​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)  

During his time with the 27th Maine, Private Charles 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 January 1863. I've transcribed it as written, with lack of punctuation and spelling errors included.

Notes:
(pg 1) "Theodore" is Theodore Gooch, a cousin of Charles W Gooch, who also lived in Kennebunk. His full name is mentioned in an earlier letter.
(pg 2) The Christian Watchman and Reflector was a Baptist newspaper style weekly periodical, printed in Boston, MA. The article mentioned by Charles was likely from the Dec 25th issue (viewable on Genealogy Bank w/ subscription), which included a letter written by a soldier at Fort Albany, describing the 27th Maine (and other units) marching onto the grounds.
   (fath) = perhaps he meant "faith"? As he wrote this word on both ends of the sentence where he declined the offer of milk, was he fibbing about already having coffee that morning? Charles was a religious man, so perhaps he felt bad about lying to the Irishman and wife, so called that out in his letter.
(pg 4) "Isaac" is Sgt Isaac Emery of Kennebunk, who was the brother of Charles' wife Julia.

It is the final day of 2018, and I shall soon be entering my 14th year of having an online presence for my 27th Maine research. 

My original goal of finding more about the soldiers of the 27th Maine Infantry is nearly complete, if such a word can ever be used with any kind of genealogical work. I have researched every man in the regiment and, while there are a few that have completely stumped me, the overall mission was a success. Of the 946 (or 949, as was officially reported) men in the regiment, I have been able to find the burial places for 890 of them. 842 of these have memorials created on Find a Grave (578 of them under my management), and I have personally visited 639 of them, in order to photograph the stones and/or the plots (for those with no stones).

I hope that, in this coming new year, I will be able to make more trips to the cemeteries located out of state, and continue recording these burial sites. With many newspapers now being scanned and uploaded online, especially those from the New England states, finding more information about the 27th Maine and its volunteers is getting a bit easier. Lets hope that it leads to solving a few of these "dead ends" I have.

Here's to 2019!

Steve 

Camp Abraham Lincoln, Cape Elizabeth
The 25th Maine had already marched out on Thursday, the 16th of October, 1862, followed two days later by the 23rd Maine, who were escorted into Portland by the men of the 27th Reg't and the Portland Band. The Seventh Maine Infantry, who had returned from the war front for furlough and recruiting, took over the quarters that formerly housed the 25th Maine.

This would be the last weekend in Maine for the 27th Infantry, as they had received their marching orders - they'd be leaving on Monday morning. Rumor had it that they would be heading to New Orleans. The First Baptist Society, with a church on Federal Street, invited the men from the Twenty-Seventh to attend their Sunday service at 10:30 in the morning, the Rev Dr. [William Hosmer] Shailer to "preach a sermon appropriate for the occasion" [Portland Daily Press, 10/18/62].

Sunday morning came, and a crowd gathered at the church to watch the men march in for the service. They never showed, so the congregation was admitted inside their church.

It was later learned that an incident occurred at Camp Lincoln on Saturday night, where troops had lit the sutler's tent on fire. As reported in the Portland Daily Press on Monday, the 20th, there had been word of the upcoming torching, so the goods stored there had been removed.

Seth Bryant, captain of Company I, wrote in his diary about Oct 18th:

With extra guards put on duty, the restless troops got quiet and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

It is not known if the soldiers were restricted from leaving camp on Sunday due to the fire, or perhaps it was due to all of the last minute packing that needed to be done before the 3 a.m. reveille on Monday morning would send them off on their nine month tour of duty in Virginia.

Notes:
Capt Bryant, in his diary, said the troops had attempted to set the sutler tent of the 25th on fire as well. As this regiment had already left two days prior to this, had their sutler not joined them in their trek southward? Maybe he was still in the process of packing up his goods, and would meet up with them later. The Portland Daily Press, on 10/17/62, did mention in their news article about the 25th 's departure, that some 70 men were left behind, as some were still out on furlough, and others were sick. The sutler likely had remained behind, and would take the train with the remaining troops.

In 1862, the First Baptist Church on Federal Street was located where the rear side of the Portland Fire Station on Congress St now stands. It would have been a 2.4 mile march had the 27th Maine Volunteers gone to the Sunday service.

JOSEPH PORTER was the first man of the Twenty-Seventh Maine to die, succumbing to a "congestion of the lungs" on Tuesday, October 7th, 1862, in the hospital at Camp Abraham Lincoln in Cape Elizabeth. 

Other reports would list his death date as the 8th, so perhaps he passed away some time during the night. He was buried in Portland in the afternoon on the 8th, with his company in attendance.  ​But, where was he buried?

