Reports from the Attorney General

Maine's Attorney General issued detailed reports throughout the war. The reports chronicled what each Maine reginent was doing and included comprehensive lists of the soldiers who enlisted. Information about each soldier included their name, age, town, marital status, rank, and sometimes other notes. There were also reports about various agencies that supported the troops including the Maine State Agency, for which a number of Maine women worked,

The 1863  volume said this about the Agency, "For the last year the agency has been, and is now, under the control of  L.Watson, Esq., of Wilton, and Mrs. C.A.L.Sampson of Bath. Their labors extend to visiting all the hospitals in and about Washington, and after ascertaining the needs of our soldiers not provided for by the United Styates authorities, communicating at once the fact to their families or friends at home, or to the proper departments at Washington, and, when put in possession of such relief as is provided, dispensing it with promptitude and care.The invaluable labors of Mr. Watson are chiefly devoted to receiving and distributing donations, and in other ways showng every possible attention to the wants of the soldiers....Mrs. Sampson visits every hospital to minister to those in a helpless condition. She causes medical examinations to be made of all applicants for furloughs or discharges, and if granted obtains their pay, allowances and transportation tickets. She also attends personallu, in providing all invalids returning home suitable clothing and sufficient food to last during their journey." Maine Adjutant General's Report, 1863, pg. 49.

Approaching the Sesquicentennial

The American Civil War began in 1861, which  will be 150 years ago in the coming year of 2011. Many believe that the Civil War was the war that defined our nation. When the nation was threatened with splitting into sections, northern Yankees fought more to keep the nation together than to abolish slavery. In the end, the nation remained undivided and slavery was abolished. The transition was not smooth. Much more work needed to be done to truly finish the job and today we continue to work towards creating one nation with liberty and justice for all.
In the coming year, we will be focusing on bringing more information to you, the reader, about the Civil War and how it affected the development of our nation. We will be focusing especially on how it affected women and bring you news of ways you can learn more about the Civil War including places to visit and events you can attend. Please check back.

Henrietta Ingersoll, hospital worker and reformer

Armory Square Hospital, shown on the left, was where several Maine women served as nurses. Among them was Mrs. Henrietta Ingersoll, a widow from Bangor, Maine. Her husband, an attorney who had just been appointed Maine Attorney General in 1860, died before taking office, leaving Henrietta to fend for herself . When the war broke out, she was just one of many women that volunteered to do their part and she moved to Washington with her children. Well educated and well-connected, she soon found herself an important part of the work at one of the first of the modern Civil War hospitals and one that would serve as a model to subsequent hospitals set up during the war. Set up on the mall in the center of Washington, D.C, it was often visited by dignitaries including President Lincoln. She defended the work of the good doctors, championed women's rights and, in addition to her hospital duties, became the publisher of The Hospital Gazette printed at the Armory Square Hospital in 1864.

Mary Brown: Female soldier?

Mary Ann Berry from Lewiston, Maine, was 21 years old when she met Ivory Brown from Parsonsfield, Maine and married him in 1861, the year the Civil War began. He decided to enlist with the 31st Maine Infantry Regiment in 1864 and Mary decided she would go with him. Not surprisingly, Mary was rejected by the army. She persisted, however, and took on clerical jobs for the regiment and eventually she went south with the regiment as a field nurse. Records of her service cannot be found, but in 1930 she was interviewed by a reporter and she told her story to him. Besides nursing and caring for the soldiers, she told the reporter that she also fought beside them. When asked, "Did you carry a musket and fight with the Union men?" she replied, "Yes, sir. I carried a musket - a 16 shooter [possibly a Henry Repeater rifle] and a sword and a dirk, too, to fight my way through like the rest of them." Mary was standing right next to her brother-in-law at the siege of Petersburg when he was killed. It is possible that Mary was disguised as a soldier, since General Grant had issued orders that no women be allowed at the front. Ivory was also injured at Petersburg and Mary was there to care for him - first at the field hospital and then later, at Harewood Hospital, where she also cared for other soldiers. Ivory was discharged in June of 1865 and the couple went home to Brownfield, Maine. Ivory died in 1902. Mary outlived him by 34 years, dying in 1936 at age 96.

The Battle of Gettysburg brings a brother and sister together

Mary Hunt from Gorham, Maine, married and moved with her banker husband, T. Duncan Carson, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1856. On the eve of the famous battle of Gettysburg, Mr. Carson was busy moving the assets of the Gettysburg National Bank (shown here) to safer grounds. Mary, on her part, gathered 19 women and children, 2 dogs and a cat and moved into the bank's vault for safety.

She was unaware that, as she was seeking safety from shelling, her brother, Charles, was marching through town with his regiment, the 5th Maine Battery. Supposedly, as they passed near the bank he said to his comrades, "If ever I am to be wounded, it should be here, for my sister lives over there." He indicated the bank building and it's nearby residence. The battle was fiercely fought during the first day and did not go well for Union troops. Lt. Hunt was indeed injured and his companions brought him to the bank. He was taken into the vault where a neighbor/doctor operated on him, removing a bullet from his leg. Mary took care of him and many other wounded soldiers for weeks after the battle. Charles recovered and went home to Maine. After the war he studied to become a doctor and was later appointed the first director of the Maine General Hospital (now known as Maine Medical Center) in Portland, Maine.

Nellie Forbes of Norridgewock, Maine, began her service by nursing soldiers wounded in the first battle of Bull Run and continued until February 1863 when her own life was in danger from the malaria she contracted. She had been in Washington at the beginning of the war visiting her uncle, Sidney Perham, a congressman from Maine (and later governor). During her years of nursing, she received much praise and many letters from her former patients. One wrote, "Since I left Washington one year ago I have often thought of the many kindnesses I rec'd from you while I lay there wounded and almost helpless. The many little deeds of kindness which helped while away the long hours, that I rec'd from you shall never be forgot so long as my reason remains. Though I may never see you again I shall ever remember you. May God grant you a long and happy life."

Nellie became very good friends with one patient, Mr. Eleazer Tolman of Milo, Maine who served with the 2nd Maine Regiment. They were married in 1864 and moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts where she continued to care for soldiers and help them get the pensions they deserved. She herself got a pension of $25 a month by a special act of Congress in 1886 with the help of her Uncle Perham, Hannibal Hamlin, Brigadier General George Beal and others.

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.