[Editor's note: Few events in American
history have received more attention than the Civil War. A
neglected aspect of the study of that conflict is its effect upon small
towns far from the fighting front. This paper was originally
presented at the monthly meeting of the Bethel Historical Society on
November 6, 1983, and has been revised and enlarged for
publication in this issue of the
Bethel
Courier.]
Bethel, Maine, in 1860 was a town of 2,523 residents according to the
federal census of that year, making it the second largest (next to
Paris) town in Oxford County. It could boast 474 households, with
an average size of five persons, and four vacant dwellings.
Through the census (always bearing in mind certain errors), it can be
determined that the average age of those living in the town in 1860 was
twenty-six, with a wide variety of occupations represented. Not
surprisingly, over eighty percent of the populace derived their
livelihood from agriculture. However, as the decade of the 1860s
progressed, commercial activity and manufacturing increased,
particularly at Bethel Hill, "Skillingston" (just west of the Hill),
West Bethel, and South Bethel (Walker's Mills).
Eighty-seven percent of Bethel's citizens in 1860 were natives of
Maine. Most of the others had been born in neighboring states,
but several were natives of Ireland, perhaps having remained here
following the construction of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad
(later the Grand Trunk) during the 1840s and 1850s.
According to the 1860 census, the wealthiest head of a household
(twenty-seven households were counted with holdings worth $5000 or more
in real and personal estates) was Robert A Chapman, a merchant who in
1859 built the handsome brick block on Broad Street (owned in 1983 by
BHS life members Gordon and Mary Gillies). His
holdings were estimated to be worth a total of $27,000. Close
behind were Ira Crocker Kimball, also a merchant, with holdings of
$25,000, and Moses Pattee, a mill owner and proprietor of a hall on
Spring Street that was the center of Bethel's social and political life
during this era. Pattee had holdings worth $18,000. Most of
the others were farmers, except for physician Joshua Fanning, whose
property was valued at $8000.
In 1860, Bethel had one dentist, five doctors, twenty-eight teachers,
eight clergymen, three lawyers and a wide variety of skilled and
semi-skilled workers. Thirteen people were listed in 1860 as
employed by the Grand Trunk Railroad. Two sailors were
enumerated, as was one horse jockey. It was indeed an impressive
number of skills and professions, but with none of the diversity that
would be found in the final decades of the nineteenth century.
As in almost everything in this era, Bethel was perhaps quite typical
of most Maine towns for its size and inland location. Throughout
this study little appears to emerge that varied markedly from patterns
prevalent in other communities. The town did not have any
abolitionist groups established within its borders as did the Oxford
County towns of Sumner, Paris, Peru and Norway, although there was a
Male Antislavery Society founded in 1841 in Oxford County, according to
Edward O. Shriver's book,
Go Free:
The Antislavery Impulse in Maine 1833-1855 (1970).
Presumably some Bethel men may have belonged to this group, but none
has come to light as yet.
To understand popular sentiment in Bethel regarding the slavery
question is a difficult proposition. A review of the newspapers
of the era and the holdings in the archives of the Bethel Historical
Society reveals few specific indications of antislavery
sentiment. Presumably there were abolitionists in Bethel and a
few who may have sided with the South when war broke out. It
seems
safe to say that most citizens remained in the middle, not certain
blacks should vote or have any rights, but assured they should not be
slaves either. (For details of northern views, see Leon F.
Litwick,
North of Slavery: The Negro
in the Free States, 1790-1860, Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1961).
One small insight which may or may not have meaning is the fact that a
defense of slavery (George S. Sawyer's
Southern Institutes: Or an
Inquiry Into the Origin and Early Prevalence of Slavery and the Slave
Trade, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1858) was owned by
prominent attorney Enoch Foster Jr., who was later a justice of the
Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Of course, merely owning a book is
no
indication that Foster shared the South's sentiment, but it does
suggest
that he was at least familiar with some of its arguments.
