During the middle decades of the 19th century the state of Maine was one of the most important in the nation. Her forests provided wood for building, fuel, and paper products; her mills produced textiles, shoes, and many other consumer goods; her shipwrights were known as "shipbuilders to the world." Blessed with a long coastline dotted with many deep harbors, her coastal towns became centers of commerce, trading with ports throughout the world. Maine people also made their mark on the national political stage. Hannibal Hamlin, Lincoln's first vice-president, and William Pitt Fessenden, an influential senator who served as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, were among those who represented Maine during that crucial time.

At home Maine's small but vocal abolitionist organizations kept the issue of slavery in the public eye. Although they differed in their approach to eliminate slavery, each agreed that slavery was a moral wrong in conflict with the law of God and the United States constitution. The publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1851 served to reinforce the abolitionists' beliefs and helped to raise awareness of the evils of slavery among the American public.

The outbreak of hostilities in April 1861 prompted Maine men and women to volunteer their services in defense of the Union in every possible way. About 70,000 men served as soldiers and sailors. An untold number of men and women served as nurses, doctors, relief workers, and spies at home and on the field of battle. Some of the Union's most successful officers were Maine born and bred, among them Oliver Otis Howard and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

Much has been written about the Civil War in the southern states - the battles, the principal players, the effect of war upon the civilian population. Although far from the actual fighting, Maine and her citizens were equally affected. A large number of her men did not return home. Her vessels and coastal trade were devastated by the Confederate navy. Her economy suffered.

The final chapter of Maine's part in the Civil War has yet to be written. But some historians believe that the American Civil War began and ended in Maine. Mrs. Stowe was a resident of Brunswick, Maine when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin; Joshua Chamberlain, also a resident of Brunswick, accepted the surrender of General Lee's Confederate army at Appomattox.