USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1893 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 33
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
The whole atmosphere of the household was liberty and equality in its broadest sense, and young Tobie breathed it in every day, consequently when the slaveholders rose in rebellion against the government he was ready, from inborn and inbred love for freedom and for right, to answer President Lincoln's call for troops. But he was just turned eighteen years of age, and the parental consent must be obtained. His father could not consistently say " No," and did not, but his mother was away from home under medical treatment and he hesitated about speaking of the matter to her in the fear that to do so might act upon her unfavorably. At last the time came when he could speak to her without ill effects, when he received the we !- come permission to enlist. Within twenty-four hours he was on the way to the front. The First Maine Infantry, having served three months and returned home, was reorganizing ay the Tenth Regiment, and he enlisted in Company K, Capt. G.o.
52
FIRST MAINE, BUGLE.
H. Nye, early in October, 1861. The departure of the red ment from Portland Sunday, October 6th, in a pouring rain, t long night of seasickness on board the leaky, creaky steamer " State of Maine " from Fall River to New York, the jumphe. overboard of Capt. Nye in Long Island Sound to save a dros " ing man, the hearty reception and bountiful collation in the . " Cooper Shop " at Philadelphia, the night in the depot at Balt more, the beautiful camp at Patterson Park, the winter quarter at the Relay House while the regiment was guarding the Wash- ington branch, B. & O. railroad, and the arrival of the regiment on " secesh " soil at Harper's Ferry in March, 1862, are matter of history. At the Relay House young Tobie was detailed as assistant to Chaplain Knox, (who volunteered to act as regi mental postmaster) and served in that capacity as long a- Company K remained at headquarters.
April and part of May passed pleasantly enough with Consi pany K at Kearneysville, a few miles west of Harper's Ferry. although through some miscalculation their rations did not come up and they " lived off the country " for seven or cight days, for which Capt. Nye reimbursed the suffering farmers out of the company fund. Elijah Gould well remembers when Tobie and he confiscated the two dozen eggs and fried and at at them one meal, and the juicy pig which Elias Webber, the company cook, baked in the bean hole.
Upon the sudden departure of the regiment from Winchester the day before Banks' retreat, young Tobie with some other- was declared by Surgeon Perry unfit to go, and so, much agains his will, was left back at Harper's Ferry, while the lucky boys in better health went into the long talked about and eager !! wished for " active service."
Surgeon Perry's daughter died just about this time, an! owing to the panicky condition of things, she had to be buried hurriedly in a rough box made by Tobie and a comrade fron. Company B. . The body was afterwards disinterred and sent home. That night about midnight they were awakened by Dr. Perry and told to " get across the bridge. over into Maryland a- quickly as possible, as the rebels had got Bolivar Heights and
1
53
COMRADE TOLIE'S MILITARY CAREER.
were coming right in on us." The stampede across that trestle on the ties, fifty feet above the Potomac River, in the darkness of a cloudy night will never be forgotten by those who were there. One man just a little ahead of Tobie either slipped or was crowded off the bridge, and the dim form in the air, and the shriek for help was all that was known about it, and he probably fills some nameless soldier's grave.
Young Tobie was sent first to the hospital at Frederick, Md., in the stone barracks built for the soldiers in 1812, and as soon as he could get away, went to " camp of distribution " on the heights back of Alexandria, where, with thousands of others, he waited to be sent to the front. When the regiment came along after Pope's retreat he joined his company, glad enough to be with the boys once more, and declaring he never would be left behind again, unless under ground. His subsequent record is the record of the regiment to its muster out in Portland, May 7th, 1863. He went through the hard-fought battles of South Mountain and Antietam untouched, except having his rubber blanket spoiled and numerous holes put through his woolen blanket by a bullet which must have gone by within two inches of his left ear (the blanket being rolled up and hung over his left shoulder like a horse collar), and having his eyes filled full of the blood and brains of a man on his left who was shot in the right temple while crossing the " ploughed ground" at Antietam. Gen. Mansfield was shot from his horse a little to the right front of him, a lieutenant in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania to the contrary notwithstanding.
