In reading your regimental history, I find there are conflicting claims as to what regiment fired the first shot at Appomattox court house, April 9th, 1865. I see that your Colonel Smith claims it for the First Maine Cavalry, while Cap tain Thompson J. Elliot of Morrill, Brown county, Kansas, claims that his squadron of our regiment was the first one to engage the rebels on that occasion. Captain Elliot says that he was sent to the front about one o'clock on the morning of the 9th, and that he deployed his squadron directly in front of the enemy who attacked him about daylight. Your poet (by courtesy) says at the beginning of the sixth verse, page 430, "With dawn's first light the fight commenced," which would make the attack on your regiment simultaneous with the one on Captain Elliott's squadron, but I infer from your remarks on page 437 that the attack did not begin until some time after sunrise.

You speak of losing one of "our battery guns." By this I suppose that you allude to the gun of Battery "M." First U. S. Artillery, which was lost that morning. Captain Elliott says that his squadron was deployed near the section of the battery which lost the gun. The captain farther states that he was put into position by an aid of General Sheridan's and that he asked the aid if he (the captain) was expected to defend the two guns, and that the aid replied, "Contest every inch of ground and let the guns go to hell."

I am inclined to think that the captain is mistaken as to the aid

being one of Sheridan's. I think it must have been one. of General Crook's as our cavalry command of the Army of the James had been reduced from a division to a brigade just about that time, and the brigade was temporarily assigned to Crook's division for the day probably. Lieutenant Weaver of Co. M, of our regiment, claims that the squadron to which his company belonged was the first to engage the enemy, and brings documentary proof in shape. of a lost property affidavit, made shortly after the surrender, to show that his squadron first engaged the enemy at about seven o'clock, which must have been nearly, if not all, of two hours after daylight. But this does not agree with any account I have read as to the hour the attack was made.-nearly all, except probably yourself, put it at a considerably earlier hour.

The only rebel account of the affair I have at hand is "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee," by General H. L. Long of the artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia. On page 420, Long says, "At three o'clock on the morning of the 9th of April the Confederates moved silently forward. The advance reached the heights a little beyond the court house at dawn, found that the route obstructed by a large force of Federal cavalry. Gordon then deployed the second corps, now less than 2,000 strong, and supported by thirty pieces of artillery under General Long with Fitz Lee's cavalry on the flank. flank. . . . A well-directed fire from the artillery and an attack from the cavalry quickly dislodged the

was

force in front."

the cavalry was

But I can't see that But I can't see that dislodged so easily

by Fitz Lee. If Gordon's attack was made at or a little after dawn, which was not far from five o'clock, for it took him in the neighborhood of four hours to drive it something over a mile (it could not have been over one and a half miles at the outside) which I would call a pretty stiff resistance. I say four hours, for General Whitaker of General Custer's staff writes me that the flag of truce came to Custer's lines not far from nine o'clock.

The fact of the business is, I don't think that any of us stopped to think much about what transpired before the white flag was raised by the enemy; we were too much overjoyed by the event of the afternoon to think much about the forenoon until we had forgotten a good deal about it. There is one criticism I want to make on the history. On page 245, Tobie says that "Captain Chadbourne of Co. I, with a detachment of forty-two men, was sent on an expedition to King and Queen court house." The fact is Kilpatrick took his whole command and ours, too, to King and Queen court house and burned the place in retaliation for Colonel Dahlgren's fate. Our regiment had a fight with the Ninth Virginia Cavalry on that occasion. It was the first time we ever met any of the cavalry of Lee's army. We thought we came out ahead and felt very proud thereof.

NOTE. The exact position of the various regiments at Appomattox has never been ascertained. The reason appears in the above letter,

"We were overjoyed." If Captain Elliot will locate his position on the map of the field, he will find his squadron to the left of the Lynchburg pike, and a mile or so from "the heights a little beyond the court house" mentioned by General Long. These heights were curtained by woods. The Third brigade lay one side of the woods, while Gordon deployed his men on the other side out of our view. Fitz Lee's cavalry passed. the left flank of the First Maine Cavalry beyond the range of their carbines, and were an hour or so in passing. This cavalry must have been the force which Captain Elliot met. The gun spoken of in the history of the First Maine Cavalry was not one of the two guns near Captain Elliot's squadIt was not a gun of the Third Brigade, and where it belonged has

ron.

never been determined.

