In the June 4th, 1926 issue of the Biddeford Weekly Journal, a small article was written after Memorial Day, listing those Civil War soldiers from Biddeford and Saco currently living, that were members of the GAR posts from those cities. As there were several men from the 27th Maine included, I am sharing the article here.

Nathan W. Kendall, born Mar 30, 1845. Enlisted in Co. E, 12th Maine Reg Volunteers, Infantry, Oct 1861. First discharged Dec, 1863. Re-enlisted. Finally discharged Apr, 1866.
Peter Brackett, born Mar 4, 1838. Enlisted in Co. B, Apr 1861, in 5th Maine Volunteer Infantry. First discharged Feb, 1864. Re-enlisted. Finally discharged June, 1865.
Fred G. Scott, born Apr 12, 1850. Enlisted in Co. K, 32nd Maine Infantry, in Mar, 1864. Discharged Dec, 1865.
Charles H. Townsend, born Dec 9, 1846. Enlisted in Co. E, 12th Maine Reg Volunteer Infantry, in 1864. Discharged Apr, 1866.
Nahum Pillsbury, born Oct 1, 1843. Enlisted in Co. I, 17th Maine Reg, Volunteer Infantry. Discharged Oct, 1863.
Frank C. Staples, born May 2, 1849. Enlisted in Co. K, 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry in Sept., 1864. Discharged July, 1865.
George Tarbox, born May 9, 1844. Enlisted in 27th Maine Infantry in Sept., 1862. Re-enlisted in Co. H, 1st D.C. Cavalry. Discharged Aug., 1865.
James Wood, Dover, N.H., born Sept. 30, 1834. Enlisted Nov., 1861, in Co. B, 12th Maine Volunteer Infantry. Discharged Aug., 1866.
Levi G. Foss, born Aug. 2, 1847. Enlisted in Co. G, 31st Maine Volunteer Infantry, in Feb. 1864. Discharged July, 1865.
Daniel Knight, born Jan. 24, 1845. Enlisted in Co. I, 3rd Maine Infantry, in July, 1863. Discharged in November, 1865.
Alphonzo E. Libby, born Nov. 1, 1846. Enlisted in Company F, 25th Infantry Volunteer, Sept. 10, 1862. Discharged July 11, 1863.
Peter J. Farley, born Dec. 23, 1846. Enlisted Mar. 29, 1864, in Co. B, 1st New Hampshire Cavalry. Discharged July 15, 1865.
Joseph Wildes, born Feb. 14, 1844. Enlisted in 6th Maine Battery, Light Artillery, in Mar., 1862. Discharged Apr. 11, 1864.
Walter A. Gowen, born Apr. 17, 1846. Enlisted Co. F, 25th(sic - should be the 27th) Maine Volunteer Infantry, Sept., 1862. Discharged in July, 1863.
Simon S. Andrews, born Nov. 13, 1840. Enlisted Nov. 15, 1861, in Co. K, 13th Reg. Maine Volunteer Infantry. Discharged Aug., 1865.
Orlando Dow, born 1841. Enlisted in Brigade band of the First Division as musician in Oct., 1864. Discharged 1865.
Irving W. Mason, born Apr. 26, 1843. Enlisted in May,1861, in Co. B, 3rd Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry. Re-enlisted in 1864 in Co. C, Massachusetts Infantry. Discharged in 1865.
Steve McDonald, born May 24, 1843. Enlisted Sept., 1861, in the 22nd Mass. Regiment, Co. I. Discharged the latter part of November, the same year.
King Hill, born Dec. 10, 1844. Enlisted Apr. 9, 1864, in Co. H, 32nd Maine Regiment. Discharged  July 15, 1865.
Ernest E. M. Vinton. Enlisted Jan. 18, 1865, in Co. H, 29th Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry. Discharged Jan. 17, 1866.
George A. Willett. Enlisted in U. S. Navy, Aug. 16, 1864. Discharged June 5, 1865.
John B. Stowe. Enlisted July 27, 1862, in the 9th Massachusetts Battery. Discharged July 10, 1865.
Richard L. K. Grant. Enlisted in 5th Battery, 1st Maine Regiment.
Uranius Stacy. Enlisted in Co. A, 27th Maine Regiment of Infantry. Re-enlisted in 39th Regiment.
Hiram Dolby. Enlisted Mar. 24, 1862, in Co. B, Engineer Battery. Discharged Mar. 24, 1865.
Moses E. Lowell. Enlisted Sept. 10, 1862 in 27th Maine Regiment of Infantry. Discharged July 17, 1863. Re-enlisted Sept. 13, 1864, in the 5th Battery of Maine Volunteers. Discharged July 6, 1865.
​Nicholas Emery Jeffries, born June 21, 1843. Enlisted Sept. 20, 1861, in Co. A, 10th Maine Regiment. Honorably discharged Oct. 22, 1863.
​
​Note: In 1926, the U.S. Grant Post #143, and the Sheridan Post #28, both located in Biddeford, were still active. The Fred Gurney Post of Saco (#36), in operation in 1919, seemed to be defunct by 1926.
​Link to 1926 article (on Google newspapers)

