2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment

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2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Augustus farnham 2nd Maine Volunteer.jpg

1st Lt. Augustus Farnham and Capt. Frederick Meinicke
active June 15, 1861 to July 19, 1864
Country United States of America
Armed forces union
Branch of service infantry
Strength 1228

The 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry - regiment of the United States Army during the American Civil War .

period of service

The regiment was mustered in Bangor, Maine and formed on May 28, 1861 for two years. The regiment was the first to march to the front from Maine and was celebrated by the locals when it left home.

In total, it took part in eleven battles before it was decommissioned on June 9, 1863, also in Bangor, Maine. Among other things, the regiment took part in the first and second battles at Bull Run , where it was the last regiment to leave the battlefield. It suffered its heaviest losses in the Battle of Fredericksburg .

The first regimental commander was Col. Charles Davis Jameson , a timber merchant from Old Town, Maine , who was later promoted to brigadier general. He died of an injury and the fever that followed during the war. He was succeeded by Colonel Charles W. Roberts from Bangor, who was killed in the Second Battle of Bull Run. The last regimental commander was Colonel George Varney.

The regiment's assistant surgeon was Augustus Choate Hamlin, a nephew of Vice President Hannibal Hamlin . After the war, he wrote books about the Andersonville POW camp and the Battle of Chancellorsville . Quartermaster Sergeant Luther H. Pierce became a successful timber merchant after the war and later paid for the erection of a memorial in honor of the Second Maine Regiment at Mount Hope Cemetery.

On July 28, 1862, the 2nd Maine still had 257 soldiers available. After the second battle at Bull Run, only 137 men were able to fight.

When the regiment was finally retired on June 9, 1863, many people gathered to celebrate the return of the soldiers. The ceremony was held at Norumbega Hall in Maine. All in all, a total of 1,228 men served in 2nd Maine, 275 of whom were still fit for duty at the time of discharge.

Another 120 soldiers, who were drafted for three instead of two years, were placed under the 20th Maine Volunteer Regiment immediately before the Battle of Gettysburg after the regiment was dissolved . Many soldiers protested the rendition, believing they were only signed up for the Second Maine Regiment. Ultimately, however, only 3 soldiers refused to join the 20th Maine Regiment.

Participated in combat during the American Civil War

losses

A total of 69 men died in combat or succumbed to their injuries. In addition, 15 soldiers were executed for mutiny and another 70 died as a result of illness. According to the History of Penobscot County, Maine , 47 soldiers were killed or injured in the fighting related to the first battle of Bull Run. More than 100 were missing.

Sub-units of the regiment

  • Company A - Bangor Light Infantry
  • Company B - Castine Light Infantry
  • Company C - Brewer Artillery
  • Company D - Milo Artillery
  • Company E - Bangor Company
  • Company F - Bangor Company
  • Company G - Bangor Tigers
  • Company H - Gymnasium Company
  • Company I - Grattan Guards
  • Company K - Old Town Company

swell

Additional information