By Isabel Morse Maresh
September 28, 1989
In the mid-1600s, three brothers by the name of Morse left England to settle in the colonies of the new country. Their descendants now number in the thousands. Bernard Morse, the eighth generation descendant of the brothers, with his wife Mary Ann Fales, were among the first to settle in Belmont. They were the parents of six sons and two daughters: named Lewis B., Leander, William B., Mary Ann, Samuel, George W., Abby Jane, and Lucius C. Morse.
The Morse brothers were farmers and operated a steam sawmill in Belmont.
Lucius Morse went to sea at the age of 14, fishing and working in the coastal trade in the summer, and lumbering with his brothers in the winter. He first heard of the War Between the States in April 1862, while on a ship in Havana, Cuba. Seeing the southern ships loaded with cotton and flying the confederate flag in defiance of the Union of the States aroused in Lucius a loyalty of the flag of the United States. Upon returning home, he enlisted in the Union Army. Because he was underage, his parents would not consent to his enlistment, as they felt that he was too young.
A short time later, a town meeting was called to raise a quota from the town of Belmont to enlist to fight for the Union cause. In September 1862, three of Lucius' older brothers enlisted in Company B of the 26th Maine Regiment of Volunteers, and Lucius was allowed to march away with them.
The brothers, Lewis B., Samuel, George W., and Lucius Morse, remained in the same company and fought in the same battles throughout the war. After participating in the Battle of Irish Bend on April 14, 1863, Lucius came down with malarial fever and was left sick at a Baton Rouge hospital. He was unconscious for some of the six weeks that he spent there, becoming very much weakened. Lewis also contracted the fever but was recovering. Samuel had been wounded in the right elbow, was sick, and suffered from rheumatism. A common ailment for the soldiers from the north was chronic diarrhea caused by poor water and food and living in very poor conditions, often in swamps. This left them weak and susceptible to other illnesses. While Lucius remained in a weakened condition, his brothers, in the same hospital, refused to leave him, and because of their care and nursing, they were able to return to their regiment July 24, 1863. If it had not have been for their loving care, Lucius probably would have perished. The brothers also spent some time in a southern prison camp, at which many of the soldiers died of starvation.
The Morse brothers of Belmont lived to return to Waldo County and were prominent family men.
Samuel Morse married Lovina Harden and continued to operate a sawmill in Belmont. Lewis B. married Mary A. (McKellar) Mills of Vinalhaven and spent several years there. He spent the remainder of his life as a farmer and millman in Searsmont.
George W. Morse married Hester McLain and farmed in Belmont. He was known to be a quiet man, but firm in his convictions when he knew them to be right. George and his four sons were reported to have found 30 swarms of wild bees, with a large quantity of honey, in four years.
The youngest brother, Lucius C. Morse, was an undertaker and casket maker in the town of Liberty, a selectman and assessor for many terms, a member of the Maine Legislature in 1889 and 1890, and a state senator from Waldo County. He married Delia Neal and his son Ralph Morse was a prominent Belfast lawyer.
Two older brothers, Leander and William B. Morse, also served in the Civil War, though not in the same company. William Morse married Abby A. (Luce) Hart and was a farmer in Searsmont. Leander, who married Sarah Jane Swift, was a farmer, fisherman and "was a good citizen and respected by all who knew him."
It is indeed unique that six brothers from Waldo County served in the Civil War, and all lived to return. They leave numerous descendants in the area.
Thank you so much. So many people in Maine have a connection to the stories Isabel wrote and without the work you are doing we would probably never have had access to them.