USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 36
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forces at Bisland. Lieutenant Allen was repeatedly wounded, and finally taken prisoner. Referring to this incident, Captain Hubbard writes : "On the day the Diana was taken, we heard the firing, but as the gunboats almost always fire when up in the lake, it created little remark. In a few moments General Weitzel rose from dinner, and coming into my tent said, 'Hubbard, I want you to take the first train, which comes along soon, and go over to the bay, for I am very anxious. As I was sitting at dinner it seemed as though some one whispered distinctly in my ear, 'Allen is hurt.'"
On the 9th of April commenced what was known in the Department of the Gulf as the first Teche campaign.
Involving the operations of larger forces than those engaged under the immediate command of General Weitzel, its details are more readily found in contemporary writings, and need not here be given. With General Banks in chief command, the division of Emory and Weitzel's large brigade crossed Berwick's Bay and marched up the right or westerly bank of the Teche toward Mouton's position, now strengthened by accessions and commanded by General Taylor in person. Grover's Division was transported up Grand Lake to a point called Irish Bend, with the purpose of getting in the rear of Taylor and on his line of communication.
After the battle Captain Hubbard writes :
"I have to thank the enemy for this opportunity of writing. In their retreat they have been burn- ing bridges, which delays our march. . . . After crossing [Berwick's Bay] we remained two days on the opposite shore before commencing our march. On Saturday, April 11, 1863, we marched up the Teche about twelve miles. On Sunday continued our march, driving in the enemy's advance. When we reached our old battle-ground, where we took the gunboat Cotton, and where the enemy had since extended a line of fortifications from the bayou to the swamp, the enemy opened on us with artillery. General Weitzel's brigade was in front, and our two light batteries were brought up, and for an hour the fire was very hot. Our batteries were in very close range, in open ground, while the enemy's were behind breastworks, and moreover they had several pieces of heavy artillery. As night was coming on General Banks did not think it advisable to make a general attack, and our brigade was therefore ordered to withdraw beyond the range of fire and bivouac. Next morning about ten o'clock we began the fight again. General Weitzel's batteries, supported by one battery of four twenty-pound Parrott guns, advanced once more. The enemy brought the gunboat Diana, of whose capture I have recently written, down the bayou against us, and for a short time she did our batteries a great deal of harm; but two thirty-pound Parrott guns placed in our rear opened on her from long distance with beautiful precision ; the second shot, as we afterward learned, going entirely through the iron protection of her machinery, killing one engineer and wounding another. The Diana at once put back, slowly and with difficulty, and we heard no more of her. Our infantry was in line by the side of our batteries and with- in canister range of the enemy's parapet, and were only saved great loss by being ordered to lie close to the ground. Our skirmishers crept so close to the breastworks as to call to the enemy and dare them to come out and fight fairly, and did this too under a perfect rain of canister and rifle-bullets. It was done in order to make him show the extent of his infantry force, and it succeeded perfectly. Our
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fire told heavily, and after about five hours we had nearly silenced their batteries, and our own firing ceased, except occasionally. That night we slept in our places within range of rifles from the breast- work, and with the first light of next day our infantry was ordered to advance to storm the works. All the previous day General Weitzel and staff had continued mounted, and although frequently under the canister fire by which men and horses were killed at their side, fortunately escaped. When our infan- try was ordered forward, however, General Weitzel dismounted, and ordered his staff to do the same. This time a brigade from General Emory's Division was ordered forward with us. To our surprise we were not received by the artillery and musketry fire which we expected, but found the works abandoned with every evidence of haste and secrecy. Our fire must have been very destructive ; for horses and men, broken caissons, and several dismounted and abandoned guns were scattered about, and all along our road, as we continued our march, the houses were filled with wounded. . . . Their forces were obliged to fight General Grover, who landed above. He lost about three hundred men, and the main body of the enemy succeeded in escaping by a side road. If General Grover had advanced three miles farther before he met them, we should have had the entire force between our two forces, as was our plan. . . . At Franklin we found the Diana, which General Grover had prevented from moving farther up, and as we closed in upon her she was fired and blown up. Her guns, however, were uninjured. Best of all, Lieutenant Allen was put on a steamer with about a hundred wounded and sick Confederate soldiers. This boat also was intercepted by General Grover, and returned to Franklin just as our advance of cavalry entered the place. Lieutenant Allen jumped ashore, took a pistol from a cavalry soldier, and ordered the captain of the boat to surrender, which he did. Nearly all our officers taken from the Diana were recaptured. We have taken over a thousand prisoners, possess the famous salt- mines of New Iberia, and are marching rapidly toward Opelousas, where Governor Moore held ses- sion. . . . At New Iberia the Confederate gunboat Hart was burned. The Queen of the West, which you know ran past the batteries at Vicksburg, and was captured by the Confederates, came down into Grand Lake to attack General Grover's force, and was surprised by our gunboats and blown up. She was commanded by the famous Captain Fuller of the Cotton, who with his crew are now our prisoners."
