Charles HUTCHINGS of Penobscot Date: 98-03-30 02:09:28 EST Courtesy of the Hancock Co, Maine USGenWeb Project From George A. Wheeler’s History of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville, Maine. Privately printed in Cornwall, NY, 1923. Pages 169-172 HUTCHINGS, CHARLES. Mr. Charles Hutchings was born in York, Maine, October 10, 1742. His mother dying during his infancy, he was brought up by his elder sister, until he was seventeen years old, when he enlisted in the army raised for the reduction of Louisburg, Cape Breton. He was with Lord Loudon, at Halifax. After the failure of this expedition, he sailed for Boston, and was wrecked on the Londoner, off Cape Ann. He was afterward at Albany, New York, where he was noted for his diminutive size, and great strength. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war, and returned to York, where he soon after married Miss Mary Perkins. He moved to Penobscot, in 1768, and took up the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Eben Hutchings, who is now in his eighty-sixth year. During the siege of Bagaduce, in 1779, he with Daniel, Isaac and Jacob Perkins, lay in ambush on Hainey’s Point, and fired into the English guardboat as it passed. They were informed against by a Tory, and Mr. Hutchings was obliged to take his family, consisting of his wife and eight children, and flee for his life. He took a canoe, crossed the Penobscot river to Fort Pownal, and walked through the wilderness to Damariscotta, where he resided until the peace of 1783. In this journey through the woods, two of the children were so small that he and his wife were obliged to carry them all the way in their arms. They lodged on the bare ground. Their only cooking utensil was a camp kettle, holding about two gallons. Their only means of obtaining food, was afforded by his gun. The daughter of Mary, is said to have been the first white female child, born of English parents, within the present limits of the town of Penobscot. Mr. Hutchings died in Penobscot, in June, 1835, aged 92 years and 8 months. HUTCHINGS, WILLIAM. Mr. William Hutchings was born at York, Maine, October 6, 1764. He died at Penobscot, May 2, 1866, aged one hundred and one years, six months and twenty-six days. His father, Charles Hutchings, moved to Plantation Number Three, - now the town of Penobscot - when he was four years old. He was an eye-witness of nearly all the transactions connected with the siege of Majabagaduce, in 1779; and when the British were building Fort George, he assisted in carrying the first log that was used in the southeast bastion. After the destruction of the American fleet, his father refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the British Sovereign, his family were obliged to flee to a place of safety. He went to Newcastle, Maine, where he remained until the close of the war, when he returned to Penobscot, and settled down upon the same farm that his father had formerly occupied. While at Newcastle, he voluntarily enlisted, though only fifteen years of age, into the service of the United States. His declaration, made fore the purpose of obtaining a pension as a soldier of the Revolution, is on file in the Pension Office at Washington. According to this statement, he enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel McCobb, and was in Captain Benjamin Lemont’s Company. He was mustered in at Newcastle, in 1780 or ‘81, for six months service. He joined his regiment at a place known then as Cox’s Head, upon the Kennebec river. He was stationed there during the entire period of his service, and was discharged at that place. He received a pension of twenty-one dollars and sixty-six cents per annum; which was afterwards, in 1865, increased to three hundred dollars - there being at that time but four Revolutionary soldiers surviving. His chief occupation in life was farming and lumbering, though he engaged somewhat in the coasting business. He was a member of the Methodist church, for many years. In the latter part of his life, he was a “total abstinence” man. He had one son, Eliakim, who served in the war of 1812. He had also a grandson, and several great grandsons, who served in Maine regiments, in the late civil war. At the commencement of our civil conflict, Mr. Hastings took a decided stand in favor of maintaining, at all hazard, the supremacy of the Union. It was his earnest wish that he might be spared to see the complete restoration of the country, and that wish was granted. In 1865, when over one hundred years old, he accepted an invitation from the municipal authorities of Bangor, to join in the celebration of the Fourth of July, in that city. A revenue cutter was detailed for his conveyance, and as he passed up the Penobscot river, the guns of Fort Knox fired a salute of welcome. The ovation, which was bestowed on the occasion, exceeded that ever before given to any person in the State. Multitudes rushed to catch a glimpse of the old man, and the sincere and grateful plaudits which constantly greeted him, as, surrounded by a guard of honor, he was escorted through the streets, constituted the marked feature of the day. His strength and power of endurance, under the excitement, were remarkable. At the close of the oration, which was delivered by Senator Hamblin, he responded at some length to a toast. “My friends told me,” he said, “that the effort to be here might cause my death; but I thought I could never die any better than by celebrating the glorious Fourth.” His funeral occurred Monday, May 7, 1866. Reverend Mr. Plummer preached the funeral sermon, from the text which had been selected by Mr. Hutchings himself: - Matthew xxii, 40; “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” An address was afterwards made by Reverend Mr. Ives of Castine. “One of the last requests of Mr. Hutchings was, that the American flag should cover his remains, and be unfurled at his funeral. This was done; and in the stillness of a bright Spring afternoon, in the midst of an assembled multitude, upon the farm which for nearly a century had been his home, all that was mortal of the old hero was removed from earthly sight, while the starts and strips he had so long honored, floated above his grave.”* *He was the last New England pensioner, and the last but one upon the rolls. -- ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.