Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 13

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

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The Erskine School, at China, was founded in 1883, by Mrs. Sul- livan Erskine, who purchased at Chadwick's Corners the church build- ing which, in 1891, was enlarged and fitted for the growing wants of the school. Here under the principalship of William J. Thompson, many young people are receiving a serviceable article of real learning. Professor Thompson was born in Knox county and was educated at the Castine Normal School. He taught at South Thomaston and in

J. S. Hobbs.

PRINT, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.

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CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

the Searsport High School until 1883, when he came to China as the first principal of this school, which has flourished under his manage- ment.

The Dirigo Business College is located at Augusta. The modern business training school is the result of a revolution in methods of preparing for business pursuits, which once were thought to involve a liberal scientific, if not a classical, course in seminary or college. A private business school-the first in the interior of Maine-was opened in Augusta in 1863, by David M. Waitt. He was a good teacher and the school became popular and useful under his management, and subsequently the legislature granted it a charter as the Dirigo Busi- ness College. In May, 1880, Mr. Waitt was succeeded by the present principal, R. B. Capen, who, with an able corps of teachers, has en- larged the usefulness and increased the popularity of this college, whose graduates include many of the younger professional and busi- ness men in this part of the state. Mr. Capen is a native of Massa- chusetts, where he was master of the Norwood High School and prin- cipal of the Dowse Academy in Sherborn.

The Maine State Library was founded in 1839 and its little collec- tion of 3,349 volumes was under the charge of the secretary of state. Twenty-two years later, when the collection had reached 11,000 vol- umes, the office of state librarian was created and George G. Stacy be- came its first incumbent. His successors have been: Joseph T. Wood- ward, John D. Myrick, Josiah S. Hobbs and Leonard D. Carver. In 1892, the collection having reached 45,000 volumes, was removed to the new wing of the capitol building.

In October, 1872, J. S. Hobbs, then of Oxford county, was appointed state librarian, and in the following January removed to Augusta, where he resided during the long period of service by which he is now best known to the people of Kennebec county.

He was born in Chatham, N. H., June 27, 1828, and with his father, James Hobbs, removed to Fryeburg, where he was educated, and at eighteen years of age began teaching for a time, as his father for nearly thirty years had done. From the Fryeburg schools he at- tended the Norway Liberal Institute, when Hon. Mark H. Donnell was principal, and in 1850 took the English prize for prose declama- tion. Four years later, after reading law under D. R. Hastings, he was admitted to the bar of Oxford county and began practice in Waterford in 1855. The son of a whig, who was twice elected to the state senate, Mr. Hobbs was active in the organization of the republi- can party in Oxford county, and in 1857 and 1858 represented his dis- triet in the legislature. Beginning in January, 1861, he was register of probate of Oxford county for twelve years and was two years a trial justice at the county seat.

The efficiency of his service in the State Library, as well as his

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

general bearing in the extensive intercourse with the public, made his administration popular and must have increased to the state the usefulness of the institution. In November, 1890, in his sixth term, he resigned the position and retired to his country place in a beauti- ful and picturesque spot in Litchfield, where he is enjoying rural peace and domestic happiness. His wife, Emelin, is a daughter of Stevens Smith, of Waterford, Oxford county, Me.

L. D. Carver, the present librarian, was educated as a lawyer, but in 1870 he went West, where he was principal of high schools. Re- turning to Waterville in 1876, he was admitted to the bar and for six years was city clerk. He served on the school board and was the author of the school provisions in the city charter. His military ser- vice, covering two years and three months, was with the 2d Maine Infantry. His wife, Mary C. Low, was the first lady graduate of Colby, class of '75.

UNITED STATES ARSENAL .- An act passed the United States sen- ate in 1827, providing for the establishment of an arsenal at Augusta for the safe storage of arms and munitions for the protection of the northern and eastern frontier. Beginning with the meager appro- priation of $15,000, the government, as the advantages of the location for a general storage depot became more apparent, made further ap- propriations aggregating $90,000.

On June 14, 1828, the corner-stone of the main building was laid. This building is one hundred feet long, thirty wide and three stories high, with a storage capacity of 7,128 muskets. The following year two magazines, capable of holding 914 barrels of powder, store-houses, officers' quarters, barracks, stable and shops were erected. These buildings, nearly all of which are of rough granite, occupy a forty acre lot, all of which is surrounded by a high iron fence. Fixed am- munition and war rockets were prepared here during the civil war and the war with Mexico. Among commanders of this institution who afterward secured national fame, are General O. O. Howard, of the United States Army, and Lieutenant Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter.

