Tag Archives: Stephen Decatur Carpenter

The Soldierly Monument, Part 4

Stephen Decatur Carpenter had been dead 5½ months and in his grave some four months when Bangor residents dedicated the monument erected initially to honor him — and ultimately all of the Queen City’s war dead. And the thousands of people who gathered to honor all their heroes saw the war come home that particular […]

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 […]

Mount Hope Cemetery walking tour will launch Civil War weekend in Bangor

A Civil War walking tour of Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor will kick off Drums on the Penobscot: A Civil War Experience, slated to be held Friday-Sunday, July 28-30 in Bangor. Led by historian Ryan Hews and titled Soldiers at Rest, the Civil War walking tour will begin at 6 p.m., Friday, July 28. Visitors […]

War hero’s descendants “met” him in Bangor 150 years later

Beth Keepper traveled a long way — about 1,200 miles and 150 years — to meet Great-great-great Uncle Stephen Decatur Carpenter. She wasn’t disappointed. They met at Mount Hope Cemetery on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 exactly 150½ years to the day since Carpenter took up residence on the cemetery’s topographical centerpiece, the hill overlooking the […]

Indian fighter, war hero, and a Bangor boy

  Not until six Confederate bullets accomplish what Comanche arrows could not does Bangor finally claim the Foxcroft kid named for a Navy hero. Susan (Heald) Carpenters bears her husband, Joshua, a son in Foxcroft on May 14, 1818. A militia officer during the recently concluded war, Col. Carpenter names his bouncing baby boy Stephen […]