Cornelius Attwood's Funeral-- Part 4: Postwar Career

At the close of the war, he entered the bonds brokers' business, and in 1869 was made the deputy collector of customs at Boston.  He held that place for five years and then became secretary of the board of trade, relinquishing that office in 1879 to take the state agency of the Mutual Life insurance company of New York, the post he held at his death.

In 1876, Col. Attwood was appointed inspector general of the state militia by Gov. Rice and continued at that office three years, reorganizing the militia  thoroughly and establishing a method and a working basis the effects of which are still felt.

It was in this service that gave him the title of general by which in later years he was known.

He was prominent in the Grand Army and in the Loyal Legion and was at one time commander of the Veteran Tigers.

Col. Attwood was a native of Bangor, Maine, having been born there October 27, 1836, but he moved to Boston when he was a boy, and educated in Boston schools.

Cornelius was the son of Bradbury C. Attwood.

(This obituary clears up some questions I had about how he became a general and who the Tigers were.)

--Old Secesh

17th Maine Infantry-- Part 2: Service

From May 23 to October 7, 1862, they were in the Washington, D.C., defenses.

Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Gettysburg--  They were in the Wheatfield fighting for 2 1/2 hours July 2 and reinforced the Union's center during Pickett's Charge.  Casualties during the battle:  3 officers and 37 enlisted killed,  5 officers and 87 men wounded.

Bristoe Campaign

Battle of the Wilderness

Battle of Spottsylvania

Cold Harbor

Petersburg Siege

Mine Explosion

Sailor's Creek

Appomattox

--Old Secesh

17th Maine Infantry-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

This was Private John W. Haley's regiment.

Mustered in at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, August 18, 1862, for three years service.  Mustered out June 10, 1865.  Men still having time to serve were transferred to the 1st Maine Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment.

During the course of the war, 1,371 served in the unit.

12 officers and 116 KIA or mortally wounded.
4 officers and 159 died from disease.
31 died in Confederate prisons.

Their colonel was George Warren West.

--Old Secesh

3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment: Many Battles

From Wikipedia.

In the previous post, I recounted what Private  Jon W. Haley had to say about the veterans of this unit transferring to his 17th Maine.

The regiment mustered into U.S. service June 4, 1861, at Augusta, Maine for three years service.  They mustered out June 28, 1864.  veterans who re-enlisted and recruits still with time to serve transferred to the 17th Maine.

Its colonel was Moses B. Lakeman.

During its service, the regiment enlisted 1,586 men and lost ten officers and 124 enlisted killed in action or mortally wounded.  In addition, another one officer and 149 died from disease.

This was a regiment that fought in most of the major battles in Virginia and the east, including Bull Run, the Peninsular Campaign, 2nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and the Overland Campaign.

--Old Secesh

The 27th Maine Gets Medals of Honor...And Then Has Them Taken Away

I have been writing about the Osgood-Farley battery at Fort MacArthur near Los Angeles in my World War II blog, "Tattooed On Your Soul."    The Osgood part of the name comes from Gen. Henry Brown Osgood, who started his military career as a lieutenant in the 27th Maine Infantry Regiment.

In July 1863, they were nearing the end of their nine-month enlistment and Confederate General Lee was invading in Pennsylvania and threatening Washington, D.C..  Three hundred and twelve of the regiment volunteered to continue serving until the emergency passed and a grateful Congress awarded all of them a Medal of Honor.

In 1916, Congress was tasked with reviewing the Medal of Honor and decided that their awarding to the regiment was not justified and they took them away, including the general's.

I would have to agree with this decision.  Volunteering to stay on is not what is needed to get one of the Medals of Honor.

--Old Secesh

Maj. James E. Powell, Killed at Shiloh April 6, 1862-- Part 4: Before the Civil War

From the Shiloh Military Park Facebook Page.

James E. Powell was born in Worcestershire, England.  His family immigrated to Ohio in 1838, but James went to Texas and married.  While on a hunting trip in 1843, his wife and two children were killed by Indians.  In the Mexican War, he joined the 9th U.S. Infantry.

After the Mexican War, he moved to Maine and became a landowner and remarried.  He rejoined the Army in 1855 as a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Infantry.  His wife divorced him.

--Old Secesh

Joshua Chamberlain's Medal of Honor Returned-- Part 3

After Chamberlain's death in 1914, the original Medal of Honor found its way through generations of descendants until the last-living one, granddaughter Rosamond Allen, died in 2000. Her estate was donated to the First Parish Church of Duxbury in Massachusetts. The medal was found among several books bought during a church fundraiser sale.

The finder, and donor, had previously attempted to send the medal back, but had misaddressed the envelope.

After the war, Chamberlain was a professor, college president and state governor and was very proud of his Medal of Honor, wearing it quite often.

It is made of brass and dulled by time and wear. Its suspension ribbon, both the 1893 and 1896 ones are slightly ragged.

You can see his 1907 Medal of Honor Monday-Fridays at Bowdoin College.

--Old Secesh

Joshua Chamberlain's Medal of Honor Returned-- Part 2

Union Battle of Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain's Medal of Honor has been returned to Brunswick, Maine, his hometown.

And, it has been closely inspected and is the real deal. When the original Medal of Honor was redesigned, previous winners had the option of returning the original in exchange for the new one, or, they could just keep both, with the stipulation that both could not be worn at the same time.