On June 3rd, 1927, the list of living GAR members were published again in the Biddeford Weekly Journal (linked here). This time, it was a full page article, AND included photos of the veterans. There were three additional men added to the end of the list:
Nathan Lane, Jr., born Nov 10, 1836. Enlisted in Company K, Ninth Maine Regular Volunteers, on Sept. 10, 1861. First discharged Dec. 12, 1863. Reenlisted in same company, December 12, 1863. Finally discharged Sept. 19, 1865.
Frank J. Leavitt, born March 22, 1843. Enlisted June 2, 1862, in Company F., 16th Maine Regiment. Discharged June, 1865.
Lewis Percy, born December, 1843. Enlisted February, 1864, in Company I, Second Maine Cavalry. Discharged December, 1865.

A necrology followed, listing four of the GAR members who had died since the '26 list was written. 
Peter Brackett, died April 4, 1927.
Simon S Andrews, died January 21, 1927.
George A Willett, died July 14, 1926.
James Wood, died in 1926.

On June 1st, 1928, the GAR list and soldiers' photos were again published in the Biddeford Weekly Journal (linked here). A necrology followed for those who died during the year: Fred G. Scott, Charles H. Townsend, Steve McDonald, and Peter Marcille (new to list, he had served in the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery).

On May 31, 1929, the list and photos were accompanied with a list of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport veterans, with their photos (link here). Peter J Farley and George Tarbox had both died during the prior year. A new member of the local GAR, George E Herring of the 5th NH Infantry, had also died (on July 30, 1928).

Unfortunately, the available issues of the Biddeford Weekly Journal ended there on Google Newspapers. Walter A Gowen of the 27th Maine, dying in 1941, may have been the last member of the GAR for Biddeford and Saco.

On 8 Feb 1864, General Order No 12 required that two regiments of infantry (the 31st and 32nd Maine Volunteers) be raised in Maine and organized by the first of March, in Augusta. Col Mark F. Wentworth, former commander of the 27th Maine, was chosen to lead the 32nd. Of the 1000 men being raised for this unit, 300 were to be raised from York County. Also, it was "suggested" that 2/3 of the commissioned officers be veterans who had seen previous service.

From the list of the field and staff, the following were veterans from the 27th Maine:
Col Mark F Wentworth of Kittery
Adjutant Calvin L Hayes of Kittery
Quartermaster John Hall of North Berwick
Sgt-Maj William B Barker of Limerick

Other 27th ME veterans filled the ranks as officers in the 3 York companies:
Company A
Capt Seth E Bryant
2nd Lieut William B Pierce (promoted from 1st Sergt)
Sergt's Daniel Watson, William P Carr
Corpls William H Staples, Frank E Lawry (prom to Sgt), Cyrus E Brown, Joseph W Bartlett, Hiram M Grace
Company F
Capt Isaac P Fall of South Berwick
1st Lieut Fred S Gurney
2nd Lieut John G Whitten (promoted to 1st Lieut)
1st Sgt Albion L Durgin
Sgts William B Barker (promoted to Sgt-Maj), Adrial Thompson Jr, Nathan Chadbourne (prom from cpl)
Cpls Gardiner L Patterson, James H Smith
Company K
Capt Horace H Burbank (prev 1st Lieut of Co A)
Sgts George W Damon, Charles S Hubbard, Charles H Wadleigh, Hiram Hodgdon
Cpls George A Taylor, George Gordon

The regiment, though mustered in to serve for three years, only survived until December of 1864. Participating in numerous battles and engagements, including the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Battle of the Crater (aka Burnside's Mine), their numbers were greatly reduced by death, injury, and sickness. On 12 Dec, the remaining members of the regiment were transferred into the 31st Maine, with any excess officers discharged. The veterans would continue to serve until 15 July 1865, when the 31st Maine was mustered out of service.

