His hometown newspaper thought Charles T. Sprague “would … have made an excellent soldier.” Boy, did the press ever get that wrong. According to the 1860 U.S. Census for Gardiner, Josiah L. W. Sprague (the “W” was for “Winter”) was a 44-year-old “house carpenter” with real estate worth $2,600. He and his wife, Melinda Joy […]
New Year’s 1863 proved bitter for Gardiner resident John Berry. He was a lumber dealer, with real estate worth $2,800 and a personal estate worth $2,500, according to the 1860 U.S. census. Four sons lived with Berry and his same-age wife, Mary; the oldest boy, 17-year-old George H. Berry, worked as a clerk, possibly in […]
A Saco adolescent aged remarkably before joining the 16th Maine Infantry Regiment. Whatever his actual age, he experienced war at its worst during the next four years. According to the 1860 U.S. Census for Saco, George A. Deering was the youngest living-at-home child of James M. Deering and Charlotte Deering. A wealthy merchant, James Deering […]
After more than a year’s service in the Army of the Potomac, a combat veteran from Maine noticed that pets — animals of almost any kind — often turned even the most callous soldier a bit softer. Edmund J. Brookings, 23, had enlisted in Co. B, 16th Maine Infantry Regiment, on August 1, 1862. A […]
You’ve heard of a “witness tree.” For people visiting Gettysburg National Military Park, there’s also a “witness furnace,” an ironworks located down Route 15 near Thurmont, Maryland. It’s Catoctin Furnace, preserved by Cunningham Falls State Park and easily accessible from Route 15. Perhaps all of I Corps passed the ironworks on Monday, June 29, 1863, […]
Two Union officers stayed at Richmond’s Libby Prison in autumn and early winter 1862. Or was it the same Libby Prison? In its Oct. 17, 1862 issue, the Belfast-published Republican Journal ran a “Narrative of Released Prisoners,” a wire report dated October 9 out of Washington, D.C. The first paragraph introduced Capt. F.G. Young, “direct […]
The arrival of Joe Hooker at Army of the Potomac headquarters in late January 1863 stirred interest, trepidation, and many questions. Within weeks he instituted morale-building improvements that restored the army’s elan. “Never was the magic influence of a single man more clearly shown than when Hooker assumed command,” said Capt. Charles P. Mattocks of […]
To this day we cannot hear the actual sounds heard during the Civil War. Some particular sounds intrigue Civil War buffs; the apparently frightening “Rebel Yell” comes to mind, for example. Ironically, an “exclusive clip from the 1930s” in which aging Confederate veterans “step up to the mic and let out their version of […]
After Confederate troops captured William Frederick Irwin of the 5th Maine Infantry Regiment at Spotsylvania Courthouse in mid-May 1864, he was soon shipped to a prison camp at Salisbury, N.C. “This was a nasty place,” according to Maine historian Curt Mildner. The prisoners suffered from malnutrition, lack of clothing and shelter, disease, and sadistic guards […]
Note: This is the conclusion of the three-part series about the “Blanket Brigade.” Rising from their rude shelters in Ridgeville, Md. on Sunday, Sept. 14, the 16th Maine Infantry boys listened to “the terrific cannonading” erupting from the Battle of South Mountain, fought miles to the west, Adjutant Abner Small recalled the distant thunder. […]
