USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine, Volume II, 1875-1900 > Part 17
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DR. GEORGE WESLEY STODDARD is the next in order. He came to Belfast in June, 1877. In 1886, his brother, Dr. Augustine Oliver Stoddard, became associated with him, and the firm continues in practice (1900).
DR. ISAAC HILLS began practice in Belfast in 1878.
DR. CHARLES WILLARD JENNYS advertised as a dentist in December, 1887. In 1890 he went to Brooks and later to Milbridge, returning in 1908, to practice in Belfast.
DR. WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM LIBBEY, who had practiced at Presque Isle and at Pittsfield, opened an office in Belfast 24 November, 1892. Dr. Libby was born in Belfast in 1867, attended the city schools and graduated from the Maine Central Institute in 1887. The next year and a half he passed in the dental office of E. C. Bryant, Pittsfield. Then he took courses in the Baltimore, Maryland, College of Dental Surgery. Next he was in Presque Isle one year, and returned to Belfast, where he con- tinues to practice (1913).
Dr. Irving M. Luce, now of Merrimack, Massachusetts, prac- ticed in Belfast in the summer of 1891.
The Maine Dental Society, held its annual session in Belfast in 1876 and in 1879.
Among those dentists from Belfast who located elsewhere arc Dr. GEORGE F. EAMES, son of Franklin P. Eames, and a graduate
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of the Philadelphia Dental College in 1877;1 DR. CLARENCE W. DAVIS, son of the late Marshall Davis, who settled in Augusta; DR. GEORGE H. JENNISON, who went to Lowell, Massachusetts; DR. EDWIN PAUL GILES, in Boston, and DR. FRANK EDWARD FOLLETT.
VETERINARY SURGEONS
DR. FRANK EVERETT FREEMAN came to Belfast about 1895; after practicing in Belfast for nearly a year and a half he went to Waterville, in 1897. He was a native of Northport.
DR. WILLIAM LINCOLN WEST graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1895, with the highest honors of his class. After practicing at Ellsworth two years, he came to Belfast in 1897. In 1899, he took a post-graduate course at the MeKillip Veterinary College of Chicago, which was the first post-graduate course in veterinary medicine ever held in America. He was for several years secretary of the Maine Veterinary Association, and in 1898 was chosen its president. He went to New York in 1904, returning to Belfast in 1910, where he still remains.
1 Same as George Franklin Eames, M.D., D.D.S., p. 158.
CHAPTER XXIII
MILITARY HISTORY
Grand Army of the Republic - Thomas H. Marshall Post established - Project of Soldier's Monument - Memorial Hall - Description - Portraits and Memorials - Cannon placed on the Grounds in front of Memorial Hall - Sheridan Francis Miller Command organized - City Guards - Artillery Guns removed to State Arsenal - Boys' Brigade - Regimental Reunions - Nineteenth, Fourth, and Twenty-sixth Regiments - Thomas H. Marshall Relief Corps - Present Members of the Thomas H. Marshall Post 1 - Sons of Veterans - Spanish War.
ITTHE THOMAS H. MARSHALL POST, No. 42, G.A.R., was organized in Belfast, June 7, 1881. Commencing with the following year it has ever since had charge of the exercises on Decoration Day. In January, 1886, the Post first occupied old Phoenix Hall, and remained there until the destruction of the building by fire the following June. It then obtained quarters in a building on Main Street.
For several years the Post made efforts to raise funds for a soldier's monument. Although the subscriptions were liberal, sufficient money was not obtained. Suggestions that a building combining accommodations for city purposes and a hall for memorials of those of our fellow citizens who had given their lives to the country, with quarters for the survivors of the great conflict, met with general favor. In May, 1889, the following order, passed by the city, induced the formation of the Memorial Association, for the purposes indicated: --
Ordered, That if any corporation duly organized for the purpose shall obtain a clear title to the land between Church and High Streets, known as the Angier lot, and of the adjoining lots covered by the store of Richard Pike Stickney, and by the Washington Hall building, and dur- ing the present year shall crect and complete thercon, to the acceptance of the City Council, a building containing a Memorial Hall for Thomas H. Marshall Post, G.A.R., together with rooms and offices for the city and for the fire department; the total cost of said land and building not to exceed $23,000.00, of which cost said Post is to contribute the funds now at its command, estimated at about $2,500.00; that the city will
1 A list of the names of the present members (1912) of the Thomas H. Marshall Post will be found in the Appendix (p. 593).