The following is an alphabetical list of those men from the 27th Maine who reenlisted with the 32nd Maine:

William B Barker Co S     - trans to 31st ME 12/12/64
Joseph W Bartlett Co A   - Wounded 6/18/64 Petersburg
William Berry Co H          - disab disch 1/3/1865 (died 3/1/65)
James A Bragdon Co K   - to 31st ME 12/12/64
Cyrus Brown Co A           -  wounded 5/18/1864 Spottsylvania; disch 4/10/1865
John W Brown Co F        -  Killed 6/18/1864 Petersburg
Seth E Bryant Co A         - Relieved 11/5/1864 on acct of disab, resigned 11/25
Horace H Burbank Co K  - POW 7/30/1864, escaped 3/15/65, disch 5/15
George Buzzell Co K       - trans to 31st ME
Nathan Call Co C             - trans to 31st ME; disch 06/16/65
William T Carr Co A         - must out 12/12/64 when consol w/ 31st ME
Nathan Chadbourne Co F - died as POW @ Salisbury, NC 1/21/1865
George W Clough Co F - trans to 31st ME; POW 5/19/64, rel and returned to regt
George W Damon Co K  - POW, exchanged; disch 05/19/65
Thomas Doieg/Doig Co F - trans to 31st ME
Albion L Durgin Co F         - trans to 31st ME
Walter Eaton Co A - POW 9/30/64 Pegram Farm; believed to have died in prison
Edwd/Edwin W Eldridge Co K - Died from disease  8/22/64 City Point hospital
George W Emmons Co K - POW 7/30/65 Petersburg, released and ret to regt
Isaac P Fall Co F             - POW 6/30/64 Petersburg, released and ret to regt
George Gordon Co K      - must out 12/12/64 when consol w/ 31st ME
Hiram M Grace Co A       - trans to 31st ME 12/12/64
Fred S Gurney Co F        - KIA 6/24/64 Battle of Wilderness
Calvin L Hayes Co S       - must out 12/12/64 at consolidation
Hiram Hodgdon Co K       - trans to 31st ME
Charles S Hubbard Co K  - Died of wounds 7/31/1864
William Kerr Co A             - trans to 31st ME
Franklin E Lawry Co A      - must out 12/12/64 on consolidation w/ 31st Me
Thaddeus Littlefield Co K  - trans to 31st ME
Charles McGuire Co C      - Died of wounds 5/20/1864
John Mealy (Maley) Co C  - Disch 3/23/1865 (wounded 7/18/64)
Charles H Merrill Co F       - must out 12/12/64
Gardiner Patterson Co F   - POW 9/30/64; died in prison 1/7/1865
William B Pierce Co A       - drowned while escaping prison, 10/2/1864
Wallace Prescott Co F      - trans to 31st ME
John W Sanborn Co K      - trans to 31st ME; wd 30 Sept '64 Pegram Farm
James H Smith Co F        - trans to 31st ME
William H Staples Co A   - Wounded 5/12/64 Spottsylvania; disch 04/10/65
Charles E Stevens Co A   - 9/30/64, released, rejoin regt; disch 06/20/65
William Stevenson Co H  - trans to 31st ME
George A Taylor Co K      - trans to 31st ME
Adrial Thompson Co F      -  must out at consol w/ 31st, 12/12/64
David Thorn Co F             - trans to 31st ME
Osborn Trafton Co F        - 5/29/1864 died of wounds
Daniel Watson Co A         - disch 03/14/65
Mark F Wentworth Co S  - resigned due to wounds Oct 64;
John G Whitten Co F        -  KIA 7/30/1864 Burnsides Mine
Charles H Wadleigh Co K  - disch 06/08/65

For more about the 32nd Maine, their history is available online for reading:
Houston, Henry C. The Thirty-second Maine regiment of infantry volunteers; an historical sketch. Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1903.

