John Sheahan on conditions in Maryland, 1862
Contributed by Maine Historical Society
MMN Item 55494
Item Details
MMN Item 55494
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Description
Pvt. John Sheahan of the 1st Maine Cavalry, camped outside Washington, D.C., reported to his parents in Dennysville that "the poor whites are worse than the negroes by far, for they dress better and keep cleaner people wont believe this but it is so..."
He also told them to keep his younger brother Ned from enlisting. "It is no honor to be a private they are used like dogs. You never got used as I have since I left home."
Sheahan enlisted in August 1862 and served in the 1st Maine Cavalry, then the 31st Maine Infantry until July 1865. He became a physician after the war.
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