USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
I56
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
A history of "Waterville in the war" would be incomplete without mentioning a few of the prominent older men :
Hon. D. L. Milliken. Gen. Franklin Smith, F. D. Haviland, Major Samuel Appleton, Dr. D. N. Sheldon, Dr. J. T. Champlin, John Ware, Julius Alden, William and Walter Getchell, R. B. Dunn, John Webber, Prof. George Keeley,-noble men of wise counsels and great hearts, whose waking thoughts when conflict was joined, were always with our armies; whose "purse and pen" sustained the government and encouraged the leaders to final victory and peace.
The years in which these men lived and wrought have gone where the roses go; many have crossed the river, but the influ- ence of their lives and their loyalty in "the times that tried men's souls," has left a fragrant memory with those that knew them.
As for the questions the solution of which was so important to the great Republic of to-day, it may be said: God wrought them out in his own way, in his own appointed time, through the Civil War, and they were settled forever.
The first rebel gun fired at Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, roused all the latent patriotism of the North united all parties or, better, obliterated all parties, and when the President's call of April 15th for 75,000 men was flashed over the wires, the enthusiasm was so great that a million men would have offered their services if required, and they could have been armed and fed.
In Waterville a recruiting office was opened in the office of Joshua Nye, then treasurer of the old Androscoggin and Ken- nebec Railroad Company, on the second floor of the Hanscom block, corner of Elm and Main streets, on the morning of April 16th, the day following the call of President Lincoln.
Charles A. Henrickson, then an undergraduate at Waterville College, was the first to sign the roll as a volunteer from Water- ville, and his patriotic zeal and his exaltation as a new volunteer proved so irresistibly contagious at the college that the classes and recitations were broken up. Finally, to save the classes, the president and faculty voted to close the college temporarily.
Another recruiting office was opened on the second floor of the Plaisted building, which now stands on Charles street. This was in charge of William S. Heath, his brother Frank E. Heath, and J. H. Plaisted, who were the first to volunteer there, and each arrived at distinction in the service.
I57
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
In a few days the companies were filled and began squad and company drill in our streets ; were soon ordered to Augusta into camp, and on June 4th were mustered into the service of the United States as Companies G and H of the Third Maine Infan- try Volunteers. Company G was commanded by Frank S. Hes- seltine, with Nathaniel Hanscom Ist lieutenant and William A. Hatch 2nd lieutenant. Company H was commanded by W. S. Heath, with F. E. Heath as Ist lieutenant and John R. Day as 2nd lieutenant.
O. O. Howard was appointed colonel of the regiment, and on the 5th of June he was ordered to Washington with his com- mand, carrying with him, as Waterville's first contingent, seventy-four of her boys into the maelstrom of war.
Meantime, apprehending the embarrassment under which the general government would labor to defend itself against the organized rebellion of the South, the legislature of Maine, at an extra session called to consider and provide for the exigencies of the hour, determined to furnish the government at the earliest moment with ten regiments fully armed and equipped, from the enrolled but unarmed militia of 60,000 men, to serve for two years. This act was passed and approved April 25th.
How the men who voted for this measure expected to arm and equip thesemen, they never knew, but they did know it must be done.
Thus the regiments from the Ist to the Ioth inclusive were organized by this act of the legislature, and all succeeding organ- izations by the general government or by its authority.
It must be born in mind that the Ist Regiment Maine Infantry had been mustered into service for three months at Portland May 4th, and the 2nd Regiment Maine Infantry mustered at Bangor May 28th, and both sent at once to the front.
The 3rd was mustered June 5th : the 4th June 15th ; the 5th June 24th ; the 6th July 15th : the 7th August 21st ; the 8th Sep- tember 7th ; the 9th September 22nd ; the Ioth October 4th ; the TIth November 4th ; the 12th November 15th ; the 13th Novem- ber 20th ; the 14th December 1Ith ; the 15th December 17th ; the first cavalry October 19th, and six batteries : making with five companies of sharpshooters and coast guards,* 16.669 men ; and of this number Waterville furnished 121 in 1861.