The Portland city records were checked, and the following entry for Joseph Porter was found [Vol. 6, pg 17-18]:

The date of death written into the book was "November 5", with a burial on 7 Nov 1862. The cause of death was correct, though his age here was listed as "27 years" (the news article had said 'aged about 30', while his enlistments papers claim he was 24 years of age). This entry may be a reinterment from another burial place, thus the differing dates. The only one of his name in the books, I don't believe this is a different person, just errors in recording the event.

Sadly, his burial plot in the Forest City Cemetery was "No. 22, S. Ground". This was the Strangers Ground*, where those without families or friends to claim them or purchase their plot were laid to rest. Though the strangers ground is marked on a map* of the cemetery, the actual plots inside this section are not, and the cemetery does not have records as to where this particular plot #22 would have been located. 

​JOSEPH PORTER was a sailor, and was from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (the Descriptive Roll says New Brunswick), enlisting on behalf of the quota of the town of York, Maine. It is not known if he enlisted while in town, or may have signed up later in Portland when town agents needed to fill their quotas (there were several sailors from the area outside of York County who ended up in Company D). As the 27th ME was raised without there being a draft, the above news article erred in saying Mr Porter was a sub was a drafted man. He MAY have subbed for someone that was rejected from the company enlistment or, most likely, accepted a town bounty and just signed up. There were a few of this name in the Yarmouth area in the 1851 and 1861 Canada censuses, and it is not possible (at this time) to determine which one, if any, might be him.

​An unknown soldier, in an unmarked grave.

Notes:
​*In later entries, the "Soldiers Lot" or "S. Lot", would at times be called the "Soldiers Ground" (or S. Ground), but the burials in this plot were numbered in order of their burials, so #22 would not have been used in 1862.
* The map of the cemetery was done during the WPA of the 1930's (they can be found here: WPA Maps), with the strangers ground being on the eastern side of the cemetery.  
Sources for images:
Portland, ME Records of Deaths: Vol 6, pg 19 (on Family Search)
Portland Daily Press, 9 Oct 1862 (on Chronicling America)

I present here a letter from Eben N. Higley, formerly of the 27th Maine, and now in the US Navy, stationed in Portsmouth Harbor during September of 1864. He writes the following to his "friend" Julia:

Below is a clipping from the 1860 South Berwick, Maine census (pg 23), showing Ebenezer (Eben) Higley in the household of Walter Abbott. At the time, he was a 17-year old cordwainer. Also here is mill operative "Annie West", age 18, who is probably the person Eben was asking about in his letter to Julia. As the letter mentions she had been married, she may be the Annie W. West who married Nahum G Tripp on 15 May 1864 in Kennebunkport [they were divorced in 1866]

In this same census year for So. Berwick, there is a Julia Bennett, age 14, living in hh of Robert Fernald with several mill operatives. This household, numbered 155/175, is only four homes away from the above record, so it seems probable these two women are the ones in Eben's letter. Julia may have been the one who married George Bragdon in North Berwick in 1871, both of them from Wells [Annie W (West) Tripp, at the time of her divorce, was also in town] . 

Eben (or Ebenezer) Higley had served in the Navy as a landsman in 1861, enlisting on 1 June for one year, and served until 9 July 1862. After his time in the 27th Maine, he reenlisted into the Navy, serving from 30 Aug 1864 to 6 July 1865. He was listed as a coal heaver. After the war, he became a machinist and an inventor, and lived in Somersworth, NH, where he died in 1920. He had a wife and three daughters (1 died young).

"Of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years" was part of the law by which all* able-bodied white male citizens were required to enroll in their state militias. The President called forth this militia on the 4th of August, 1862, ordering the members in each community to gather and draft enough men needed to fill the quota required of them. In lieu of this, volunteers were allowed to enlist, to avoid any draft from being needed.  

One of those volunteers, enlisting for the quota of Lebanon, Maine, was Millett Blaisdell, who signed off as being 18 years of age. His father said otherwise.

Thomas Blaisdell, with attorney William Emery, Esq. of Lebanon, petitioned the court for the discharge of his son Millett from the 27th Maine, as he was underage at the time of his enlistment. The case won on the 20th of Oct, Millett was sent home, while the regiment marched out of camp to board the trains for the south. 
​
He turned 18 six days later.  

