
jNIaine Battery camped near the foot of Poney
mountain. This battery entered the service two
years and a half ago, under the connnand of Captain
Leppein. It has several times traversed over the
entire extent of country, from Centerville to the
Rapidan, and from Fredricksl)urg to the u}iper
Potomac. It was through the Peninsular cami)aign
and fought at Bull Run, first and second, at Cedar
jSIountain, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Chancellors-
ville and Gettysburg. Captain G. T. Stevens, who
now commands the l)attery, kindly loaned us a
horse, and accompanied us to the summit of Poney
^Mountain, where is an imi:)ortant signal sta-
tion. The courses of the Rapidan and Ra})pahan-
nock rivers can plainly be traced from this elevation
for a long distance. By the aid of a good glass
used by the signal oflScer, the eye can follow them
a great portion of the waj- to where the}' unite near
Chancellorsville. By the aid of this glass we could
see the rebel encampments on the south side of the

222

Kiipidan so plainly aw to be able to count the logs
in their huts and see the rebel soldiers near by
l)layino- foot-ball. Cedar Run mountains are quite
near Poney Mountain, l)eing on the same side of
the Ivapidan. There has always been a little eon-
fusion in speaking of this mountain. There are
three distinct mountains very near together, all
l)earing the name of "Cedar llun Mountains," from
a run which Hows along near their base and dis-
charges into the Ra|)idan. The elevation on which
the battle was fought, connnonly known as the
battle of Cedar Alountain is called "Slaughter
]\Iountain," from a man of that name who lived on
and owned the tield where the battle was fought.
It should properly be called the battle of "Slaugh-
ter ^Mountain." Below this mountain is Clark's
mountain on which the lebels have a signal station.
We remained on the summit of Poney iNlountain
until after dark, when the cam}) tires of the two
armies could be seen in every direction. Opposite
Raccoon Ford is the cam|) of General Kilpatrick's
cavalry which sends out videttes on all the roads in
every direction. A brigade composed in part of
the 39th Massachusetts and l(3th Maine occupies a
jwsition be}'ond jMitchell's Station and much nearer
the rebel lines than any other infantry troo})s.

A vast amount of picket duty is now }x>rtormed
l)y this army. The railroad is picketed from Alex-
andria to Mitchell's station, a distance of seventy
miles, requiring nearly the Avhole Fifth Corps to
guard it. A picket line is thi'own around the entire
army ; those on the front and Hanks to watch the
rebel pickets, and those in the rear to guard against
Mosby's thieves, who have been exceedingly trouble-
some during the past winter.

223

More or less of the buildings around Cu]i)e})per,
and in fact all through the country, show marks of
violence. A brick house we passed on returning
from Poney INIountain, during the advance of the
army last winter, was unceremoniously entered l)y
a shell which in its passage killed a man and his
little daughter who had left their own wooden house
a short distance oft' and sought shelter here.

The army of the Potomac is now in s})lendid
condition and we predict that when Lieutenant
General Grant shall see it in one engagement he
will acknowledge himself greatly deceived in its
strength and elficiency. There is no army in the
United States so well disciplined as this, and none
which has done or will do any better lighting.

A few trifling incidents added to the prestige of
his name and })revious success, have already made
General Grant very popular with the army. When
the review of the First Corps was being had, and
when about half through it began to rain. The
general immediately ordered it discontinued and
the men sent to their quarters. Another little inci-
dent characteristic of the man, and I will close this
somewhat lengthy communication. AYhen the gen-
eral was coming up to Washington on Thursday
last, so large a number of re-enlisted soldiers were
coming up that the train could not accommodate
them all. Some of them went to a nearly emiity
l)assenger car, as if to enter, when an officer ordered
them back saying ''that car was for General Grant
and his staft'." The general, who was inside, over-
hearing the conversation, stepped out and charac-
teristically remarked, "General Grant occupies only
one seat. The boys can ride," and "the l)oys''
immediately filled the car. April (5, 1864.

224

ITEMS FKOM THE BATTEEY.