The 1860 election, however, does provide some solid indications of
political sentiment in Bethel, despite the fact that a son of Oxford --
Hannibal Hamlin -- was on the Republican ticket with Abraham
Lincoln. The Lincoln / Hamlin GOP stood for no further extension
of slavery and won Bethel's endorsement with 206 votes cast in its
favor. The Stephen A Douglas / Herschel V. Johnson Democratic
ticket, which supported non-intervention with slave holding,
garnered 101 votes. The Breckinridge Democrats, endorsed locally
by former U.S. Congressman David Hammons (1814-1901), supported slavery
in the territories and attracted 40 votes in Bethel. The ticket
of John Bell and Edward Everett condemning sectional parties and
upholding "the constitution of the country, the Union of the States and
the influence of the law" received no support in this town.
Just prior to the outbreak of hostilities, the Republican party in
Bethel had grown to be the dominant one. The
Oxford Democrat of March 1, 1861,
noted that all the town officials were Republican except Second
Selectman Oliver H. Mason (a nephew of Dr. Moses Mason, a Jacksonian
Democrat who had served in Congress in the 1830s) and Samuel F. Gibson,
the town agent who, it appears, became a "Copperhead" Democrat as the
War progressed. Throughout the War, Bethel favored Republican
candidates by comfortable margins. By 1864, Lincoln running with
Andrew Johnson of Tennessee on a National Union ticket garnered 268
votes in Bethel compared with 208 for the Democratic slate of George B.
McClellan and George H. Pendleton, a much closer vote than was usually
the case. There were several reasons for this, but there may have
been resentment against Lincoln for dropping Hamlin from the ticket.
Shortly after the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, the call went
out for 75,000 volunteers to protect the national capital. Maine
was asked to furnish one regiment and Oxford County one company.
There was only one military unit in Oxford County at the time and that
was the Norway Light Infantry. This unit at once volunteered and
requested additional men to fill up its ranks. Bethel sent eight
men to join the troops of the Norway infantry to fight what the
Oxford Democrat termed "the putrid
venom of secession."
The Bethel men who went to Norway were described by local newspaper
editor and Gould Academy principal Dr. Nathaniel T. True (1812-1887) in
the
Bethel Courier for April
26, 1861, as "fine, athletic, noble-looking fellows." They were
Solon Robertson (4th Me.), Alfred True (son of Dr. True; 1st Me.), A.
E. Seavey, Charles P. Stearns (1st Me.), Edward P. Stearns (1st Me.),
H. Dolloff, Albert Grover (12th Me.; killed at Ship Island April 4,
1862), and Timothy M. Bean (12th Me.). Before leaving Bethel they
were reported to have made the rounds of various businesses to say
"adieu" to all. At the depot, where they were to depart, a Gould
Academy student, E. M. Wight, mounted a carload of wood and made a
patriotic speech that Dr. True described as "appropriate and
acceptable" for the occasion.
A second call from Washington soon followed for 300,000 men for three
years. The
Bethel Courier
described the military fervor of the town as "aroused." On May
31, 1861, the
Courier
reported that forty-one men had enlisted and a company of men would
soon be organized. The company (the first organized in Oxford
County after the call) was soon formed by Clark S. Edwards (1824-1907)
and called the "Bethel Rifle Guards." (Later, Edwards would lead
Company I, 5th Me., serving in the major engagements of the Army of the
Potomac, including Gettysburg. His war record would be a major
factor in his selection as the Democratic candidate for Governor of
Maine in 1886.) Its officers, besides Edwards, were John B.
Walker and Cyrus M. Wormell. Major William P. Frye was at the
organizational meeting and made
what Dr. William B. Lapham (1828-1894) called in his
History of Bethel, "a very eloquent
and patriotic speech."
By the end of May the eight Bethel soldiers were in Portland and "in
good spirits," according to the report in the
Courier. They were "eager to
get into active service" and had all taken the pledge to abstain from
intoxicating liquor, one of the many temperance efforts made by Neal
Dow's forces. A former resident of Newry living in Portland at
the time presented these Bethel soldiers with various necessities, and
a
farmer in Westbrook provided them with milk and apples.
