Captain Frederic Clark Low is pencil identified on verso. Low joined Co. B, 8/62 as 1st Lieut.; promoted Captain; WIA Sailors’ Creek (gunshot in shoulder) 4/6/65; brevetted Major; discharged 5/15/65. Captain Roscoe F. Hersey is ink signed beneath portrait, with A.M. Burnham, Bangor back mark. Hersey joined as 2nd Lieut. Co. F, 7/62; Promoted Captain 3/63, ADC to General DeTrobriand; WIA Spotsylvania (gunshot in foot) 5/19/64; WIA Petersburg (foot) discharged 10/29/64. Captain Benjamin F. Oakes (1838-1921) bears the imprint of S.W. Sawyer, Bangor and is identified by a similar photograph in the regimental history in which the claim (undocumented in sources) is made that he “received the Medal of Honor” for gallantry at Boydton Plank Road in October 1864. Oakes enlisted as Corporal, Co. I, 8/62; promoted Sergeant, 2nd Lieut., 1st Lieut.; promoted Captain 11/64; m/o 9/1/66. 1st Lieut. Edward L. Worchester, by M.G. Trask, Bangor, is identified by another photograph found in regimental history. Worchester entered service as Private, 2/63; promoted Corporal, Sergeant, 2nd Lieut.; promoted 1st Lieut. 2/65; discharged 8/25/65. Major Harrison G. Smith is ink identified on verso by a relative. Smith enlisted as Captain, Co. H, 8/62; WIA (head and arm) Petersburg 6/18/65; promoted Major 3/65; m/o 9/1/65. 1st Maine Heavy Artillery This regiment was organized in August 1862 as the 18th Maine Infantry assigned to the Washington Defenses. It was redesigned as the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery in August 1862, and remained with Whipple’s Command, Military District of Washington, manning the fixed guns and fortifications that ringed the Capitol. In May 1864, the regiment along with the rest of relatively untested, but manpower-rich formations of Heavy Artillery were sent to Grant’s Army as infantry reinforcements for his strategic Overland Campaign, intentionally designed to exploit the North’s superior numbers by bleeding Lee’s Army white. Bleeding the enemy meant aggressively pressing the fight, then maneuvering so as to extend the line and pin the Army of Northern Virginia to fixed positions while constantly flanking the dwindling Confederate army with superior numbers. The supreme battle of attrition was won in no small measure at the expense of the large Heavy Artillery regiments, the 1st Maine at the forefront of the bloody assault. At Spotsylvania on May 19—a single day— the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery suffered 77 killed and 403 wounded, testament to the intensity of the fighting before Richmond. As the campaign devolved into trench warfare, short but violent attacks employing massed brigades of infantry with fixed bayonets went purposely forward to probe for weak spots or, alternatively, exploit a penetration. One such attack at Petersburg on June 18 resulted in 95 killed and 438 wounded. Cumulatively, during its thirteen months assigned to the 2nd Corps, the regiment lost a staggering 23 officers and 400 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded. Fox’s Regimental Losses states methodically, “Of all Regiments in the army this regiment sustained the greatest loss in battle,” while its true contribution to ultimate victory is incalculable. Provenance: The Tom MacDonald Maine Civil War CDV Collection Condition: Cartes are good with moderate wear and soiling.
Captain Frederic Clark Low is pencil identified on verso. Low joined Co. B, 8/62 as 1st Lieut.; promoted Captain; WIA Sailors’ Creek (gunshot in shoulder) 4/6/65; brevetted Major; discharged 5/15/65. Captain Roscoe F. Hersey is ink signed beneath portrait, with A.M. Burnham, Bangor back mark. Hersey joined as 2nd Lieut. Co. F, 7/62; Promoted Captain 3/63, ADC to General DeTrobriand; WIA Spotsylvania (gunshot in foot) 5/19/64; WIA Petersburg (foot) discharged 10/29/64. Captain Benjamin F. Oakes (1838-1921) bears the imprint of S.W. Sawyer, Bangor and is identified by a similar photograph in the regimental history in which the claim (undocumented in sources) is made that he “received the Medal of Honor” for gallantry at Boydton Plank Road in October 1864. Oakes enlisted as Corporal, Co. I, 8/62; promoted Sergeant, 2nd Lieut., 1st Lieut.; promoted Captain 11/64; m/o 9/1/66. 1st Lieut. Edward L. Worchester, by M.G. Trask, Bangor, is identified by another photograph found in regimental history. Worchester entered service as Private, 2/63; promoted Corporal, Sergeant, 2nd Lieut.; promoted 1st Lieut. 2/65; discharged 8/25/65. Major Harrison G. Smith is ink identified on verso by a relative. Smith enlisted as Captain, Co. H, 8/62; WIA (head and arm) Petersburg 6/18/65; promoted Major 3/65; m/o 9/1/65. 1st Maine Heavy Artillery This regiment was organized in August 1862 as the 18th Maine Infantry assigned to the Washington Defenses. It was redesigned as the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery in August 1862, and remained with Whipple’s Command, Military District of Washington, manning the fixed guns and fortifications that ringed the Capitol. In May 1864, the regiment along with the rest of relatively untested, but manpower-rich formations of Heavy Artillery were sent to Grant’s Army as infantry reinforcements for his strategic Overland Campaign, intentionally designed to exploit the North’s superior numbers by bleeding Lee’s Army white. Bleeding the enemy meant aggressively pressing the fight, then maneuvering so as to extend the line and pin the Army of Northern Virginia to fixed positions while constantly flanking the dwindling Confederate army with superior numbers. The supreme battle of attrition was won in no small measure at the expense of the large Heavy Artillery regiments, the 1st Maine at the forefront of the bloody assault. At Spotsylvania on May 19—a single day— the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery suffered 77 killed and 403 wounded, testament to the intensity of the fighting before Richmond. As the campaign devolved into trench warfare, short but violent attacks employing massed brigades of infantry with fixed bayonets went purposely forward to probe for weak spots or, alternatively, exploit a penetration. One such attack at Petersburg on June 18 resulted in 95 killed and 438 wounded. Cumulatively, during its thirteen months assigned to the 2nd Corps, the regiment lost a staggering 23 officers and 400 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded. Fox’s Regimental Losses states methodically, “Of all Regiments in the army this regiment sustained the greatest loss in battle,” while its true contribution to ultimate victory is incalculable. Provenance: The Tom MacDonald Maine Civil War CDV Collection Condition: Cartes are good with moderate wear and soiling.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
