THE KENNEBEC ARSENAL, AUGUSTA,

by Marius B. Pe'ladeau The northernmost United States arsenal of the 19th cen- Canada. An outpost, with barracks, stockade and other tury - and the one most perfectly intact today - still com- structures, was erected on Garrison Hill, just east of present- mands its attractive site on the banks of the Kennebec River day Houlton, ~aine?Thestate militia wascalled out by Gov. in Augusta, ~aine.~It is probably one of the most unchanged Benjamin Lincoln and the U.S. Government was alerted to U.S. military posts in the nation. potential border troubles. The ten granite structures built in 1828-31 survive today The closest depot of military stores was at Watertown in an excellent state of preservation. Only temporary wooden Arsenal in Massachusetts, more than 200 miles to the south. buildings erected over the years have disappeared. If Robert Experience from the showed that water commu- Anderson, who commanded the arsenal in 1834-35 (and later nication (the only way to move heavy stores of arms and went on to national fame at Fort Sumter in Charlestown ammunitions expeditiously in those days) could be easily cut Harbor at the outbreak of the Civil War) was to return to the off by an enemy fleet along the New England coast. Col. grounds today he would find little changed from when he was George Bomford was ordered north to study the situation and there over 150 years ago. Soperfectly preserved is the arsenal he reported that a "part of the country so much exposed, and complex, and so excellently does it exemplify a typical 19th liable to become the seat of war, required that an arsenal upon century U.S. Army military post, that the State of Maine has a scale adequate to furnish the military supplies for its defense nominated it to the National Register of Historic Places, should be e~tablished."~ administered by the National Park ~ervice.~ In the meantime, Sen. William Henry Harrison of Ohio, on Nearly all of the great U.S. arsenals of the 19th century 16 January 1827 reported out of the Committee on Military have been demolished or so completely altered that their original appearance has been lost. Students of American military history would find it rewarding to visit the Kennebec Arsenal today since it preserves for them the best impression possible of how aU.S. arsenal was laid out and constructed in the last century. The powder magazines, the massive arsenal building itself, the classically designed quarters for officers and enlisted men, guard houses and so forth still stand, basically unchanged. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Maine's location at the eastern extremity of the United States placed it in the midst of national and international developments. The British had ranged up and down the Maine coast during the Revolu- tion and War of 1812, and both times had occupied several suategic penninsulas and fortresses along the seacoast. The threat of invasion from Great Britain, either from across the sea or Canada to the north, remained a very distinct possibility throughout the first quarter of the 19th century. Storm clouds gathered on the northern horizon only two decades after the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. Disputes between Maine and Canada over the exact location of the border between the two caused conflicts throughout the "hump" of present-day ~aine.~Origins of the crisis lay in the uncertain boundary provisions of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783. Article I1 of this Treaty seemed clear in its delineation of the American-Canadian boundary between the then District of Maine (a part of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts) and Canada. Yet the inability to correlate these boundary provisions with the geographic features of the area generated a long, tedious debate over the northeastern boundary which lasted until ratification of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain in 1842. In 1828 the U.S. Government sent regular army troops to FIG 1 the northern frontier as a possible deterent to invasion from The arsenal, ca. 1834, after its completion. FIG 2 This 1894 view of the arsenal shows it at its fullest general storage buildings in front. extent. In the foreground is the riverside wharf with The three laboratories, two magazines, blacksmith inclined ramps for the loading of heavy cannon. From shop, carriage makers shop and armory shop are out of left to right the granite buildings are: Officers' Quarters view on the top of the hillside and the guard house is not No. 2, the Arsenalitself (with OfficerslQuartersNo. 1for visible to the left of the Officers' Quarters No. 2. Photo- the Commandant barely visible on the hillside above it), gravure from Art Work of the Kennebec County (Chi- Enlisted Men's barracks, Officers' Quarters No. 3 for cago: W.H. Parish Publishing Co., 1894) in the collec- NCO's, the Carpenter's Shop in back, and two wooden tion of the author.

