Tag Archives: Elijah D. Johnson

Politicians’ anti-war resolutions angered returning Port Hudson veterans, part 2

As a Boston & Maine Railroad train carried the 21st Maine Infantry Regiment toward home on Friday, August 7, 1863, Col. Elijah D. Johnson and his surviving officers read the resolutions passed two days earlier during the Democratic State Convention held in Portland. History does not record who read the resolutions aloud on that rattling […]

Politicians’ anti-war resolutions angered returning Port Hudson veterans, part 1

Angered by resolutions passed during the Democratic State Convention held in Portland in early August 1863, “life long Democrat” Col. Elijah D. Johnson and his battle-hardened 21st Maine Infantry veterans organized an ad hoc meeting, discussed the situation, and “unanimously adopted” their own resolutions counterpointing the Democratic ones. The fact that the Maine lads held […]

Teen-aged Maine patriot wrote a song predicting his death

A 19-year-old Maine patriot, Charles Morgan Searles, unknowingly wrote the song that predicted how he would die. Nineteen when he enlisted in the 21st Maine Infantry Regiment, Searles was a farmer in Chelsea, now home to the Togus VA Hospital. The first among seven nine-month regiments raised in Maine in late summer/early autumn 1862, the […]