Civil War Memorial


Alonzo Stinson, Portland, ca. 1860

Alonzo Stinson, Portland, ca. 1860
Item 11502   info
Maine Historical Society

Sgt. Alonzo Palmer Stinson was the first soldier from Portland killed in the Civil War. He was 19 when he died at the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, less than a month after enlisting as a sergeant in Co. H of the 5th Maine Volunteer Regiment.

Stinson's brother Harry was also in Company H; he stayed on the battlefield with his brother after Alonzo was wounded by a cannonball. Harry was captured by the Confederates and was imprisoned for more than a year.

After getting out of prison he returned to the war as an officer in the Volunteers Aide-de-Camp Infantry Regiment. He died of disease, "in the service of his country," on February 22, 1866, by which time he was a Captain, breveted as a lieutenant colonel.

Alonzo Stinson monument, Portland, 1908

Alonzo Stinson monument, Portland, 1908
Item 84557   info
Maine Historical Society

A memorial in Portland's Eastern Cemetery remembers Alonzo Stinson.

It is in the shape of a rigid knapsack with a blanket roll on top, such as infantry soldiers carried early in the war.

Survivors of Co. H of the 5th Maine presented the memorial to the City Of Portland on July 4th 1908.

John Mahoney, ca. 1865

John Mahoney, ca. 1865
Item 22669   info
Maine Historical Society

John Mahoney (1843-1870) of Augusta enlisted in of Co. B of the 7th Maine Regiment on 21 Aug 1861.

He was 18 years old and enlisted as a private. He was transferred to Co. B of the 1st Maine Veterans Infantry Regiment on August 21, 1864 and was discharged from the service on February 21, 1865 -- because he was missing and unaccounted for.

Mahoney probably is among those soldiers who were killed or died but whose bodies were not found or identified.

President Lincoln funeral program, Portland, 1865

President Lincoln funeral program, Portland, 1865
Item 84625   info
Maine Historical Society

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln added to the mourning in communities across the state and nation.

Funeral services at Portland City Hall on April 19, 1865 commemorated Lincoln's assassination.

Poppenburg's Band played a dirge, and the Rev. Dr. J. J. Carruthers of the 2nd Parish Congregational Church gave an address.

Mrs. Olive A. Beale of Portland wrote a hymn for the occasion.

General Hiram Berry, Rockland, ca. 1862

General Hiram Berry, Rockland, ca. 1862
Item 12837   info
Maine Historical Society

Hiram G. Berry, a carpenter, navigator, banker, and politician in Rockland, was commander of the Rockland Guard, a militia unit before the Civil War. He was asked to recruit a regiment for the war – the 4th Maine Regiment.

Berry was colonel of the regiment from May 1861 to March 1862 when he was promoted to major general in the U.S. Volunteers General Staff Infantry Regiment.

He was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, while leading a bayonet charge.

He reportedly told his soldiers to "have hearts like oak and let the Stars and Stripes wave high."

Hiram Berry memorial poem, ca. 1863

Hiram Berry memorial poem, ca. 1863
Item 84632   info
Maine Historical Society

Abner W. Harmon, a native of Buxton, wrote a memorial poem about Berry, which became popular during the war.

Harmon wrote a number of other poems about the war and other memorials, including one about Abraham Lincoln.

Some of the poems were set to music.

Sgt. Nelson W. Jones, 3rd Maine Infantry, ca. 1862

Sgt. Nelson W. Jones, 3rd Maine Infantry, ca. 1862
Item 63502   info
Maine Historical Society

Nelson W. Jones, the son of Nelson and Hanna Jones of Palermo, was 18 when he enlisted in Co. I of the Maine 3rd Infantry Regiment on June 4, 1861 as a private.

Jones was promoted to sergeant. He was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.

Charles H. Ring, Newport, ca. 1862

Charles H. Ring, Newport, ca. 1862
Item 50450   info
Maine Historical Society

Charles H. Ring of Newport, the son of Almond and Mary Ring, was a musician in Co. E of the 16th Maine Regiment during the Civil War.

Ring was killed at the battle of Antietam, November 30, 1862.

Lt. George W. Edwards, 16th Maine, 1862

Lt. George W. Edwards, 16th Maine, 1862
Item 5183   info
Maine Historical Society

George W. Edwards, a native of Gorham, was a member of the Class of 1862 at Bowdoin College.

At age 22, in February 1862, Edwards enlisted as a 2nd lieutenant in Co. B of the 16th Maine Infantry.

He was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, while leading his troops in a bayonet charge.

Capt. Benjamin C. Pennell, Portland, ca. 1863

Capt. Benjamin C. Pennell, Portland, ca. 1863
Item 61631   info
Maine Historical Society

Benjamin C. Pennell, a 20-year-old blacksmith in Portland, was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in Co. B of the 17th Maine Infantry on August 18, 1862.

He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in December 1862 and to captain in August 1863.

He was killed at the Battle of Petersburg on June 17, 1864, by a stray bullet while spotting targets.

West W. Cooper, Union, 1861

West W. Cooper, Union, 1861
Item 5261   info
Maine Historical Society

Warren W. "West" Cooper was 19 when he enlisted as a private in Co. H of the 4th Maine Infantry on June 15, 1861.

Slightly more than a month later, on July 21, 1861, he was killed at the Battle of Bull Run, Virginia.

Capt. Samuel T. Keene, 20th Maine, ca. 1863

Capt. Samuel T. Keene, 20th Maine, ca. 1863
Item 81160   info
Maine Historical Society

Samuel Keene of Rockland, a lawyer, was 29 when he enlisted as 1st lieutenant in Co. I of the 20th Maine Infantry on Aug. 29, 1862.

