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Would you be surprised to learn that Dorsetâs sole Civil War sharpshooter was actually from East Dorset?
Harvey Brophy was a resident of East Dorset when he enlisted in the Grand Army of the Potomac in December 1861. He was born into a farming family, the son of Patrick Brophy, who had immigrated here from Ireland.
It was through the service in the Civil War by young men like Harvey that the Irish came to be seen as âone of usâ Americans, and less as immigrant newcomers.
Almost everybody called themselves a farmer in our pre-Civil War history. Even Ira Cochran, the wealthiest man in all of Dorset, labeled himself âfarmerâ on the US Census worksheets.