Memorial Day was begun in 1868 to honor soldiers killed in the Civil War, and since then 73 statues, granite shafts and cannons have been erected around Maine.

They stand in town squares, parks and cemeteries. They honor both Union and Confederate fighters. They have been altered in ways that would appall their designers. And some carry offbeat stories that are part of local lore.

York has the Civil War memorial with a Confederate soldier on top. Rumor has it that a town in Georgia mistakenly mounted York’s Union soldier on its memorial.

In Lewiston’s Kennedy Park stands what is believed to be the first public statue in Maine dedicated to the Civil War. Erected in 1868, it shows a Union soldier flanked on four sides by plaques commemorating those who died.

The statue was created by Franklin Simmons, a Lisbon-area native, and the design was widely copied. Civil War monuments throughout New England look just like it, according to Maine historian Herb Adams.

When the statue was unveiled, it faced southwest. Now it faces northeast, the result of a mistake apparently made after the statue was removed temporarily for cleaning.

It might seem like a minor detail, but not to Simmons.

After the Longfellow statue was dedicated in Portland, he wrote that “the face of the statue that is turned toward the north is never so well placed as the one placed in the opposite direction. The face is in shadow most of the time.”

There’s a similar problem in Canton, where a Civil War statue was dedicated in 1910. The tall granite solider was installed facing south, toward the Confederate enemy, said Bob Stevens of the Canton Historical Society.

But during the 1960s, road crews repositioned the statue to face drivers passing to the east. Some still want it rotated back.

“We have a couple of veterans that are upset. They think it should be moved back to face the south,” Stevens said.