USA > Maine > Knox County > Union > A history of the town of Union, in the county of Lincoln, Maine : to the middle of the nineteenth century, with a family register of the settlers before the year 1800, and of their descendants > Part 31
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CHAPTER XLII.
MILITARY HISTORY. (Continued.)
Trial of Capt. John P. Robbins. - Objections and Protest. - Charges and Specifications. - Result.
THE court for the trial of Capt. John P. Robbins was organized Aug. 17, 1825. The judge-advocate, as in the case of Capt. Bachelder, then administered to each of the members singly, and to the marshal, and to the
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CAPT. JOHN P. ROBBINS.
supernumeraries, and then the president administered to the judge-advocate, the oath required by the " Act to organize, govern, and discipline the militia of the State of Maine." The court was opened in due form by the marshal. Capt. Robbins gave reasons for challenging Capt. James Ayer and for objecting to Major Lithgow, and moreover denied, as Capt. Ba- chelder had done, the authority of the court. These points were overruled. The charges were then ad- duced as follows : -
"To Dwelly Turner, Esq., Major-General of the Fourth Division of the Militia of the State of Maine.
. "Avery Rawson . ... complains against Capt. John P. Robbins .... for disobedience of orders, for unmilitary and unofficer-like conduct, and for exciting, encouraging, and per- mitting, in the company under his command, mutiny, disorder, and insubordination in the following particulars, to wit : -
"1. That said Capt. John P. Robbins, having been duly ordered by said colonel to parade the company under his command at Waldoborough, on the eighth day of September, A.D. 1824, for review and inspection of arms, then and there marched his said company past the quarters of said colonel, with reversed arms, and the music thereof playing a funeral dirge, with the intent to insult said colonel and other field-officers there present.
"2. That the said captain .... then and there, being in regimental .line with his said company in obedience to a regimental order for the purpose of review and inspection of arms, neglected and refused to call his company to order and attention, when required so to do by the adjutant of said regiment at the command of said colonel.
"3. That the said captain, .... under the command of Major Cole, acting as lieutenant-colonel in the absence of Lieut .- Col. Bachelder, disobeyed the orders of said Major Cole, then and there commanding said regiment, and be- haved in an insulting, disrespectful, and disorderly manner to his said commanding officer, and then and there per- mitted and encouraged his said company to behave in an indecorous and contemptuous manner toward said Major Cole, and then and there permitted his said company to club their arms, with intent to insult and abuse the said Major Cole and other his superior officers.
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MILITARY HISTORY.
"4. That the said captain, .... while marching from the place of parade to the place of review and inspection, marched his company in a disorderly and irregular manner, in disobedience of the orders of said colonel and in violation of the rules of discipline.
" 5. That the said captain .... permitted his men to fire or discharge their muskets without orders from his superior officers, to conduct in an unsoldier-like and dis- orderly manner, and to leave their ranks and to retire from duty without the consent of the said colonel or of the officer commanding the battalion in which they were formed.
"6. That the said captain .... withdrew and discharged his musicians from the command of the fife-major and drum- major, under whose order they had been placed by said colonel, without the consent of said colonel.
"7. That the said captain, .... while in regiment with his said company, treated his superior officers with insolence and contempt, and uttered abusive and insulting language to said colonel and others his superior officers, while on parade and under command.
"8. That the said captain, .... well knowing the dis- orderly and unmilitary conduct of the men composing his said company, mentioned in the preceding specifications of charge, did not censure, reprimand, or impose fines upon them therefor; thereby justifying and encouraging disobe- dience of orders, disorderly behavior, and unmilitary conduct.
"9. That the said captain, .... from the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 1824, to the first day of March, in the year of our Lord 1825, has neglected to ap- point non-commisioned officers in his said company ; though, during all said time, his said company has been, and still is, destitute of non-commissioned officers.
" 10. That the said captain, .... on said cighth day of September, A.D. 1824, at said Waldoborough, having been duly ordered by regimental orders of Aug. 2, A.D. 1824, to appear then and there with the company under his com- mand for review and inspection of arms, did, previous to and during said parade, endeavor to excite and encourage in the company under his command, and in other officers and soldiers of said regiment, and did participate and join in a spirit of mutiny, insubordination, and disrespect against said colonel and other officers then in lawful command of and in said regiment.
