Midcoast Region
14
Unfortunate Incident In Bath by Brian Swartz
Captain shoots Lieutenant
A
pistol fired accidentally — or not — in Bath on September 13, 1814 left a young husband and father dead and another man’s reputation in shambles, according to Zina Hyde, whose familial surname has long been associated with Bath. During the War of 1812, British privateers sailing primarily from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia frequently captured American merchant ships in New England waters. Along with a leaky Royal Navy blockade, the privateers essentially neutralized Maine’s lucrative maritime trade and left wealthy merchants such as Bath’s William King feeling the financial pinch. Throughout the war, Massachusetts paid minimal attention to defensive Fresh Seafood
Eat In/Take Out
measures along the Maine coast, a neglect that led directly to Maine statehood in 1820. The Bay State left the protection of its easternmost counties to men like King and Zina Hyde, a Bath merchant and store owner. Lincoln County militiamen recognized King as a natural leader. Born in Scarborough in 1768, he later became a successful businessman with a Brunswick cotton mill and merchant ships to carry his freight from Maine to far-flung ports. After representing Topsham and Bath in the Massachusetts House of Representatives at different times between 1795 and 1804, King represented Lincoln County in the Massachusetts Senate from 1807 to 1811.
By 1811 William King was a general of militia responsible for the various Maine units, including the Bath Light Infantry in which Hyde served. That August 28th, Major Andrew Reed asked Hyde “if I will accept the appointment of adjutant of the 1st Reg(iment), 15th Brig(ade), 11th Div(ision),” Hyde informed his diary. Initially inclined to refuse Reed’s request, Hyde acquiesced after discussing it with other officers and became the regimental adjutant on October 28th, the day that the regiment mustered for inspection by General King and Colonel Denny McCobb. The muster went well on an “uncommonly fine” day, according to Hyde, and “the officers were all invited to partake of a generous entertainment
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