What good are Union monuments (part 2)?

http://maineatwar.bdnblogs.com/2021/07/07/what-good-are-union-monuments-part-3/After the United States has endured a year-plus of monument and statue bashing, what good are Union monuments on Independence Day 2021?

I will come to that. However, a crowd that gathered in Hampden, Maine as the United States celebrated its 88th birthday on July 4, 1864 knew exactly what one particular Union monument represented.

On July 4, 1864, people gathered at Locust Grove Cemetery in Hampden, Maine to dedicate the Soldier’s Monument. It still stands. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

Hampden’s located in southern Penobscot County, bordered on the north by Bangor and on the east by the Penobscot River. By 1864 the local dead were going into Locust Grove Cemetery, laid out on the slope ascended by British regulars attacking jittery Maine militiamen in September 1814, during the Battle of Hampden.

It went badly for the Americans, but that’s another story.

The Civil War approached its fourth year when Hampden residents decided to erect a “Soldier’s Monument,” possibly because Bangor had already done so. Backers sought “subscriptions” — today’s term would be “donations” or “contributions” — from the “citizens of Hampden,” who shelled out $1,000 to cover “the whole cost of the monument, and the iron fence surrounding it,” reported the Daily Whig & Courier.

A Boston company, “Messrs. Powers & Hall,” sculpted the shaft from white Italian marble. The granite base came “from our native quarries.” Set up by early July, the entire monument “stands nineteen in height from the ground,” the newspaper noted, and Hampden residents planned a Monday, July 4 dedication ceremony.

Carved into the base of the plinth was the reason why the Hampden Civil War monument existed. (BFS)

Even 157 years later, the monument’s purpose is obvious to anyone who examines the shaft topped by a carved eagle, a “Union” eagle, sculpted in the style often portrayed in newspaper advertising and recruiting broadsides. The monument was erected “in memory of the fallen heroes” of Hampden.

By Independence Day 1864, “thirty-two names of Hampden soldiers and seamen, fallen in the ‘war of the great rebellion,’ are recorded upon it,” reported the Whig & Courier.

Sadly, “recent events have added several other names to the list of ‘unreturning heroes’ whose deeds of valor and whose glorious death have honored the town from which they went,” the paper stated.

Engraved on the east face of the Hampden Civil War monument are the names of soldiers from the town who died in military service. Company A of the 22nd Maine Infantry was raised in Hampden. (BFS)

Monday’s dawn revealed that “the weather was favorable.” Despite the “little effort … made to extend notice, a large crowd” from Hampden “and neighboring towns assembled” in the cemetery, an eyewitness informed the Whig & Courier. “Hampden has rarely witnessed so numerous a gathering.”

Locust Grove Cemetery was quiet in that era, decades before the state rebuilt Route 1A (Main Road North) so motorists could rumble past in their Model T’s. In the early 21st century, the state again reconstructed the road; though the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour (difficult to maintain on the downhill slopes between Academy Hill and Hampden Highlands (the latter name is almost forgotten), large trucks and motorcycles equipped with after-market exhausts roar and grind past Locust Grove, and it’s a wonder that the dead can rest peacefully.

At 2 p.m. that July 4, “a procession” led by G, rand Marshal (and colonel) A.K. Walker marched through a few streets before entering the cemetery. Bands from Bangor Hampden provided the music, the “Home Guards” a militia company, Hampden Masons turned out “in regalia,” a Capt. Frank Flagg participated with “his impromptu company of citizen soldiers,” and “citizens generally” brought up the rear.

A large crowd had already assembled” around the cemetery when the scheduled speakers mounted the wooden stand nailed together for the occasion. A lawyer, S.W, Matthews, “called to order” the audience, and the combined bands played “a dirge.”

An additional name was added to the Hampden Civil War monument less than a year after its dedication. (BFS)

The “Rev. Mr. Crawford” read “an appropriate selection of Scripture,” and the appropriately named “Rev. Mr. Church” delivered “a fervent prayer.” The bands played again; then “the Orator of the day, Rev. J. K. Mason,” delivered “an address of great eloquence and ability.”

His words “commanded the undivided attention of his large audience for nearly an hour,” said the eyewitness, probably after checking his pocket watch. Mason”s “address was replete with patriotic and truthful sentiments, which met with cordial approval from the great mass of his hearers.”

The next three speakers delivered “brief[,] but eloquent remarks,” the eyewitness noted. First up was Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, who had little use and less patience for oratory windbags. An “S. H. Blake and Mayor Dale of Bangor” spoke after Hamlin, who had lived in Hampden for many years before moving to Bangor during the Civil War.

The bands played on, again, and “Rev. Mr. Browning” delivered the benediction.

Afterwards, Hampden women served dessert — “a bountiful supply of strawberries and cream, and other refreshments” — in the nearby town hall. “God bless the ladies,” the eyewitness said.

As to why Hampden residents dedicated this monument, the “engraved” on “the west face of the plinth [shaft]” say it all: “Erected in memory of our Soldiers and Seamen fallen in the war of the Great Rebellion.”

Long may this marble shaft stand as a memorial of valor slain in defense of Government, of patriotism, sacrificed to preserve Liberty and Law,” the eyewitness wrote.

That’s what Union monuments are good for: to remember the heroes, honor the fallen, and teach future generations about the Civil War.

Next week: Perhaps there is some hope for the future


“Swartz delves into the personal stories of sacrifice and loss…” — Civil War News

If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to like Maine at War on Facebook and get a copy of the new Maine at War Volume 1: Bladensburg to Sharpsburg, available online at Amazon and all major book retailers, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. —————————————————————————————————————–

And coming in mid-July: Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War, being released by Savas Beatie.

This new book chronicles the swift transition of Joshua L. Chamberlain from college professor and family man to regimental and brigade commander and follows him into combat at Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns.

Drawing on Chamberlain’s extensive memoirs and writings and multiple period sources, historian Brian F. Swartz follows Chamberlain across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia while examining the determined warrior who let nothing prevent him from helping save the United States.

Be sure to order your copy at Amazon!

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Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.

Brian Swartz

About Brian Swartz

Welcome to "Maine at War," the blog about the roles played by Maine and her sons and daughters in the Civil War. I am a Civil War buff and a newspaper editor recently retired from the Bangor Daily News. Maine sent hero upon hero — soldiers, nurses, sailors, chaplains, physicians — south to preserve their country in the 1860s. “Maine at War” introduces these heroes and heroines, who, for the most part, upheld the state's honor during that terrible conflict. We tour the battlefields where they fought, and we learn about the Civil War by focusing on Maine’s involvement with it. Be prepared: As I discover to this very day, the facts taught in American classrooms don’t always jibe with Civil War reality. I can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net.