Asa Reed, his " chum," had a presentment that he would be killed in that fight, and so stated while they were making " bean swagen " in a quart dipper, the night before. He was one of the first men killed, and was found after the battle with a bullet hole through his head, the ball going in just under the eye.
After the battle of Antietam young Tobie was detailed as chief clerk in the Post commissary at Berlin, Md., and remained there until after the Twelfth Corps had crossed the river and the post was discontinued, some time in December, when he rejoined his regiment at Fairfax station. While in the commis-
1
1
54
FIRST MAINE BUGLF.
sary at Berlin, he was sent, but didn't go, to the fiery depths of Hades, by a captain and division commissary, on a count of barrel of whiskey which came to the post one afternoon too late to be hauled away, and was placed in the ware house.
When Capt. Reed sent for it ('twas for his own use ) the next morning, the barrel was there but the whiskey had leaked ou: in the night through a hole bored up through the floor and int the barrel. Of course nobody knew anything about it, bo! some of the company cooks in the camp of the Tenth Maine on the side hill missed several of their camp kettles and couldn't find them for some days, and when they did find them they smelled very strongly of commissary whiskey.
He was with the regiment at Fairfax station and Stafford court house until the expiration of its two years term of service the following May, when he was mustered out with the regiment and went home.
On arriving home he entered the repair shop connected with the Androscoggin mills, S. 1. Abbott master mechanic, to learn the machinists' trade. He was fond of his work and had a natural liking for the business, but at times the desire to go back-to do more, if possible, for the country and the flag- was well nigh irresistible. During the summer of 1863 ther was trouble at Kingfield concerning the draft, known as the " Kingfield Draft Riots," and so threatening did matters become that the Governor ordered the Lewiston Light Infantry, Capt. Jesse Stevens, reinforced by about thirty men from Augusta, to proceed to Kingfield to protect the officers and the people Now it happened that many members of that organization were suddenly very much devoted to business and could not possibly go with the company, so they did the next best thing-they secured substitutes. It was only a short time after the Tenth Maine arrived home, and to the veterans of the Tenth did the very busy militiamen look for assistance and release from the duty of serving the State. They found the Tenth boys ready and willing to go -- aye, anxious, for to them there was promise of plenty of fun-and about a dozen of them were secured, among whom was the subject of this sketch. It is real fun to
55
COMRADE TOBIE'S MILITARY CAREER.
hear him tell the story of that campaign, and it i worth while to print the story, in brief, here, as it has rarely been publicly told. The Tenth Maine boys had a " picnic " on that campaign such as boys never had before on a campaign in time of war. They were old campaigners, and they proposed not only to show the militiamen how to " soldier." but to have some fun with them. They did, and kept the raw troops pretty well scared for the greater portion of the time. They donned their old uniforms, which were serviceable if they did not look so well; they wore their old army " brogans," and could march all day, straight away, while the militiamen, with neater lookin., shoes, couldn't march a little bit. They had smelled powder. had faced the brave men of the southern army in hard-fought battles, and did not think of being frightened until they say something to be frightened at. The command went to Farm- ington by rail, and there camped one night on the common. Such were the harrowing stories of the blood-thirsty and des- perate character of the rioters and the people at Kingfield, that before starting on the march for that place the next morning ammunition was issued and the men were ordered to " load in nine times." At this one of the militiamen became so nervous that he dropped the cartridge into his rifle ball foremost, and was then neither good as a soldier a militiaman or a hurter. The Tenth Maine boys took the advance and easily kept far ahead of the column, picking berries, etc., fretting the captain and keeping him pretty busy shouting " Hold on ; if you don't keep back nearer the column you will surely be killed by the bush-whackers." But they only laughed in their sleeves at him. not being at all frightened at the thought of bush-whackers in the good old State of Maine. At one time, while far in advance of the column, they fired a volley of half a dozen guns at a flock of crows, which set the column into serious and half-scared commotion. The men were drawn up in line of battle and waited some time for the expected attack, and then cautiously advanced again. The column reached New Portland in a thun- der shower and the men first took shelter in a barn at the out . skirts of the town, and then in the hotel, where the citizens
1
56
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
received them with open arms and doughnuts. They had lunch there, and after half an hour of " Copenhagen,"-think of ;t. ye veterans who campaigned only in the South-and the she- ing of patriotic songs, the line of march was taken up for King. field, only six miles away. By this time the militiamen had become " tenderfeet," and were transported in hay racks, whi !! the Tenth Maine boys trudged along cheerfully with many joke at the "weak sisters." They were cautioned to keep well together and not straggle, as the rioters had thrown up for- tifications and had pickets out on the road. As the column neared Kingfield the militiamen heard the sounds of martial music and were seized with a trembling, but ere long found out that the Tenth Maine boys, who as usual were some distance in advance, had discovered the Kingfield brass band-big drum, little drum, cracked fife and cornet --- waiting to escort the invad- ing army into town, and had induced that band to play " Dixic" for the benefit of the militiamen in the rear. In short, the Tenth Maine boys just played with those poor militiamen dur- ing the whole campaign. The troops were welcomed with hos- pitable arms, but not to bloody graves.