Lieutenant Pickering D. Allen, it should here be said, never wholly recovered from his wounds .. He died June 2 of the same year, from the combined effect of his injuries and a fever which probably resulted from too speedy a return to duty.
A few more letters complete the correspondence of Captain Hubbard. On the 4th of May he writes from the field near Opelousas. The army is pushing on toward Alexan- dria. On the 9th of May, two miles above Alexandria, on the banks of the Red River, he writes that the march is to be resumed at four the next morning, by Weitzel's and Dwight's brigades. A rapid march had been made from Opelousas, and the army had entered Alexandria twenty-four hours after Porter's gunboats, which had run the Vicks- burg batteries and passed into the Red River.
On May 16 he writes again from near Alexandria, resuming the thread of his previous letters. They had started at four o'clock as proposed, and marched twenty-five miles. Next day, their progress being impeded by the destruction of a bridge, the cavalry advanced alone, and, about eighteen miles from camp, struck the enemy's rear just crossing
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a bayou, and took some thirty prisoners. The infantry had moved only six miles, when an orderly from General Banks brought directions for an immediate return to Alexandria. "General Banks has decided," he writes, " to co-operate with General Grant on the Missis- sippi, and with his staff and all the troops, except two brigades which are left under General Weitzel's command, has gone to Semmesport on the Atchafalaya River, thence across to the Mississippi, ready for Vicksburg or Port Hudson. .. . After reaching Semmesport it is only eleven miles by an air-line to the river, and but a little further to march." " I will write again as soon as I can," he adds ; and he closes his letter with an affectionate message to his mother. No other letter to his home was written, and the few brief days that remained to him were chronicled only in his pocket diary. This shows that the rear-guard left Alexandria May 17, and in two days marched forty-four miles, passing through Cheneyville. During the second night there was some skirmishing ; and two days later, at the same point, one of the cavalry captains of the command (Barrett) was cap- tured with fourteen of his men by Waller's battalion, but in the night escaped and came into camp.
On May 22 at midnight, the march was resumed, and continued for twenty-six miles. A memorandum states that two cavalrymen were killed by guerillas. May 23, the march was resumed at four o'clock A.M. At about 10 A.M. was reached the bridge over Yellow Bayou, where in the following year Mower, commanding the rear-guard on the retreat from the Red River, had a brief but bloody engagement. Here the brigades camped until the next morning (the 24th), when they burned the bridge and marched a few miles to the banks of the Atchafalaya. The trains, artillery, and cavalry crossed over, and the infantry embarked on transports. General Weitzel and staff on the steamer Laurel Hill, with the Twelfth Connecticut and Seventy-fifth New York, arrived at Morganzie in the evening, and early in the morning of the 25th crossed to Bayou Sara, above Port Hudson, on the east bank of the Mississippi. The infantry and artillery marched fourteen miles from the point of crossing, through a hilly country and over sandy roads, toward Port Hudson. General Weitzel was assigned to the command of the right wing of the investing force, and his brigade formed on the extreme right of the line. The last entry in the diary, under date May 26, notes the order in which line of battle was formed.
What followed was told by his friends. A general assault had been ordered for the following day, May 27.
