Maine at War: August 2019

Steve Bunker stands beside 1st ME Cav monument
Steve Bunker stands beside a new monument to the 1st ME Cavalry in Middleburg, VA

Here’s what our friend Brian Swartz was up to in August at his blog Maine at War:

August 7, 2019: Connie Benwitz discusses Underground Railroad quilts at Minot event

Quilting historian Connie Benwitz talks about Underground Railroad quilts and exhibits several excellent examples to people gathered to hear her speak at the Civil War weekend sponsored by the Minot Historical Society in Maine.

August 14, 2019: Artillery pounds 19th Maine lads prior to Pickett’s Charge

Shot to pieces while defending Cemetery Ridge on July 2, 1863, the 19th Maine Infantry survivors hold a section of Union line some 200 yards south from a grove of scrub oaks on the ridge. Then comes a single Confederate cannon shot at 1 p.m., July 3, followed by the greatest artillery barrage ever unleashed in North America.

August 21, 2019: Volunteers dedicate new 1st Maine Cavalry monument, part 1

Led by Steven Bunker of Gray, the 1st Maine Cavalry re-enactment organization raises funds to erect in Virginia a monument honoring the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment and its troopers killed at Aldie and Middleburg. Support ordinary Mainers, re-enactors, and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War helps turn the dream into reality.

August 27, 2019: Volunteers dedicate new 1st Maine Cavalry monument, part 2

Two Mainers craft a 3,000-pound piece of Maine granite into a monument dedicated to the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment. When the monument arrives at a Middleburg (Va.) park in a U-Haul truck, volunteers turn out to set the monument in place, and an emotionally moving ceremony honors the Maine heroes who fell at Aldie and Middleburg.



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