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CAPT. JOHN P. ROBBINS.
" All which is utterly subversive of the good order, de- structive of the discipline, and repugnant to the subordi- nation, which ought to distinguish the militia, and without which it can be neither a defence nor an honor to the State.
" Wherefore your complainant requests, that the said Capt. John P. Robbins may be held to answer to the fore- going charges, and be further dealt with relative to the same, as law, justice, and military usages, require.
" AVERY RAWSON, Colonel of 3d Reg. 2d Brig., 4th Div.
" Waldoborough, March 1, 1825."
After evidence in support of the complainant and of the respondent, the respondent moved the court for leave to prove "that the complainant in this case conducted, prior to the day of muster, in such an unbecoming and oppressive manner toward the sol- diers under the command of the said J. P. Robbins as to excite in them, or some of them, a spirit of insub- ordination, which may possibly, in two or three in- stances, have manifested itself, and altogether without the approbation, consent, or previous knowledge of the said Robbins, against his will, and not by him to be foreseen or prevented." " The court directed that the evidence offered therein is improper and irrelevant." The evidence being all in, the respondent was heard in his defence by his counsel, John Ruggles, Esq. After a statement of the evidence by the judge-advo- cate, the court ordered the house to be cleared of spectators, and the respondent was found guilty of specifications 1, 2, 5, 7, 8; but not guilty of the others. He was sentenced to be removed from office, and adjudged " to be disqualified for, and incapable of, holding any military office under the State for the term of one year."
Thus terminated the trials by court-martial; that of the lieutenant-colonel having cost the State $431.96, and that of the captains $409.47.
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MILITARY HISTORY.
CHAPTER XLIII.
MILITARY HISTORY. (Continued.)
Evasion of the Laws .- John Chapman Robbins becomes Clerk .- Loss of the Company Roll. - Muster near Trowbridge's, in Warren. - Lieut. Ebenezer Cobb. - " A good time." - Horsemen ride about the Muster-field. - Robbins gives Orders. - Unsuccessful Attempts to arrest him. - Notes for Fines burnt as Wadding.
FROM this time the Unionites evaded or set at defiance every military order which was sent to them. The Legislature either could not pass or could not enforce any Act which would bring them into subjection. In the infantry no man could be found to serve as clerk. Probably with the understanding that it would not be taken, a public offer of the clerkship was made; but nobody came forward to accept it. After a while, it was taken by John Chapman Robbins, who was exempted by law from doing military duty. At the training, a few days before the annual parade in 1825, the question was agitated whether there should be a baggage-wagon for the muster. Robbins, the new clerk, discouraged it; said there was " no necessity for it : let every man carry his own baggage, and he will fare better." The question was put, and decided in the negative. After the companies were dismissed, it was whispered about that the roll probably would not be called, and that it would be well for all to go on horseback without equipments, and "have a good time." On the day before the muster, Robbins's com- pany-roll was missing. He could not possibly account for its loss, unless his children had got it and dropped it into the well. It was exceedingly unfortunate ; muster the next day ; no list of the company ; and no means to collect any fines for absences. Accordingly, on muster-day there was no roll to be called. Robbins,
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MUSTER IN WARREN.
more than twenty years afterward, said that, on his way home from the training, he hid the roll in a king- fisher's nest in the bank by the Old Burying Ground.
The rifle-company's officers met on the field; and, as the captain was removed from office, the command devolved on Lieut. Cobb. Ward Maxcy called the roll of the company ; but not one private was there to answer to his name. Lieut. Cobb sent word to the field-officers, that he was ready for duty; and, if they had none for him, he wished to be discharged for the day. He was requested by them to ride as major ; but "the exercises were so different from what he was accustomed to, that he declined;" and he was accord- ingly released.
Almost every person who could get a horse went to the muster-field on horseback, as had been sug- gested. Perhaps the number from Union was one hundred or one hundred and fifty; John Chapman Robbins procuring the fleetest horse he could hire. The field-officers, when they saw them, anticipated mischief, and ordered the guard not to let them pass. . Accordingly, they were vigorously opposed ; but, while the sentries were keeping out two or three at one point, the whole troop rushed in at another, following Hudson of Union, who played the Kent bugle, and thus became a leader. Among the most active was Robbins. The horsemen rode wherever they chose, within the guard or without it. At a signal, all would start off and gallop round the regiment. Then they would stop, and parade in front of it. The Kent bugle gave signals; and this and the clarionet, both carried by Hudson, were played alternately, according to circumstances.
