Radio Script #357
Little Talks On Common Things
December 1, 1957
A few weeks ago that interesting columnist in the Watervi I Ie Sentinel, who ca lis himself “Ima Wanderer”, referred to an old stage route from Augusta to Bangor in an almanac of the year 1829. Irna Wanderer was a bit puzzled about the stage stops cal led Harlem and Fairfax. am sure that severa I of his readers must have informed the columnist promptly about those towns, because a lot of our older people know that Harlem was the original name for the town of China, as Fairfax was for the town of Albion.
appreciate Ima Wanderer’s difficulty in reconci lin9 the distances listed in the old almanac, because I have had the same difficulty more than once. The reason is that many changes have taken place in the highways. Often, even the old roads in use fifty years ago and since abandoned were not the roads of 125 years ago. Those older roads have, in many instances, so grown up to bushes, or been so p lowed under, that they are no longer di scernab Ie at a I I.
The only thing we can be sure of concerning that 1829 route from Augusta to Bangor is that it went from Vassalboro to China, and we know that early in the nineteenth century there was a well-traveled road through the Oak Grove grounds, from the river road to North Vassalboro, and from there straight on to China Village. \1hether there was also a road from Getchell’s Corner to China Vi Ilage, as early as 1829, I do not know. But of one thing we are sure. In the old records Vassalboro, when used as a location or post office, always meant GeTche II’s Corner.
That stage route from Augusta to Bangor, through China, Albion and Unity, and over the Dixmont Hi I Is, was not the only stage line between the state capitol and the big town on the Penobscot. Another line came up the east side of the Kennebec to Wi ns low, then out the Gar I and Road to Benton Fa I Is, whe re the stopping place was the venerable Reed Tavern, now the home of Colby’s public relations director, Dick Dyer.
From Benton the line went through the forme r Un i ty PI antati on to Un i ty, and from there traversed the sama route as the line that ran through Ch ina and A I b i on.
Very early in the nineteenth century there was a regular stage line between Skowhegan and Bangor, fol lowing almost exactly the route of present U.S. Route 2, through Canaan and Palmyra to Newport. A dai Iy stage between Watervi lie and Skowhegan made connecti ons with that tri -weekly line. Shortly before the bui J ding of the ra i I road between Watervi I Ie and Bangor in the 1850! s, therewas a stage J i ne between VJatervi I Ie and Bangor by way of Pittsfie Id and Newport, but between Newport and Bangor that line ran sorrewhat west of the present automobile route, going west of Etna, through Stetson and Levant.
Anyhow, we are grateful to Ima Wanderer for bringing up again the subject of the stage lines. We always find his column worth reading, whether he writes it in Watervi lie or in Florida.
On thi s program I have often referred to the mi I itia companies in Maine a hundred years ago, but I can’t reca II that we have ever di scussed the law under wh i ch the mil it i a was organ i zed. The act passed by the fi rst Ma i ne legi sl ature in 1820 was, of course, based on the Massachusetts mi litia act, and cal led for the service of every able-bodied man between 21 and 45 years of age, except Judges of the Supreme Court, officers who had held commissions for at least five years, and mi n i sters .• The re was, moreove r, a long list of pe rsons who we re excused from acti ve mi lit i a duty or even annua I muster in peace t i rre. Those excused persons were obliged, however, to keep themselves supplied constantly with arms and equipment, in case the companies to which they were nominally attached shou I d be ca I led into act i ve se rvi ce • Amon~ the pe rsons who had th is p ri vi lege of no mi Ii ti a dri II ~ but who must be ready incase of emergency, were members of the Governor’s Counci I, judges of common pleas and their clerks, judges and registers of probate, just,ices of the peace, sheriffs and their deputies, and coroners. Simi I ar Iy excused were off i cers of any co II ege, theo logi ca I semi nary or academy; also regularly employed schoolmasters, all physicians and surgeons, and students of divinity.
Men between the ages of 45 and 55, whi Ie exempt from acti ve servi ce, were ob I i ged, like those in the previ ous list, to be ready wi th arms and equi pment in case of emergency. But those older men must have their arms and equipment inspected annually at the muster point, and for some reason not made clear in the statute, they had to pay to their town treasurers $2.00 a year.
