Maine at War June 2022 blog posts

Sculpted in 1997, the statue portraying a weary cavalry horse is the key component of the “Bridled Veterans” Horses and Mules Memorial in Middleburg, Virginia. (Brian F. Swartz Photo)

In June 2022 my Maine at War blog examined topics ranging from cold-hearted elected officials to a “what if” 20th-century TV game show involving six Civil War celebrities, plus a look at two special monuments in Middleburg.

June 1, 2022: Selectmen deny help to a hero’s elderly parents

With one son killed and another son wounded while serving in the army, an elderly eastern Maine couple sought financial help from their town’s selectmen. The three elected officials turned the destitute petitioners down flat.

June 8, 2022: Will the real John Smith please stand up?

During a fictional December 1865 version of “To Tell the Truth” (a popular 1960s’ game show), three soldiers try to convince the six judges which man is the “real” John Smith. The judges are Belle Boyd, Frederick Douglass, George Custer, George McClellan, Hannibal Hamlin, and Julia Ward Howe.

June 15, 2022: A heart-felt weekend sent 200 new soldiers to war

Belfast, a seaport on Penobscot Bay in Maine, raised two companies for the 4th Maine Infantry Regiment in May 1861. Residents honored the 200 soldiers with a patriotic gathering on Saturday and a religious service on Sunday, then accompanied the men to Steamboat Landing and their waiting steamer.

June 24, 2022: Of the 1st Maine Cavalry, Middleburg, and two monuments

A few years ago dedicated re-enactors erected a monument to the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment at Middleburg, Virginia. But another nearby monument honors the unsung four-legged heroes who gave Confederate and Union armies their mobility.

June 29, 2022: Mainers endured the “ominous silence” prior to Pickett’s Charge

Whether out front as skirmishers or deploying artillery batteries along Cemetery Ridge, Maine soldiers noticed the heat, humidity, the quiet — and then the Confederate guns deploying on Seminary Ridge on July 3, 1863.



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