Charles Church mustered into federal service as a private on 21 August 1861 and mustered out as a Sergeant. He was a member of the 7th Maine Infantry Regiment, Company I, which was the Presque Isle Company.
His regiment fought in many important battles of the Civil War including the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Antietam (where the unit was severely depleted) , the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Seven Days Battles (Richmond), the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mine Run Campaign, the Battle of The Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Seige of Petersburg. The 7th was mustered out on Aug. 21, 1864, and returned to Maine.
According to research in the census records, Charles was born about 1842 or 1843 to Charles and Lovina Church. On April 2, 1871, he was married to Eldora S. Allen by the chaplain of the 7th Regiment, Collamore Purington. In the 1880 census Charles and Eldora have a 9 month old daughter, Hope. In 1920 they are living with their daughter Hope and her husband, Harry Wellington.
According to U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963, Charles Harrison Church died Dec. 4, 1925. Information was supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Harry E. Wellington.
************************************************************
The following information was contributed by Larry Smith.
Served in the Civil War in the 7th Maine Regiment, Volunteer Infantry.1 At Battle of Gettysburg, Sergeant in Company I. The 7th Maine Regiment was attached to the Second Division, commanded by Gen. A. P. Howe. Served 21 Aug 1861 to 5 Jul 1865.
The "Presque Isle Loyal Sunrise" printed the following on 25 May 1864:
Letter from Corporal Phair
For several days our community, and especially families who had friends in the army, have been in a state of intense anxiety for the safety of their loved ones upon the battle field. On Sunday evening last, news reached us from Houlton that Captain Henry F. Hill of Company C, 7th Maine, was instantly killed, and that Lieut. Wm. H. Hoeper (sic) of Co. I, was wounded and missing. The news of Capt. Hill’s death fell like a crushing blow upon his parents and sister, and their almost inconsolable grief was extremely painful to witness by those who were present. A faint hope was entertained that it might not be so, and never was a mail looked for with more intense anxiety, a vibrating between hope and fear, than on Monday evening. The mail brought the following letter form Corporal James Phair, of Co. I, 7th Maine, which is the only intelligence which we as yet have from our brave boys from Presque Isle.
Mrs. Phair has kindly permitted us to copy the letter.
“Camp near Battle Field,
May 13, 1864
Dear Mother: I takeout this opportunity to write a few lines to let you know I am well, after one of the hardest fights of the war. Charlie Church was wounded in the head on the fifth of May, and is missing. Serj. Wade was wounded on the same night, and is missing. Our Col and Major were wounded, and the Adjutant killed. Capt. Hill was killed, and our Capt. Was wounded. Our regiment lost 300 men, and 17 officers, killed and wounded. Our regiment numbers but 75 men now, and there are only 7 men left in our company. I am acting first Serj. Lieut. Hooper is wounded in the right arm. Henry Cook is wounded in the head. Benton Rose is all right. He and I are the only boys from Presque Isle who are left. Our army took 41 pieces of artillery yesterday. I have no time to write more. Tell Charlie Church’s mother that I think he will come up all right yet. The last words he said to me was “Go in old Phair!” I did not see him afterwards. Give my love to all, and good by for this time. I had a bullet put through my blouse sleeve but it did not hit me. Write soon.
From your affectionate son,
James Phair.”
[Phair was writing during a break in the action at the bloody but inconclusive Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, 8 May - 21 May. On the 13th he would have just finished fighting during heavy rain the previous day at a location known as “The Bloody Angle.” Phair writes of Charlie Church being wounded a week earlier (on 5 May); that would have been in the first part of the Battle of the Wilderness, described in Wikipedia as “the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.” -- ljs]
From the same issue: “Since the letter from James Phair was in type we hear that the Rev. Mr. Purington, Chaplain of the 7th Maine, has written to his wife that “it is supposed” that Serj. Charles Church is dead. We have feared that it might be so, and yet a lingering hope remains that it is not so. If he is gone, we will only say now, that another of our noble youth has joined the great congregation of martyrs to the cause of freedom, our country, humanity and God!”12 [As can be seen from the following, Serj. Church lived. -- ljs]
Ten weeks later: “SERGEANT CHARLES H. CHURCH We are gratified to learn that Mrs. Church of this village has received a letter from Captain McGinley of Company I, 7th Maine, giving her the welcome intelligence that her son, Serj. Church, who has been ‘missing’ since the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and who it was feared was not living, is well and a prisoner in Danville, Va. We rejoice exceedingly to hear that this brave young man is safe, and likely to live to strike hard blows yet upon the rebels and the rebellion.”
