Maine at War blog posts for November 2025
In November 2025, Maine at War visited a World War I monument that was a Civil War veteran’s brainchild, met the women who insisted that a town’s Civil War monument include a statue, discovered how comrades honored a Peninsula Campaign hero, and stood amidst the thundering cannon at the Gettysburg Theological Seminary.
November 5: 2025: Civil War veteran funds a memorial to World War I heroes
Stunned by the carnage occurring in France during the Great War, an aging Civil War veteran and his wife left their entire estate to help construct a monument to local men and women who had served in 1917-1918. The monument seems more appropriate to Paris, France than rural Maine.
The 5th Maine Battery deployed its six 12-pounder bronze Napoleons at the Gettysburg Theological Seminary about 2 p.m. on July 1, 1863. For at least the next two hours, the battery and Union artillery pounded attacking Confederate infantrymen who proved unstoppable.
November 19, 2025: GAR women added a soldier to the Chester, New Hampshire monument
Civil War veterans living in Chester, New Hampshire started planning in 1901 to erect an appropriate monument. The approved design called for a “plain shaft,” but the members of Bell Women’s Relief Corps No. 78 insisted the monument incorporate a statue. Then they helped raise funds to pay for it.
November 26, 2025: His comrades remembered an 11th Maine Infantry hero
Wounded during the Peninsula Campaign, Sgt. Alexander T. Katon of Co. B, 11th Maine Infantry Regiment died while en route home to his wife, Grace, and their nine children. A year later, she received from Alexander’s comrades a letter and a financial contribution, both sent in memory of her husband.