NATIONAL SOLDIERS' HOME .-- As early as 1810 a mineral spring was discovered in a ineadow in the town of Chelsea, which, on account of the sulphurous odor it emitted, was popularly known as the "Gun- powder Spring." The water gained more than a local reputation of healing malignant humors, and was for several years in considerable demand. The spring and a large tract of surrounding land were pur- chased in 1858, by Mr. Horace Beals, of Rockland, who, the following year erected, at an expense of many thousands of dollars, a magnifi- cently appointed hotel, which he opened in June, 1859, as a fashiona- ble watering place.

At any other period than that of the civil war such an enterprise

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CIVIL HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS.

might have flourishied; but under the depressing events which fol- lowed it proved an utter failure. After two or three years of weak existence it was closed to the public, and in 1866, after his decease, it was sold for $50,000 to the United States government for an asylum for disabled veterans. In 1867 the building had been remodeled and two hundred ex-soldiers had availed themselves of the refuge thus afforded. As it was evident that the accommodations would shortly be insufficient to meet the constantly increasing demand, proceedings were instituted for the erection of new buildings capable of accom- modating five hundred men. A brick hospital was soon erected, and plans for the erection of a large chapel and workshop were beginning to materialize when the principal building was destroyed by fire.

This casualty, which occurred late in the evening of January 7, 1868, turned the inmates, many of whom were confined to their beds with sickness, into the piercing frosts of a midwinter's night. The sick were placed on the snow until they could be removed to private houses, while those who were able to be carried so long a distance, were quartered in Waverly Hall, at Augusta. The hospital, which was not seriously damaged, was hastily prepared for barracks, and early in the spring three large brick buildings were commenced, each of which was nearly one hundred feet in length. These were placed contigu- ous to the hospital, so as to form a hollow square surrounding an ample courtyard. With these were erected a large amusement hall, work- shop, barn and a residence for the commanding officers, all of which were constructed of brick manufactured on the spot. The hall was de- stroyed by fire in the spring of 1871, at a loss of about $20,000. A smaller building has been erected to supply its loss. Other structures for the accommodation of the surgeon, bandmaster and other subor- dinate officials have recently been erected.

The home is open to all survivors of the civil and Mexican wars, and the war of 1812, who received an honorable discharge from the service. Cutler Post, No. 48, a local division of the G. A. R., has been established by the veterans, and in their cemetery a monument of granite blocks has been erected, bearing a dedicatory inscription and dates of the three principal wars succeeding the revolution.

The first deputy governor of the home and commandant was Major General Edward W. Hincks, of Massachusetts, who held the position until March 6, 1867, when, at his request, he was relieved and was succeeded by Colonel Timothy Ingraham, of Massachusetts, who was soon succeeded by General Charles Everett, of Washington, D. C., who was shortly followed by Major Nathan Cutler, of Augusta, Me., and he by Colonel E. A. Ludwick, of New York, who, after a short term of ser- vice, was succeeded, in 1869, by Brigadier General William S. Tilton, of Boston. General Luther Stephenson, the present governor of the home, was born at Hingham, Mass., April 25, 1830. Entering the ser-

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

vice in April, 1861, as lieutenant in the Fourth Massachusetts, he was several times promoted for merit, and by order of General Grant was brevetted colonel and brigadier general, March 15, 1865, for " gallant and meritorious services in the campaign against Richmond." He was appointed governor of the National Home at Togus on the 17th of April, 1883, and assumed the duties of the position the next day. The home has increased in numbers since that date from 1,400 to 2,000. The whole appearance of the buildings and grounds has been changed and beautified and twenty new structures have been erected.

CHAPTER V.

MILITARY HISTORY.

Revolutionary Period .- War of 1812 .- Coast Defense of Maine .- Militia Com- panies called out .- Officers and Men .- Town Companies .- Treaty of Ghent.

T' HE peaceful interim of above two decades which followed the last of the skirmishes referred to in Chapter II, was dissipated by the call of the minute men of Concord and Lexington-a call which, although sounding from beyond an almost unbroken wilderness over one hundred miles in extent, met a prompt response on the part of the patriots of the Kennebec valley. The smoke had hardly cleared from Lexington green before bands of scantily equipped men and boys were pushing their way through the forests, eager to reach the point of enlistment. Many of the settlers in the interior of the county had removed from towns adjacent to the scene of the conflict, and while the oppression to which those who resided nearer the metropolitan districts were subjected, was not as severely realized by these men who depended almost entirely on the products of their own farm and loom for the luxuries as well as the essentials of life, the impulse of a brother's need moved them to earnest action. Many farms were abandoned or left to the care of women and minors, and, in many instances, the latter, catching the inspiration from the fathers, stealthily left their homes and followed on the tracks of their seniors.

