Biddeford History & Heritage Project

The Civil War impacted the citizens of Biddeford in many ways. Economically the city faced a huge debt crisis during these years, and many citizens refused to pay the tax assessments imposed by the city government in desperation to raise money. Citizens were also divided about the war, the Union, the Republican party and the Lincoln administration.

However, Biddeford was a growing city (by 1866 the third largest in the state) and a source of manpower for the military; hundreds of Biddeford men were drafted or volunteered to serve in the war. Women and men who remained in the city started a Soldier Relief Society, and supplies were sent to sick and infirmed soldiers in Washington, D.C.

Although no Civil War battles were fought in Maine, the war was felt here just the same, in social and economic ways. Views about slavery were brought to the forefront of society, and in Biddeford, this was most famously captured when Frederick Douglass was denied entry to speak at a local church.

This incident led to the formation of the Pavilion Society, an Abolitionist group which separated from the Second Congregational (or "White") Church, and formed its own, more liberal, organization.

The Pavilion Congregational Church lived on through the turn of the century, and would later became home to McArthur Public Library, named after Robert McArthur, a veteran who served with the Third Regiment Heavy Artillery, Massachusetts Volunteers.

The Soldier Relief Society was one way in which women in the area were able to assist in the war effort. The Society sent many items to the sick and injured Maine soldiers in Washington, D.C. An article in the local newspaper stated what the Biddeford citizens gathered: "Supplies sent, 17 pairs of woolen drawers [underwear], 17 woolen shirts, 15 woolen socks, 18 handkerchiefs, 8 papers corn starch, 2 bottles of jelly, 1 bottle tamarinds [plants with a wide variety of medicinal uses, including stomach & digestive illness, fever, bacterial and other infections, and many more], books and pamphlets."

For those back at home, the local newspapers featured front page updates on the war, and what was happening on the battlefront. Local citizens were able to read daily about the battles, with grimly detailed accounts of what was happening to their friends, family and neighbors in places like Vicksburg, Manassas, and Gettysburg.

Starting in 1861-62 the city appropriated a Soldier's Fund. A bounty of $300 was paid the family of each volunteer, to replace the lost wages while the soldier was away fighting. As the war progressed, cities and towns were given quotas for recruiting soldiers, either for 1 year or 3 year stints of service.

If the quotas were not fulfilled, drafts were initiated. Men with money could pay bounties so that others would serve in their place; this system was the cause of riots in other parts of the country, notably New York City.

The newpapers would also have lists of the missing, dead and captured soldiers. They would list the soldier's name, rank and hometown. This was how families would find out whether their loved ones would return home in one piece, if at all.

However patriotic a citizen might be, the realities of soldiering were not glamorous. A fully armed soldier carried about 7 pounds of ammunition. His cartridge box contained 40 rounds, and an additional 60 rounds might be conveyed in the pocket if an extensive battle was anticipated. The chance of surviving a wound in the Civil War days was 7 to 1.

Despite these statistics, the men of Maine dutifully served; about 70,000 Mainers served the U.S. as soldiers and sailors. The City Annual Report for 1865-66 states that over the course of the war Biddeford “furnished over 1,000 men, all requisitions for soldiers being cheerfully and promptly met, and paid in bounties about $150,000.”

The end of the war was a great relief to the city and her citizens. The anticipation of a return to normalcy was sweet. In 1866 Mayor Charles A. Shaw wrote: “[...] let us rejoice that our record stands clear; that good old Biddeford stands to-day where she always stood, a bright and shining light in the East. Although that light has sometimes become dim by the neglect of those who have sat in her watch towers, it has never yet fairly gone out.”