PORTLAND — The sacrifice of the first Portland resident to die in the Civil War was recognized Saturday in a ceremony at a granite monument in Eastern Cemetery on Munjoy Hill.
Sgt. Alonzo P. Stinson of the 5th Maine Regiment was only 19 when he died on July 21, 1861, in the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia.
It was the first major battle of the war and a serious defeat for the North, said Herb Adams, a local historian and former state representative, who organized Saturday’s noontime event.
Stinson’s body was never recovered. In 1908, his surviving comrades erected a monument in his memory following a citywide parade and ceremonies that included Gen. Joshua Chamberlain.
The monument, carved to resemble a Civil War backpack and blanket roll, stands in the cemetery near Congress Street and Washington Avenue.
A few dozen people, including war reenactors and veterans, withstood Saturday’s heat to attend the ceremony.
Speakers included Adams, Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth and Kim MacIsaac, director of the 5th Maine Regiment Museum on Peaks Island.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree sent her regards for the first of many events that will mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
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