Of the two and a half million people who enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War, some 40,000 or so were French-Canadians, or Franco-Americans born in the US. An uncertain number of Confederate soldiers were also of Cajun, French or French-Canadian heritage, especially in Louisiana. It would be impossible to give a comprehensive […]
It’s the early hours of a December morning in 1837, and a group of men are riding hard through the forests of northern Vermont. Many miles behind them, in hot pursuit, are agents of the British government in Canada. Those fleeing are Louis-Joseph Papineau, leader of the Canadian Patriote Party, and a group of his […]
This year, bilingual campaigning seems to have come of age, with most of the candidates for the presidential nominations producing materials in both English and Spanish. It’s a recognition that the Latino vote is becoming increasingly important, as that population grows as a proportion of the electorate. The success of these efforts has varied somewhat […]
While I currently work for an Augusta-based non-profit, I spent four years as the Coordinator of the Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine. In 2015, I co-authored "The Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn," a general history of that population from 1850 to the present. I was also a consultant for the State Legislative Task Force on Franco-Americans in 2012. I live in Topsham with my wife and two young daughters.
