June 15, 1781: Brig. Gen. Peleg Wadsworth (1748-1829) and Maj. Benjamin Burton, both U.S. Army officers being held prisoner by Loyalists during the Revolutionary War and confined at Fort George in British-controlled Castine, escape by cutting a hole in the roof of their jail cell. They were captured and imprisoned for their role in the […]
Bicentennial
News and information about Maine’s 2020 bicentennial from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: June 14
June 14, 1834: Leonard Norcross of Dixfield patents a diving suit made of rubber with a metal helmet attached to it with a watertight seal. Norcross (1798-1865) experimented with the suit in the Webb River in Oxford County. A set of bellows provided an air supply to the helmet through a hose. The test diver’s […]
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Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: June 13
June 13, 2018: The Wells-Ogunquit Community School District board votes unanimously to discontinue the use of Native American imagery for school logos. They vote to keep the “Warriors” nickname, but the Indian head image in use at the schools is dropped. The decision ends a seven-month study of the matter, during which those who found […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State, News, Uncategorized
On this date in Maine history: June 12
June 12, 1800: Congress allocates $5,500 for the purchase of Fernald’s Island in Portsmouth Harbor. The island becomes the site of what is now Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, now located in Kittery. Originally one of a close group of five islands, Fernald’s is merged through construction and now is part of the much larger Seavey’s Island. […]
Posted inBicentennial, Local & State
On this date in Maine history: June 11
June 11, 1775: The Battle of Machias, the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War, begins, resulting in the seizure of British vessels by Machias residents and the death of the British commander of the armed sloop HMS Margaretta. The conflict arose from British efforts to obtain lumber to build barracks for their troops in […]
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On this date in Maine history: June 10
June 10, 2019: The Legislature approves a bill that strives to settle disputes between the state and Native American tribes over sustenance fishing rights. The Senate votes 35-0 to approve the bill, which would designate dozens of Maine waterways as sustenance fishing areas. Those waterways, including several in northern and eastern Maine, would be subject […]
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On this date in Maine history: June 9
June 9, 1820: The Maine Legislature adopts the design of the state seal about three months after Maine becomes the 23rd state. Designed by committee – a foreboding circumstance in itself – the image shows a farmer resting on a scythe and a seaman leaning on an anchor, with a moose and a pine tree […]
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On this date in Maine history: June 8
June 8, 1864: The National Union Convention, held in Baltimore, nominates Republican Abraham Lincoln for a second term as president. Then, with Lincoln’s support, it rejects Vice President Hannibal Hamlin of Maine in favor of War Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee as Lincoln’s running mate. Lincoln wins re-election in November. Six weeks after his inauguration […]
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On this date in Maine history: June 7
June 7, 1886: An elevator catches fire in the Bodwell & Allen icehouses in the riverside part of Pittston that would become the town of Randolph the following year. The fire jumps across the Kennebec River and ignites a Knickerbocker Ice Co. icehouse at Bowman’s Point in Farmingdale, then spreads to a neighboring Knickerbocker icehouse. […]
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On this date in Maine history: June 6
June 6, 1944: Nineteen-year-old Charles Norman Shay, a Penobscot Indian, rescues drowning and wounded soldiers while under enemy fire among the first wave of attackers to land on Omaha Beach in France on D-Day. His actions earn him a Silver Star. Shay, who grew up on Indian Island in the Penobscot River, is an Army […]