The Maine Camp Hospital Association of Portland, Maine

The Maine Camp Hospital Association was one of the best organized soldiers’ aid societies in the North. Based in Portland, Maine, it was so well organized that it was able to send agents into the field to make sure their supplies reached the Maine soldiers they were intended for. Their origins were with the women of the Free Street Baptist Church (pictured on right) in Portland. Their reputation was such that other, smaller soldiers’ aid societies would send their collected supplies and contributions to them to distribute. Their first two agents, Mrs. Isabella Fogg and Mrs. Harriet Eaton, arrived in the arena of the war in October, 1862 and immediately began searching out Maine soldiers injured at the battle of Antietam which took place September 17, 1862. The men were always glad to see them and receive the gifts and supplies sent from home. The two labored in the field, surviving illness and enemy bombardments until after the battle of Chancellorsville in early May, 1863. Mrs. Eaton went home to Maine; Mrs. Fogg became an agent for the Christian Commission. The Maine Camp Hospital Association sent other agents. At the end of the war, when Petersburg, Virginia, was under siege by Grant’s forces, the agents were Ruth Mayhew (photo on left), Mary Dupee and Rebecca Usher.

When the first shots were fired at Union-held Fort Sumter in April of 1861, patriotic fervor was aroused to great heights throughout the North. The Union must be preserved! Men enlisted in droves, but what about the women? They could not sit at home and carry on as before. They started by sewing flags, sewing uniforms, and taking over the jobs the men left behind. They ran shops, businesses, farms, post offices, and even operated fire fighting equipment when needed.

They worked in the mills making tent fabric and cloth for uniforms. They made cartridges for the rifles and much more. They supported the war effort by organizing Soldiers' Aid societes and making hospital clothing, gathering and shipping supplies, and raising money to aid the soldiers. Some did much more -- leaving home and family to serve as nurses for the sick and wounded soldiers. Hundreds of women from Maine and thousands throughout the North stepped far outside the traditional roles of Victorican women to do their duty to their country.