In Bethel, the erection of what the
Courier
termed "a fine flag staff" was placed on the common symbolizing the
town's commitment to the war effort. A company of home guards was
organized in May of 1861 by Gideon A. Hastings (1821-1905).
Hastings, grandson of a founder of Bethel and later the leading spirit
in the extensive Hastings Lumber Company operations on Wild River near
Gilead, in the fall of 1861 became Captain of Company A, Twelfth Maine
Volunteers. During the War he was promoted to Major and was
present at the capture of New Orleans, serving in all the campaigns in
the Gulf Department. He also served in the Shenandoah Valley
under General Sheridan, and after the War became Provost Marshall of
West Georgia and detailed to the Freedman's Bureau. Always a
Democrat in politics, upon his return to Bethel he became town clerk,
selectman, county commissioner and representative to the legislature.
Despite this distinguished record and impressive role during the War, a
letter to Governor Israel Washburn in October 1861 was not so
reassuring. C. J. Talbot of Portland, who apparently was no
admirer of Hastings and his brother-in-law, William K. Kimball of Paris
(who also compiled an outstanding war record), wrote that they did "not
care about the principle" of the war and would certainly "sell out to
Jeff Davis if found that to be the best." Talbot accused Hastings
and Kimball of being "Peace Men" and "Dana Men" with "no heart for the
war." (John W. Dana was the "Copperhead" candidate for Governor
of Maine in 1861 and received a substantial share of the Democratic
support of Bethel -- 129 votes.) The Governor's correspondent
went
on to urge him to deny them commissions, arguing "the public will
sustain you in standing up firmly and refusing to commission
them." Governor Washburn was apparently not moved by these pleas,
since both men received their commissions and served the Union cause
with distinction.
In July, 1861, the battle of Bull Run resulted in a complete route of
Union forces. The
Oxford
Democrat for August 2, 1861, urged that no one lose hope in this
loss but that the Fifth Maine was "all cut up." No Bethel
soldier, as far as was known, had been lost, although one, Sergeant
Scribner, had been wounded. In addition, the Captain's water boy,
thirteen year old Charles Freeman, was missing.
The next week, the
Democrat
brought further news of the War for Bethel. Young Charlie Freeman
had been taken prisoner and was incarcerated in Richmond (he was
released as a result of a prisoner exchange and returned to
Bethel). Washington Robertson of Bethel was now reported
missing. (Later it was determined that he had deserted.)
Bethel men seem to have been, the newspaper reported, "utterly
exhausted from want of sleep, food and a long march on the double quick
before they arrived at the scene of the action." Taking up a
contention to be repeated in this newspaper and many others during the
War, the
Democrat added:
"There has been some outrageously bad management in that battle."
This underscores the point made by the famed Civil War historian Bruce
Catton concerning the weapons used. He contended these changed,
but the tactics employed remained the same as in the American
Revolution. Catton cited the fact that the rifle had become
decidedly more deadly, but the strategy employed assumed these weapons
to be far less accurate. As a result, many men were killed or
wounded who might have otherwise survived without injury.
Another factor to be considered in the management of war was that the
troops on both sides were rather casually organized. In many
cases, discipline depended heavily upon the popularity and calibre of
the commanding officers. This situation caused the great Prussian
general Von Moltke to consider the American Civil War of little
interest to military tacticians since it was in the opinion merely "the
movement of armed mobs."
These "armed mobs," in Bruce Catton's view, caused the Civil War to be
more like World War I since each side considered that anything which
would assist the other in prolonging the War was a target and should be
dealt with accordingly. This "total war" outlook meant in the
North's case, for instance, that if a bridge, railroad, farm or factory
allowed the South to continue the War, it was a target for
destruction. Regular reports of such destruction filled the pages
of the
Democrat, and while we
have no firm first-hand views of Bethel citizens who read these pages,
their reactions must have been obvious.
Equally compelling were the reports of wounds and deaths. These
were described in detail as they happened and could not have helped but
have had the effect of bringing the War graphically to the home front,
especially when one considers the numbers who attended funerals in
Bethel for dead soldiers. Twenty-eight Bethel men were killed or
died as a result of wounds received during the War, and their funerals
were frequently characterized with sermons strongly supporting the
Union cause.
