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Frock Coat And Flag: Union Soldier Markers In Central Maine, Kimberly Sawtelle

Kimberly J. Sawtelle

The Frock Coat and Flag motif of gravestone is a short-lived memorial theme borne from a compressed period of American history. The horrors, tragedy, and impact of the U.S. Civil War on American civilians and a lack of a comprehensive plan by the U.S. Congress to provide means or methods to bury and mark the graves of soldiers who died in service contributed to the manifestation of a portrait-style grave marker used by families in a relatively compact geographic region of central Maine between 1861 and 1864.