In due time came the colonel to assume the com- mand. Robbins, on his fleet horse, rides up near to him, and shouts " Shoulder arms." The words are uttered with a stentorian voice, and are distinctly heard along the whole line. The order is instantly cbeyed by the whole regiment. An officer is imme- diately despatched to arrest Robbins, and put him
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MILITARY HISTORY.
under guard; but his horse is too fleet to be overtaken, and the officer, after an unsuccessful chase, returns. Robbins also returns. The commanding officer is about giving the order, " Attention the regiment," when Robbins, interrupting him, shouts " Attention all creation." The officer is again ordered "to arrest that fellow, and put him under guard." Robbins is a skilful horseman. The ground is moist and muddy. He suffers the officer to come within a rod or two; then he wheels his horse, and dashes off so dexterously and furiously, that the face and vest of his pursuer are covered with the mud tossed up by the horse's feet. Robbins comes and gives orders a third time. " At- tention the whole world! Wheel by kingdoms." He is again pursued, but it is to no purpose : his horse is the fleetest on the field.
Robbins calls to the officers, and tells them he will dine with them that day in their marquee. During the hours that intervene, he mingles wit and impudence and drollery in such proportions and comical combina- tions, that he gets them in good humor; and, at the dinner-hour, he is one of the first to enter the marquee, . where he dines with as much impunity as if he had not done any thing to which they could object. Be- fore night, he succeeds in pulling up, one by one, all the sentry flag-staffs, and rides round the field with them under his arm. Thus ends the day. From that time to the present, the Unionites have not taken part in any of the regular musters. The mus- ter of 1824 was, in reality, the last in which they par- ticipated.
After the affair was over, Lieutenant Cobb warned the rifle-company to meet, and answer for non-ap- pearance on the muster-field. Their answer "went by default." Accordingly, he demanded a fine. As the company had no immediate use for money, the clerk was ordered to take notes. What became of the notes, the commander never was officially in- formed. The fact, however, is that, at a voluntary training some time afterward, Ward Maxcy gave back
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ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
to each man his note; and the notes were all used as wadding, and burnt in the vicinity of the powder- house.
CHAPTER XLIV. MILITARY HISTORY. (Continued.)
Orders to elect Officers. - Movements to re-elect Capts. Bachelder and Robbins. - Nathan Bachelder chosen Captain. - Pardon Rob- bins and the Cabbage. - Re-election of Capt. Noah Rice. - He is cashiered. - Voluntary Trainings and Muster. - Aroostook War. - Rifle Company disbanded. - Philo Thurston. - Ebenezer Ward Adams chosen Captain. - His Trial and Imprisonment.
IMMEDIATELY after the removal of the captains, and probably a few days after the parade at Trowbridge's in 1825, orders came for an election of officers to fill their places. The men were ready to re-elect Capts. Bachelder and Robbins. But such a movement was discouraged. " If you re-elect me," said Robbins, " my election will be declared null and void; and, if but one vote should be thrown for any other person than myself, he would be declared elected, on the ground that I am ineligible." He advised them to vote for an officer who had resigned and been honora- bly discharged.
There had been but two captains of the rifle-com- pany, viz. John Bachelder and Lewis Bachelder. The former was in poor health, and the latter was in the same condition as the captain of the infantry. Nathan Bachelder, brother of the two preceding of the same name, was elected captain, Sept. 24, 1825.
The officer detailed to preside on this occasion was from Waldoborough. For many years before the military difficulty, there had been good-natured spar- ring between the two towns; the Waldonians teasing
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MILITARY HISTORY.
the Unionites about beans, and the Unionites in turn teasing them about sour kraut. On this occasion, Pardon Robbins dressed himself very neatly, and placed on his head a paper-cap having a peaked top, from which rose a cockerel's long tail-feather. He was humpbacked, and in his ordinary walk naturally swag- gered. Having procured a large neat wash-bowl, he placed in it an excellent head of cabbage, about the size of a peck-measure, gashed it neatly with a knife, and sprinkled salt over it. Thus prepared, he deliberately strutted up the broad aisle of the Old Meeting-house to the deacon's seat, where the officer was discharging his duty in a dignified and gentlemanly manner, and addressed him with the greatest gravity and courtesy : " As you must be somewhat fatigued, colonel, and this is a favorite dish among the Waldoborough peo- ple, please to refresh yourself, while the men are preparing to vote, with some sour kraut." With a gracious bow, he placed the bowl of cabbage on the table before him, and retired. It was an act too gross, however, not to elicit general condemnation, excited even as the Unionites were.