* The U. S. Government credited the State of Maine with 18,875 for the year 1861.
158
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Waterville College furnished from its alumni and undergrad- uate classes the following list of patriotic young men for Com- pany G, 3rd Maine: Charles A. Henrickson, class of 1864; William E. Brown, class of 1864; George H. Bassett, class of 1864, died in service; Atwood Crosby, class of 1864; Moses W. Young, class of 1864: F. P. Stearns, class of 1864, died in ser- vice; Frank S. Hesseltine, class of 1863 ; A. C. Hinds, class of 1863, died in service; Samuel Hamblen, class of .1862 ; Amasa Bigelow, Jr., class of 1862 ; J. A. Philbrook, class of 1862; Wil- liam A. Hatch, class of 1861.
For Company H, 3rd Maine: W. S. Heath, class of 1855, killed in battle; Francis E. Heath, class of 1858.
These companies received their baptism of fire at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and of the above named, C. A. Henrickson and Atwood Crosby were taken prisoners there ; the latter a voluntary one to care for his brother who was shot through the lungs .*
David Bates was mortally wounded, taken prisoner and died at Richmond, Va., the first Waterville soldier killed ; and a num- ber of the Waterville contingent were wounded and captured.
During the year the following changes were made in the line and non-commissioned officers :
Capt. Frank S. Hesseltine, promoted November 14th to major of the 13th Maine.
Lieut. Nath'l Hanscom, promoted November 15th to captain of his company.
2nd Lieut. W. A. Hatch, promoted November 15th to Ist lieu- tenant of his company.
Capt. W. S. Heath was promoted lieutenant colonel 5th regi- ment, September 25th.
Lieut. F. E. Heath was promoted captain of his own Com- pany H.
2nd Lieut. Jno. R. Day was promoted Ist lieutenant of his own company.
Ist Sergt. E. C. Lowe was promoted 2nd lieutenant of his own company, and
* Henrickson was a prisoner eleven months in Libby and Salisbury prisons and the Parish prison in New Orleans; was exchanged and returned to Waterville. In '63 he enlisted in the navy, and was promoted to Ensign. While serving as gun- ner in the turret of the monitor Saugus, in the second attack on Fort Fisher, one of the 15-inch Rodman guns exploded, prostrating the executive officer and seven- teen men in the turret, wounding every man except Henrickson, but, miraculously, killing none.
I59
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Sergt. J. H. Plaisted was promoted Ist sergeant of his own company.
These were the changes and casualties of our neighbors and friends at the front for the year 1861, in Companies G and H, 3rd Maine.
Of the boys from our State, 188 were killed or died of disease or wounds, and 165 were prisoners or missing.
The excitement ; the ten thousand details of the recruiting, arming, equipping, and transportation of Maine troops to the seat of war; their military discipline there; the campaigns, battles, skirmishes, marches, sickness and deaths among these Maine boys in that first year of the war, filled the minds of the men and women of our town, and of the State, to the almost total exclu- sion of all else, except sympathy for those who mourned the loss of loved ones, and sympathy for the sick, suffering, homesick, heartsick boys who lingered in the populous hospitals where parting life was laid.
No sooner had our first contingent, Companies G and H, been uniformed at Augusta, than with natural instinct, devotion and helpfulness, the women of Waterville commenced their arduous duties of picking lint, making bandages, seeking contributions of money for hospital stores for soldiers in camp in our State, in the field and general hospitals ; and these duties were continuous, untiring, during the war. Commencing in the modest home- individual labor, sympathy and love, developed into the town, county, State and general organizations that spent fabulous sums for the sick and wounded, relieving distress in ways never before known.
