LB2007.1.72051

LB2007.1.72051

Fortifications at Battery, Belfast, Maine Well-founded rumors of privateers being seen-along the coast of Maine, and the capture, on the 26th of June, of the revenue cutter " Caleb Cushing," in Portland harbor, by the rebels, induced the best possible military preparations for defending the principal towns. Two pieces of artillery were sent here from the State arsenal at Augusta, and were kept constantly loaded with shot, in readiness for any hostile demonstration that might be made. Accordingly, the governor of the state urged upon the authorities at Washington the necessity of additional coastal fortifications for the defense of several eastern harbors. As a consequence, Belfast was protected by earthworks built on either side of the harbor, defended by two batteries of five guns and manned by companies of the Coast Guards. The site of the fortification on the west side has since been known , locally, as "The battery". By an Act of the Legislature, companies of volunteer militia, composed of men over forty-five years of age, denominated "Coast Guards," were authorized. Such an organization, numbering one hundred members, was formed in Belfast in July, and supplied with arms by the State. Colonel Silas M. Fuller was chosen captain, and Horatio H. Carter and Sherburn Sleeper lieutenants. At about the same time, as an additional precaution, the collector of customs gave notice that no vessel other than steamboats or regular packets, excepting those in the employ of the army and navy, would be allowed to leave port between sunset and sunrise. Governor Coburn having urged upon the war department the great importance of additional defenses upon our coast, field works were ordered to be constructed for the protection of several of the eastern harbors. On the 25th of July, 1863. Captain Thomas L. Casey, of the regular army, arrived at Belfast to make arrangements for the purpose. He selected sites for two batteries, - one on the eastern shore, opposite Steele's Ledge, and the other on land owned by Erastus D. Freeman, about a mile below the city. Mr. Freeman had purchased the land in 1855. It is assumed that the land was used as a private residence with no indication of any activities involving ordnance prior to 1863. Work was immediately commenced by Axel Hayford, the contractor, under the superintendence of Mr. Francis E. Appleton, of the United States Engineer Corps. Both works were completed in November. They were designed to have interlocking fields of fire and constructed with two faces and one salient angle, the principal fronts facing the bay, and the others in range of the city. The length of each battery was one hundred and fifty feet. The parapets, or ramparts, were eight feet high, eighteen feet wide on the top, and twenty-eight at the base. Earth and stones pounded into a solid mass constituted the materials, and the whole was covered with turf. Five guns were mounted on each work, three (3) smooth bore thirty-two-pounder casemates, and two (2) rifled twenty four pounders en barbette, and having a range of two or three miles. About forty feet in the rear of the parapets were located the magazines, built in a pyramidal form, of logs, earth, and stone, with walls and top ten feet thick, and designed to be bomb and ball proof. Wooden barracks, one story in height were provided for officers and men. The appearance of these batteries was decidedly warlike, and under their cross-fire they were supposed to fully protect the harbor against any vessels except monitors.1 On the 13th of January, 1864, the sloop of war "Ino," Lieutenant Thomas M. Gardner, which had been ordered here to complete enlisting her crew, anchored off the western battery, and remained until the 23d, when she sailed for Hampton Roads. Her armament consisted of eleven guns, two of which were one hundred pound Parrotts. Her complement of men was one hundred and eighty. While in the harbor, she practiced target firing. The general government having given the State authority to raise troops to man the fortifications on our coast, in February, Captain Charles Baker, late of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, was appointed commander of a company of one hundred men, which he was ordered to enlist, to do duty at the two batteries. This company was subject to the orders of the war department for service out of the State, the same as other organizations. Its ranks were soon filled, and under the name of " Company A, Coast Guards Infantry," the men composing it were mustered into the United States service March 18, for the term of three years, by Captain C. Holmes, of the regular army. Barracks had not then been erected. A contract was immediately made for their construction here and at Castine, by Axel Hayford, for the sum of $7,975. They were completed in June. Albion H. Bradbury was appointed special paymaster to pay the one hundred dollars State bounty to each enlisted man of the company. On the 29th of April, an unexpected order to report at the seat of war reached Captain Baker, and on the 2d of May he left with his command for Fort Washington, Md. They continued in active service during the remainder of the war, and were mustered out June 25, 1865, at Portland. Company F, Coast Guards, Captain Charles H. Conant, was sent to supply their place, and arrived about the middle of June. Rumors having been received that the national capital was menaced, on the 13th of July Governor Cony issued a proclamation, calling upon all the citizens to unite in making arrangements to repel the rebels from our soil. Every man was invited to become a recruiting officer to enlist troops for the protection of the city of Washington and the defense of the loyal States for a term not exceeding one hundred days. A dispatch was received by Captain Fuller, asking how many of his company would go to the front ; and a meeting was immediately convened for consideration of the matter. On the following day, the city was thrown into great excitement by a dispatch from Governor Cony to the mayor, announcing that a rebel raiding party had left St. John, N. B., to commit depredations on the frontier of Maine. A public meeting immediately convened to adopt measures for defence. Two pieces of artillery were planted on the shore near the lower battery, and manned by members of the Invalid Corps. The Coast Guards reinforced both batteries, and did picket duty during two nights, when the alarm subsided. A gunboat arrived in the bay on the 17th, and anchored near Turtle Head. After the surrender of Lee, the draft for this district was suspended by orders from the war department. Early in May, the military supplies remaining here were removed, and most of the clerks and attaches of the provost-marshal's office discharged. The office was not finally closed until November 2. Company A, Coast Guards, Captain Charles Baker, which was organized here in March, 1864, and had been on duty at Fort Washington, returned here on the 27th of May. Company F, stationed at the batteries, was mustered out of service July 7. A squad of eight men, four on each side of the river, was detained to guard the government property. In December, the guns were removed to Fort Knox, and the batteries dismantled. The guns at Little River battery were never fired in an act of war, as the area was never raided by the Confederates. It is unknown whether or not the guns were fired in practice or salute. The land that comprised the Little River battery was sold by Erastus Freeman to George Johnson on May 4, 1889 and the area was subsequently developed as a private residential area for primarily summer residences. The first cottages built at the Battery built by Belfast residents after its abandonment by the government were designed for weekend and holiday purposes; but the location proved so attractive that it soon became the custom with early cottage owners to move down early in the Spring and stay until late Fall. Several residents continue this practice, Gradually, their friends from away became attracted to the spot and erected cottages there. At the present time there are nineteen of these summer homes in the colony.