USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 46
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The gunboat " Pontoosuc " arrived here on the 31st of May, and remained a few days to obtain recruits. She was commanded by Lieutenant George Stevens.
In June, a court-martial held a session with closed doors, to investigate certain charges against Captain Bean, the provost- marshal for this district. The result of their proceedings was his suspension. Captain E. Sanford was temporarily appointed in his place. Colonel William H. Fogler succeeded him in November- Dr. A. J. Billings was commissioned as surgeon, a vacancy having occurred by the resignation of Dr. Hunter.
The Fourth Regiment of infantry, raised in May, 1861, having served its term of three years, the surviving members thereof en- titled to discharge, numbering about three hundred and forty-one, arrived at Rockland on the 18th of June, and were soon after mustered out of service.
Rumors having been received that the national capital was menaced, on the 13th of July Governor Cony issued a proclama- tion, calling upon all the citizens to unite in making arrangements to repel the rebels from our soil. Every man was invited to be- come a recruiting officer to enlist troops for the protection of the city of Washington and the defence of the loyal States for a term not exceeding one hundred days. A despatch was received by Captain Fuller, asking how many of his company would go to the front ; and a meeting was immediately convened for consideration
491
BELFAST DURING THE REBELLION.
1
of the matter. On the following day, the city was thrown into great excitement by a despatch from Governor Cony to the mayor, announcing that a rebel raiding party had left St. John, N. B., to commit depredations on the frontier of Maine. A public meeting immediately convened to adopt measures for defence. Two pieces of artillery were planted on the shore near the lower battery, and manned by members of the Invalid Corps. The Coast Guards re- inforced both batteries, and did picket duty during two nights, when the alarm subsided. A gunboat arrived in the bay on the 17th, and anchored near Turtle Head.
Under an Act of Congress, approved July 4, on the 18th the President called for five hundred thousand volunteers for one year's service, a draft to be made on or before the 5th of Sep- tember, to fill the quota of each locality then found deficient. Such draft was necessary to be had for deficiencies under the three last requirements. After deducting credits on account of fifty-four persons who had entered the naval service during the Rebellion, and for eleven men furnished to military service in excess of calls previously made for volunteers, the apportionment to Belfast was reduced from one hundred and ten to forty-six. On the 5th, 25th, and 30th of August, large meetings were held, attended principally by enrolled men ; and vigorous arrangements, by offering additional bounties, were made so effectively, that the whole quota was filled by volunteers before the date appointed for drafting.1 The draft commenced at the provost-marshal's office on the 19th of Septem- ber, to fill the deficiencies of towns that had not responded to the call, and progressed at the restricted rate of fifty per day.
On the 1st of November, telegrams from Augusta and Castine, that a rebel raid had been made upon the battery in the latter town, cansed some alarm. The Coast Guards were ordered to be in readiness to march to any portion of the State. In view of ex- isting dangers, the city council established an armed night police, composed of a captain and six assistants. The places of business were ordered to be closed at ten o'clock in the evening. Any person found in the streets after that hour was liable to summary arrest.
1 The following citizens, not liable to military duty, furnished representative recruits; viz., Nehemiah Abbott, J. G. Dickerson, Daniel Haraden, Paul R. Hazeltine, Prescott Hazeltine, Salathiel Nickerson, Augustus Perry, William O. Poor, Andrew J. Ross, Albert Small. A loan of $10,000 was made as an advance to the State, under the Act of the Legislature. Each volunteer for one year received a bounty of $100; for two years, $200; and for three years, $300.
492
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
During the year, the benevolent exertions of the Ladies' Aid Society continued unabated. Under their auspices, on the thir- teenth day of August, Dr. W. T. G. Morton, the reputed discoverer of ether as an anasthetic agent, delivered a lecture upon . " The Battle of the Wilderness."
In December, an additional call for three hundred thousand volunteers was made. This proved the final requisition of the Rebellion. Under the apportionment to Maine, seventy-five men were required from Belfast, to be obtained by draft, unless fur- nished voluntarily before the middle of February.
During the month of January, 1865, difficulties with Canada induced the government to place the coast and frontier of Maine in a condition of defence. On Sunday, the 15th, Company F, Coast Guards Infantry, numbering one hundred and two men, including officers, arrived here from Augusta, and were quartered in the City Hall. The following afternoon, they proceeded to the batteries, where they continued in service until the close of the war.