The original was presented to Chamberlain on August 11, 1893 by President Grover Cleveland. Of interest, Cleveland had been getting his law practice underway in 1863 and had hired a Polish immigrant, George Benninsky to serve in his place in the Union Army.

--Old Secesh

Joshua Chamberlain's Medal of Honor Returned-- Part 1

From the January 2013 Brunswick (Maine) Times Record "Chamberlain's medal to be returned to Brunswick" by J.T. Leonard.

The original Medal of Honor awarded to Maine's Colonel Joshua Chamberlain was discovered in the back of a book in Duxbury, Massachusetts. (Safe-keeping?)

In July, shortly after Brunswick's annual Chamberlain Days celebration, the Pejopscal Historical Society received a package from a donor who wished to remain anonymous.

Historical Society director Jennifer Blanchard was skeptical, however. She knew that Chamberlain's Medal of Honor was redesigned in 1904, and he was reissued one n 1907.

More to Come. --Old Secesh

Maine's Gen. Neil S. Dow-- Part 2

He was made a brigadier general April 28, 1862 and commanded the two captured Confederate forts below New Orleans, Fort Jackson and Fort St. Phhilip, after their capture and later commanded the District of Florida.

He was wounded in the right arm and left thigh at the Siege of Port Hudson, Mississippi, (May 21-July 9, 1863) and sent to a local plantation to recover. Dow was captured while there and imprisoned for eight months at Richmond and Mobile. It was during this time that the Montgomery hotel escape took place.

Finally, he was exchanged for Confederate General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, son of Robert E. Lee, on February 25, 1864. With his health seriously impaired by his prison time, he resigned in November of that year.

Back in Maine, he continued with the temperance movement and cofounded the National Temperance Society.

I'll Drink to That. --Old Secesh

Maine's Gen. Neal S. Dow-- Part 1: Abolitionist and "Napoleon of Temperance"

From Wikipedia.

March 20, 1804-October 2, 1897. Nicknamed "Napoleon of Temperance" and "Father of "Prohibition." He was the man Col. Candler of Georgia saved in Montgomery, Alabama, that I wrote about earlier today. Again, I found nothing more about his rescue by Candler.

Dow sponsored the "Maine Law of 1851" prohibiting the manufacture and sale of liquor. He was heavily criticized for his actions in the Portland Rum Riot of 1855.

Born in Portland, maine, and was very anti-alcohol and an ardent abolitionist with his house being a stop on the Undergraound Railroad.

He was 57 when the Civil War started and volunteered. Appointed colonel of the 13th Maine Infantry Regiment on November 23, 1861. The regiment participated in the capture and occupation of New Orleans under General Benjamin Butler (which may explain some of the Southern hatred of him).

More to Come. --Old Secesh

Chamberlain's Medal of Honor Discovered at Church Sale

From the September 10, 2013, CBS News.

General Joshua Chamberlain received his Medal of Honor in 1893 for his heroism at the Battle of Gettysburg. It was recently given to the Pejepscot Historical Society, a town where he lived for fifty years.

It was given to his granddaughter and upon her death in 2000, her estate was donated to the First Parish Church of Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Someone found the Medal of Honor in a book bought from the church and was nice enough to give it to the historical society.

Always Good News to Hear Things Like This. That Medal Would Have Been Worth Big Money. ---Old Secesh

Where Did the Civil War Begin?

From the April 5th Chicago Tribune "Civil War's start? Try looking in Maine?" by Ross Werland.

With all of the hoopla over the Sesquicentennial of the firing on Fort Sumter this month, was that actually where and when the Civil War started? Some say it started in Pensacola, Florida, or earlier in Charleston Harbor when Citadel students fired on the Star of the West.

The Tribune offers Brunswick, Maine as a possibility.

It could be argued there because that is the town where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin" after being inspired by a sermon she heard at a church that still stands at the corner of Maine Street and Bath Road, the First Parish Church.

The book helped jolt abolitionist opinion which mounted their attacks on the South.

It is said that Abraham Lincoln, when meeting her at the White House, said, "So this is the little lady who started this great war."

From Wikipedia: The Harriet beecher Stowe home is in town at 63 Federal Street. She lived here in this rented house while her husband taught at Bowdoin College. She wrote the book between 1850 and 1852. It is now owned by the college but not open to the public.

In addition, across from the church is the home of Bowdoin College professor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who made quite a name for himself at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Did It Start Here? --Old B-Runner

Running the Blockade: Albemarle-- Water Witch-- Maine

Running the Blockade-- Some New News About an Old War.


1. ALBEMARLE-- April 12th WITN NBC News-- a group of Civil war re-enactors on board the replica CSS Albemarle heading for a re-enactment saved three people whose boat had capsized, but were unable to locate the fourth.

Fortunately for the boaters, the Albemarle was running behind schedule because of mechanical problems when screams were heard.


2. WATER WITCH-- A short film about this ship, produced by the University of Georgia, will be presented for the first time at Columbus, Georgia's River Blast in April. It will detail the capture of the ship by a band of Confederate commandos and will consist of interviews and animated sequences.

3. MAINE-- The efforts of Maine's Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee has led to a new website at http://www.maine.gov/civilwar/sentinels.html. which details every known Civil War statue and memorial in the state. One was erected in Bangor while the war was still going on. The last was put up in Lisbon in 1999.

Now, You Know. --Blockade-R


3.