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NEW ENGLAND had many a romance in its younger years, which amid the mystic glamour of a primeval period, would
easily have developed into legend or myth or even epic song. But in no department of her life, perhaps, has there
been more of romance and poetry than in the strugglings and voyagings of her sturdy sons upon the sea, of the old
seaport towns of the New England coast; and few attained higher prestige or were more broadly typical of the restless,
enterprising spirit which accomplished so many victories on the seas of the world, than Bath, Maine, and though
the ardor of that spirit has been cooled, or turned into other directions by numerous reverses, there still lingers
in the old city many memorials of the sea-faring days of the past. The old town sprung indeed from one of the most
prominent shipping towns of New England, being settled in 1718 by Thomas Elkins from Salem, Mass., who came here
with several other stout-hearted pioneers and founded the settlement in that year. During all the following years
of that troubled century the village grew steadily, though slowly, and though the Indians gave considerable and
serious annoyance, it does not seem, as many others round about were, to have ever been abandoned. The men who
had come here had the purest and strongest blood in their veins of that race who had dared defy a king and plant
a settlement in an unknown wilderness, and they were not going to be thwarted in their plans by any number of “blood-thirsty
Red-men or wiley Frenchmen.” But for many years the struggle for existence, not to say progress, looked doubtful,
and in 1750, at the turning point of the century, there were only about two dozen houses here, and the Indians
were still menacing them with destruction in fire and blood. But the following years witnessed a gradual adjusting
of the disturbing influences, and the little town began to grow with more rapidity. In 1753 it was estimated that
there were forty families settled here, and these formed the nucleu8 for a settlement which in a few decades had
become one of the most important on the Northern part of the coast of New England. In 1760 the settlement had advanced
to the dignity of erecting a meeting-house and seven years later the first settled minister, the Rev. Francis Winter
was called, and began a long and faithful work here. For a time in the middle part of the century, Bath might have
been taken as an example of the famous Malthusian law of the geometrical progression of population, for in 1764
it had increased to over 400 and continued to do so up to the time of the Revolution.
The shipping interests of Bath are well worthy of careful study. As they, developed the town saw some of its palmiest
days, and the presence of its ships on all the waters of the world gave it an extended fame which has not died
out at the present day, though the character of its industry has partially changed. It is a curious and noteworthy
fact that the first vessel known to have been built in this country, was built at this spot. In 1607-8, the Popham
Colony came here to build a vessel which, when completed, was called the “Virginia” after the Virgin Queen, and
so far as known was the first constructed on the soil of the United States. The abundance of good timber and the
excellent facilities for launching suggested to these early residents of the region the natural fitness which in
after years developed so largely.
The aggregate number of ships built from 1781 to 1880 is 3,022, of tonnage 1,078,159, and the total valuation is
$54,375,809. The shipping reached its apogee in the decade just before the last war and how disastrously that struggle
affected it. Since that time, however, it has shown signs of rejuvenated life and has grown with comparative steadiness
up to the present writing.
In the War of the Rebellion, Bath maintained its traditional laurels with increasing honor. It had received a city
charter in 1847, and in 1854, upon the formation of the County of Sagadahoc, had been made the county seat. By
virtue of its great shipping interests chiefly, it had become at the beginning of the War one or the largest and
most influential cities of Maine, and nobly sustained its position from the start. It contributed liberally both
of men and money and from it went forth some of the most talented and able officers in the State Regiments. Its
volunteers were chiefly enlisted in the 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 19th, 25th and 30th Maine Regiments,
though it was represented in almost every one from the State. But the “pet Regiment” at Bath was the 19th, which
was organized here, almost entirely composed of Bath men, and commanded by one of Bath’s must prominent and honored
citizens, Col. F. D. Sewall. This regiment served with distinguished honors at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the
Wilderness Campaign and around Richmond in 1864 and ‘65. The honor list of Bath was very large and she was called
also to mourn the loss of many of her noblest sons whose memory she has always tenderly cherished and fittingly
perpetuated. Though a sufferer in her business interests from the great conflict, she never bated a jot of full
patriotism and service and has since turned much of her enterprising spirit into other channels from those in which
it ran before the War.
The city of Bath socially is one of the most famed in the State. The people are celebrated for their genbtlity
and hospitality. The winter social seasons, unlike many parts of the Garden State which flourish only in summer,
has a metropolitan atmosphere of social enlivenment and activity. The young people of the city have the wide-spread
fame of being the leaders in the social world of Maine, and the season here has innumerable features of enjoyment
and improvement which only those who have passed one here can at all appreciate or expect. Besides its own numerous
shipping, Bath is connected with Boston and Portland by steamer and the Maine Central Railroad.
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