While the image of coastal Maine today is beaches and fishing, by the 1840s Saco was part of the emerging New England textile industry complex. The Saco River provided water power and the railroad arrived in Saco in 1842 providing easy transportation to regional and national markets. Industrialization and immigration increased Saco’s population by approximately 60% between 1840 and 1860.
Saco’s Civil War monument was erected on a small park at the intersection of Main St. and Beach St. and dedicated in 1907 on Memorial Day, The front of the statue says “Erected to the Memory of the Country’s Defenders 1775-1865,” tying together the Revolutionary War founders of the country and the Civil War defenders of the same United States.
Although the monument does not mention the Civil War, the obverse contains Lincoln’s words from his Second Inaugural Address: “With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,” clearly identifying the monument with the reunification of the nation.
The statue is titled Victory Crowning The Returned Soldier. While the modern visitor sees the Goddess Victory honoring the soldier, at the dedication John Haley, a Civil War veteran of the Maine 17th Volunteer Infantry Regiment said in his dedication address, “I must pay tribute to the women of this nation, one of whom is represented on this monument. She is here by design…through all the war she never faltered in her devotion to the flag…at home, in camp, yea, even in the battle field.”
The Goddess of Victory holds a United States flag and she is crowing the soldier with a laurel wreath of victory. The soldier is dressed in the uniform of a Union private, showing the common soldier as the reuniter of the country.
Note: All photos by Patrick Young. Sorry, it was raining which led to a few spots on my lens!