In January 1865, “We are painted to learns we do from Sergeant C. H. Church, that Mr. Joseph Parsons, who was drafted last year and went into the army from this town, died whilst a prisoner among the rebels in Georgia. He sank under the harsh treatment to which he was exposed, and died probably from want of proper food and medicine. He was well known here as a worthy man, and leaves a widow and children to mowrn his untimely end.”
Charlie was taken prisoner and confined for many months in Andersonville prison, suffering total deafness.
In July 1865, the local newspaper reports on his return to Presque Isle: “Mr. Church says that he spent his first birthday after he entered the army, July 4th, 1862, in front of the enemy at Harrison’s Landing, not having had any food for forty-eight hours; his second behind a stone wall at Gettysburg, where rebel shells were flying thick over his head for the whole day, and rebel sharpshooters were ready to pick off every head they could see above the wall; the third he was in the rebel prison at Andersonville living on the merest pittance of good, and the fourth with his friends in Lewiston. Mr. Church was promoted for gallant conduct first to Corporal, afterwards to Sergeant, and at the Battle of the Wilderness was wounded and taken prisoner, and was for eight months an inmate of Andersonville. A Lieutenant’s commission was issued for him at the time he was taken prisoner, but his long absence from his regiment prevented his being mustered in as a Lieut. At the time of his discharge he was acting as Sergeant Major of the regiment.”
************************************************************
His regiment fought in many important battles of the Civil War including the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Antietam (where the unit was severely depleted) , the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Seven Days Battles (Richmond), the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mine Run Campaign, the Battle of The Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Seige of Petersburg. The 7th was mustered out on Aug. 21, 1864, and returned to Maine.
According to research in the census records, Charles was born about 1842 or 1843 to Charles and Lovina Church. On April 2, 1871, he was married to Eldora S. Allen by the chaplain of the 7th Regiment, Collamore Purington. In the 1880 census Charles and Eldora have a 9 month old daughter, Hope. In 1920 they are living with their daughter Hope and her husband, Harry Wellington.
According to U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963, Charles Harrison Church died Dec. 4, 1925. Information was supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Harry E. Wellington.
************************************************************
The following information was contributed by Larry Smith.
Served in the Civil War in the 7th Maine Regiment, Volunteer Infantry.1 At Battle of Gettysburg, Sergeant in Company I. The 7th Maine Regiment was attached to the Second Division, commanded by Gen. A. P. Howe. Served 21 Aug 1861 to 5 Jul 1865.
The "Presque Isle Loyal Sunrise" printed the following on 25 May 1864:
Letter from Corporal Phair
For several days our community, and especially families who had friends in the army, have been in a state of intense anxiety for the safety of their loved ones upon the battle field. On Sunday evening last, news reached us from Houlton that Captain Henry F. Hill of Company C, 7th Maine, was instantly killed, and that Lieut. Wm. H. Hoeper (sic) of Co. I, was wounded and missing. The news of Capt. Hill’s death fell like a crushing blow upon his parents and sister, and their almost inconsolable grief was extremely painful to witness by those who were present. A faint hope was entertained that it might not be so, and never was a mail looked for with more intense anxiety, a vibrating between hope and fear, than on Monday evening. The mail brought the following letter form Corporal James Phair, of Co. I, 7th Maine, which is the only intelligence which we as yet have from our brave boys from Presque Isle.
