A Civil War monument in New Hampshire lists many local men who served in Maine units. Does this mean these veterans are “Granite State Mainers”? For some, certainly “yes.” Located sufficiently distant from the Seacoast and the White Mountains to avoid the tourist hordes, Rollinsford lies directly across the Piscataqua River from South Berwick, also […]
To the aptly named Sherman, Maine goes “the undisputed honor of being the Banner Town in the United States” by summer 1865, according to late 19th-century historian May H. Spooner. And how had this small town located amidst the rolling hills in southwestern Aroostook County earned this distinction? By sending “113 soldiers” to help preserve […]
Of all the guests attending an incredible patriotic celebration held by the 8th Maine Infantry Regiment in early 1864, the greatest and loudest acclaim went to the general’s lady who started running an American flag up a 100-foot flagpole. Commanded by Col. John D. Rust, the 8th Maine spent winter 1864 on Port Royal Island […]
As the 36 Union artillery pieces embedded in the Tybee Island muck fired on Confederate-held Fort Pulaski on Thursday, April 10, the 8th Maine Infantry soldiers hastily trained as artillerists soon proved they could shoot as well as professional gunners. Army engineer Capt. Quincy A. Gillmore had anticipated that the Union’s carefully sited 13-inch mortars […]
The 8th Maine Infantry soldiers guarding the Union artillery batteries placed upriver from Fort Pulaski helped prevent Confederate reinforcements from reaching that post, but could not shell it into submission. To do that, Army engineer Capt. Quincy A. Gillmore needed artillery placed on Union-held Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah River. Working “in […]
Seldom in the experience of Maine soldiers had such idiocy been demanded of them. On Feb. 14, 1862, Lt. Col. Ephraim Woodman and five companies of the 8th Maine Infantry Regiment reported to U.S. Army engineer Egbert Viele on Daufuskie Island, about 5 miles from Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River in Georgia. Viele was […]
Just like the graffiti character “Kilroy,” Mainers were everywhere during the Civil War, despite the modern belief that the Pine Tree State boys showed up only at Gettysburg. First Manassas? Check (Hiram Berry, Charles Tilden, and a few thousand etceteras more). Shiloh? Check (Comanche fighter Stephen Decatur Carpenter and a Maine youngster captured in Confederate […]
Perhaps frightened — and at least worried — three privates from Co. C, 8th Maine Infantry Regiment, sensed the enemy approaching late one cold winter’s night in Georgia. Surely their captain would not leave them out here to face an enemy impervious to bayonets and bullets, would he? For some reason, Capt. John E. […]
The shots fired by Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter in April 1861 echoed as far away as Golden Ridge Plantation in southwestern Aroostook County … … and still echoed four years later when the residents of Sherman — the town which the plantation became on Jan. 28, 1862 — took stock of the high […]
Among the overlooked historical jewels in our beautiful state is the Maine State Museum, located along with the Maine State Archives and Maine State Library across the parking lot from the State House in Augusta. The museum maintains permanent and temporary exhibits. Among the permanent (i.e., “been there forever”) are “Back to Nature” (I recall […]
