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1st Lieutenant
Aaron H. Chase was born in East Machias, Maine on July 25,
1829 to American parents. He lived in said town until he went into the war
of the Rebellion. He had but a common school education. At the age of 12
years his father became a cripple and the care of the family came on him.
At that age he cut and put into the barn 12 tons of hay. In the spring of
1843 he hired out in a saw mill and did a man's labor. He did this work in
the summers and spent winters in the woods for 28 years. He married at
the age of 24 to Lucy H. Ellsemere. She gave birth to 5 children, two boys
and three girls. All the girls are living and married and one boy is living
and married.
At the breaking
out of the rebellion he enlisted on the 25th of April 1861
at East Machias. At the time he was in charge of a mill belonging to the
firm S.W. Pope & Co. of East Machias, Maine. He enlisted for the 6th Maine
Volunteers, but as there were more men than was wanted to fill the call
he was sent on furlough.
At the 2nd call
the 9th Maine was organized. He went with Company H
from his native town. The Company was filled up and left for the front
Sept 10th 1861. At the organisation of the Company he was offered a
Lieutenant's commission, but refused and took Corporal. While the
Regiment was aboard ship at Fort Monroe, Virginia on the way south, the
Captain of Company H was taken very sick and was sent to the hospital.
Chase was detailed as his nurse and was there 5 weeks. He then joined the
regiment at Hilton Head, doing fatigue duty and drill. Some time in the
summer he was detailed as ?? guard in charge of a squad of men acting
under the Provost Marshal. He was promoted to sergeant while on this
duty and was at the taking of Fernandina and Jacksonville, Florida. He was
in all of the campaign of Morris Island and at the fight of landing, was in
charge of the burying squad while on Morris Island, was at the front on
fatigue and picket duty, was one of the squad that built the Swamp Angel
and helped mount the gun.
While on
outpost duty with the regiment, he reenlisted on the 31st of
December 1863. While on furlough in February 1864 he was offered a
Lieutenant's commission in the home guards, but refused and went back to
the regiment. While on picket duty at Bermuda Hundred he was ordered
by the Colonel to pilot the cavalry to the front of the line on the railroad,
where he came very near being taken prisoner. The next day he was in the
fight at Drurys Bluff. From there the regiment went to Cold Harbor, Virgina
and, in the fight of June 2nd 1864, he was one of the 50 men of the
brigade who refused to fall back when the enemy made a charge. They
held the line and colors of the regiment, the only regimental colors of the
brigade that did not fall back. At the blowing up of the enemy's Fort at
Cemetary Hill, Virginia he did not leave the line until only a small squad
was left to defend the colors, and then only retreated when the enemy was
on the opposite side of the breastwork and their colors touched the 9th
Maine's. In a picket fight at Bermuda Hundred on a very dark night, as
he fell back to the old line he came across a Company F man who was shot
through his legs. Chase took him on his back, with his gun and rucksacks in
his hands. In the picket fight at Strawberry Plains, Virginia on August 29th
1864 he did not leave the line until the whole picket line left, and only two
men of the 62nd Ohio were left athough almost surrounded. That night he
had charge of squad to go 5 miles to the rear for whiskey rations. In the
charge on Fort Gilmer, Virgina, on September 28th, he got a slight wound
in head at the close of it. He was in charge of Company H because all
officers were wounded. About this time he received a commission as 2nd
Lieutenant in Company I and was detailed in charge of a squad which
reported at James Landing, Virginia to discharge grain vessels. While there
he received a 1st Lieutenant's commission in Company H. A few days later
the order came from General Grant to take his men and stop the rebel ram
from coming down the river.
While lodging
at Fort Fisher he got an order to take fifty men and take a
picket fort. They had to cross a bog of water 1/2 mile, it was a forlorn
hope. The orders were to take and hold at any price. On the march to
Raleigh, N.C., after taking Magnolia, N.C., he was ordered by General Terry(?
) to be conductor on a train running from Wilmington, N.C. to Gouldsboro
N.C. He was on this road 20 days running night and day. On one trip he was
in a wreck, and in clearing it from the track he got hurt so much that he
bled at the stomach, and from which he has not been well since. On this
road there was no guard and only 10 men on the train a number of times.
However, the citizens on the line were union and informed him of the plan
every time. One time the enemy tore up the track, but the train had ?? .
That night the road was abandoned.
He reported
to the regiment the next morning on the march to Raleigh, N.C.
After the taking of the city he was in the safe guard. He was appointed
acting Quartermaster to the regiment, and held this position until mustered
out. He was mustered out of U.S. service at Raleigh, N.C. on July 13, 1865
and was discharged from the service at Augusta, Maine on August 13th
1865, returning to his home that night.
From that
time until the present has been in different positions and spent
13 years as a guard in the Minnesota State Prison. He left that position
because of ill health, he was suffering from rheumatism and heart trouble
from the effect of the hurt got on the railroad and exposure. He is now
nearly useless.