Captain Fogler having resigned as provost-marshal, Captain Bean was reinstated in February. Business in this department was extensive during the winter and spring. The draft, which continued, brought great numbers of persons to the city. Relays of substitutes and enlisted men were constantly arriving. When accepted, they went immediately into barracks on the grounds of the Waldo Agricultural Society, and were thence sent forward by detachments to Augusta. During March, over six hundred soldiers were sent from here. Our quota not having been filled by volun- teers, and lacking seventy-one men, the city council made another appropriation of $35,000, and voted to pay each recruit a bounty of $300 in addition to the bounties offered by the national and State governments. The following stirring appeal from Mayor Jewett was not in vain, and the enrolled men soon furnished the complement by subscriptions and substitutes. A draft was there- fore avoided.1
1 Excepting once, in 1863, no draft to raise the quotas of Belfast was made during the Rebellion.
493
BELFAST DURING THE REBELLION.
AN APPEAL FROM THE GOVERNOR.
STATE OF MAINE.
HEAD-QUARTERS, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, AUGUSTA, Feb. 20, 1865.
GENERAL ORDER No. 4.
The tidings which have flashed over the wires, announcing the onward and triumphant march of Sherman's glorious army, throb every loyal heart. The necessity of the hour is for reinforcements. I appeal to the people of Maine for a brief time to lay aside all other business for the accomplishment of this object.
The Rebellion is reeling under the staggering blows of our armies; and the hope, long deferred, of a coming peace, now dawns brightly upon us. All that is required to secure speedy and final success is that these armies be filled up, and the arms of our gallant commanders be upheld by the efforts of the people at home.
I appeal to the patriotism of the citizens of Maine to rekindle the fiery energies of 1861; and as they then rushed to the rescue of the nation when Sumter had been seized, now that Sumter has returned to her allegiance and Moultrie restored to its rightful master, and the city of which these are the guardian fortresses bows beneath the Star-spangled Banner, that they shall again rally around that proud emblem, and utterly extinguish rebellion against its authority, and assert its right to float supremely in every part of the United States.
But a brief term of service can possibly be required. Now is the exigent moment, the golden opportunity ; and let every man do his duty to his country. Who is there that will not be proud hereafter to say that he served in the Army of the Union in its final campaign ?
By order of his Excellency the Governor.
JOHN L. HODSDON, Adjutant-general.
ENROLLED MEN OF BELFAST!
The foregoing appeal is addressed to you ! Now is your time to respond to the call of your country; to act like men of courage and character; to save yourselves from the reproaches of the
494
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
present and future generations; and to prevent your descendants from sharing the dishonor of those whose ancestors played the part of poltroons in this gigantic struggle to preserve our country and our free institutions from the combined assaults of England and the Rebels.
We are now passing through the important closing scenes of the Rebellion. Every important place in the United States has been wrested from the Rebels except Richmond. Every Rebel army has been scattered or annihilated except that under Lee, now besieged in the city of Richmond ; and Grant holds that with a vicelike grasp. Sherman is marching North with his 100,000 veterans, to aid Grant in finishing up the work in that den of treason and traitors. Will you be there in time to join your hon- ored comrades, or will you stand back and lend no helping hand in this great work of duty and necessity ?
Our present quota is more than half full : four former quotas have been filled by brave men, principally from this city, since March 15, 1863. Will you allow yourselves to be drafted to fill the balance of this quota? Your families, in your absence, will be provided for by the pay you will receive, which will be as follows : ---
City order for one year's service $300
State order for one year's service 100
United States order for one year's service 100
Monthly pay, probably $20 per month 240
One year
and State Aid additional. $740
You have therefore no excuse on that ground.
Do you lack patriotism or courage ? Can you justify yourselves on account of business ?
Do not the President and Grant and Sherman and the Gov- ernor call upon you to respond ? and if you cannot do it by a good substitute, do it in person ? and if you do not now volun- teer, you will be drafted, with much less pay than a volunteer receives ?
Young men of business, will you not leave off making money for one year, and show yourselves to be entitled to the name of men and patriots, by the share you take in the closing up of this great war in defence of the institutions of our country and of our homes and firesides ?
495
BELFAST DURING THE REBELLION.
For the honor of yourselves, your families, your country, and humanity to the brave men now fighting for you, I respectfully invite you to respond in person to this call made upon you, and to fill up promptly the balance of your quota with volunteers.
BELFAST, Feb. 25, 1865.
