Killed by the Hand of an Assassin

Gravestone of William B. Elliot located in South Branch
Cemetery, Levant, Maine. The misspelling of Elliot’s last
name, capital L's, and backward “b” in the abbreviation for
February, suggests the carver possessed a limited level of
literacy and was copying the letter shapes.  The epitaph reads: 
A Member of  Co. C. 11 Me. Regiment. Was Killed by the
hand of an assassin, Fed. [sic] 5, 1879. AE 36 yrs. 11 mos.

A couple years ago, I heard a story telling of a murderer who’d been hung and buried in a swamp behind South Branch Cemetery in Levant, Maine.  The legend of the swamp-mired murder’s grave originated in connection to the gravestone of William B. Elliot, a member of Company C of the 11th Maine (Civil War) Regiment who—as is inscribed on his gravestone— “was killed by the hand of an assassin, Feb. 5, 1879” at age 36 years, 11 months.  The chilling epitaph commemorates what may well be the state of Maine’s second oldest murder cold case.

The following account includes a summary of information about the murder published in the Bangor Daily Whig & Courier in the year following the murder.

Bangor, Maine — February 5, 1879.

Night watchman, Amos Colson, walked along the Washington Street side of the Maine Central Railroad station between 7:30 and 7:40 p.m. the evening of Wednesday, February 5, 1879 when a stranger—a man about 5 feet 5 inches in height with dark whiskers and complexion—drove a sled drawn by a two-horse hitch, rapidly west down Washington Street from Exchange in Bangor, Maine.  The swarthy man, wearing a long dark coat and cloth cap, stopped the sled just short of the station. Jumping down, the stranger ran past Colson, telling him to watch the horses, “saying something about getting over before the train left,” Colson reported.

Unimpressed but sympathetic to the horses’ needs, Colson tended the animals that he reported were “wet from fast driving,” stabling them across the street from the station. At 9:45 p.m., the train having rolled out of the station approximately 7:45 p.m. and the man failing to return, Colson went back to the sheds to cover the horses for the night. Colson was pulling a horse blanket from under some bags of meal in the back of the sled when, by the light of his lantern, he discovered the blanket and bags were saturated with fresh blood.

Sensing foul play, Colson mounted the sled and drove toward the police station. En route, he crossed paths with Bangor Police Officers Thomas F. Allen and Patrick J. Dougherty.  After hearing Colson’s story, Officer Allen took the sled to the station where the three men used additional lanterns to more fully examine the vehicle. It was then that the group discovered an axe covered with clotted blood and clumps of human hair. Marshal Alvin Reed was summoned and arrived at the police station at 10 p.m., just as young William Graffam showed up to report the discovery of a murder on Valley Avenue, only a couple miles from where Colson met the stranger at the train station.

A short time earlier, Graffam and a friend were walking on Harlow Street toward Valley Avenue, near the establishment of Merrill & Stiles, and found a man lying on the side of the road. Thinking the man was passed out drunk, they stopped to roust him rather than leave him to freeze in the snow. That’s when they discovered the man’s head was “horribly mangled.”  

Arriving at the scene, police found the man—later identified as William B. Elliot of Glenburn—lying just off the road, his feet toward the road. He was partially rolled in a horse blanket and tracks in the drifted snow showed where he’d first fallen, staggered, and fallen again at the point where he was discovered. As police examined the body, William issued a small moan.

Shocked that, as badly injured as he was, William clung to life, the men loaded him into a pung and delivered him to the police station. The rescuers sent for doctors but the medical evaluation was that the man was “beyond aid” and at 11:40 p.m., “the last spark of vitality left” his body.

The Victim

Portrait of William B. Elliot, ca. 1863,
Company C, 11th Maine Regiment.
Photo courtesy of Wayne Hoar.

The son of Calvin Elliot and Susannah E. Barrett Elliot, William was the oldest of eight children. Blonde and blue-eyed with a strong chin but boyish good looks, William Elliot served in the Union Army between August 1863 and February 1866, surviving the Civil War. In 1868, he married his brother-in-law’s sister, Joanna B. Lake.

William was well-known and respected in Bangor having lived in town for a period of time, working in the office of Provost Marshal Low before taking a job driving a milk cart for S. F. Fuller. By 1870, the U. S. Federal Census, noted that William was a farmer living in Glenburn, with a value of $1,530 including 98 acres of land, 78 of which were wooded, and various livestock. Seven years later, William served a single year as Constable and Tax Collector for the town of Glenburn.

The Investigation

The doctors’ examination after his death revealed that William Elliot suffered four, massive head wounds.  He received two blows to the back of his head with the butt of the axe, crushing his skull; a gaping wound caused by the axe bit on the right forehead that cut through the skull; and a final blow with the flat side of the axe  to the right temple that did additional crushing damage.

William was dressed for outdoor labor, wearing two coats, denim overalls, white, wool mittens, a wool scarf, and moccasins. Though he was carrying a pocket book containing various paperwork and 16 3-cent stamps, the only money found was 12 cents on the body and 42 cents in change found in the sled. Aside from the two sacks of meal, police found two pounds of coffee, a box of savory, two lemons, and some peanuts in the bed of the sled.

When interviewed, William Elliot’s wife, Joanna, indicated that her husband and their hired hand, Tozier Sproul, a 19-year-old orphan from Montville, left the Glenburn home about 8 o’clock that morning. Elliot told Joanna that he and Sproul would be working at a woodlot in the morning and that, later in the day, he planned to go to Bangor to look for work hauling ice for a day or two. This being the case, she did not expect him home. Neither did she know how much money William carried with him.

Sometime after the men departed, Randall Goodwin pulled up to the house in a sled saying he wanted to buy a load of seasoned firewood. Joanna Elliot explained where her husband could be found and Goodwin followed the sled tracks to the wood lot.