Affairs a bill to establish such an arsenal at Augusta. It passed report, however, which made the point that Augusta and both Houses of Congress and was signed into law by Presi- Watertown might be cut off from communication in case of dentJohn Quincy Adamson 3 March,only ten days after Gov. war, causedcongress to reconsider, and it was decided finally Lincoln signed a bill designating Augusta as Maine's new to erect an arsenal complex large enough to fabricate military capital city.6 supplies and be semi-independent if war did break out. The act required the Secretary of War "to purchase, as Congress appropriated an additional $30,000, and on 14 June soon as can be effected on reasonable terms, a site for an 1828 the cornerstone of the main arsenal building was laid. arsenal in the town of Augustain the Stateof Maine, and cause Construction commenced on 15 buildings, ten of them made to be erected such an arsenal as may be deemed'proper for the of unhammered granite, laid in ashler courses, from the safe keeping of arms and munitions of the United States for already famous nearby Hallowell quarry.1o All in the chaste the northern and eastern fr~ntier."~ and simple Greek Revival style, they stand today as the best In June Maj. George Talcott of the Corps of Engineers surviving example of military architecture of the period. visited the Augusta area, made surveys and viewed a number As is so often the case when the Government is involved, of possible sites on each side of the Kennebec ~iver.~The construction costs exceeded original estimates, and Congress Kennebec, oneof Maine's principal rivers, was tidal up to and had to bail out the Corps of Engineers with an additional above Augusta and was deep enough to allow large vessels to $45,000 on 27 March 1829.l navigate upriver from the ocean with no difficulty. Already The entire 40-acre lot was enclosed by a heavy iron fence, Augusta and neighboring Hallowell were becoming impor- eight feet tall, erected on a substantial granite foundation.12 tant river ports. The arsenal location on the east bank of the A heavy bank wall of granite was laid along the river's edge Kennebec, on a gently sloping 40-acre lot which faced di- and work was started on a granite wharf at which vessels rectly across the river to the new state capitol building then drawing ten feet of water could dock even during the lowest under construction on its west bank, was purchased by the level of the river during a summer's drought. The main Government. In September proposals were issued for mate- arsenal was 100 feet long by 30 feet wide, three stories high rials to construct the arsenal buildings. Lieut. J. Hills, also of over a spacious basement. In the first story 2,640 boxes of the Corps of Engineers, was placed in charge of construc- National Armory muskets could be stored, 2,376 on the tion? second story, and 2,112 on the third, giving it a total capacity Since the arsenal was originally envisioned as a small of 142,760 muskets (considering the regulation 20 muskets depot for military stores to be supplied from Watertown, a per box). mere$15,000 was appropriated by Congress. Col. Bomford's The largest of the two magazines couldcontain 600 barrels Pittsburgh. He suggested that Lieut. Robert Anderson be temporarily detailed for ordnance duty and assigned to com- mand Kennebec Arsenal during his absence. l6 This request was granted and Anderson relieved Ripley on 3 November. Anderson continued in command until Ripley returned to Augusta the following May. Little did either Anderson or Ripley realize when they were stationed at peaceful Augusta that they would someday play major roles in the defense of the Union: Ripley as mastermind of the largest armory in the nation, and Anderson as the defender of Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861. In June 1835 Ripley was again temporarily relieved for a few months, this time by Lieut. George S. Green. Returning, he continued in command until May 1841 when he was appointed superintendent of Springfield hory.17 Ripley shepherded the Kennebec Arsenal through some of its most active years. War seemed even more imminent with Canada in the mid-1830's. The Maine-Canadian border problems FIG 3 flared up again. In 1837 a Maine land surveyor was arrested This modern view of the arsenal shows that several of by New Brunswick officials for trespassing into Canada the buildings have been torn down in this century, such (Maine said the land was her's).18 Maine informed the as the Armory, and Machine and Carpenter shops. national Government it expected reparations from Great Between the Arsenal building and Non-Commissioned Britain. After months of inaction by Washington, Maine Officers' Quarters can be seen the Commandant's decided to take matters into its own hands, and started to run House further up the hill. The laboratories and maga- its own survey of the boundary, based on its interpretation of zines were located higher up the terraced hillside. the Treaty of Paris. By January 1839 the state had appropri- ated $10,000 for riflemen to defend the northern "hump," and the situation became ominous. Nearly 200 Maine volunteers of powder, and the smaller one, 254 barrels. The other granite buildings were a storehouse 80 by 30 feet, two stories high; a stable, three officers' quarters (one of which was for the commander), an office (or guard house), barracks for the enlisted men, and shops for the blacksmiths, armorers and wheelwrights. By 1831 construction was substantially com- pleted and Lieut. Hills was relieved of his ost on 20 May by Capt. Charles Mellon of the 2nd Artillery. P3 He continued in command until 3 1 May 1833 when James W. Ripley, Captain of Ordinance, replaced him. Under Ripley, who later became famous (and infamous) as commander of Springfield Armory during the Civil War, the arsenal grew again. On his recom- mendation, the government purchased an adjoining