August 2023 Maine at War blog posts
In August 2023 my Maine at War blog reported on topics ranging from a 1st Maine Heavy Artillery survivor’s odd cemetery monument to the mid-August re-dedication of a small town’s Civil War monument.
An ornate metal monument identifies a veteran’s grave in a rural Maine cemetery. The metal is zinc, the veteran is Ezra, and he got shot during the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment’s suicidal charge at Petersburg. Ezra survived — and left a long paper trail leading to his grave.
August 9: Israel Washburn Jr. steps down as Maine’s first wartime governor
After serving two terms as Maine’s first wartime governor, Israel Washburn Jr. declined to seek re-election. He made his official “good-byes” at the State House on Monday, January 5, 1863.
August 16: Milo residents re-dedicate the town’s Civil War monument on August 12
Residents of Milo, Maine dedicated the town’s Civil War monument in Evergreen Cemetery on May 20, 1931. Slightly more than 108 years later, residents and Civil War re-enactors gathered in Milo on August 12, 2023 to re-dedicate that same monument, moved a few years earlier to a prominent location in the Milo Veterans Memorial.
August 23: Three Newport monuments honor local Civil War veterans
Standing where Interstate-95 intersects two busy highways. Newport is a crossroads town in central Maine. Three monuments honor the town’s Civil War veterans — and local women paid for two of those monuments.
August 30: Rural recruits knew their “real” captain by sight
Responding to Fort Sumter, some 80 recruits enlisted in a Piscataquis County infantry company in spring 1861. The official roster identified 42-year-old Moses W. Brown as the company’s captain. The recruits knew otherwise.
