The story reads like something out of 2021 Afghanistan: Abandoned behind enemy lines by their government, American citizens face imprisonment or execution if caught by local authorities. Escape seems out of the question, and Washington, D.C. cannot send an 1861 equivalent SEAL team to pluck frightened Unionists from Southern clutches. Three determined Mainers finally take […]
There were many moments in winter 1864 when a Maine doctor stationed on the Texas Gulf Coast would have welcomed a “Dear John” letter — or any printed material to disrupt the mind-numbing ennui affecting his morale. But a letter from home was the best morale-boosting elixir of all. In transferring from the 15th […]
Did some 15th Maine Infantry Regiment boys re-enlist just to escape the ennui of Texas garrison life — and perhaps to desert after receiving Army-sanctioned leaves back home in Maine? By capturing New Orleans in April 1862 and blockading other Gulf of Mexico ports, the Navy sharply reduced Confederate capabilities to move freight east of […]