MEMORIAL HALL. ERECTED 1890. WAR OF 1812 CANNON IN FOREGROUND
WALDO COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, BELFAST. ERECTED 1853
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take a lease of said rooms and offices for the term of twenty-five years, at a rental which will secure a four per cent income on the cost of said land and building, exclusive of the fund contributed by said Post, and which will also provide for insurance, taxes, and repairs; said corpora- tion binding itself, at the option of the lessee, to convey to it said land and building at their cost, exclusive of said contributed fund, at any time during said term, subject to a lease of said Memorial Hall to said Post, so long as it shall exist; and said city bonding itself to so pay for said land and building at the expiration of said term; and that the Mayor be and he is hereby authorized, in the name of said city, to exe- cute any and all instruments necessary for carrying this order into effect.
Subsequent municipal action authorized the investment of $22,000 of the Wilson Fund in stock of the corporation, upon the completion of the building, and until such completion citizens became responsible for the money required.
The Angier property having been purchased for $2450, the Washington Hall lot for $1500; and the Church Street store lot for $150, work was immediately commenced by Israel Wood Parker, contractor, according to plans made by Brigham & Spofford, of Boston, architects. The building was completed the following year. It is irregular in shape, two stories and a base- ment, with projections and a cupola. It has an unbroken front of fifty feet on High Street, and the same, irregularly, on Church Street. From one projection to the other it is sixty-nine feet and two inches. The building is of brick, with granite belting and terra-cotta finish. The interior is finished in ash and in the most substantial manner throughout. The basement is used for the fire department of the city. The first floor, with the entrance from Church Street, is occupied by the Belfast City Govern- ment, Police Court, and Treasurer's offices. The city govern- ment rooms are supplied with handsome furniture, each member having a table and chair. On the second floor is Memorial Hall, occupied by Thomas H. Marshall Post, the Sons of Veterans and the Ladies' Relief Corps. The cost of the whole was about $25,000.
The City Government held its first meeting in the new rooms September 4, 1890. The hall was dedicated by Thomas H. Marshall Post. It occupied the High Street end of the second story, and is forty-eight feet long by thirty-four feet, six inches wide. This is constantly used by the old soldiers, and its walls are adorned with mementoes, flags, and portraits. Among the
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latter is one of Colonel Thomas Henry Marshall, presented by his widow upon condition that, whenever the Post ceased to exist, it should revert to her son, Melville Tilden Marshall. A carved wooden eagle, made in France for the Knox mansion at Thomaston, and given by Charles Albert Pilsbury, is placed on the exterior.
The Angier house was built by Paul Giles, before 1805; Washington Hall by the Whigs, as place of meeting, in 1844. When the old Giles house was torn down, an original shingle was discovered with "Paul Giles 1803" on it.
THE OLD CANNON
On May 25, 1891, at the suggestion of Mr. Edward Johnson, a squad from the Post went to the Pattershall Hill, on the East Side of the river half a mile above the Upper Bridge, and un- earthed a twenty-four-pound cannon which had been buried there for ten years, and brought it away. It was met above Primrose Hill by a band and a procession of citizens, which after marching through the streets deposited the old relic on the Memorial Hall lot. Later, it was mounted on a granite gun- carriage, and now occupies a position in front of the building. This gun has a history. With three others it was brought to Castine in 1808, and placed in a small battery or fort at the entrance of the harbor. Six years later, when the British occu- pied that town, the commander of the fort fired one volley from the four guns, which he then spiked and abandoned. On the night of July 3, 1857, a party of young men from Belfast brought one of the guns to this city, where, after various adventures and changes of location, it found a resting-place as stated. The length of the gun is eleven feet, and its weight nearly five thou- sand pounds.
There is some reason for supposing that it was used at the siege of Boston in 1776, and that it may have been brought from Ticonderoga, by General Knox.
It seemed fitting that some further mention be made of this old cannon, a relic of the War of 1812, and the materials for the following sketch of its history have been supplied, after much research, by George A. Quimby, Esq.
A few days prior to the Fourth of July, in 1857, some young men in Belfast conceived the idea of going over to Castine and
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stealing one of the old cannons, bringing it across the bay, and firing it " the night before the Fourth." At the time, there was a small sloop at Belfast, of about eight tons, called the Yankee Adams, and seven men started in her on a subsequent evening for Castine, to get the gun. They found, however, that they could not, with so small a crew, handle the heavy piece, and further, that it would probably swamp the boat, even should they suc- ceed in putting it aboard. Their combined efforts resulted simply in dumping it part way down the embankment.
