By Charlotte Boynton
Woolwich Historical Society Vice President Todd McPhee holds a Civil War-era .50-caliber Spencer carbine now on display at the Woolwich Historical Museum. Former Woolwich resident William Allen donated the rifle to the society and McPhee has spent 10 months researching its past. (Charlotte Boynton photo) |
A Civil War-era firearm found on the Bailey Farm in Woolwich during the 1940s has been donated to the Woolwich Historical Society and is now on display at the Woolwich Historical Museum.
Todd McPhee holds bullets for a Civil War Spencer rifle. (Charlotte Boynton photo) |
According to Todd McPhee, vice president of the Woolwich Historical Society, William Allen, now of Bangor, believes the gun was found while the his family was living in the Bailey homestead.
Allen donated the weapon, a .50-caliber Spencer carbine, back to the town this past August. Allen did not know how the gun got to be at the Bailey Farm, only that it was a Civil War-era gun found in Woolwich.
Allen wrote in an email recently that his family lived on the Bailey Farm in the mid- to late 1940s. His family was buying the farm with monthly payments of $50. The cost of the farm was either $3,500 or $3,900.
“It is hard to comprehend now, but the price of that 200-acre farm was either $3,500 or $3,900 – less than $4,000 in any event,” Allen said. He was only 4 when his family left the farm and moved to Bath because the family could not afford to keep the farm. They later moved back to Woolwich, where his father built a house. The family stayed there until 1958.
Allen said his family moved to Franklin in 1958 so his father could pursue farming. He attended the Winterport High School. While attending high school, a couple of guys who operated a trading post offered to swap him a used Winchester Model 94 for the Spencer.
“I likely thought, ‘Why not?’ but my father scotched that idea.” Allen said. “A good decision.”
Of his decision to donate the gun to the Woolwich Historical Society, he said, “The greatest reason, I think, is that I’d like to have other folks see it, and I can’t think of where else it might have come from other than the Bailey Farm. It started out in Woolwich, and I thought it should go back there. I also believe it will make a wonderful addition to the museum.”
McPhee has spent the last 10 months investigating the Spencer and how it came to be at the Bailey Farm in Woolwich.
He first researched the origin of the rifle to determine if it was indeed from the Civil War era. The Spencer carbine features a 20-inch barrel. It was first designed to fire seven shots without reloading and later modified to allow a single shot.
McPhee took the gun to James D. Jullia antique auctioneers, who pointed out an “ESA” stamp on the butt of the gun. The stamp indicates that an Erskine S. Allin modified the weapon after the Civil War.
The Spencer model seven-shot carbine was invented and patented by Christopher M. Spencer, of Manchester, Conn. According to McPhee’s research, 30,550 Spencer guns were purchased by the Union during the Civil War.
According to McPhee’s research, the Spencer was first adopted by the U.S. Navy, then by the U.S. Army, and it was used in the Civil War, when it became a popular weapon for the Union. According to McPhee, the serial number on the Spencer donated to Woolwich indicated it was issued from the state of Michigan.
After researching the gun, McPhee began working on how the gun ended up in Woolwich, looking into the Bailey family history and the Bailey cemetery in Woolwich. He found that two Bailey brothers died while fighting on the Union side during the Civil War, the sons of John and Margaret Bailey.
Addison Bailey served in Company E of the 21st Maine. He died of fever on March 26, 1863 at the age of 21 in Baton Rouge, La., after only about six months of service.
Harlan Bailey served in Company G of the 20th Maine. He was killed on May 5, 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness near Chancellorsville, Va. He was 20 years old when he died.
Since the Bailey brothers both died in the war, it is unlikely the gun would end up at their home, especially after it was modified, because the guns were not modified until after the war ended in 1865.
McPhee found a John Budd was buried in the Bailey cemetery. According to the Budd headstone, he lived from 1834-1922 and was a Civil War veteran.
As he began checking out this man, just about everything pointed to the fact the weapon most likely came to Woolwich via John C. Budd, a Canadian-born man who moved to Wiscasset and became a well-known resident of that town.
