– June 22, 1864 –
Under the direct supervision of Major General George G. Meade, Union forces pushed outward from their lines to strike the Weldon Railroad during the opening days of the Siege of Petersburg. This aggressive maneuver marked a crucial shift in Union strategy, moving away from swift battlefield victories toward a brutal campaign of economic strangulation. Among the regiments caught in the chaotic, heavily wooded terrain was the 19th Maine Infantry, which suffered devastating losses as Confederate forces launched a fierce counterattack.
During the desperate fighting, Corporal Perham S. Heald (shown) of Company A was captured and thrown into the nightmare of the Southern military prison system. Survival in camps like Andersonville was a statistical miracle, defined by rampant disease, starvation, and a complete lack of shelter. Heald’s post-war portrait in his Grand Army of the Republic uniform is more than a simple commemorative photo; it is a testament to the sheer resilience of a man who survived both the bullets of the front line and the slow horror of wartime captivity.
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