Private Blaisdell was not the only underage volunteer in the 27th Maine, just the only one that was caught and discharged. Among the others:
​
William Bail [Co. C], born 1846 [on grave]
Richard W (aka Whitney R) Carpenter [Co. B], born Oct 1847 (age 15 in Sept '62)
William H Carpenter [Co. B], born July 1845 (age 17)
John W Center [Co. K], b. ca Dec 1846 [Soldiers Home file; 1900 census]
John W Earl [Co. B], died 18 Oct 1862, aged 16 yrs, 9 mos, 21 das [grave]
Walter A Gowen [Co. F], b. 17 Apr 1846 (aged 16 1/2 when enlisted)
​Charles Guilford [Co. C], b. 4 Oct 1845
Anthony Jackson [Co. I], b. 18 Jan 1845 (17 1/2 in Sept '62)
Roscoe Jewell [Co. H], b. ca 4 Dec 1846 [calc from age at death; census recs]
Frank Mildram [Co. D], b. 18 Nov 1845 [grave; Nov '46 on 1900 census]
Robert Philbrick [Co. E], b. ca 30 Dec 1846, based on age at death (15 in '62)
Charles T Smith [Co. F], b. 7 Apr 1846 (age 16 at enlistment)
Horace Taylor [Co. I], b. 1846 [grave] or Mar 1848 [1900 census, prob error]
Frederick L Willey [Co. G], b. ca Jan 1846 (died Mar 1867, aged 21 yrs, 3 mos)

[There are likely others that I have yet to record, so this list may need to be amended in the future]

Note:
*There were exemptions to the militia enrollment, including those in positions within the government and the courts, religious preachers and followers (shakers and quakers), and men who held key occupations that ran the communities (such as postal workers and ferryman). See the book Militia Laws of the State of Maine (Google Books)

This 1862 bible was presented to Horatio W Trefethen of Kittery, Maine, who was a private in Company G (of the 27th Maine Infantry), by Isaac D Phillips. As can be seen in the photograph of the inscription on the inside cover, both the company letter and regiment number had yet to be assigned when this book was distributed. Horatio probably was the one who added his own middle initial, as well as the "G" for his company, though he wrote the "27" in the wrong spot.

Isaac Deering Phillips, a Kittery resident, was town clerk in the 1850's, employed as a cooper and retail grocer, and was a Justice of the Peace. His gravestone lies in the First Baptist Church Cemetery in Kittery Point, and is engraved with "Dea" for deacon, presumably a position he held at the church in 1862, when this bible was given out. It is not known (at this time) how many bibles were given out, or if they were handed out (by Phillips) to only those parishioners of this particular church, or if Mr. Trefethen was even a member.

Inside the bible was found a newspaper clipping, a poem titled "Heaven", by Martha Remick. She was a Kittery resident, the daughter of Rufus and Sally (Cram) Remick, who was a poet and author. Many poems of hers were printed in various newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire (usually the religious ones), but I did not find the exact issue this writing was clipped from.

​Also:
Individual page on this site for Horatio W Trefethen

On December 9th, 1862, John H. Came wrote home to his sister, Miss Eliza C. Came, of West Buxton, Maine. He was a 1st Lieut. in Company C, 27th Maine. He died while serving in this regiment, on 16 Jan 1863, from typhoid fever. His body was returned home, and buried in the family cemetery in Buxton. He didn't marry.

Above is an 1861 map of Washington and Alexandria. Lieut Came wrote from Camp Seward, which was located somewhere along Arlington Heights. Bailey's Crossroads and Munson's Hill, where Co. C had done picket duty, is highlighted to the left of map. Camp Casey, where Lt Came would pass away in Jan 1863, was located south of Fairfax Seminary, northwest of Alexandria. Camp Vermont, where the regiment had spent the latter part of December '62, was just south of red arrow marked at bottom of map.

NOTES:
Page 1
Sister Eliza C Came, daughter of Abraham L and Annis (Green) Came, was born 1833 in Buxton. She never married, and died in 1885. She is buried in the Came family cemetery. 
Page 2
"Warren" is referring to Joseph F Warren, also of Co C, who was 2nd Lt. at the time of this letter writing. Following John Came's death, he became 1st Lt (and later captain, when John Hill was promoted to major).
Page 4
"Sam Davis" - I believe this is Samuel L Davis of Standish, Maine, who was captain of Co K, 25th Maine Infantry. He was "discharged for incompetency" on Dec 8th 1862 [according to ME archives index card].
There is also has some newer writing along the top that erroneously listed John's death as "Dec 16th", instead of Jan 16th.
Page 1 (closing part of letter)
​Frank C Came, of Co B, the fellow from York, was indeed Charles Came's son. I haven't trace their ancestry to see if or how closely related they may have been.

The Find a Grave entry for: John H Came (with grave photo):