At about noon, Sproul returned to the Elliot house on foot, explaining that Goodwin found them and purchased a load of firewood for his neighbor, the widow Jameson, paying William $1.50 in cash. Sproul remained at the home, tending to chores the rest of the day and evening. According to Sproul, William headed to Bangor alone to look for work hauling ice.

At Merrill & Stiles Provisions, Groceries and Ice House, located in the former Stetson Mill on Harlow Street, a short distance from the murder scene, investigators learned from Joseph R. Merrill that William Elliot and a young man—about 18 years old, dressed in dark clothes—stopped at the store around 7 p.m., purchasing the two bags of meal that were found in the sled, and some other small items. William counted out $2.81 to pay for the purchases but Merrill didn’t see any other money. William and his companion loaded the purchases into the sled and drove away together around 7:15 p.m.

During the Coroner’s inquest, witness reports varied. One witness living in the neighborhood reported seeing William stopped on Valley Avenue standing by the sled talking to one man while another man sat in the sled. A married couple also reported seeing William driving the sled as a man dressed in dark clothing was standing in the back of the box.

Newspaper accounts of the time did not indicate whether police interviewed anyone associated with ice merchants: Penobscot River Ice, Co. or J. H. Robinson & Co. both located on Harlow Street or John L. Triggs, on Valley Avenue. The Whig & Courier did, however, publish a second description of the suspect given by James Fickett, as being “about 25-years of age” with red chin whiskers, seeking to leave the team in the shelter of a shed.

Not mentioned during the Coroner’s inquest was the newspaper’s account of two children who allegedly attempted to jump aboard the Elliot sled being driven by a solitary man shortly after the murder was thought to occur. While it was common for children in the city to hop on and off sleds to catch ride or as part of their play, in this instance the driver reportedly swung a whip at the children, yelling that they could not ride with him.

One of the children was alleged to react by grabbing the fall of the whip as it swung toward him, and he yanked the whip handle from the man’s hand. The children, cited in one report to be two boys and cited in a second report to be girls, returned the whip to the police during the investigation, recounting the incident.

Although of dubious scale, this 1875 map illustrates the level of development along  Valley Avenue and Harlow Street around the time of William Elliot’s murder and shows the likely route of the perpetrator’s escape (marked by the author with red arrows), along Harlow Street through East Market Square and down Exchange Street where he turned onto Washington Street en route to the railroad depot.  By modern measurement, this distance is approximately two miles. Unimpeded by traffic, a two-horse team, driven fast,  could cover this distance in five to seven minutes.  Bird’s Eye View of the City of Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine. 

Speculation about the Murder

While physical descriptions vary from witness to witness, William Elliot apparently picked up a stranger somewhere along his drive from Glenburn to Bangor. William stopped at Merrill & Stiles store and ice house to pick up provisions, leaving the establishment at approximately 7:15 p.m.  Around that same time, a witness reported seeing William stopped on Valley Avenue, speaking with another man. The final reported sighting on the Avenue—of a man standing in the back of the sled behind William as he drove—may have been only seconds before the murderer took his first swing with the axe.

The Whig & Courier reported that Officers Allen and Dougherty speculated the attack took place shortly after the pair left Merrill’s store. Due to the amount of blood in the back of the sled, police speculated the perpetrator stowed William in the back of the sled, covered with a horse blanket, to drive to a spot where he could dispose of the body. It is presumed this is why the driver “was so particular to prevent” the children from boarding the sled. Investigators surmised that after discarding of the body, the perpetrator turned the sled and headed toward town and his get-away.

One wonders at this theory, however. How would the perpetrator know of the axe in the bed of the sled? If his intention was robbery and murder, why would the perpetrator wait until after William Elliot made a purchase that reduced the value of his purse by nearly three dollars? Why would the murderer leave the body where it was so easily found, as well as take time to wrap it with a horse blanket? 

Being a snowy February night is it possible instead that, after leaving the store, William suggested his young passenger retrieve the horse blankets for the men to wrap themselves in, to help ward off the cold? Handing the first blanket to William, the stranger may have uncovered the axe and thinking to knock his driver out and stage a robbery, used the butt of the axe to club William twice on the back of the head, cracking open his skull and causing blood from a heavily bleeding wound to saturate the sacks of meal and the second horse blanket.

Injured, William fell from the sled into a snow drift but, at age 36 and in his prime, the former soldier was strong and determined to stand his ground. He managed to stand again. Still in the sled, the murderer swung the axe again, striking William in the forehead with the blade. Panicking, the stranger swung the axe a final time, hitting his victim in the right temple causing the fractured skull to crush inward as William finally collapsed, still wrapped in the horse blanket.

The murderer then secured Williams coin purse or wallet, spilling loose change as he stole the sled. Intent on his get-away, the stranger allegedly lashed out at the children who attempted to jump aboard the sled. Driving the horses hard for the less than two miles to the train station allowed the bewhiskered stranger only moments to abandon the sled and catch the last train out of Bangor for Boston, scheduled to depart at 7:40 p.m.

The Case Goes Cold

Police in Portland, Maine searched the night train when it arrived in that city at approximately 1:10 a.m. but no one matching Colson’s description of the suspect was found. Two days later, Fickett’s description of a red-whiskered suspect began to circulate.

On February 21, the Whig & Courier reported that a traveling agent stopping at the Smith Hotel in Oxford, New Hampshire recounted seeing a thin, 25-year-old man with a light, blotchy complexion and no whiskers who, according to the Whig & Courier, “answered the description” of the murder suspect. The description, however, constitutes the third version of the suspect’s appearance. 

Nonetheless, the young man who went by the name “Reed” was deemed suspicious for arriving at the Smith Hotel with no baggage and spending the following day attempting to beg a ride to Vershire, Vermont.  He was reported to have secured a ride as far as Orford, New Hampshire and upon arriving there, promptly set off on foot toward Vermont. Aside from the witness description, there is zero evidence the man called Reed had anything to do with William Elliot’s murder. Ultimately, the case went cold and remains unsolved to this day.