A. G. JEWETT, Mayor.
The fall of Charleston on the 18th of February, the anniversary of Washington's birthday, and the inauguration of President Lincoln on the 4th of March, were duly observed by the display of flags, by guns, and by ringing of bells. At noon, on the last- named day, a salute from both batteries was fired. A social levee took place in the evening; and the custom-house, post-office, pro- vost-marshal's quarters, and other buildings, were illuminated.
The first naval vessel which arrived here in 1865 was the sloop- of-war " Rhode Island," Commander S. D. Trenchard. She meas- pred fifteen hundred tons, and carried two hundred and fifty men, with an armament of twelve guns. During her stay in our harbor, from March 24 until the following May, over one hundred seamen for the navy were enlisted and received on board.
Richmond was occupied by our troops on Monday, the third day of April. The intelligence reached here in the forenoon, and caused enthusiastic demonstrations of joy. The bells were rung during the remainder of the day. A national salute was fired by the citizens, to which the heavy guns from both batteries and from the " Rhode Island " responded. News of the surrender of Lee arrived on the following Monday, and was announced by bells and guns. Mayor Abbott immediately issued the following request : -
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF BELFAST.
It is fit that we should exchange congratulations over the fall of Richmond, the surrender of General Lee and his army, and the downfall of the Rebellion. To that end, I respectfully request that all stores and places of business be closed at one of the clock this afternoon ; that at the same hour a salute of one hundred guns be fired ; that at eight in the evening all private and public buildings and places of business be illuminated ; and that at eight and a half the citizens generally, ladies and gentlemen, assemble at Peirce's Hall, where speeches, music, and dancing may be ex- pected.
APRIL 10, 1865.
N. ABBOTT, Mayor.
-
-
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HISTORY OF BELFAST.
These suggestions were readily responded to. Although the evening proved slightly unpleasant, nearly every building, public and private, was brilliantly illuminated. An old wooden structure, formerly the office of William White, Esq., was purchased of the owners, dragged to Custom-house Square, and, after being filled with combustibles, served as a bonfire. During the evening, the streets were crowded, and the various festivities continued until midnight.
Our national rejoicing was soon turned into lamentation, caused by the assassination of President Lincoln, which occurred on the evening of Friday, April 14. The news reached here the fol- lowing morning, and produced a profound sensation of sorrow. All the bells were tolled, and the whole community was thrown into mourning. A proclamation was made by the mayor, re- questing the suspension of business at the time of the funeral on Wednesday, April 19, and inviting the citizens to solemnize the occasion by religious ceremonies. Accordingly, minute guns were fired in the morning ; stores and public buildings were draped in black, and closed. At half-past ten, the soldiers from the batteries received the officers of the United States steamer " Rhode Island " at the upper steamboat wharf, and escorted them to the Unitarian Church, which was filled to overflowing. The interior of the church was appropriately decorated. After a voluntary from a select choir, the exercises were reading of Scriptures by Rev. F. A. Hodsdon, prayer by Rev. Wooster Parker, address by Rev. Dr. Palfrey, hymn, prayer by Rev. Mr. Thomas, benediction by Rev. Dr. Palfrey.1
1 The shocking assassination of the President and its moral bearings continue to be discussed in our pulpits. Rev. Wooster Parker, of the first Congregational Church, in a discourse on Sunday week, declared that the rebel leaders deserved death, and that every consideration, moral and political, demanded that they should suffer this punisli- ment. If the doctrine, he said, is true, that men cannot forfeit their title to future salva- tion by any crimes they may commit, and if, upon departing this life, they enter upon a happier and more blissful one, and this is to be the lot of these men whose guilt and criminality no language can adequately describe, they should be sent swinging to glory ! Rev. Dr. Palfrey, of the Unitarian Church, preached a similar discourse. He declared that, whatever might be the difference in opinion about resorting to capital punishment in ordinary cases, there should be none in the case of Jefferson Davis and those immedi- ately connected with him in prosecuting this treasonable war. They ought to suffer death, the penalty affixed to the crime of treason by our Constitution and laws. Senti- ments like these meet the strong approval of our loyal people. They demand that there shall be a line of distinction drawn between traitors and loyal men, and that the doom of those wicked men shall go down to history as distinct as that of Satan, their father, who first inaugurated treason and rebellion. - Age, May 12, 1865.
497
BELFAST DURING THE REBELLION.
