USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1890 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
President, MRS. OLIVE M. LONG, Boston.
Vice-President, MRS. EMMA L. BICKFORD, Skowhegan. Secretary & Treasurer, MISS ETTIE M. VAUGHAN, Skowhegan.
There were thirty-one ladies present, and the meeting was an exceedingly pleasant one. Adjourned to the next reunion of the regimental association.
FIRST MAINE CAVALRY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The First Maine Cavalry Association of Massachusetts, which was formed of the comrades residing in Boston and vicinity just prior to the reunion at Skowhegan, is proving itself to be a lively association, affording much benefit as well as pleasure to the con- rades of the grand old regiment who are so unfortunate as to reside outside the good old Pine Tree State. On the evening of November 16th, ISS6, the association tendered a reception and banquet to Gen: Jonathan P. Cilley and Lieut. Edward P. Tobie, and others, at the Crawford House, Boston, the occasion being the first meeting of the committee on the publication of the history. The evening was a most enjoyable one. The Boston Globe of the 17th gave the fol- lowing account of this gathering :
A jollier set of veterans have not met for many a day than the survivors of the First Maine Cavalry regiment who reside in Massachusetts, who gath- ered at the Crawford House last evening. The First Maine Cavalry has an unexceptional record. It had during its terms of service 3500 officers and men on its rolls. Of that number 625 were killed or died in service, and its total lists of casualities footed up 1987. The regiment was engaged in 107 battles and skirmishes, and proudly carries on its flags three more battles in number than any other command in the Union army. The meeting yester- day was an impromptu affair, complimentary to its old commander, Colonel (now General ) J. P. Cilley, of Rockland, Me. and Lieutenant E. P. Tobie of Pawtucket, both of whom were present to receive the greetings of thirty of their old comrades. The supper was served at 8 o'clock, and later speeches were made, and stories told and songs sung. President Thomas J. Long pre- sented as the first speaker, General Cilley, who received a rousing welcome. The general made a capital speech and convulsed the boys in his narration of Comrade Tobie's experience with a black horse battery, which could have thrown broadaxes, had any ammunition of that kind been obtainable. Com- rade Tobie next responded to the call and retorted by relating personal rem- iniscences of the colonel's experience. He closed by stating that the regi- mental history would be ready for the public at the next reunion of the regi-
24
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
ment. Other speeches were made by Col. Zimri Smith, of the Boston Journal, Adjutant Thad Little, Col. A. C. Drinkwater, Major Hall, P. F. Shevlin, George A. Ordway, Henry Little, Charles E. Jack, and Comrade George H. Patch of the Globe. All the comrades of the regiment rendered thanks to the officers of the association for calling the meeting, and expressed the hope that another winter meeting be held. Notice was given at the table of the death of Sergeant Ansel Drew, one of the bravest of the brave.
A meeting of the association was held in the Sherman House, Boston on the twenty-eighth of September, at which it was voted to attend this reunion, going by the Boston & Maine Railroad ( Eas- tern Division) and to.charter a Pullman car for the purpose, a com- mittee having already made the necessary arrangements.
Comrade Thaddeus Little, from the committee appointed for that purpose, presented the report of the committee with the draft of a constitution and by-laws which were adopted. These provide that the name of the association shall be the " Massachusetts Branch of First Maine Cavalry Association ; " that its object is " the binding ourselves together to perpetuate the memory of our services in the late rebellion, and for the mutual benefit of all our beloved comrades of the First Maine Cavalry wherever located ; " that " any member of the First Maine Cavalry or First District of Columbia Cavalry fron August 1861, to August 1865, is eligible to membership in this association ;" together with the usual provisions for officers, and their duties, meetings, dues, etc.
It was voted to hold the annual meeting on the second Wednes- . day of the following December, and Comrades Albion C. Drink- water, Thaddeus Little and Charles A. F. Emery, were appointed a committee to make arrangements for said meeting.
The secretary was authorized to procure a badge for the associa- tion, to read " Massachusetts Branch."
