The SONS OF VETERANS (later renamed the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War) is a fraternal organization, the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), with a dedication to preserving the history and legacy of those soldiers who fought to save the Union. First organized in 1881, its membership formed Camps within their communities, in most cases choosing names of local Civil War veterans or fallen heroes, in a way of honoring the men who had served.

One of these Camps, instituted in Kittery on the evening of Thurs., 5 March 1903, with 21 charter members [Ports. Herald, 6 Mar 1903, pg 8], was named for the late colonel of the 27th Maine, Mark F. Wentworth. It was originally given the Camp number #20, though in later years (prior to 1919, perhaps by a charter surrender and reorganization) it had been renumbered to #105. It was active through 1932. 

The above clipping is a notice printed in the Biddeford Weekly Journal on Fri., 14 Jan 1921, covering the annual installation of officers of the Wentworth Camp. Among them were several "Sons" of the Kittery men who served with Col. Wentworth, in the 27th and the 32nd Maine. The elected officers in 1921 were:

Manning Lawry, son of Franklin E, 27th Maine
E.M. (Everett M) Moore, son of Moses D, Co. D, 1st Maine Cavalry
Leonard McCloud, son of James A, whose step-father since birth was George W. Remick, 32nd Maine
A. H. (Albert Henry) Cruse, son of William H., 32nd Mass Inf
J. L. (Jesse Lincoln) Philbrick, s/o Charles L and Emily (Jordan), her father Robert having served in the 24th Mass Inf
M. L. (Maurice L) Duncan, s/o Edwin A, 17th Maine
E. F. (Eugene F) Hayes, s/o Alfred C, gr-son of George H, 27th Maine
Clarence Chick, s/o Sylvester, 27th Maine
E. W. (Edward W) Hunting, s/o Israel, 44th Mass Inf

Other SUVCW Camps that were organized in the state of Maine that took the names of 27th Maine Volunteers included:

Horace H. Burbank Camp, No. 20, Saco (Qrmtr Sgt)
Lt. William H. Miller Camp, No. 44, Sanford (Lt, Co. E)
Maj. John D. Hill Camp, No. 75, Bar Mills (Buxton)
Capt. Frank A. Hutchins Camp, No. 89, Waldoboro (of Kennebunkport, Co. K)

Are you a "SON" of a Civil War veteran, or someone who is interested in Civil War history and wants to be part of preserving their history? Join the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War today!

For those living in Maine, please check out the Maine SUVCW. For those in New Hampshire, please visit the NHSUVCW.org website for more information. The National organization's website, www.suvcw.org, includes a listing of all other Departments throughout the United States.

The President's call of October 17, 1863 called for 300,000 volunteers. For Maine's part in this fulfillment, 7,581 men needed to be raised [App. A, pg 17, 1863 Rep't]. Two new regiments of infantry (the 29th and 30th) and one of cavalry (the 2nd) were to be formed, while remaining recruits were needed to join the old organizations already in the field.

The above advertisement, which ran in York County newspapers (the above clipped from the Maine Democrat on Dec 1st, 1863) called for veterans who had previously served nine months (they had been mustered out in July) to reenlist and claim a $502 bounty. $402 of this was federal money, while the state paid out $100. This was in addition to the bounties being paid out by the towns or cities, which was around $200-300. When mustered into service, $175. of the bounty would be paid in advance [see General Order No. 22 in Appendix A, of the 1863 Maine Adjutant General's Report].

George H. Ward, previously the captain of Co. A, 27th Maine, apparently was being considered to again be captain at the time of this ad. By the end of the year, however, his name had been removed from print.

From 30 Nov to the first week of Jan. '64, the twelve companies of the Second Cavalry were mustered into service. The majority of Company L was mustered in on the 24th of Dec, 1863. Samuel H. Libby, formerly 1st Lieut. of Co. A, 27th Maine, was commissioned as captain. Under him, his former comrades from the 27th Maine filled the majority of the officer positions. They were:

2nd Lieut. William H Moody of Kennebunk
Com. Sgt. William M Staples of Lyman
1st Sgt. Elisha E Clark of Limerick
2nd Sgt. James E Moody of Kennebunk
3rd Sgt. Moses T Sampson of Biddeford
Cpl. Charles F McKenney of Limington
Cpl. George W Oakes of Kennebunk
Cpl. Adam McCulloch of Kennebunk (later transferred to the Navy)
Cpl. George W Wakefield of Kennebunk
Cpl Orrin F Ham of Saco
Bugler Charles E York of Biddeford
​Wagoner Albra Garland of Kennebunk