Captain Hubbard was impressed with the belief that the place could not be carried by assault, and as he would not admit the thought of retreat, the alternative for himself was a disabling wound or death. That he anticipated one or the other is evident. One of his friends attaches to the circumstance of his death almost a premonition. "While resting at Thibodeaux after our Lafourche expedition," wrote this friend, "I asked him one day where we would probably go from there. He said that before long we would lay
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siege to Port Hudson, and that he would fall in a charge on those works; and also during our expedition to Alexandria, soon after the battle of Fort Bisland, while telling one day of the bullets flying near him, I asked him how he felt. He replied that he was not afraid, as he would not be hit until we got to Port Hudson."
These, no doubt, were chance expressions. Yet, on the eve of the assault, his thoughts were those of a brave and reflecting soldier, who would not avoid a danger that he felt could not be overcome. When his duties for the day were ended, and his prepara- tions for the morrow were made, he wrote on a leaf torn from his diary his last letter. It was to the lady who was soon to have been his wife, and its expressions of devotion gave also his strong impression of the fate which next day befell him. A near friend, Colonel Willoughby Babcock of the Seventy-fifth New York, who himself fell in battle the next year in the Shenandoah campaign, wrote :
" I shall never forget the morning of the 22d of May. Captain Hubbard came to me the night before, just as we were getting to sleep, to summon me with other regimental commanders to lieadquar- ters of the brigade, to receive instructions for the ordered attack at five o'clock the next morning. The enemy were concealed from us, their position unknown, the approaches difficult, and the plan of attack very indefinite. The captain shared with me a feeling of deep seriousness, if not of depression, both fearing grave disaster. The meeting at headquarters was an unsatisfactory one, and an anxious night was followed by a similar morning. We had been assured that at five o'clock ninety guns should open on the enemy simultaneously, and that at that moment the lines of our besieging army should commence a steady, determined advance on all sides, closing in upon the forces within, seeking them everywhere, and driving them into smaller and smaller circles, until exhaustion or victory closed the combat. If batteries were met, they were to be taken at all hazards. If the enemy were found, they were to be routed somehow. Our brigade was ready at five, but no unusual thunders broke out. Captain Hubbard was the unwilling bearer of a message to me not to move until six. We talked a long time over the plans of the battle and its probable chances. Six o'clock and the order 'Forward ' found us still talking. We moved at once, and I didn't see him again until an hour or so later, when we had worked our difficult way through the woods and had come up with two brigades in advance. These were checked and almost recoiling before the enemy. It was a critical moment. The fire was terrific, both from cannon and small-arms, and trees and men were falling on every hand, amid tremendous din. Captain Hubbard chanced to be near me at this moment, and I remember distinctly his addressing me, in what words I cannot say, but in substance to ask if we had not better charge. Almost simul- taneously, all along the line, the men raised a shout, officers sprang to the front and drew their swords, a grand determined rush was made upon the enemy, and, in less time than I can tell it, the rebels were routed and surrendering, or fleeing in every direction.
"It was a scene that one would not forget, but in the picture of it I remember no object more distinctly than the figure of Captain Hubbard, as I saw him then, waving his sword in advance, his face all aglow with exercise and full of the triumph of the hour, cheering and shouting to the men, con- spicuous everywhere as a born leader. I lost sight of him here, his duties calling him to the right further, and I saw him no more. In an hour it began to be whispered around among my men, who all knew and loved him, that Captain Hubbard was dead. I felt as if the advantage gained was hardly
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worth his one life, to say nothing of other braves fallen, maimed, and dead. But he fell as he would have wished had he chosen his own death that day-within a stone's-throw of the enemy, in the extreme advance, and died a sudden, painless, glorious death. A soldier who must die for his country would die so."
Tributes of affection from friends to bereaved families are likely to be somewhat over- drawn; but it must be no ordinary merit that could arouse in one of General Weitzel's discriminating judgment an affection which prompted the following words :
"I selected John," he wrote to his father, "to this confidential position immediately upon the receipt of my appointment as brigadier-general, because I considered him to be the best soldier in the department, and a perfect gentleman. Before he had long been in my military family, I found that I had not only been correct in my opinion, but that I had not done him justice. He possessed in the highest degree all the qualities that can adorn a young man. Of about the same age as myself, these discoveries made him to me a brother. As such I mourn his loss. In my command he was beloved, respected, and adored by all; and the death of no one has cast such a gloom over it. We all console ourselves, as much as possible, with the remembrance of his great virtues and the knowledge that he fell at the head of the men in a decisive charge, and in a manner becoming such a brave, honorable, and true soldier.'