A few nights later, the same adventurous spirits pressed into service a big skow from Peirce's shipyard above the Lower Bridge, and fitted it with rowlocks and put on board a pair of large wheels, which were used to haul timber in the shipyard, rollers, shears, blocks, coils of rope, chains, hoisting-gear, jack- screws, crow- and pinch-bars, axes, shovels, picks, etc. Thus prepared, they started on the night of the third of July, with nineteen able-bodied young men, for Castine. Just before their departure the sail-boat Yankee Adams got under way with a crew of seven on board, the intention being that she should pick up the skow and tow her across the bay. The night was foggy, and after leaving the wharf, neither craft again saw the other, until they finally reached their destination. After rowing the skow for hours her crew saw a light, which they supposed was Dice's Head Light at Castine, but found out later that they had gotten off their course, being swept up the bay by the tide, and were then under Fort Point Light. Working back down the bay, they finally arrived at Castine, and landed near the place where the gun was. After toiling several hours, they succeeded in getting the heavy cannon down the bank, on to the beach, and into the skow. They then induced Captain Hodgdon, of the Day Spring, to tow the skow to Belfast, and on the morning of the "Glorious Fourth," the gun was landed at the lower steam- boat wharf.
It was then discovered that the gun could not be fired until the rat-tail file, which the United States troops had driven into its touch-hole and broken off, before evacuating the fort at Castine and leaving it to the British in 1814, had been removed. This proving impracticable, it was decided to drill a new hole, and an improvised drill being quickly arranged, this was, after several hours' hard labor, at last accomplished. The great gun
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was then hauled to the high bank below the steamboat wharf, and was fired many times during the day, its echoes booming across the waters of our bay, even to the town of Castine, ten miles distant, whence it had been transported the previous night, and which had not heard sounds of such magnitude since the same piece had last spoken in the War of 1812.
From then, until 1891, this ponderous, old-time engine of war had a checkered career, and a variety of resting-places. It was, as we have noted, brought over from Castine in July, 1857, and was first fired on the Fourth of July, which that year fell on a Friday, from the high rocky bank just below the steamboat wharf; that is, on the ledges, back of the first few houses now on the upper end, of the water side, of the present Bay View Street. Neither the street nor its houses were then in existence.
Some residents of Belmont, doubtless inspired by the example of their city neighbors, stole it on Sunday, the 13th, and carried it to that town. Here it was discovered under a pile of brush, brought back, and placed in the Custom-House grounds, on Tuesday the 15th, and a guard kept over it there for some days.
On a subsequent Fourth of July, it was taken to the Muster Field, above Congress Street, at present the site of the city stone crusher; and used for firing many salutes in honor of the day, after which it was, with the sanction of General Henry W. Cunningham, then a customs official, deposited in the cellar of the Custom-House for safe-keeping. Later, the iron door was torn from the entrance to the cellar, in the night, and the cannon's next journey was to the Rag Wharf, East Side. This wharf, from which those of us of the present generation used to swim as boys, has since fallen into decay and disappeared. It derived its name from the fact, that, in the days when paper was made exclusively from rags, these were landed on it by vessels from Boston and elsewhere, for the paper mills of James Patter- son White and others, situated about a mile inland on Goose River.
Some vandals dumped the gun off the Rag Wharf on to the mud flats, where it lay half-buried for a long time, its rusty breech alternately covered and uncovered by the tides. From this resting-place it was dragged, under the supervision of Cap- tain George T. Osborne, to the top of Pattershall Hill, about one mile farther up, and on the same side of the Passagassawakeag
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River, and mounted on a sightly and commanding spot over- looking the town, river, and bay. From here its deafening reports roared down the valley and surrounding country to celebrate the election of Garfield and Arthur, and it was here it was spiked with a fork tine, as follows: Three young Democrats had driven over the river to where the gun was, and finding it guarded by a man with a rifle, they enticed him away under some pretext, and spiked the gun by driving a steel fork tine into its touch-hole. On learning that the gun was thus put out of commission, the Republicans had some steel punches made, and drove the fork tine down into the barrel. Captain Osborne helped in this operation, and then, breaking the point off a boat-hook and inserting the hook into the muzzle of the gun, succeeded in pulling out the tine: whereupon the piece was fired, as described, to celebrate the Republican victory.