By reason of the work of this association, a large number of the comrades and their families from Boston and vicinity were enabled to attend this reunion comfortably and all together, a privilege which all appreciated.
THE HISTORY.
The committee on the publication of the History of the Regiment which was appointed at the reunion in Portland in rSS5, and re- enforced at the reunion in Skowhegan in 1886, made their report at this reunion in the form of the printed book, handsomely bound. and more profusely and better illustrated than any other regimental
P
- 4%
25
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
history yet published. Therefore a brief sketch of the work of this committee seems to naturally find a place in connection with this reunion. The committee consisted of Gen. Jonathan P. Cilley, Major George M. Brown, Lieut. Edward P. Tobie, Albion C. Drinkwater, Charles A. F. Emery, Charles F. Dam, Samuel W. Lane, John French, Agustus L. Ordway, and Nathaniel L. Owen. The first meeting was held in Boston on the sixteenth of November 1886, when a long consultation was held, different views were expressed, an estimate of the cost obtained from printers and bin- ders, and a decision arrived at to prepare to print one thousand copies. The Historian reported, as he did at the reunion in Port- land, that, through the kindness of Gen. Charles H. Smith, he had been supplied with complete rosters of the seven companies the ros- ters of which he did not already have, and therefore had all the material necessary ; that copy for the history proper could be made ready for the printer at short notice and the rosters by the time they would be needed, and that he was ready to commence the work at any time the committee might direct. He was directed to com- mence at once. The matter of illustrations was talked over freely, and was finally placed in the entire charge of Gen. Cilley, as was also the financial part of the work. Of the latter portion of the pro- gramme Gen. Cilley has already told the story in Call I of the Bugle, while of the former he will tell his own story of struggles and tri- umphs a little later. Sub-committees were appointed for various parts of the work, and the work was fairly inaugurated. This meeting of the committee was rendered peculiarly pleasant from the fact that the First Maine Cavalry Association of Massachusetts tendered a reception and banquet to Gen. Cilley and Lieut. Tobie, at the Crawford House as related on pages 23, 24.
Another meeting of the committee was held in Boston a few weeks later, at which the committee were encouraged by reports of interest in the publication of the History from comrades every where, and decided to have fifteen hundred copies printed - one thousand with illustrations, for the comrades of the regiment and their relatives, and the remaining five hundred without illustrations, or with only a few, for the general public, should the general public wish. The sub-committee on printing gave the contract for the work to Comrade Charles A. F. Emery, of the committee, who was about going into business in the firm of Emery & Hughes, and right glad was the committee to be able to give the work to a com-
26
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
rade of the regiment, as well as proud to have a comrade able to do so nice a job of printing. The appearance of the book is ample evidence that the committee were wise in their choice. At this time a fair start was made in the work. Several other meetings were held, all in Boston, before the work was completed, and it is probable the members all realized before they finished, that there was more work to do for a committee on publication than they had imagined.
The Historian at once went to work to prepare the copy. And right here he wishes to thank the members of the committee, one and all, for their unvarying courtesy and kindness, and for the assist- ance rendered him all through the work of preparation. To com- rades of every company of the regiment he also wishes to express his thanks for their assistance, their prompt replies to his scores of letters seeking information about this or that comrade, this or that engagement, this or that expedition, and their careful revision of the rosters, all which were of benefit not only to him but to the history and memory of the regiment. His relations with the prin- ter, too, in preparing copy, reading proof, and matters of type, style, etc. were of the most cordial from first to last.