The approximate estimate of Waterville's contributions in money, hospital stores, etc., in public channels, from 1861 to 1865 is :
To soldiers in Maine camps and hospitals. . . $600 00
To general hospitals in loyal states 300 00
To regimental hospitals and individuals 350 00
To New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc 200 00
To United States Sanitary Commission 400 00
To United States Christian Commission 1,500 00
To aid to 652 persons in 215 families 10,234 42
$13,584 42
160
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
The modest beginnings of individuals and local associations of relief grew so helpful, so necessary, and finally so vast in scope, as to eclipse any and all efforts before or since made to supplement the hospital service of the army in its efforts to alle- viate suffering. Contributions were enormous. Government was calling for the last man and the last dollar to save the coun- try, and to those at home money seemed worthless without coun- try, flag, and honor.
In her "Epistle to Posterity" Mrs. Sherwood says: "Dr. Bel- lows was president of the Sanitary Commission, and I became secretary of the Metropolitan Fair and wrote innumerable letters to all our representatives in Europe. All answered well. After a winter's work we sent Dr. Bellows one million three hundred and sixty-five dollars in one check, as the result of our work."*
Among the many schemes for the benefit of our soldiers in the field was a plan for transmitting their pay or a portion of it to their families at home, authorized by General Orders No. 81, war department, adjutant general's office, September 19, 1861, by "Allotment Rolls," to be signed by the soldier who designated h's assignee, his address, and the amount per month to be reserved. These rolls were transmitted by company and regi- mental officers to the paymaster general, and by him to the dis- tributors or trustees appointed by the governor, who generously and patriotically consented not only to act without compensation, but to give bonds to Nathan Dane and John S. Hodsdon in the sum of $15,000 each for the faithful performance of their duties.
The volunteer trustee for Waterville and vicinity was Homer Percival, Esq., cashier of the Peoples' Bank, who performed the onerous duties of this office during the war, although many of these trustees resigned their offices, finding the duties too exacting.
The amount received and distributed by banks and private individuals as trustees in these allotment rolls prior to the trans-
* The writer has in his possession a fine lithograph receipt of the "Committee on Military Donations of the City of Boston," reading :
"Boston, 1861."
"This certifies that the ladies of the Waterville Association have given sixty dollars and thirty cents for the soldiers who leave Boston under the requisition of the President of the United States."
(signed) Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis
for the Com. on Military Donations.
I61
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
fer of a part of these duties to the State treasurer by act of the legislature, and the few who continued to discharge those duties without compensation, must amount to some hundreds of thou- sands of dollars.
The State treasurer alone received and disbursed $559,526.37.
It could only gratify idle curiosity, to indicate how much of this sum came to Waterville from our boys in the field, and the suggestion is only made to show how impossible it is to-day to group events chronologically, which most interest us locally. Our neighbors and friends joined this or that regiment and lost their identity in the Grand Army of the Republic, that for four long years held in its grasp, not only the destiny of this Nation, but the fate of Liberty and good government throughout the globe, an army which knew no law but Loyalty, no thought but obedience ; an army that served under as many commanders as it fought campaigns ; yet marched as cheerfully and fought as loyally under the new commander as under the old; an army that fought over more miles of ground than most continental armies ever marched over; an army baptized in blood, conse- crated in tears, and hallowed in prayers.
In such a school, the fathers of this generation, were taught what loyalty meant; what our flag symbolized; while the mothers sat with sorrow and wrought with busy hands and tear- ful eyes.
From homes of peaceful traditions ; lives of peaceful pursuits ; our Waterville boys stood up to be counted "for three years or for the war"-anxious to do their duty.
Waterville was represented in each of the fifteen infantry regi- ments sent out in '61, except the 2nd, 4th, and 12th ; as also in the Ist Cavalry and the 4th Battery, as follows :
One in the Ist Infantry; seventy-four in the 3rd Infantry ; three in the 5th Infantry ; one in the 6th Infantry ; eight in the 7th Infantry ; fourteen in the 8th Infantry; three in the 9th Infantry ; one in the 10th Infantry; two in the 11th Infantry ; one in the 13th Infantry ; one in the 14th Infantry ; one in the 15th Infantry ; four in the First Cavalry ; one in the 4th Battery.
