Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-03-12
FIRST MAINE HEAVY.
. VEIL LOSSES OF THIS REG
IMENT IN CIVIL WAR.
ru RECORD GREATER THAN THAT
or ANY OTHER REeIMENr-ErLs-
WORTH MEN WERE IN 1T.

larry In the SNh "eA' ~ Ao
-. been engaged in looking up iniorma-
40, concerning the losses in killed and
.xouuded sustained by the regiment dur
,,s the battles near spottsyIyania court
,o,.e and at Petersburg In 1854. His
,rvestigations have been carefully and
Maternity made, and reveal record sup
a..sed BIZ no other regiment In the whole
I,n,on army. Maj. House tells the story
~ follows;
During the war OF the Rebellion, but
,h,ss instances are recorded In the Union
army where the loss in any one regiment
ina single battle amounted to over 100
IN killed aud wounded. One OF these
three heavy losses was Inflicted on the
Eighth New York Heavy artillery at the
hattie of Cold Hsrbor on the third OF
lime. white the other two were sustained
nv the Fisrt Maine Heavy artillery, first
AT the Fredericksburg pike or Harris farm,
near spottsy1vRnia court house, on May ~,
and spsin at the battle Of Petersburg on
lane IS all In the year 1854 IL may be
wortby Of note that these three nnpre-
eedenied losses occurred vt intervals OF
s,t,sn days, and that the number re-
por,ed at he time as Killed aud wounded
aggregated exactly 1900, though many
thaI we're reported as missing were later
an found to have been either killed or
wounded. which would make the actual
los considerably big her.
b. far the heaviest loss was that on
June Is, where the casualties in the Flrst
Maine amounted to over 600, thus placing
Il al the head OF the list OF regimentsl
losses In a single battle. Not only this,
bu, the total losses tn this regiment dur
Ing the war largely exceed that OF any
ether In the Union armies; and what is
more remarkable, this loss all occurred
between May 10. 1864, and April Z, 1865, a
period OF ten aud one-h half months. And
the fact that the number OF killed and
wounded In the regiment during the
one month ending June IS, 1854, sggre-
gated ile2, makes a record OF blood which
II would be hard to parallel in the annals
OF ancient or modern warfare.
1t was the lot of the writer to be a mem
Der OF this famous regiment, and to be
present and participate In this thirty
days Of fighting, and the result arrived at
as TO the numbers OF it's losses are not
taken from the hurried and imperfect re-
ports sent out at the time, but are counted
up, name by name, from we'll authenti-
Gated cases Of deaths or wounds, the re.
suit Of mouths OF patient ana careful re-
search from every available record since
the war
THE FIRST MAINE HEAVY.
The first Maine Heavy artillery was en-
listed principally from the counties OF
Psnobscoi, Plscataquis, Hancock and
Washington In the eastern part OF the
slate OF Maine, and was mustered into
service at Bangor on August %, 1862,
Is the 18th Maine infantry, under COM
mand OF Col. Daniel Chaplain, who had
iiready seen service at Bull Ron and
through the Peninsula campaign as msior
ofthe Second Maine infantry. Three days
hter 1t started for the seat OF war arriving
III Washington on August "a; and as Me-
Liian aud Lee were then moving north
ward and an attack on the national capitol
was among the possibilities, this and
many other new regiments were furnished
WIN axes and set at work telling the for
es's Just outside the chain OF forts which
enccmpassed the city, in order to give
the guns In the forts a clearer range in
case OF an attack. When the army had
reached the Potomac on its way to Antie-
IAN, the 18th Maine Was ordered to report
20 Gen. HANCOCK. then commanding a
brigade in the Sixth army corps, when IL
Immediately broke camp aud started on
the march.
The members of this regiment. whose
p'oneer lie in cutting lumber and In
sisating new farms had made them most
emcient sxmen, we're too valua bic corps
W DC spared from their work, and the
engineer officer Ia charge OF the defences
VI Washington, hearing OF the order,
Houhted bis horse and hurried to the
secretary of war and got 1t eounterrpan-
O'ueriy and returned to camp. Thus the
regiment was detained through the fall,
anu on January !, 1858. the organic
s"oh was changed to the first Maine
HeaNy artillery, by which II was ever
afterwards known.
ihe regiment remained in the defence
washington, with headquarters at
o,t sumpter, Maryland. just above Chain
D,'age' until May 10, 1854, in the mean
while having been recruited up to twelve
sO"panies OF $50 and fifty men each, and
eeoning most proficient both In artillery
~ infantry drill. After the battle OF
sue wilderness and the heavy fighting
- ouna spottslyvsnia courthouse, Gen.
'sht called for re-enforcements for
.le rotomsc army, and the First Maine
one OF the regiments then ordered
the front. With 1000 available
a present for duty, and armed and
ssuipped as infantry, it marched on to he
May II.