Radio Script #817

Little Talks on Common Things
October 26, 1969

Many times on this program I have mentioned Company H of the Third Maine Infantry in the Civil War. I have told you a lot about the top officers of that company, the two Heath brothers ,William Heath was the company captain, and Francis Heath was its first lieutenant. On the same day that the Heath brothers, who were the first members of that company, enlisted, they were joined by another Waterville man who became a sergeant in the outfit. He was James Hamilton Plaisted, whose letters, filled with both serious and amusing accounts written from the war areas, are still preserved.

The letters were written mostly to the soldier’s brother, Aaron Appleton Plaisted, familiarly called Ap, and to his sister Florence, who was called Floy. The collection also contains a few war-time letters written from home to J.H. Plaisted, the soldier, who was called Ham.

Before we consider those letters, let us review a bit about that Third Maine regiment. It was mustered into federal service at Augusta on June 3, 1861, under Col. O.O. Howard, who became a leading general in the war and first head of the Freedman’s Bureau. The Third Maine arrived in Washington on June 7, 1861, crossed the Potomac on July 6, and camped in front of Fort Ellsworth in Virginia. It participated in the disastrous battle of Bull Run on July 21, losing eight killed, 29 wounded and 12 taken prisoner. In 1863 it was one of the few Maine regiments that fought in both bloody battles at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, having already been in both the first and second battles of Bull Run. Of the 88 men of Co. H, mustered in at Augusta in 1861, only 42 came through the war unscathed, and even some of those 42 were at times hospitalized for illness. At Chancellorsville alone the whole regiment suffered 58 casualties, and in two days at Gettysburg, 111. Each of those battles took grim toll of Company H.

Hamilton Plaisted was not at Gettysburg. By that time he had been promoted to captain and transferred out of the regiment. He was stationed on the lower Mississippi when Gettysburg was fought. In October, 1863 he was honorably discharged from service.

On June 16, 1861 Ham Plaisted wrote to his brother Ap from Washington, where he had been assigned as a clerk to the adjutant of the Third Maine. He was sharing a tent with four other men, three of them from Waterville. Of Col. Howard, Plaisted wrote: “Our colonel is very popular and is idolized by the regiment. He is having a great influence, and I think in a few months our regiment will not be surpassed in soldierly conduct by any regiment in the country.”

On June 23 Hamilton wrote his sister Florence about a church service in the military camp in Washington: “At 9 a.m. the regiment was ordered out without arms, and marched, preceded by the band, to a grove in front of Columbian College, where we had regular church services, the men lying on the grass around the chaplain.”

About breakfast on that Sunday morning Ham Plaisted said: “For breakfast we had baked beans, bread and coffee. The beans were put in a pot last evening and buried in hot coals and ashes, and this morning were done and piping hot. Coffee is our staff of life. We drink immense quantities as it is much better than water or anything else in this hot weather.”

Two things are worth comment about that breakfast information. The first is that 100 years ago New England people knew how to bake what we still call bean-hole beans. The second comment is that the Civil War soldiers preferred hot coffee to any cold drink in hot weather.

On July 20 Hamilton informed his brother that the regiment had just been marching over roads worse than Maine logging roads. He added that he had not shaved since he left Waterville a month ago.

On July 26 Hamilton wrote home an account of the Battle of Bull Run. For more than a hundred years historians have been disputing about that battle. So it is interesting to see what a participating Yankee soldier had to say at that time when it occurred:

“At 7 a.m. we fell into line in the rear of the great army. I tell you, Ap, the sight that morning was worth the journey here. The army advanced by two different roads and was five hours passing a given point. We marched two miles and were then halted to be used as a reserve when needed. We were the rear regiment and considered our chances for a fight very slim. After three hours we were just standing off to raid for apples when we were ordered forward.

“The road was through the woods and we were led by Zouaves. The pace was fast, and many men threw off their blankets to lighten their loads. Hundreds lay by the roadside exhuasted, unable to keep up with their companies. Our own brigade arrived at the battle ground in confusion, many of our men mixing with other regiments. Some companies had no officers and some officers had no men. In that condition we were ordered to the front against the advice of Col. Howard. We at once faced a terrible fire from the Rebel batteries. As we went forward, we met hundreds of men retreating, and we were soon caught up in the same retreat. There was no order, only confusion. I could tell you of scenes of courage that would harrow your soul, but at the time they made little impression on us hardened soldiers.

