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 […]
After Confederates cut out the Revenue Service cutter Caleb Cushing from Portland Harbor in late June 1863, panicked Maine politicians envisioned will ’o the wisp Southern sea raiders capturing merchant ships and sacking towns all along the coast. If the Johnnies could float undetected past Portland’s stout defenses, what chances had undefended Rockland, Belfast, Castine, […]
After leaving his home to stroll through Portland on a pleasant June morning, John Mead Gould chased Confederate raiders, helped save innocent sailors from murder, and informed the Associated Press that the Civil War had come to Maine. All in all not a bad day’s work for a former soldier currently between battlefield gigs. Born […]
Maine isn’t known for its Civil War sites. The battles took place far away, no national park extols combat on Maine soil, and tourists don’t flock here to see monuments to Civil War heroes. Yet the monuments exist, as do Maine heroes, and as for Maine place names related directly to the war, well, you […]