McPhee found that Budd was born in New Richmond, Bonaventure, Quebec, where he was orphaned at the age of 2. He was subsequently put in a home in New Richmond. In 1846, at the age of 13, he left home to work on a ship that traveled from New Richmond to Newfoundland, Halifax, and Nova Scotia. In 1851, he relocated to Johnston, Mich. to work in the lumber business.
In Michigan, Budd submitted a successful application for 160 acres of land under the U.S. Homestead Act, agreeing to build a house at least 12 by 16 feet and farm the land for at least five years.
Budd worked the farm with seven hogs for two years before enlisting in the Navy in 1864, taking advantage of an option for the five-year agreement to be waived if the owner of homestead joined the military for the war effort.
According to McPhee’s research, Budd was eventually assigned to a ship named Ferry, which delivered guns, ammunition, and food along the Mississippi River. He served 293 days in the military and was discharged June 9, 1865.
After the war, Budd returned to to his farm in Johnston and became sheriff of Huron County. He married a woman named Sarah and the couple had one son, Warren.
On Oct. 8, 1871, the same day as the great Chicago fire, Michigan also had a great fire, destroying several towns in the upper peninsula of Michigan, including the Budd Farm. Budd and Sarah never saw each other again, each apparently believing the other was lost in the fire, McPhee said.
According to documents obtained by McPhee, Budd’s next appearance in the historical record was when he married Isabella Doddridge in Quebec on Aug. 12, 1873. Sometime after that the couple apparently moved to Wiscasset, where their first child, Daisy, was born July 1, 1874.
The records indicate Budd was hired to help with the survey for the narrow gauge railroad. By 1876 he held the controlling interest in the Wiscasset bridge, which was then privately owned. He also owned a boarding house and a hardware store, all located near the intersection of Route 1 and Water Street in Wiscasset, near the current location of Red’s Eats.
According to information obtained by McPhee, Budd was a generous man, donating part of the tolls he collected on the bridge to the town’s school budget, yet his research also indicated that Budd had been known to steal things, such as a set of spoons from a Union officer while in the Navy, an act he is said to have admitted doing.
McPhee found two newspaper articles regarding Budd. An Aug. 26, 1886 article from the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier headlined “Shooting Affray” reads “John C. Budd, keeper of the toll house, was shot last evening by Station Agent Lewis Phillips. Phillips was arrested and put in jail. Budd received an ugly flesh wound but escaped without serious injury.”
An article from the same newspaper dated Nov. 3, 1892 reads, “The J.C. Budd Co.’s mill, with 500 bushels of grain, burned at midnight; loss, $8,000. This is a hard blow to Wiscasset business interests, but the stockholders will build immediately.”
Budd’s daughter Daisy married Lwellyn Bailey, of Woolwich, June 16, 1892, which, according to McPhee, was the connection he was searching for as to why the old gun was found on the Bailey Farm in Woolwich.
Budd suffered from a serious stoke Dec. 12, 1902 and was taken to the Togus veterans home, where he remained until his death May 6, 1922. His wife Isabella apparently moved in with her daughter, bringing their belongings, while Budd was at Togus. Budd is buried in the Bailey family cemetery on the Bailey Farm.
His obituary, printed in a Bangor newspaper, reads: “John C. Budd, 88, at one time owner of the controlling interest in Wiscasset bridge when it was privately owned, builder of two large stores there, once gate tender for the Maine Central at Blind Crossing and for several years in the family at Soldiers’ Home, Togus, died at that institution Saturday afternoon.
“The funeral was Monday afternoon at 3:30 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. L.A. Bailey, Woolwich, Rev. Millard Webster officiating. The bearers were L.A. Bailey, B.S. Bladgon, Archie Dodge and Parker Lewis. Mr. Budd is survived by his wife and a daughter, Mrs. L.A. Bailey, Woolwich.”
The Civil War gun assumed to have been owned by Budd is displayed at the Woolwich Historical Museum. Due to the efforts of Todd McPhee, it will be an exhibit of a Civil War gun with the history of the man that may have once owned the gun.