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A Shower of Stars: The Medal of Honor and the 27th Maine
Traces the stormy history of the Medal of Honor through the solving of a "mystery" that surrounded the 28th Maine and the barrelful of medals it received in 1865.
- GenresCivil War
269 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
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October 16, 2024
A Shower of Stars: The Medal of Honor and the 27th Maine by John J. Pullen
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Since the Medal of Honor’s inception in 1862, there have been 3517 Medal of Honor recipients in the United States. In this book we learn the history behind the creation of the MOH during the civil war and the bizarre story of the 27th Maine regiment, a nine month unit from York county whose every member received the Medal of Honor (864 in total) by a fluke in the wording of the law passed to create the medal. The 27th Maine was awarded the Medal of Honor because secretary of war Stanton needed the regiment to extend their term of service to defend Washington, of which only 300 or so members agreed to stay (it only ended up being a few days extra service) and Stanton offered to award the regiment with the Medal of Honor for extending their service. The Medal of Honor was so new at the time it did not carry the same meaning as it does today and did not carry the same honor. The reader takes a long strange trip through the past all the way from the civil war till 1917 when the medals were rescinded by the war department. The author attempts to track down the medals themselves which also disappeared and were never fully dispersed to the regiment because of their Colonel Mark Wentworth who didn’t think it right for all of the men to receive the decoration since only 300 or so of the soldiers actually stayed and extended their service out of the 854 that served in total. It is said that the colonel hid the remaining 500 or so medals in his barn attic in Kittery, Maine for years to avoid handing out medals to those whose were undeserved of them. The author unfortunately never finds the medals which seem to have been lost to history. A fascinating read which although written in the 1960’s is still highly readable today.
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#medalofhonor #civilwar #civilwarhistory #read #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #maine #27thmaine #moh #military #militaryhistory
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Since the Medal of Honor’s inception in 1862, there have been 3517 Medal of Honor recipients in the United States. In this book we learn the history behind the creation of the MOH during the civil war and the bizarre story of the 27th Maine regiment, a nine month unit from York county whose every member received the Medal of Honor (864 in total) by a fluke in the wording of the law passed to create the medal. The 27th Maine was awarded the Medal of Honor because secretary of war Stanton needed the regiment to extend their term of service to defend Washington, of which only 300 or so members agreed to stay (it only ended up being a few days extra service) and Stanton offered to award the regiment with the Medal of Honor for extending their service. The Medal of Honor was so new at the time it did not carry the same meaning as it does today and did not carry the same honor. The reader takes a long strange trip through the past all the way from the civil war till 1917 when the medals were rescinded by the war department. The author attempts to track down the medals themselves which also disappeared and were never fully dispersed to the regiment because of their Colonel Mark Wentworth who didn’t think it right for all of the men to receive the decoration since only 300 or so of the soldiers actually stayed and extended their service out of the 854 that served in total. It is said that the colonel hid the remaining 500 or so medals in his barn attic in Kittery, Maine for years to avoid handing out medals to those whose were undeserved of them. The author unfortunately never finds the medals which seem to have been lost to history. A fascinating read which although written in the 1960’s is still highly readable today.
.
.
#medalofhonor #civilwar #civilwarhistory #read #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #maine #27thmaine #moh #military #militaryhistory
Displaying 1 of 1 review