Radio Script #799

Little Talks on Common Things

March 16, 1969

In a collection of clippings and documents recently presented to the Waterville Historical Society by a former Waterville resident, Mrs. Sara Chandler. now of Washington. D.C., are interesting items concerning a Waterville man. who was belatedly recognized by the government for distinguished valor in the Civil War. Frank G. Haskell had displayed gallantry far beyond the call of duty at the Battle of Fair Oaks in June, 1862. but it took 36 years for the War Department to get around to recognizing him. At last, just before Christmas in 1898, President McKinley pinned on Haskell’s breast the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I find it strange that no mention of this honor to a Waterville man is contained in the Centennial History of Waterville. It merely includes Frank Haskell’s name among the list of volunteer privates from this community; yet the highest award within the power of the government had been given to this man less than three years before the publication of the Centennial History in 1902. Now, seventy years after this citizen of Waterville was so distinctly honored, it is time to let folks know we had such a war hero in our town.

We have long known that Waterville made instant patriotic response to the news from Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Within a week a recruiting office was set up in the office of Joshua Nye. Treasurer of the Androscoggin and Kennebec R.R. on the second floor of the Hanson Block at the junction of Elm and Main Streets. The first volunteer was a student at Colby, Charles Hendrickson. Within a few days a second recruiting office was set up by the brothers William and Francis Heath, also Colby men. The two companies recruited in the two offices became respectively Co. G and Co. H of the 3rd Maine Infantry. The captain of Co. G was Frank Hesseltine of Waterville. and its first lieutenant was Nathaniel Hanscom of Benton. The ranking officers of Co. H were William and Francis Heath.

As its commanding officer the 3rd Maine had Col. Oliver Otis Howard, a man who was to rise to the rank of Major General and became one of the best known high commanders of the Civil War, winning also lasting fame for his handling of a very difficult post-war assignment. direction of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Frank Haskell enlisted in Co. G on April 30, 1861, only 18 days after the first guns of the war had been fired at Fort Sumter. When the regiment went into action at Fair Oaks. he had been made a sergeant. The regiment’s action in that battle on June 1, 1862, is described as follows in Whitman and True’s “Maine in the War of the Rebellion”:

“The Third Maine encamped for the night near the railroad bridge at Fair Oaks. The next morning they moved to form a line of battle under the edge of the woods. On came the enemy, Longstreet’s division. They formed four distinct lines, the last of which was within twenty yards of our muskets. The order was given for us to fire and charge. The three left companies of our regiment were opposed to an entire battalion, the Eighth Alabama, who were all killed. wounded, or taken prisoners. The enemy was driven, contesting every foot of ground, through a heavy growth of wood, across a swamp and over a plain. where the Fourth Maine finished the work the Third had begun. The loss to us in killed and wounded was nearly one third of the regiment.”

While the Waterville Centennial History is silent about Frank Haskell’s action at Fair Oaks. the book from which we have just quoted. “Maine in the War of the Rebellion”, did not overlook his achievement. It says: “The heroic conduct of Sgt. Frank G. Haskell of Waterville. who was later promoted to adjutant of the 19th Maine, for his gallantry at Fair Oaks. led Col. Staples and Lt. Col. Egan of the 40th New York to call Haskell’s action to the attention of Gov. Washburn of Maine. In his letter to the Governor, the Commander of the New York regiment wrote: “Sgt. Haskell was in advance of the line during the entire action, constantly urging his men. He thus won the praise of the entire regiment. He richly deserves a commission. and I commend him to your favorable attention.”

Frank Haskell did get his commission, and when he was wounded and discharged from service, he held the rank of major.

Why should so long a time elapse before he was appropriately honored with the medal which the Congress had authorized as early as 1863 for acts of conspicuous gallantry? The answer seems to be in the incomplete and inadequate records of the War Department in Washington. Friends of Frank Haskell, especially Civil War veterans who had served with him, long felt that he deserved the medal, but their attempts to have him honored were repeatedly frustrated.

