Drummer Boy Daniel Webster Marston of Strong, shown here, was 13 when he enlisted alongside his father in the 9th Maine Infantry. Courtesy of the Maine State Museum.
AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Historical Society’s May presentation on “Maine Voices of the Civil War,” by Laurie LaBar, is planned for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18.
The talk will be held at the Maine State Library’s temporary location, 242 State St. This is the former location for the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Public Utilities Commission.
Many books have been written about the valiant role of Maine’s soldiers in the Civil War. In “Maine Voices from the Civil War” author and curator LaBar examines the war from several perspectives, using the writings of Maine soldiers and civilians, as well as the objects they left behind, according to a news release from the society.
She discusses the aspects of a soldier’s life and the possibilities that awaited them: camp, battle, prison, hospital, and with luck, safe return home. She also touches on the home front, the challenges that soldiers’ family members faced, and the ways that the war came home to Maine.
LaBar is the chief curator of history and decorative arts at the Maine State Museum. A former archaeologist, she received her master’s degree from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and returned to Maine to become a curator.
In addition to writing “Maine Voices of the Civil War,” LaBar also penned “Maine Quilts: 250 Years of Comfort and Community,” which is co-published by the Maine State Museum and Down East Books. Her presentation for the Kennebec Historical Society about Maine quilts last August can still be viewed at facebook.com/KHS1891.
The society May presentation, co-sponsored by the Maine State Library, is free to the public; donations will be accepted. For more information about the program, call Scott Wood, executive director, at 207-622-7718.
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