Tag Archives: 29th Maine Infantry Regiment

The son of “Stuttering Pat”

Five Patrick Kelleys appeared before recruiting officers in Maine and enlisted in the army during the Civil War. Four likely exhibited an Irish brogue when speaking English. The fifth Patrick Kelley possibly spoke English with the developing Aroostook County dialect that added “r” to words lacking that letter (such as “Ka-tar-din”). Whatever his accent, this […]

Maine heroes believed that “merit was worth more than fame”

Some Maine soldiers did not know when to quit, and that attitude led them to spend some five years in a Union uniform during — and after — the Civil War. Of the 32 infantry regiments (not counting the 1st Veteran Volunteers formed in Virginia) that Maine sent to war, three were directly related in […]

A Christmas gift from God and Abner Coburn

  At Camp Russell south of Winchester, Virginia, Capt. John Mead Gould of Portland and two other 29th Maine Infantry Regiment officers — George H. Nye of Lewiston and Alpheus L. Greene of Portland — received a particularly wonderful Christmas present on Friday, Dec. 23, 1864. The recent promotion of Col. George L. Beal of […]