Tag Archives: Elihu Washburne

Israel Washburn Jr. steps down as Maine’s first war-time governor

Late on Monday, January 5, 1863, a weary Governor Israel Washburn Jr. walked from his office to the Executive Council Chamber located elsewhere in the Maine State House in Augusta. But Washburn likely gave little thought to such concerns tonight. As he approached the Executive Council Chamber’s rosewood doors, the bespectacled and diminutive Washburn exchanged […]

Elihu Washburne’s brother blockades the bayous

The Civil War term “blockade duty” invokes stirring imagery of Navy warships prowling off Southern ports as lookouts strain to detect well-camouflaged Southern blockade runners sneaking past at night or during murky weather. Place names like Charleston, Mobile, and Wilmington come to mind. But Brashear City? Where the heck was that? Over in Louisiana, on […]