Recorded as James A. Coffin when he mustered in as a Private of
Co. E 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. Pvt. J. Ansel Coffin died in
just over two months from his mustering in. The Regimental
Hospital Surgeon recorded the cause of death as encephalitis.
Arrangements were made to recover and return his remains to
Maine to be laid to rest in the family plot in the North Lovell
Cemetery.
This February 1862 dated receipt was issued by Emery & Shepley, Frankfort Mills, Maine grave stone and monument dealers, to John Bradley for the marker of his diseased son Alonzo Bradley. Nineteen year old Alonzo and his eighteen year old brother Alfonzo Bradley were residing in Dover, Maine with their father, step-mother and five siblings when on July 15, 1861 the adventurous brothers enlisted and mustered in together as Privates of Co. A 6th Maine Volunteer Infantry. As members of the 6th Maine the brothers Bradley saw action at the Siege of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gaines’ Mill, action at Savage Station, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill before they were both taken as prisoners of war at Centerville, Virginia September 2, 1862. Upon parole Alonzo Bradley was taken to Hammond U. S. Army General Hospital at Point Lookout Maryland where he died of chronic diarrhea on December 10, 1862. Brother Alfonzo was returned to duty with the hard fought 6th Maine Infantry and though wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Alfonzo Bradley would muster out with his Regiment in August of 1864. He returned to Dover where he lived to the age of seventy- three before he was laid to rest with brother Alonzo in the family plot at Dover Cemetery in what is now Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.
A classic example of Maine Yankee frugality, when the Waterford, Maine Bisbees’ lost a second son to the Civil War in six months’ time, they opted to remember both boys on a single plaque. Young Volney Bisbee was 20 years of age when he enlisted and mustered in on September 29, 1862 as a Private of Co, K 23rd Maine Volunteer Infantry. He would die of tuberculosis at Emory U. S. Army Hospital in just four short months with burial in Washington D. C. Loved ones made arrangements to recover Cpl. Volney Bisbee’s remains for reinternment in the family plot, Bisbeetown Cemetery, Oxford County, Maine. Older brother Zenas Bisbee had relocated to Massachusetts before the Civil War where he worked in a shoe manufactory as a stitcher before he mustered in on August 28, 1862 as a Private of Co. G 43rd Massachusetts Infantry. He was discharged for disability on 4/3/1863 at New Berne, N.C. A medical notation recorded March 25 1863 at Camp Rogers, New Bern – Taken sick on the expedition to Goldsboro December last. Since that time has not been able to do any duty. He has had the diarrhea most of the time. He has had a bad cough and has lost a great deal of flesh. He was well before the expedition. He was subsequently diagnosed by the Regimental Surgeon as having phthifis pulmonalis ( tuberculosis ) with chronic diarrhea and night sweats. Ruled totally disabled Zenas Bisbee was discharged to be sent home to Waterford where he died on July 9th 1863. He was laid to rest next to his brother in Bisbeetown Cemetery.
