Are you a local citizen with family ties dating back to the Civil War? Do you enjoy history, especially local Gorham history? Do you have old letters, stories, documents, pictures or old books/bibles that document local men who served and gave their lives for the Union?

The American Civil War resulted in the most military fatalities in U.S. history, with an estimated 698,000 soldiers killed, 57 of those were Gorham men. They were farmers, bankers, loggers and merchants. They were fathers, sons, husbands. Neighbors, friends, good men.

In 1866, a 24-foot Italian marble statue was erected in front of what was then the Gorham Town Hall to honor the men from Gorham who died during the war. That building is located on College Avenue and is now the USM Art Gallery. The construction of the monument was funded by Gorham citizen Toppan Robie. He donated $3,060 to the construction and wrote eloquently asking the town of Gorham to build the monument.

Each of the 57 Gorham men are memorialized on the statue with their name, unit, date of death, and location of their wounding or death. Much is known about some of these men, but only a small amount of information is known about most and almost nothing is known about a few.

In the fall of 2022, under the direction of Dr. Ashley Towle, assistant professor of history at the University of Southern Maine, a number of History Department students began working to increase that amount of information. In subsequent years, several students have researched and added to the known information about more men listed on the monument. Student researchers are documenting each soldier’s background and family, their wartime service, and their death’s effect on their family and community.

Dr. Towle and her students hope to share this information with the Gorham community and descendants of these men. To that end, USM history students have created a website where all of their research findings are available.

Please use this link to access this wonderful information.

If you have information about any of these Gorham heroes and would like to contribute and get involved, please contact Dr. Towle at ashley.towle1@maine.edu.