On July 4, area veterans and dignitaries will commemorate Daniel Milliken, a Raymond farmer and Civil War soldier whose Riverside Cemetery gravestone does not indicate that he was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
Milliken, born in Saco in 1841, served as a Union Navy quarter gunner on the U.S.S. New Ironsides during the Civil War. In 1870, Milliken received the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration for members of the armed forces, at the Boston Naval Shipyard for his efforts fighting off the coast of Wilmington, N.C., toward the end of the Civil War. Milliken was one of 51 sailors, Marines and soldiers who received the medal for their service during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, when the Union captured the Confederacy’s only remaining seaport, cutting it off from global trade relations.
Milliken died in 1899, at the age of 58, from tuberculosis. His grave in Riverside Cemetery at 168 Plains Road in Raymond does not mention either his Medal of Honor or his service during the Civil War.
This spring, Ray Johnston, an officer with the national Medal of Honor Historical Society, contacted Dave Tanguay, an adjutant with American Legion Field-Allen Post 148, based in Windham. Johnston’s organization, founded in 2009, regularly searches the list of 3,512 Medal of Honor recipients to check if their gravestones indicate their recipient status. Johnston’s research indicated that Milliken’s gravestone did not.
“We have located somewhere in the realm of about 140 of these lost Medal of Honor recipients, just because more and more information is coming online and helping us research,” he said. “We’re getting pension files, widow’s pension files, (and) death certificates are coming online.”
Since then, Tanguay has raised $1,200 for a new granite memorial produced by Richardson Monument in South Portland, which commemorates Milliken’s Medal of Honor and his service in the Civil War. At 9 a.m. on Saturday, the American Legion, the Windham-based Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10643, local Boy Scout Troop 800, the town of Raymond, and Raymond’s legislative delegation will participate in the memorial dedication.
“You have a Medal of Honor recipient buried in Raymond in Riverside Cemetery with no indication of the significance of the individual,” Tanguay said. “For 116 years they haven’t even put a flag on his grave.”
Milliken was the son of William Milliken and Sarah Littlefield Milliken of Saco. He married Ezelia Edwards of Raymond on Aug. 21, 1866. It was Edwards’ third marriage. The couple had no children. In the 1870 census, Milliken is listed as a farmer. By 1890, he had moved to a veteran’s home in Togus.
Milliken’s Medal of Honor citation praises him for “extraordinary heroism in action” aboard the U.S.S. New Ironsides during the attacks on Fort Fisher on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 1864, and Jan. 13-15, 1865.
“The ship steamed in and took the lead in the Ironclad division close inshore and immediately opened its starboard battery in a barrage of well-directed fire to cause several fires and explosions and dismount several guns during the first two days of fighting,” the citation reads. “Taken under fire as she steamed into position on 13 January, the New Ironsides fought all day and took on ammunition at night despite severe weather conditions. When the enemy came out of his bombproofs to defend the fort against the storming party, the ship’s battery disabled nearly every gun on the fort facing the shore before the ‘cease fire’ orders were given by the flagship.”
On July 4, Raymond residents will dedicate a new memorial for Daniel S. Milliken, a Raymond farmer, Civil War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient. Milliken’s gravestone in Riverside Cemetery has not mention his service in the Civil War or his Medal of Honor.Photo courtesy of Dave TanguaySend questions/comments to the editors.