After many beautiful autumn days, we are now
havinii' a severe rain storm. It commenced raining
yesterday evening and has continued up to this
time, twelve o'clock, with every prospect of a long
storm. This will necessarily proclaim a truce
between the l)elligerent parties foi" the time being at
least. The guns of the Seventh are yet in Fort
\)'elch, near the extreuae left of the army. Ca})t.
Twitchell is absent on a brief visit to Maine. A¥e
are now recruited u}i to the maximum number and
the new men are ac(iuiring good proticiency in the
drill. After one of our guns was disabled in front
of Petersl)uri>", in Auo-ust, one section of the bat-
tery was turned in. We have recently drawn a
new section which again gives us the full comple-
ment of six guns, and we have men enough to man
them.

We have within a short time lost three of our
number by death — two from Kumford and one from
Aroostook. Samuel Goodwin was one of the Kum-
ford recruits Avho recently died at AMllet's Point,
New York. He was a member of Company "F,"
in the 2od Maine Regiment, and re-enlisted in this
battery. Though somewhat rough in his manner,
he was nevertheless a good soldier, ever willing to
perform his duty, and as brave in action as the
bravest. Let his faults and foibles as a citizen be
forgotten, and let him be remembered only as a
good soldier who died in the defence of his country.

William Andrews was the other Eumford boy
who lately died. He served in the 10th Maine
Infantry, but has never enjoyed good health since
he joined the battery.

We have just received notice of the death at
Alexandria, Va., of George C. Dewitt of Aroos-

225

took, llo Avas another of our good soldiers. The
health of our company is now very good.

The 31st and 8 2d Maine are now encamped just
in rear of our fort. The 32d is about to be con-
solidated with the 31st, and I understand that the
company officers have all concluded to be mustered
out. This I'egiment has been the most unfortunate
of any organization from ]\Iaine. It was conn)osed
of good men, but was not well officered. Colonel
Wentworth Avas with the regiment only a few days
while in commission. Lieutenant-Colonel Brown,
who Avas a splendid officer, was away in the southern
department when api)ointed, and after joining his
command was, in a few days, seriously wounded
and resigned, Avhile the major was removed from
the command of the regiment and sent to the rear.
But the 32d will soon be no more. Its identity
will be swallowed up in the 31st, whose history
and re[)utation are in strong contrast with those of
the 32d. And this is entirely due to the fact that
the 31st has been commanded. As the cold weather
creeps on, our men will need socks and mittens
which, Avith the present rates of postage on such
articles, can be furnished from home. jVIittens for
the soldiers should have a thuml) and index finger.
Noveml)er 15, 18()4.

EXTRACTS FliOM LETTERS FROM THE T^VE^ TY-
TIIIRD MAINE.

*****

Connected with our brigade, is a light battery,
the Tenth Massachusetts, connnanded by a son of
Mayor Sleeper of Boston. A few days ago, some
one on looking across into Virginia, nearly oppo-

226

site Edward's Ferry, saw what appeared to ))e men
throwinu' up earth, and several persons standing
around. The idea was at once suggested, tliat the
rcl)els were digging rifle pits, and Captain Sleeper
asked and obtained permission to stir them up with
a l)om1). The first shell scattered the i)arty which
did not rea})})ear. Toward night some one had the
curiosity to cross over and investigate, and this is
what he reported to have found : A half dug grave
with the im})lements for excavating it still standing
in it ; a box containing the mortal remains of a
colored man ; this was all ; the battery had l)roken
up a negro funeral and so frightened the mourners
that they scattered and did not dare to return and
tinish what they had undertaken.

*****

I visited the Fourteenth Xew Hampshire Regi-
ment at the re(iuest of Claude Twitchell who sent
for me and whom I found very ill with pneumonia.
He was the son of Adams Twitchell of Milan, and
a young man of excellent lia])its and character. He
was under age for a soldier and enlisted against the
wishes of his parents. I found him sick unto death
lioth in l)ody and mind, for he was very homesick.
He appealed to me to assist him, but it was too
late. He died the following day.

*****

Stephen B. Kenney, a young medical student, is
our hospital steward, a young man of marked
ability and promise. He is very po})ular with the

227

men of the regiment, and })articularly so with those
who have come under liis care at the hospital. He
s})ares no pains to make them as comfortable as
l)ossil)le, under the circumstances. (After the war,
he finished his medical course and settled in Ports-
mouth, Va., where he held office connected with
his })rofession, and succeeded well. He now resides
ill North Carolina.)