Mrs. Phair has kindly permitted us to copy the letter.
“Camp near Battle Field,
May 13, 1864
Dear Mother: I takeout this opportunity to write a few lines to let you know I am well, after one of the hardest fights of the war. Charlie Church was wounded in the head on the fifth of May, and is missing. Serj. Wade was wounded on the same night, and is missing. Our Col and Major were wounded, and the Adjutant killed. Capt. Hill was killed, and our Capt. Was wounded. Our regiment lost 300 men, and 17 officers, killed and wounded. Our regiment numbers but 75 men now, and there are only 7 men left in our company. I am acting first Serj. Lieut. Hooper is wounded in the right arm. Henry Cook is wounded in the head. Benton Rose is all right. He and I are the only boys from Presque Isle who are left. Our army took 41 pieces of artillery yesterday. I have no time to write more. Tell Charlie Church’s mother that I think he will come up all right yet. The last words he said to me was “Go in old Phair!” I did not see him afterwards. Give my love to all, and good by for this time. I had a bullet put through my blouse sleeve but it did not hit me. Write soon.
From your affectionate son,
James Phair.”
[Phair was writing during a break in the action at the bloody but inconclusive Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, 8 May - 21 May. On the 13th he would have just finished fighting during heavy rain the previous day at a location known as “The Bloody Angle.” Phair writes of Charlie Church being wounded a week earlier (on 5 May); that would have been in the first part of the Battle of the Wilderness, described in Wikipedia as “the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.” -- ljs]
From the same issue: “Since the letter from James Phair was in type we hear that the Rev. Mr. Purington, Chaplain of the 7th Maine, has written to his wife that “it is supposed” that Serj. Charles Church is dead. We have feared that it might be so, and yet a lingering hope remains that it is not so. If he is gone, we will only say now, that another of our noble youth has joined the great congregation of martyrs to the cause of freedom, our country, humanity and God!”12 [As can be seen from the following, Serj. Church lived. -- ljs]
Ten weeks later: “SERGEANT CHARLES H. CHURCH We are gratified to learn that Mrs. Church of this village has received a letter from Captain McGinley of Company I, 7th Maine, giving her the welcome intelligence that her son, Serj. Church, who has been ‘missing’ since the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and who it was feared was not living, is well and a prisoner in Danville, Va. We rejoice exceedingly to hear that this brave young man is safe, and likely to live to strike hard blows yet upon the rebels and the rebellion.”
In January 1865, “We are painted to learns we do from Sergeant C. H. Church, that Mr. Joseph Parsons, who was drafted last year and went into the army from this town, died whilst a prisoner among the rebels in Georgia. He sank under the harsh treatment to which he was exposed, and died probably from want of proper food and medicine. He was well known here as a worthy man, and leaves a widow and children to mowrn his untimely end.”
Charlie was taken prisoner and confined for many months in Andersonville prison, suffering total deafness.
In July 1865, the local newspaper reports on his return to Presque Isle: “Mr. Church says that he spent his first birthday after he entered the army, July 4th, 1862, in front of the enemy at Harrison’s Landing, not having had any food for forty-eight hours; his second behind a stone wall at Gettysburg, where rebel shells were flying thick over his head for the whole day, and rebel sharpshooters were ready to pick off every head they could see above the wall; the third he was in the rebel prison at Andersonville living on the merest pittance of good, and the fourth with his friends in Lewiston. Mr. Church was promoted for gallant conduct first to Corporal, afterwards to Sergeant, and at the Battle of the Wilderness was wounded and taken prisoner, and was for eight months an inmate of Andersonville. A Lieutenant’s commission was issued for him at the time he was taken prisoner, but his long absence from his regiment prevented his being mustered in as a Lieut. At the time of his discharge he was acting as Sergeant Major of the regiment.”
