The Patriot News
The Newsletter of the Maine Military Historical Society
Volume 2, Issue 4
Maine Military Historical Society
www.mainemilmuseum.org
April - June 2012
A Word From The Chairman
33 State House Station – Camp Keyes
Augusta, Maine 04333-0033
Dear MMHS Members:
Officers
Chairman: MSG David B. Googins (Ret)
Secretary:
In the last addition of the newsletter I had mentioned that within the next
few years some major changes will take place at the museum.
Treasurer: Mrs. Soraya Umphrey
Board of Directors
BG Albert White Jr. (Ret)
Building 6, our current location, will be torn down. There are several
tentative plans on the table that keep the museum at Camp Keyes, but
none have been finalized at this point.
COL Donovan Lajoie (Ret)
Mr. Gary Burns
LTC Peter Ogden (Ret)
LTC Dwaine Drummond
MSG Daniel Masessa
CPO David Potter (Ret)
Mrs. Louise Dorr
Historical Advisor
Dr. Thomas Desjardins
Presidents Emeriti
MG Donald H. Marden (Ret)
BG Richard Tuttle (Ret)
Regardless where we move, we will need significant funds to renovate any
existing structure. These costs would increase should we have to purchase
a structure/property elsewhere.
As stated in the previous newsletter, this is why we need to earnestly begin
fundraising and solicit for donations over the course of the next several
years, to grow our membership, and to increase corporate sponsorship. We
desperately need you, our members, to rally around this cause and help.
Volunteer by serving on one of our committees or get involved with
fundraising. Ask how you can help.
The 2012 Heritage Tour has been finalized. The location will be House
Island and Fort Scammel in Casco Bay. This is a private island. The tour
will conclude with a lobster bake on House Island. More information and
sign up sheets will be posted on our website soon.
COL Donovan Lajoie (Ret)
Newsletter: MSG David Googins (Ret)
and
Curator:
We are also looking for some help in putting together our Annual
Meeting/Banquet. Please contact us if you are interested.
CW5 Ronald Roussel (Ret)
Inside This Issue
1
A Word From the Chairman
2
Membership
2
Ft Scammel & House Island
2
2012 Heritage Tour
3
New Members
3
Calendar of Events
Dave
3
Dates in Military History
4
Museum Continues to Educate
5
Plotting Boards
5
Annual Meeting
Newsletter 1
Membership
If you have not had a chance to renew your
membership, please do so. For convenience sake you
may renew online through our website or, if you prefer,
by check through the U.S. Mail.
For those who are Lifetime Members, we really need
your continued support. There are many members
who are Lifetime Members, which equates to no
revenue coming in.
We would like to ask each Lifetime Member to
consider making a donation, either a lump sum or
donating each month in what ever denomination is
comfortable. We need everyone’s support!
restricted the number of immigrants who could enter the
country. In November 1923, the ships President Polk
and George Washington were diverted from New York
City to Portland, and 218 immigrants from those ships
were quarantined at the station.
The island was considered "ideal" by immigration
officials. A Grand Trunk Railway station was located at
the docks in Portland, allowing easy rail access for
immigrants arriving in Portland. Additionally, William
Husband, Commissioner General of United States
Immigration, said the whole island was secure and "The
whole of House Island was available in that case,
instead of those detained being obliged to go out under
guard with only few patches of green grass upon which
they might set foot, as at some other places."
The 1920 brick detention barracks has been demolished,
but the original 1907 buildings remain, including the
doctor's house, the detention barracks, and the
quarantine hospital.
Fort Scammel & House Island
Henry A.S. Dearborn built Fort Scammel on the island
in 1808 as part of the national second system of
fortifications. It was named after Alexander Scammel,
Adjutant general of the Continental Army during the
American Revolutionary War, who was killed in action
during the Battle of Yorktown. The fort was designed
for harbor defense, with cannon batteries designed to
protect the main shipping channel into Portland
harbor, along with Fort Preble. In the 1840s–1870s, as
part of the national third system of fortifications, Fort
Scammel was modernized. Thomas Lincoln Casey,
known for his work on the Washington Monument
rebuilt the fort in 1862 at the time of the American Civil
War. Of all the forts in Casco Bay, Fort Scammel was
the only fort to fire a shot and be fired upon in battle, in
early August, 1813.
2012 Heritage Tour
This year the MMHS Heritage Tour will take place on 18
August. The tour will be to House Island and Fort
Scammel in Casco Bay.
Join us for a narrated boat tour as we venture out to the
island. Once there, participate in a guided tour of Fort
Scammel. Don’t forget to bring a flashlight!