Resources

Bird’s Eye View of the City of Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine. Madison, Wisconsin: J. J. Stoner, 1875.

Bugbee, David, & Co. Greenough’s Directory of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Manufacturing Establishments, Societies, Business Firms, Etc., Etc. in the City of Bangor for 1879-1880. Boston: Greenough & Co., 1879. Retrieved 21, January 2017 from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

 “A Case for Sympathy.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Friday, February 14, 1879; Issue 39, 3.

Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

“A Horrible Murder.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Thursday, February 06, 1879, Issue 32, 3.

“It seems to us.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Thursday, February 07, 1879, Issue 33, 3.

“Local Matters:  The Elliot Murder.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Friday, February 21, 1879; Issue 45, 3.

“One Year Ago Tonight.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Thursday, February 5, 1880; Issue 32, 3.

“The Recent Murder.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Saturday, February 08, 1879; Issue 34, 3.

“The Recent Murder: Coroner’s Inquest—Several Witnesses Examined.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Tuesday, February 11, 1879; Issue 36, 3.

 “The Recent Murder. Great Excitement in the City.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Thursday, February 07, 1879, Issue 33, 3.

 “The Recent Murder: Still a Mystery.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Saturday, February 10, 1879; Issue 35, 3.

 “The Valley Avenue Murder.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Wednesday, February 12, 1879; Issue 37, 3.

U.S. Census Bureau. 1860 United States Federal Census. Levant, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M653_446; Page: 994; Family History Library Film: 803446.

U.S. Census Bureau. 1870 United States Federal Census. Glenburn, Penobscot, Maine; Roll: M593_554; Page: 21A; Family History Library Film: 552053.

”Valley Avenue Tragedy.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Monday, February 17, 1879; Issue 41, 3.

 “The Valley Avenue Tragedy.” Bangor Daily Whig & Courier, Tuesday, March 4, 1879; Issue 54, 3.

Maine Old Cemetery Week, 2013

Maine Old Cemetery Association (MOCA) has announced attempts to re-establish Maine Old Cemetery Week, May 19-25, 2013, as part of its mission to encourage and support the preservation, maintenance, and study of old cemeteries.  

It has been noted by some members of the organization that the tradition of Maine families tending burial grounds during the Memorial Day weekend has fallen somewhat by the wayside in recent years. MOCA is encouraging local historical organizations, civic associations, Boy and Girl Scouts, Fraternal and Veterans groups to lead community projects to tend local burial grounds in hopes of reigniting interest in protecting and preserving local burial grounds.

While MOCA encourages the tidying of burial grounds, members of the public who lack appropriate training are asked to refrain from undertaking the cleaning of gravestones. Despite being made of stone, many grave markers—particularly early stones—are extremely fragile in nature and once damage is done, it is difficult and expensive to make effective repairs.  

While inappropriate cleaning methods, such as power washing or scrubbing stones with bleach and wire brushes may temporarily yield aesthetically-pleasing effects, these approaches result in irreparable damage to stone surfaces that can result in cracking, flaking, scaling, or granularization ("sugaring") of surfaces. Extensive loss of stone surface, of course, results in illegible inscriptions and the loss of historic information.

In response to a spate of cemetery thefts of tomb doors and metal gravestone fittings from remote Maine cemeteries in late 2012, MOCA instituted a new, online cemetery vandalism reporting tool. If, while participating in Maine Old Cemetery Week, incidents of cemetery vandalism or theft are discovered, people are encouraged to not only make reports to local authorities but to also file a report with MOCA by visiting http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~memoca/moca.htm and selecting the link, “Report Cemetery Vandalism.” Among information MOCA is gathering is locations, descriptions and photos of damage, estimates of damages (if known), and any planned repairs.

Grave markers Stolen from Woolwich Maine Cemetery

In early January 2012, two significant, historical grave markers were reported missing from the Nequasset Cemetery in Woolwich, Maine.

The first marker, dating from Maine's colonial period, is dedicated to the memory of Deacon Samuel Ford. The thin, tablet-style marker, features a unique winged-head design with the inscription, "Know ye the Hour." Additional historical information about the marker is available through the Maine Memory Network online at http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/12469/.



The second missing marker belongs to the grave of Reverend Josiah Winship, who departed this life Sept. 28, 1824. This slate marker features an elegantly carved willow-and-urn motif, as can be seen in the attached image, photocopied from the January 2012 Maine Antique Digest.

Please share this information widely among your friends and associates, including antique dealers.

Any information regarding the missing stones should be directed to the Maine State Police, or the stones may be returned to the Nequasset Cemetery.

July 2010 Graveyard Rabbits Carnival: Scavenger Hunt

1. Cross. This particular style of rustic cross can be found in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME and are attributed by local folklore to a single gravestone dealer, Rogan's Memorials. My research on these stones is ongoing.

It's all about the lens flare.

---

2. Heart. A granite, conjoined heart commemorating the tragic loss of the Frost siblings, Michael A., Jr, Sept. 10, 1998-Sept. 10, 2002 and his little sister, Linda J., May 9, 2000 to Sept. 10, 2002. The children died as the result of a fire in their home in Harmony, Maine. The grave, which features a portrait of the children together, is located in West Ripley Cemetery.

---

3. Fraternal symbol. A cast aluminum flag holder depicting the emblem of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America. Gold is an official color of the group, signifying “the rich blessings and material means” that members share with “those less fortunate.”

---

4. Monument. The Civil War memorial monument from Oak Grove Cemetery, Brewer, Maine. Designed with Italian marble and Frankfort granite by Hallowell Granite Company and S.P. Bradbury of Bangor, and made by S.P. Bradbury. Erected Fall of 1872 and dedicated May 30, 1873. In Memory Of The Citizen/Soldiers/Of Brewer Who Died/In Defence Of/Our Country/War Of/1861-65.

