Samuel “Sam” Bassett
Samuel “Sam” Bassett was Iron Mountain’s last surviving Civil War veteran. Born in Bangor, Maine on September 10, 1841, he moved to Boston approximately ten years later. He enlisted in the Civil War on May 25, 1861, and served as a private in Company E of the First Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac. Sam’s impressive Civil War service included engagements at dozens of battles, and he fought at several of our country’s most iconic battlefields, including Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Spotsylvania, The Wilderness, and Gettysburg.
Sam’s service included a meeting with President Abraham Lincoln at Fair Oaks, Virginia, in 1862. President Lincoln and his son, Robert Todd, visited the Union camp to inspect the troops and offer moral support. According to Sam, “When he finished his inspection, a few of the boys mustered up the courage to walk over where he was talking with the officers. We walked up to his horse and held up our hands. Lincoln reached over, smiling, and shook hands with each of us. It was no weak handshake, either. I can remember that plainly.” In 1924, Sam was asked about his Civil War service by an Iron Mountain News reporter. He replied, “I guess I saw my share, all right. I don’t like to think about the war part of it, but I shall always want to remember President Lincoln and that day at Fair Oaks, when I shook hands with him.”
On June 13, 1875, Sam married Catherine Agnes Powers in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The couple ventured west in search of job opportunities. They settled first in Marinette, Wisconsin around 1880, then moved to Quinnesec one year later where he was a store clerk. The Bassetts then moved to Iron Mountain and were both employed at the Chapin Hospital shortly after it opened in 1882. Sam was later employed as the first janitor of the Carnegie Library when it opened in 1902. He retired in 1916.
Sam was a revered citizen of Iron Mountain who was a featured participant of every parade and patriotic function for the duration of his years. He was a simple man of modest means. Seen often around town or while tending his garden at home, he enjoyed chatting with the locals who admired him. He remained active as a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization consisting of Civil War veterans, followed by his membership in the American Legion. He also served as a gatekeeper on each election day, and during circuit court sessions he was a bailiff at the door of the court chambers.
Sam recalled “the best day of my life” was August 4, 1928, when he took his first airplane ride. A police escort brought him to Ford Airport, where he was greeted by throngs of friends and well-wishers. When asked by the pilot prior to takeoff if he was nervous, the eighty-six-year-old veteran of dozens of deadly Civil War battles was dumbfounded. He asked, “Nervous? What at?” Always quick-witted, Sam’s goal was to live to be 100, at which time he was quoted in the Iron Mountain News, “After that I’m going to settle down to some steady living.” The Bassetts made Iron Mountain their home for the final sixty years of his life. He died on June 29, 1941 at age 99. He was buried at Cemetery Park on July 2, seventy-eight years to the day of his service at the Battle of Gettysburg.
One improbable sidenote. Sam and Catherine were the uncle and aunt to Samuel R. “Sammy” Powers, a member of the Green Bay Packers’ inaugural team of 1919.
The Rotary Club of Iron-Mountain Kingsford dedicated the viewing platform atop Millie Hill to Sam in 2015. From that vantage point, one can see where he worked, his home on East A Street, the location where he died, and Cemetery Park, where he was buried. A fiberglass marker containing photographs and biographical information is displayed near the entrance to the platform.