In another letter General Weitzel wrote :
"John is dead, but he is not forgotten. Soldiers in the field soon forget those who have fallen. They see so many good men pass away before their eyes. But John never will be forgotten by me, or any one in my command. Almost every night we speak of him at my headquarters, and I have but one of my original staff left me. I can see him now, as he walked along with the column on our long marches of last spring, carrying one or two muskets of the tired soldiers, and a foot-sore soldier riding alongside of him, on the horse that John had loaned him. Such acts of kindness are never forgotten by the soldier, nor is the sight of them soon allowed to pass away from one's memory."
This assault on Port Hudson failed. It can hardly be justified as a military measure. Only the utmost skill in conducting it could have excused making it, and its chief conduct was wholly void of precision or skill. The loss of young life was appalling. But the lapse of years ; the review of many lives that, escaping the sudden shock of war, have since met shipwreck ; the faith that all things are ordered for the best-may now persuade us to say of it,
"By few is glory's wreath attained; But death, or late, or soon, awaiteth all: To fight in freedom's cause is something gained, And nothing lost to fall."
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EBB, EDMUND FULLER, Lawyer, of Waterville. Born in Albion, Maine, January 30, 1835. He is the second son of Joseph Webb, who was born in Albion, then Fairfax, November 13, 1803, and died March 3, 1874. Joseph was of the seventh generation from Christopher Webb, who came from England prior to 1645, and in May of that year was made a freeman of Massachusetts Colony.
His son Henry Webb died in 1660, and by will probated in Suffolk County, gave to Harvard College the land on which stands the building now occupied by Little, Brown & Company. Joseph was the son of Benjamin, who was the son of Samuel of Boston. The latter was the father of Thomas Smith Webb, named Thomas Smith for an uncle of his mother's, who was the first settled minister at Falmouth, now Portland.
Thomas Smith Webb established the society designated as the Handel and Haydn Society in 1815, and was its first president. He was prominent as a Mason, being Grand Master of the General Grand Encampment of the United States. The mother of Joseph Webb, née Eunice Day, was the daughter of Nathaniel Day and Hepzibah Appleton of Boston, and was of the sixth generation from Robert Day who was born in Ipswich, Eng- land, in 1604, came to Boston in 1634, settled in Cambridge, and was made a freeman in 1635. The mother of Mr. Edmund Fuller Webb, nee Sarah Fuller, was born in Albion, then Lygonia, July 25, 1809, and died December 20, 1883.
She was the daughter of Jonathan Fuller, and was of the eighth generation from Dr. Samuel Fuller, who with his brother Edward came to Plymouth in the Mayflower in 1620, and was the first surgeon and physician in the colony. The name Jonathan Fuller appears in the third generation, and then consecutively to and including the eighth.
Her mother was Hannah Bradstreet, who was of the seventh generation from Simon Bradstreet, Governor under the first charter of Massachusetts Colony, in 1679. Governor Bradstreet was the son of a Nonconformist minister, who came to America in 1629, and landed first at Mount Desert, and finally settled in Cambridge.
Governor Bradstreet was the husband of Anne Bradstreet, whose works in prose and verse have long survived her; the first edition having been published in London in 1678, the second in Boston in 1758, and other editions down to 1869. She was the daughter of Governor Dudley, and died in 1672. Governor Simon Bradstreet's will is probated in the Suffolk Probate Records, Lib. II., Fol. 276.
Hannah Bradstreet was a cousin to Martha Bradstreet of Utica, New York, who after having had fourteen trials before the Hon. Alfred Conkling, U. S. Judge of the North- ern District of New York, presented to Congress in 1826 a memorial praying for the impeachment of Judge Conkling, for thirty-three causes which were elaborately stated in her memorial.
Edmund. 7. Webb
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Mr. Webb was educated at the common-schools, and also at Freedom, China, and Waterville academies. In 1856 he entered Waterville College, now Colby University, where he remained two years, receiving the ordinary testimonials of scholarly proficiency.
