Drums and bugles sounding, and muskets at the ready: Civil War reenactors took over the lawns in front of the 5th Maine Museum on Peaks Island Saturday. The reenactors from the Third Maine Regiment Volunteer Infantry provided demonstrations on how Civil War-era soldiers loaded guns, marched in formation, and fired in unison. This Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the season for the 5th Maine Museum. “Memorial Day was a holiday that was created after the Civil War,” said Ian Stevenson, a historian with the 5th Maine Museum. “It was picked as the fourth Monday in May because flowers were in bloom everywhere in the North by that time of year, so that people could lay flowers on the graves of the fallen.” The 5th Maine Museum was constructed in 1888, years after the Civil War ended. After the war, the 5th Maine Regiment built the house on Peaks Island as a memorial and a reunion hall. “After the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of men returned to the north, and they were struggling for finding meaning from these very formative experiences they had had for the last four years,” Stevenson said. “They found reason to gather with their former comrades, so kind of share the experience of the war.”Stevenson said places like the 5th Maine reunion hall were ahead of their time. “They were responding to a need among the veteran community that the government was not providing. There were soldiers’ homes, but these were for people who were visibly maimed,” Stevenson said. Now the museum houses artifacts from the war, including cannon parts, slave shackles, and flags. It displays four flagstaffs captured from the Confederate Army, one of the regiment’s greatest victories. The museum also features a stained-glass window with the names of the regiment’s soldiers. “These were some of the most fervent soldiers because they didn’t know what they were getting into,” said Matthew Bray, captain of the reenactment regiment. “They had no idea about the horrors of war. They just wanted to go fight and preserve the Union.”Maine sent the most soldiers per capita to fight the war than any other state in the Union. Stevenson attributes this to the economic pressure, abolitionist sentiment, and Maine’s recent statehood and desire to prove itself to the Union. The 5th Maine Regiment fought at key battles, including the Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Gettysburg. Civilians were also part of the war effort and were represented at the event. “When the men went off to war, the civilians and women, especially, were left behind to manage the homes, their farms, shops, estate, and they had nobody to rely on but themselves,” said Dianne Thompson, the civilian coordinator for the reenactment. For some, being a part of the reenactment is as much social as it is educational. “I joined when I was 14,” Bray said. “Now, my son is a reenactor as well. It’s a family organization.”Thompson echoed that sentiment and said the camaraderie is one of the reasons she participates. Bray said demonstrations like the one on Peaks Island are important because “if we forget history, we’re going to repeat history, especially the terrible part of our nation being divided.””It’s also extremely important to honor the memory of the soldiers that volunteered to go fight in the war,” Bray said. “If we forget their memory, it would do them a great disservice, as well as a great disservice to the state of Maine.” The organization says they hope people use their events to ask questions, learn something, and get involved.
Drums and bugles sounding, and muskets at the ready: Civil War reenactors took over the lawns in front of the 5th Maine Museum on Peaks Island Saturday.
The reenactors from the Third Maine Regiment Volunteer Infantry provided demonstrations on how Civil War-era soldiers loaded guns, marched in formation, and fired in unison.
This Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the season for the 5th Maine Museum.
“Memorial Day was a holiday that was created after the Civil War,” said Ian Stevenson, a historian with the 5th Maine Museum. “It was picked as the fourth Monday in May because flowers were in bloom everywhere in the North by that time of year, so that people could lay flowers on the graves of the fallen.”
The 5th Maine Museum was constructed in 1888, years after the Civil War ended. After the war, the 5th Maine Regiment built the house on Peaks Island as a memorial and a reunion hall.
“After the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of men returned to the north, and they were struggling for finding meaning from these very formative experiences they had had for the last four years,” Stevenson said. “They found reason to gather with their former comrades, so kind of share the experience of the war.”
Stevenson said places like the 5th Maine reunion hall were ahead of their time.
“They were responding to a need among the veteran community that the government was not providing. There were soldiers’ homes, but these were for people who were visibly maimed,” Stevenson said.
Now the museum houses artifacts from the war, including cannon parts, slave shackles, and flags. It displays four flagstaffs captured from the Confederate Army, one of the regiment’s greatest victories. The museum also features a stained-glass window with the names of the regiment’s soldiers.
“These were some of the most fervent soldiers because they didn’t know what they were getting into,” said Matthew Bray, captain of the reenactment regiment. “They had no idea about the horrors of war. They just wanted to go fight and preserve the Union.”
Maine sent the most soldiers per capita to fight the war than any other state in the Union.
Stevenson attributes this to the economic pressure, abolitionist sentiment, and Maine’s recent statehood and desire to prove itself to the Union.
The 5th Maine Regiment fought at key battles, including the Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Gettysburg.
Civilians were also part of the war effort and were represented at the event.
“When the men went off to war, the civilians and women, especially, were left behind to manage the homes, their farms, shops, estate, and they had nobody to rely on but themselves,” said Dianne Thompson, the civilian coordinator for the reenactment.
For some, being a part of the reenactment is as much social as it is educational.
“I joined when I was 14,” Bray said. “Now, my son is a reenactor as well. It’s a family organization.”
Thompson echoed that sentiment and said the camaraderie is one of the reasons she participates.
Bray said demonstrations like the one on Peaks Island are important because “if we forget history, we’re going to repeat history, especially the terrible part of our nation being divided.”
“It’s also extremely important to honor the memory of the soldiers that volunteered to go fight in the war,” Bray said. “If we forget their memory, it would do them a great disservice, as well as a great disservice to the state of Maine.”
The organization says they hope people use their events to ask questions, learn something, and get involved.