When the Historian came to prepare the manuscript, he found he had a greater amount of work before him than he was aware. He had supposed the copy for the History proper was complete, and would require only a slight revision. So it was at the time it was done, some years before, but he found, on looking over his papers, which had been accumulating all these years and having been filed away had been forgotten, that he was in possession of many facts which he had not then known. This necessitated a large amount of work, but it made the History so much the more complete, and proved conclusively that the regiment had gained greatly by not being in a hurry about getting the History published. There were not many inaccuracies of importance to be corrected, but there was a large quantity of new material to be woven into the original text, and while doing this it was was found necessary, in order to reconcile conflicting statements, to open correspondence with many of the comrades of the regiment, from Gens. Smith and Cilley all along the roster, as well as with our loved Gen. Gregg, and other officers of the Old Second Division. Only courteous treatment and prompt replies from them could have enabled him to prepare the copy so as to keep the printer supplied fast enough to complete the work in season. But he was enabled to do it, and from the first pages
27
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
forwarded to Comrade Emery until the last page in the book, the printer did not have to wait. The work of printing was commenced in April, and the Historian went to Boston and set some of the type of the first chapter with his own hand. From this time the work went along smoothly, without any delays, until it was finished. The preparing of the rosters was a long and oft times monotonous work. While the Historian was in possession of the complete ros- ter of each company, it was necessary for uniformity that all should be arranged in the same way. This necessitated rearranging and rewriting nearly all of them, and after this was done, every one (with the exception of that of his own company) was sent to one, two, and sometimes three or more comrades of each company for re- vision and in the hope of bringing out more facts. . But to go into all the details of the work would be tiresome. Suffice it to say that the work was completed in time to supply the comrades with copies at this reunion, and that the Historian was well pleased that through the kindness of the committee his work was presented to the com- rades in so fine and enduring form.
The work of the sub-committee on pictures for the history can best be told in circulars sent forth from time to time by such com- mittee.
Circular letters were mailed to each member of the association Nov. 26th, ISS6, as follows ;---
ROCKLAND, ME., Nov, 26th, 1886.
DEAR COMRADE :
The publication of Lieut. Tobie's History of the First Maine Cavalry before our next reunion in a form that will do honor to the regiment is assured by a generous contribution from Gen. Smith. I say " assured," because I know you will follow his leadership and do your part as good comradeship demands. It will make a large volume of some 700 pages 6x912 -- an ornament to any table and an honor to any library, Money is needed for maps and illustrations to make clear the text, to bring the price low, to secure good work, and to have enough volumes printed to supply calls for some years to come. Tobie gives his labor. Every dollar contributed goes to the sole benefit of the history and comes back to you embodied therein. A full report of contributors and cost of the history will be printed either in the history or the succeeding reunion pamphlet. Please decide at once what you can and will do and write me.
Now about pictures. These are paid for by each member who appears, or by his relatives and friends. The Twenty-third Massachusetts and a few other regiments have included a large number of pictures in their history, both offi- cers and privates. The result has been most happy. Every comrade will on reflection say, "I shall be glad to see the pictures of my comrades in the book. If this is so is it not selfish to decline to furnish your own picture? Finally,
28
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
concerning these pictures as concerning the whole history, I am dead in earnest,and do not wish to waste a single word. I say this, the present oppor- tunity to secure pictures of comrades in the First Maine Cavalry is probably your only and last opportunity ; that if you do not place your picture with the others in this history, your wife will regret it, your children will regret it, your friends will regret it, and your comrades of the regiment will both miss and regret it. Please not delay. The time is limited and is fast passing away.
Write me at once. If nothing more, give me the names of comrades in your own town and vicinity. It is no small labor I have taken on my shoulders but I will do it with gladness if you will respond with soldierly promptness.
Your friend and comrade, J. P. CILLEY, For Committee on History. Jan. 29th, 1SS7 ,the following letter was sent, viz :-- NOW ABOUT PICTURES OF THE COMRADES.
No other regiment ever dreamed of undertaking what is now being accom- plished by our own. From $1000 to $2000 worth of heliotype portraits will go into the history. Men and officers as of yore will stand side by side. The record of the humblest is as sacred as the rank of the most fortunate. No more lasting testimonial could be given any departed brother .. No more hon_ orable mention could be deserved by any living member than fac simile pic- ture in a history read and treasured by hearts loyal to the " First of Maine."
These pictures do not add to the cost of the book but are paid for entirely by the comrades who there appear. The comrades, as a rule, go in 5 to 7 on a page. Whether you can afford to be left out is a matter for your own per- sonal determination, but whatever you do-don't procrastinate. Let the spirit in the refrain of the old song find some utterance :
" For we belong to Gideon's Band, And here's my heart and here's my hand."