In 1858 he commenced the study of law in Portland, and was admitted to the Cum- berland bar at the March term, 1859, and at once established himself in practice at Albion, where he remained one year, and then removed to Waterville, where he has since resided. In 1867 he was admitted to practice in the District Court of the United States, and con- tinued to apply himself exclusively to the duties of his profession. In 1872 he had secured a large and lucrative practice ; and his attention to the interests of his clients, and his con- duct of business entrusted to his care, had been characterized by such practical talent, sound judgment, and honorable dealing, that he was no longer permitted by his fellow-citizens to remain undisturbed in the practice of the law, but his abilities were demanded for public duty. He was accordingly chosen that year to represent the town of Waterville in the State Legislature. In this new field of labor he at once took a prominent position. In an important debate upon a question affecting the rights and interests of the railroads of Maine, Mr. Webb evinced such a comprehensive knowledge of the subject in all its bear- ings, and presented his views with such directness and power, that he was promptly recog- nized as among the foremost of able debaters and legislators of the House. He was re-elected the following year and chosen Speaker of the House, discharging his duties as presiding officer with entire satisfaction to the members, and great credit to himself. In 1874 and 1875 he was a State Senator from Kennebec County, and in the latter year was made President of the Senate.
By reason of his familiarity with the public men and affairs of the State, and his pre- vious experience as a parliamentarian, he filled this place of honor with distinguished abil- ity. He has always been identified with the Republican organization ; but while uniformly upholding the principles of his party, his political activity and partisanship have never been characterized by malice or bitterness toward his opponents.
But Mr. Webb's public service did not apparently interfere with his professional duties ; for he continued with great energy and zeal to enlarge his practice, and steadily grew stronger in the community and at the bar. In 1876 he was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of the United States, and the same year was appointed by the late Justice Clifford a Commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States. In 1878 he was chosen County Attorney of Kennebec County, and served in that capacity for three years with eminent success. In the department of law Mr. Webb's efforts evince extensive knowledge and great industry and research. In the management of causes he seeks with a vigorous common-sense and practical directness to develop the decisive point in the case ; and having done this he proceeds without dilatory siege to grapple fearlessly with the issue, "and no frowns or favors shall make him let go his hold." In argument he is clear, cogent, effectual,
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As a citizen of Waterville Mr. Webb has actively participated in all movements tend- ing to promote the growth of the town and the welfare of its people, and has met all rea- sonable public requirements with a liberal hand and needful service. In 1866 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Colby University, and in 1883 was elected a trustee of the same institution. In social life Mr. Webb, by his kindness of heart, courtesy of manner, and his ready and generous appreciation of humor, and above all his integrity of character, has drawn around him a large circle of devoted friends. In religious belief and practice he is identified with the Unitarian Church. He was married October 30, 1860, to Abby E. C. Hall, an estimable lady, who has made for him an exemplary home.
The issue of this marriage is one son, Appleton Webb, born August 12, 1861.
He was admitted to the Somerset bar, September, 1882, and is now a promising member of the law-firm of Webb & Webb at Waterville.
ENNEY, JOHN SEARLE, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, January 21, 1793. After pursuing his studies at the celebrated Dummer Academy at Byfield, he entered Bowdoin College, from which he took his degree in 1816 with high honors. After graduating, he kept the academy at Warren, in the State of Maine, about nine months, when he entered the office of the late Thomas Bond at Hallowell, as a stu- dent of law. On being admitted to the bar he established himself at Norridgewock, the shire town of the county of Somerset, where for twenty years he had a successful practice and established a high reputation. In 1841 he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court as successor to Judge Nicholas Emery. The important and arduous duties of an Asso- ciate Justice he faithfully discharged, delivering learned opinions on questions of profound interest for fourteen years, having been reappointed for a second term. In 1855 he was raised to the Chief-Justiceship, -as successor to the learned Chief Justice Shepley. Having served his constitutional term of seven years, he closed his judicial career, and retired to his quiet home and studies in the beautiful village of his adoption, where he died on August 24, 1869. In 1850 he was appointed Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence at Bowdoin Col- lege, the duties of which position he continued regularly to discharge for about fifteen years. The same year he received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1838 he represented Norridgewock in the Legislature, and in 1864 he filled the office of Senator.
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