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Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Civil War Photographs, reproduction number LC-DIG-cwpb-05620. (Cropped for presentation.)
Category: ARTICLES
I discovered this beautiful monument and took the photo while searching for the grave of Charles W. Billings, Captain of Company C, Twentieth Maine Regiment, who died on July 15, 1863, as a result of wounds received on July 2nd during the fight for Little Round Top at Gettysburg.
The Riverview Cemetery is set back from Main Street in the Kennebec County town of Clinton. This impressive Civil War monument memorializing Clinton’s “Soldiers and Sailors Who Fought on Land and Sea 1861–1865” stands adjacent to the cemetery. As we might expect, the monument pays tribute to the dead, honors the living, and seems to reach out to us directly: “FOR THE DEAD A TRIBUTE, FOR THE LIVING A MEMORY, FOR POSTERITY AN EMBLEM OF LOYALTY TO THE FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY.”
Phil Schlegel, Editor
07/01/2022
The final presentation of our 2021 – 2022 program season featured Scott Mingus discussing the Battle of Second Winchester. Scott is a well-known Civil War historian and award-winning author who treated the round table to an exceptionally informative and thoroughly entertaining presentation.
Kudos and thanks to Bill Attick, our Program Director, for assembling a varied, informative, and enjoyable series of presentations for the 2021 – 2022 season. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again in September 2022 to kick off the 2022 – 2023 season!
06/11/2022
The Pejepscot History Center in Brunswick has announced that the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum is now open for the season. The following link provides additional information:
https://pejepscothistorical.org/chamberlain/jlc
05/30/2022
DEDICATION OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL
On Memorial Day 2022 the nation will also celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. This photo, part of the Library of Congress’ Harris & Ewing photograph collection, provides an interesting perspective of the event.
Lincoln Memorial dedication taken from the Washington Monument. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Harris & Ewing, reproduction number LC-DIG-hec-14449.
https://www.nps.gov/linc/lincdedication.htm
05/28/2022
GENERAL CHAMBERLAIN RECOMMENDED FOR PROMOTION TO BREVET MAJOR GENERAL
April 13, 1865
HEADQUARTERS, FIFTH ARMY CORPS,
Appomattox Court-House, April 13, 1865.
Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS,
Adjutant-General U.S. Army:
GENERAL: I have the honor to recommend for promotion to the rank of brevet major-general Brig. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, commanding First Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps, as a reward for conspicuous gallantry and meritorious service during this campaign. General Chamberlain particularly distinguished himself in the action on the Quaker road, March 29, 1865, in which with his single brigade, composed of the One hundred and ninety-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers and the One hundred and eighty-fifth New York Volunteers, he successfully withstood and repulsed the attack of a vastly superior force of the enemy, receiving in his own person two painful wounds, notwithstanding which he retained command of his brigade and fought it while the action lasted. In the battle of Five Forks, April 1, and in the subsequent forced marches of the corps, and in the culminating battle at Appomattox Court-House, April 9, General Chamberlain’s bravery and efficiency were such as to entitle him to the highest commendation. In this last action, April 9, his brigade had the advance and was driving the enemy rapidly before it when the announcement of the surrender of General Lee was made.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CHAS. GRIFFIN,
Brevet Major-General, Commanding.
Source: Griffin to Thomas, April 13, 1865. United States, War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies [Series I, Vol. 46, Ch. 58, Part 3, Sec. 1] (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894), 730-731, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079618777&view=1up&seq=733&skin=2021.
04/17/2022
VETERAN’S DAY
2021
Corporal Calvin Titcomb – 22nd Maine Infantry
Photo provided by Peter Tompkins.
During a recent foray into a relatively remote part of Maine, Peter Tompkins, one of our round table’s cemetery sleuths, photographed the gravestone of Calvin Titcomb, a corporal serving with Company H, 22nd Maine Infantry. On March 28, 1863, Cpl. Titcomb succumbed to disease*—a fate that befell many Maine soldiers and sailors during military operations on and near the Mississippi River. The much-weathered stone is located in Titcomb Cemetery, a secluded burial ground located off Rt. 16, near Kingsbury Pond, in Piscataquis County.
Intrigued by the find, Peter soon discovered that Cpl. Titcomb wrote a letter to his mother from Baton Rouge on March 1, 1863, just 27 days before his death. Cpl. Titcomb’s letter frankly reflected the thoughts and concerns of a soldier serving far from home. The letter (with a transcription) is posted on the Maine Memory Network website (contributed by the Maine Historical Society) and can be viewed at https://www.mainememory.net/media/pdf/79280.pdf.
Many thanks to Peter for sharing the photo and the experience.
* Cpl. Titcomb’s cause of death appears to be listed as erysipelas on the original muster-out rolls of the 22nd Maine Infantry. “Maine, State Archive Collections, 1718-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-9YLB-5?cc=1877829&wc=9Y85-SPB%3A174548501%2C174548502%2C175047601 : 20 May 2014), Maine > Military Records-Civil War > 22nd Infantry and muster-out rolls page 5500-5513 > image 19 of 29; State Archives, Augusta.