The Portland daily press., 1862-06-23
The Maine Regiments in the Field.

1t Is unfortunate, perhaps, for the fame Of
our Maine Regiments, that more pains have
not been taken to record their deeds of daring
and valor upon the battle field. 1t is well
known to those behind the scenes that with
| some of the regiments from other states. re-
porters have been constantly employed, paid,
in some instances at least, by contributions
from the officers, whose special labor has been
to blow the trump of fame, and to see that no
glory belonging to their battalion was given
to others. Who has failed to notice the con-
slant strain Of praise with which the Massa-
chusetts troops have been paraded before the
public eye? Their gallant deeds have been
recorded in prose and sung in song, and even
when the sons of Maine were in the brunt of
the battle and turned the tide of victory, their
praises have been but feebly lisped, while new
feathers have been placed In the caps of their
more fortunate felow-soldiers from the "Old
Bay State The occurrences at Williamsburg.
where the Maine Seventh, under the gallant
Col. Mason, put to flight lasge force Of the
+. +. VS.. by the bare glimmer of their sabre
bayoDets, and moved them down as they fled,
with their unerring rifles, was case in point;
for although Gen. Mcclellan complimented
the Seventh" in person, and ordered .Wil-
liamsburg' to be inscribed upon their standard,
and though they were noticed in terms of
high commendation by their immediate Divis-
ion Commander, yet the correspondence from
the battlefield reflected full blaze of glory
upon troops scarcely noticeable in the fight.
while the Maine Boys were left in the shade.
Nor is this solitary instance. At the TAX
ing OF Fort Pulaski, it is well known that the
Maine Eighth, under Col Rust, were the first
to enter that stronghold and to plant the stars
and stripes upon its ramparts-a compliment
granted to them by the commanding General
for their gallantry and daring,-yet where are
the songs or where the prose in which they
have been heralded from the ocean to the back
woods, from the Aroostook to the Sacramentoi
At Bull Run, not regiment behaved more
bravely than the Maine Second. nor a repi-
mental officer more gallantly than our own
Jameson-who there won the spurs which he
has since so worthily worn-and yet out of
Maine but very little was said of either the
regiment or of its commander At Fair Oaks
Names sons behaved with a galantry that
should rebound to their everlasting honor.
There the intrepid lion-hearted yet truly
christian-spirited Howard, with the wrist of
his sword arm mangled and bleeding from the
effects of musket ball, still led on his col
umns, nor fatered single moment until that
same arm, upraised to beckon on his noble fol-
lowers in the midst Of a din and confusion Of
sounds which rendered his voice inaudble.
fell powerless by his side from another wound
above the elbow, which rendered amputation
necessary Our State has no reason to be
ashamed of her men or of but few of her Off
GERS. If some of the regiments have not
proved their metal it is only because they have
had no opportunity. 1t is believed that we
have as good material at New Orleans and
Ship Island as on the Potomac or the Savan-
nah. Maine is honorably represented in all
the graveyards of the battle-fields where her
sons have had opportunity TO display their
courage. If the States ofthe Great Northwest
have suffered more it is because their sons
have been submitted to severer tests and re-
quired 10 lace more fearful odds. The East
and the West win forever be linked closely
together, not only by the bonds of common
patriotism, but by a CORY chain of events of
common danger nobly met and gloriously
overcome. As We have already said, Maine has
no occasion TO feel ashamed of the record of
her sons, written, if not with ink in newspaper
columns at least in blood upon many we'll
contested field She will have not simply her
representatives scattered in unmarked graves,
on lonely plains in Virginia and other South
ern States, but her devoted sons will bear
about their full share of artificial limbs and
other painful mementoes of deeds of daring be-
fore which even stout hearts might be excused
for quaing. All honor to the patriotic officers
and soldiers of the Dirigo State.