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Elisha Coan collection

 Collection
Identifier: M036

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Scope and Content

Letters, documents, articles, clippings, photographs and other material (1831-1955, n.d.) relating to Coan and his career. Most of the collection relates to the Civil War, including a few Civil War era letters from Coan to his family, articles and reminiscences of the war years, and separate accounts of the action at Gettysburg written by Elisha Coan and Col. William C. Oates of the 15th Alabama. The collection also includes three letters and an article by Marion Coan, Elisha's daughter.

Dates

  • Creation: 1831-1955, undated
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1857 - 1869

Creator

Biographical/Historical Note

Elisha Coan (1843-1896), a native of Exeter, Maine, served in the Civil War in the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment (1862) and with the U.S. Army Signal Corps (1863-1865). After the war he returned to Maine and received his M.D. from the Medical School of Maine in 1870. He practiced medicine in Bradford (1870-1875), Garland (1875-1887), and Auburn, Maine (1887-1896), and served a year in the Maine Legislature (1885-1886). Coan married Mary Abbie Swett in 1871; they had two sons and two daughters. He died in Auburn in 1896.

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Letters, documents, articles, clippings, photographs and other material relating to Coan and his career, particularly during the Civil War.

Title
Guide to the Elisha Coan Collection
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine 04011 Repository

Contact:
3000 College Station
Brunswick Maine 04011 USA
(207) 725-3288