The 27th Maine Volunteers
  • Home
  • History
    • History
    • Chronology - 1862
    • Chronology - 1863
    • 312
    • medal of honor list
    • The Medals of Honor: A Tally
    • Blog Index
  • Soldiers Index
    • Index of Soldiers
    • Soldiers Index A
    • Soldiers Index B
    • Soldiers Index C
    • Soldiers Index D-E
    • Soldiers Index F-G
    • Soldiers Index H
    • Soldiers Index J-K
    • Soldiers Index L
    • Soldiers Index M
    • Soldiers Index N-O
    • Soldiers Index P-Q
    • Soldiers Index R
    • Soldiers Index S
    • Soldiers Index T-V
    • Soldiers Index W-Y
  • Reunions
    • Reunions
    • Reunions 1882, 1883 and 1884
    • Reunion 1885
    • Reunions 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889
    • Reunion 1890
    • Reunions 1891 and 1892
    • Reunions 1893, 1894 and 1895
    • Reunion 1896
    • Reunion 1897
    • Reunion 1898
    • Reunion 1899
    • Reunion 1900
    • Reunions 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904
    • Reunions 1905 and 1906
    • Reunions 1907, 1908 and 1909
    • Reunion 1910
    • Reunion 1911
    • Reunion 1912
    • Reunion 1913
    • Reunion 1914
    • Reunion 1915
    • Reunion 1916
    • Reunion 1917
    • Reunion 1918
    • Reunion 1919
    • Reunion 1920
    • Reunion 1921
    • Reunion 1922
  • Burial Places
    • Burial Places
    • Burial Places Nationwide
    • Burial Places Acton-Hollis
    • Burial Places Kennebunk-Parsonsfield
    • Burial Places Saco-York
  • York County
    • York County
    • Acton
    • Alfred
    • Berwick
    • Biddeford
    • Buxton
    • Cornish
    • Dayton
    • Eliot
    • Hollis
    • Kennebunk
    • Kennebunkport
    • Kittery
    • Lebanon
    • Limerick
    • Limington
    • Lyman
    • Newfield
    • North Berwick
    • Parsonsfield
    • Saco
    • Sanford
    • Shapleigh
    • South Berwick
    • Waterboro
    • Wells
    • York
  • Links
  • About Me/Contact Page
  • Blog

A Medal Found

2/25/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Bangor Daily Whig, August 5th, 1890
In The Portland Daily Press, on the 4th of August, 1890 [link: Chronicling America] the above notice was printed [and copied by the Daily Whig on the following day]. A Medal of Honor, which was inscribed to Philip Banfield of Company E, 27th Maine, had been found on a beach in Wells, Maine, and the former soldier was being sought out for its return.

​At the time of this publication, Philip Banfield was an inmate in the Soldiers Home out in Milwaukee [1890 Vet. Sch: NW Branch Nat'l Home, pg 85], living there since March 1884. He had been transferred there from the Hampton, Virginia (Southern) Branch, first admitted into the system in Sept 1881. He returned to Maine in July of 1891, when he was transferred over to Togus. There were no furloughs mentioned in the paperwork from the earlier facilities, which may have shown him traveling to Maine, or in the vicinity of.

..."a reward for his patriotism in remaining behind in Washington"
However, Pvt Banfield was NOT on the list of those men who stayed behind in Washington, so this medal would have been one of the 500+ extras not distributed by Col. Mark Wentworth. As mentioned in "A Shower of Stars" [pgs 129-130: Erastus Moulton's 1904 letter], the undistributed medals were returned to Augusta, Maine, where they sat in City Hall, until the building was remodeled, and the medals were sent back to Wentworth in Kittery. 
​
It has been stated that (as Moulton's letter continued), while having a 27th Maine Regimental Reunion in Kittery, some of the attendees went into the Colonel's stable and grabbed some of the medals, later offering them to those whose names were written on them (though many did not accept them). The date of this incident was most likely either 12 Sept 1888 or 27 Aug '89, as Wentworth berated many of the men who showed up "at a reunion in Biddeford" [the 27th of Aug 1891 being the only time a reunion was held there] wearing these unearned medals.

How did this medal end up on a beach in Wells?
​Was Banfield's medal one of those stolen from Wentworth's stable and, since this soldier was probably not in attendance at the reunion (him being in the Milwaukee Soldiers Home in 1888-1889), his medal was just discarded? It is even possible, considering the inscription is on the back side of the medal, that someone else had been wearing his medal and tossed it out after one of the Kittery reunions.

There was never a follow-up article about this in the newspaper. "Joseph Fountain of Great Falls, NH", himself a Civil War veteran (with the 6th NH Inf), died in 1895. I wonder what ever became of this medal.

More about:
Philip Banfield (his bio page)  
0 Comments

    Author

    Steve Dow

    Archives

    November 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    December 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    March 2015
    September 2014
    May 2014
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    27th Maine
    2nd Maine Cavalry
    32nd Maine
    Arlington Heights
    Biddeford
    Buxton Maine
    Came Family
    Camp Casey
    Camp Chantilly
    Camp Lincoln
    Camp Seward
    Cape Elizabeth
    Chadbourne
    Civil War
    Decoration Day
    Eliot Maine
    Fort Albany
    GAR
    Higley
    Hollis Maine
    Holt
    Ireland
    Kennebunk
    Kittery Maine
    Maine
    "Maine Militia"
    Medal Of Honor
    Memorial Day
    Monument
    Nova Scotia
    Pennell
    Peru Maine
    Portland
    Portland Maine
    Saco
    SUVCW
    Trefethen
    US Navy
    Waterboro Maine
    Wells Maine

Copyright © 2005-2023 All rights reserved. www.the27thMaine.com

​
HAPPY NEW YEAR!​

Looking for a particular name somewhere within the pages of my website? Try the search box below:
Proudly powered by Weebly