parcel of land of approximately 20 acres to the south of the existing grounds, and additional structures were erected. The iron fence was extended to include this new land, the wharf was completed and other improvements were made, including the addition of "laboratories" for the manufacture of fixed ammu- nition.14 Ripley thought that a slight "luxury" could be indulged, and so when a spring-fed reservoir was constructed in the hillside, at the center of the arsenal lot near the commander's residence, it was made large enough (100 feet in diameter) so FIG 4 that it could be stocked with landlocked Maine salmon and All access to the arsenal was through this gate. Armed trout.15 Whether these delicacies were for the sole enjoy- guards, stationed in the Guard House at left, examined ment of the commander and officers, or whether they were all who entered and left the grounds. The granite gate shared with the enlisted men is left up to the imagination of the pillars are topped with iron cannon balls. The massive reader! iron swinging gates which hung from the pillars were On 25 October 1834 Ripley requested orders to perform a removed many years ago. The beautifully terraced and short tour of duty during the winter at Alleghany Arsenal in landscaped grounds can be seen in the rear. started for the troubledregion and New BrunswickLieutenent Governor Sir John Harvey also said he would call out his troops. After weeks of jockeying for position, Maine Gover- nor John Fairfield called on President Martin Van Buren to send federal troops to "cooperate with the forces of this State in repelling an invasion of our territory." Wagons, arms and powder were sent north to the state troops, now numbering over 12,000, who boasted they could whip the "warriors of Waterloo." 19 Van Buren, more concerned that the economic Panic of 1837 had ruined his chances for a second term, sat in Wash- ington not knowing whether to compromise with Great Brit- ain or follow thecall of the nation to defend itself from British aggression. Congress forced his hand: in March 1839 it passed a bill appropriating $10 million and authorizing the President to call up 50,000 volunteers. Finally Van Buren turned to his troubleshooter, Gen. , aveteran of settling earlier Anglo-American disputes along the New FIG 5 York- Canadian border. If the British refused to leave the The arsenal complex posseses some excellent archi- disputed area, the commanding general was to order regulars tecture. This is the Guard House or Office, in the Gothic to the northeast frontier. With the militia from Maine and Revival Style. The Gothic arches, with quatrefoil and Massachusetts there would be enough men, it was thought, to trefoil insert panels, over the windows are especially "enforce the determination of the federal government." noteworthy. Scott traveled to Augusta, met with the Governor and soon But the conflict had caused a flurry of activity at the cooler heads prevailed. New Brunswick's men were poorly Kennebec Arsenal. Munitions were fabricated in great num- provisioned, and Maine's troops, now that spring planting ber and additional arms were ordered north from Watertown. had to be done, only wanted to go home. The "war" petered It appears they stayed there in storage up to the Civil War. out as quickly as it had started and Webster and Asburton Ripley was succeeded in 1841 by Lieut. R.A. Wainwright, were allowed to go ahead and compromise the border prob- who remained at Augusta until December 1846 when he was lem over the negotiating table.20 ordered to Mexico to fight in the border war there. Kennebec Arsenal had always been an informal post and so no one was surprised when Wainwright's father-in-law, James L. Child, took over in his absence as military ~tore-kee~er.~~ During the Mexican War rockets and fixed ammunition were made at the arsenal and forwarded to the front. Wain- wright returned as commander in December 1848. In Sep- tember 1851 he was replaced by another Mexican War veteran, Capt. F.D. Callander. In 10 June 1855, under Callender's command, the arsenal was inventoried and ap- praised, and the results reported in the public press. The land and buildings were valued at $155,154 and the military stores at $394,735. There were "24,3 13 muskets, 1,936,300pounds of gun powder [nearly 1,000 tons], 5,411 cannon shot and shell, some 50,000 pounds of cannon powder, and 178,207 pounds of lead in pigs for use in making bullets."22 Callender was succeeded by Lieut. Oliver Otis Howard on 5 December 1855. Anative of nearby kds,Maine, Howard was a graduate of West Point and was to become famous as a brigadier general at Gettysburg, as a major general com- manding one wing of Gen. Sherman's Army on the March to the Sea, head of the Freeman's Bureau after the War, and founder of Howard University at Washington, D.C., for the education of blacks. On 18July 1856 Capt. I. Gorgas replaced Howard, and the former continued in command until 1 June 1858, when he was relieved by Lieut. J. W. Todd. On 25 FIG 6 October of that year Todd was transfered to another post and Plat of the Arsenal froma wal map ofca. 1880. The ease BriscoeG. Baldwin of Virginia became military store-keeper. of water transport to the site, provided by the Kennebec When the Civil War erupted Baldwin was offered the com- River is evident. mand of the Virginia State Arsenal, and after he heard that FIG 7 FIG 8 The Officers Quarters are among the finest of their type The Main arsenal building (at left) was large enough to anywhere in the country, and wellillustrate the balanced hold over 140,000 muskets or rifles, and the walls and ,symetrical Greek Revivalstyle adapted to the needs of floors were especially reinforced to hold the usual weight a military post. This was the Non-Commissioned Offic- of these smallarms. At the right is Officers' Quarters No. ers' Quarters at the arsenal. I, which housed the commissioned officers at the post.

