Maine at War: February 2020

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

February 5, 2020: Joshua Chamberlain goes on a strange tramp

After the army settles into its winter camps in Stafford County in late December 1862, Ambrose Burnside orders a strange expedition undertaken way up the Rappahannock River. Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Infantry get the assignment.

February 12, 2020: New Yorker would rather “love” in Bangor than fight elsewhere?

A New Yorker escorts his lovely young wife into a respectable Bangor hotel. A few days later he arrives with a new wife, and her angry parents come looking for her.

February 16, 2020: Wherefore art thou, Joshua Chamberlain?

A Civil War researcher searches intermittently for three years for Joshua Chamberlain’s Soldier’s File at the Maine State Archives and finally finds general where he’s not supposed to be.

February 26, 2020: Did two Union prisoners stay at the same Libby Prison?

Two Union officers, at least one a Mainer, spend time in Libby Prison only months apart, but emerge from captivity with decidedly different viewpoints on the place.