What do you make of this 1862 recruiting poster, which was probable pinned to every lamp post and store front in Franklin County? In what ways does the author try to induce you to enlist? Who was "Jeff?" Would this have been their "last chance to serve?"

The "author" was Daniel Marston of Phillips, who ran a print shop in civilian life. He became Captain of Company C, 16th Maine, and was the only commissioned officer able to report for duty after the 16th's awful fight at Gettysburg, as you will see. The Turner boys who joined the 16th Maine got to know him very well.

Soldiers who volunteered were able to get bounties from both the town in which they enlisted, and at least $300 more in bounty money from the State. This could amount to quite a tidy sum in those days, and led to the infamous scam of "bounty jumping," in which an individual might collect bounty money, desert, run off to another locality, collect some more bounty, desert again, and keep doing it - until he finally got caught! There were also "bounty brokers" who were all too willing to help you find a town that was offering high bounties and get you enlisted in that place, for a percentage of your bounty money, of course! The towns didn't particularly care where you came from as long as they got their quotas filled.

If you decided to join up, your pay as a private would be $13.00 a month. Do you think you would have volunteered?

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