Later, enjoy a lobster bake on House Island. Meal
includes Clam Chowder, the main course of Lobster,
Chicken or Veggie meal with Corn on the Cob, Cole
Slaw, Rolls, Drawn Butter, Potato Chips, House Island
Blueberry Cake, Iced Tea and Hot Coffee.
Sign up information will be posted on our website soon.
The island was later the site of an immigration
quarantine station from 1907 to 1937, and was
considered the 'Ellis Island of the North'. The
quarantine station was busiest in the early 1920s, after
the adoption of the Emergency Quota Act, which
Newsletter 2
Dates in Military History
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
THE MMHS WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME:
APRIL
1847 – American Troops under General Winfield Scott, defeated Mexican
forces under General Santa Anna at the Battle of Cerro Gordo during the
Mexican war.
1862 – Despite Great losses and unpreparedness General Grant defeated the
Confederates at the two-day battle of Shiloh, Tennessee.
1865 – Richmond, VA fell to union forces under Gen Grant.
1865 – General Robert e. Lee surrendered his remaining Confederate forces
to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA.
1945 – The German Army in Italy surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces.
1966 – The U.S. launched the first B-52 raids by planes based on Guam on
North Vietnamese infiltration points in the Mugia Pass near the North Vietnam
Laos boarder.
MAY
1846 – The U.S. declared war against Mexico.
CALENDAR
OF
EVENTS
1863 – Death at age 37 of LTG Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, CSA, at
Guiney’s Station, VA. He had begun to stabilize after losing an arm to gunfire
from his own men at Chancellorsville, but succumbed from pneumonia.
BOARD MEETINGS - 2012
1898 – First American Soldier (G.B. Meek) and naval officer (Ensign Worth
PLACE: MMHS MUSEUM
TIME: 4:00 PM, 18 APR, 9 MAY, 12 JUN, 12 SEP, 10, OCT, 14
Bagby) killed in the Spanish American War aboard the torpedo boat USS
Winslow during action at Cardenas, Cuba.
NOV
1942 – An American task force sailed from Honolulu, Hawaii, to defend
VOLUNTEER DAY – 2011 -2012
Midway Island from an anticipated Japanese naval and air attack.
PLACE: MMHS MUSEUM
1960 – U-2 spy plane flown by Francis Gary Powers over the USSR was shot
TIME: 4:00 PM, EVERY OTHER W EDNESDAY. SEE CALENDAR OF
down by Soviet missiles.
EVENTS AT WWW.MAINEMILMUSEUM.ORG FOR MORE INFO AND TO
1975 – USS Mayaguez, a merchantman, was captured by Cambodian naval
SIGN UP.
elements, but was rescued with its crew on the 15th.
2012 HERITAGE TOUR
JUNE
PLACE: FT SCAMMEL, HOUSE ISLAND
1865 – The American Civil war ended with the surrender of the last Southern
TIME: 18 AUGUST 2012
forces, led by Gen Edmund Kirby-Smith, at Shreveport, LA.
1942 – The first Launcher, Rocket AT, M-1, known as the Bazooka, was
ANNUAL MEETING/BANQUET - 2012
produced by GE of Bridgeport, CT.
PLACE: TBD
TIME: OCTOBER TBD
1942 – Japanese naval elements departed the home island of Hokkaido to
raid the Aleutian Islands off Alaska as a diversion from the main Japanese
Know of a special event? Please let us know so that we
can inform our membership.
attack planned for Midway Island.
1951 – The U.S. Eighth Army launched attacks against Chinese forces all
along the front lines in Korea, slowly driving the enemy back.
Newsletter 3
.
Museum Continues To Educate
By David Googins
On 11 January, Curator Ron Roussel conducted a tour
of the museum for 20 students from the Durham
Community School.
That’s right! The MMHS is now on Facebook! Stop
by and “Like” us!
The student’s assignment was to find out what soldiers
go through and why they do what they do. Assisting in
this assignment were two guest speakers, CSM Peter
Kelley of the 133rd Engineer Battalion and MSG
George Yanez of the 120th RSG.
Ron Roussel speaks to students from the Durham Community School
Both soldiers answered many questions from students
and shared their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The students provided many positive comments such
as “Thank you so much for sharing some of your
stories with us and also thank you for telling us what
soldiers do and why they do it.” Another commented
“Thank you for taking your time to be with us. It helped
me understand what it is like to be a soldier and what
you go through”.
