A wartime casualty notated in ink by anonymous hand on verso, Capt. Byron C. Gilmore/Co. F. 31st Me Vols./Killed before/Petersburg, Va./June 30 1864. The photograph from life bears the imprint of D.K. Jewell, Augusta. Gilmore had prior service as an enlisted man in the 22nd Maine, m/o as Sergeant, 6/63. He re-enlisted in the 31st Maine as 2nd Lieut., 3/64. Henry G. Mitchell/Lieut. Co. H 31st Me. with A.M. McKenney, Portland back mark is nicely autographed beneath vignette portrait. Mitchell enlisted as 2nd Lieut., Co. H, 4/64, 32nd Maine Infantry; POW Petersburg 7/30/64, confined at Macon & Columbia; transferred to 31st Maine upon consolidation, 12/64; m/o 7/15/65. Captain James M. Williams is identified in modern pencil with J.S. Hendee, Augusta back mark. Williams had previous service in the 22nd Maine as Captain before m/o 8/63. He re-enlisted as Captain, Co. C, 31st Maine 3/64; mortally WIA Cold Harbor 6/3/64 (right foot amputated); DOW at General Hospital, Washington, D.C. 6/15/64. Ink signed 1st Lieut. C.W. Rollins, by S.W. Sawyer, Bangor, wears a small round metal ID disc on his frock coat. Rollins also had prior service in the 22nd Maine m/o as Corporal, 8/63. He joined the 31st Maine as Sergeant 10/64; promoted 2nd Lieut., Co. A; promoted 1st Lieut.; m/o 7/15/65. 31st & 32nd Maine Infantries The 31st Maine was organized at Augusta and mustered in April 18, 1864. The regiment immediately proceeded to the front where it was assigned to the 9th Corps for Grant’s pending Overland Campaign. Within a few weeks, the 31st was heavily engaged in the burning Wilderness, suffering 18 killed and wounded in its baptism of fire. Not two months in service, the regiment was commended by General Griffin in Brigade Orders dated June 3, “for gallantry at the furious engagement at Bethesda Church,” where, wrote Griffin, the “31st Me. has made for itself a most brilliant record, and won for itself imperishable renown.” Throughout the hot summer of 1864—from Spotsylvania to the killing grounds before Petersburg— the 31st Maine and its sister formations engaged in a never-ending series of deliberate clashes, always pressing the enemy and moving forward in Grant’s carefully choreographed scheme of attrition designed to bleed the Army of Northern Virginia. By the time of the fearsome Mine Explosion at Petersburg on July 30—where the 31st was the first to enter the enemy’s works—the regiment had sustained 228 killed, wounded, and missing. The casualty count tempered somewhat by fall as the men entered the trenches. However, another 22 joined the casualty rolls after a brisk fight at Poplar Springs Church on September 30th before campaigning finally abated for the season. On April 2, 1865, the regiment cracked the Petersburg defenses as Richmond burned, losing 33 killed and wounded in a single day. The veteran 31st Maine marched in the Grand Review before mustering out July 15, 1865. In just twelve months of active service, 179 men had perished for the cause. The 32nd Maine was the last regiment raised by the state during the war. Only six companies had been mustered when they were hastily ordered to the front on April 20, 1864, to supplement Grant’s need for infantry. The incomplete regiment was then assigned to the 9th Corps, marching to catch up to its parent brigade somewhere in the Wilderness. The new recruits quickly came into range of Confederate musketry at Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, where the first batch of 36 men became casualties. The 32nd shared the fate of all infantry during the hellish summer, fighting and dying nearly every day in skirmish order or battle line, terrified but resolutely moving forward according to Grant’s mandate to overwhelm the shrinking Confederate Army. As the smoke and ringing ears cleared in the wake of the Mine Explosion at Petersburg on July 30th, the 32nd Maine joined its sister, the 31st, in the grand charge. Among the first to enter the utterly devastated enemy works, over 100 men were lost in