There were also 27th Maine veterans who served as privates (there were a few others who served in other companies within the 2nd Cavalry):
James H Brown of Alfred (later transferred to the Navy)
Charles H Clough of Biddeford
Charles Cobb of Limerick
John Conner of Limerick
​Almon C Durgin of Biddeford (promoted corporal)
Edward Lord of Parsonsfield
Edwin R Manson of Limerick
​Alonzo P Moulton of Parsonsfield
James W Palmer of Hollis
Chandler Peavey of Lyman
Lewis G Stone of Parsonsfield
Horace Taylor of Kennebunk

The regiment was mustered into federal service on 12 Jan 1864 and left the state on 15 March, and were shipped straight to the Department of the Gulf and stationed in Louisiana. They later served in Florida and Alabama. Sickness overtook many of them, where 334 died of disease [ME State Archives; 1865 Adj Rep't shows 325], compared to the 10 killed or mortally wounded [Archives; Adj Rep't lists 6] in the few engagements they participated in. They were mustered out of service on 6 Dec 1865.

Of the 27th Maine veterans in Co. L, Orrin Ham and Adam McCulloch did not survive the war.

Links:
Muster-In Roll of Company L, Second Maine Cavalry: on Family Search
Muster-out Roll of Co. L, 2nd Maine Cavalry: on Family Search​
Second Maine Cavalry page on: Maine State Archives
Digital Maine Depository: CDV of William H Moody
Digital Maine Depository: CDV of Samuel H Libby

FORT ALBANY was located on Arlington Heights, southwest of the Long Bridge that led into Washington, DC. The land to the rear of this earthwork structure was used as a parade ground for the frequent review of the thousands of soldiers encamped nearby (at Camp Seward and Camp Chase). 

Below is an 1861 drawing, printed in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on 31 August 1861, while it was still being constructed. The Arlington House is in the background, on the left, while the Potomac River and the White House are in the distance on the right side of image. 

Below is another image of Fort Albany, this time facing south and looking at the main gate. This was also from 1861, with New York troops encamped outside. It was built to overlook the Columbia Turnpike, which is the road running horizontally through image (it turns south after passing the western view of the fort). 

To the east of the fort (left side of above picture from this view) is the Roach (or Roche) farm, which can be seen on the 1862 map seen below. As Seth Bryant mentioned in his journal (Nov 11th entry), the troop review was on the flat back of Fort Albany, which would have been below the Heights. On that day, he says that after the review they marched on to the road and, instead of taking a left back towards Camp (Seward), they turned right towards the Long Bridge, and marched down to the flat marshy ground by the river. The location of Gen. Casey's gathering would have been somewhere in the location marked with the red circle.  

Fort Albany no longer exists, as the earthworks and hillside was completely eliminated for the highway system, with Rt. 395 now runs through its former location. A historical marker stands in Prospect Hill Park (1025 S Arlington Ridge Rd, Arlington, VA 22202) to mark the nearby spot.

Links:
1862 Map of N. Eastern Virginia and vicinity of Washington -[LoC or Rumsey]
Defenses of Washington Marker Series [Fort Albany on Flickr]
Fort Albany at Arlington Heights, 1861 (E.F.Ruhl, Publisher - LoC site)
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 31 Aug 1861 [Vol. XII, pg. 253]
The Historical Marker Database: Fort Albany 

​During his time with the 27th Maine, Private Charles W. Gooch, of Company I, wrote over fifty letters to his wife Julia, back home in Kennebunk, Maine. The following is a letter he wrote to her on the 15th of March, 1863. I've transcribed it as written, with lack of punctuation and spelling errors included.
Note:clicking on images will enlarge them for better viewing/reading

NOTES:
(pg 1) Charles Gooch was a religious man, and this letter seems to show his disapproval for all the maneuvers taking place on a Sunday
(pg 2) "people of niniver" - likely a reference to Ninevah, from the Biblical Book of Jonah, whose residents had to fast and repent for their sins to avoid their city from being destroyed by God
        - the "worthey" (ie worthy, slang for someone important) John M. Goodwin from Maine was probably the Biddeford lawyer.
   - "agent for northern lights" - other than the steamship "Northern Light", and a company of Wisconsin soldiers, I did not find sources for what he meant by this phrase
(pg 4) "G Wakefield" is George W. of Kennebunk. While he was serving in the 27th ME, letters sent from home told of "suspissious storys" between his wife and a "Mr A.C.". They separated soon after his return in '63, and he filed for divorce in 1864 (while on furlough from the 2nd Maine Cav), approved in Jan of '65. ALSO in court at this time was Olive B Clark, who was divorcing Abner Clark (aka Mr A.C.) [SJC Vol 22 pg 108], who had deserted her the same day George's wife Emma left home. Many years later, this same Olive (Littlefield) Clark would marry, as his 2nd wife, Charles W Gooch, writer of this above letter (his wife Julia died in 1882).

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)