There are many tin types of army groups and army scenes in hands of com- rades that we desire to secure. It is also desired that you show or make known this letter to members in your vicinity.
April 12th, 1887, the last circular was sent, as follows :-- ROCKLAND, April 12th, 1887.
Comrades of the First Maine Cavalry :
Your committee, calling renewed attention to the previous circulars, would now furtherreport that the history by Lieut. Tobic is now being rapidly printed by the new firm of Emery & Hughes, 1446 Oliver St., Boston, the head of which is comrade-Charles A. F. Emery, of Company A, and formerly a mem- ber of the band.
Your committee reports that they not only secured better terins, but the his- tory will be printed with new type and have the personal supervision of Com- rade Emery, to whose firm the history comes as its " first born ;" that, as far
29
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
as mechanical execution is concerned they expect the history to be as nearly perfect as possible.
Your committee have found it necessary to add to the cost of the work in one respect : it was found that cloth binding would not be strong enough to hold the large number of pictures going into the work, and it would be nec- essary to bind in morocco in the best manner. Still with this binding, which adds nearly a dollar per volume to the cost, the price of the history to com- rades will be only $3 for a volume containing some 700 pages 6x9} which is cheap for a work having a limited edition.
Lieut. Tobie does not intend. nor do the committee require, nor will any com- rade on reflection expect, to have everything that each one saw fully recorded. If such a thing were possible it would resemble an encyclopedia in the number of volumes needed for such a record.
Your committee do assert that Lieut. Tobie has given his best endeavors to present as full, fair and complete a history as it is possible for any one com- rade to write; that he, as a faithful mother hen, has brooded over this work for years ; has carefully laid and covered all the eggs he could produce or at- tain, and tried to put life into them. Now if he does not succeed, will not the blame rest on you roosters of the regiment who had the needed material and failed to communicate it as desired, time and again, by Lieut. Tobie.
Now while it is simply impossible to represent the miniature views of our service that each comrade personally saw, there is one thing the history will show by as faithful photographic process as the highest state of the art will admit, viz., the heliotype portrait of each comrade's counternance just as accu- rate as the tin type or photograph showed it while in the service or at the pre- sent time. Whatever imperfections there must be of necessity in any man's narrative, the pictures will meet this commendation, "There is comrade so and so just as he looked while in the service or as he looks now." On this subject of pictures the chairman of your committee feels like flopping his wings and go- ing through the gyrations of the old chanticleer on the highest pile he can find in the barnyard. He only fears that the association will douse him with cold water for his exuberant antics when they come to the knowledge of the im- mense slaughter of postage stamps he has made to attain fifty pages of pictures for the history, an expense rendered necessary because comrades have not replied until they have received the ninety-and-ninth communications. But what comrade in the place of your committee would not feel glad way down to the bottom of his boots when such comrades as Tristum Andrews of Co. E give $40, chiefly for pictures of others than himself; when Gen. Smith besides his generous subscription of $100, puts in two pictures of himself at the expense of another $too; when Capt. Cole in addition to his subscription pays $55 for picture of himself and groups of his brother officers ; when F. S. Douty, son of our Colonel, gives $52 for the insertion of his father's picture ; and the many others who besides paying for their own have helped pay for the pic- tures of comrades who stood by their side in the service.
Some members of our regiment thought your committee " too previous', when they stated in the former circular, " that no other regiment ever dreamed of undertaking what is now being accomplished by our own." They
30
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
forgot for the time being that never during the four years' service of the regi- ment in the war of the rebellion had the command " forward " been heard but it went forward and accomplished the object commanded ; that never since the close of the war has any pecuniary or other demand ever been made upon the Association but has been more than fulfilled. The single inquiry has been "What is the sum you want?"
There are many pictures of mounted men, of army groups, and of regi- mental encampments we desire to secure. We have heard of several pictures of our encampment near Petersburg in winter of 1864-5, but have been unable to secure one. We desire the help of comrades in this particular as well as all along the line. All of which is respectfully submitted.
