THE peaceful interim of above two decades which followed the last of the skirmishes referred to in Chapter II, was dissipated by the call of the minute men of Concord and Lexington - a call which, although sounding from beyond an almost unbroken wilderness over one hundred miles in extent, met a prompt response on the part of the patriots of the Kennebec valley.  The smoke had hardly cleared from Lexington green before bands of scantily equipped men and boys were pushing their way through the forests, eager to reach the point of enlistment.  Many of the settlers in the interior of the county had removed from towns adjacent to the scene of the conflict, and while the oppression to which those who resided nearer the metropolitan districts were subjected, was not as severely realized by these men who depended almost entirely on the products of their own farm and loom for the luxuries as well as the essentials of life, the impulse of a brother's need moved them to earnest action.  Many farms were abandoned or left to the care of women and minors, and, in many instances, the latter, catching the inspiration from the fathers, stealthily left their homes and followed on the tracks of their seniors.
     However obscure and comparatively unimportant may be the part Kennebec played in the war of the revolution, the influence of that critical epoch on the subsequent history of this section is considerable.  Arnold's ascent of the Kennebec on his expedition against Quebec changed, to quite an extent, the life of the settlements along its banks.  This expedition, which was embarked at Newburyport, Sept. 17, 1775, arrived at Pittston, on the Kennebec, the day following.  Here the eleven transports of which the fleet consisted were exchanged for bateaux, which had for some time been under process of construction, under the supervision of Major Colburn.  The troops, consisting of eleven hundred men, being transferred to the bateaux, began the next day their slow and wearisome advance toward the Canadian frontier.  The officers, conspicuous among whom were Bene-

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dict Arnold, Christopher Green, Daniel Morgan, Aaron Burr and Henry Dearborn, men whose later careers challenged the attention of nations, remained on their sailing vessel until they reached Augusta.  Here they joined the fleet on the bateaux and proceeded on that disastrous errand, the result of which is familiar to the general reader.
     The rare beauty of the valley through which they passed, the waving meadows, the heavy forest growth, made a lasting impression which the hardship, the cold and the starvation of the terrible campaign which followed could not efface.  The proclamation of peace which brought as a minor accompaniment to the joyous notes of liberty a siege of famine upon the settlers all along the main thoroughfare of the Kennebec, through the depredations of famishing regiments of soldiers bound for their homes in the eastern part of the state, brought, also, many of the members of the Arnold expedition, back as permanent settlers.  Among others of them whose names hold a prominent place in history was General Henry Dearborn, who purchased extensive tracts of land west of the river, and founded a home near the point where he first landed after entering the Kennebec, to which he resorted as often as the duties of the high office he held under the national government permitted, until called by President Madison to assume the responsibilities of commander-in-chief of the national forces in the second war with Great Britain.
     WAR OF 1812 - The opening of this war was found the military conditions of Maine entirely unlike those that existed thirty-seven years before, when the first call to arms resounded on her pine - clad hills.  In compliance with a law of the commonwealth, every able-bodied man had, at stated periods, been submitted to instruction at the hands of a competent drill-master; and well equipped and disciplined regiments took the place of the straggling, unarmed hordes of the continental minute men.  There was not, however, that unanimity of sentiment which characterized the patriots who brought the nation through her birth throes.  Although blood as warm for their country's weal as that which flowed at Lexington coursed through their veins, there were many who firmly believed that the nation's honor was not at stake, and that money, not blood, should be the price of England's depredations on our commerce.  The federalists of Kennebec were especially bitter in their denunciations of the policy of the national government, and when the intelligence reached Augusta that a formal declaration of war had been issued, the quick blood of the party immediately responded by hanging President Madison in effigy, and placing the Stars and Stripes at half-mast.  The national troops quartered in the city exhibited due respect for their chief executive by military interference, and but for the action of the civil authorities the episode must have closed with bloodshed.
     In 1814 the British fleet hovered on the coast of Maine; Eastport,

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Bangor and other places were seized during the summer.  The county of Kennebec was on the alert, and many companies of men were enlisted.  The Adams, a United States vessel of war, was burned by her commander to prevent her falling into the enemy's hands, and her crew retired through the woods from the Penobscot to the Kennebec, causing an alarm that the enemy were approaching.
     In the Maine adjutant general's office is a record of the officers and men called into the state service in those trying times.  In 1876, by order of the governor and his council, this manuscript record was carefully compiled by Z. K. Harmon, of Portland.  It is a model of neatness, the volume containing 420 pages.  It appears that the 1st Brigade, 8th Division, was under command of Major General Henry Sewall, Augusta; Eben Dutch was major; William K. Page, of Augusta, was aid-de-camp; and William Emmons, Augusta, was judge. advocate.  The brigadier general was William Gould, Farmington; the brigadier major was Samuel Howard, Augusta; and the quartermaster was Jesse Robinson, of Hallowell.
     Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment of the 8th Division, 1st Brigade, had the following officers:  John Stone, Gardiner, lieutenant colonel; Reuel Howard, Augusta, major; Henry W. Fuller, Augusta, major; Enoch Hale, jun., Gardiner, adjutant; Gideon Farrell, Winthrop, quartermaster; Rufus K. Page, paymaster; Eliphalet Gillett, Hallowell, chaplain; Ariel Mann, Hallowell, surgeon; Joel R. Ellis, Hallowell, surgeon's mate; Benjamin Davenport, Winthrop, sergeant major; James Tarbox, quartermaster sergeant; Roswell Whittemore, drum major; and John Wadsworth, fife major.

