whisperingpines
the whispering
pines
THE TALE OF TWO BROTHERS
A
pril 12 marked the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter in the first military engagement of a war that pitted “brother against brother.” For two alumni from Limington, Maine, this was literally the case. Arthur McArthur, Jr. (Class of 1850) served as a major in the 6th Louisiana Infantry, while William M. McArthur (Class of 1853) was a colonel in the 8th Maine Infantry. As far as I know, this is the only instance of Bowdoin brothers squaring off on opposite sides of a shooting war. The McArthur Family Papers in Bowdoin’s Department of Special Collections and Archives trace the lives of Arthur McArthur, Sr. (Class of 1810), his wife, Sarah, and their six children through the war’s turbulence. The eldest, Arthur, Jr., was a classmate of Oliver Otis Howard at Bowdoin. General Howard described him as “…a splendid specimen of a youth, having a perfect physique, with mental talents above the ordinary… Before we graduated … Arthur McArthur had so suffered from drink that he had hard work to secure his diploma.” Arthur sought his fortunes in Missouri, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nicaragua, and Panama, before finally settling in Louisiana. Freed from having to live up to hometown expectations or living down his own prior personal conduct, Arthur embraced the attitudes of his neighbors on slavery and secession. Two days after Fort Sumter surrendered, Arthur wrote home, describing himself as “… a secessionist, immediate, no compromise, never-go-back fire eater.” Arthur announced that he was a captain in the Union and Sabine Rifles. In reading the letter I could almost hear Arthur sigh as the tone shifted: how are things at the Masonic Hall; send me some Limington news; I’ll write to mother; none of my criticisms apply to you or the family; “My love to all. I am your affectionate son, Arthur.” No such scandal or adventure followed William in the years leading up to the war. He was quiet and studious at Bowdoin. He was admitted to the Maine bar and entered into a law practice in Limington. Commissioned a captain in the 8th Maine, he rose through the ranks, fought in numerous battles, and was wounded at Petersburg. By war’s end he was brevetted a brigadier general. Arthur was killed during the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862 while leading a charge in Winchester,
Virginia. A local woman described his funeral in her diary: “Betty and I wept over him tears of sincere sorrow. I wiped the pale forehead, and smoothed the hair… I brought some white roses and laid them in his cold hand… men of his regiment…had raised money enough among them to buy an elegant metallic coffin… he was buried, and a small board placed at his head was inscribed ‘Arthur McArthur, aged 27.’ As historian Drew Gilpin Faust H’07 has pointed out in This Republic of Suffering, expressing grief for soldiers who were martyrs to the cause became a potent political act for the women of the Confederacy, who took as their inspiration the biblical example of “last at the cross, first at the grave.” More than six months passed before the McArthur family received the news; in December a Union officer sent a New Orleans newspaper that listed Arthur among the dead, which brought a measure of closure – but little comfort. Family letters reveal the anguish caused by his death. The McArthurs concluded that Arthur was misguided, but that he had been motivated by noble impulses and sincere beliefs, and that he had died a soldier’s death. After the war William became a pension agent and postmaster, ran the family farm, and served in the Maine legislature. He later visited his brother’s grave. With winnings from an 1885 Louisiana State Lottery William built a memorial hall for the 8th Maine on Peaks Island in Casco Bay. William never married. He died in 1917 in the McArthur family home, and is buried with his ancestors in Limington. A 2004 exhibit of “Cherished Possessions: A New England Legacy,” drawn from the collections of The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, included portraits of 6 year-old Arthur, Jr. and 4 year-old William, painted in 1836 by a local artist. What a difference a quarter-century can make – in the life of an individual, a family, and a nation. With best wishes.
John R. Cross ’76 Secretary of Development and College Relations
Read new installments of “The Whispering Pines” every month on The Bowdoin Daily Sun: bowdoindailysun.com.
128 BOWDOIN SUMMER 2011