The Baldwin Boys: Baldwin’s Civil War Veterans

Submitted Article by: Rebecca Rittenour

In the 1970s, I spent a lot of time playing in the Baldwin Cemetery as did many kids from the area. It was a convenient meet-up point, at the nexus of two county roads, and a pile of bikes at the gate was a common sight. Resting between games of tag or statue, we would sprawl among the gravestones and share our young observations on life, the world, and the afterworld.

Sitting under the lilacs that were once scattered between headstones, my brother Jay once remarked, “Imagine what it was like way back then during Civil War times, and you’re a farmer with a kid at war. You’re working in the yard or in the field, and you hear the clopping of horses and wagon wheels on gravel coming down the road.” He pointed south, and we peered down County Road 19, seeing it as it was a hundred years earlier, dirt and dust kicking up around the hooves and wheels. “You don’t recognize the horses or the wagon, and as it gets closer, you can tell there’s a long wooden box in the back. Someone is going to get bad news.” We shivered.

Baldwin Cemetery holds the remains of at least five Civil War veterans: Brothers Rufus and William Sanborn, Charles Judkins, Francis Wheeler, and George Pearson. None of them were war-time casualties, although Sanborn was wounded, and each would have likely encountered dangerous, if not deadly, situations. Below is a brief account of their places in Baldwin’s history.

George F. Pearson (1830-1866.) Although born in Vermont, George was married in Iowa in 1857 and came to Minnesota in 1858, settling in Baldwin township. In November of 1863 at the age of 33, he enlisted in the Army with another Princetonian, Frank Moses who was 18 years old. This was four and a half months after the terrible Battle of Gettysburg, and emotions on a national scale were intense. It isn’t clear what their connection was, perhaps they worked together, but they likely walked the fifty-five miles to St. Paul together. Both men mustered into service the same day as privates in Company F of the 8th Regiment Minnesota Infantry which served on the Sioux frontier, guarding various locations like Anoka and Princeton or guarding Native American prisoners. Later, the Regiment was involved in various campaigns including the Siege of Murfreesboro in Tennessee, although it is unknown if either man was part of that action. In 1865, George returned home to Baldwin and resumed civilian life. He was killed in a mill accident just a year after being discharged from the army. He had a wife and four children at the time of his death.

Rufus Sanborn (1841-1905.) Originally from Maine, Sanborn served in Company G of the Second Maine regiment. The 2nd Maine was the first Civil War regiment to march out of the state, and was greeted with accolades by civilians as it made its way to Washington, D.C. It engaged in at least eleven battles including the First Battle of Bull Run, where it was the last regiment to leave the field, and Fredericksburg, where it took its greatest number of casualties. In 1870 he removed to Minnesota and eventually settled upon a farm in Baldwin township. He was a member of the G. A. R. and a man widely known in the pineries of Minnesota, having followed the occupation of cook in the lumber camps for many seasons.

William S. Sanborn (1842-1879.) Younger brother to Rufus (above,) William enlisted at 18 years old along with his lumberman father (also named William) into Company B, 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry. He survived the battle of Little Round Top at Gettysburg, but was wounded in May 1864 at Wilderness, Virginia. He mustered out in July 1865. His father stayed in Maine, but William made his way into Minnesota, married, and settled in Baldwin township, just south of Long Pond. His descendants still live in the Princeton area. Note: William’s son, Herbert W. Sanborn (1878-1905,) is buried nearby and also has a veteran’s marker, but it mistakenly identifies him as a Civil War veteran. Research shows that he was a veteran of the Philippine-American War, enlisting in about 1899 and serving three years there. His health was compromised by his service, and he died a couple years later, single with no children.

Francis P. Wheeler (1840-1899.) At 20 years old, Frank mustered in as a private in Company M of the 9th New York Volunteer Cavalry (sometimes referred to as the “Stoneman Cavalry,”) and served four years. It was part of a larger regiment that saw action during the Civil War, primarily with the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Shenandoah. The regiment participated in numerous battles and skirmishes, including the Battle of Cedar Creek and the Appomattox Campaign. Records show that at some point he was collecting disability for rheumatism and a broken foot. In 1866 or 67, Frank and his wife and infant daughter moved from New York to Minnesota to settle in Baldwin. They had another 10 children, all born in this area. His wife filed for Frank's military pension after his death in 1899. Frank’s son James Wheeler owned a farm southeast of the cemetery in 1914; this likely was originally his parents’ farm.

Charles A. Judkins (1845-1911.) Charles was born in Maine and moved to Missouri as a young man with his parents. At some point, Charles’ father Newell Judkins, who strongly supported the Union and wanted to live near like-minded neighbors, purchased 40 acres of railroad land in Baldwin. Charles, meanwhile, enlisted and reportedly saw much action. After the Civil War, in 1869, Charles followed his father to Princeton, purchasing and settling on his father’s farm in Baldwin township just north of Schoolhouse #31. He resided there until his death at age 66. The Princeton Union newspaper reported that at the grave, a Masonic burial service was read. A quartet sang three selections, accompanied by a piano. “A large number of friends, neighbors, and comrades in the Grand Army of the Republic followed the remains of this truly good and honored citizen to his last resting place, and many beautiful floral offerings were laid upon the casket.” Judkins served as Sherburne County Commissioner as well as on the State Board of Equalization.

We don’t think of Minnesota as part of Civil War history, but these gravestones stand testament that “our boys from Baldwin” were very much involved in this terrible chapter in the American Story. In Walt Whitman’s poignant poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” written as an elegy to Lincoln after his assassination, lilacs symbolize our enduring remembrance of the costs of war. Lilacs still bloom in May all around Baldwin, marking the places where the old homesteads were, and where people believed national Unity was a cause worth dying for.