A. camp ground was selected in a hay field, tents were pitched, and the command made ready for the night. Young Tobic was put on guard at nine o'clock, but believing the country to be safe, he left his post, lay down behind a hay stack, and in five minutes was fast asleep, not waking till morning. When the corporal of the guard, a militiaman, discovered that this post was empty, he remarked, with much vigor, "Damn the: Tobie, and all the rest of them Tenth Maine fellers-I guess he's all right, though," and he put another man on his post. The next day the people of Kingfield gave the invaders a royal picnic dinner. In the afternoon the troops were withdrawn. took teams for New Portland, where they had a dance that evening, went to Farmington the next day in teams during a heavy rain storm, and arrived in Lewiston that night, wet through, but the " Tenth Maine fellers" were jolly. Thus ended the Kingfield campaign.
But the young patriot could not rest easy at home, and as the clouds which hung over our country grew deeper and deeper
57
COMRADE TOBIE'S MILITARY CAREER.
he became more and more impressed with the idea that in order to do his full duty he must again go into the field. He finally decided to do this, and in the summer of 1864 he enlisted in Company G, First Maine Cavalry, joining the regiment in time to be in the engagement at Boydton Plank Road, October twen- ty-seventh, an engagement in which the regiment lost eighty- two men out of five hundred rank and file engaged-rather a rough introduction to the cavalry service.
He shared the fortunes of this gallant regiment on the Belle- field raid, with all the hardship and exposure of campaigning in an enemy's country in severe cold and stormy weather, and in the engagement at Hatcher's Run, February 5th, 1865, as well as the arduous picket and other duties of that winter, and the comfort and pleasures of winter quarters. He was one of the jolliest boys in camp. He was all the time full of music and fun, no matter how unpleasant the surroundings or the cir- cumstances, but his fun was clean-cut, not such as would bring trouble upon him or any one else, but such as tended to infuse his comrades with his jollity. One evening his big brother, who was on duty at regimental headquarters, heard the noise of unusual hilarity in rear of the colonel's tent, and started out to put a stop to it, filled with the importance of his mission; but when he saw a young contraband dancing for dear life on the top of an overcoat box, with his little brother patting for him to dance, with a crowd around enjoying it, he forgot that he came out to stop the noise, forgot that the colonel might be disturbed, but joined in the laughter until the dance was finished.
After the fight at Hatcher's Run, where the regiment was attacked while the men were getting breakfast and there was no chance to get anything to eat all the long day of dismounted fighting, the regiment was sent back into some pine woods to remain all night. The horses had been taken still further to the rear and the boys could not get at them. Blankets, haver- sacks, canteens, everything, even to the overcoats in some cases, had been left on the saddles when the men were suddenly called upon to grasp their carbines and repel an attack upon the rear guard, so they were ill prepared for camping out-nothing to
58
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
eat, nothing to keep them warm, no axes with which to cm wood to build fires, no rail fence near. They were in a pitnb! plight, and to add to their misery there came a storm of rain sleet and snow, with the weather all the time growing colder It was probably the most uncomfortable night the First Main Cavalry ever passed. It happened that young Tobie's bi brother had his horse with him and with it his haversack and canteen-one of half a dozen in the whole regiment so forty- nate. With some difficulty he found water and filled the can teen, and borrowing the use of a little fire in an artillery force in bivouac across the road, made some coffee, which the two brothers drank, and he says he never had anything that did his so much good in his whole life. With the hard tack in the haversack, and that was all they had to eat, they had a meal which they relished better, far better, than any meal they have had since. The next morning they were to repeat this pleasant banquet and he again went after water, his heart beating high in anticipation of another drink of good, hot, army coffee, and more hard tack straight. But when he returned and was abow: to prepare this feast, it was discovered that the haversack hall been stolen. How great the disappointment was, only soldiers similarly situated can fully realize, but he couldn't, under the circumstances, blame the fellow who stole that haversack, and he passed it off with a good-natured anathema on the " dough- boy " who did steal it-of course he could not believe that a cavalryman would do such a thing.