Probably on the same day that Nathan Bachelder was elected captain of the rifle-company,-for the com- missions bear the same date, - Capt. Noah Rice was re-elected captain of the infantry. He was a worthy farmer, and had been a good officer. From the first, he was a sturdy opponent of the Waldonians. At the muster in 1824, he was one of the most active of the three or four men who, from time to time, gave hints to the privates of the Union companies, and raised the confusion in which they dispersed. And so elated was he, that in the enthusiasm of the mo- ment, and amid the uproar and shouts that rent the skies, he huzzaed and swung his market-bag around his head till the cheese in it was pommelled to pieces. After his re-election, his commission was sent to him. It is said that he would neither be qualified, nor call out the company ; that he would not return the com- mission; and that it could not be got away from him,
375
CAPT. NOAH RICE.
but by a court-martial. Accordingly the following notice is taken of him :-
"To Samuel E. Smith, Esq., Governor and Commander- in-Chief, in the State of Maine.
" Charges and specifications preferred against Noah Rice, Captain of a Company of Infantry, in the 3d Regiment, 2d Brigade, and 4th Division, by George Jewett, division-advo- cate of said division, on the complaint of Henry Kennedy, colonel and commanding officer of said regiment.
" CHARGE I. - Neglect of duty.
" Specification. The said Noah Rice, on the 13th day of September, A.D. 1831, was captain as aforesaid ; and, being so in office, it was his duty, on the Tuesday following the second Monday of September aforesaid, it being the 13th day of said month, to parade his said company at some convenient place, within the limits thereof, at one of the clock in the afternoon, for inspection and drill. Yet the said Noah Rice, regardless of his duty aforesaid, neglected so to parade his company, or to give the proper orders for said purpose ; and, in consequence thereof, the said company lost entirely the benefit of the annual inspection and drill contemplated by law.
" CHARGE II. - Disobedience of orders.
" Specification 1. That the said Noah Rice, ... having been duly ordered ... to notify and summon his said com- pany to meet at Warren ... on the 29th day of September, A.D. 1831, for military inspection and review, .. . in disobe- dience of his said orders, neglected and refused to notify and summon his said company, or to give the proper orders therefor ; whereby, and by reason of said Rice's neglect and disobedience of orders, the said company did not appear at said Warren on said day for military inspection and review.
" Specification 2. That the regiment . . . paraded ... for review, and the said Rice ... was duly ordered ... to notify his said company to assemble ... on said day, for review; but the said Rice neglected and refused to assemble ... and to appear with his said company.
" CHARGE III. - Unmilitary conduct.
" Specification 1. That the said Noah Rice, from the date of his commission as captain aforesaid to the 1st day of October, A.D. 1831, . .. has wholly neglected his duty as
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MILITARY HISTORY.
captain aforesaid, and repeatedly and often neglected to obey the proper and legal orders to him directed ....
" Specification 2. That the said Rice, from the date of his commission as captain of said company, as aforesaid, to the 1st day of October, A.D. 1831, . .. has frequently and often excited, encouraged, and advised other officers belonging to said regiment to disobey and not perform the express orders and commands of their superior officers.
" Specification 3. That, on the day the order directing the regimental review of September, 1831, was served upon said Rice, he then and there did use and utter insulting and contemptuous language respecting said order and the com- manding officer of said regiment.
" Specification 4. That the said Rice was formerly captain and commanding officer of the same company whereof he is now commanding officer, and did receive his discharge therefrom some years since; and the said Rice has re- peatedly and often stated that he accepted the commission as captain aforesaid for the purpose of furnishing him opportunities of insulting the officers of said regiment, and, by his disobedience of orders and total neglect of duty in his said office, to bring contempt and ridicule and disgrace upon the officers of.said regiment.