Section 5 of Maine’s original mi litia act provided that 1rthe several divisions of the Mi li”tia shall be numbered in ascending arithmetical order, so that the division now cal led the sixth under Massachusetts law shall be the first, and others shall retain their numerical relation thereto, and every division shall be designated by the number next higher “than that of the division established next before it. Divisions shall take rank according to their numbe rs, the first be i ng highest in rank.
In the early days the mi litia companies elected Thei r own officers. The law provided: H\’Jhen any field officer of a regiment. captain or subaltern offi cer of any company:l sha II remove from the Ii mi ts of his command, the Governor sha I I di scharge such offi ~r and order a new e lecti on.
The 1820 statute took care of continuance of existing officers in Maine companies,who he Id commissions under the Governor of Massachusetts, by requi ring the Governor of Maine to give them new commissions.
The annual musters were festal affairs, much like the county fairs of a later day. There were pedd lers and entertainers, and a great dea I of Yankee horse trading. Cider and New England rum flowed freely. It was difficult to keep any sort of order, for the independent Maine Yankees were inclined to pay little attention to officers’ commands.
Even before Maine became a separate state, mi litia companies were distributed a II over the Di stri ct of t~ai ne. The i r importance is shown by orders i ssued from Boston in 1807. Those orders read: ”To deter the hosti Ie invader and suppress the lawless hopes of domestic ambition, the Mi litia must be formidable.
The state of things abroad is unsettled. On this side of the Atlantic the public tranqui lity has in some instances been disturbed. The general safety sti II requires that all be vigi lant.” The order continued to state:
“The superintendence of the major generals over their respective divisions is highly important. Their personal presence at the reviews excites emulation in the ranks and attracts favorable public attention. The brigadier qenerals, residing in the midst of their troop, have it greatly in their power to direct their movements, restrain irregularities, and inspire individuals under their command with the zea I of so I di ers. Just as in the regu I ar army, men in the mi Ii ti a were subject to court martial.
In June” 1811, for instance, Lt. John Springer was tried on complaint of his company commander, Captain Reuel Howard. The captain charged that the lieutenant fai led to appear for the annual inspection in May and had shown unmi litary conduct by encouraging a non-commissioned officer and certain privates to behave with contempt toward Capt. Howard in disobedience of his command. He further charged that Springer had encouraged certain privates and non-corns to quit the company and had joined in an unlawful combination to resist orders of the commanding officer. Specifically Springer was accused of declaring, in the presence of company privates, that after inspection Capt. Howard had no business with the soldiers, had no authority over them, and the men had the right to go where they p I eased.
The court found Lt. Spri ng~r gui Ity on four of the fi ve counts and he was sentenced to be reprimanded in official orders. The sentence was then passed on to the Division commander, Major General Sewal I, who appended to the document of sentence hi s own comment in these words: “The Major Genera I must express his surprise that an officer of Lt. Springer’s intelligence should have been so lost to all sense of common decorum, but especially of mi litary propriety, as to be gui Ity of so flagrant a violation. As it appears that a novel explanation of the 18th section of the mi litia law has been advanced by this officer — namely, that a captain has no authority to train, exercise, or discipline his company on the first Tuesday of May, because the law has specially assigned that day for inspection — I would correct so dangerous a doctrine be fore any further ends are produced by it. It i s conc I us i ve that, wheneve r a captain has his company assembled in arms, he may exercise them in any manner authorized in his commission, and his subordinate officers are bound to obey_ The crime of which Lt. Springer has been convicted is of a mutinous nature and subversive of that subordination without which the militia would be a lawless mob.”
Sometimes it was a company commander himself who was tried by court marti a I. In 1818 the fo II owi ng order went out from Augusta: “A court of i nqui ry wi II sit at the dwelling house of Richard Thomas in Winslow on Monday, January 25, 1818, at 11 a.m., in order to i nvesti gate the conduct of Capt. I saac Spencer of the Third Regiment, relative to certain accusations made against him byJonathan Brown and other soldiers in the company of hi s command. ~J1ajor Genera I John Moore, one captain from the First Regiment, and one from the Second Regiment wi I I compose the court. The court wi II pay no attenti on to rumors or prejudiced statements, but wi II please give their opinion on the rrerits of the case. ”
We do not know the outcome of that case nor of what the captain was accused, but the fact that it happened at a II shows that the I aw protected the mi litiamen from any tyrannical commander. Subordinates in a mi,litia company could bring charges against superiors,even against the commanding officer .. and have those accusations judged in a formal court martial.
Year: 1957