Maine at War: October 2020

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

October 7, 2020: D-Day on the Rappahannock

Fifth Maine Infantry soldiers haul their own landing craft to the Rappahannock River shore before participating in the first planned cross-river amphibious assault in American history.

October 14, 2020: The 7th Maine lads faced a hillside alive with 16,000 Confederates

Attached to Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s staff inside VI Corps’ incredibly shrinking perimeter at Chancellorsville, Maj. Thomas Hyde visits with 7th Maine colleagues. Suddenly the hills come alive not with the sound of music, but the cheers of 16,000 advancing Confederates.

October 21, 2020: Antietam burial map, part 1: Its discovery stuns historians and researchers

The spring 2020 discovery of an unknown Simon G. Elliott map in the New York Public Library upends existing knowledge about the aftermath of the battle of Antietam.

October 28, 2020: Antietam burial map, part 2: Do we still walk on the dead?

The Antietam burial map drawn by Simon G. Elliott reveals in great detail where dead Yankees and Confederates were buried after the battle of Antietam. Their graves often equaled large cemeteries in size, and one must ask if people visiting particular popular areas in the national park might still be walking on the forgotten dead.