Gone but not Forgotten

By Pete Dalton · Originally published March 2018 · p. 30

In the late summer and fall of 1864, the American Civil War was entering its final phases. To those fighting the war, the outcome was still anything but certain. Even with the Union victory at Gettysburg more than a year before, there were still several critical theaters of war left to be resolved, and there was a great deal of sacrifice yet to transpire. With the outcome of a presidential election also in doubt, a successful resolution of all these combat arenas was critical to the resolution of the war. One of the most important of these combat theaters was the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the so-called Breadbasket of the Confederacy. Between Sept. 1, and Oct. 19, 1864, some forty thousand Union soldiers under General Phillip Sheridan and twenty thousand troops under Confederate General Jubal Early were destined to fight it out in several major battles in the Shenandoah Valley. During this campaign some two thousand Maine men would struggle there. Of this number nearly 500 men, some twenty-five per cent, would end up either killed, wounded, or missing. Many fatalities would be buried at the national cemetery in Winchester. The casualties originated from four Maine infantry regiments and two artillery units. Among these would be the 1st Maine Veteran Infantry, the 12th Maine, the 14th Maine, and the 29th Maine Infantry Regiments, as well as the 1st and 5th Maine Artillery Batteries. As you visit these many battlefields in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley one thing becomes painfully clear. There are no permanent monuments to the sacrifice of these brave Maine heroes on any of these battlegrounds. Currently there is an opportunity to place a lasting memorial to these Maine soldiers on the largest of these battlefields. The contest of which I speak was the Third Battle of Winchester, fought on Sept. 19, 1864. In this fight more than 230 Maine men became casualties and nowhere is there an undying testament to their bravery and sacrifice. The wounded Maine men were doctored in a variety of temporary field hospitals. Take for example the case of Captain Ira Gardner of the 14th Maine. Ira was wounded in the arm in the Second Woods at Third Winchester. In spite of his serious injury Ira walked a half mile across the Middle Field to a field hospital on Red Bud Run. He would soon be joined by some three hundred other wounded men at the nearby home of Charles L. Wood where Ira’s arm was amputated near the shoulder. Ira’s limb was “wrapped in cloth, placed in a box, and buried in the yard. Thirty years later Gardner returned and was told that Mr. Wood had unearthed his arm and reburied it in the Winchester National Cemetery.” Currently there is an effort, in conjunction with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, to raise the funds needed to purchase and install a stone memorial to Maine’s contribution at the Third Battle of Winchester. Some money has already been raised but we still need to raise an additional three thousand five hundred dollars. Please help keep the memory of these men alive by contributing to https://www.gofundme. com/monument-to-maine-soldiers or by mailing a check to Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, PO Box 897, 9386 S. Congress St., New Market, Va. 22844. Put “Maine Monument” in your note on your check. Thanks very much for your consideration and thanks very much for helping to keep the memory of these men, and their units, upon the battlefields in which they fought, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.