Sep. 19—William Laird’s grave sits in a copse of trees, down an unmarked dirt road in Berwick, overlooking hayfields he worked during the first half of the 19th century.
Laird’s marble tombstone, once forgotten for generations, lays flat, alone and broken into two pieces. It rests on a bed of red pine spills, under two small American flags.
Not much is known about him for certain, other than the U.S. Army executed Laird for desertion at Fort Preble in South Portland in the summer of 1863.
At the time of his death, Laird was thought of as a coward who got what he deserved after abandoning his comrades and shirking his patriotic duty. Today, thanks to contemporary writers and historians, he’s largely remembered as a tragic victim of bullying who had an intellectual disability and was caught up in the cruel machinery of war.
