Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-12-11
A VIVID REMINDER
OF TROUBLOUS DAYS
IN SOUTH Of 6O-78

IN SOUTH OF 6O-70
A tiny. threadbare Union flag.
worn by constant companionship
with an inmate Of the Togus Home.
who, though registered under his
own name, was supposed by his
, enemies to have been dead for many
years. What a plot for a thrilling
! tale of the perils of a union
sympathizer living In the Con-
.ederacy, of reconstructionist in
volved in the Vaccinations of the
period following the Civil war,
| when secret leagues thrived, When
slaves were faithful alike TO the
families of their owners. also to the
! Union cause and risked their lives
in plots and in giving al to the
| North.
| Mr.. Thomas Butler of Philadelphia
was in the city this week in the In
| terests of the Historical Society OF
| Pennsylvania. He is making study
| of the reconstruction period In the
South after the Civil Var, in con-
| nectton with which he came to
Maine and has been looking up the
record of James M. Allen, who was
an inmate of the Soldiers Home at
Togus, dying in 1907.
| A part of that record is shrouded
in mystery which may never be
cleared up. though Mr.. Butler hopes
| to be able to obtain more definite
information respecting it. Even the
bare outline which he gave of AL
lens life is of unusual interest
| Among Aliens possessions when
he died was a tiny cotton flag OF the
Union. That it was dear to his
heart Is the only inference ypermls-
sible, when one considers what he
went through in the Union cause.
He was born at Albany, N. Y, in
llS22. He married Elizabeth r. Old
| ham, who on her mothers side. was
a descendant of the Penns OF
Pennsylvania. They were in
Charleston, S. c., when Fort sumter
was fired upon by the Southerners
! opening the War of the Rebellion.
Allen then moved to Greenville. S.
| c., where he had a large plantation
/ and where he remained two years
or more after the declaration OF
war.
During his stay there he was
drafted three times into the Con-
federate army. Twice he bought
! substitutes. The third time trusty
negroes warned him at Wilmington
/ that he had been drafted and with
! he made his way to the river, where
/ in a leaky boat he drifted down to
! the union fleet under command of
! General B. f. Butler. 1t appears
! that he brought with him valuable
| information respecting the Con-
| federate plans and Notifications.
! His Union sympathies had led him
to incur many risks, among which
was active membership in Union
league, the first in the South and
| organized at his home. Evidently
his days would have been numbered
had the faithful slaves not warned
him. He found his way to New
York, where he enlisted in the
| Navy in 1854, receiving his dis
/ charge at New Orleans in 1865.
! Following his disappearance from
! Giecnville the provost marshal sent
| for his wife and demanded informa-
! ton respecting her husband. 1t
must have been a dramatic situa-
! ton. When she refused he told her
she would be sent away. She asked
| TO be sent through the lines to the
! North. This he refused to do. in
stead sending her to a place farther
| South. In this she was fortunate
as there the commander of the
home guard was Union SYM
pathi2er and a member of the same
secret organization as her husband.
| By his aid she passed out as an
English subject and took passage to
! New York.
At the close OF the war Allen and
! family returned to Greenville, S. c.,
and he became prominent in the
politics OF the reconstruction period,
/ being virtually the Republican boss
of the State and used his influence
! I'll, IS
| Governor. This appears to have been
| his undoing. AS the story is told
he was urged by Moses to advance
some 100000 in public funds for
which he received no vouchers and
when Wade Hampton became Gov
ernor and Hayes President he was
found short in his accounts and
disappeared in 1878.
| Mr.. Butler has not yet been able
to get the exact facts respecting the
shortage but has learned that later
Aliens bondsmen were released.
1t is thought his family passed
through a severe ordeal. The sis
ter of his wife became insane. A
few years later there appeared in an
Indiana paper an account of the
death of Allen. Just how that came
about Is a mystery. Allen was alive
and was in Portland, Me-, when in
1897 he applied for admission to the
Togus Home, Home. where he died ten
| What if anything did his wife
| know about him? A story is told
| of negroes at his old home asking
questions about family matters but
| answering none nor explaining why
they sought the information. Pre-
| sumably these were those who once
had been in the league with him
and were getting the information
for him. 1t appears that someone
in Portland, Maine. wrote to Mrs.
Allen, the letter bearing q woman's
signature. Later it appears he
wrote directly to his wife, but the
South knew him not.
His career there had been a
perilous one. He was physically a
rather small man. Once he was
assaulted by the Ku Klux, and left
for dead. He served as postmaster
of Greenville, although mob
threatened to kill him if he took the
office. Evidently he was not lack
ing In physical courage and the lit
tie worn flag which bore marks of
long possession reveals that he was
not lacking in sentiment for the
Union cause throughout very