*****
Tuesday mornino- we marched up and pitched
our tents on East Capitol Hill, about a mile east of
the Capitol. Here we remained till Saturday noon,
when we struck our tents and started on a march
of sixteen miles to join ourselves to General dro-
ver's l)rigade. AYe were delayed so long at George-
town, waiting for our baggage to come up, that we
only reached a point a mile above Chain Bridge,
before the night set in dark and cloudy, and we
tiled otf into the woods, and encamped near the
river with nothing aboye us save our lilankets and
the friendly shelter of the sycamore. We resumed
our march in the morning traveling up the tow-path
of the Georgetown and Cuml)erland canal. A])Out
ten o'clock it commenced raining.

*****

There is occasionally a complaint of short rations
of sugar, and it has been pretty broadly hinted that
goyernment sugar finds its way from the commis-
sary department, to the sutler's tent, and that the
men are obliged to liuy from the sutler what they

228

ought to draw as a ration from the commissary.
This may be nothing but talk, though the men who
tallv it are among the l)est in the regiment.
*****
We have lost two by death since I last wrote
you. Silas F. Jones of Paris, a member of Com-
pany F, died on the 11th inst., and Ira Floyd of
Poiter of Company K, died two days after, l)oth
of typhoid fever. Young Jones was not well afte^'
we left Washington, but managed to keep about
until a very few days l)cfore he died.

Corporal Lewis B. Newton of Andover, a mem-
ber of Company H, died November 2d, of typhoid
fever. He was unwell when we left Washington,
and was obliged to go on board the canal boat at
Georgetown. Soon after Ave arrived here his dis-
ease assumed a serious character, and lie continued
to fail until Sunday morning when death came to
his relief. He was a very quiet, unassuming man,
and was liked by his fellow-soldiers. He was
buried Sunday evening with military honors. A
quiet spot was selected as his burial place, under
the friendly shelter of an oak. At the grave
affecting and appropriate remarks Avere made by
the chaplain, and then by the light of the moon
which seemed to look down sympathizingly u})on
the solemn and impressive scene, we buried him,
and here his remains Avill mingle Avith the dust, far
aAvay from his New England home, far aAvay from

229

his wife and young children, who have not yet heard
the sad tidings of his death.

*****
Adjutant W. H. Hall has been promoted to be
captain of Company B, and Sergeant-Major R. E.
Whitman to be adjutant. He was subsequently
promoted to be captain of Company D. Orders
were received for moving Saturday, and at the
appointed time the boys, with three days' rations,
and knapsacks strapped upon their backs, were

ready to march.

*****

The regiment is now (Deceml)er 20) distributed
as follows : Companies C and H at Seneca; E, F,
A and K with headqarters at Muddy Branch ; G at
Lock number 21 ; B, D and I at Great Falls. The
Massachusetts 89th and New Hampshire 14th, with
l)rigade headcjuarters are at Poolesville, and the
Vermont 10th is stationed in detachments from
Poolesville to the mouth of the IMonacacy. The
place where we are now encamped with reghnental
headquarters is about two miles below Seneca, and
eighteen from Washington.

We left all our sick at the old camp, poor fellows !
Some of them will soon be aide to join us, but
many of them never in this world. We left about
twenty of Company F's men there, but only two in
hospital, one, J. P. Packard of Paris.

*****

Last Friday some of our cavalry scouts searched
a house near here and found thirty muskets, thirty

230

artillery harnes.se.s, a small cannon, and quite a
(juantity of ammunition. In another they found
the amis and equipments of poor Stiles, orderly
seru'eant of one of the cavalry companies connected
Avith our brigade, Avho was killed by the rebels at
their recent raid into Poolesville. White gave
notice at that time, that he should be over and take
Christmas dinner at Poolesville, but in the mean-
time our l)rigade moved up here, and he probably
chano-ed his mind. On two or three occasions since
we came here, rt)ckets have been seen to go up
from the house of Major White's relative undoubt-
edly signalizing our movements to the rebels on
the other side. Yet all these men go unpunished,
their })roperty is protected, and a soldier punished
if he lays his hand on anything. This may :dl be
riffht but I confess I cannot see it in that b'oht.
They are none the less rebels than those in the
rebel army, and are ready to do us all the harm
they can, and in my opinion should be treated as
such.