The ques

tion of exact time is always an obscure matter to every active participant in battle but the record of that eventful morn must show that the early rebel advance found the Third brigade of Crook's division "on the heights a little beyond the court house," also that one of the guns of this same brigade woke the rebel camp by dropping a shot or two into their midst. One effect of this shot Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, in the Janis described by Smith Cooley of the uary BUGLE of 1893, page 78.

The force deployed by General Gordon advanced in the direct front of the Third Brigade, extending far beyond either flank. This force that brigade held in check, and when obliged to retire, went back slowly and gracefully. One regiment of that brigade, the First Maine Cav alry, losing seven men killed or mortally wounded. Corporal Benjamin Wood of Co. C, who lost his arm that morning, and was left on the field, says the rebel artillery was brought forward and occupied the ground his regiment and the brigade

BACK NUMBERS CAN BE HAD.

S. S. Brown, room 225, Kasota block, Minneapolis, Minn, late of Company K, Twenty-fifth Maine In.fantry, writes:

Kindly inform me if the MAINE BUGLE is still published, and if so can I have all the numbers commencing with January, 1894, and up to this time?

This hour is the first time I have known there was such a publication. I was a member of the Twenty-fifth Maine Infantry and I want the BUGLE if I can have the back numbers.

NOTE.-Back numbers from the beginning can be supplied to a limited extent.-[ED.

A VETERAN'S BADGE.

The following from the Northfield (Minn.) Independent, will be of much interest to the many friends of Commander J. F. Wyman, who was for merly a resident of Rockport, Maine: "Commander J. F. Wyman is wearing a handsome badge, which has more meaning in it than would be recognized at first sight by a person not posted in army matters. It is one that he received from his comrades of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, which was sta tioned on Morris island, Charleston harbor, during the operations in that vicinity. While there a solid shot was fired from a Brooks rifle in the rebel Battery B, on Sullivan island, passing directly over the United States ironclad, New Ironsides, and anded in the works of Mr. Wyman s

and preserved as a memento, and at the last regimental reunion Captain George L. Smith presented to the survivors handsome badges, made in part from the copper rim of the shell fired at them on Morris island. Around the outside of the badge are the letters 3d R. I. H. A. Vet. Ass'n,' and in the center is the design of the badge of the Tenth Army Corps, to which the regiment belonged, in red, the artillery color."

It was through the courtesy of Commander J. S. Fuller, Esq., of the Rockport G. A. R. Post we are able to give the above.

SERVICE IN THE SEVENTH MAINE IN

FANTRY.

John E. Crawford of Fort Jones, California, writes:

On the seventh of August, 1861, I left North Warren and went to Augusta, arriving there at four p. m. I went immediately to the recruiting office. I found Sergeant Cook in charge, and after signing the rolls he said, "You won't begin work before morning it is so late now." It was evident that I had struck an honest, old farmer, as all my papers bear the date of August 8, 1861. I was assigned to Company B, Seventh Maine Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Captain J. P. Jones of China, Maine, and well-known as the fighting Quaker, a brave and good man; he was killed in the fight with Early in front of Washington. Our First Lieutenant, Haskell, we saw but little of. Second Lieutenant Eli H. Webber was always with the company and was loved by all who knew

him. After two or three weeks' drill the regiment was filled to ten full companies, and we left Augusta and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, early in September. Before entering the city some of the companies loaded their rifles with ball cartridges, so as not to be surprised like the Sixth Massachusetts. We were hissed at from all sides, but had no trouble in reaching our camp, which was in Belleview garden, near the center of the city. We stayed there only two weeks and then went to Patterson park, just east of the city,-here we had a most beautiful camp. The city became quiet and we could go in small squads anywhere without being hissed at. The last of SepThe last of September we moved one mile east, and drilled and built earth forts until the last of October, and then came the order to join the Army of the Potomac, which we did after the usual marching and countermarching and a review by General Scott, as we passed through Washington. Our first colonel, Marshall, died while we were in Baltimore. Captain Mason, of the regular army, then became our colonel, a thorough drill-master, who was so ably seconded by Lieutenantcolonel Connor, who afterwards became a brigadier-general and governor of Maine.

