John Parris Sheahan wrote to his family in Dennysville, December 26, 1862 from a camp near Belle Plain, Virginia.
He predicted that Gen. Ambrose Burnside would not go into winter quarters with so much work left to do to keep the Confederates from further protecting Richmond. He criticized the way both Burnside and Gen. George McClellan had attempted to reach Richmond.
Of the rebels, he wrote, "I am in hopes that we shall whip them but truely things look dark."
Sheahan enlisted in the 1st Maine Cavalry on August 23, 1862. He mustered out in March 1864, was commissioned as an officer in the 31st Maine Infantry and served until July 15, 1865.