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Reading Paul LePage ~ the second letter

Writer's picture: Ray and Patricia EstabrookRay and Patricia Estabrook

As I said, in my previous post, I did not get any response to my letter. After waiting a couple of

weeks I sent this letter to the LePage campaign headquarters. I was hoping to get a reply before the convention.


April 29, 2022

Paul LePage

Candidate for Governor of Maine

Po Box 5308

Augusta, ME 04332


Dear Paul LePage:

Two weeks ago, I wrote to you and asked you to clarify remarks you made back in 2017 about Maine’s role in the Civil War.

You said, as a reminder, that, “7,600 Mainers fought for the Confederacy and they fought because they were concerned about, they were farmers and they were concerned about their land, and their property.”

While awaiting your reply I did some research of my own. It is common knowledge that Maine sent more soldiers and sailors per capita to fight for the Union than any other northern state. In all, at least 70,000 Mainers served, not counting hundreds or more civilians who served as nurses, doctors, relief workers or sutlers. This also does not take into account the massive effort at home to keep the troops supplied and aided in every way.

It seems to me that your figure of 7600 is significant, almost 10% of the documented total that served. Surely, we would have records of this very high number of Mainers who fought for the Confederacy.

I read that Jamie Rice of the Maine Historical Society said in an interview with The Hill, “There’s no way to say he’s right or wrong, but it’s not a number I’d go with.”

I would like you to clarify your comment. In particular, I would like to know how you arrived at this figure of 7600.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my inquiry.

Sincerely,

Raymond Estabrook


I did not receive any response to this letter and it was quite awhile before I had time to follow-up,. In fact, in was not until after the primaries, that I found the time to revisit this issue, as you will see.


In my last post we also discussed flags. This is the battle flag of the 13th Maine Infantry Regiment, one of the few state-wide regiments, recruited by temperance crusader, Neal Dow. It was also known as the temperance regiment. It served mostly in Louisiana and fought with distinction at the battle of Pleasant Hill in Arkansas, as part of the Red River campaign.




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