ABSTRACT
Lying in an unmarked grave in Portland, Maine, are the mortal remains of one of the most important figures of the American Civil War, Senator William Pitt Fessenden. Historians have generally ignored or distorted his role during the Civil War and, especially, the Reconstruction. But no such fate has befallen the famous crusader against slavery, Senator Charles Sumner: his toga-clad bust, opposite Lincoln’s, greets visitors in the grand entrance hall to the U.S. Senate gallery, and his serene, majestic presence watches over Harvard Square.
