Tag Archives: Charles P. Roberts

Maine impersonates Ohio

A Saco adolescent aged remarkably before joining the 16th Maine Infantry Regiment. Whatever his actual age, he experienced war at its worst during the next four years. According to the 1860 U.S. Census for Saco, George A. Deering was the youngest living-at-home child of James M. Deering and Charlotte Deering. A wealthy merchant, James Deering […]

The soldierly monument, Part 3

With the body of slain Army Maj. Stephen Decatur Carpenter finally arriving home in Bangor, local officials wondered what could be done to honor their hero. On Saturday evening, February 7, 1862 the Bangor City Council met in special session to resolve “that the Mayor and Two Aldermen … be a committee to procure a […]

The monumental soldier, Part 2

The Maine soldier responsible for the construction of the nation’s first privately funded Civil War monument trekked from battlefield to battlefield across the Upper South before returning to the Pine Tree State. Amidst the miserable weather engulfing the Shiloh battlefield after sunset on April 6, 1862, the 19th U.S. Infantry regulars commanded by Stephen Decatur […]

The monumental soldier, Part I

If you like monuments, Civil War veterans created more than you can imagine — — and an unsung Maine soldier spawned the first privately erected Civil War monument in the United States. The tale begins in Foxcroft in Piscataquis County and ends not that far away. Susan (Heald) Carpenter bore her husband, Joshua, a son […]