Military Involvement


Civil War bullet, Bethel, ca. 1860

Civil War bullet, Bethel, ca. 1860
Item 100542   info
Bethel Historical Society

By Maddie Simard

When the Civil War broke out, there was one military unit in Oxford County: the Norway Light Infantry.

As a result, when Maine troops were first mobilized, Bethel sent out eight "fine, athletic, noble looking fellows" to the Norway unit.

Not long after the first call, President Lincoln issued a second appeal for 300,000 men for three years.

Forty men from Bethel enlisted this time, joining the 5th Maine Volunteer Infantry as Company I.

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