In 1862 Waterville furnished 102 volunteers for the twelve regiments of infantry and one regiment of heavy artillery, besides recruits, as follows :
II
162
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Twenty-two for the 16th Infantry ; two for the 17th Infantry ; eight for the 19th Infantry ; twenty-nine for the 20th Infantry ; forty-one for the 21st Infantry.
Commissioned officers from Waterville in the 16th; Abner R. Small, adjutant, promoted major; William A. Stevens, 2nd lieut., Ist lieut., and captain, killed before Petersburg.
Commissioned officers from Waterville in the 19th; Francis E. Heath, promoted from the 3rd Me., to lieut .- col. of the 19th, colonel and brevet brigadier-general ; F. W. Haskell, adjutant.
Commissioned officers from Waterville in the 20th; Isaac S. Bangs, captain ; lieut .- col. 8Ist U. S. C. I .; col. Ioth Heavy Artillery, brevet brigadier-general U. S. Vols .; George C. Getchell, Ist sergt., 2nd lieut., Ist lieut., captain 8Ist U. S. C. I., major, lieut .- col., and brevet-colonel; Addison W. Lewis, Ist lieut. and captain ; Charles W. Billings, 2nd lieut., Ist lieut., and captain, died of wounds at Gettysburg; Charles R. Shorey sergt., Ist sergt., 2nd lieut., and Ist lieut; W. H. Low, sergt. and Ist lieut ; Henry A. Batchelder, sergt. and 2nd lieut.
Commissioned officers from Waterville in the 21st Regiment : John U. Hubbard. captain ; George W. Hubbard, sergt .- major, 2nd lieut. ; Andrew Pinkham, 2nd lieut ; Frank Bodfish, hospital steward to assist. surgeon.
Casualties and Promotions of commissioned officers from Waterville: Lieut .- Colonel W. S. Heath, 5th Me., killed at Gaines Mill; Chaplain Henry C. Leonard, from 3rd to 18th Regt .; William A. Hatch, Ist lieut. in 3rd Me., and major 72nd U. S. C. I .; George A. McIntire, 2nd lieut., Ist lieut., and cap- tain; James H. Plaisted, sergt., sergt .- major, to adjutant and captain ; Samuel Hamblen, to 2nd lieut., captain, major, and lieut .- col. in Ullman's Brigade ; E. C. Lowe, sergt., to 2nd lieut., resigned ; Frank H. Getchell, hospital steward to assist. sur- geon ; John R. Day, 2nd lieut. to Ist lieut. and captain ; Charles W. Lowe, 2nd lieut. to Ist lieut. and captain ; William H. Copp, to Ist lieut. Co. I, 17th Me .; Charles A. Farrington, to lieut. 31st Me .; Samuel J. Haines, to lieut. U. S. N. ; Henry E. Tozier, to lieut. 8th Me .; John B. Wilson, to surgeon 96th U. S. C. I.
Waterville furnished for the two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry in 1863: Four for the 29th Infantry ; sixteen for the 30th Infantry ; two for the 2nd Cavalry; and in 1864: Seven-
163
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
teen for the 3Ist Infantry; three for the 32nd Infantry; and many recruits for all the regiments and batteries in the field, the unassigned companies, the coast guards and naval service.
The figures given for 1861-2-3-4 being for the regiments, etc., as originally sent to the field, but these and all subsequent allot- ments of men under the President's call were always up to the requirements.
In 1861 more than its share was furnished of men who received no bounty from the government and the town received no credit for the excess.
The enlistments from Waterville for the years 1861 and 1862 can be quite accurately determined, but to ascertain the actual enlistments in any succeeding year, to include recruits, drafted men, and substitutes, is a task of such magnitude that it will never be undertaken, because the results are unimportant and not commensurate with the labor.
The quotas of Waterville and all the other towns and cities for 1863 and subsequent calls were not apportioned to such municipalities, but to the respective provost marshals, districts, sub-districts or to congressional districts, and no adequate record of these apportionments exists.