Virginia had seceded from the Union Baldwin left for the and old. Great amounts of stores on hand, as indicated by the south. Benjamin H. Gilbreth of Augusta became military 1855 inventory, left for the seat of war. At one time over one store-keeper on 1June 1861 and continued in charge through- million dollars worth of arms were stored at the arsenal.24 out the busy years of the war.23 It was feared that Confederate guerrillas based in Canada During the Civil War the arsenal became an important might try to bum or otherwise decommission the arsenal and depot of military stores. Large quantities of fixed ammuni- extra guards were mounted to prevent this. One dark night, tion were prepared at the post. The demand was so great that about midnight, the sentinal on the wharf discovered a boat temporary wooden buildings were erected to facilitate manu- filled with men, approaching with muffled oars. They were facture of paper cartridges by both men and women, young challenged and a few shots were fired, but they fled and were

FIG 9 FIG 10 The detachment of enlistedmen assigned to the arsenal The arsenal stored large amounts of gun powder and resided in this barracks. Like all other structures, it was manufactured ammunition for both small arms and built of Hallowell granite. The row of chimneys across cannon. This is the smallerof the two magazines, where the roofline, which used to heat the quarters below, were the completed ammunition was stored behind massive, removed some years ago, giving the building an incom- iron-sheathed doors and granite walls up to three feet plete appearance. thick to protect the gunpowder from accidental explo- sion. FIG I1 COURTESY DWIGHTB. DEMERITT. JR

Pictured is a cartridge and package of Civil War-period Berkely R. Lewis, the former Commandant of the Frank- ammunition made at the Arsenal. It is printed in black fort Arsenal and noted scholar in the field. The package inK on blue paper, close to the color "used in Army is very rare and few specimens survive. trousers of the time, "according to its owner, the late Col. never seen again25 Whether this was the feared Confederate the arsenal was posted2 May 1901and on loSeptember 1901 attack was never proven. the last sunset gun was fired. Through theefforts of Congress- Gilbreth was relieved in 1869, being ordered to report to man Edwin C. Burleigh of Maine the facilities were retained Benicia Arsenal in California. Maj. James M. Whittemore as a small U.S. military post until December 1903 when the became commander, but the second half of the century saw a garrison of the post left for good and the flag was hauled down declining importance of the arsenal as the scene of national for the last time. In 1905 Congressman Burleigh introduced interest shifted to the western territories and peace with Great a bill in Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to transfer Britain seemed as~ured.2~Some supplies at the Kennebec the entire property to the State of Maine for public purposes. Arsenal were shipped to the front during the Spanish-Ameri- It was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt and can War. At this time Maj. John R. MacGuinness and fifteen on 13 April the arsenal was transfered to the state for use of officers and men manned the post.27 In 1898 a newspaper the Maine Insane Hospital (which had been started some reporter wrote that one building at the arsenal was a veritable years previous on the adjoining tract of land). On 25 April "old curiosity shop," containing gun carriages, an old battery 1906 the first patients moved into the remodeled arsenal wagon, a combination blacksmith shop and machine shop on building29 wheels, mortars and siege gun carriages that once did duty at The officers and enlisted men's quarter's became resi- Ft. Popham at the mouth of the Kennebec River and other dences for hospital staff and some of the other buildings were items "that would drive a relic hunter of military materials utilized for storage. The powder magazines became huge wild." One of the old wooden buildings erected for the "filing cabinets" for Maine State Police records. With the manufacture of camidges during the Civil War was being change in the treatment of mental illness in recent decades, used by Augusta citizens as adance hall, apparently with the some of the buildings have been vacated by the hospital and commander's permission. On the wharf were a few large been placed to other uses by the state. All remain in relatively Rodmans and other cannon that had been relieved from guard good condition today although the wharf, unused for decades, duty at Ft. ~o~ham.