---

5. Flower. “She died in beauty, like the rose.” So reads the epitaph on the stone memorializing Rachel J, wife of Isaac Foster, Esq. Rachel died Oct. 7, 1838 at age 22 years, 1 month. The cabbage roses on her marker match those decorating the broken stone of Elizabeth P., wife of Isaac Foster, Esq. Hemlock Stream Cemetery, Argyle Township, Maine.

---

6. Hand. This combination of a hand holding an anchor atop a Bible and framed with laurel leaves appears in Jordan Cemetery, Harmony, Maine.

---

7. Angel. This Heavenly Angel seems utterly unimpressed with the duty of escorting Carrie W., wife of John S. Page and daughter of Enoch E & Elizabeth Brown to eternal life. Carrie died Aug. 28, 1871 at age 28 years and 8 months. The Angel one exudes an air of abject indifference even as she carries a scroll that reads, "Meet me." Or not. Whatever. Ireland Cemetery, Harmony, Maine.

---

8. Bird. Unlike so many bird images on stones, with broken wings or broken necks or just plain dead, this clearly live dove sits atop a small scroll-covered kern marking the grave of Harold V., son of H.V. and S. M. Furbush, 1915-1917. Kenduskeag Cemetery, Kenduskeag, ME.

---

9. Tree. At West Lubec Cemetery, Lubec, Maine, a low stone wall marks the boundaries of a substantially sized family lot with a single marked grave attended to by an eternal mourner. Cedar trees ring the interior of the stone wall at regular intervals providing a pastoral feel to the grave site.

---

10. Star. A cast aluminum American Legion flag stand marks the grave of a war veteran in Corinthian Cemetery, Corinth, Maine.

---

11. Obelisk. The Clement-Gerrish Cemetery in Kenduskeag, Maine is a small family cemetery typical of many that dot the rural Maine landscape. While this yard is well maintained, it is not unusual to stumble through to woods upon a cemetery with a large obelisk protruding from the overgrowth.

---

12. Four-legged animal. An anonymous elephant from Milford Cemetery, Milford, Maine. There is no obvious inscription for the occupant of the grave that is marked.

Admit it; you were expecting a lamb or maybe a dog. To paraphrase Bullwinkle, “Hey, Rocky, watch me pull an elephant out of my hat.”

---

13. Photo. Hiram Tripp, 1849-1922, porcelain portrait tile of Tripp with two horses and a dog. The tack on the saddled horse shows examples of Canadian Plains-style/Ojibwe beadwork. Molson Cemetery, Molson, WA.

---

14. Military Gravestone. Joseph J., son of Joseph B. & Hannah Elder, of Co. E, 22 Regt. Me. Vols died at Bellefontaine, Ohio Aug 20, 1863, AEt. 20 ys. 4 ms. Originally of Corinna, Maine, Joseph J. Elder served the Union army as a musician.

---

15. Mausoleum. Cassidy mausoleum in winter. Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Bangor, ME.

News From the Front

In the late 20th, early 21st Century, increased attention is being paid attention to the impact of war on the families of soldiers who serve, soldiers who are wounded and soldiers who die. Research suggests that the shared commonality of fear and separation from loved ones contributes to the construction of alternative community bonds—a sense of shared sacrifice, loss and survival, as well as the strengthening of common political and religious ideals.¹

The same might be said for families who struggled through the Civil War, when the war between the states lead to the disruption of nuclear family bonds by the long-term of service and the all too often, permanent separation by death.

Evidence of this theory can be seen in the epitaphs of war dead from the Civil War era. While government-issued grave markers adhered to the standard of name, rank and unit, markers purchased and erected by families of the fallen often exhibit epitaphs that include the cause and/or the circumstances of death.² One can theorize that this sharing of the intimate details of death was rooted in sorrow and mourning as well as pride and strong sense of shared familial, political, religious and community beliefs and fears at a time of war. In one instance illustrated here, the notation of wounds experienced during the Civil War on the gave of a surviving Veteran, points to the impact of this era as defining the lives and identities of many Americans.

The following images of gravestones and memorials for Civil War veterans reveal a common theme; though circumstances may have varied, in all cases there was a common cause of death: War.

Brothers in Arms & in Blood
Austin W. Whittier
A member of Co. H 1st Me Heavy Artillery
died at Philadelphia Pa.
Aug. 20, 1864,
of wounds received in battle at
Petersburg Va.
Æ. 18 yrs. 10 mos. 20 days.

Andrew J. Whittier
a member of Co. H. 6th Regt. Me. Vols.
died at Mt. Pleasant Hospital Washington
May 31, 1863,
of wounds received at Fredericksburg Va.
Æ. 30 yrs. 5 mos. 13 days.
His grave is at Mt. Hope cemetery Washington D.C.

They died for their country.

Leonard E. Kenneston
a member of
Co. H. 16th Regt.
Me. Vols.
died at Belle Plain Va.
Feb. 8. 1863.
Æ. 27 yrs.

Thomas E. Kenneston
a member of
Co. H. 16th Regt.
Me. Vols.
died at Windmill Point Va.
Jan. 25, 1863.
Æ. 24 yrs. 11 mos.

They died for their country.

---

Died in captivity

In memory of
Prentice M. Clark
1839 — 1864
Died in Andersonville Prison.

Family also listed on the marker:
Fred L. Clark
1842 — 1901

Louisa Clark

Laura E. Clark

---

Lost on the Battlefield

Eugene Lord
wounded in the assault
before Petersburg, Va. June
18. Died at City Point, June
25, 1864. Æ. 19 yrs.
2 mos & 6 days.
Son of Augustus &
Hannah Lord.

Stone is marked with a relief carving of the emblem for Co. F 1st Me. Heavy Artillery Me.