Young Tobie was with the regiment when it started out of what proved to be the last campaign of the glorious old Army of the Potomac, but was severely wounded in the ankle early in the engagement of March thirty-first, at Dinwiddie courthouse, (the first day of the famous and successful battle of Five Forks ) the most severe and hardest fought engagement of that gallant regiment. He was disabled but his pluck was not abated in the least, and at night, as he was about to leave the field hospital. he sent his brother a note full of courage and encouragement ; but his courage was put to a severe trial, and this is best told in his own words in a letter written long years ago to the writer :
-
59
COMRADE TOBIES MILITARY CAREER.
" Just about sundown one of the surgeons came in and told us that our line was falling back and the church would be in the rebel lines; that if anybody could walk they better be going, and that the ambulances were full and gone already. I didn't like the idea of being left there, for if there was one thing I dreaded more than another all through the war it was being taken prisoner. As luck would have it a chum of Henii Haskell of Company B, who was shot through the body, came after Henri with the latter's horse. Henri told him it was no use, he could not possibly ride, but to save himself and leave him there. So chum offered me the horse and helped me to mount. We passed by lots of our troops in the woods getting their suppers (it was then dark) until we caught up with the ambulance train. We went to wagon after wagon, asking each driver if he hadn't room for one more, and receiving the same answer from each one that he was 'Chuck full,' and I was beginning to get discouraged, my leg paining me all the time as if it would drop off, until just as I was getting the same answer for, I should think the twentieth time, a voice behind me spid, 'Are you wounded, my man?' ' Yes, sir,' says I. I turned around in the saddle and there was Gen. Gregg of the Second Brigade. Says he, 'You go back to Gregg's headquarter wagon and tell him that Gen. Gregg told you to get in there.' I thanked him, and after much trouble, for the road was crowded with men, horses and wagons, I managed to get back and get into the headquarters wagon, and there I lay on my back the rest of that night (and I never saw a longer night) with a big bag of sugar for a pillow, and my leg held up in the air as the easiest position I could get. Oh, what a night that was, and what a road. About every half mile, and I don't know but oftener, the train guard had to lift the wagons out of holes or over logs or something. It seemed sometimes as if the old wagon was going upside down, sure. About daylight we brought up at the military railroad station away out on the left. Of the next three or four days my impressions are very faint but I think we got down to City Point in box cars, about night, laid in the hospital there until Monday afternoon, then
60
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
were put aboard the steamboat and reached Washington (Mogh; Pleasant hospital) some time, I don't know just when, sgo there until about the first of May, and then I was transferred with fifty others, to the Cony general hospital at Augusta."
While at the hospital the dreaded gangrene appeared in t. wound, and for a while the fear of losing the foot was added : the pain of the gangrened wound. But even under these to .. circumstances he did not lose his good spirits He was full of song and joke and story.
And when it became necessary to strap the wounded limb ti the bed that it might be kept in one position, and he was forced to lie flat on his back, he would play on his tambourin. and. sing and joke till every sufferer in the ward had forgotten !- pain and his homesickness; and the surgeons said his presen in the hospital was better than all the medicine in the dispensary He was at one time in great danger of losing his foot, but tom trial was averted --- the skill of the surgeons, his own faith and good spirits, and the prayers of his father and mother, bringinto him through ; and though he suffers from the wound to-day. . is a good deal better than no foot.