Besides these circular letters every picture obtained required from the committee from three to seven letters. One picture required five full four paged letters of nearly an hour's work on each letter.
Like much of our fighting in the service, the mounted men in line or the men in front had the brunt of the battle.
In one sense it was unjust, but in this way only could the large number of pictures be obtained. In some cases three or four com- rades of a company clubbed together and purchased a whole page of pictures and beside their own secured pictures of loved comrades whose lives had gone out either in service or since, thus paying them a delicate and loving tribute such as they could do in no other way. All who paid full price helped to put in pictures of deceased com- rades and those financially unable to bear such expense, to the extent of one fifth the amount paid by them. Without the benefit of this 20 per cent discount the pages could not have been arranged by companies or some other unity of design, as they are in the history. Even with the benefit of this discount the treasurer was obliged to advance $59.31. In fact at the time he paid the Heliotype Co. the last payment he was out of pocket some hundreds fo dollars and under the inconvenience of such a state of facts, wrote some rather savage letters to delinquent comrades, for which he has since asked pardon.
The prompt payment of the bills for the Heliotype Co.'s portraits and those in the history has attracted the attention and won marked approval from other regimental associations.
That the comrades may see what others think of the history and of the grand old regiment, the following letters and newspaper notices are given.
READING Pa. Feb. Sth, ISSS.
Mr. E. P. TOBIE,
MY DEAR SIR :- I have just finished reading the History of the First Maine
31
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
Cavalry, and quit the book for the present, feeling that the author is entitled to the fullest commendation from every reader who had aught to do with the regiment during the war of the rebellion. I must restrain my pen lest it should run off in expressing my unbounded admiration for your old regiment, My object in writing is simply to express the pleasure your book has afforded me. Notwithstanding the condensation enforced by the limits of the single volume, our old battles and skirmishes are graphically and truthfully described.
Among the engraved illustrations I recognize many pictures of familiar faces. That of Colonel Boothby struck me particularly. Some how I seem to remember the colonel particularly well, and all these years since his death I have cherished his memory with the same high regard as that of Captain Phillips, of my staff.
You may well be proud of your work, and in its accomplishment you have placed under obligations to you all the survivors of your regiment and friends of the deceased. Indeed, your associates in the Second Cavalry Division gladly accept the obligation resting upon them that you have so fairly dis- scribed the campaigns of the division. With best wishes.
Sincerely yours, D. M. M. GREGG,
(Major General commanding Second Division Cavalry Corps A. P. in which the regiment served for more than two years.)
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT, THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK, Nov. 5th, ISS7.
EDWARD P. TOBIE,
DEAR SIR :-- Please accept our thanks for the copy of " The History of the First Maine Cavalry," which you are kind enough to send us, and which we have no doubt will be of use to us in connection with the editing of "The Century War-book." Your volume strikes us on first impression as being a model regimental history in its arrangement and materials.
Very truly yours, R. N. JOHNSON, Associate Editor.
KINGSTON, NEW YORK, Feb. 5th, ISS8.
MY DEAR TOBIE : - Ido not know just how to thank you for the copy of "First Maine Cavalry," that reached me yesterday morning.
I have seen and read many histories of the war of the rebellion, general and special, political and military, of corps, regiments, battalions, and companies. Of them all, I have seen none so complete in its particular field as is this work of yours, and the committee of which you were the moving spirit and the work- ing force.
I have had time only to look it through and admire the mechanical execu- tion of the work, and at the same time to become charmed with the excellent idea of presenting so many portraits of old comrades as they appeared in the field. These portraits of the old haversacks and sabres, as well as the faces above them must awaken in the minds of the old comrades memories of more than an ordinary nature and bring to them a graphic retrospect of 1861-65.
32
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
The gathering of material and making the record, I own was a work of love on your part, for you always took great pride in the old regiment and its deeds, and it was a justifiable pride which I sympathized with heartily from my per- sonal knowledge of the organization in the field.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.