Hello,

I was just mentioning in another post that my great-great-grandfather, Joseph KIDDER, fought in the Civil War. His family was from Calais and Princeton, Maine. He seems to be the only brother out of 4 brothers who did fight in the War. Don't know why. He was in the 9th Infantry, I believe, and his unit was sent to Florida to fight. Specifically he was at Fort Fernandina, FL, where he was seriously wounded. A "bullet" went right through his shoulder. He survived and was able to return to Maine.

I've never been able to come across a picture of "Joe" KIDDER in his Civil War uniform. We have a few pictures of him but only taken a few years before he died ~1915. He was "remembered" in Princeton, ME, a few yrs. ago, but I've not been able to obtain a copy of the newspaper report about that ceremony.

I just looked on-line for information on Civil War uniforms about Maine, and came across this web site:

http://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/903/page/1314/pr...


Approximately 73,000 Mainers served in the Union Army and Navy during the war, the highest figure in proportion to population of any northern state.


Maine saw huge peace demonstrations, including a gathering of about 15,000 in Dexter, and along the border draft dodging was widespread; Aroostook County's forests became a thoroughfare for "skedaddelers."


The Civil War vexed the shipping industry with rising prices, tight money, and a general decline in cargo shipping, but in fact it simply hastened a long-term trend already evident by the mid 1850s.

....

Actually, "Joe" had an older brother, "John" KIDDER, who the KIDDER book says "loved the sea" and "drowned at sea" in 1887. There has never been any mention, or indication, as to whether John (born 1830's Maine) was ever in the Navy. And, I should say they had a brother, Charles KIDDER, who died during the 1860's but probably from an "epidemic" ravaging northern Maine at that time. He also lost his new wife, and a teen-age sister. We don't know why James "Calvin" KIDDER did not fight in the War.

Don't forget the information about KIDDER soldiers in the "KIDDER web site" ..

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kidderfami...

(By the way, the KIDDER book has Joe KIDDER's wife as Clara WILSON. But the 1860's census records has her as one of 10 children of George Freeman WILKINS, and granddaughter of Samuel WILKINS, both of Maine.)


Betty (near Lowell, MA)


P.S. The other surnames on this same branch of my family-tree are WILKINS, RICE, HUTCHINSON, CROSBY, and possibly BANCROFT, etc. And, they were either too young, too old, or just did not fight in the Civil War.