Aside from the little fight of Drainsville and General McClellan's grand review at Bailey's Cross Roads, nothing of note occurred to break the cold monotony of drill, mud, and picket, until the 4th of March, 1862, when nearly all the army moved to the Peninsular where we arrived one day after the fight with the Monitor

and Merrimac. We camped on the James just above Newport News. Here we had the pleasure of visiting friends in other regiments (which was a treat to me for there was not a single person in the regiment that I had ever met before joining it). April 4th, we moved up the James, and on the 5th we encountered the enemy at Warwick Creek and as we came to an open field the regiment halted, being in line of skirmish; we closed to about six feet and a section of light battery took a position in front of Co. B. After a few shots, the enemy opened on us with 12-pound guns, and the third shot. they fired killed Joseph Pepper of Bath, as he was standing between Nelson Fales (that family of fighters) of Thomaston and myself.

SO

It was said at the time that Comrade Pepper was the first man killed on the advance up the Peninsula. This was the beginning of the siege of Yorktown, which was uneventful far as our regiment was concerned. On the 3d of May the Johnnies took a quiet leave of the place, and on the 4th we started, encountering them at Williamsburg on the 5th. Here the fight lasted all day; just at night the Seventh Maine and Sixth Wisconsin Infantry charged the left of the enemy and completely routed them. The 6th found us camped on the battlefield where General McClellan complimented the Seventh Maine and Sixth Wisconsin by saying, "Comrades and soldiers, my words are feeble, but from the bottom of my heart I thank you for your gallant conduct yesterday." On the 7th of May we started again for

Richmond, and soon arrived at White House Landing, where the whole army was encamped, and as we passed over a high piece of ground, I thought it the grandest sight ever seen of the many encampments of the army.

Our advance was not checked until we reached the Chickahominy. On the 24th our brigade drove the enemy out of Mechanicsville, and got a view of Richmond, only three miles away (and it proved to be my last until July 4, 1865). In this engagement our loss was light. Our Colonel Mason was badly hurt by being thrown from his horse, a shell bursting under him. Our division, A. J. Smith's, supported General Segwick's in the Battle of Fair Oaks, and helped to bury the dead the next day, here I was taken sick with brain fever, and after two months' sickness I was discharged from the gallant old Seventh Maine Volunteers on July 24, at Philadelphia.

A MAINE MAN DID IT.

Major Pierce was a Maine man from Belfast; was an expert swordsman. I knew him well and the report is true. Keep up the good work, for it teaches patriotism to all the people thereof.

GOLDEN WEDDING.

Colonel and Mrs. Lorenzo D. Carver celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, at their home in Rockland, November 8.

The rooms were elaborately decorated with palms, flowers, and evergreen. The bay window in the parlor was surmounted by an arch of evergreen and chrysanthemums, knotted with bows of yellow ribbon. Across the arch were the figures "'47-'97" in white. It was under this arch that Colonel and Mrs. Carver received.

The music room was occupied by the Imperial Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar club.

The dining room was attractively arranged. The punch was served by Misses Eva Porter, Emma Doherty,

If you and others who are working with you in publishing the BUGLE could know of the pleasure it gives those of us from Maine, who are scattered all over the country, to read the BUGLE it would recompense you in a great measure for the work you do. I wish every native of Maine would read it. I notice Colonel Augustus C. Hamlin regrets that Major Pierce of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry Regiment sabered more men than any one in the First Maine, but that is all right, for

cake were served by Miss Mae Austin and Adelaide Holmes.

As the guests entered they were ushered in by little Miss Vivian Billings, and as they went out the gentlemen received a cigar which was extended to them by Miss Gracie Billings.

During the evening a large number of friends offered congratulations. tions. At 8:30 Edwin Libby Post and Relief Corps, accompanied by Mrs. Lydia Bickford, state president, came in a body and paid their respects. In their behalf Comrade