The Courier
Volume 32, No. 4
(2008)
Bethel's
Civil War Soldier's Monument
Dedicated 100 Years Ago
by Stanley Russell Howe
The year 2008 year marked the centennial of the dedication of Bethel’s
Civil War Soldier’s monument on Memorial Day 1908. The account of
this event in the 4 June 1908 edition of the Bethel Citizen captures some of the
patriotic fervor it must have stirred in the hearts of many of those in
attendance. As the Citizen
reported: “Every fluttering flag waved patriotism and every heart
throbbed with love of country.” The newspaper continued: “It was
a glorious day and we cannot be too grateful to the enthusiastic mind
which conceived it and the loyal workers who cooperated in carrying the
plan to such a happy consummation.”
The parade numbered over 400 that included the twenty-five piece
Rumford Falls band, speakers and municipal officers, Civil War
veterans, a large group of women, school children with flags waving,
“scarlet shirted firemen, and finally citizens of Bethel and
environs. The procession was marshaled by Major Adelbert
Twitchell of Newark, New Jersey, who was mounted with A. S. Chapman and
Augustus M. Carter, comrades of his old battery. Also mounted was
Fred L. Edwards, son of Col. Clark S. Edwards of the Fifth Maine.
Joining in the group were Ira C. Jordan, A. M. True, T. M. Bean and
Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic Commander A. H.
Hutchinson. The procession began at Gould Academy on Church
Street, marched around the Common, down Broad Street to Main Street to
the monument. The whole village was decked in flags and patriotic
bunting. At the monument, the veterans and Relief Corps gathered
along with the school children and were flanked by over 2000 citizens
in attendance. A speaker’s stand had been erected at the side of
the monument where space was provided for seating the speakers,
clergymen, municipal officers and guests—approximately twenty in all.
After a number from the band, the Rev. William Curtis of the Bethel
Congregational Church led the assemblage in prayer, followed by a
patriotic song featuring the school children under the leadership of
Bessie Andrews. Next came Ellery C. Park, attorney and presiding
officer, who presented a short address that was enthusiastically
received. He paid tribute to the sacrifices of the Civil War
soldiers from Bethel and to all those who had made the monument
possible. Brown Post Commander A. H. Hutchinson was then summoned
for the unveiling of the blue granite soldier’s monument, which was
purchased for $1550 through public subscription and town appropriation
from the Smith Granite Company of Waverly, Rhode Island. Prior to
that, he spoke movingly of the Bethel Civil War veterans and their
esteemed commander, Col. Clark S. Edwards, whose daughter, Nellie
Edwards Phipps, was called upon to officially pull the string, causing
the flag to drop from the monument as the band struck up the national
anthem. E. C. Bowler, editor of the Citizen, was the next
speaker. He provided a short address on the importance of
citizenship in a democratic republic. Bowler was followed by
Alfred M. True, son of Dr. Nathaniel Tuckerman True, who recalled the
Bethel soldiers of ’61 to ’65, and the spirit of those days that
stirred the hearts of young men and led them to the front to defend the
Union. He remembered some of the Bethel “boys” as “touched by the
spirit of the hour and went forward to rank among the bravest and
truest soldiers of that terrible war.” Sarah E. Putnam, a former
resident and prominent figure in State and National Women’s Relief
Corps work, was then introduced and spoke briefly of the work of the
Corps. She recounted all the instances of assistance the Corps
had provided veterans since its organization in 1883, totaling between
three and four million dollars of relief work. The next speech
was ably delivered by Maj. John Mead Gould of Portland, who
distinguished himself after the war as a gifted writer and
speaker. His brief address was especially formulated for all the
children present. The program ended with the Marshall of the
event, Maj. Adelbert Twitchell, who gave a very touching valedictory to
the Old Soldiers present and his fellow comrades, which “stirred the
hearts of many to tears.” A “camp fire meeting” at Odeon Hall in
the evening continued the spirit of the day, with E.C. Bowler, the
president of the Monument Committee, serving as master of
ceremonies. A prayer was offered by Rev. Banghart of the
Methodist Church after which Judge Addison E. Herrick was introduced
and thanked everyone who had made the monument possible, expressing
appreciation for the impressive ceremonies of the day. Then came
the “camp fire,” where Post Commander Hutchinson, A. S. Chapman, Maj.
Twitchell, E. P. Twitchell of Minneapolis, Minnesota, J. H. Barrows, A.
M. Carter, H. C. Barker, A. M. True, George L. Grover of Harrison, and
Maj. J. M Gould spoke from the stage, recalling some of their war
memories. Rev. Frank Mansfield closed the evening with a
patriotic address. Band and choral music was interspersed between
the speeches throughout the evening.
John Mead Gould, one of the featured speakers of this dedication, was
born in Portland, 15 December 1839, the son of Edward and Althea C.
Gould. He was educated in the public schools of Portland and at
Gorham and Gould’s academies. At the age of twenty-one, he
enlisted in the Portland Light Guards ten days after the outbreak of
the Civil War. After a year’s service, he was promoted to second
lieutenant and was made a major in 1864. During the war, he took
an active role in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Antietam,
Sabina Cross Roads and several others, finally being discharged in
1866, a year after the end of the war. Returning home to
Portland, Major Gould became connected with the National Traders Bank
as a teller, a position, which held until the death of his father,
Edward Gould. He then assumed the cashier’s post, serving in that
role until 1908 when the bank was absorbed by Fidelity Trust. He
married the former Amelia J. Twitchell, who died in 1926, and they were
the parents of three children. In 1871, Major Gould wrote a
history of the 1-10-29 Maine Regiment’s Civil War service, credited to
be one of the best histories of the regiment’s activities during the
war, for which he was highly praised by President Rutherford B.
Hayes. Very active in the Portland community, he was long
associated with the Second Parish Church and the Seaman’s Bethel
Church, as well as relief work in longshore and Italian mission
causes. A gifted speaker, he often addressed congregations in the
greater Portland area. He was a member of the Bosworth Post,
Grand Army of the Republic of Portland. An avid collector of
Civil War books and materials, he was believed to have the finest
library of war books in the State of Maine. Following his
retirement, he devoted much of his time to the outdoor study of nature,
serving at one time as the president of the Portland Society of Natural
History. He was survived by his two sons, two sisters and a
brother. A daughter, Annie Alexander Gould, was a missionary to
China from 1893 to 1900, when she was murdered on 1 July 1900 in
Pao-Ting-Fu during the Boxer Rebellion. His funeral was held at
the Seaman’s Bethel Church and burial was in Riverside Cemetery,
Bethel, Maine. He kept a diary for much of his life, beginning
with his student days at Gould Academy in the 1850s. During the
Civil War, he sent his diary entries to his lifelong friend, Edward
Sylvester Morse, the famed zoologist, who carefully preserved them, and
they were later published in book form.
