THESE THREE FEROCIOUS LOOKING GENTLEMEN ARE CIVIL WAR ARMY CHAPLAINS - REVERENDS M. J. KELLEY OF THE 6TH MAINE INFANTRY, COLLAMORE PURINGTON OF THE 7TH MAINE AND H. PERKINS OF THE 9TH MAINE. A STERN GLARE FROM ANY OF THESE PARSONS WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE DETERRED THE TROOPS FROM PLAYING CARDS, WHISTLING AT GIRLS, OR BREAKING ANY COMMANDMENTS - AT LEAST UNTIL THEY WERE OUT OF SIGHT OF THE GRIM CLERGYMEN!

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, SENT FIVE FACSIMILE COPIES OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO THE GOVERNOR OF MAINE, AS WELL AS TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE OTHER STATES. A NOTATION READS THAT TWO OF THESE COPIES WERE DESTINED FOR EACH OF MAINE'S TWO COLLEGES - BOWDOIN AND WATERVILLE (LATER CALLED COLBY) COLLEGES.

ANOTHER NAME CHANGE! IN 1828, WINBORNE ADAM WIGGINS JAMESON, COMPLAINING THAT HIS NAME "IS AS LONG, CUMBERSOME & USELESS AS AN OLD FASHIONED QUEUE" (PIGTAIL) PETITIONED THE LEGISLATURE TO CHANGE HIS NAME TO "CHARLES." WE CAN HOPE HE ENJOYED A LIFE THEREAFTER AS PLAIN OLD CHARLIE JAMESON. SEE IF YOU CAN MAKE OUT HIS OTHER REASONS FOR GETTING RID OF HIS STRING OF ORIGINAL NAMES.

LOOKING DOWN ON WATER STREET, AUGUSTA, IN THE 1930s OR EARLY '40s. YOU CAN MAKE OUT THE OLD, NOW DEMOLISHED, RAILROAD STATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL ON THE LEFT. IN THOSE DAYS, WATER STREET WAS THRIVING AS THE ONLY BUSINESS DISTRICT IN TOWN, WITH NEARLY ALL STORES, DOCTORS' AND LAWYERS' OFFICES, RESTAURANTS AND MOVIE THEATERS LOCATED ALONG THE STREET. YOU ALSO HAD TO DRIVE RIGHT THROUGH WATER STREET TO CROSS THE ONE BRIDGE ACROSS THE KENNEBEC RIVER. FOR ALL THESE REASONS, TRAFFIC WAS USUALLY VERY HEAVY, AS IT IS IN THIS VIEW.

THE RUSSIANS ARE HERE! DURING THE 1870s, THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL NAVY PAID A COURTESY VISIT TO VARIOUS PORTS IN THE UNITED STATES. AT LEAST ONE RUSSIAN VESSEL CAME TO MAINE, AND ITS VISIT MUST HAVE COINCIDED WITH THE ANNUAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE POST-CIVIL WAR STATE MILITIA. THE RUSSIAN NAVAL OFFICERS, IDENTIFIED BY THEIR WHITE CAPS, ARE POSED HERE WITH MAINE MILITIA OFFICERS WHO ENTERTAINED THEM. THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN BY AN OLD TOWN PHOTOGRAPHER, AND THE EVENT PROBABLY TOOK PLACE IN THE BANGOR AREA.