Located on a hill just inside the entrance to Orchard Grove Cemetery in Kittery, this monument was erected in 1864, in memory of those men from the town who had fallen during the Rebellion. Further research was done over the years, with additional casualties of the war being found with ties to Kittery. A new plaque was made and attached to the east side of the monument in 2008, showing a more complete listing.  

                                                    East face
The new plaque, installed in 2008, covered the original inscriptions of: US Navy
John Webber, killed on board the Cumberland at Fortress Monroe, Mar 8th 1862.
Oliver T Stimson, died at New Orleans, La, Aug 15th 1864.

Men from Kittery
Who lost their lives
Civil War 1861-1865

The majority of my research on the men of the 27th Maine having been "complete" for some time now, I occasionally return to those handful that I have failed to find very little (or no) information on. One of these soldiers was Otis C Holt, a private in Company G. He was the last to sign the enlistment sheet for the quota of Eliot, and was mustered in on 15 Oct 1862. 

Following his service, I had difficulty finding any more information on Otis C. There was no pension filed, at least not under the 27th Maine, and he was not seen in the 1890 Veteran Schedule. There WAS an Otis C Holt from Peru, Maine, but he had served in the 23rd Maine (under an alias) at the same time his namesake had been with the 27th ME.

Looking into the 1850 census for Peru (and the surrounding communities), only one Otis Holt was found, with Erastus and Lucinda Holt in Peru. The 1860 census shows two of this name in Peru, both of them age 17, one with Erastus, and the other a farm laborer in the William Irish household. I suspected those were the same person, enumerated at different times.  

Checking into the History of Peru book (available on archive.org), I found the family entry:

So, apparently, it was Artemas Cooper Holt who had enlisted with the 27th Maine, using his younger brother's name (and age, at first). Further research shows that Otis' middle name was actually Charles, not Chandler. The above history goes on to write about Otis' service with Co K, 5th Maine, and later with the 23rd ME and the 30th Maine. 

Actually, both Holt brothers had enlisted with the 5th Maine: Artemas C with Co E on 2 May 1861 (res: Peru, b.Weld, ME; 5' 4", blue eyes, dark hair, Lt complexion), and Otis C with Co K on 28 May '61 (res+ b.Peru, ME; 6', blue eyes, Lt hair and comp.). Both were listed as age 19. Though seen on the muster-in roll, Artemas was not mustered in, as noted in a later adjutant report. Otis was must-in on 24 June, and received a disability discharge on 22 May 1862.

In the summer of 1862,  both Artemas Cooper Holt and Otis Charles Holt enlisted for the quota of Canton, Maine when a company of nine-month troops were being raised. Neither of them used their given names, however, they reversed them. Below are their signatures on the enlistment sheet for the town, which was dated 25 August 1862.

"Cooper A" Holt was mustered in on 29 Sept 1862, the Descriptive Roll showing him as age 23, b.Peru, 5' 11", blue eyes, brown hair, dark complex, a mechanic. "Charles O" was never mustered, the muster-in roll stating "absent, was he mustered". The troops raised from Oxford County (23rd ME), along with those from Cumberland (25th ME) and York (27th ME), were all encamped at Camp Abraham Lincoln in Cape Elizabeth. It HAS been mentioned that agents of other towns, still in need to fill their own quotas, were also at the camps, offering better bounties than originally offered to the enlistees. Is this why "Charles O" wasn't mustered in with the 23rd, 'cause he went with the 27th for Eliot's quota as Otis C? So, was it really Otis who was with the 27th, and not older brother Artemas, as the History of Peru states?

So, according to his pension file, Charles O Holt of Co G, 30th Maine, was the same person as Otis C Holt of Co K, 5th Maine, as well as Cooper A Holt of Co C, 23rd Maine. This suggests that, not only did the two brothers reverse their names when signing up for the 23rd Maine, they also switched places! I wonder what the reasoning was behind this?