************************************************************
Charles Church mustered into federal service as a private on 21 August 1861 and mustered out as a Sergeant. He was a member of the 7th Maine Infantry Regiment, Company I, which was the Presque Isle Company.
His regiment fought in many important battles of the Civil War including the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Antietam (where the unit was severely depleted) , the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Seven Days Battles (Richmond), the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mine Run Campaign, the Battle of The Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Seige of Petersburg. The 7th was mustered out on Aug. 21, 1864, and returned to Maine.
According to research in the census records, Charles was born about 1842 or 1843 to Charles and Lovina Church. On April 2, 1871, he was married to Eldora S. Allen by the chaplain of the 7th Regiment, Collamore Purington. In the 1880 census Charles and Eldora have a 9 month old daughter, Hope. In 1920 they are living with their daughter Hope and her husband, Harry Wellington.
According to U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963, Charles Harrison Church died Dec. 4, 1925. Information was supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Harry E. Wellington.
************************************************************
The following information was contributed by Larry Smith.
Served in the Civil War in the 7th Maine Regiment, Volunteer Infantry.1 At Battle of Gettysburg, Sergeant in Company I. The 7th Maine Regiment was attached to the Second Division, commanded by Gen. A. P. Howe. Served 21 Aug 1861 to 5 Jul 1865.
The "Presque Isle Loyal Sunrise" printed the following on 25 May 1864:
Letter from Corporal Phair
For several days our community, and especially families who had friends in the army, have been in a state of intense anxiety for the safety of their loved ones upon the battle field. On Sunday evening last, news reached us from Houlton that Captain Henry F. Hill of Company C, 7th Maine, was instantly killed, and that Lieut. Wm. H. Hoeper (sic) of Co. I, was wounded and missing. The news of Capt. Hill’s death fell like a crushing blow upon his parents and sister, and their almost inconsolable grief was extremely painful to witness by those who were present. A faint hope was entertained that it might not be so, and never was a mail looked for with more intense anxiety, a vibrating between hope and fear, than on Monday evening. The mail brought the following letter form Corporal James Phair, of Co. I, 7th Maine, which is the only intelligence which we as yet have from our brave boys from Presque Isle.
Mrs. Phair has kindly permitted us to copy the letter.
“Camp near Battle Field,
May 13, 1864
Dear Mother: I takeout this opportunity to write a few lines to let you know I am well, after one of the hardest fights of the war. Charlie Church was wounded in the head on the fifth of May, and is missing. Serj. Wade was wounded on the same night, and is missing. Our Col and Major were wounded, and the Adjutant killed. Capt. Hill was killed, and our Capt. Was wounded. Our regiment lost 300 men, and 17 officers, killed and wounded. Our regiment numbers but 75 men now, and there are only 7 men left in our company. I am acting first Serj. Lieut. Hooper is wounded in the right arm. Henry Cook is wounded in the head. Benton Rose is all right. He and I are the only boys from Presque Isle who are left. Our army took 41 pieces of artillery yesterday. I have no time to write more. Tell Charlie Church’s mother that I think he will come up all right yet. The last words he said to me was “Go in old Phair!” I did not see him afterwards. Give my love to all, and good by for this time. I had a bullet put through my blouse sleeve but it did not hit me. Write soon.
From your affectionate son,
James Phair.”
[Phair was writing during a break in the action at the bloody but inconclusive Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, 8 May - 21 May. On the 13th he would have just finished fighting during heavy rain the previous day at a location known as “The Bloody Angle.” Phair writes of Charlie Church being wounded a week earlier (on 5 May); that would have been in the first part of the Battle of the Wilderness, described in Wikipedia as “the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.” -- ljs]
From the same issue: “Since the letter from James Phair was in type we hear that the Rev. Mr. Purington, Chaplain of the 7th Maine, has written to his wife that “it is supposed” that Serj. Charles Church is dead. We have feared that it might be so, and yet a lingering hope remains that it is not so. If he is gone, we will only say now, that another of our noble youth has joined the great congregation of martyrs to the cause of freedom, our country, humanity and God!”12 [As can be seen from the following, Serj. Church lived. -- ljs]
Ten weeks later: “SERGEANT CHARLES H. CHURCH We are gratified to learn that Mrs. Church of this village has received a letter from Captain McGinley of Company I, 7th Maine, giving her the welcome intelligence that her son, Serj. Church, who has been ‘missing’ since the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and who it was feared was not living, is well and a prisoner in Danville, Va. We rejoice exceedingly to hear that this brave young man is safe, and likely to live to strike hard blows yet upon the rebels and the rebellion.”