* * * * *

Lieut. Joseph II. Abbott of llumford, of Com-
pany F, has been obliged to resign on account of
ill health. He took cold at Washington, Avhich
brought on a severe and persistent cough, so seri-
ously impairing his health as to render him entirely
unlit for dut} . He was very jwpular Avith the
company, and they were right sorry to part with
him, but under the cii-cumstances it Avas the best

231

thiii<>- ho could do. We all hope that the good
medical treatment and kind care he will receive at
home, will soon restore him to health. The vacancy
will be tilled by the api)ointment of the i)resent
orderly sergeant, S. A. Bolster of Paris,

*****

Since my last communication, we have again
moved our encampment, we are now at a place
called Otfutt's Cross Roads, al)out two and one-
half miles from the river and about the same dis-
tance from our former place, toward Washington.
We are now situated in a beautiful })lace on a
hill sloping towards the west, tlanked on the north
by a grove of i)ines, impervious to winds, and pro-
tected on the east and south l)y a white oak wood.
In front towards the west, the land is cleared for
nearly a fourth of a mile, making an excellent
parade ground. Adaptation as an element of
Yankee character, is nowhere l)etter exhibited than
among our soldiers in the tield. We have been in
our new position only three days, and already our
boys have l)uilt basements of logs two feet high
under their A tents, gathered rocks together and
built them chimneys, and made themselves very
comfoi-table .

*****

Near our encam})nient is a high elevation which
overlooks a large extent of country on the ^Jary-
land side, and also of the sacred soil over in
the "Old Dominion." Edward's Ferrv, Harrison's

232

Island, Ball's Bluff! These i)laces insignificant
before the war, but now rendered historic, are
plainly to be seen from this point. Here the gal-
lant Baker, acting under the orders of General
Stone, unhesitatingly crossed the river in the face
of a vastly superior numl)er of the enemy, Avas
repulsed, and fell, while leading his handful of
heroes against the hordes of the enemy. As I
surveyed the j^lace through a glass, the other day,
reposing so quietly in the sunshine, having that
hazy, dreamy appearance that is characteristic of
Indian summer in the North, I could hardly make
it seem that it was so recently the scene of one of
the most sanguinary conflicts of the war. The
bluff where it terminates abruptly at the river, is
covered with wood and around the left Avhere our
troops clambered up, it is covered apparently with
a small undergrowth. Above is the field where the
rebels formed their line of battle after coming from
the woods, and \vhere now repose the remains of
the many heroes who fell in the brief l)ut ])lo()dy
contest.

*****

Among the Woodstock (|iu)ta, was Galen G.
Bowker who l)elonged to Company D. He was
taken sick of the prevailing disorder and died.
His was the only death of a Woodstock man in the
regiment. His remains were taken to Brvant's
Pond for interment, and for a year or two, his was
the only soldier's grave in the cemetery at that

233

place. Bowkei- was a genial fellow, and inuch liked
by his comrades.

*****

Deserters from the Federal army on the IJappa-
hannock, are often arrested by our pickets as they
cross the river. ihey generally claim to be
paroled, but are forwarded to Washington. As
many as seven have come over in one day, and
they represent a large numl)er strolling around on
the Virginia side. Those arrested thus far have
claimed to be from New York and Pennsylvania

recjiments.

*****

A fearful accident occurred last evening at Fort
Lyon about a mile from our camp. This fort is
garrisoned by the 3d New York Heavy Artillery.
Last evening as workmen were at work in the maga-
zine tilling shells, a percussion shell was accidentally
dr()p[)ed which exploded, setting fire to other shells
and })owder, blo^ving up the entire structure and
l)urying the workmen in the ruins. One lieutenant,
a scriieant and eighteen men were killed, most ot
them ])eing horribly mutilated. A large num])er
were wounded, some of whom have since died.
One i)iece of a shell passed into a tent where the
Avife of one of the captains of the regiment was
sitting, striking her arm and completely severing it
from her l)ody. Another piece was driven into a
tent where an officer was just sitting down to sup-
per, passing so near his head as to brush his hair

234

{ind take away pail of his hat rim, but doing no
other damage.

