Well My Ancestor was in the 12th Maine!!!

This comes from the Gospel Banner in Augusta, Maine dated August 27, 1864.

“The oddest pets we have yet seen, says a Washington paper, were two bears, which the 12th Maine Regiment, of the Nineteenth Corps, led through the city recently. These bears were brought all the way from Louisiana, and have been in several fights. The have become perfectly tame and tractable, and march along at the head of the band, with an air that indicates they feel themselves veteran soldiers of the bruin order, and that they have a character to sustain.”

Just shows you never know what you might find when you are doing research.