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

On Saturday, Nov. 18, 1899, the funeral of a legendary man was held in Bath, and although he had “gone to his eternity” 125 years ago, the legacy of “Bath’s Great Benefactor” still shines today.

When Zina Hyde and his wife Eleanor brought their son Thomas Worcester Hyde into the world on Jan. 16, 1841, no one could have known what a major force their infant son would grow to become.

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

Despite “such peccadilloes as … whispering … tardiness … and playing hooky,” Hyde graduated from Bath High School in 1856. Hyde then matriculated at Bowdoin College, under such famed 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 formed what became the Seventh Maine Regiment of Infantry Volunteers. Hyde was appointed to the rank of major by Gov. Israel Washburn, given charge of this new regiment and dispatched to 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 appointed a “brevetted Major General of volunteers” who also served at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Gettysburg and at Appomattox Court House.

General Hyde would ultimately be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his leadership in action at the Battle of Antietam. But, despite his heroism, rank and experience, this 24-year-old general found himself in need of a job once he returned home after the war.

On Oct. 30, 1865, Hyde took over a fledgling “Bath Iron Foundry” and became it’s “proprietor.” This “little known business on Water Street” became Hyde’s Foundry. It had just “seven workmen … a single melting furnace … and a small pattern shop,” which turned out ploughs, cultivator implements, wagon parts and “castings of every description.”

By 1871, Hyde wanted to modernize the Bath shipbuilding industry “from wood and sail to steel and steam.” Hyde expanded his foundry, purchased adjoining lands and renamed the foundry enterprise “Bath Iron Works.”

In 1873, Hyde entered politics and was elected to the Maine Senate and served three terms, two of them as Senate president. Then in 1876, Hyde was elected to serve two years as the mayor of Bath. But as accomplished as this young man was, his greatest legacy was still yet to come.

By October 1884, Hyde tossed his Bath Iron Works into the business of shipbuilding. One year later, he purchased a Windlass Company “to manufacture deck machinery.”

Come February 1891, Bath Iron Works laid the keel for their first of two Navy contracts and, a year later, laid the keel on the yard’s first commercial steamship. Hyde’s legacy in Bath had been solidly cemented.

By 1899, Hyde had been diagnosed with the kidney malady of “Bright’s disease,” and he chose to recuperate at the “Chamberlin Hotel, at Fortress Monroe” in Old Port Comfort, Virginia, where he later died. Hyde’s mortal remains were placed upon a train and borne home to Bath.

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

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

“The shipyard suspended work … and all of the businesses” in the City of Bath had closed. Homes and businesses displayed black mourning bunting over doors, windows, and store-fronts. “The entire front of City Hall was draped in mourning… a portrait of the general” hung over the main doorway, and all flags were lowered to half mast.

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

“The procession to Oak Grove Cemetery” saw a “great and impressive crowd form on High Street,” as a “most imposing procession … escorted the body.” Hundreds of mourners followed the cortege by wagon, by horse and by foot.

At Oak Grove the Grand Army of the Republic held military burial rites, with full honors. A three-volley salute from the guns of the honor guard sharply cracked the crisp fall air. As Hyde’s casket slowly lowered him to his eternal rest, many said their goodbyes 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 along the Kennebec River where the impact of Thomas Hyde’s shipyard continues to construct the “best-built ships” ever found in our Stories from Maine.

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