“After retreating beyond reach of the enemy fire, some officers tried to rally their scattered men. Then a detachment of Regular Cavalry dashed up to tell us the enemy was in close pursuit. That completed the panic and everyone thought only of himself. Guns, cartridge boxes, blankets and knapsacks were thrown away and the men broke in disorder into the woods. The ambulance containing the wounded and the baggage wagons were broken up by the roadside and the horses were killed, leaving the enemy to take our wounded as prisoners and seize a vast store of spoils. The rout of our army was total and beyond anything I have ever read about. Co. H lost all its personal baggage, camping and cooking utensils. All the way to Fairfax Courthouse we found the road strewn with the wrecked stores of the army. Companies G and H fared rather well. In both are only eight men missing, none from Waterville.”

Replying to that letter, Appleton Plaisted told how his brother’s news had been received in Waterville: “Your letter made a sensation here. I read it to many people, who all received it eagerly. Henry Barney astounded everybody by running down the street last Saturday with his musket and other equipment. He said he hadn’t stopped running since he left Bull Run. How he got here is a mystery. We think he did not go through the formality of asking for leave. He started last night in the same style that he arrived, on the double quick down Silver Street. Find out, if you can, how he escaped, and what is done to him when he returns. He says most of the boys are discouraged and sick of their bargain.”

That letter from Appleton Plaisted in Waterville to his brother in the army leads us to a brief comment on deserters. Barney turned out to be no deserter, for he returned to service and served out his enlistment.

It is easy, a century after the Civil War, to think that everyone who took part in that conflict was a hero. One has only to read original records to learn otherwise. A great trial to all company officers was the high rate of desertion. We have extracted the original muster roll of Co. H of the Third Maine, showing just what happened to each man. It must be confessed that, of the 88 officers and men who were mustered in at Augusta in June, 1861. ten deserted, or as the modern army would say “went AWOL”. In fact desertions in the Civil War were so frequent and so easy that few of the absentees were ever rounded up. The old muster roll reveals the names of those ten deserters from Co. H. But even a hundred years later I prefer that those names remain unknown to listeners to this program. But I can tell you that not one of them came from any prominent family in Waterville.

Perhaps it is well to indicate right here who were some of the Waterville families represented in that famous Civil War company. Besides the Heath brothers and Hamilton Plaisted there were Edwin Love and George Stewart, Charles Shorey and Albro Hubbard, John Bacon and Watson Marston, Peletiah Penney and Welron Thayer. Although most of the company came from Waterville. fourteen other Central Maine towns were represented. They included from well known families Nathan Taber of Vassalboro, Greenleaf Robinson of Sidney and George Nye of Fairfield.

Appleton Plaisted’s statement that Barney reported a demoralized army made Hamilton indignant, a]thriU~h Hamilton in a letter to Appleton had indicated almost the same thing. On August 28 Ham wrote his brother: “In Waterville you seem to keep in continual hot water about us, while we are now about as quiet as we were in Washington. Col. Howard has returned and there is marked improvement in discipline. We have had very few deserters.”

A few days later Hamilton enlarged on the army’s improved morale: “I assure you all is well on this side of the Potomac. We have great confidence in McClellan. He will soon make some brilliant dash and cut off a few thousand Rebels.”

Somewhat amusing are Hamilton Plaisted’s attempt to secure promotion in the army. In one letter Ham told his brother that promotions were seldom made on merit: “A man buys his commission”, Ham said, “by recruiting a company from poor houses and jails. Politicians with friends at Court secure commissions as brigadier generals, and they in turn get lower commissions for their friends. All a brigadier general has to do to get further promotion is to hire a good newspaper reporter.”

That Hamilton Plaisted was no more consistent about promotion than he was about the morale of the army after Bull Run is shown by his own maneuvering. In the Civil War armies, some promotions were made by the War Department, while others were made directly by the Governor of the States from which the regiments came. By political maneuvering Ham Plaisted got a commission as adjutant from the Governor of Maine, but within a week the Governor recalled it. Politics inside the army had countered Ham’s move. Finally Ham was given a more modest promotion to First Lieutenant, taken from the Third Maine and assigned to the Fifth. Later still he was quartermaster with a brigade on the Mississippi, and was finally promoted to captain.

Corruption in all armies is nothing new. In November,1861 Ham Plaisted wrote to his brother that both the adjutant and the quartermaster of the Third Maine had been placed under arrest, and jealousy among the officers was adding to the demoralization.

Several letters make it clear that when Ham Plaisted himself served as quartermaster, he too got into trouble. The correspondence does not tell us exactly what the trouble was, but he was clearly under arrest, for he wrote his brother: “Thinking you may be worried about my confinement, I write to tell you the news of my release from bondage. My arrest ended in smoke, no fire. I was released without even being tried.” Then Ham ended that letter with an unusual wish: “I should like to have a captain’s commission in one of the nigger regiments. Are they organizing any in Maine?”

Well, that must suffice for today’s broadcast. Next week we shall tell you more about these interesting letters of a Waterville man in the Civil War.

Year: 1969