After reposing on this hillside for ten years, partly buried in the ground, and completely hidden by the long grass in summer, and the snows in winter, it was one day stumbled upon by the late Edward Johnson, while climbing with members of his family to the top of Pattershall Hill, to enjoy the view. At his suggestion it was borne, as previously stated, with appropriate honors to its present, and, we trust, final, resting-place, in front of Memorial Hall. Here its gaping mouth was fittingly closed to the weather, and the red rust of years having been reverently removed from its earth-stained flanks, it became resplendent under successive coats of shining black paint. And then it was placed on the grass-plot and handsomely mounted by the " Old Soldiers" on a granite foundation, bearing the inscription, "1812-1891, G.A.R." The gun is of cast iron, eleven feet long, between five and six inches bore, and twenty inches across the breech. On the breech, cast into the gun, is this inscription, "No. 38-4910," presumably meaning, that when it was cast its serial number was 38, and its weight 4910 pounds. It is generally considered to be a twenty-four-pounder. The foundation and granite for this old piece of ordnance was constructed by the local G.A.R. at a cost of $110; the whole making an appropriate ornament to the grounds in front of Memorial Hall. (See illust.)
In confirmation of the foregoing account of the peregrinations of the old gun, we quote the following from the "Republican Journal" of July 10, 1857, under the caption of "The Fourth in
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Belfast." "The patriotic ebullitions of our citizens were in the shape of cannon-firing, bell-ringing and such like demonstrations. A company, not yet named, proceeded beforehand to Castine, and from that war-scarred peninsula brought an iron gun, about the size of a pine log, the real title to which may be with the Dutch, French, English, or American government. The roaring of this old 'devilish enginery' sent a patriotic thrill through all hearts, from the far interior to Monhegan."
Every effort was made, at the time, to veil in mystery the actions of the band of men who composed the expedition that went to Castine for the gun, and their names were never made public. It has even been stated that a government agent came to Belfast to investigate the " theft." At this late date, however, no harm can result from putting the names of the participants in this typical Fourth of July celebration, characteristic of the days of our grandfathers, on record.
The crew of the Yankee Adams consisted of seven men, in- cluding her owner, Captain Hatch, who was in charge, but we have been able to ascertain the names of five of them only, as follows : Captain Hatch, John Warren Wight, Silas Perkins, Austin Burgess, and Simon Payson. (This Simon Payson may possibly have been the son of the man of the same name who served in the War of 1812, and who, at the age of sixty-seven, marched with the veterans of that war through the streets of Belfast, when the Rebellion broke out. See Vol. I, p. 469.)
Of the nineteen men on the scow, the following fourteen names only are now known: Peter Welch, Axel Lowney, Samuel G. Howard, Frank Bartlett Frederick, Harvey Smalley, George William Patterson, Benson Walker, Charles Gilman, Fitz W. Gilbert, Amos Wooster, Horace Perkins, James Perkins, Isaac Darby, and George T. Osborne. Of the hardy spirits who made up these "gallant piratical crews," of over half a century ago, so far as we know only Messrs. Peter Welch, Harvey Smalley, James Perkins, and George T. Osborne are living, in 1912.
In 1894, a portrait of Washington was presented to the Post by Mrs. Sarah L. Holt. In 1897, it received the gift of a book, called "Nurses of the War," from Mrs. J. T. Gilman, aged ninety-two years, of Worcester, Massachusetts, a former resi- dent of Belfast, whose son, Alonzo M. Gilman, died from wounds received at Irish Bend, in 1863.
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At the installation of officers, January 2, 1900, Alden Darwin Chase, in behalf of Charles Henry Bray, presented the Post with a piece of wood from the Washington Elm at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Two thirty-two-pounder cannon, each weighing 4480 pounds, and twenty one-hundred-pound balls were received from the United States War Department and placed on the grounds in front of Memorial Hall in 1896.
Sheridan Francis Miller Command No. 23, Union Veterans' Union, named in honor of one of Belfast's heroes who lost his life in battle, was organized in 1896. A portrait of Lieutenant Miller was presented to the Union in 1898, by his sisters, Mrs. Julia Gorham McKeen and Mrs. Nancy Maria Marden, of Bel- fast, and Mrs. Ada Sophia Colby, of Waterville. The Post was disbanded in 1900. Sheridan Francis Miller, who fell near Fred- ericksburg on the 2d of May, 1863, was the son of George A. and Susan Miller, and a nephew of Freeman Miller. Young Miller was mustered as corporal of Company K, Fourth Maine, was promoted to second and first lieutenant, and when killed was acting as captain of that company.
