Browse Items (104 total)

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 19 At the close of our last number we were in the rifle-pits that we had captured at such terrible loss on that tenth of May 1864, at…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 20 At the close of our last number we were looking over that awful scene that was presented to our sight at “Bloody Angle” on the morning…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 21 On Monday, May 16, we were ordered back near Spotsylvania Court House, though we saw very little fighting, for the battle was about over…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 22 June 1st, 1864, the regiment was partially engaged in the first part of the day near old Cold Harbor and the brigade was fully in the…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 23 Our last number left us with the dying Confederate colonel at Cold Harbor, in the early light of morning, June 2, 1864. The Fifth Maine…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] No. 24 June the 4th, we were still in the works. Grant sent a flag of truce to Lee asking cessation of hostilities for forty minutes to bury the…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] [No. 25] We left Cold Harbor Sunday evening, June 12, for the James River. To say that the order to move was a pleasant one, faintly expresses…

WAR REMINISCENCES OF THE BETHEL COMPANY, Company I, Fifth Maine Regiment. [By Col. Clark S. Edwards] [No. 26] Our last article left us at City Point near the boat landing. The next morning, June 24th, we boarded the steamer, John Brooks for…

COL. EDWARDS’ LETTER. Bethel, Jan. 25th, 1896 My dear friend Stevens:— Your kind letter came to hand in due time; many thanks for the same. You say I may have forgotten you; my answer is, No, I well remember you and other sergeants of that old Co.…

ECHOES FROM THE SIXTIES. Official Report of One of the Most Bloody Conflicts of the Civil War. The following is the official report of the Fifth Maine at Fredericksburg, as given by Col. Edwards to General John L. Hodsdon.It has not been revised…

ECHOES FROM THE SIXTIES. Official Report of One of the Most Bloody Conflicts of the Civil War. [Continued from last week.] Soon the shouts of the enemy immediately in our front, warned us that they were advancing, and every man stood ready to…

ECHOES FROM THE SIXTIES. By Col. C. S. Edwards. Bethel, May 3, 1900. Thirty-seven years ago this day, was fought the great battle of Chancellorsville, commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, who at that time was commander of the Potomac Army. We…

The Boys of ’61.Bethel, May 4, 1901 This day, forty years ago, our lovely village was excited as never before in its history. In the early morn, carriages were seen coming in from every direction, in some cases, wives to bring their husbands, in…

Life on the Home Front: Bethel During the Civil War by Stanley Russell Howe Major Gideon A. Hastings (1821-1905), 12th Maine Battalion Editor's note: Few events in American history have received more attention than the Civil War. A neglected…

Twenty-five Years of the Courier: A Personal Memoir by Stanley Russell Howe Masthead from an issue of Bethel's first newspaper, The Bethel Courier (1858-1861) When I became Director of the Bethel Historical Society in 1974, there was almost…

General Oliver Otis Howard Speaks at Bethel by Stanley R. Howe Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), ca. 1865 Courtesy of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard spoke at Bethel on the afternoon of 15 July…

Bethel in the War of the Rebellion by William B. Lapham The following lightly edited text is taken from the History of Bethel, Formerly Sudbury Canada, Oxford County, Maine 1768-1890, compiled by William B. Lapham and published in 1891 by the…

Memories of Broad Street by Margaret Herrick Oakes Broad Street, Bethel Hill village, circa 1910 Editor's note: Margaret Herrick Oakes (1896-1992) was the daughter of Judge Addison E. and Mary Chase Herrick and spent her childhood on Broad…