The foregoing figures show that the enlistments for the orig- inal companies in different organizations of named men were 12I in 1861 ; 102 in 1862; 22 in 1863; and 20 in 1864, while the alphabetical list printed herewith gives the names of 421 men ; showing that 156 more men joined these organizations as recruits during these four years or one in nine of the entire population in 1861.
Waterville paid in bounties for enlistments as follows :
Call of 1861 Nothing
1862 3 years men $4,700
1862 9 month men 5,200
1863
Volunteers 8,925
1864-5 Volunteers and drafted men
who furnished substitutes 45,790
Drafted men that entered service 1,200
Substitutes 1,900
$67,715
164
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Out of the 400 estimated alumni and undergraduates of Water- ville (now Colby) college in 1865, 142 entered service during the war.
Thirty-eight members of Waterville Masonic Lodge entered service and seven were killed in battle.
The State of Maine furnished 72,945 men for the war. The total number of troops killed or died of wounds was 2,801. The total number of troops died of disease was 4,521. Total, 7,322, or about one in ten of the men who enlisted.
The losses in naval service are not here included.
It is impossible for the present generation to realize the danger, the privation, the suffering of those whom we knew; who went out from among us ; or the agonizing suspense of the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters who were left at home; of their waiting, fearing, hoping, as the long campaigns followed each other, leaving in their trail waste, ruin and lonely graves.
And when battle was on, their faith in God was almost a pre- monition, while their constant prayer was for hope in his mercy, or strength to bear their pain.
To those who remember the dreadful years of the war, it is no longer real, but a horrid dream of blood, and horror and woe.
These will know that some of our boys followed their tattered flags, representing their State, their town, their home, in every campaign, in every great battle, and every prison of the South.
David Bates, our first martyr, represents Waterville at Bull Run, killed there forty-one years ago this month.
George Bowman and Roscoe Young died at Yorktown.
Lieut .- Col. W. S. Heath, the gallant soldier ; so early lost to his home and his country ; killed at the disastrous battle of Gaines Mill, where for forty years he has slept under the grass and flowers in an unknown grave.
Miner W. Savage at South Mountain.
Isaac W. Clark at Antietam ;
Lorenzo Clark, Charles F. Lyford, James O. West, and John M. Wheeler at Fredericksburg ;
William F. Bates, Albert Corson, and Joseph D. Simpson at Gettysburg ;
Hadley P. Dyer, Stephen Ellis, and Richard Perley at Port Hudson ;
-
LT. COL. WILLIAM S. HEATH.
165
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
William Chapman, C. R. Atwood, Peter Roderick, and Capt. William A. Stevens before Petersburg ;
Lieut. Charles A. Farrington at the Wilderness ;
John O. James, and Albert Quimby buried at sea ;
Six died at Salisbury prison, two at Andersonville, one at Belle Isle, and one at Camp Gross, Texas ;
The yellow fever found a victim in the brilliant young officer, George C. Getchell, at New Orleans, and a soldier's death met our boys at Hatchers Run, Pleasant Hill, La. Weldon Railroad, Chantilly, Ship Island, Winchester, and Belle Plain.
The Bacon family sent five sons ; but three returned.
The Messer family sent three sons ; none returned.
The "Penney Boys"-four brothers, three killed or died in service, one returned to die at home, of disease contracted in the army.
Deacon Stevens sent his two sons; most promising young men, both killed in battle.
Companies G and H of the Third Infantry, and Co. A of the 20th Infantry were well known as Waterville companies, and from the first to last, the town furnished eighty-five men for the former and forty-five for the latter.
Of these, but three are living here of the eighty-five who went to the front in '61, in the Third Regiment, Charles R. Shorey, F. W. Haskell, and Charles Bacon; in Oakland two, Baxter Crowell and George T. Benson.
Of the forty-five who went into the 20th (Co. A), but two are living in Waterville, I. S. Bangs and Charles R. Shorey, and one in Oakland, William H. Stevens.
