|Patti Mikkelson|
When attending past New Gloucester Memorial Day parades, I always thought it was peculiar that 15th Alabama Infantry re-enactors were a focal point of the proceedings. After all, that Confederate regiment waged war against the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment commanded by Col. Joshua Chamberlain at Little Round Top during the crucial Battle at Gettysburg.
The homemade sign that Mary Beth Johnson crafted honors one of the most revered military heroes Maine has ever produced. “Honoring Brigadier General Joshua Chamberlain who led the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg where he and his regiment on July 2nd 1863 after repeated assaults from the 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment victoriously drove the Alabama Regiment from Little Round Top! A very important Union victory!,” she wrote.
Additionally, there’s a tie in between Joshua Chamberlain and the Town of New Gloucester. Linda Gard, former pastor at the First Congregational Church and longtime member of the New Gloucester Historical Society, confirms that “Joshua Chamberlain spoke in the vestry at Christmastime, 1871, the year the vestry was built. Nathaniel Rideout’s diary notes that he came up to the vestry (if memory serves, Christmas Day) to build a stage/podium for the event. Rideout’s farm was the first one on the left as you turn onto Woodman Road from 231.”
So, honoring the Union Army rather than our adversary during the Memorial Day Parade makes a lot more sense to me.
