Tag Archives: Charles W. Read

Coastal cruise brought dignitaries to Fort Popham as Gettysburg raged

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 […]

Confederates raid Portland harbor, and Edwin Stanton does not care

Confederate sailors under Lt. Charles W. Read, CSN, had captured the Revenue Service cutter Caleb Cushing in Portland harbor early on June 27, 1863 and had almost gotten away. Unable to fire up the cutter’s steam engine and hampered by a fickle, apparently pro-Union breeze, Read and his crew were overtaken by two pursuing steamers […]

Hang ’em, shoot ’em, just do something with ’em

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 […]