AUGUSTA — The Viles Arboretum will host the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Public demonstrations, including musket firing, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4. Admission is $3 per person or free for children 12 and younger. The encampment will be located in the Nut Collection, a beautiful setting surrounded by large oaks and fields and just a five minute walk from the Arboretum Visitors Center.
Barbecue lunches will be available and there will be an outdoor gift shop set up as well. Participants can experience an outstanding living history presentation. Golf cart transportation will be provided for those needing transportation assistance to the encampment.
Company B, 20th Maine, is a living history group dedicated to preserving the memory of Maine Civil War volunteers. The original Company B was mustered into the 20th Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, in August 1862, in time to march to Antietam with the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac. Company B, commanded by Walter G. Morrill, had been recruited in Piscataquis County, from among the farmers of Dover, Milo and Sebec. At Gettysburg, Company B was sent out as skirmishers by Colonel Chamberlain to protect the regiment’s exposed left flank. Posted behind a stone wall, the Company was too far away to participate in the initial fight, but was instrumental in routing the fleeing Confederates, its sudden appearance adding to the Rebel confusion. Company B was with the 20th in all its battles, from the Wilderness to Petersburg to Appomattox. Its Captain, Walter Morrill, became the Regiment’s last commander in March, 1865.
The Viles Arboretum, is located on 224 acres of fields, forests, wetlands and botanical collections, and offers an ever-changing selection of programs for the general public and school groups. We focus on interactive, creative and hands-on teaching with a focus on natural history and unlocking everyone’s natural ability to understand the nature of our world through their own eyes and by using their own intellect.
For more information, visit vilesarboretum.org or call 626-7989.
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