A wartime casualty notated in ink by anonymous hand on verso, Capt. Byron C. Gilmore/Co. F. 31st Me Vols./Killed before/Petersburg, Va./June 30 1864. The photograph from life bears the imprint of D.K. Jewell, Augusta. Gilmore had prior service as an enlisted man in the 22nd Maine, m/o as Sergeant, 6/63. He re-enlisted in the 31st Maine as 2nd Lieut., 3/64. Henry G. Mitchell/Lieut. Co. H 31st Me. with A.M. McKenney, Portland back mark is nicely autographed beneath vignette portrait. Mitchell enlisted as 2nd Lieut., Co. H, 4/64, 32nd Maine Infantry; POW Petersburg 7/30/64, confined at Macon & Columbia; transferred to 31st Maine upon consolidation, 12/64; m/o 7/15/65. Captain James M. Williams is identified in modern pencil with J.S. Hendee, Augusta back mark. Williams had previous service in the 22nd Maine as Captain before m/o 8/63. He re-enlisted as Captain, Co. C, 31st Maine 3/64; mortally WIA Cold Harbor 6/3/64 (right foot amputated); DOW at General Hospital, Washington, D.C. 6/15/64. Ink signed 1st Lieut. C.W. Rollins, by S.W. Sawyer, Bangor, wears a small round metal ID disc on his frock coat. Rollins also had prior service in the 22nd Maine m/o as Corporal, 8/63. He joined the 31st Maine as Sergeant 10/64; promoted 2nd Lieut., Co. A; promoted 1st Lieut.; m/o 7/15/65. 31st & 32nd Maine Infantries The 31st Maine was organized at Augusta and mustered in April 18, 1864. The regiment immediately proceeded to the front where it was assigned to the 9th Corps for Grant’s pending Overland Campaign. Within a few weeks, the 31st was heavily engaged in the burning Wilderness, suffering 18 killed and wounded in its baptism of fire. Not two months in service, the regiment was commended by General Griffin in Brigade Orders dated June 3, “for gallantry at the furious engagement at Bethesda Church,” where, wrote Griffin, the “31st Me. has made for itself a most brilliant record, and won for itself imperishable renown.” Throughout the hot summer of 1864—from Spotsylvania to the killing grounds before Petersburg— the 31st Maine and its sister formations engaged in a never-ending series of deliberate clashes, always pressing the enemy and moving forward in Grant’s carefully choreographed scheme of attrition designed to bleed the Army of Northern Virginia. By the time of the fearsome Mine Explosion at Petersburg on July 30—where the 31st was the first to enter the enemy’s works—the regiment had sustained 228 killed, wounded, and missing. The casualty count tempered somewhat by fall as the men entered the trenches. However, another 22 joined the casualty rolls after a brisk fight at Poplar Springs Church on September 30th before campaigning finally abated for the season. On April 2, 1865, the regiment cracked the Petersburg defenses as Richmond burned, losing 33 killed and wounded in a single day. The veteran 31st Maine marched in the Grand Review before mustering out July 15, 1865. In just twelve months of active service, 179 men had perished for the cause. The 32nd Maine was the last regiment raised by the state during the war. Only six companies had been mustered when they were hastily ordered to the front on April 20, 1864, to supplement Grant’s need for infantry. The incomplete regiment was then assigned to the 9th Corps, marching to catch up to its parent brigade somewhere in the Wilderness. The new recruits quickly came into range of Confederate musketry at Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, where the first batch of 36 men became casualties. The 32nd shared the fate of all infantry during the hellish summer, fighting and dying nearly every day in skirmish order or battle line, terrified but resolutely moving forward according to Grant’s mandate to overwhelm the shrinking Confederate Army. As the smoke and ringing ears cleared in the wake of the Mine Explosion at Petersburg on July 30th, the 32nd Maine joined its sister, the 31st, in the grand charge. Among the first to enter the utterly devastated enemy works, over 100 men were lost in
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