Civil War buffs living in Maine know that Gettysburg’s the nearest battlefield, with Antietam a close second distance-wise. Both are 10 to 13 hours away by road, depending on who’s driving and how traffic-plugged are I-495, the Mass Pike, and I-84 (in Connecticut and Pennsylvania). Are there bonafide Civil War-related sites we can visit in […]
A day before draft riots erupted in New York City, some well-connected Maine residents took a cruise on the Kennebec River to see the latest War Department infrastructure being built on the coast. If anyone discussed Gettysburg and its aftermath that pleasant day, a newspaper correspondent invited along for the voyage didn’t mention it. Writing […]
Bad wartime news could not stop a shindig held in Phippsburg on Friday, August 29, 1862. Second Manassas raged in northern Virginia as people converged on “the mouth of the Kennebec river, on the spot anciently called the peninsula of Sabino” to observe “the 255th anniversary of the planting, by Sir George Popham and his […]
If Mainers ever decide to tear down their own Civil War monuments, removing Bowdoinham’s will take a small crane, at least. In Bowdoinham on Merrymeeting Bay, residents waited until early in the 20th century to create a Civil War monument. “A committee … composed of W.B. Kendall, F.H. Purington, and J.L. Brown” set about “selecting […]
