Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1889-05-16

aiding awhile, Major Darling left us and
returned home | think Capt. Clark be-
came di>gusted with hearing so much pro-
family for after Major Darling left us,
Capt Clark called the attention of his com
phny &c see if swearing could not be dis
pen>cd with, and requested all who were
in favor of dispensing with it to hold up
their guns Every gun went up. No pro-
family was heard from any one in the com
pany that day. Capt, Clark's detachment
was made up from five companies, viz
Hancock Franklin, Sullivan Trenton and
Mt. Desert. But little progress was made
this day on account of the lameness of the
soldiers We got as far a. Columbia,
eleven miles, and put up at Mr.. Peterson :
for the night. At Columbia saw a
gentleman who had formerly taught school
in Mount Desert, Mr.. William Bowen. He
inquired where we were going and | told
him Nc had volunteered to 20 TO Calais to
defend the frontier Said he, You have
volunteered yourselves into difficulty "
counted the cost At the commencement
and concluded the Almighty was as able to
protect me in battle as Mt home March
;, went aS far a. West Machias and put
up At Iongfrllow'> and it being Saturday
nl..ht we stopped over the Sabbath. and
inc people they were. especially the lady
II the house who tried to make us as com
Portable a. She could.
The next morning Monday. March t. we
l"ft Machias sand going northeast course
Ne crossed a small lake and went as far as
DcNnH willie and put up at Allan's house,
but We had no beds here to sleep on. Our
town had provided each Of Us with a
couple Of half blankets, pretty well worn
ont SO We ~ook one half for pillow and
the other half for a covering. The wealth
cr was cold and wc~had no fire. There
vas a box stove IN the room but no ire
wood and by midnight we were 50 cold We
could endure ii no longer; so some of us
got up and went outside in search ef fuel.
We found some pieces of old boards which
~e split up and made a fire and warmed
the room. but sc got but very little sleep
that night Tuesday morning. March 5th,
we took up our march and came to the
ui>hcd with dinner at public house.
That afternoon we went a far as the town
of Barring on the st. CroiX, where we
stopped over night, The next morning,
March 4, We left Barring and arrived in
Calais about noon. | think We had for
barracks an Did house and sixteen of u,
were put in one room, probably about
fourteen fcetsquare, where we ate, drank
and Slept We had plenty of fire-wood. but
NJ beds. Fifteen of Us lay on the floor,
one had 10 -tahd guard outside
Sometime in the first part of the night
the officer of the guard came into our
room and said there was a man dying in
an adjacent room. got up Immediately
and went in where the sick man WAS and
there lay Josiah Leach of the Ellsworth
company an old acquaintance of minr)
stretched on couch, ga>Ping for breath
| stayed by him awhile and then left him
and went into our room and lay down
again. But there was no sleep for me
that night We were trampled upon by
the officers of the guard passing through
the room and the next day was sick and
sore enough.
soon after this the ladies Of Calais fur
nishcd n> with straw beds one bed for
every Two soldiers, and We had more com
Portable quarters. We were kept in Cal
al about five weeks and were drilled daily
and sometimes had a general muster Of all
the troops. There were two companies
OF militia and two of the infantry rendcz-
you>cd at Calais, At first the ratiun> fur
nI>hcd bv Government did not satisfy our
appetite> and some Of Us had the idea that
the commissary kept back part of our al
lowance How that was | do not know.
When a man is cut short on his food, il
make> him savage, and some were for de>-
erting, but had no such intention. The
most Of the soldiers were laboring men
and our appcttcs were keen After we had
been there awhile the ratons furnished
Us wcre sufficient and when We were dis
charged We had some provisions left
Very little occurred worthy of note
while we were in Calais. One of the sol
ders indulging pretty freely in liquor
straycd over on the English side Of the
river and got into a row with the soldiers
stationed there and was taken prisoner,
but was soon released and brought back
and was kept under guard for some time.
targets. one day while at this exercise
one soldier was trying to fire his gun and
the powder flashed in the pan Gt was a
flint lock- and the gun did not 90 off imme
diately, the powder being little damp,
and while taking his gun down it went off
and the bullet went through a dwelling
house, but no one was hurt. After mat
ters were adjusted concerning the north
eastern boundary we were mustered before
General Foster and paid off and discharged
received eighteen dollars, one and one
half months pay. We were discharged
Saturday and Sunday morning we went
afoot down river before daylight as far
as the Devils Head g miles, where an
old schooner partly loaded with lumber
was waiting 20 convey us to South West
Harbor.
We had for officers Daniel W. Clark,
Captain; N. S. Swan, Lieutenant. both of
Franklin; Moses Mcfarland, Ensign of
Trenton; Samuel Scammons, Clerk and
Samuel Springer, bass drummer, both of
Franklin; John S. Emery Of Sullivan, fifer,
all fine men. Some may think that it re-
quired but little courage or heroism to en-
list at such a time but when We take into
consideration the report that was in circu-
lation that war had already begun, that
there was fighting at the Aroostook, and
the haste that was made to get troops to
the frontier, it required some nerve to take
such step. | took into consideration the
danger there might be, but l knew that
some one must go and l thought that
might as we'll as any one. l was young
and had no family and after had enlisted
l could not have been persuaded to stop al
home, if l could have been released.