To the termination of the war, our citizens did not relax their efforts in behalf of sick and wounded soldiers. During the year end- ing April 15,1865, the Ladies' Aid Society raised the sum of $680.36.1 A social dance, managed by the young ladies, on February 14, pro- duced $192.50. The young men maintained a course of lectures for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. The lecturers were Rev. Messrs. Edwin Johnson, C. C. Everett, and Amory Battles, of Bangor; A. L. Stone, D.D., of Boston ; General F. S. Nickerson, of Searsport ; and Charles Curtis, Esq. Directly after the fall of Richmond, the sum of 1,000 dollars was voluntarily subscribed for the relief of Maine soldiers wounded in the battles around that city. The following table exhibits the amount of money, hospital stores, &c., contributed in Belfast during the Rebellion, as nearly as could be ascertained, entered as of money value :-
United States Sanitary Commission . $8,000
" Christian " 3,000
Soldiers in Maine Camps
900
General Hospitals in Loyal States
1,000
Regimental Hospitals and individuals 3,000
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c.
2,700
$18,6002
After the surrender of Lee, the draft for this district was sus- pended by orders from the war department. Early in May, the mili- tary supplies remaining here were removed, and most of the clerks and attachés of the provost-marshal's office discharged. The office was not finally closed until November 2. Company A, Coast Guards, Captain Charles Baker, which was organized here in March, 1864, and had been on duty at Fort Washington, returned here on the 27th of May. Company F, stationed at the batteries, was mustered out of service July 7. A squad of eight men, four on each side of the river, was detained to guard the government property. In December, the guns were removed to Fort Knox, and the batteries dismantled.
The Legislature of 1862 passed an Act giving, in certain cases, State aid to the dependent families of soldiers. From its passage
1 Report of Mrs. J. G. Dickerson, Treasurer, in the "Progressive Age," April 20, 1865. It gives a list of all the articles sent to the Sanitary Commission from the Belfast Society, from April, 1862, to April, 1865.
2 Adjutant-general's Report, 1864-65.
32
498
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
until the close of the war, three hundred and ninety-seven families in Belfast, containing nine hundred and sixty-nine persons, were thus aided. The whole amount paid them was $16,665.32.
The amount of bounties paid by Belfast during the Rebellion was as follows : ---
Call of 1861 . $3,500
To three years' men of 1862
5,800
,, nine months' " 1862
7,200
„, volunteers of 1863
" " 1864-65 21,000
1,475
„ substitutes that entered service 28,200
Other payments on account of draft 228
Amounts contributed towards bounties to soldiers 6,504
Total .
$73,907
On the 23d of June, the United States gutboat "Tioga," Commander William D. Whiting, a side-wheel steamer of one thousand tons, arrived in the harbor. Her armament consisted of one sixty-pound Dahlgren, two twenty-six-pound, and two twelve- pound rifled howitzers. She made her head-quarters here until October 23.
The iron-clad, " Agamenticus," arrived on Sunday afternoon, July 9, and remained until the 14th, during which time she was visited by a large number of citizens. She was built at Kittery in 1864, and with one exception was the most powerful and largest monitor afloat. Each of her two revolving turrets were twenty- three feet in diameter, and provided with two four hundred-pound Rodman guns. Her length was two hundred and fifty feet, and about three feet of the hull was visible above water. Her chief officer was Commander E. G. Parrott.
By an Act of the Legislature of 1868, reimbursement was provided to towns and cities in the State for all men furnished on their quotas subsequent to July 2, 1862, as follows : $100 for three years' men, $33} for one year's men, and $25 for nine months' men. Bounties averaged about thus : $100 for three years' men, for the call of July, 1862; $175 for nine months' men, under the call of August, 1862. In the draft of July, 1863, government accepted $300 for commutation of drafted men ; and that sum became the general average of bounties, and price of substitutes. During the fall of that year, bounties ranged from $250 to $350; and
499
BELFAST DURING THE REBELLION.
some towns paid considerably more. In the fall of 1864, and until the termination of hostilities, as high as $600 was paid. It was during this latter period that the abuse known as "paper credits " prevailed. This was a system of "shrewd and thrifty cunning," connived at by prominent officials, "by which a few speculators for putting upon quotas of towns either fictitious names, or names of men whose enlistment they had not procured, and credit for whom the State was not justly entitled to, were enabled to wring from distressed towns large sums ostensibly for bounties, but a small portion of which could ever have found its way to the pocket of any soldier or sailor." The whole number of men equal to three years' men which Belfast paid bounties to was three hundred and two, for which she received $30,258 in State bonds on twenty years.
