Barbara Dyer: Memorial Day remembrances
World War II Coast Guardsman Gordon Bruce on Curtis Island.
World War I, Milton Dyer.
The location of Pine Hill, at Clam Cove in Rockport. Three hundred militia men and 200 Penobscot Indians were stationed here during the Revolutionary War.
World War II , Peter McGrath in the U.S. Navy.
World War II, David Sivewright in Italy.
Vietnam veteran Kenneth Bailey.
Spanish American War boulder.
The Honor Roll at the Village Green.
World War II Coast Guardsman Gordon Bruce on Curtis Island.
World War I, Milton Dyer.
The location of Pine Hill, at Clam Cove in Rockport. Three hundred militia men and 200 Penobscot Indians were stationed here during the Revolutionary War.
World War II , Peter McGrath in the U.S. Navy.
World War II, David Sivewright in Italy.
Vietnam veteran Kenneth Bailey.
Spanish American War boulder.
The Honor Roll at the Village Green.
On Memorial Day, we honor veterans of too many wars. But it seems the beginning was the Revolutionary War, and we have many veterans buried at Mountain View Cemetery. Perhaps the best known is Major George Ulmer, whose stone is inscribed: “Under this stone is deposited all that was mortal of the Hon. George Ulmer, Esq.- who died Dec. 23, 1825, 70 years. He was a valiant soldier of that band of heroes who achieved their country’s independence; an intrepid General, a wise legislator and an upright magistrate. Reader: be like him; be ever ready to defend the rights of your country.”
From the History of Amity Lodge No. 6, Free and Accepted masons, it reads that General Ulmer had command of the troops (300 militia and 200 Penobscot Indians) stationed at Camden and Clam Cove (Fort Pine Hill built by Ulmer, per the request of Massachusetts in 1779). He walked to Castine to secure the release of a Warren man, who was in a schooner captured the year before by the British. (The bay was completely frozen over that winter.)
The first Abraham Ogier served in the Revolutionary War, and took his sons, Lewis and Peter to play the fife. The first Abraham Ogier was one of our early settlers on Ogier Point, and the British tried to burn his cabin.
The War of 1812 was also a war between the United States and Great Britain that lasted only a couple of years. It was fought for the rights of neutrals on the high seas. The British had taken over the fort in Thomaston, so Camden settlers were worried. They had 100 men building two forts, one on Eaton’s Point (Wayfarer’s property today) and the other on Jacob’s Point (near where Bay Road is today). They also got an 18-pounder and two 12-pounders (cannons) that John Grose took up to the top of Mount Battie.
Because they thought we were well fortified, the British did not attempt to take Camden.
The CIVIL WAR has a monument in Harbor Park with names on it. The Town of Camden has a list of 137 Civil War veterans buried at Mountain View Cemetery.
There is a bolder in Harbor Park for the SPANISH AMERICAN WAR , and the names of the veterans are on it. The slogan was: ”Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain.”
The nice granite HONOR ROLL has names of veterans from World War I (“The Great One”); World War II, (“The War to End all Wars”), Desert Storm, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and all the others.
Barbara F. Dyer has lived in Camden all her life, so far.
More Barbara Dyer
Curtis Island Lighthouse — the sentinel of Camden Harbor
Event Date
Address
United States
