A Gettysburg mystery

The 5th Maine Infantry Regiment’s monument stands just north of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. A recruit credited to the regiment was killed at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, but his actual affiliation with any Union unit remains a mystery. The 5th Maine lost no men in action here. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

Among the Mainers killed at Gettysburg exists a mystery: John C. Wadsworth of Cornish. His Masonic brothers held a funeral for their brother slain on the field of valor, and everyone in Cornish believed he died at Gettysburg.

Yet …

When he enlisted in the 5th Maine Infantry Regiment on August 5, 1862, Wadsworth was a 24-year-old clerk, single and living in Portland (his enlistment was credited to that city). Events would prove his deep connections with Cornish, a York County town not far from where he was born in Hiram circa 1838.

Standing 5-6 with blue eyes, light hair (likely blonde), and a light complexion, Wadsworth mustered into the army on August 13. His enlistment paper clearly credits him to the 5th Maine.

Surprisingly, he was not credited to a particular company.

Wadsworth apparently vanished into the ranks. He did not reappear until Tuesday, November 24, 1863, when the Portland Daily Press published details about his funeral, recently held in Cornish.

His body arrived there on Wednesday, November 18, and Rev. Albert Cole conducted the funeral the next day. Wadsworth definitely was a Mason; his Masonic brothers from Greenleaf Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Cornish conducted graveside services with assistance from “Carroll Lodge of Freedom., N. H., and brethren from Adoniram and Drummond Lodges,” a correspondent reported. “All the services were most impressive.”

Meeting in the Masonic Hall on Friday evening, the Greenleaf Lodge brothers adopted some resolutions pertaining to Wadsworth. The Masons recognized that “by his devotion to duty and heroism of sacrifice,” Wadsworth “met fully the obligation which Masonry inscribes the portals of its temple: ‘Be true to your government and just to your country.’

Falling where heroes fell [at Gettysburg], his memory shall be cherished where heroes still live [the United States]—one among the many noble martyrs to liberty,—he holds a hallowed place in every heart which patriotism urges to quickened pulsation.”

John C. Wadsworth of Cornish, Maine was supposedly killed in action at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. After his body reached Cornish in late November, his fellow Masonic brothers at Greenleaf Lodge conducted funeral rites at his graveside. (Wikipedia)

Greenleaf Lodge brothers concurred “that we who knew him in social and fraternal life, bear cheerful testimony to his worth while living.”

Wadsworth was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Cornish. The cemetery borders Maple Street (Route 25) just west of that highway’s intersection with the South Hiram Road.

The Portland Daily Press article indicated that Wadsworth “fell in the battle of Gettysburg.” A cemetery record indicates that he died July 2, 1863 and that he “fell at Gettysburg.”

There’s a big problem, however: The 5th Maine Infantry suffered no fatalities at Gettysburg. In fact the regiment’s returns for July 1863 indicate only one soldier killed in action, Pvt. Franklin Bean of Co. I. He died during a fight near Hagerstown, Md. on July 12.

And Wadsworth’s name appears nowhere on the 5th Maine’s returns for June, July, and August 1863.

Wadsworth is not cited among the 5th Maine Infantry’s “Participants” in Maine at Gettysburg nor among any unit’s “Participants” identified in that book. He does not appear in the regiment’s year-end company returns published in the Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Maine, 1863.

In 1871 Rev. George W. Bicknell (a 5th Maine adjutant) published his book, History of the 5th Maine Regiment. In the appendix, pages 377-404 detail the names of men belonging to the regiment’s “field and staff” and to particular companies. Bicknell painstakingly pulled the names together; for each company he included the names of men who, like Wadsworth, joined the regiment after it mustered in 1861 and went to war.

John C. Wadsworth is not mentioned anywhere within those pages.

So if he was killed at Gettysburg — and information published in Maine claims he was — with what federal unit was Wadsworth serving when he died?

If he was not serving with a Maine unit, then with what federal or out-of-state unit was he serving at Gettysburg? Did he transfer from the 5th Maine somewhere along the way? His Soldier’s File shows him joining, but not exiting the army and provides no clue as to where he might have served than with the 5th Maine.

John C. Wadsworth is a mystery. He died at Gettysburg, but we may never know the particulars.

Sources: John C. Wadsworth Soldier’s File, Maine State Archives; 5th Maine Infantry Regiment returns for July 1863, MSA; Memorial Resolutions, Portland Daily Press, Tuesday, November 24, 1863; Rev. George W. Bicknell, History of the Fifth Maine Regiment, Hall L. Davis, Portland, Maine, 1877, pp. 377-404


“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. —————————————————————————————————————–

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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.