“Afar they fell. It was the zone, of fig and orange, cane and lime (A land how all unlike their own, With the cold pine-grove overgrown), But still their Country's clime. And there in youth they died for her - The Volunteers, For Her went up their dying prayers: So vast the Nation, yet so strong the tie. What doubt shall come, then, to deter, The Republic's earnest faith and courage high.”

The 14th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment is the focus of the above poem, “On the Men of Maine” (Killed in the Victory of Baton Rouge, Louisiana) by Herman Melville.

One of those young Maine Volunteers, Private Francis Stanley, enlisted on December 14, 1861 and mustered into Company A of the 14^th Maine Volunteer Infantry on New Year’s Eve.  By early Spring, the 14^th was en route to Ship Island off the coast of Mississippi to join General Butler’s Department of the Gulf.  Hard service took them all over Louisiana, through the battles of Baton Rouge to Port Hudson, before being transferred to the Shenandoah to take part in the three largest engagements of the 1864 Valley Campaign.  Francis, however, took sick during the summer of 1864 with chronic diarrhea.  He underwent treatment but was furloughed to recover at his family home in Cranberry Isles, Maine.  Sadly, he passed on August 5^th at age 24, in the company of his parents.  His cause of death was listed as Chronic Diarrhea, though it was likely a symptom of Malaria or Typhoid Fever.  Francis was among 332 men of the 14^th Maine to die of disease or illness contracted while in the Deep South, in contrast to the 86 men lost to combat.

Francis’ ringed Philadelphia Depot Canteen is painted in a mourning theme – deep black with red and gold text and designs.  The paint is characteristic of the period given its age-related crazing and muted pigments.  It is coated with a thin layer of clear enamel, which is dulled in areas from age and display-related exposure.  All hand-painted text and designs remain very readable and show no appreciable wear or damage (“FRANCIS G. STANLEY / OF Co. A / 14 REGT. MAINE. / Vols.”  Very minor chipping of the painted finish is noted in small areas of the sling attachment bracket loops, the opening of the spout, and scattered areas of the reverse half. The center and spout attachment seams remain solid and the general integrity of the canteen is perfectly sound.

It is most likely the painting was done by Francis’ comrades or family to honor his memory, given the deep black color, the impracticality of removing the hardware to carefully apply the paint, and the subsequent wear a reattached cover and sling would impart on the finish over time.

A haunting artifact from the life and death of a young soldier in our Civil War.  [cm][ph:L]

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