A thirty-five year old coastal Maine resident, ship master, Freeman McGilvery found himself in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil when the American Civil War opened with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Upon the sea captain’s return to Maine he became the prime mover in the raising of the 6th Maine Battery 1st Maine Mounted Artillery and would enter the war with the rank of Captain in command of his soon to be hard fought 6th Maine Battery. Captain McGilvery would leave his home state of Maine with a shiny new bugle that would soon carry notes of direction in the din of battle artillery fire. Now deeply tarnished by time and battered by the rigors of war, the presentation inscription on the brave artillery commander’s little bugle remains: