Nancy M. Burgess, pictured here, was the mother of two sons who fought in the Civil War. George Washington Burgess, volunteered for the 4th Maine Regiment Co. K in June of 1861 and remained with his regiment until 1863. William Austin Burgess, enlisted in February 1864 with the 59th Mass. Infantry Co. D. and died from wounds received six months later. Another son, Thomas Jefferson Burgess, was drafted in 1863 but was exempted due to a disability. Her youngest son, Albert Cargill Burgess, was a Second Lieutenant with Company B, one of the five Divisions organized in Belfast to enroll men into the ununiformed State Militia in 1862.

The embossed inscription on the decorative frame reads, "The Union Now And Forever."