In January 1865, “We are painted to learns we do from Sergeant C. H. Church, that Mr. Joseph Parsons, who was drafted last year and went into the army from this town, died whilst a prisoner among the rebels in Georgia. He sank under the harsh treatment to which he was exposed, and died probably from want of proper food and medicine. He was well known here as a worthy man, and leaves a widow and children to mowrn his untimely end.”
Charlie was taken prisoner and confined for many months in Andersonville prison, suffering total deafness.
In July 1865, the local newspaper reports on his return to Presque Isle: “Mr. Church says that he spent his first birthday after he entered the army, July 4th, 1862, in front of the enemy at Harrison’s Landing, not having had any food for forty-eight hours; his second behind a stone wall at Gettysburg, where rebel shells were flying thick over his head for the whole day, and rebel sharpshooters were ready to pick off every head they could see above the wall; the third he was in the rebel prison at Andersonville living on the merest pittance of good, and the fourth with his friends in Lewiston. Mr. Church was promoted for gallant conduct first to Corporal, afterwards to Sergeant, and at the Battle of the Wilderness was wounded and taken prisoner, and was for eight months an inmate of Andersonville. A Lieutenant’s commission was issued for him at the time he was taken prisoner, but his long absence from his regiment prevented his being mustered in as a Lieut. At the time of his discharge he was acting as Sergeant Major of the regiment.”
************************************************************
His regiment fought in many important battles of the Civil War including the Battle of Williamsburg, the Battle of Antietam (where the unit was severely depleted) , the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Seven Days Battles (Richmond), the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mine Run Campaign, the Battle of The Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Seige of Petersburg. The 7th was mustered out on Aug. 21, 1864, and returned to Maine.
According to research in the census records, Charles was born about 1842 or 1843 to Charles and Lovina Church. On April 2, 1871, he was married to Eldora S. Allen by the chaplain of the 7th Regiment, Collamore Purington. In the 1880 census Charles and Eldora have a 9 month old daughter, Hope. In 1920 they are living with their daughter Hope and her husband, Harry Wellington.
According to U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963, Charles Harrison Church died Dec. 4, 1925. Information was supplied by his daughter, Mrs. Harry E. Wellington.
************************************************************
The following information was contributed by Larry Smith.
Served in the Civil War in the 7th Maine Regiment, Volunteer Infantry.1 At Battle of Gettysburg, Sergeant in Company I. The 7th Maine Regiment was attached to the Second Division, commanded by Gen. A. P. Howe. Served 21 Aug 1861 to 5 Jul 1865.
The "Presque Isle Loyal Sunrise" printed the following on 25 May 1864:
Letter from Corporal Phair
For several days our community, and especially families who had friends in the army, have been in a state of intense anxiety for the safety of their loved ones upon the battle field. On Sunday evening last, news reached us from Houlton that Captain Henry F. Hill of Company C, 7th Maine, was instantly killed, and that Lieut. Wm. H. Hoeper (sic) of Co. I, was wounded and missing. The news of Capt. Hill’s death fell like a crushing blow upon his parents and sister, and their almost inconsolable grief was extremely painful to witness by those who were present. A faint hope was entertained that it might not be so, and never was a mail looked for with more intense anxiety, a vibrating between hope and fear, than on Monday evening. The mail brought the following letter form Corporal James Phair, of Co. I, 7th Maine, which is the only intelligence which we as yet have from our brave boys from Presque Isle.
