The Story of Caleb Strong Frost and His Civil War Odyssey.

 

On July 30, 1864 Caleb Strong Frost, aged 47, a mechanic, father of six and patriot from Eliot, died at the bottom of a crater in Petersburg, Virginia.  The battle became known as the "Battle of the Crater" and was part of the 9 1/2 month Siege of Petersburg, Virginia.

Frost Tufts Park site of Caleb Frost homestead

Caleb Strong Frost was born April 2, 1817 to Capt. Caleb Frost and Sarah Libbey.  Caleb had a house on a portion of his father and grandfather Reuben Frost's lands where Frost Tufts Park is today.  In November 1861 at the age of 44 Caleb enlisted in the 6th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment.  At that time he was married to Sarah (Bracy) and had 6 children, the oldest, Harrison was 20.  The youngest, Sarah, was 10.  His son Harrison joined the 27th Maine Regiment and survived the war.

Why did Caleb S. Frost decide to join up as a Union soldier in the Civil War?  We may never know the full reason without his own writing.  He knew his oldest son Harrison was joining up.  But why would Caleb join a NH regiment?  From everything I can find the regiment was formed in Keene, NH.  There was no recruiting in Maine.  The 6th New Hampshire Regiment saw action in many of the famous battles of the Civil War.  Caleb survived them all, but finally met his end in the doomed Battle of the Crater in Petersburg, Virginia.  There is a letter from Caleb S. Frost to the governor of Maine, Israel Washburn, dated October 17, 1862 where Caleb asks Governor Washburn for help in securing a discharge from his service with the Union Army.  At the time he had spent a long time in a hospital in Newport News, VA suffering from dropsy and a kidney infection.  He writes in the letter that the doctors there are unkind to him and he wants to be discharged.  Apparently nothing came of that letter, since Caleb continued to serve in later battles.

The Battle of the Crater started as an idea among Pennsylvania soldiers who were coal miners before the war.  The Siege of Petersburg had gone on for a long time and these miners thought they could dig a tunnel that reached the Confederate lines.  The tunnel was completed July 23, 1864 and filled with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder.  On July 30 the Union forces lit the fuse.  The initial explosion instantly killed about 300 Confederate soldiers.  The explosion created a crater about 200 feet long and 30-60 feet deep.  In the chaos that followed about 1,000 Union troops including Caleb S. Frost charged into the crater where many were trapped and killed by the surviving Confederate soldiers. 

Poplar Grove National Cemetery

There is no record of where Caleb S. Frost is buried.  It does not appear that he was returned to Eliot.  There are a large number of unknown dead that were buried following the Battle of the Crater.  They are now interred in the Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.