Among the papers now at the Waterville Historical Society are original letters from the War Department in reply to official inquiries in behalf of Haskell. Congressman Burleigh, early in 1898, received a letter from Henry Staples, who had succeeded Col. Howard as commander of the third Maine, when Howard was promoted to higher command. In his letter to Burleigh, Col. Staples said: “We all know the  terrible havoc made in the confederate ranks by the Third Maine at Fair Oaks. Especial mention of the gallant conduct of Sgt. Haskell was made in my report of that sanguinary conflict.” When he says “in my report”, Staples did not mean a contemporary, official report at the time of the battle, but the report he wrote much later for the book “Maine in the War of the Rebellion”, which I have just quoted.

On June 14, 1898 the Chief of the Army Records Office wrote to Congressman Burleigh: “No official mention has been found of the personal conduct of Sgt. Haskell at the battle of Fair Oaks. In his official report of that battle, Col. Staples remarked: “I am pleased to say that the whole regiment did their duty nobly and bravely, and when called, behaved so gallantly no opportunity is left for individual praise.”

It seems that every previous attempt to get the Medal of Honor for Frank Haskell had been stymied by that official report, although Col. Staples did single out Haskell for special praise in his account for the book published at the end of the war in 1865. So, ironically, while the official records in Washington contained no commendation for Haskell, his praise by his colonel was in public print a few months after the close of the war.

Congressman Burleigh was able to assemble such a mass of evidence, not only from Col. Staples, but from others who had also participated at Fair Oaks, that the War Department finally agreed to recommend Haskell for the medal. That was done in November, 1898, and a month later Congressman Burleigh presented the Waterville veteran to President McKinley, who then pinned the Medal of Honor on Frank Haskell’s breast. “That”, commented Haskell, “was the finest Christmas present in the world.”

Frank Haskell, soon after receiving the Medal of Honor, was accorded another recognition that marks him as a man of broad-minded sympathies that rose above the hatreds engendered by the war between North and South. When a movement got underway to build in Richmond a home for destitute Confederate Veterans, Frank Haskell was one of the old enemies of the Confederacy who collected funds in the North for that enterprise. Some leading Southerners, learning in 1899 that Haskell was being mentioned for a post in the federal government, got busy in his behalf. The result was a unique letter, now in the Haskell papers at the Waterville Historical Society. It is a letter signed by every member of the Congressional delegation then representing the State of Georgia in Washington. This is what the letter, addressed to the President of the U.S., had to say: “We cordially recommend Major F.G. Haskell of Maine for appointment in the government service. He was a federal officer whose service was so highly meritorious that you have conferred upon him the Medal of Honor. The Legislature of Georgia has passed a unanimous vote of thanks to his regiment, the gallant Third Maine, for his chivalrous action in behalf of disabled Confederate soldiers. In appreciation of Major Haskell’s personal kindness and help given to southern veterans, and his efforts to promote fraternal relations between the soldiers of North and South, the Georgia delegation in Congress earnestly recommend him to your favor. His appointment will give pleasure to every southern soldier regardless of party politics.”

So that is the story of a gallant man too long neglected in Waterville history.

A few weeks ago I talked on this program about William Drew and his Augusta papers, the “Rural Intelligencer” and the “Gospel Banner”. Some new information about Drew has now been given me by a constant, valued contributor to this program, Raymond Manson. Mr. Manson points out that in the issue of the Intelligencer for June 30. 1855. Drew remarked that the paper on which the issue was printed had been made in Vassalboro.

Mr. Manson is not sure when a paper mill was first started at North Vassalboro. where later John Lang and his successors developed thriving factories, but Mr. Manson has confirmed that in 1834 the old paper mill was repaired and improved. It then had three engines. a cylinder machine, and s steam dryer. Nearby was a wood lot of 50 to 60 acres. Although the plant may have been operated by a company of partners, the only name that has survived from that time is George Cox, who was named in Vassalboro records as paper manufacturer.

In 1848 Cox got into print by an account of the new water wheel at his Vassalboro paper mill. His old wheel had needed 360 inches of water to propel the machinery at the rate of 150 revolutions per minute, but the new wheel required only 200 inches. and it speeded up the machinery to 170 RPM. That Vassalboro mill continued to produce handmade paper until 1859. By that time Cox had lost control, for when the plant was sold at auction in 1859. it was owned by the Cushnoc Manufacturing Company.

So here we have another link between northern Kennebec towns and the State Capital in the middle of the 19th century. When the fiery, combative William Drew published his Rural Intelligencer in the 1850’s, he bought the paper on which to print it from the paper mill at Vassalboro.

Year: 1969