Civil War and Reconstruction Resources in Special Collections & Archives

Carved by a rebel soldier, this cane has the names of 11 Confederate officers, at least 8 of them generals, twined along the shaft. The head of the cane, plainly added later, bears the stars and stripes and the Union eagle.

"Pieces of the flag staff at the Marshall House Alexandria, from which poor Coe Edsmith drew down the Secession flag the moment before his death: cut by me, August, 1861. C.P. Chandler, 1st Man [sic] Infantry."

The centennial of the formal surrender of Confederate forces was marked at Bowdoin on April 12, 1965, with a lecture in Pickard Theater about Chamberlain’s act of reconciliation at Appomattox and with a special library exhibit of memorabilia relating to his life. In addition to these events, Bowdoin President James S. Coles dedicated a plaque in memory “…of the Bowdoin men who served with the Confederate forces 1861-1865.” Coles said at the time: “We are gathered this evening in Memorial Hall, dedicated to the Bowdoin men who fought…for the preservation of the Union. Other Bowdoin men, led by conscience or circumstances unknown to us, saw fit to espouse the cause of the Confederacy.” On August 19, 2017, the College relocated the Confederate memorial plaque from Memorial Hall to Special Collections & Archives.

This book drifted ashore at Port Royal, S.C., from a wrecked rebel gun boat in1864