In memory of
Wm. H.H. Bates
musician of Co. H 31st
Regt. Me. Vols. Killed in
action near Cold Harbor Va.
June 3, 1864,
and buried on the field.
Æ. 17 years.

Son of John B. &
Rachel P. Bates

The nation called for soldiers;
One of that quota I supplied;
Dear mother, for his country,
Your son has bled and died.

Andrew W. Strout,
A member of Co. D. 30th
Regt. Me. Vols. Killed in
Pleasant Hill battle at
Mansfield La.
April 9, 1864
Æ. 22 yrs. 5 mos.
& 21 days

Died for his country the union to save,
Far, far away is his unknown grave.
Peace to his ashes hallowed the spot
God knows the place we know it not.

---

Officers of the GAR

CAPT.
Isaac Winslow Case
Co. H. 22nd Regt. Me. Vols.
Son of
Dr. Isaac & Abigail P.
CASE
died of Congestive chill
while in the service of his
country at Port Hudson La
July 6, 1863.
Æ. 40 Years

His trust was in Christ alone
Whom he had followed in life
Whom he triumphed in at death

In memory of
Calvin Sanger Douty
Colonel 1st Maine Cavalry
U.S. Volunteers.
Killed on the field of battle
At the head of his Regiment
On the 17th day of June 1863,
at the victory of Aldie Va,
In the third year of the war
For the Union
Aged 50 years.

As a husband and father he was devoted
And exemplary, as a public officer
Upright and efficient, as a private
Citizen, enterprising and useful,
And as a soldier, discreet, intrepid
And “faithful unto death.”
This tribute to his worth is erected by
His widow, and only surviving child.

Detail of the Calvin Sanger Douty memorial. Though badly eroded, the relief image of a mounted soldier with sword raised, leading his soldiers into battle is still clearly visible. While there is significant evidence that the position of the hooves of a mount does not communicate the specific cause of death, Mrs. Douty appears to have opted to use the symbolic imagery of a horse with a single raised hoof to reinforce the message that her husband was wounded in battle and died as a result of his wounds.

Lieut. Eli W.
Son of Richmond
& Isabella B. Parkman.
Died June 16, 1864
Æ. 24 yrs. 2 m’s. 15 d’s.
He was a Lieut. of Co. D. first
D.C. Cavelry, Shot June 15, 1864
Near Petersburg.
Gone Home.

---

Reason for Pride, if not death

1843 • Roscoe G. Tebbets • 1936
A volunteer of the Civil War
Served in Co. H. 31st Me. Regt.
Wounded through the left lung
Involving his heart during the
Battle of Lee’s surrender
April • 1865

His wife
1874 • Mina G. Nason • 1857

Notes

¹Garbarino, J., Kostelny, K. and Dubrow, N. (1991). No Place to Be a Child: Growing up in a War Zone. Lexington, Mass: Lexington Press.

²Sawtelle, K. (May 22, 2009) Frock Coat and Flag: Union Soldier Markers in Central Maine. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://onagravesubject.blogspot.com/2009/05/frock-coat-and-flag-union-soldier.html

Frock Coat and Flag: Union Soldier Markers in Central Maine

Arlington National Cemetery Image Number: 708887 by MrPyro. stock.xchng® vi

In my earliest independent wanderings through cemeteries in central Maine, around 2001, I came across the first of a fascinating style of Civil War headstone that still has me searching the landscape for contemporaries. In this preliminary paper, I will discuss features of the stones’ design elements in the hope of receiving feedback from readers regarding similar stones they have encountered so that I may compile a larger pool of samples for analytical purposes.

Introduction
Growing up in the 1970s, when American Bicentennial fervor encouraged the wholesale bleaching of marble gravestones and monuments as a worthy and patriotic past time for school children, I first learned that the U.S. government issued standardized grave markers for members of the military dating back to the Civil War. Having this idea ingrained early, the headstone I stumbled across in a secluded cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, on August 22, 2001, came as a bit of a surprise.

The finely carved and polished, white marble stone depicted a bearded Union soldier in bas relief. In profile, a left-facing soldier, standing on a grassy plain, was wearing a Union wool cap and frock coat and was holding an American flag incised with 33 stars and 13 stripes carved in alternating relief (Figures 1 and 4).

Figure 1: A bearded Union soldier, dressed in uniform, stands in profile in a grassy plain holding the staff of an American flag in his right hand. The carving is realistic in style and appears to be historically accurate, down to the number of stars and stripes on the flag. (Photo: Kimberly J. Sawtelle).

____________________

Even more startling was the personal detail recorded in the inscription and epitaph:

I died for my country.
Daniel W. Hayes
A member of Co. H.
1st Me. Heavy Artillery
Died at Baltimore Md.
June 18, 1864
Æ. 50 yrs. 1 mo.

The morning came but the angel of death
Had passed over the compound and they found him
Asleep like a Christian warrior at rest
With the emblems of warfare around him.

In a world of rank and file uniformity, where personal concerns are second to duty, honor and country, in a quiet country cemetery, surrounded by the chirr of crickets and buzz of cicada, stood a tribute that memorialized the nation's Civil War, an individual who died and the tinge of a mourning widow’s bitterness.

The message of mourning was reinforced on Mrs. Hayes adjacent marble marker, which recorded:

Nancy A.
Wife of
Daniel W. Hayes
DIED
Nov. 14, 1905
Æ. 86 yrs. & 10 mos.

Beloved, at last with thee will I rest
And with thee in Christ I will rise.

Accustomed to seeing simple marble markers bearing only the most rudimentary information about the individual honored, the complexity of the detailed relief carving and the expansive, emotional nature of the inscription immediately made me question the origin of the Daniel W. Hayes headstone and wonder whether I could find more like it, if I searched.