However obscure and comparatively unimportant may be the part Kennebec played in the war of the revolution, the influence of that critical epoch on the subsequent history of this section is con- siderable. Arnold's ascent of the Kennebec on his expedition against Quebec changed, to quite an extent, the life of the settlements along its banks. This expedition, which was embarked at Newburyport, September 17, 1775, arrived at Pittston, on the Kennebec, the day fol- lowing. Here the eleven transports of which the fleet consisted were exchanged for bateaux, which had for some time been under process of construction, under the supervision of Major Colburn. The troops, consisting of eleven hundred men, being transferred to the bateaux, began the next day their slow and wearisome advance toward the Canadian frontier. The officers, conspicuous among whom were Bene-

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

dict Arnold, Christopher Green, Daniel Morgan, Aaron Burr and Henry Dearborn, men whose later careers challenged the attention of nations, remained on their sailing vessel until they reached Augusta. Here they joined the fleet on the bateaux and proceeded on that dis- astrous errand, the result of which is familiar to the general reader.

The rare beauty of the valley through which they passed, the waving meadows, the lieavy forest growth, made a lasting impression which the hardship, the cold and the starvation of the terrible cam- paign which followed could not efface. The proclamation of peace which brought as a minor accompaniment to the joyous notes of lib- erty a siege of famine upon the settlers all along the main thorough- fare of the Kennebec, through the depredations of famishing regi- ments of soldiers bound for their homes in the eastern part of the state, brought, also, many of the members of the Arnold expedition back as permanent settlers. Among others of them whose names hold a prominent place in history was General Henry Dearborn, who pur- chased extensive tracts of land west of the river, and founded a home near the point where he first landed after entering the Kennebec, to which he resorted as often as the duties of the high office he held under the national government permitted, until called by President Madison to assume the responsibilities of commander-in-chief of the national forces in the second war with Great Britain.

WAR OF 1812 .- The opening of this war found the military condi- tions of Maine entirely unlike those that existed thirty-seven years before, when the first call to arms resounded on her pine-clad hills. In compliance with a law of the commonwealth, every able-bodied man had, at stated periods, been submitted to instruction at the hands of a competent drill-master; and well equipped and disciplined regi- ments took the place of the straggling, unarmed hordes of the conti- nental minute men. There was not, however, that unanimity of sen- timent which characterized the patriots who brought the nation through her birth throes. Although blood as warm for their country's weal as that which flowed at Lexington coursed through their veins, there were many who firmly believed that the nation's honor was not at stake, and that money, not blood, should be the price of England's depredations on our commerce. The federalists of Kennebec were especially bitter in their denunciations of the policy of the national government, and when the intelligence reached Augusta that a formal declaration of war had been issued, the quick blood of the party imme- diately responded by hanging President Madison in effigy, and placing the Stars and Stripes at half-mast. The national troops quartered in the city exhibited due respect for their chief executive by military interference, and but for the action of the civil authorities the episode must have closed with bloodshed.

In 1814 the British fleet hovered on the coast of Maine; Eastport,

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MILITARY HISTORY.

Bangor and other places were seized during the summer. The county of Kennebec was on the alert, and many companies of men were en- listed. The Adams, a United States vessel of war, was burned by her commander to prevent her falling into the enemy's hands, and her crew retired through the woods from the Penobscot to the Kennebec, causing an alarm that the enemy were approaching.

On Saturday, September 10th, a special town meeting was held at Augusta to consider the safety of the towns. A committee consisting of George Crosby, Joshua Gage, John Davis, Thomas Rice, Pitt Dill- ingham, Willianı Emmons and Joseph Chandler was appointed, who reported that the selectmen should be directed " to procure 200 1bs. of powder at once, and a quantity of materials for tents, camp kettles, etc." Sunday, the following day, while at meeting, General Sewall re- ceived a dispatch from the committee of safety at Wiscasset, asking for a thousand men, as the enemy threatened a landing. Colonel Stone's and Colonel Sweet's regiments, with the Hallowell Artillery, marched forthwith in companies for Wiscasset. On the 15th General Sewall went to assume the command of the troops; but the alarm proved groundless.

