Tag Archives: Adrian Root

Fathers from Gardiner sought the 16th Maine’s dead at Fredericksburg

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 […]

17-year-old soldier charges with the 16th Maine at Fredericksburg

  The 16th Maine boys know that if they charge those distant hills, they will die. So do the Johnnies awaiting them. And today, just 12 days before Christmas 1862, there can’t be a more miserable place to die than on these muddy farm fields about 2 miles downriver from a Virginia town called Fredericksburg. […]