Old Zack and the upgraded Civil War monument

Although the Civil War monument in Sherman was dedicated in 1883, local residents have generously enhanced the monument’s grounds in the 21st century. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

Civil War memory lingers to this day in Sherman, the Maine town that sent the highest percentage of its men of any Northern municipality to help save the Union from 1861 to 1865.

Between the Washburn Memorial Church and the veterans’ monument in Sherman Mills (the town’s built-up section) stands a small cannon mounted on a barn red-painted carriage. Painted in gold letters atop the barrel is the cannon’s name, Old Zack, sometimes rendered historically as “Old Zach.”

Displayed in a Sherman Mills park, the cannon named “Old Zack” was fired to announce Union victories during the Civil War. (BFS)

Though it’s small (perhaps a four-pounder), the cannon played an important role during the Civil War. When the news of any victory came it was at once announced to the citizens of Sherman and vicinity” by firing the cannon then “stationed in front of the post office” in Sherman Mills, wrote late 19th-century historian May H. Spooner. “Every one knows ‘Old Zach,’ and so many times did his terrific voice herald victory for the Union that our people came to almost think he had a soul—and a very patriotic one at that.

At the victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg and the surrender of [Robert E.] Lee his cheers could be heard distinctly at Patten, Mt. Chase, and Island Falls, and the echoes had hardly died away before messengers were sent from every locality to hear the joyful news and bear it back to the expectant ones at home,” Spooner recalled.

This little cannon was fired multiple times during the Civil War; no wonder Old Zack’s gun carriage is chained and padlocked!

Elsewhere in Maine, many Civil War monuments now stand neglected, ignored by local residents and useful only for growing lichen. Bridgton’s monument is an exception — and so is Sherman’s, to this day well maintained by residents still proud of what Sherman men accomplished 160 years ago.

A youth looks at Sherman’s Civil War monument circa 1885. (Maine State Archives)

Located in No. 2 Cemetery on the Golden Ridge Road (about a half mile from Washburn Memorial Church), Sherman’s Civil War monument is a marble shaft dedicated on July 4, 1883. Inscribed on the front (west-facing) side are the words “Sacred To The Memory Of our Citizen Soldiers Who Died In Defence Of Their Country In the War of 1861-1865.” Inscribed on the other three sides are the names of the Sherman heroes who fell during that bloody war.

A circa 1885 photograph shows a youth standing near the lonely monument rising on the cemetery’s hillside sloping downhill to the Golden Ridge Road. A few headstones are visible.

Sherman residents recently refreshed the monument by surrounding it with a stone-paver patio. Resting on stone bases out front are two black-painted cannons (they look like 12-pounder bronze Napoleons) certainly not installed in 1883. And sometime since we first visited No. 2 Cemetery in mid-August 2017, Sherman residents installed at the monument a shiny flagpole from which the American flag proudly flies in the Aroostook County wind.

Civil War buffs can check out Old Zack and Sherman’s cool Civil War monument by leaving Interstate 95 at Exit 264 and turning east on Main Street (Route 158). Old Zack and the modern veterans’ monument are in the park located where Route 158 veers to the right and the Golden Ridge Road to the left in Sherman Mills. The Civil War monument is no more than a half mile north on the Golden Ridge Road.

Source: Mary H. Spooner and Levi Caldwell, Sherman, Maine in the Civil War, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine

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If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to  get a copy of the new Maine at War Volume 1: Bladensburg to Sharpsburg, available online at Amazon and all major book retailers, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. —————————————————————————————————————–

Passing Through the Fire: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Civil War (released by Savas Beatie) chronicles the swift transition of Joshua L. Chamberlain from college professor and family man to regimental and brigade commander. Drawing on Chamberlain’s extensive memoirs and writings and multiple period sources, the book follows Chamberlain through the war while examining the determined warrior who let nothing prevent him from helping save the United States.

Order your autographed copy by contacting author Brian Swartz at visionsofmaine@tds.net

Passing Through the Fire is also available at savasbeatie.com or Amazon.

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Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He enjoys hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.

Brian Swartz

About Brian Swartz

Welcome to "Maine at War," the blog about the roles played by Maine and her sons and daughters in the Civil War. I am a Civil War buff and a newspaper editor recently retired from the Bangor Daily News. Maine sent hero upon hero — soldiers, nurses, sailors, chaplains, physicians — south to preserve their country in the 1860s. “Maine at War” introduces these heroes and heroines, who, for the most part, upheld the state's honor during that terrible conflict. We tour the battlefields where they fought, and we learn about the Civil War by focusing on Maine’s involvement with it. Be prepared: As I discover to this very day, the facts taught in American classrooms don’t always jibe with Civil War reality. I can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net.