General Hiram Berry will stride from the pages of history this month to participate in Maine in the Civil War, a fall/winter lecture series presented by the Bangor Historical Society.
“Into the Breach: The Life and War of General Hiram Berry” will be the theme as Peter and Cyndi Dalton, Civil War authors and historians from Lincolnville, appear at the Isaac Farrar Mansion at 166 Union St., Bangor at 6 p.m., November 17.
The mansion is physically located at the corner of Second and Union streets, directly across from the Thomas A. Hill House, the headquarters of the Bangor Historical Society.
A Rockland native, Berry was a coal-and-lumber merchant when the war started in April 1861. He served as the first colonel of the 4th Maine Infantry Regiment, organized primarily on the Midcoast. Leading his regiment through the hell of Bull Run, Berry displayed inherent leadership and military skills that vaulted him to brigade command and a general’s star in spring 1862.
Soon en route to greater responsibilities in the Army of the Potomac, Berry was a natural soldier and leader who epitomized the excellent warriors that Maine sent to war.
Currently completing a Hiram Berry biography, Peter Dalton wrote With Our Faces to the Foe: A History of the 4th Maine Infantry in the War of the Rebellion. The book follows the hard-fighting 4th Maine through its three-year service during the Civil War. The regiment fought at First Manassas, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, among other battles.
Together, Peter and Cyndi Dalton edited the two-volume Sixteenth Maine Regiment in the War of the Rebellion, based on the memoirs of Maj. Abner R. Small.
Be sure to “meet” Hiram Berry courtesy of the Bangor Historical Society at the Isaac Farrar Mansion in Bangor at 6 p.m., Thursday, November 17. The lecture is sponsored by First Advisors.
* * * *
For Civil War buffs in Maine and everywhere, here’s a little teaser for 2017:
Next July 28-30, the Bangor Historical Society will sponsor “Drums on the Penobscot: A Civil War Experience,” a symposium focusing on the roles that Maine and Mainers played during the war.
The symposium will take place in Bangor. The proposed schedule already features an exciting and interesting slate of activities and speakers.
I won’t reveal anything more at this time, but to say the least, Bangor is the place to be for Civil War buffs and lovers of Maine history on July 28-30, 2017!
———————————————————————————————————
If you enjoy reading the adventures of Mainers caught up in the Civil War, be sure to like Maine at War on Facebook and 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.
———————————————————————————————————-
Brian Swartz can be reached at visionsofmaine@tds.net. He loves hearing from Civil War buffs interested in Maine’s involvement in the war.