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Volume CXXXIII, Number 1 |
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Fessenden & Hyde Series: Introduction
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
Staff Writer
I cannot begin a series on the Civil War Era without referring first to
that grand gentleman who has become a legend and a symbol of the American
volunteer soldier, Joshua Chamberlain. Perhaps no other story in the American
Civil War can rival that of the young college professor who went off to
join Mr. Lincoln's armies and found not only military glory but also national
recognition.
There are so many things that one may say about Joshua Chamberlain
that at times it might appear no one else in the Civil War mattered. Yet
there were millions of Americans, Northerners and Southerners fighting
in that great war, which so many seem to scorn as nothing more than an
imperialistic endeavor. What became of all of these men who came to Lincoln's
call? Certainly the story of so many is impossible to tell, a point is
furthered by the fact that most of those patriots were dead by the end
of the fourth year of the War itself. We can, however, attempt to tell
of the lives of a few of them.
Hopefully the Oliver Howard series, run in last year's Orient,
helped to further an understanding about another Bowdoin man who became
a Civil War legend. This new series on two, and at times a few more, Bowdoin
men will revolve mainly around William Pitt Fessenden and Thomas Worchester
Hyde.
Fessenden was a senator during the War and eventually rose to become Lincoln's
Secretary of the Treasury in 1864. His career in the Senate spanned decades
as he fought against the Kansas-Nebraska deal, radical secessionists and
the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. His tale is one of dedication and simple
doggedness.
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| Hyde Plaza, named after Thomas Worchester Hyde. (Kate Lackemann, Bowdoin Orient) |
Hyde was a rich man's son who breezed through life like
it was a grand adventure. Quite youthful at the time of the Civil War,
he would emerge from that conflict as one of its youngest generals. His
career in the War followed the path of the Sixth Corps of the Union Army
of the Potomac. Through his eyes we shall revisit the battlefields of
Virginia once again. His story is one of a child as well as that of an
adventurer.
In this series we shall also encounter a number of other
Bowdoin men. One of them is not remembered well by history, and as far
as my research goes, has no right to be. His name was Franklin Pierce.
The College remembers him for the simple fact that he was the fourteenth
president of the United States and nothing more. In reality, there really
was nothing more.
William Fessenden's sons, Frank Fessenden and Sam Fessenden
were also Bowdoin men and their lives would be forever changed by the
Civil War.
This series is one about families and friends. It is a series about soldiers
and politicians and fathers and sons. But above all, this is a series
about courage and integrity.
Should you think that I have no interest in expanding beyond
the years of the Civil War, let me put your fears at rest and assure you
that this liberal arts education has not failed to persuade me that there
is more to life than just the undying conflict between the blue and gray.
The Fessenden and Hyde Series will be a mere filler. It
should run the course of the Fall 2001 semester but my plans for a far
longer series have already begun to take shape. It is my hope that by
next spring we shall be able to tell the tale of the Bowdoin men who went
off to another war in the winter of 1941.
And so with a little luck and a little bit of writing, we
should be able to bring you a continuous stream of stories and tales about
the people who once walked the halls and the fields of Bowdoin College.
Next Week: Fessenden and Pierce attend Bowdoin College.
To view a full version of the entire series please visit my website.
(This site includes the Chamberlain and Howard Series and is updated weekly
during the school year) at: http://www.bowdoin.edu/~kwongsri.
Also, please send comments and ideas to: kwongsri@bowdoin.edu