War is declared!

April 12, 1861: Fort Sumter wass Fired Upon. Thus ends Lincoln's indecision since he took office on March 4, 1861. The blockade of federally held Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. War was declared and President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops.

Falmouth Civil War Nurse Honored

Emily W. Dana was honored at a recent ceremony honoring women veterans at the Hall of Flags in Augusta. Her image was included as a representative of women who served during the Civil War on a plaque that was unveiled February 18, 2011. Emily was a teacher in Portland when the Civil War began. She joined a number of other women from the Portland area to volunteer to be nurses for the sick and wounded soldiers. She spent most of her career as a nurse at the Naval School Hospital in Annapolis. Near the end of the war she found herself caring for some of the saddest possible cases -- Union soldiers that had been taken prisoner and kept in Confederate prisons such as Libby and the even more notorius Andersonville Prison. Some of her patients were described as little more than moving skeletons.
Emily's family owned property in Falmouth, Maine, and she spent many summers there. Emily never married and inherited the family home on Waites Landing Road in Falmouth where she spent her final years. She died January 27, 1929 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

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.