Maine Memory Network

Civil War post office scroll, 1862-1864

Contributed by: An individual through North Yarmouth Historical Society Date: 1862–1865 Location: South Berwick; Biddeford; Saco; Portland; Brunswick; Bath; Gardiner; Hallowell; Waterville; Skowhegan; Dexter; Foxcroft; Dover; Bangor; Ellsworth; Narraguagus; Columbia; Machias; East Machias; Dennysville; Pembroke; Eastport; Perry; North Perry; Robbinston; Red Beach; Calais; Milltown; Princeton; Topsfield; Jackson Brook; Weston; Amity; Hodgdon; North Houlton; Littleton; Monticello; Presque Isle; Fremont; Fort Fairfield; Castle Hill; Aroostook; Masardis; Patten; Lincoln; Lee; Springfield; Hudson; North Carmel; South Levant; Belfast; Camden; Rockport Media: Paper, pencil, ink

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Lt. H.H. Wadsworth's Civil War overcoat, Eastport, ca. 1862

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1862 Location: Eastport Media: wool. cotton metal

Barracks in Togus, Chelsea, 1900

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1900–1935 Location: Chelsea; Eastport Client: Eastern Branch N.H.D.V.S. Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Churchill House on State St., Portland, 1928-1934

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1928–1934 Location: Portland Client: Major Gist. Blair Architect: Binford & Wadsworth

Patriotism Shared

Post office clerks began collecting strong red, white, and blue string, rolling it onto a ball and passing it on to the next post office to express their support for the Union effort in the Civil War. Accompanying the ball was this paper scroll on which the clerks wrote messages and sometimes drew images.

Great War and Armistice Day

In 1954, November 11 became known as Veterans Day, a time to honor American veterans of all wars. The holiday originated, however, as a way to memorialize the end of World War I, November 11, 1918, and to "perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations." Mainers were involved in World War I as soldiers, nurses, and workers on the homefront aiding the military effort.

Lincoln, Maine - Post Office

"Josh Shaw "What if the post office never existed?" The postal service refers to the post offices and mailing."

Highlighting Historical Hampden - War of 1812

"Those officers included Major Chamberlain, whose grandson, Joshua, became a hero in the Civil War. The elder Chamberlain was a shipbuilder from…"

An allegory about the Vietnam war
by Bill Hinderer

An allegory about my service in the Vietnam War

Civil War Soldier comes home after 158 years
by Jamison McAlister

Civil War Soldier comes home after 158 years

Longfellow Studies: Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries - The Ship of State DBQ

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Preparation Required/Preliminary Discussion: Lesson plans should be done in the context of a course of study on American literature and/or history from the Revolution to the Civil War. The ship of state is an ancient metaphor in the western world, especially among seafaring people, but this figure of speech assumed a more widespread and literal significance in the English colonies of the New World. From the middle of the 17th century, after all, until revolution broke out in 1775, the dominant system of governance in the colonies was the Navigation Acts. The primary responsibility of colonial governors, according to both Parliament and the Crown, was the enforcement of the laws of trade, and the governors themselves appointed naval officers to ensure that the various provisions and regulations of the Navigation Acts were executed. England, in other words, governed her American colonies as if they were merchant ships. This metaphorical conception of the colonies as a naval enterprise not only survived the Revolution but also took on a deeper relevance following the construction of the Union. The United States of America had now become the ship of state, launched on July 4th 1776 and dedicated to the radical proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights. This proposition is examined and tested in any number of ways during the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. Novelists and poets, as well as politicians and statesmen, questioned its viability: Whither goes the ship of state? Is there a safe harbor somewhere up ahead or is the vessel doomed to ruin and wreckage? Is she well built and sturdy or is there some essential flaw in her structural frame?