In the Maine adjutant general's office is a record of the officers and men called into the state service in those trying times. In 1876, by order of the governor and his council, this manuscript record was carefully compiled by Z. K. Harmon, of Portland. It is a model of neatness, the volume containing 420 pages. It appears that the 1st Brigade, 8th Division. was under command of Major General Henry Sewall, Augusta; Eben Dutch was major; William K. Page, of Au- gusta, was aid-de-camp; and William Emmons, Augusta, was judge advocate. The brigadier general was William Gould, Farmington; the brigadier major was Samuel Howard, Augusta; and the quarter- master was Jesse Robinson, of Hallowell.

Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment of the 8th Division, 1st Bri- gade, had the following officers: John Stone, Gardiner, lieutenant colonel; Reuel Howard, Augusta, major; Henry W. Fuller, Augusta, major; Enoch Hale, jun., Gardiner, adjutant; Gideon Farrell, Win- throp, quartermaster; Rufus K. Page, paymaster; Eliphalet Gillett, Hallowell, chaplain; Ariel Mann, Hallowell, surgeon; Joel R. Ellis, Hallowell, surgeon's mate; Benjamin Davenport, Winthrop, sergeant major; James Tarbox, quartermaster sergeant; Roswell Whittemore, drum major; and John Wadsworth, fife major.

Augusta .- Captain Burbank's company of Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment was raised in Augusta. The officers of the company were: Benjamin Burbank, captain; Nathan Wood, lieutenant, and David Church, ensign. Ephraim Dutton, Benjamin Ross, Ebenezer B. Williams and Philip W. Peck were sergeants; John Hamlen, Wil- liam B. Johnson, Thomas Elmes and Bartlett Lancaster, corporals.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

In this company were thirty-four privates, who served at Wiscasset in September, 1814.

Another company raised in Augusta for Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment had for captain David Wall and for ensign Charles Sewall. The non-commissioned officers were: Luther Church, William Fel- lows, Nathan Stackpole, Elias Stackpole, sergeants; Jeremiah Tolman, Jesse Babcock, Elisha Bolton, corporals. Thirty-four privates went out with these officers.

Augusta raised still another company for Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment, of which Stephen Jewett was captain, and Oliver Wyman, lieutenant; and the non-commissioned officers were: Ben- jamin Swan, William Stone, Timothy Goldthwait, George Hamlen, sergeants; William Pillsbury, John Goldthwait, Del F. Ballard, Varanos Pearce, corporals. Newel Stone was musician. The privates of this company numbered fifty-one.

Albion .- A company was raised for Lieutenant Colonel Albert Moore's regiment at Albion, of which Joseph Wellington was captain; Samuel Kidder, lieutenant, and Ebenezer Stratton, ensign. The non- commissioned officers were: Samuel Libbey, James Chalmer, James Skilling, Charles Stratton, sergeants; Samuel Tarbel, John Jackson, John Kidder, jun., Samuel Stackpole, jun., corporals. The musicians were: Benjamin Reed, jun., and Thadeus Broad. The privates num- bered forty-eight men.

Captain Robinson raised a company in Albion for Lieutenant Colonel Moore's regiment. The commissioned officers were: Benja- min Robinson, captain; Thomas Harlow, lieutenant, and Benjamin Louis, ensign. The non-commissioned officers were: Warren Drake, Hiram Brackett, Stephen Bragg, Ebenezer Shaw, sergeants; Washing- ton Drake, Richard Handy, Oliver Baker, Moses Dow, corporals. Zebulon Morse and Asa Burrell went out as musicians, and twenty- six privates were enrolled.

A company was drafted from Albion in the autumn of 1814, of which Joel Wellington was made captain; Washington Heald, lieu- tenant, and Israel Richardson, ensign. Robert Richardson, Charles Stratton, William Eames and Samuel Ward were sergeants; Richard V. Haydon, Nathaniel Merchant, Andrew S. Perkins and Benjamin Reed, jun., corporals; Odiorne Heald, John Kidder, jun., and Samuel Gibson,musicians. Eighty-seven privates were sent out in this company.

Belgrade .- Belonging to Lieutenant Colonel Sherwin's regiment was a company of fifty privates raised at Belgrade, with James Minot, captain; John Fage, lieutenant, and Jesse Fage, ensign. The non- commissioned officers were: Richard Mills, Lewis Page, Samuel Page, Lemuel Lombard, sergeants; Charles Lombard, Wentworth Stewart, Briant Fall, James Black, jun., corporals. The musicians were David Wyman, Davison Hibbard, David Moshier and Jeremiah Tilton.

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MILITARY HISTORY.