History
Although the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines they mark now lay at rest, more than 3,000,000 government-issued headstones currently stand at attention in private and national cemeteries across the United States.¹ The simplicity and uniformity of design of the typical stone tablets famously portrayed in annual Memorial Day landscapes of Arlington National Cemetery, was established in the days prior to the Civil War and the creation of the country’s first national cemetery in 1861.²

In the earliest days of cavalry units assigned to duty on the western frontier, responsibility for the burial of soldiers who died in service fell to garrison commanders by default. Over time, a standardized tradition of grave markers emerged. ³ According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, these markers were traditionally a wooden board with a rounded top and minimal identifying inscription. This responsibility-by-default was codified on September 11, 1861, when the U.S. War Department issued General Orders number 75 which made it the official duty of commanders to bury and mark the graves of their dead.⁴

The use of wooden grave markers, modeled on those used in frontier territory, continued until the close of the Civil War. In 1865, the enormity of maintaining some 100,000 burials in the national cemeteries began to make its impact felt. At the cost of $1.23 a piece with an average lifespan of less than five years, it became obvious that a more permanent solution for marking the graves of fallen soldiers was necessary.⁵

As with all things related to government, there was strong and enduring debate over the materials to be used for U.S. military headstones. White zinc and durable stone were the top contenders with the options of marble or granite receiving approval after seven long years of discussion.⁶ Given the impact of acid rain on both zinc and marble markers in the modern era—an issue not remotely imagined between 1865 and 1872—the decision yielded the most economical results in terms of longevity, particularly in cases where granite was the stone of choice.

Duty, honor, pride and—most importantly—unity are concepts promoted by all branches of the United States military. The simplicity of these concepts is reinforced in the regimented standard defining government-issued slab headstones and strict guidelines controlling the size, silhouette and inscriptions of the stones. In 1873, William W. Belknap, secretary of war, issued the first slab headstone design, referred to as the “Civil War” type—10-inches wide, 12-inches in height above the ground and 4-inches thick (Figure 2). These dimensions were changed in 1903 to 39-inches in height above the ground, while the 12-inch width and 4-inch thickness remained unchanged (Figure 3).⁷

Belknap’s original Civil War-type stone was polished above ground with a sunken shield within which the soldier’s name, rank, state and unit were inscribed in bas relief. The stone was initially issued to members of the Union Army, the unmarked graves of eligible Revolutionary War veterans, veterans of the War of 1812, the Mexican War and Indian Campaigns.⁸ At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the stone was chosen to mark the graves of the American dead of that campaign.⁹

It was not until the mid-to-late 20th century that regulations were adapted to allow for greater personalization of military headstones and markers to include indicators of military service (e.g. “Vietnam,” “Lebanon,” “Persian Gulf”) to be inscribed on stones for soldiers killed in action¹⁰ and approved emblems of belief and terms of endearment.¹¹

Figure 2. This lichen-encrusted example of Belknap’s original Civil War type headstone is located in Corinna, Maine. The brief bas relief inscription within a sunken shield reads: Lieut. Sam’l Gould Jr., Co. E, 8 ME. INF. The inscription provides no death date or additional personal information. (Photo: Kimberly J. Sawtelle)

____________________

Figure 3: The gray granite stone of Stephen Magoon, located in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, is an example of Belknap’s Civil War type headstone modified after 1903 to increase the height to 39-inches above the ground. The bas relief inscription within a sunken shield reads: Stephen Magoon, Co. D, 24 ME. INF. Similar to the earlier style of stone, the newer design provided no options for greater personalization. (Photo: Kimberly J. Sawtelle)

Investigation
Following the initial discovery of the Hayes stone, I began searching other cemeteries in the central Maine region (now referred to as the “Maine Highlands” by the Maine Office of Tourism) for similar markers. Focusing on another research objective at the time, finding Union soldier stones was a secondary consideration during my excursions. As a result, the initial search was not particularly systematic and by no means complete.

To date, a total of 11 stones have been identified, predominantly in small (100 or fewer marked burials) to medium-sized (100-1000 marked burials) rural cemeteries. The largest concentration of these stones is located between Palmyra, Hartland and St. Albans, near the boundaries of the Penobscot-Piscataquis-Somerset tri-county region (Map 1). A total of 10 stones occur within a 30-mile radius of each other in this geographic area: two stones in Dover-Foxcroft, one stone in Garland, one stone in Bradley, one stone in East Corinth, one in West Corinth, one in Palmyra, two in Hartland and one in St. Albans. A single stone was also identified in Whiting, Maine, approximately 120 miles to the east.

Map 1: To date a total of 11 Union soldier stones have been identified, 10 of which fall within a 30-mile radius of each other in the Penobscot-Piscataquis-Somerset region. The eleventh stone is located in the Whiting Village Cemetery, Whiting, Maine. (Map is not to scale and intended only to indicate estimated proximity.)

____________________

Figure 4: The finely carved and polished, white marble of the Hayes stone shows little evidence of erosion. Left-facing in profile and somewhat barrel-chested, a bearded soldier stands on a grassy plain wearing a Union wool cap and frock coat. His right knee is slightly cocked and he supports the staff of an American flag, incised with 33 stars and 13 stripes carved in alternating relief. See above for inscription. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

____________________

Figure 5: Within five miles of the Hayes stone (Figure 4), William Bates’ white marble marker shows considerable surface erosion of the relief-carved Union soldier. The left-facing, somewhat barrel-chested, beardless soldier stands with his right knee slightly cocked. He wears a wool Union cap and frock coat and braces the staff of a flag in his right hand. At his feet is a drum standing on its side. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

In memory of

Wm. H. H. Bates,
musician of Co. H. 31st
Regt. Me. Vols. killed in
action near Cold Harbor Va.
June 3, 1864,
and buried on the field.
Æ. 17 years.
Son of John B. &
Rachel P. Bates.

The nation called for soldiers;

One of that quota I supplied;
Dear mother for his country,
Your son has bled and died.

