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.”