Mrs. Phair has kindly permitted us to copy the letter.
“Camp near Battle Field,
May 13, 1864
Dear Mother: I takeout this opportunity to write a few lines to let you know I am well, after one of the hardest fights of the war. Charlie Church was wounded in the head on the fifth of May, and is missing. Serj. Wade was wounded on the same night, and is missing. Our Col and Major were wounded, and the Adjutant killed. Capt. Hill was killed, and our Capt. Was wounded. Our regiment lost 300 men, and 17 officers, killed and wounded. Our regiment numbers but 75 men now, and there are only 7 men left in our company. I am acting first Serj. Lieut. Hooper is wounded in the right arm. Henry Cook is wounded in the head. Benton Rose is all right. He and I are the only boys from Presque Isle who are left. Our army took 41 pieces of artillery yesterday. I have no time to write more. Tell Charlie Church’s mother that I think he will come up all right yet. The last words he said to me was “Go in old Phair!” I did not see him afterwards. Give my love to all, and good by for this time. I had a bullet put through my blouse sleeve but it did not hit me. Write soon.
From your affectionate son,
James Phair.”
[Phair was writing during a break in the action at the bloody but inconclusive Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, 8 May - 21 May. On the 13th he would have just finished fighting during heavy rain the previous day at a location known as “The Bloody Angle.” Phair writes of Charlie Church being wounded a week earlier (on 5 May); that would have been in the first part of the Battle of the Wilderness, described in Wikipedia as “the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.” -- ljs]
From the same issue: “Since the letter from James Phair was in type we hear that the Rev. Mr. Purington, Chaplain of the 7th Maine, has written to his wife that “it is supposed” that Serj. Charles Church is dead. We have feared that it might be so, and yet a lingering hope remains that it is not so. If he is gone, we will only say now, that another of our noble youth has joined the great congregation of martyrs to the cause of freedom, our country, humanity and God!”12 [As can be seen from the following, Serj. Church lived. -- ljs]
Ten weeks later: “SERGEANT CHARLES H. CHURCH We are gratified to learn that Mrs. Church of this village has received a letter from Captain McGinley of Company I, 7th Maine, giving her the welcome intelligence that her son, Serj. Church, who has been ‘missing’ since the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and who it was feared was not living, is well and a prisoner in Danville, Va. We rejoice exceedingly to hear that this brave young man is safe, and likely to live to strike hard blows yet upon the rebels and the rebellion.”
In January 1865, “We are painted to learns we do from Sergeant C. H. Church, that Mr. Joseph Parsons, who was drafted last year and went into the army from this town, died whilst a prisoner among the rebels in Georgia. He sank under the harsh treatment to which he was exposed, and died probably from want of proper food and medicine. He was well known here as a worthy man, and leaves a widow and children to mowrn his untimely end.”
Charlie was taken prisoner and confined for many months in Andersonville prison, suffering total deafness.
In July 1865, the local newspaper reports on his return to Presque Isle: “Mr. Church says that he spent his first birthday after he entered the army, July 4th, 1862, in front of the enemy at Harrison’s Landing, not having had any food for forty-eight hours; his second behind a stone wall at Gettysburg, where rebel shells were flying thick over his head for the whole day, and rebel sharpshooters were ready to pick off every head they could see above the wall; the third he was in the rebel prison at Andersonville living on the merest pittance of good, and the fourth with his friends in Lewiston. Mr. Church was promoted for gallant conduct first to Corporal, afterwards to Sergeant, and at the Battle of the Wilderness was wounded and taken prisoner, and was for eight months an inmate of Andersonville. A Lieutenant’s commission was issued for him at the time he was taken prisoner, but his long absence from his regiment prevented his being mustered in as a Lieut. At the time of his discharge he was acting as Sergeant Major of the regiment.”
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Inscription
CHARLES H CHURCH
Sgt. CO. I
7th ME. INF.
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