____________________

Figure 6: This highly veined, thin white marble slab with a floral boarder lacks significant surface erosion. Union soldier is carved in shallow relief standing atop a brick wall. He wears a wool Union cap and frock coat. The figure is rigid and stylized, and somewhat disproportionate with a jutting chin, short legs, shallow chest and bell-shaped frock. The oversized flag displays 16 stars and 13 stripes. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Joseph H

Son of Ephraim &
Temperance Bachelder.
DIED
At Camp Nelson, Ky.
Nov. 16, 1863.
Æt. 26

Warrior rest, thy toils are ended

Life’s last fearful strife is o’re;
Clarion calls with death notes blended
Shall disturb thine ear no more.

____________________

Figure 7: Details of the Joseph Bachelder portrait reveals a squat-faced gentleman with somewhat curly hair and sideburns. Executed with considerably less skill than the carvers of the portraits pictured in Figure 1 or Figure 12, the static form is disproportionate with long arms, short legs and long, jutting chin. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)














Figure 8: A second, thin white marble slab marker identical in form to the Bachelder stone (Figure 6) stands a few feet away in the same Palmyra cemetery. The rigid Union soldier is carved in shallow relief, standing atop a brick wall. He supports a flag in his right hand displaying 13 stars carved in a circle and 13 stripes. The stone exhibits a laterally bisecting break and poor repairs, possibly using some form of marine cement. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Herbert S.

Son of E. H. &
Sarah F. Judkins.
DIED
Aug. 17, 1863.
Æt. 19 yrs. 6 mos.

We had no cowards in our band,

Who did our colours fly:
Here sleeps a gallant soldier
Who was not afraid to die.

____________________

Figure 9: Carved on an identical slab marker with floral border as the Bachelder stone (Figure 6), the portrait for Herbert Judkins was executed by a different hand. The soldier is rendered in better proportion than the Bachelder figure, though still more stylized and “folk like” in form. This soldier is clearly clean-shaved and younger in appearance with short, curly hair and prominent nose. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

____________________

Figure 10: This white marble slab stone located in Whiting, Maine is most similar in style to the Bates stones (Figure 5). The soldier portrait shares elements of the Bates and Hayes stones. Though the figure is more slender and stiff in execution, it stands with the right knee slightly cocked. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Albert L. Crane

A member of Co. E.
31st Regt. Me. Vols.
Died at Brattleboro, Vt.
Aug. 22, 1864.
Æ 24 yrs. 2 mos.
Son of Wm. P. &
Elizabeth Crane

In the nations hour of peril

He was found among the brave,
Home, life, and friends he sacrified
His country’s life to save.

____________________

Figure 11: One of 11 stones located to date, the Israel Hodsdon stone in West Corinth, Maine is the only marker to feature a right-facing, somewhat barrel-chested soldier. Personalized details of the carved figure include the insignia of a First Sergeant on the soldier’s sleeve and a moustache. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Israel Hodson

First Sergent [sic] of Co. H.
6th Reg’t. Maine Vol’s.
Mortally wounded at the
Battle of Rappahannock
Station, Va. Nov. 7th
DIED
Nov. 9, 1863
Aged 24 yrs. 9 mos. 15 ds.
Son of Nathan & Dorothy Hodson.

____________________

Figure 12: Detail of the Israel Hodsdon portrait shows a realistically carved gentleman in his prime executed by a skilled hand. The sleeve of his uniform depicts the rank of a First Sergeant and the portrait itself includes straight, neatly trimmed hair to the collar, no sideburn and a moustache. The flag features a circle of 23 stars in the field and 13 stripes carved in alternating relief. Note how movement is depicted at the hem of the frock coat, adding to the realism of the portrait. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)











Figure 13: The Whittier stone in East Corinth, Maine, lists the names of Austin and his older brother Andrew, who pre-deceased him in the war by 15 months. The stone’s inscription notes that Andrew’s body is interred in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Austin W. Whittier

A member of Co. H. 1st Me. Heavy Artillery
Died at Philadelphia Pa.
Aug. 20, 1864,
of wounds received in the battle
at Petersburg Va.
Æ. 18 yrs. 10 ms. 20 days

Andrew J. Whittier

A member of Co. H. 6th Regt. Me. Vols.
Died at Mt. Pleasant Hospital Washington
May 31, 1863
Æ. 30 yrs. 5 mos. 13 days

His grave is at Mt. Hope Cemetery, Washington

____________________

Figure 14: Though stylistically quite different than the Whittier headstone, this thin slab headstone notes the loss of two brothers only two months apart. In this instance, the older brother is listed most prominently on the stone, which was broken and in disrepair when photographed. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Like Patriots they toiled and died for their country.

James R.

Son of William M. &
Ann Palmer,
Died at Lexington, Ma.
Sept. 20, 1861,
Æt. 27

Leroy M. Palmer

Died at City Point, Va.
July 1, 1861, Æt. 17

____________________

Figure 15: In Bradley, Maine, the Union soldier profile is carved in the tapered die of a white marble cottage-style stone marking the Strout family plot. The epitaph makes clear that location of Andrew Strout’s grave site was unknown to the family. (Photo: Kimberly Sawtelle)

Andrew W. Strout,

A member of Co. D. 30th
Regt. Me. Vols. Killed in
Pleasant Hill battle at
Mansfield La.
April 9, 1864,
Æ. 22 yrs 5 mo.

& 21 days

Died for his country, the union to save

Far, far away is his unknown grave

Peace to his ashes hallowed the stop

God knows the place, we know not.

____________________

Discussion
Dates of death carved on each of the 11 stones cited in this paper (though not all pictured) range throughout the duration of the Civil War, from July 1, 1861 (Leroy Palmer) to February 8, 1865 (George H. Moulton). All were likely carved and erected during the Civil War or shortly after peace was declared since, during that period, the government did not issue stone markers. In some cases, the portrait markers serve to indicate a fallen soldier’s grave, while in others it is a memorial only, with the bodies of the fallen men buried far from home and family or lost in the chaos of the post-mortem battlefield.