     Augusta. Captain Burbank's company of Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment was raised in Augusta. The officers of the company were:  Benjamin Burbank, captain; Nathan Wood, lieutenant, and David Church, ensign.  Ephraim Dutton, Benjamin Ross, Ebenezer B. Williams and Philip W. Peck were sergeants; John Hamlen, William B. Johnson, Thomas Elmes and Bartlett Lancaster, corporals.

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In this company were thirty-four privates, who served at Wiscasset in September, 1814.
     Another company raised in Augusta for Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment has for captain David Wall and for ensign Charles Sewall.  The non-commissioned officers were: Jeremiah Tolman, Jesse Babcock, Elisha Bolton, corporals.  Thirty-four privates went out with these officers.
     Augusta raised still another company for Lieutenant Colonel Stone's regiment, of which Stephen Jewett was captain, and Oliver Wyman, lieutenant; and the non-commissioned officers were: Benjamin Swan, William Stone, Timothy Goldthwait, George Hamlen, sergeants;
William Pillsbury, John Goldthwait, Del F. Ballard, Varanos Pearce, corporals.  Newel Stone was musician.  The privates of this company numbered fifty-one.

     Albion - A company was raised for Lieutenant Colonel Albert Moore's regiment at Albion, of which Joseph Wellington was captain; Samuel Kidder, lieutenant, and Ebenezer Stratton, ensign.  The non-commissioned officers were: Samuel Libbey, James Chalmer, James Skilling, Charles Stratton, sergeants; Samuel Tarbel, John Jackson, John Kidder, jun., Samuel Stackpole, jun., corporals.  The musicians were: Benjamin Reed, jun., and Thadeus Broad.  The privates numbered forty-eight men.
     A company was drafted from Albion in the autumn of 1814, of which Joel Wellington was made captain; Washington Heald, lieutenant, and Israel Richardson, ensign. Robert Richardson, Charles Stratton, William Eames and Samuel Ward were sergeants; Richard V. Haydon, Nathaniel Merchant, Andrew S. Perkins and Benjamin Reed, jun., corporals; Odiorne Heald, John Kidder, jun., and Samuel Gibson, musicians.
Eighty-seven privates were sent out in this company.

     Belgrade. - Belonging to Lieutenant Colonel Sherwin's regiment was a company of fifty privates raised at Belgrade, with James Minot, captain; John Fage, lieutenant, and Jesse Fage, ensign.  The non-commissioned officers were: Richard Mills, Lewis Page, Samuel Page, Lemuel Lombard, sergeants; Charles Lombard, Wentworth Stewart, Briant Fall, James Black, jun., corporals.  The musicians were David Wyman, Davison Hibbard, David Moshier and Jeremiah Tilton.

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     Belgrade raised another company for Lieutenant Colonel Sherwin's regiment and the commissioned officers were; Joseph Sylvester, captain; Levi Bean, lieutenant; Isaac Lord, ensign.  The non-commissioned officers were: Daniel Stevens, Samuel Smith, John Sylvester, William Stevens, jun., sergeants; Jonathan H. Hill, Ephraim Tibbetts ,William Wells, Samuel Tucker, corporals. Samuel Littlefield and Isaac Farnham were enrolled as musicians, with thirty-six privates.

     Clinton. For Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Moore's regiment a company was raised in Clinton, of which Trial Hall was commissioned captain; James Gray, lieutenant, and Israel Richardson, ensign.  The non-commissioned officers were: Samuel Haywood, Nathaniel Brown, John Fitzgerald, William M. Carr, sergeants; William Richardson, Peter Robinson, David Gray, George Flagg, corporals; Rufus Bartlett, Samuel Gibson, musicians. Thirty-two privates went out in the company.

     China - For Lieutenant Colonel Moore's regiment a company was raised in China, for which the commissioned officers were: Daniel Crowell, captain; Nathaniel Spratt, lieutenant, and Zalmuna Washburn, ensign. Jonathan Thurber, Elisha Clark, Jabish Crowell and Thomas Ward, jun., were sergeants: Samuel Branch, David Spratt, Samuel Ward and James Wiggins, corporals; Ephraim Clark 3d and Jonathan Coe, musicians.  Twenty- four privates were enrolled in the company.
     Another larger company was enlisted in China, of which Robert Fletcher was captain; Nathaniel Bragg, lieutenant, and Caleb Palmeter, ensign. John Weeks, John Whitley, William Bradford and Jedediah Fairfield were sergeants; Nathaniel Evans, Daniel Fowler, Daniel Bragg and Ephraim Weeks, corporals; Thomas Burrell and Timothy Waterhouse, musicians; with fifty privates.

     Fayette - In Lieutenant Colonel Ellis Sweet's regiment was a company of men, enlisted at Fayette, of which Henry Watson was captain; Alden Josselyn, lieutenant, and David Knowles 2d, ensign. Elisha Marston, Richard Hubbard, Thomas Fuller, jun., and Benjamin J. Winchester were sergeants; James Watson, Moses Hubbard, David Knowles, 3d , and Moses Sturdevant, corporals; and William Sturdevant and John D. Josselyn, musicians; with thirty-five privates.
     Another company was raised in Fayette, of which the commissioned officers were: John Judkins, captain; Thomas Anderson, lieutenant, and Luther Bumpus, ensign. The non-commissioned officers were: James McGaffey, William Whitten, Levi Fletcher and John Brown, sergeants; and Joseph Greely, Edward Griffin, Moses Carson and Bazaled Bullard, corporals. Musicians were A. Whitten, Squire Bishop, jun., and James Trask; and the company mustered thirty-eight privates.

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