Belgrade raised another company for Lieutenant Colonel Sherwin's regiment and the commissioned officers were; Joseph Sylvester, cap- tain; Levi Bean, lieutenant; Isaac Lord, ensign. The non-commis- sioned officers were: Daniel Stevens, Samuel Smith, John Sylvester, William Stevens, jun., sergeants; Jonathan H. Hill, Ephraim Tib- betts, William Wells, Samuel Tucker, corporals. Samuel Littlefield and Isaac Farnham were enrolled as musicians, with thirty-six privates.

Clinton .- For Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Moore's regiment a com- pany was raised in Clinton, of which Trial Hall was commissioned captain; James Gray, lieutenant, and Israel Richardson, ensign. The non-commissioned officers were: Samuel Haywood, Nathaniel Brown, John Fitzgerald, William M. Carr, sergeants; William Richardson, Peter Robinson, David Gray, George Flagg, corporals; Rufus Bartlett, Samuel Gibson, musicians. Thirty-two privates went out in the company.

China .- For Lieutenant Colonel Moore's regiment a company was raised in China, for which the commissioned officers were: Daniel Crowell, captain; Nathaniel Spratt, lieutenant, and Zalmuna Wash- burn, ensign. Jonathan Thurber, Elisha Clark, Jabish Crowell and Thomas Ward, jun., were sergeants; Samuel Branch, David Spratt, Samuel Ward and James Wiggins, corporals; Ephraim Clark 3d and Jonathan Coe, musicians. Twenty-four privates were enrolled in the company.

Another larger company was enlisted in China, of which Robert Fletcher was captain; Nathaniel Bragg, lieutenant, and Caleb Palme- ter, ensign. John Weeks, John Whitley, William Bradford and Jede- diah Fairfield were sergeants; Nathaniel Evans, Daniel Fowler, Daniel Bragg and Ephraim Weeks, corporals; Thomas Burrell and Timothy Waterhouse, musicians; with fifty privates.

Fayette .- In Lieutenant Colonel Ellis Sweet's regiment was a com- pany of men, enlisted at Fayette, of which Henry Watson was cap- tain; Alden Josselyn, lieutenant, and David Knowles 2d, ensign. Elisha Marston, Richard Hubbard, Thomas Fuller, jun., and Benja- min J. Winchester were sergeants; James Watson, Moses Hubbard, David Knowles, 3d, and Moses Sturdevant, corporals; and William Sturdevant and John D. Josselyn, musicians; with thirty-five privates.

Another company was raised in Fayette, of which the commis- sioned officers were: John Judkins, captain; Thomas Anderson, lieu- tenant, and Luther Bumpus, ensign. The non-commissioned officers were: James McGaffey, William Whitten, Levi Fletcher and John Brown, sergeants; and Joseph Greely, Edward Griffin, Moses Carson and Bazaled Bullard, corporals. Musicians were A. Whitten, Squire Bishop, jun., and James Trask; and the company mustered thirty- eight privates.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Gardiner .- The field and staff officers of Lieutenant Colonel John Stone's regiment, 1st Brigade, 8th Division, in service at Wiscasset and vicinity in the autumn of 1814, were: John Stone, Gardiner, lieu- tenant colonel; Reuel Howard, Augusta, major; Henry W. Fuller, Augusta, major; Enoch Hale, jun., Gardiner, adjutant; Gideon Far- rell, Winthrop, quartermaster; Rufus K. Page, paymaster; Eliphalet Gillett, Hallowell, chaplain; Ariel Mann, Hallowell, surgeon; Joel R. Ellis, Hallowell, surgeon's mate; Benjamin Davenport, Winthrop, sergeant major; James Tarbox, Winthrop, quartermaster sergeant; Roswell Whittemore, drum major; and John Wadsworth, fife major.

From Gardiner a company went out in Stone's regiment with the following commissioned officers: Jacob Davis, captain; Ebenezer Moore, lieutenant; Arthur Plummer, ensign, and William Partridge, clerk. The non-commissioned officers were not given in the record, but the company enrolled eighty privates.

Another company was raised at Gardiner with Edward Swan, captain; Daniel Woodard, lieutenant, and William Norton, ensign. The non-commissioned officers were: William B. Grant, Thomas Gil- patrick, Michael Woodard, Arthur Berry, sergeants; Benjamin C. Lawrence, William Bradstreet, Charles M. Dustin, corporals. The musicians were: Jonah Perkins, John Palmer, Edward Bourman and Andrew B. Berry. This company embraced forty-two privates.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 13

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790