Calvin Boston: An early Mapleton settler and Civil War casualty

     If you haven’t heard of Calvin Boston, you are not alone. He is one of the little-known unsung soldiers of the Civil War, and a long-forgotten early settler on Creasy Ridge in Mapleton. It’s time this hero’s story was told.
When Boston and his wife, Sarah, moved to Creasy Ridge and built a home and farm, they planned a life together there with their three young children. Then the Civil War came along and changed all of that.
Maine sent more men to the Civil War than any other state — with about 80,000 soldiers and sailors leaving to fight for the Union. With many events planned throughout Maine and the United States this summer to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, this report will tell the story of one man from this local area.
Before coming to Aroostook County in the 1850s when land was available for 50 cents per acre — payable in roadwork, no cash needed — many young men came to settle. Calvin Boston had come from Gardiner, Maine where the local newspaper described him as a “quiet, modest young man, with a physique of steel, a heart soft as a woman’s, and brave as a tiger … Probably, in point of muscular power no man in the State can stand before him, and yet he has always had the best of characters as a good, peaceable citizen …” Another newspaper reported that Boston was “… loved by all who know him.”
Like many young men in Aroostook County at the time, Calvin Boston felt a strong sense of obligation to go to fight in the Civil War for the Union Army. On Jan. 5, 1863, he wrote to Benjamin Creasy, who settled Creasy Ridge, and was his neighbor and “dear friend” from “Camp A. Lincoln” in Portland, to tell him he was still in Portland where they were filling up a regiment. In his letter, he wrote, “… we have about 400 men here at present (but) they desert as fast as they recruit …”
Boston had joined Company B of the 7th Maine Volunteers which had originally been mustered in Augusta Aug. 21, 1861. After several battles, and with their ranks thinning, the 7th Maine was sent back to Maine to recruit fresh troops. This is when Calvin Boston enlisted. They left Portland, Maine Jan. 21, 1863 for Virginia where they rejoined their brigade and division at White Oak Church Jan. 25, 1863.
On Feb. 25, 1863, Boston again wrote to Benjamin Creasy. This time he was at a “camp near White Oak Church.” He said, “… we have had very bad weather since we have been here, three snowstorms within a month and it rains almost all the time. There is not anything doing here, it is so muddy that the army cannot move. I suppose you would like to know how I like (it). Well, I think that I should rather be back there with you again. What do people think of the Conscription Act? I suppose that (there) will be some skeedadling (running away to avoid being drafted) when they come to post it in force. It makes the boys laugh. They say that they should like to come home and help put it in force, that is, if there is any resistance shown to the draft … Virginia is a hard old place. The land is broken and the houses are poor, not so good as our log ones. In fact, the worst of them are logs. Give me old Maine yet.”
The weather conditions improved and the 7th Maine took part in the Chancellorsville Campaign at Franklin’s Crossing from April 29 to May 2. On May 3, they were part of a successful attack on Maryes Heights during the second battle of Fredericksburg, and the fight at Salem Church May 3-4. From July 2-4, the 7th Maine Volunteers participated in the great Battle of Gettysburg and subsequently engaged the Confederates several times on their retreat to Virginia.
On Aug. 14, 1863, Boston again wrote to Benjamin Creasy, but this time his letter was from the McClellen Hospital in Philadelphia. He reported that his health was good and that his wounds were all healed, and that he was waiting to rejoin his Regiment as soon as he was “exchanged.” Boston had been shot and injured by a bullet — the first of three such injuries he was to receive during the war.
In the same letter, Boston asked Creasy to look after his crops because he expected the war to end by fall and said, “… I shall want some to live on next summer … I shall have to get you to take care of my stock (cattle and horses, etc.) this winter … give my love to Mrs. Creasy and tell her that I should like to have some of her buckwheat cakes and nice potatoes …”
Boston’s next letter to Creasy was written Dec. 3, 1863 from Lincoln Hospital in Washington, D.C. He wrote, “… you no doubt will be surprised to hear that I am here in Washington but so it is. I came here the 22nd of last month. I was down front but three weeks, just long enough to be in one fight. The next day after the fight I cut my foot while splitting a rail, and when the Army made this last move, I was sent here. I am doing well (and) should soon be out again. My health otherwise is good …” This was to be the last letter Benjamin Creasy received from Boston.
It is assumed that Boston recovered from the injury to his foot, as well as to the second bullet wound described in the Gardiner newspapers. He apparently returned to Gardiner to visit his wife, who had returned there during his absence.
A short time later, he volunteered for the 31st Regiment of Infantry having been mustered into service April 17, 1864 at Augusta for a three-year enlistment. His regiment left Maine for Washington, D.C. April 18, 1864 and was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, in which it remained for the remainder of the war. The Regiment began fighting May 4, 1864 and had its first battle casualties two days later in the Battle of the Wilderness, where it suffered heavy losses. A few days later, on May 12, the regiment fought at Spotsylvania Court House and again suffered heavy casualties with 12 killed, 75 wounded, and 108 missing in action.
Boston’s Regiment continued to be involved in several skirmishes and suffered more heavy losses. They were under constant fire by the Confederate troops from June 17 until July 30. On June 25, 1864, Boston was again wounded in battle, near Petersburg. The Gardiner newspaper reported that he “had stepped out of a rifle pit to shake a blanket, when a shell burst high in the air and a piece struck him under the left shoulder passing into his body between the ribs and penetrating the lung.” The reporter went on to say that Boston was “doing well, and will probably be transferred to Washington or sent home in a few days. The Sergeant says of him ‘he was just as cool and plucky as ever,’ a fact that those of us who know Lieutenant Boston, will scarcely doubt. He adds: ‘In conclusion, I have only to say that Lt. Boston has the confidence and good will of every man in the regiment, and particularly of his own company, and I assure you of their sympathy toward him …’” The reporter added, “he is recklessly brave, and though cool and collected, we fear he does not take quite so good care of himself as some men do.”
Boston was commissioned as a captain, however, before he received the commission he died of his wounds July 7, 1864 in a hospital in Washington, D.C. The Gardiner newspaper reported that just before he died, Boston said, “I have tried to do my duty, and I am ready to go.” The reporter added, “no more patriotic, brave, or better soldier has ever given his life to his country …”
A large monument honoring the Civil War veterans stands on the village common in Gardiner. Calvin Boston’s name is inscribed with that of many others on the side of the monument. His wife, Sarah, lived out the rest of her life in Gardiner after selling out their property in Mapleton. Two of Calvin’s children died young leaving him only one heir, Frank E. Boston, who went on to be a prominent and distinguished man in Gardiner.
There are no monuments to Calvin Boston in Mapleton, although he had made himself a home and built a farm here, and intended to spend the rest of his life in the community. While he was away in the Civil War, he gave permission for his home to be used as a schoolhouse for the children of the area of Creasy Ridge before a school was erected there. Were it not for the Civil War, there is no doubt that Calvin Boston and his descendants would have been well-known residents of the Mapleton area. That war changed the course of Boston’s life and that of his family, as well as the history of Mapleton, forever.
   (The Haystack Historical Society will be hosting its annual homemade Pie and Ice Cream sale at the Museum in Mapleton Saturday, June 29 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. There will be more information available on Calvin Boston at the museum that day; as well as the display of family photos from the tri-town area; and many other displays will be available to view. Stop by, have some pie and ice cream, and check out the historic displays).