In 1875, one company of State Militia existed in Belfast, the Belfast City Guards, Company H of the First Regiment. William Henry Fogler was captain, and Fitz W. Gilbert and Allen Drinkwater French, lieutenants. The following year, Colonel Fogler resigned, and was succeeded by William Henry Sanborn. A flag was presented to the company by citizens. In 1877, the Guards spent the Fourth of July at Hampden, and in August, numbering fifty men, attended the State Muster at Augusta.
At the commencement of 1880, certain political differences at the organization of the Legislature seemed to menace public property at the Capital, and Captain Sanborn was ordered to have his men ready to go for its protection at a moment's warn- ing. Although under arms for several days, their services were not required. The company disbanded the following May. A new company, numbering forty-four, succeeded it, but did not organize. In 1880, the two brass guns, formerly belonging to the Belfast Artillery, were carried to the Bangor Arsenal.
In 1883, a militia enrollment made by the Belfast Assessors, showed 766 able-bodied men, between the ages of eighteen and
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forty-five, liable to military service at the call of the State. At that time there were 139 pensioners residing in Belfast.
A Boys' Brigade, composed of two companies, Company A, Captain Luville Pottle, and Company B, Captain Wilson Ellis, was organized in 1894, and both companies were uniformed and armed, the former having breech-loading rifles, and the latter Quaker guns. March 30, a drill and entertainment were given at the Opera House for the benefit of the Brigade, in which a similar organization, composed of young ladies under command of Captain Katherine Pendleton Bickford, assisted.
In 1895, just eight hundred men were liable to military duty in Belfast.
September 2, 1875, a reunion of the Nineteenth Regiment was held. General Selden Connor delivered an address, and a supper was given at the American House. At the reunion at Richmond, in 1878, the address was by Colonel William Henry Fogler.
In 1877, the Fourth Maine Regiment held its annual reunion in Belfast. There was a clambake, and a ball at Peirce's Hall.
In 1885, an organization of the Twenty-sixth Maine Regiment was effected in Belfast in September, Captain Andrew Euell Clark, being chosen president. Historians from each company were appointed. Its first annual reunion took place at Peirce's Hall, August 26, 1886. A history of this regiment was pub- lished in 1899. The Thomas H. Marshall Relief Corps, No. 23, U.S.R.C., was established in 1885.
SONS OF VETERANS
A Camp of the Sons of Veterans, called A. E. Clark Camp, No. 43, from Captain Andrew Euell Clark, of the Twenty-sixth Maine Regiment, was instituted in Belfast July 6, 1886, with Charles F. Merriam as captain.
In connection with the Camp, in 1892, a Ladies' Relief Corps was organized. It afterwards took the name of Woman's Relief Corps, and in 1899, of Ladies' Aid Society, Sons of Veterans.
The tenth annual encampment of the Maine Division of Sons of Veterans was held in Belfast, June 7, 1892. There was a parade, and a concert and ball were given by the local Camp.
In 1896, the Camp had an increase in membership, and adopted the regular uniform. In October, they moved from Memorial Hall to rooms fitted up on Main Street.
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THE SPANISH WAR
The formal declaration of hostilities against Spain, April 21, 1898, inspired feelings of patriotism in Belfast resembling in their demonstrations the early days of the Civil War. Flags were displayed from almost every public building, places of business, and many private residences. As no military organization existed in the city only a few Belfast young men entered the service.
Lieutenant Seth Mellen Milliken, who graduated from West Point in June, 1897, resigned shortly after to enter business life in New York, but when the war broke out, he offered his services and was accepted. He went to Cavite, Philippine Islands, with rank of captain. Receiver Albert Wooster Thompson, of the Land Office at Clayton, New Mexico, had charge of recruiting men for Roosevelt's Rough Riders in his section. Ensign William Veazie Pratt was in the Navy, and saw some hard service in Cuba in the Mayflower. Among those who entered the service from Belfast were William Oakes Aldus and Ernest Richards, in the Navy; Fred L. Fletcher, in the Second Massa- chusetts Artillery; Edward Clements, in the Sixth Massachu- setts; Fred Trull and George E. Benson, in the First Maine Infantry. Russell D. Sanborn, son of John Sanborn, enlisted in Company F, Regular Infantry, and went to the Philippines, where he participated in three fights. In 1900, he was assigned to duty in the Adjutant-General's office, in Manila, where he remains. Captain W. H. Sanborn opened a recruiting office for the United States Cavalry, and obtained several recruits.
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