Even more poignant were the reports of returned soldiers who survived
the War in southern prisons. One such example was Peter T. Bean
of the Sixteenth Maine who was captured and spent nearly a year in the
notorious Libby Prison. He described an ordeal where he was "glad
to get a lean dog to eat." His clothes were all worn off below
the waist and his survival was in part due to his ability to stand for
long hours, as he "did not want to lie down among the filth and vermin."
As grim as this news was to read, there is evidence that Bethel was
indeed becoming increasingly prosperous as the War progressed. By
the middle of 1863 the
Democrat
was reporting that the steam mill recently established to the west of
Bethel Hill seemed "destined to do a good business." Summer
visitors appeared to be increasing each year since additional
facilities, including the three-and-a-half story Chandler House hotel
on the common, were being built to house them. Prosperity even
extended to farmers, since Dr. True, also a keen observer of
agricultural developments, noted the high prices farmers were getting
for crops -- particularly for hops. (True, later editor of the
Maine Farmer, was also founder of
the first Farmer's Club in Maine, a state-wide predecessor to the
Grange.) As the War continued, consumer prices rose and the
Bethel column in the
Democrat
occasionally complained of the high prices paid for goods and services.
The second year of the War brought more and more reports of wartime
activities in the pages of the
Democrat.
In early 1862, a soldier from an Illinois regiment wrote to a Bethel
acquaintance that he had received three balls through his cap, one more
struck his ear "just enough to draw blood," and another just grazed his
head. The
Democrat
called the latter "pretty close grazing." On the fourth of July
the
Democrat reported on
Bethel military processions followed by a gathering in Dr. Moses
Mason's grove where the Declaration of Independence was read by A. S.
Twitchell. Next came an adjournment to the Congregational Church
where a "fervant" Union speech was heard. In the evening,
fireworks were set off at West Bethel.
As the summer continued, recruiting offices were set up in Bethel with
A. P. Knight as recruiting officer. Toward the end of July, 1862,
more than one hundred men had enlisted. Fervor for the Union
cause apparently reached a new level of intensity that month when
General Oliver Otis Howard addressed a group of local soldiers from the
porch of the Bethel House, a large hotel on the west side of the
common. Attending were men from the West Bethel Company (Eldridge
Wheeler, Captain) and East Bethel Company (John Decatur Hastings,
Captain). Later, many citizens gathered at Pattee's Hall for a
meeting chaired by Dr. True, where Rev. David Garland offered a prayer
for the safety of Bethel soldiers. General Howard also addressed
this gathering. He made a stirring Union speech and praised the
efforts of Bethel soldiers on the Potomac campaign. Colonel
Edwards was selected for special commendation, and cheers were given
for the Union, for the Bethel soldiers, for President Lincoln and
General McClellan. Seven citizens were selected from this meeting
to assist the Sanitary Commission in meeting the needs of the War, with
D. F. Brown chosen as chairman.
The United States Sanitary Commission, a private agency organized at
the beginning of the War, was responsible for assisting the War
Department with the comfort of its soldiers and for the care of the
sick and wounded. Many communities on the local level had
established an organization to help with the national effort. In
Bethel, the Ladies Union Aid Society founded in late 1861 fulfilled
this role. Even before the Aid Society was formed, Bethel
citizens had sent the
U.S. Sanitary Commission $185 in contributions, plus twenty-nine
barrels of vegetables and two of dried apples. The Union Aid
Society was undertaken with contributions totaling $413. It met
weekly, usually at Pattee's Hall, but occasionally at a member's home,
and was composed of some fifty ladies (several of whose husbands were
in the War). Attempting to assist in meeting the needs of the men
in the war zone, the Society sent food and supplies to Portland by
train for delivery to the Commission in Washington. A typical
shipment might include the following, which is recorded in the
secretary's minutes for October 28, 1862: one bed sack, four hop
pillows, twelve pillow slips, one vest, eight cravats, two pair socks,
five cotton shirts, ninety-nine handkerchiefs, ten pair of slippers,
fifteen towels, one roll of linen, two and a half pounds of lint, two
hundred yards of bandages, one bag of bags, one bag of dried apples,
one bag of dried blueberries, four packages of compresses, and one bag
of beef tallow. Most work was done by hand, but on June 6, 1862,
the minutes record that "two ladies came in with sewing machines,
aiding greatly in forwarding the work of making shirts and
drawers." The Ladies Union Aid Society is perhaps one of the best
indicators of sentiment relating to the support for the Bethel war
effort. These industrious ladies certainly produced large volumes
of supplies and not an insignificant amount of money to support the
Union cause.
