Tag Archives: Governor Israel Washburn Jr.

A legal beagle recruits for the wrong regiment

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Did a Bangor attorney recruit a company for the wrong regiment? In late summer 1861 Gen. Benjamin F. Butler convinced President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that they needed more pro-war Democrats commanding volunteer regiments. Loyal state governors (mostly Republicans after the 1860 election) overwhelmingly commissioned Republican officers, and War Democrats needed […]

Chamberlain an officer? You gotta be kidding me!

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As the 16th Maine Infantry slowly coalesced at August in summer ’62, the War Department asked Maine to raise three additional infantry regiments. Each would number around 1,000 men, plus 35-37 officers (if you counted the surgeon and assistant surgeon). Sitting at a desk in Brunswick on Monday, July 14, the 33-year-old professor of modern […]