Stories from Maine: A Heritage Built in Bath

Bath Iron Works in 1930. Courtesy of the Maine Historical Society

The funeral of a legendary man took place in Bath on Saturday 18 November 1899, and although he had “gone into eternity” 125 years ago, the legacy of “Bath's great benefactor” still shines today.

When Zina Hyde and his wife Eleanor gave birth to their son Thomas Worcester Hyde on January 16, 1841, no one could have imagined the great power their little son would grow into.

Thomas W. Hyde graduated from Bowdoin College in 1861 and from the University of Chicago in the same year. Courtesy of the George J. Mitchell Special Collections and Archives, Bowdoin College

Despite “such trifles as… whispering… being late… and playing catch,” Hyde graduated from Bath High School in 1856. Hyde then enrolled at Bowdoin College under such famous educators as Thomas C. Upham and Joshua L. Chamberlain. Hyde graduated from Bowdoin in 1861.

Shortly after President Abraham Lincoln's call for three-year troops, Hyde founded what later became the Seventh Maine Regiment of Infantry Volunteers. Hyde was appointed major by Governor Israel Washburn, given command of this new regiment and sent to fight in the American Civil War.

Hyde led his 7th Maine Volunteers in action at “Lee's Mill, Mechanicsville, Golden Farm and Garnets Hill” and fought at “Savage's Station, White Oak Swamp, Antietam, Williamsburg, Malvern Hill and South Mountain.” Major Hyde was eventually commissioned a Breveted Major General of the Volunteers, also serving at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House.

General Hyde was ultimately awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his leadership at the Battle of Antietam. But despite his heroism, rank and experience, this 24-year-old general needed a job when he returned home after the war.

On October 30, 1865, Hyde took over a young “Bath Iron Foundry” and became its “owner”. This “little-known business on Water Street” became Hyde’s Foundry. There were only “seven workers…a single furnace…and a small model workshop” that manufactured plows, cultivating equipment, wagon parts, and “castings of all kinds.”

By 1871, Hyde wanted to modernize Bath's shipbuilding industry “from wood and sail to steel and steam”. Hyde expanded his foundry, purchased adjacent property and renamed the foundry company Bath Iron Works.

In 1873, Hyde entered politics and was elected to the Maine Senate, where he served three terms, two of them as Senate President. In 1876, Hyde was elected mayor of Bath for two years. But as successful as this young man was, his greatest legacy was yet to come.

In October 1884, Hyde transferred his Bath Iron Works into shipbuilding. A year later he bought a Windlass Company “to make decking machines.”

In February 1891, Bath Iron Works laid the keel for their first of two naval contracts and a year later laid the keel for the yard's first commercial steamship. Hyde's legacy in Bath was firmly established.

In 1899, Hyde was diagnosed with the kidney disease “Bright's disease” and decided to recuperate at the “Chamberlin Hotel at Fortress Monroe” in Old Port Comfort, Virginia, where he later died. Hyde's remains were put on a train and taken home to Bath.

On the morning of Hyde's funeral, Bath became the center of a huge gathering of “the most prominent men ever assembled for a funeral in Maine.” Many military leaders – past and present – ​​were joined by congressmen, senators, governors and business leaders.

Thomas Worcester Hyde, Bath's “great benefactor”, is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in the City of Ships. Courtesy of Find A Grave

“The shipyard stopped work… and all the shops” in the city of Bath had closed. Homes and businesses hung black mourning flags from doors, windows and storefronts. “The entire front of the town hall was shrouded in mourning…a portrait of the general” hung over the main entrance, and all flags were lowered to half-mast.

A “naval cadet band…militia guard…several hundred Bath Iron Works workers,” dignitaries, citizens, family, and friends all gathered for the solemn services at the Church of the New Jerusalem.

“At the procession to Oak Grove Cemetery” a “large and impressive crowd formed on the High Street” while a “most imposing procession…accompanied the body.” Hundreds of mourners followed the funeral procession on carriages, horses and on foot.

At Oak Grove, the Grand Army of the Republic held military funeral rites with full honors. Three salutes from the Honor Guard's cannons sharply rent the crisp autumn air. As Hyde's coffin slowly lowered him to his eternal rest, many said farewell to this “great benefactor…who gave Bath an industry…without which (the city) would have died long ago.”

Today, the City of Ships remains a prosperous place on the Kennebec River, where, through the influence of Thomas Hyde's shipyard, the “finest-built ships” ever featured in our Maine stories continue to be built.

Lori-Suzanne Dell is an author and historian from Braunschweig. She has published four books and runs the Facebook page “Stories from Maine.”

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