Tag Archives: Florida

Eastport editor liked a correspondent’s rah-rah-sis-boom-bah attitude

Noel B. Nutt knew a good letter-to-the-editor when it crossed his desk — and this particular letter from Corp. Philip H. Andrews of Co. B, 11th Maine Infantry Regiment certainly fit the bill: • Addressed to the correct newspaper (The Sentinel), check; • Addressed to the right person (“Mr. Editor”), check; • Espoused the Republican […]

Webster Warriors of Bangor

  Webster was a common Bangor surname in the mid-19th century. Then the Civil War intervened, one Webster household from the Queen City dispersed several sons throughout the Union army, and Dr. Bill Hopkins of Wisconsin discovered two of those Webster brothers in Florida many years later. One day “as I was researching Union soldiers […]

The 2nd Maine Cavalry rides again

Long-forgotten Maine cavalrymen ride once more into battle in a Civil War book recently released by Holden author Ned Smith. A few years ago, Airline Community School secretary Joni Archer “asked me what I knew about the 2nd Maine Cavalry,” said Smith, who teaches part time at the Aurora school. “I said, ‘Nothing.’” Archer’s great-grandfather, […]

A deserter’s fate, Part II: A firing squad delivered the verdict

  After deserter Albert H. Lunt of the 9th Maine Infantry Regiment was convicted of various crimes by a court martial convened at St. Augustine, Fla., he was sentenced to death. President Abraham Lincoln upheld the sentence in mid-November 1862; Army officers scheduled the execution for Dec. 1. Lunt was transferred to Hilton Head, S.C., […]

A deserter’s fate, Part I: Even the Confederates didn’t want him

  Bad boy Albert H. Lunt could do no good, so 12 Union soldiers shot him dead at Hilton Head on Monday, Dec. 1, 1862. And in case they missed, another dozen armed soldiers waited to use Lunt for target practice. Assigned to Co. I, 9th Maine Infantry Regiment, Lunt seemed destined to pay for […]

Life in the Florida swamps

For the 11th Maine Infantry boys accustomed to relatively tame reptiles and bugs back home in the Pine Tree State, duty in the northeastern Florida swamps proved eye-opening. Boarding the steamer “Boston” at Beaufort, S.C. on Thursday, June 4, 1863, soldiers assigned to the 11th Maine headed south to Florida. “Daylight of the 5th found […]