The Kennebec Historical Society’s January Facebook Live Presentation, “Through the Eyes of Maine,” is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The book “Through the Eyes of Maine” is a work 166 years in the making, according to a news release from the society.
In the northernmost corner of what was fast becoming a fractured nation, diarist Hilton W. True, of Gardiner, began keeping a journal in 1857. When civil strife began to divide our nation in late 1859, he recorded it. In his entry of Dec. 2, he noted the execution of John Brown, the most polarizing figure of the Antebellum Era. Following this cataclysmic event, civil war became inevitable.
Beginning with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, True wrote about the events that helped define the first 18 months of the American Civil War, concluding with an account of the Battle of Antietam, in which his family suffered a deep personal loss.
Discovered in 2018 by historian Ross Farmer, the Kennebec Historical Society’s online lecturer for January, this account features details on key battles and important figures who helped shape the most contentious period in our nation’s history. Farmer, based on True’s recollections, offers a 21st-century discernment of this primary source.
The illustrated book offers a summary of events that led to disunion and war between the states. Throughout the journal, familiar names such as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, along with lesser-known figures such as Galusha Grow and Alexander Shaler, flow together with accounts of battles. It also delves into topics such as transportation, communication, music, patriotic fervor, national symbols, the press, and the meaning of life and death. Through the Eyes of Maine concludes with an overview of Maine’s contributions to the cause of Union and a biographical sketch of True.
Farmer is a retired history teacher in the Belle Vernon Area School District near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The book, his first published work, is available on Amazon.com in paperback and hardback editions.
Farmer’s presentation about his book can be watched at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15, on Facebook Live. It also will be archived on the society’s Facebook page for those who want to watch it later. Please note that this presentation was originally scheduled for Feb. 21, 2024.
For more information, call Scott Wood, the society’s executive director, at 207-622-7718.