Another good indication of sentiment during the war years was voting at
town meetings. The regular annual meeting was held in March, but
other special town meetings were called
to deal with wartime issues. In July, 1862, a special meeting was
held to authorize the Selectmen to borrow $1500 to pay the bounty for
soldiers and care for their families. Apparently, this amount
appeared too generous to some citizens, for in September, 1862, it was
voted on a motion by Mighill Mason to "pay a bounty to volunteers of
twenty dollars and five dollars a month for the next six months."
The $1500 raised earlier was then reduced to $900.
The following year the town voted to raise $2000 for families of
volunteers. A special town meeting in July, 1863, resulted in the
passing over of an article to pay bounties to drafted men and
conscripts. Discussion on this question, according to local
historian William B. Lapham, was "very animated." In August of
the same year, those who had opposed passing over the article lost
again by a vote of 74 to 16, but in a second meeting later in the day
won approval in providing bounties of $50 each, and the Selectmen were
instructed to borrow money for this purpose if necessary.
By 1864 the draft had been instituted and it was voted to establish a
recruiting committee of Israel G. Kimball, Gilman L. Blake and Timothy
Bean, with $1000 to be paid for bounties. Apparently not enough
recruits were forthcoming, so that a special meeting in December named
I. G. Kimball as agent "to procure either enlisted men or substitutes
to fill the town's quotas." The town treasurer was authorized to
borrow $3000 for this purpose. By 1865, the last year of the
conflict and with the end in sight, the town, without extensive debate,
raised $1500 to aid the families of volunteers. It appears
throughout these years, as far as town meetings were concerned, there
was no broad consensus as to how best to support Bethel soldiers and
their families.
Criticism of the war's conduct was found in the pages of the
Democrat. A Mrs. Goddard, who
was present at Harper's Ferry when Union forces surrendered to an
inferior force, spoke in Bethel about her belief that the War was being
mismanaged. No further details are available as to the impact of
her speech upon the town, but several Bethel soldiers in the Seventh
Maine shortly afterward reported that they had full confidence in
General McClellan.
Morale is always important in wartime and the
Democrat frequently urged those
back home to remember the men in the war zones. "Write to the
soldiers," urged the newspaper, for "many a rough cheek has been wet
with tears when a letter has been received from those at home and who
by their letters gave a pledge they were not forgotten." A Bethel
soldier, Simeon Sanborn of the Fifth Maine, wrote his mother from Camp
Franklin, Virginia, December 16, 1861, that he had "some footings,
mitten gloves and quite a number of other things sent me so I am not in
any particular want at present." He also reported that he
received "about all the Maine papers" and that it was a "good thing to
have friends especially when you are in the army."
By late 1862 the
Democrat
itself provided visible evidence of the effect of the War by reducing
its size due to inflation and the scarcity of materials. As
another indication of the effect of war, there appeared in this first
reduced-size issue an advertisement from Bethel attorney David Hammons
indicating that he would assist soldiers having claims against the
government.
The War was brought home in a dramatic manner in February, 1863, with
an epidemic of smallpox at North Bethel. The
Democrat reported that the disease
had been carried home by a returning soldier. Despite this
unpleasant news, Dr. True, in writing his column for the
Democrat, was not always
serious. In June, 1863, responding to the abundance of mosquitos
in Bethel he wrote that "the Southern rebellion has been entirely
forgotten in the fight to keep them away from body."