Admin Note
Please be sure to keep us up to date. Send in any changes
CSM Kelley (left) and MSG Yanez speak to students
Other schools that have visited the museum in recent
months are:
to your address or email address. It’s important that we
Feb - Nakomis High School JROTC, Newport
Please drop an email to Tammy Googins at
Mar - St. Michaels School, Augusta
[email protected], or contact us at
Apr - Coastal Christian Academy, Waldoboro
www.manemilmuseum.org.
keep our records as current as possible.
Newsletter 4
In a seacoast firing battery, plotting boards were
located in the Plotting Room. Data from Base End
Stations and the Battery Commanders Station was
relayed to the plotting room where it was calculated
and triangulated and sent to the firing batteries. A
well trained battery could observe, plot, adjust, and
transmit the firing data to its guns, which could then
be loaded and laid on any target within its field of fire.
Plotting Boards of the Coast Artillery
Corps (CAC) (And a dedication to all
Coast Artillerymen who served in Maine)
By Dan Masessa
A recent acquisition to the MMHS has been two old
Coast Artillery Plotting Boards. These semi-circular
boards each measure approximately 3 inches thick by
10 feet long by 5 ½ feet deep and are very heavy. The
exact history of the plotting boards is unknown but
given the large presence of Coast Artillery in Portland
Harbor, it is safe to say they originated there.
The plotting boards are the type used from pre WW1
through the end of WW2. In their original configuration
the boards would have been affixed with scales, dials
and moveable arms that moved around the board to
plot targets. One of the boards is stripped of all
hardware while the other one still retains the original
brass inlay’s used for azimuth direction.
The addition of these two plotting boards to the
MMHS is a tremendous find for us. The fact that they
survived all these years is a true miracle. Hopefully,
at least one board will be part of a Coast Artillery
display in our (new) future museum. I would like to
dedicate this article to all the soldiers who served in
the Portland Harbor Defenses:
Companies 1 thru 13, Maine National Guard Coast Defense
Command, WW1. **
8th Coast Artillery Regiment, Regular Army, 1924-WW2. **
240th Coast Artillery Regiment, National Guard, 1923-WW2. **
542nd Coast Artillery Regiment, Organized Reserve, 1925-WW2. **
613th Coast Artillery Regiment, Organized Reserve, 1925-WW2. **
614th Coast Artillery Regiment, Organized Reserve, 1925-ww2.**
906th Coast Artillery Regiment, Regular Army, Inactive, 1930-WW2.
**
Plotting Board used to find a target.
Most plotting boards were semi-circular and could vary
from 110 degrees to 180 degrees with costal mortars
using a 360 degree board. The style of board used
depended on the type of seacoast firing battery (gun),
and whether it was fixed or mobile. Plotting boards
were just one element of a complex Fire Control
System. Other elements were Base End Stations,
Observers, Depression Finders; Range Finders just to
name a few.
While researching these plotting boards, I have found
reference to: The Fire Commanders Plotting Board,
The M1923 Plotting and Relocating Board (Cloke)*,
The M1 Plotting and Relocating Board and the M1904
Whistler-Hearn Plotting Board. A description of the
M1904 plotting board reads “Wooden board. The
wooden board is made up of 2” strips of well seasoned,
clear, white pine.” This description very closely
matches the construction of these boards.
Newsletter 5
*The Cloke Plotting and Relocating Board were
designed by Colonel Harold E. Cloke, C. A. C., in
1913, when that officer, then a Major, was stationed
at Fort Flagler in the Coast Defenses of Puget
Sound. He originally designed this board as a Fire
Commander's Identification Board while at Fort
Williams, Maine, in 1911. (The Coast Artillery
Journal, April, 1923)
** Source: The Coast Defense Studies Group,
http://www.cdsg.org/
Annual Meeting/Banquet
We are in the process of planning our Annual
Meeting/ Banquet for October.
In order to pull this off, we need volunteers to assist
in the planning and execution of this event.
At last years Annual Meeting, the membership stated
that they would like to see the banquet happen and
thought it was a worthwhile event.
Please help by volunteering your time. Contact us at
www.mainemilmuseum.org.
PLEASE
Letter From the Editor
VISIT OUR PREFERRED
VENDORS
We need Your Input!
As we get corporate sponsors, we will list these as preferred
places to shop.
We would like to ask all members for their personal
stories, histories, pictures or events that they would
like to have published within these pages. Maybe you
have a funny story about Annual Training or a story
about deployment or you would like to tell someone
else’s story.
Articles should be no more than 300 words. Any
photos submitted should be JPG or BMP.
Please submit any articles or comments to:
[email protected]
PRESORTED
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA, ME
PERMIT #114
33 State House Station – Camp Keyes
Augusta, ME 04333-0033
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Newsletter 6