On patriotic stationery bearing the mantra “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and inseparable,” 21 year-old Eveline Maria Wiswell (1840-1922) penned the following letter from Searsport, Waldo county, Maine to one of her sisters. Eveline was the daughter of Joseph Warren Wiswell (1806-1890) and Martha True (1800-1888). In her letter, datelined 22 May 1861, Eveline describes the departure of two brothers to serve in Company I, 4th Maine Infantry. They were Joseph “Melvin” Wiswell (1842-1921) and John Baker Wiswell (1838-1909).
Melvin was working as a railroad clerk in Searsport at the time of his enlistment. He joined the 4th Maine as a sergeant and was wounded in the Battle of 1st Bull Run. He was afterward discharged for promotion to be commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in Co. G, 14th Maine Infantry. He was transferred to Co. D when promoted to Captain. Melvin’s older brother John was working as a blacksmith in Searsport and though he apparently intended to join the 4th Maine, he must have changed his mind and not mustered in for he did not enlist until December 1863 in Co. B, 14th Maine (Melvin’s regiment). He would later rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant of his company before mustering out of the service.
The 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized in Rockland in May 1861 and was mustered in on June 15, 1861 commanded by Colonel Hiram G. Berry.
[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Greg Herr and was offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Searsport, [Waldo county, Maine]
Monday evening, May 22, 1861
My dear sister,
John and Melvin have left us. Went this afternoon in the boat. Gone to Rockland to join the regiment there. I don’t know how long they will stop there. Some say they will leave for Washington a week from next Wednesday but they may not leave so soon. This company is called one of the best in the regiment. They belong to the 4th.
You cannot begin to imagine how lonesome and bad we all feel. I never knew mother to feel so bad about anything before. She was very much opposed to their going, but all she or anyone could say was of no use—they were so determined to go. John thinks he can do better than if he stayed at home but I am afraid he will not be so well off as he would be even in this dull town. Mel goes as a private. He some expected to be clerk but I don’t know whether he will or not.
There has ben quite a stir getting the soldiers ready—the ladies making the shirts and work bags. They have not got all the shirts done yet. Alice Nichols 1 made a short speech when the work bags were presented this morning. She stood on the sidewalk in front of Smart’s Block. Capt. Nickerson made a speech thanking the ladies and then they marched in front of [Amos H.] Ellis’s [grocery & dry goods] store [on East Main Street] and were presented with testaments. They are all well provided for.
When they went, the wharf was crowded. Everyone was there excepting mother and I. I wish you could have been here to have seen them before they left. 2 We shall expect them up from Rockland on a visit. Orrissa talks some of going there to see them. Mary Ellen, Lizzie, Mrs. Nickerson, and some others are going Thursday. Jim Fowler has gone. He was expecting to sell out to Black, but Whitcomb objected. Whitcomb hires the girls and has Chadwick for cutter and pressman. They some hope Jim will come back but if he does not, Whitcomb and Chadwick will carry on the concern.
Thursday morn. I did not have time to finish this before so I have left it until now. Ellen came home yesterday. The hats were very pretty but they are both entirely too small for me, but I am in hopes I can swap mine for a larger one if they have any down here. I am ever so much obliged to you for it for I had been wishing for one all the spring. I do wish my head was not so large.
We had a letter from [sister] Abby. She is very anxious to get here before the boys go, so the girls have written her to come right off for fear the regiment should start. We shall look for her next week and we all think you had better come and go back with her. I don’t think there is much doubt but what she will come. I am in a great hurry for sis is waiting for the letter to carry down so please excuse all the mistakes. — Eveline
1 Possibly Mary Alice Nichols (1834-1916), the daughter of Capt. Peleg Pendleton Nichols & Mary Towle Fowler of Searsport. Alice married Benjamin Carver Smith (1834-1908) in June 1864.
2 The men were transported to Rockland aboard the steamer M Sanford and arrived at Camp Knox, on Tillson’s Hill, northeast Rockland, Knox County, Maine, in the afternoon on 20 May, 1861.
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