He was discharged from the service July 27th, 1865, for din- ability arising from wounds. He was "only a private in the army"-
"Only a man in the ranks, that's all."
He was appointed commissary sergeant of the Tenth Main in the winter of 1862-3, but declined, and was offered the pos - tion of quartermaster sergeant of the Twenty-ninth Maine its organization, but preferred to be a private in the cavalry rather than a non-commissioned officer in the infantry -a choice which he never regretted.
After his discharge he went back to his aprenticeship in tins machine shop, remaining there a while after he had finished hes trade. He then went to Lisbon to take charge of the repair shop connected with the mill there, remained there a year or two and returned to Lewiston, and went to Portland in IS; 1. entering the employ of the Portland company. With this com- pany he remained several years, serving some years as clerk in the office.
61
COMRADE TOBIES MILITARY CAREER
He was appointed inspector in the Portland custom house by Collector Fred N. Dow in 1883, and remained there until about the middle of President Cleveland's first term, when he entered the employ of the Sewall Car Heating Company, and in this busi- ness traveled three or four years in the West. He resigned that position in the summer of 1891, and entered the employ of the Pullman Car Company at Kansas City. Personal matters imper- atively demanding his return to Portland, he was obliged to resign that position, came home, and in May, 1892, was reap pointed to a position in the custom house, where he now is.
62
1
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
Twenty-Second Annual Reunion
OF THE
FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
The twenty-second reunion of the First Maine Cavalry . 1 ciation was held in Portland, Wednesday, August 230, 1 having been found inadvisable to hold it in Lewiston, as bur voted at the previous reunion. As the comrades arrived in. h city by the carly morning boats and trains, they were met by members of the local committee of arrangements and escorte to the hall of Bosworth Post, Grand Army of the Republi which had been kindly placed at the disposal of the associatin- during the day and evening. At ten o'clock the comrade, to the number of one hundred and more, very many of the. being accompanied by their families, took passage on to steamer for Peak's Island, where the exercises of the day vite held. At the wharf, the comrades were aroused by the familon strains of the old bugle, sounded by Bugler Maloon, Compam G, who waked the cchoes and the old memories grandly. C." dial greetings and comradely salutations had begun long before this -- with the first flush of dawn, as the Boston boat stoa tool to her dock-and by the time the happy party was fairly on d' sail down the harbor, the ait was full of thein. There were : usual meeting of the old comrades who had not seen each other for years, and of some who had not met before since the mad: ter-out; there were the usual exclamations of surprise and 0 joy as a comrade recognized one whom he thought he showed never forget, only after long scrutiny and many hints; then. were the usual expressions of real pleasure at meeting coma.i . to whom one was bound by some particular circumstance in the service; there were the usual number of such expressions 1: " I rather see you than any other member of the regiment," or " I would not have come if I had not expected to see you In short, there were all the usual pleasures of a reunion of og
TWENTY-SECOND ANNJA! REUNION.
comrades, which seem to grow deeper as the years roll on. So the sail down the harbor was all too short, for the real pleas- ure of the reunion was just beginning. At the island, the com- rades at once proceeded to Greenwood Gardens, which had been placed at their service by the manager, Comrade J. W. Brackett, of Co. B.
THE BUSINESS MEETING.
After an hour or more of free interchange of cordiality and comradeship, the business meeting was held. The president, Comrade Caleb N. Lang, called to order, and welcomed the comrades in behalf of the Portland comrades. The report of the auditing committee on the report of the treasurer, Gen. J. P. Cilley, for 1892, was read and accepted. The treasurer then presented his report for 1893, which was read and accepted after the report of the auditing committee thereon.
(Both of the Auditing Committees' reports for the year of 1892 and als) 1593, and the Treasurer's report for 1893 have been printed and placed in the hands of all the comrades in an extra issued in September, 1893.)
The financial condition of the association caused a long and serious debate. Several measures of relief were suggested and finally it was voted to choose three trustees to whom the whole matter was referred, with power to sell. Comrades Sidney W. Thaxter, Charles F. Dam and Charles W. Skillings were chosen said trustees. On motion of Major S. W. Thaxter, it was voted, after some discussion, that the association cease its pecuniary responsibility for the publication of the First Maine BUGLE after this year.
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.