Tag Archives: 25th Maine Infantry Regiment

The 23rd Maine builds a Maryland subdivision

A wealthy and populous District of Columbia suburb, modern Montgomery County in Maryland borders the District and Prince George’s County to the southeast and Frederick County to the northwest. Housing construction involves complex zoning laws and the latest building, electrical, and plumbing codes, and no one starts building a dwelling without all the requisite permits […]

Chickens don’t fly at Christmas

With Christmas 1862 approaching, relatives and friends of Maine soldiers serving far afield packed and shipped boxes filled with holiday goodies. Women knitted warm socks and mittens and cooked and baked food for their menfolk so far away. Everything went carefully into a wooden box carefully marked with its recipient’s name and address (if only […]

Split in two

Did what happen to Ariel Tolman Carver in death reflect something that happened in life? He may have been split in two, in more ways than one. Born in 1843 in Paris in Oxford County, Ariel is one of those mid-19th century people who’s simply “there,” whose background requires some digging. He was one of […]

The 7th Maine Infantry’s “gallant remnant” goes home

Portland raised a ruckus for one battered Maine infantry regiment in October ’62. With disease, the Peninsula Campaign, and their heroic and shot-to-pieces Antietam charge behind them, the 7th Maine’s survivors numbered around 350 men, with perhaps 150 fit for service by early October. Bestowing a rare wartime honor, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan ordered […]

Uniform-clad tourists got their tickets punched for the Big Easy

  Uniformed Maine tourists arriving in the nation’s capital on Monday, Oct. 27, 1862, soon learned that Uncle Sam had cancelled their round-trip tickets to Bangor. The 26th Maine Infantry boys would be going to New Orleans, instead. A nine-month regiment that mustered at Bangor in early October, the 26th Maine was led by Col. […]

Wishing you a “Merry Christmas” from a “one-horse town”

  Burping politely into his fisted hand, a well-fed 25th Maine Infantry soldier extended a heart-felt “Merry Christmas” to Portland Daily Press readers on Christmas Day, 1862. He had much for which to be thankful, especially the fact that he was not lying in a grave 50 miles south at Fredericksburg, where many other Maine […]