* * * * *

A private in one of the com[)anies who has
frequently tried to phi>' the ])ully h:id his eourage
teste.l the other day, and it was f )un;l wanting.
He was directed \)y the offi -er of th;? picket to per-
form some duty which was not agreea,])le to him,
and on being ordered quite sharply a second time,
he told the officer that but for his shoulder straps,
he woukl Hog him. The officer quietly removed
his coat and laid it down, remarking that with it
he laid off his straps, and waived all the advantage
of rank ; addi.ig that he was very glad to give him
the o})[)ortunity he desired. Xever was bully more
crestfallen tha i ours, and he sneaked away to his
post amid the jeers of his comrades who, from that

moment, no longer feared him.

*****

The sergeants in Company A were stalwart men,
not one of them measuring less than six feet in
height, and some of them three or four inches over.
Their names were : Sumner Nason, AVilliani l>ag-
nall,Ethelbert Caswell, William F. Forbes, Edward
M. Dearborn and Alvah J. Ilervey. This comi)any,
mostly raised in Lewiston, came from the shops,
the stores and the factories and were a superior set
of men. These sergeants were selected in part on
account of their height, and at the right of the
company and regiment, \niu\v ;i very tine appear-
ance.

235

Our l)usiness now i.s to guard tho fords of the
Potoniac, which are very nuuiorous at present.
Two commissioned officers and a hundred soldiers
are daily detailed for this duty. Their beat is the
tow-path of the canal, which runs along the river.
The rebels hold the opposite side of the Potomac
and are fre(]uontly seen 1)y us. We are lial)le to
be attacked by them at any time.

*****

Last night, after we had retired, the adjutant
came from regimental headquarters with orders to
have the men sleep with their guns by their sides
where they could be seized at any time, as we were
liable to be called up at any moment. But the
night passed quietly away and we learned this
morning that the alarm was caused by tho re})ort
tliat three rebel regiments were within a mile of
us. It may have been so.

* * * * ■ *

Night before last Corporal George Xorwood of
jNIanchester a member of Company F, 14th New
Hampshire fell into the lock while on guard, and
was drowned. .His body will be sent home. The
8Uth Massachusetts Regiment is joined to our
brigade and is in camp above us. I believe there
are no other Massachusetts regiments in the brigade.
We left the Maine 25th and 27th at Washington.
They are in General Casey's division.

236

* * *- * *

We reached Edward's Ferry al»out three o'clock
and soon after it l)egan to I'ain. The l)oat having
our tents on l)oard not arriving, we succeeded in
borrowing tents of a portion of a Massachusetts
regiment quartered here, sufficient for our men
while the officers picked up lodgings wherever they
could. Your correspondent, with several others,
burrowed under a stack of straw and had "elegant"
lodgings, to use a })hrase of the country. Our
boat arrived during the night, and the next morn-
ing we marched up to our present encampment,
about half a mile from the river, and pitched our
tents on a spot where several regiments had before
encamped.

We made nearly half the distance Avith nothing
to break the monotonj', when an amusing and char-
acteristic Southern scene took place on the op})()site
side of the canal. It is "Merry Christmas," you
know and of course a general holiday among the
colored people of the South. As we were passing
a plantation situated on a hill at some little distance
back from the canal, we saw several negroes mak-
ing their way across the field, and soon they made
their appearance on the opposite side of the canal,
and followed along with the regiment for ii cou})le
of miles. There were men, women and children,
all dressed up in their best "Sunday clothes," and
all seemingly as happy as merry Christmas and

237

pei-hiips a little whiskey, could make them. One
old fellow seemed really boiling over with mirth,
and with h;it in hand, sang and danced nearly all
the way. When we stopped to rest they all pitched
in and great ])urly males and fat wenches l:)lack as
sable night, together on the greensward "tripped
the light fantastic toe" in a manner that would have
surprised a French dancing master. At length they
came to a creek, which liindered them from follow-
ing us farther. With many gesticulations they
bade us "good-bye," one old fellow crying after us :
"Good-l)ye, God bress you gemmen. We can't do
nothing for you, you can do more for us than we

can for you."