~~ is falling into some disrepair. The Kennebec Arsenal still By the turn-of-the-century it was obvious the end was stands, on its attractive site overlooking the river, as a vivid near. Despite local protests the order for the abandonment of reminder of our military past. NOTES The Kennebec Arsenal gained the honor of being the northem most Coun House, Augusta, Me.; and from a map by B.F. Perham entitled, U.S. Arsenal by only a few minutes of latitude degrees over the Plan of the Village of Augurta ...1 838 (Boston: T.Moore's Lithogra- Champlain Arsenal at Vergemes. Vt. See Marius B. PCladeau, "The phy, 1838) in the collection of the Kennebec Historical Soc., Augusta. Champlain Arsenal, Vergennes, Vermont," MC&H, XVII: 69-75. See also North, p. 483, and Beck, p. 69. The Kennebec Arsenal was placed on the NationalRegister of Historic North, p. 483. Places on 25 Aug. 1970. For the growth of the Arsenal under Ripley see Plan Book 3, p. 36 (for For a good, modem discussion of the entire northeast border contro- 1851),Registerof Deeds,KennebecCounty Court House, Augusta; the versy see Charlotte L. Melvin, Madawaska -A Chapter in Maine-New 1838 mao cited in footnote 12 above; and North, p. 483. BrunswickRelations (Madawaska, Me.: Madawaska Historical Soc., The reservoir show supforthe first heinan 1879 map of Augusta but 1975),pp. 26-62; and Howard Jones, "Anglophobia and the Aroostook oral tradition dates it shortly after 1838. See H.E. Halfpenny, Atlas of War," New England Quarterly, Vol. XLVII, No. 4 (Dec., 1975). pp. Kennebec County, Maine ...(Philadelphia: Caldwell & Halfpenny, 519-39. 1879), plate 25. Known as Hancock Barracks, the post was occupied by regular troops North, p. 483, and Beck, p. 69. as late as 1847. The stockade and some of the buildings have been Ibid. reconstructed in recent years. Jones, p. 524. Quoted in James W. North, The History of Augusta ...(Augusta, Me.: Forelaboration of the above section see Jones, pp. 524-30, and Melvin, Clapp & North, 1870), p. 482. Hereafter cited as North. pp. 45ff. Portland had been the capitol sinceMaine gained its statehood in 1820. Ibid. For details on thelegislation establishing the Arsenal seeNorth, p. 482; North, p. 484. Joseph T. Beck, Historical Notes on Augusta, Maine. Part Two This data is from an article signed by the Rev. William A. Drew in the (Farmington. Me.: Knowlton & McLeary, 1963). p. 68; and Augusta 10, June 1855 issue of theRuralIntelligencer, an Augusta newspaper. Centennial Souvenir booklet .. . July 9,1897 (Augusta: Kennebec See also Beck, p. 69, and North, p. 484. Joumal Print, 1897), p. 14. The above changes of command are outlined uin North, p. 484, and North, p. 482. Beck, p. 69-70. Ibid. Talcott was to go on and enjoy a distinguished career, rising to North, p. 484. be Colonel of Ordnance at the time of the Mexican War, with the brevet Beck, p. 70. rank of Brigadier General. North, p. 484. Ibid. Augusta Centennial Souvenir booklet, p. 14. Ibid., pp. 482-83. Quoted in data sheets accompanying nomination to National Register Ibid. of Historic Places, in the files of the Maine Historic Preservation The following description of the Arsenal is taken from an examination Commission, Augusta, Me. of Plan Book 3, p. 18 (for 1838). Register of Deeds. Kemebec County Ibid.

NEW ORLEANS ZOUAVES, 1861

by J. Lloyd Durham

A few days following the Battleof Bethel a North Carolina on leggings, wpre red pants, with about three times as much volunteer wrote home describing the life of a soldier in camp. cloth in them as necessary and a long red bag for a cap, they George Whitaker Wills was a member of the Enfield Blues [illigible] as black as mulattoes. I think if we had had them (Company I), 1st Regiment, NC Volunteers. Writing from with us the other day, theNew York Guards would have fared Virginia on 16 June 1861, Pvt. Wills gives us the following a great deal worse than they did."l description of a unit from New Orleans: "... A battalion of Zouaves from New Orleans came here on Wednesday ... not having what they considered the right NOTE food went to work and killed about a dozen cows ...They are 1. W.H. Wills Family Papers, Southern Historical Collec- the worst looking men you ever saw in your life, they all had tion, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.