July 2023 Maine at War blog posts
In July 2023 my Maine at War blog reported on topics ranging from a “missing” Civil War monument to the response by Port Hudson veterans when Maine political delegates passed resolutions condemning just about everything for which those soldiers had fought.
July 5: Heat and rain plagued the 5th Maine Infantry’s march to Gettysburg
After taking heavy casualties at Salem Church in early May 1863, the worn-out 5th Maine Infantry Regiment spent the next several weeks “laying idly in camp” near White Oak Church in Stafford County, Virginia. Then Robert E. Lee headed north, and the Army of the Potomac followed. The Maine lads soon ran into the heat and heavy rain that plagued the Yankees pursuing Lee toward Virginia.
July 12: The Civil War monument that Maine forgot
In the 1990s the Maine Historic Preservation Commission compiled information on the almost 150 Civil War monuments scattered across the Pine Tree State. The state missed one particular monument standing prominently alongside a busy highway.
July 19: Politicians’ anti-war resolutions angered returning Port Hudson veterans, part 1
As anticipated, delegates to the Maine Democratic State Convention held in Portland in August 1863 passed resolutions roundly condemning Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party, and the administration’s war efforts. To some extent, one resolution expressed solidarity with the South. Meanwhile, the Port Hudson-bloodied veterans of the 21st Maine Infantry Regiment were simultaneously returning home and approaching Portland by train. The veterans got their hands on newspapers reporting the convention resolutions.
July 26: Politicians’ anti-war resolutions angered returning Port Hudson veterans, part 2
After reading the detailed anti-war resolutions passed during the August 1863 Maine State Democratic Party convention, the angry combat veterans of the 21st Maine Infantry Regiment responded by organizing their own meeting and passing their own resolutions against specific Democratic resolutions. The Port Hudson veterans held their meeting on the train bringing them north from Boston.