Our Roll of Honor contains the names and military record of 140 of our dead, including a few who came here to live at some time since the war and died, and found a resting place in Pine Grove Cemetery. Fifty of these went from here and are buried here. As many more "unheeded-unknown" lie where they fell and were thrown into trenches without a prayer, or died in hos- pital and prison and drifted away into the dawning eternities.
Many of these are they who came back to us "when war was done," thro' the blood-red haze of a score of battlefields. These and the living are the representatives of the men who bequeathed
166
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
to this and the coming generations, in trust forever, the heritage of a Nation saved, which they must learn how to defend.
These are the names of men that in the annals of this fair city deserve imperishable fame, and in reverent spirit let every citi- zen of Waterville read this
ROLL OF HONOR.
Allen, Benjamin C .: Co. B, 14th Mass. Inf. Vol., afterwards designated as Ist Mass. H'y Art. Died in Armory Square Hos- pital, Washington, May 23d, 1864, of wounds received at Spott- sylvania May 19, 1864.
Aderton, Wm. H .: Private, Co. B, 13th Me. ; died, July 17, 1862, of disease at Ship Island.
Atwood, Charles R .: Sergeant, Co. B, 32nd Me .; killed, July 30th, 1864, at Petersburg.
Balentine, Elijah: Private, Co. L, 4th Mass. Cav. Buried here.
Balentine, Samuel : Corporal, Co. K, 7th Me. Vols. Died December 29, 1883. Buried here.
Bates, David: Private, Co. G, 3d Me. Killed at Bull Run, July 21, 1861. First man killed from Waterville.
Bowman, Geo. W., Jr .: Private, Co. E, 3rd Me. Died at Yorktown, May 13, 1862.
Brackett, Orrin : Private, 6th Me. Battery. Died at Water- ville, March 21, 1863.
Bickford, Bennett : Private, Co. E, 30th Me. Died at New Orleans, May 4, 1864.
Bacon, Chas .: Private, Co. G, 3rd Me. Died at City Point, 1864.
Boothby, Warren J .: Private, Co. I, 31st Me. Died at Waterville, April 24, 1869.
Blair, John : Private, Co. B, 16th Me., Co. G, 20th Me. Died at Fairfield, 1891.
Bacon, Wm. H .: Corporal, 3rd Me. Died at Waterville, 1862.
Barrett, Wm. K .: Private, Co. H, 3rd Me. Died at Libby
Prison or Belle Isle. Date unknown.
Bates, Isaac W .: Private, Co. F, 32nd Me. Died at Salis- bury Prison.
167
HISTORY OF WATERVILLE.
Bates, Wm. T .: Private, Co. E, 16th Me. Killed at Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.
Bates, Phineas: Private, Co. F, 32nd Me. Died in Salis- bury Prison.
Blake, Geo. E. A .: Private, Co. E, 8th Me. Killed at Hatcher's Run, Va., April 2, 1865.
Butler, Daniel : Private, Co. B, 12th Me. Inf. Vet. Vol. Died here, June 18, 1896.
Bushey, Levi, died December 15, 1900.
Bushey, William : Private, Co. C, 9th Maine. Died here, June 15, 1902. Buried here.
Copp, Wm. H .: Ist lieut., Co. I, 17th Me. Died in Minne- sota, April, 1883.
Copp, Alonzo: Private, Co. B, 34 Regt. Pa. Vol. and 5th Pa. Reserves ; private, Co. C, 19Ist Pa. Died in Salisbury Prison, of starvation, December 28, 1864.
Cary, Joseph : Private, Co. A, 7th Me. Died in Waterville. Buried here.
Crosby, Atwood: Asst. surgeon, U. S. Navy, Co. G, 3rd Me. Died in Las Vegas, N. M., January 25, 1883. Buried here.
Chapman, William: Private, Co. D, 8th Me .; Co. E, 27th Me. Killed at Petersburg, June 15, 1864.
Clark, Lorenzo D .: Private, Co. A, 20th Me. Died at Fred- ericksburg, Va., 1863.
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.