Thanks to the availability of most of the company enlistment sheets, where the volunteers would sign their names (unless unable to, when an X and "his mark" would instead be written), a comparison of the names can be made. Though I am no expert, it certainly looks like the "Otis C" and "Cooper A" in the left column have similarities, particularly in the 'H' of Holt. The same seems true of "Charles O" and "Otis C" on the right. Unfortunately, the letter 'C' on both sides do look alike! The "A G Holt" signature is almost surely not written by the same person whose signatures are below it.  

Artemas Cooper Holt, after the war, moved first to Buckfield, Maine, then to Walpole, MA, where he went to work as a railroad station agent. On 28 Mar 1904, he was killed in a railroad accident at Highland Lake, MA. His age at death was 64 yrs, 10 mos, 15 das, calculating a birth date as 13 July 1839, two months shy of the date given in the History of Peru.

Perhaps by ordering the pension file for Otis Charles (aka Charles Otis), it may give me more information about why these aliases were used.

Reveille was sounded at 3 am, and the volunteers of the 27th Maine Infantry began striking their tents and loading them onto teams to be sent to Portland. At 6:00 am, lines were formed, and the troops began their march into Portland towards the railroad depot, arriving there about 7:30. The train started its journey south at 8:30 am.

Arrived in Boston, Massachusetts at 2:00 pm over the Boston and Maine Railroad. The men disembarked from the cars, and had to march across the city to the Boston & Providence Depot, where another train was waiting. They did not leave until 5:30 pm, as they had to wait for their baggage to be transferred from one train and reloaded onto the other. From Boston, they rode to the coastal town of Stonington, CT [Gooch and Doe; Bryant's journal says Groton, while Pvt Davis wrote Fall River (which also ran a steamboat line to New York City)].

At Stonington, CT, the steamer 'Metropolis' was waiting to carry the soldiers to Jersey City, NY, a 100-mile journey [Sgt Doe wrote in his diary that the name of the steamer was the 'Commonwealth', so perhaps the regiment was loaded onto more than one ship]. The ship left port at 12 midnight, and would arrive at Jersey City at 6 am [Doe] or 10 am [Bryant] (perhaps at the wharf of the New Jersey Railroad Transportation Co, where other reg'ts were offloaded). The men were given some soup and hot coffee and proceeded to board the cars (of the Camden & Amboy RR) for the trip to Philadelphia.

The train arrived at Camden about 4:30 pm, the men being transported across the river via ferry into Philadelphia. By 1864 (as seen on map at right), the rail cars were driven directly onto the ferry, as was done in Perryville. It is currently unknown whether this was operational at the time the 27th ME men passed through. They marched a short distance to the famous Cooper Shop Refreshment Saloon, where they were all served meals of bread, meat and coffee. After supper, they marched 2 to 3 miles [according to Bryant] across the city, where cattle cars awaited at the depot of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore RR. They left the depot about 10 or 11 pm. 

At Perryville, PA, the train rolled onto the deck of the ferry there, carrying it across the Susquehanna River, and rolling back onto the track on the opposite shore at Havre De Grace. They arrived in Baltimore at 7 am [Bryant and Davis] or 8 am [Gooch]. They again had to offload from one train, then marched across the city to the Washington Depot of the Baltimore & Ohio RR (on Camden St), having breakfast before boarding another set of cars. These cattle cars were in worse run-down shape as the ones from the previous trip. The troops had to wait at the Relay House until about noon, when the train was ready to leave for Washington.

Notes: Some of the information on times and places came from the following sources:

• Captain Seth Bryant, Company I - kept a journal while serving with the 27th Maine
  
• Private Benjamin F Davis, Co B, in a 24 Oct 1862 letter home to his father
  
• Sgt Joseph Doe, Co B - kept a diary, some of which was mentioned in "A Shower of Stars" on pages 38-39
• Pvt Charles Gooch, Co I, wrote about the trip south in a letter home to his wife, on 23 Oct '62

Map Sources:

• E. Sachse, & Co.'s bird's eye view of the city of Baltimore, 1869
  
• Maps of the Washington Aqueduct, Md. and Washington D.C.: to accompany supplemental report of Chief Engineer dated Feb. 22nd 1864 
• View of Boston, July 4th 1870. F. Fuchs, del. & lith. New Eng. Lith. Co.
  
• Map of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad shewing [sic] its connections (ca 1850's)
  
• Military map of Philadelphia 1861-1865 Drawn by Frank H. Taylor