One of Balkam’s letters was written from the battlefield near Petersburg, Va., site of the highest number of casualties in a single Civil- War engagement when 602 soldiers of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery were killed, wounded or captured in 10 minutes of fighting. Three weeks after General Lee and his confederate troops fled the 40-day siege of Petersburg, he surrendered at Appomatox, Va., thus ending the war.

Balkam survived the war and returned to Lewiston, where he was a pastor at the Congregational Church on Pine Street from 1855 to 1870. Balkam later received an honorary doctoral degree from Bates in 1867 and became the Cobb Professor of Logic and Christian Evidences at Bates from 1873-1874. Balkam, father of two sons and two daughters, died instantly on March 4, 1874, when he was thrown from his horse on his way to teach a class at Bates. The March 4, 1874 Lewiston Evening Journal obituary notes the horse that threw Balkam was purchased one year earlier, ruling out current speculation that this was the same horse that he rode for more than a year and a half during the war. After Balkam’s death, the editor of The Bates Student newspaper wrote: “His liberality of spirit and freedom from all forms of bigotry, combined with great earnestness of purpose, made him a very effective preacher.” Balkam was a graduate of Amherst College and the Bangor Theological Seminary.

Civil-War historian and Lewiston native Thomas A. Desjardin, author of Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign, perused transcriptions of the letters from his office in Gettysburg, Pa., and said the rare find at Bates College gives a glimpse into life from the battlefield. “What is so unusual is that they tell us Balkam obviously suffered from a serious kidney ailment, yet he was denied a disability leave,” he said. “Chaplains were non-combatant elements of Civil-War regiments and while they were spiritually essential during this highly religious period of history, they were not a physically important part of any regiment.”

Upon discovering the letters in mid June, construction workers hand delivered them to Kurt Kuss, special collections librarian at Bates, where the letters are now stored. Kuss had Bates work-study student Sean M. Monahan, a senior English major from North Brookfield, Mass., transcribe the letters. Monahan consulted with James Leamon, professor of history at Bates, for assistance in discerning the faded handwriting and frequent abbreviations in the letters. “I liked reading these details that are only available from primary-source research. It was a unique experience because of the context in which the letters were written,” said Monahan, who has been transcribing other archival documents and designing the Special Collections page for the Bates College Web site this summer. Monahan, who graduated from North Brookfield High School, is the son of Michael and Joyce Monahan of North Brookfield, Mass.

Contacts:
Civil-War historian Thomas A. Desjardin, 717-337-3211

Balkam survived the war and returned to Lewiston, where he was a pastor at the Congregational Church on Pine St. from 1855 to 1870. A graduate of Amherst College and the Bangor Theological Seminary, Balkam later received an honorary doctoral degree from Bates in 1867 and became the Cobb Professor of Logic and Christian Evidences at Bates from 1873-1874. He died on March 4, 1874, when he was thrown from his horse on his way to the college. After Balkam’s death, the editor of The Bates Student newspaper wrote: “His liberality of spirit and freedom from all forms of bigotry, combined with great earnestness of purpose, made him a very effective preacher.”

Kurt Kuss, special collections librarian at Bates, transcribed the letters and has a photograph of Balkam available to the press. In addition to historical information on the 16th Maine Regiment, Kuss has Balkam’s death notice and a lengthy article about Balkam that appeared in an 1874 issue of the college newspaper, The Bates Student. The transcriptions of the letters, articles and historical account are available from Kuss. A photograph of Balkam is available from the Office of College Relations.

Marcel Cyr, construction-site supervisor from Ouellet Associates in Brunswick, Maine, hand delivered the letters to Kuss. Cyr is available to discuss in specific detail how the letters were found in a second-floor wall that members of his crew were renovating.

Peter Fackler has been named vice president for financial affairs and treasurer at Bates College. Fackler was treasurer and vice president for business and finance at Alfred (N.Y.) University. He also held financial management positions at West Chester (Pa.) University and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He received a master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan and attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. Fackler, a member of the president’s staff, fills the position vacated by Bernard Carpenter, who retired from Bates this spring after 30 years of service to the college.

Czerny Brasuell has been named director of multicultural affairs and director of the multicultural center at Bates. Brasuell, who received a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, currently is on leave from doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has been an educator and administrator at Princeton University and a curriculum consultant in Haiti and Brazil. She is a steering committee member for the Racial Justice Working Group, a a national anti-racism network convened by the National Council of Churches.

Marc Glass ’88 has been named staff writer in the Office of Communications and Media Relations.  Glass is responsible for publicizing college events and faculty achievements. He also writes and takes photographs for various college publications, including the Bates magazine. He has been an English teacher at Jay High School and was the assistant director of communications at Colby College prior to joining the Bates staff.

Kurt Kuss, special collections librarian, is responsible for the selection, acquisition, processing and preservation of special collections materials, including rare books, photographs and the Batesiana collection of archival materials. Kuss received a master’s degree in library science from the University of Maryland and was special collections librarian at the National Agricultural Library.

Ann M. Parks has been named manager of design services in the Office of Communications and Media Relations. Parks, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, oversees the design studio, which is responsible for print and electronic publications. She also oversees the use of outside design resources. Parks owned and operated a design firm for five years in Lexington, Mass., and prior to that was director of publications at Phillips Academy, Andover.

Christina Wellington has been named assistant director of annual giving in the development office. Wellington, a 1994 Bates graduate, is responsible for young alumni giving, regional phonathons and assisting with direct-mail solicitations. She was education program coordinator at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, where she organized conferences, lecture series, tours and classes.