Tag Archives: Penobscot River

Small Maine town emptied out to help save the Union

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 […]

Soldiers and their wives bid a last farewell

Among all the people affected by the Civil War’s blood and gore, to this day most Civil War historiography has touched little upon the wives who saw their men off to war, North and South. Onlookers paid little attention in print to particular central Maine wives biding their husbands “adieu” in spring 1861. Just 26 […]

A tale of two forts

Two Civil War-era forts in Maine and Georgia share some design features, but their construction materials differ considerably. Fort Knox on the Penobscot River and Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River were built to keep enemy warships from reaching upriver ports. Garrisoned from 1863 to 1866 and again during the Spanish-American War, Knox never faced […]