He was later promoted to captain of Co. F.

Keene was killed on June 22, 1864, at Petersburg while ensuring that an injured soldier was cared for.

Keene's promotion to major did not reach him before his death.

Rev. George Knox, Brunswick, ca. 1860

Rev. George Knox, Brunswick, ca. 1860
Item 34546   info
Pejepscot History Center

The Rev. George Knox, who had served churches in Topsham, Lewiston, and Brunswick, enlisted as a chaplain for the 1st Regiment from May 3, 1861 to May 8, 1863.

He reenlisted when the regiment became known as the 10th Maine. It later became the 29th Maine.

On October 31, 1864, as Knox was mounting his horse for some duty with other officers, his horse became restless, reared and fell back on him causing injuries that killed him by the end of the day.

Lt. Weston H. Keene, 20th Maine Infantry, ca. 1863

Lt. Weston H. Keene, 20th Maine Infantry, ca. 1863
Item 81156   info
Maine Historical Society

Weston H. Keene of Bremen was 24 when he enlisted in the 20th Maine Infantry.

He began his service as a sergeant major and was promoted to 1st lieutenant, then to captain of Co. A.

Keene was killed on Sept. 30, 1864 at Peebles' Farm, Virginia.

George Pepper, Civil War, ca. 1861

George Pepper, Civil War, ca. 1861
Item 28463   info
Patten Free Library

Brothers George and Joseph Pepper of Bath both enlisted in the 7th Maine Regiment on August 21, 1861.

Joseph, age about 27, died at the Battle of Yorktown in April of 1862.

George, age 21, died of disease only seven months later.

The brothers were part of a family that emigrated from Canada sometime before 1850.

Obed Francis Millett, ca. 1860

Obed Francis Millett, ca. 1860
Item 75446   info
Palmyra Historical Society

Obed Millett was born March 17, 1841 in Palmyra and he died on June 5, 1864 at Betheseda Church during the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia.

He enlisted at age 20 on May 28, 1861 as a private in Company G of the 2nd Maine Infantry.

He was taken prisoner on July 21, 1861 at Bull Run, in Manassas, Virginia, and confined in Richmond in a three-story brick warehouse owned by a prosperous tobacconist, George Harwood.

He was eventually paroled. He mustered out of Co. G 2nd Infantry on June 9, 1863 in Portland.

He reenlisted as a sergeant on April 4, 1864 at age 22 in the 31st Regiment Maine Infantry and served until his death at Cold Harbor.

Obed was one of four Millett brothers who served during the Civil War, for the Union.

Colonel Freeman McGilvery, Stockton, ca. 1862

Colonel Freeman McGilvery, Stockton, ca. 1862
Item 35583   info
Maine Historical Society

Freeman McGilvery (1823-1864) of Stockton was 35 years old when he enlisted as a captain in the Maine 6th Light Artillery Battery on January 1, 1862.

He was later promoted to major, lieutenant colonel and full colonel.

McGilvery was commander of artillery in front of Pickett's charge at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

In August 1864, he was promoted to Chief of Artillery for the X Corps.

At the Battle of Deep Bottom, he was slightly wounded, but the wound did not heal. He died from an overdose of chloroform at Petersburg, Virginia, in September 1864.

A fort, part of the Union earthworks at Petersburg, Virginia, was named after McGilvery, as was Post #30 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Maine.

The State of Maine designated the first Saturday of September Colonel Freeman McGilvery Day.

Daniel C. Clark, ca. 1863

Daniel C. Clark, ca. 1863
Item 34158   info
Fifth Maine Regiment Museum

Daniel C. Clark enlisted in the Fifth Maine Regiment Company D in December of 1861 as a second lieutenant. By July of 1862 he was Captain of Company K.

He was wounded in action at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 16, 1864, and died shortly thereafter, at the age of 23.

There is a stained-glass window monument to Capt. Clark in the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum on Peaks Island.

Lt. Frederic W. Lane, 20th Maine, ca. 1863

Lt. Frederic W. Lane, 20th Maine, ca. 1863
Item 81158   info
Maine Historical Society

Frederic W. Lane of Milo was 24 when he enlisted as a sergeant in Co. B of the Maine 20th Infantry Regiment on April 20, 1863.

He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on April 20, 1863.

He died in a rebel hospital on May 14, 1864, of wounds received at the Battle of the Wilderness.

Thomas H. Marshall, Belfast, ca. 1860

Thomas H. Marshall, Belfast, ca. 1860
Item 22006   info
Maine State Archives

Thomas H. Marshall (1826-1861) of Belfast, studied at Bowdoin College, but was forced to leave due to illness during his sophomore year.

He returned to Belfast to work in his father's mercantile business. He was captain of the local Volunteer Militia Company, the Belfast City Greys.

He was elected to the Maine House in 1857 and 1858 and then served two years in the State Senate, being elected Senate President in 1860.

When the Civil War broke out, he chose immediately to pursue a military career, becoming part of the 4th Maine Regiment, in which he was major.

Transferred to the newly formed 7th Maine, first as its lieutenant colonel and later as its commander, Marshall was taken ill with fever at their encampment in Baltimore and died together with 80 of his men. He was 35 at the time.

James Parker, Artificer, First Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, ca. 1863

James Parker, Artificer, First Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, ca. 1863
Item 82152   info
Mount Desert Island Historical Society

James M. Parker of Somesville joined the 18th Maine Regiment, later renamed the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, in 1862.

After serving on garrison duty in forts near Washington, D.C., the regiment was ordered to serve as infantry during the Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864.

Parker was killed in the regiment's charge against Confederate fortifications near Petersburg Virginia on June 18, 1864.

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