" The above charges and specifications are respectfully submitted for your consideration.
"' GEORGE JEWETT,
" Division-Advocate of the 4th Division. " Jan. 24, 1832."
The court held at Waldoborough, June 12, 1832, found him guilty of every charge and specification, except the last three specifications of the last charge. They sentenced him to be removed from office, and adjudged "the said Rice to be disqualified for and incapable of holding any military office under this State for life.
" JOHN C. HUMPHREYS, President.
" JOHN A. DUNNING, Member.
" Waldoborough, June 12, 1832.
Attest : GEORGE JEWETT, Division-Advocate."
Although, after the difficulty on the field at Wal- doborough and the arrest of the captains, neither company would perform military duty under field-
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MILITARY SPIRIT.
officers, there were voluntary trainings for a few years. Once they met, with the Hope and the Appleton companies, near McLean's Mills, and had a voluntary muster, which passed off with great order and decorum. A love for military affairs still continued. When the Aroostook war, in relation to the north-eastern bound- ary, broke out, as all military organization had gone down, notice for drafts was served on the selectmen. There was made a list of all the persons in town who were required by the laws of the State to do military duty. At the time for drafting, the Common was thronged. A draft of all the men required was made without any difficulty. Before this was done, a vo- luntary company was organized. Nelson Cutler, Esq., was chosen captain; Lewis Andrews, lieutenant; and
John Adams, ensign. The officers never applied for nor received commissions. The company was several times called out for inspection and drill, and always readily responded to the call. The drill was kept up till after the arrival of the news of peace, and then the organization was allowed to subside. . The drafts from this section of the State were not called for; but the spirit with which the requisition for them was received, showed the manner in which the Unionites were in- clined to act, when what they considered the honor of their country was involved, and its territory invaded.
The rifle-company was disbanded, and the officers were discharged, July 2, 1831. The members were ordered to be enrolled with the infantry. Philo Thur- ston had been chosen ensign of the infantry, July 6, 1825. Although, in a quiet way, he had done his part at the muster-farce, he was the only officer in town with whom the field-officers had not had diffi- culty. The field-officers not only did not aid him in getting a discharge, but kept urging him to act. He was the only officer, and maintained that it was unreasonable to require him alone to attempt to or- ganize the three or four hundred men in Union, in the state of things which then existed, and he would not move in the matter.
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MILITARY HISTORY.
Finally, after the disbanding of the rifle-company and the removal of Capt. Rice, orders came for another elec- tion of officers. The meeting was held in the Old Meet- ing-house, Sept. 18, 1832. The presiding officer made a few remarks on the "iron grip of the law," which, instead of alarming or awing the men, only excited contempt and a spirit of defiance. Ebenezer Ward Adams was chosen captain ; and John Fuller, lieutenant. After leaving the meeting-house, Capt. Adams uttered a remark, from which the inference was plain that he should never order them out after that afternoon. They paraded and marched and drilled an hour or two. The storekeepers and others contributed the treat, which was always furnished, from some source or other, at trainings and musters. Capt. Adams received his commission, but would not get qualified. Efforts were made to hire him to do it ; but he was immovable. He never called on the company to turn out after the day of his election. July 5, 1835, Nathaniel Groton, division-advocate, brought against him the following charges :-
1. That he neglected to call out his company, May 1, 1834, for an annual inspection and examination.
2. That he did not, as the law required, parade his com- pany on one other day between the first Tuesday in May, and the annual review of the troops in September.
3. Disobedience of orders in not appearing at Warren, Sept. 25, 1834, for annual review and inspection.
4. Not turning out on the first Tuesday in May, 1835.
The court-martial held at Thomaston, Nov. 4, 1835, found him guilty, and adjudged him to be removed, and to be disqualified from holding any military office under this State for the term of fifty years. They further sen- tenced him to pay a fine of twenty-one dollars. The captain would not pay the fine, nor allow his military friends to do it. He was carried to jail at Wiscasset, and imprisoned ; his prosecutors refusing to take bail. He consulted Judge Smith, who notified the jail-keeper that his case was bailable ; and that, if he continued him in
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LAST ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
close confinement, it would be at his peril. He was, accordingly, released. Thus ended the fifth court-mar- tial of Union officers.
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