At different stages of the Rebellion, municipal corporations were authorized to render assistance to the families of soldiers, for which the State made reimbursement. The following is an ex- hibit of the aid rendered in Belfast :-
1862.
1863.
1864.
1865.
1866
Total.
No. of families aided . .
35
78
146
138
10.
407
persons in families
91
210
384
284
25
994
Amount allowed
$156.72 $4,247.50 $6,863.68 $4,397.62 $13,618 $16,801.50
According to the most reliable information that can be ob- tained, eight hundred and fifty-eight men were in service from Belfast during the Rebellion. Of these, one hundred were killed, died of wounds or disease, or in rebel prisons.
500
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
CHAPTER XXXII.
SKETCHES OF DECEASED SOLDIERS FROM BELFAST IN THE REBELLION.
Brief Biographical Notices of all in the Military and Naval Departments from Belfast, who during their Terms of Service were killed, died from Wounds or Disease, or who perished in Rebel Prisons. - Portrait and Autograph of Colonel Thomas H. Marshall. - Deceased Natives of Belfast who served on other Quotas.
W ILLIAM B. ALLYN, son of the late Rufus B. Allyn, entered the service at the age of nineteen, as a private in the army of the Potomac : he afterwards received a commission as junior officer in the Sixth Massachusetts Battery, and was pro- moted for gallant services at the battle of Baton Rouge, where he · had two horses shot under him, and was wounded. The southern climate having undermined his health, he remained North nearly a year, and enlisted Feb. 23, 1864, in the Thirty-first Maine Regi- ment, and was appointed First Lieutenant and Adjutant, a position which he honorably filled when he met his death. He went boldly into action before Petersburg, Va., July 30, 1864, but was borne from the field mortally wounded, and died at the Division Hospital on the evening of August 1. His remains arrived here August 13, and were escorted to the cemetery by the Home Guards and a large concourse of citizens. Impressive religious services were conducted at the tomb by Rev. Dr. Palfrey. The age of Lieutenant Allyn was twenty-two years.
HENRY BLACK, aged nineteen, unmarried, private in Company A, Seventeenth Infantry, was mustered into service Sept. 18, 1863. He died of wounds, July 9, 1864.
EDWARD BAKER enlisted at the age of eighteen, on the 15th of June, 1861, in Company K, Fourth Infantry. He died a prisoner, in January, 1864. He was a son of William S. Baker.
JOSHUA W. BLODGETT volunteered in August, 1862, as a private in Company D, Nineteenth Infantry. He died of disease, in hospital, in December, 1863, aged nineteen.
501
SKETCHES OF DECEASED SOLDIERS.
RUFUS E. BRACKETT, Sergeant Company I, Twenty-sixth Regiment, volunteered, and was mustered into service Oct. 11, 1862. He died of disease, aged twenty-one, July 2, 1863, at Brashear City, La. He was a son of John Brackett.
EBEN F. BRIER, aged eighteen, son of Moses W. Brier, joined the service as a volunteer, and was mustered in as bugler of Company C, First Cavalry, Oct. 19, 1862. He was in the battle of Gettysburg, and died from wounds received there, July 21, 1863.
FRANCIS E. BRIER, son of the late Robert and Abby Brier, was mustered into Company B, Second Cavalry, Jan. 12, 1864. As his regiment immediately joined the department of the Gulf, on arriving, he was transferred to the navy. In the battle of Mobile, he was wounded, and died at Pensacola Naval Hospital, Aug. 24, 1864. He was twenty-two years of age, and unmarried.
CHARLES BROWN, Sergeant Company K, Fourth Infantry, was mustered into service as a volunteer, June 15, 1861, at the age of twenty-three. He was killed in action at Manassas, Aug. 29, 1863, and left upon the field.
JOSHUA L. BROWN, aged twenty, and unmarried, joined Com- pany E, First Heavy Artillery, as a private, Dec. 24, 1863, and died of wounds received in action, July 9, 1864. His remains were interred in the National Cemetery at Arlington, Va.
HERBERT L. BUCKLIN volunteered as a private in Company I, Twenty-sixth Infantry, and was mustered into service Oct. 11, 1862. He fell at the battle of Irish Bend, April 15, 1863, aged eighteen. He was an apprentice in the office of the "Progressive Age," and a most estimable young man, of sober, Christian habits. His last words on leaving home were, "I shall try to do my duty."
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