By July, 1863, the draft had been imposed and a list was published in
the
Democrat of sixty-four
Bethel men who were to appear for induction. The newspaper
reported that the young men who have been drafted "take the matter very
heroically and cheerfully." In this call-up, only one
"professional" man had been drafted, and that was Samuel F. Gibson, the
"Copperhead" Democrat, lawyer and town agent who served as a captain
from May 23, 1864 to May 7, 1865.
Few letters from Bethel soldiers have come to light to date, but one of
particular interest is that of William L. Grover who was a Sergeant in
Company B, Twenty-third Maine Volunteers, who served in the Union army
from September 29, 1862, to July 15, 1863. Grover was apparently
quite religious, as his letters are filled with references to God and
church services. He was obviously quite content with his lot as a
soldier, writing his sister from Muddy Branch, Maryland, in March,
1863, that he was "well, fat and homly (
sic) though the boys tell me that I
am growing handsome." Even though his letters were largely
positive, he could not resist occasional references to home: "I hope
Mr. Fernald [Gould Academy principal who later became the second
president of the University of Maine at Orono] will prove a good
teacher & build up the old academy school once more."
Simeon Sanborn, another Bethel soldier mentioned earlier, was similarly
upbeat in his report from Camp Vernon, Virginia, in September,
1861. Writing to let the folks back home know that "Old Jeff has
not gotten me yet," he described his situation: "We have plenty of
peaches, watermelon and muskmelon and any quantity of grapes. I
have eaten about a half bushel today. Have got a nice place for
camping. It is on a high hill [where we] can see all the ships
and steamers pass up and down the river. We have plenty to eat
and drink whiskey twice a day if we want. I don't draw my ration
very often and I think if the rest of the boys did not draw so much of
theirs it would be better for them."
In June, 1864, some excitement was generated by Deputy Sheriff Cyrus M.
Wormell, who, assisted by G. L. Blake of Bethel and a company of local
men, attempted to arrest a deserter, John E. Bean of Albany. They
successfully surrounded the house he was hiding in, but when Bean came
out the back door into the shed, he fired his revolver at two of the
posse outside the house. A bullet went through the brow of Calvin
J. Kimball's hat, then struck Lyman Russell, the carriage painter, in
the chin passing into his shoulder where he, in the words of the
Democrat, "picked it out." He
was only slightly injured. Bean then sprang for the woods.
Twenty shots were fired at him, but he managed to escape into the night.
Bounty jumpers were not always so lucky. In December, 1864, near
the end of the War, the
Democrat
reported that two men were arrested attempting to pass through Bethel
on their way to Canada. Apparently, this town was a familiar
route for those trying to collect the bounty paid for enlisting and
then deserting, for the
Democrat
periodically recorded attempts to stem this flow of lawbreakers.
Probably no event has more human interest that the case of Sergeant
John Cooper. His story was perhaps repeated dozens of times
throughout the country. He had been reported killed and buried
following the battle of Cedar Creek. By the fall of 1864, he
returned home (much to the joy of his family) to read his own obituary.
In summary, the Civil War years were important in Bethel for they
marked the greater industrialization of the town, the growth of the
summer tourist trade with many hotels and boarding houses being
established throughout the town, and the increased importance of Bethel
Hill as the commercial center of the community. It is obvious
that in Bethel, as in the North in general, not everyone agreed with
the conduct of the War or how those who went off to fight it should be
compensated. There were many differences of opinion reflected in
the town meetings, election results, and activities -- for example --
of town agent Samuel F. Gibson, who ran as a "Copperhead" candidate for
Oxford County Clerk of Courts in 1863. Probably the most
important result of the War upon Bethel was its effect on her loyal
sons. By examining the 1870 federal census it can be determined
that five years after the War ended only 53 of the approximately 180
soldiers that the town sent to the War were still here to be
counted. Besides those killed in the War, a few had died in the
intervening years, but apparently for one hundred of the survivors
other locations were more promising for earning a living and raising a
family.