Captain Isaac W. Case, from Kenduskeag was a member of the 22nd Maine Regiment.
Photo courtesy of Isaac W. Case Library
The 22nd Maine
Soldiers from the 22nd Maine Regiment were from Bangor and its many surrounding towns.
The regiment mustered from Bangor on October 10, 1862. The soldiers were trained for only one day in Washington D.C., so they were fairly unprepared. Eventually, they were stationed in St. Martinsville, Louisiana.
Private Sam MorrellPrivate Sam Morrill was a member of the 22nd Maine Regiment that mustered out from Bangor on Oct. 10, 1862 for a nine-month deployment. Photo courtesy of the Dexter Historical Society
The different battles of the 22nd Maine include Bayou Teche Campaign, also known as the Battle of Irish Bend which occurred on April 14, 1863 and the Siege of Port Hudson as well. The 22nd Maine Regiment consisted of ten companies and one-hundred people were in each company; thus, there were approximately one-thousand people in all. Nine were either killed or severely wounded and 160 died of disease. Around 180 soldiers died total. Simon G. Jerrard was the commander of the 22nd Maine and was also a selectman in Levant and a Penobscot County sheriff. The majority of the soldiers returned to Bangor on August 13, 1863.
Bangor Soldiers and Prisoner of War Camps
Bangor residents in other Maine Company's like Pvt. Alden Ellis, Lieutenant George Anson and George Varney did not return with their "muster mates." They were captured and sent to prisoner of war camps, Libby and Andersonville Prisons.
George Varney, Bangor, 1861
George Varney, a Bangor resident. was captured and imprisoned at Libby Prison.Bangor Historical Society
Colonel George Varney, a resident of Bangor, Maine, was taken prisoner on July 27th, 1862. He was commander of the 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry. He was captured in two battles in the Civil War, was exchanged both times, and spent time in Libby prison as a prisoner. He also suffered a head wound in the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Libby prison was located in Richmond, Virginia. Ironically, Libby prison was named after Luther Libby who was a Maine native. It was a four-story building containing eight rooms in which the men slept on the floor. There was little light. There was overheating in the summer and it was very cold in the winter. Throughout the war overcrowding, disease, and hunger plagued the prisoners.
Andersonville PrisonAbove is a sketch of Andersonville Prison as it appeared on August 1, 1864 when it contained 35,000 prisoners of war. It was drawn from memory by Thomas O'Dea, who was from the 16th Maine Regiment. Item contributed by the Bangor Museum and Center for History.
Conditions weren’t that much different in Andersonville prison, which was more officially known as Camp Sumter. Andersonville prison was built in Georgia in 1864. Andersonville prison was built because there were to many prisoners in Richmond. Andersonville was one of the largest prison camps during the Civil War. At one time, up to 32,000 men were living in the enclosed area with guards with rifles outside the fenced area. Out of the 45,000 Union soldiers confined here at different times, around 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure to the elements. The conditions were horrible. Prisoners had to sleep on the cold ground in small tents or pens. A small stream, called The Stockade Branch, was the only water supply for drinking, bathing, and washing clothes. Because of the lack of very clean drinking water and proper food supply, many people starved or died from disease. One prisoner named Michigan John Ransom wrote in his diary: “There is so much filth about the camp that it is terrible trying to live here. With sunken eyes, blackened countenances from pitch pine smoke, rags, and disease, the men look sickening. The air reeks with nastiness.” Another prisoner said, “Since the day I was born, I never saw such misery.”