*****

The country in this vicinity, l)oth on the Virginia
and Maryland side, is tine for agricultural pur-
poses. On each side of the river is a narrow belt
of ricli intervale, and then it rises higher into
l)road talde lands, varied here and there by l)eing
rolled up into slight elevations, sloping only enough
for drainage, intersected l)y woody ravines, at the
1)ottom of which generally flows a stream of pure
water. A little Yankee enterprise infused into the
inhabitants, a little more taste in the erection of
buildings, a little more neatness in trimming up
the trees and shrul)bery, with the curse of negro
slavery removed, would make this one of the finest
sections of country I have ever seen. But like all
places on the border of the so-called confederate

238

states, this })lace is sufForing fearfully in conse-
quence c»f the war, audit will recjuire years of labor
after it shall have ceased to erase the marks of its
iron feet.

Hon. Sidney Perham, member of Congress from
Maine, came up to see us a few days ago. He had
many ac(juaintances in the regiment, who were
very glad to see hiin. Pie came on horseback, and
while riding along the tow-path his horse stumbled
and threw him into the canal. He suffered no
other damage than a thorough wetting.

Colonel Virgin with his wife is stopping with a
man named Young about a mile from the camp.
His host claims to be a Union man but the people
in this vicinity speak of him otherwise. I hope
the colonel will not be molested by White's par-
tisans, but I cannot help thinking he is taking some

risk.

*****

We all very much regret the loss of our recent
brigadier general, who has l^een ordered to report to
General Banks, probabl}^ to go into the Texas expe-
dition. We had seen but little of General Grover
since we came here, but his gentlemanly and
soldierly deportment made him \'ery popular Avith
our 1)oys. Colonel Davis of the Massachusetts 311th
now commands our brigade, liumors are current
here every day, about rebel cavalry being on the

239

opposite side of the river and scouring the country
up towards Leesl)uri>", but we know not what
foundation tliere may be for them. I met Doctor
Hunkins last evening at Georgetown. He left
Lees])urg yesterday morning where he had been
actino- as division surgeon . He informed me that
rebel cavalry were within three miles of there when
he left, and would soon re-occupy the place. If
they do, they may i)0ssibly make another raid into
Maryland.

A negro, recently from the Georgetown hospital
where he had been sick of small-})ox, presented
himself to our pickets at Muddy Branch a few days
since, and was taken up to camp where he was fed
and then sent away, as it was feared he might
impart the disease to the soldiers. He went to a
shanty on one of the old picket stations, and the night
being very cold, he died. Several days afterward
his body still lay unburied in the shanty.
*****

Over thirty teamsters and other employes in the
quarterrmaster's department, were arrested in Alex-
andria yesterday, for refusing to take the oath of
allegiance. These miserable traitors ha^e been in
the employ of the government for two years, more
or less, receiving good pay and professing loyalty,
but when the test was applied in accordance with a
recent order requiring all government em})loyes to
take the oath, and all those in the vicinity of Wash-

240

inoton to be enrolled and organized for the defence
of the Capital in case of an attiick, they declined to
come up to the scratch, and many of them ran away.
Those arrested were escorted by a squad of our
men to the old Capital prison.

* * * * *

A member of the First D. C. Volunteers came
over last evening with a wagon and some baggage,
among which were two nmskets. Going to the
rear of the Avagon, he seized one of the muskets by
the muzzle for the purpose of drawing it out, and
as the hammer struck the side of the wagon it
ex[)loded the cap, lodging the contents of the gun
in his right breast, inflicting a wound from which
he died in a few minutes.

*****

To-day I visited the church at Alexandria where
AVashington and his family attended. The buihl-
ing has undergone some changes both outside and
in, l)ut the pulpit and the Washington pew remain
the same. On Sundays, this pew is generallj"
filled 1)y soldiers. General Robert E. Lee occu-
pied a pew near by, l)ut this has no interest to a
Union soldier since its owner became a traitor to
his country.

*****

The jNIarshall house where the gallant Ellsworth
was shot down in tlie early part of the war, is an
object of interest and visited l)y large numbers.

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