Easily two to four times the size of Belknap’s Civil War-type marker, adopted in 1878, it is most likely the stones originated from local monument suppliers using blanks supplied by quarries in Vermont, a primary source of marble headstones to the central Maine region in the mid-19th Century. A 1907 Vermont Marble Co. trade book illustrates marble slab stones similar or identical to those used for the portrait markers (Figures 14-17). What is currently unknown to the author is if the portrait stones were provided as a pre-carved stock item during the war years and sold as blanks that were personalized locally, as was the case of many standard headstone designs (Figure 18).

It is possible the Union soldier portrait design was created by stone carvers, or others in the mortuary industry, and shared through word-of-mouth or trade publications. The final possibility is that the design is unique to central to Downeast Maine, created by one or more local carvers and shared through word-of-mouth or some other means of communication. This is a question that can be answered only through more comprehensive research.

Figure 14: Page 54 of the 1907 Vermont Marble Company Trade Price Book illustrates one of the styles of slab headstone favored for Union soldier portrait markers. Style numbers 2092, 2095, 2098 and 2104 are nearly identical to the 11 stones discussed here. The checkmark on line 1 of the price list was made by the original owner of Rogan’s Memorials; potentially indicating that the blank was a popular stock piece for the Bangor, Maine dealer.


Illustration provided courtesy of Dick Coffin, current owner of Rogan’s Memorials, established in 1881, to whom the 1907 trade book belonged.









Figure 15: Monument design number 2098 is comparable in style to the marble slabs used for the Bates, Crane and Whittier headstones (Figures 5, 10 and 13)

Illustration provided courtesy of Dick Coffin, current owner of Rogan’s Memorials, established in 1881, to whom the 1907 trade book belonged.







Figure 16: Monument design number 2104 is comparable in style to slabs used for the Hayes headstone (Figure 4).

Illustration provided courtesy of Dick Coffin, current owner of Rogan’s Memorials, established in 1881, to whom the 1907 trade book belonged.















Figure 17: Monument design number 2092 appears to be the most popular style to slab stone in the Palmyra-Hartland region, used for the Bachelder, Judkins and Palmer headstones, among others (Figures 6, 8 and 14).

Illustration provided courtesy of Dick Coffin, current owner of Rogan’s Memorials, established in 1881, to whom the 1907 trade book belonged.






Figure 18: The 1907 Vermont Marble Company Dealer Price List includes model No. 2102, a white marble slab headstone featuring the standard heaven-pointing hand. This tablet blank, as well as other popular designs, were provided to dealers from the Vermont quarry, requiring only personalization through carving the deceased personal information and epitaph.

Illustration provided courtesy of Dick Coffin, current owner of Rogan’s Memorials, established in 1881, to whom the 1907 trade book belonged.




Summary
So where does that leave us, in terms of the origins of the Union soldier portrait stones?

The similarity to marble slab markers included in mortuary stone price lists points to Vermont as the most likely source of the headstone blanks. Personalized inscriptions and portraits—including symbols of individuals’ roles during the Civil War—support a hypothesis of the markers being carved locally and erected by the fallen soldiers’ families between 1861 and 1865. Details of death on the battlefield or in camp, a sense of familial mourning and patriotic pride intermingle in portraits, inscriptions and epitaphs, a feature markedly differing from the minimal inscriptions recorded on government-issued gravestones.

Stylistically, stones within close geographic proximity show decidedly characteristic styles of carving that suggest limited source origins of the stones. A quick visual comparison of the 11 stones discussed here, exhibit the workmanship of several stone carvers. It is possible that several carvers in a single shop created the stones from a basic example within a specific community. While stones in the Dover-Foxcroft to Corinth area display a realistically rendered soldier within a classical arch, stones from the Palmyra-Hartland region place a disproportionate, stylized portrait inside a circular medallion. The question then becomes, how was the design communicated from carver to carver between communities? The origin of the design and geographic occurrence can be determined only through greater research.

Citations
¹ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Reviewed/Updated Date: March 12, 2009). Burial and Memorials: General History, retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/history.asp
² U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Reviewed/Updated Date: March 12, 2009). History of Government Furnished Headstones and Markers, retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/hmhist.asp
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Sammartino, Therese T. (n.d.). A Promise Made—A Commitment Kept: The Story of America’s Civil War Era National Cemeteries. Washington, D.C.: Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration.
⁷ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Reviewed/Updated Date: March 12, 2009). History of Government Furnished Headstones and Markers, retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/hmhist.asp
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Department of Veterans Affairs Communications & Outreach Support Division. (2009). Government-Furnished Heastones and Markers. Washington, D.C.: Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

Bibliography
Department of Veterans Affairs Communications & Outreach Support Division. (2009). Government-Furnished Heastones and Markers. Washington, D.C.: Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

Sammartino, Therese T. (n.d.). A Promise Made—A Commitment Kept: The Story of America’s Civil War Era National Cemeteries. Washington, D.C.: Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration.

Steere, Edward. (1954). Shrines of the Honored Dead: A Study of the National Cemetery System. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army Office of the Quartermaster General.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Reviewed/Updated Date: March 12, 2009). Burial and Memorials: General History, retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/history.asp

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Reviewed/Updated Date: March 12, 2009). History of Government Furnished Headstones and Markers, retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/hmhist.asp

Vermont Marble Co. (1907). Price List of Rutland White, Rutland Blue, Sutherland Falls, Esperanza Blue, Pittsford Valley. St. Albans, VT: St. Albans Messenger Company Print.

© Copyright May 2009 by Kimberly J. Sawtelle. All rights reserved.

To protect the safety of the above cited headstones, locations and cemetery names were deliberately omitted from this publication. For additional information or to contact the author, kimberjs@gmail.com.

Please excuse the utter crap HTML coding of Blogger. Must be a Microsoft product.