{"id":25,"date":"2021-04-26T10:09:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T14:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/?page_id=25"},"modified":"2021-05-24T07:57:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T11:57:00","slug":"your-choice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/your-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballad of the 20th Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"n3VNCb\" src=\"http:\/\/mainebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mills_cuddy_ballad-1900x700_c.jpg\" alt=\"New state ballad honors 20th Maine, despite pro-Confederate objections | Beacon\" data-noaft=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In 2019, almost a century after Maine adopted its state song \u201cThe State of Maine Song,\u201d and seven years after the state adopted its state march \u201cThe Dirigo March,\u201d Governor Janet Mills signed into legislation a bill which made \u201cThe Ballad of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine\u201d the official state ballad of Maine. The ballad was written by Griffin Sherry, a member of the Maine-based folk band The Ghost of Paul Revere.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ballad of the 20th Maine\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kuvORvF04zQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ballad of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine\u201d tells the story of Andrew Tozier, a member of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Beginning with his early life in Lichfield, Maine, the song follows him as a runaway teenager before he joins the Union army. The rest of the song focuses on Tozier\u2019s role in the 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine\u2019s iconic last stand at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg. Tozier, by that point injured, was the colors-bearer for the regiment, and thus \u201calone I stood with colors, flying proud and true, for to let my northern brothers know the battle was not through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Representative Scott Cuddy introduced the bill to recognize the song as Maine\u2019s state ballad as a way to both recognize Maine musicians and to commemorate the sacrifice of Maine\u2019s men who fought in the Civil War. The bill ended up passing unanimously in both chambers, but did face some initial objection in the State and Local Government Committee from two Republican representatives. Rep. Frances Head thought that the pro-Union message would be insulting to the South, while Rep. Roger Reed praised the confederate cause, saying that \u201cMany of them were great Christian men on both sides. They fought hard and they were fighting for states\u2019 rights as they saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While these comments were made by a minority group which had no effect on the final passing of the bill, they prompt an important discussion about controversy and commemoration. Even recognizing the smallest and most insignificant audience reactions to controversial pieces of commemoration can give great insight. The internet has given us access to reactions that we could never have from the past\u2014for example, Andrew Gockel of Jefferson, Maine. Wrote on twitter that \u201cRep. Scott Cuddy of Maine is partaking too much of mind-altering drugs\u201d in response to Cuddy\u2019s initial bill proposal.<\/p>\n<p>These reactions\u2014both from elected officials and Twitter commentators\u2014tell us about the state of our country and its position on commemoration of our own dark past. In an era when Confederate monuments are at the forefront of thought, it\u2019s unfortunately difficult to be surprised that legislators are arguing that the Civil War was fought solely about \u201cstates\u2019 rights.\u201d As the country grapples with how to commemorate our history, reactions to new commemorations can reveal the truth about where we are\u2014which is perhaps much less far along than we might think if we ignored the controversy<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>@Andrew_from_Jef (Andrew Gockel). \u201cRep. Scott Cuddy of Maine is partaking too much of mind-altering drugs.\u00a0 =\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Should this Ghost of Paul Revere song be Maine\u2019s new state ballad?\u00a0 https:\/\/t.co\/p9sPsL3UTK\u201d Twitter, 12 Apr 2019, 6:43 a.m. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrew_from_jef\/status\/1116653181738672128?s=21\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrew_from_jef\/status\/1116653181738672128?s=21<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Burnham, Emily. \u201cPortland folk trio\u2019s song named official Maine state ballad,\u201d Bangor Daily News, 7 Jun 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/bangordailynews.com\/2019\/06\/07\/news\/portland-folk-trios-song-named-official-maine-state-ballad\/\">https:\/\/bangordailynews.com\/2019\/06\/07\/news\/portland-folk-trios-song-named-official-maine-state-ballad\/<\/a>. Accessed 23 May 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Leary, Mail. \u201cListen: Maine Now Has An Official State Ballad,\u201d Maine Public Radio, 7 Jun 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mainepublic.org\/politics\/2019-06-07\/listen-maine-now-has-an-official-state-ballad\">https:\/\/www.mainepublic.org\/politics\/2019-06-07\/listen-maine-now-has-an-official-state-ballad<\/a>. Accessed 23 May 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Tipping, Mike. \u201cNew state ballad honors 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine, despite pro-Confederate objections,\u201d Maine Beacon, 7 Jun 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/mainebeacon.com\/new-state-ballad-honors-20th-maine-despite-pro-confederate-objections\/\">https:\/\/mainebeacon.com\/new-state-ballad-honors-20th-maine-despite-pro-confederate-objections\/<\/a>. Accessed 23 May 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; In 2019, almost a century after Maine adopted its state song \u201cThe State of Maine Song,\u201d and seven years after the state adopted its state march \u201cThe Dirigo March,\u201d Governor Janet Mills signed into legislation a bill which made \u201cThe Ballad of the 20th Maine\u201d the official state ballad of Maine. The ballad was &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/your-choice\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Ballad of the 20th Maine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/classics-2238-spring-2021-jbutler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}