Adelbert Ames

Adelbert Ames

Adelbert Ames (born October 31, 1835 in Rockland , Knox County , Maine , † April 12, 1933 in Ormond Beach , Florida ) was a general in the US Army in the American Civil War and in the Spanish-American War . Outside of wartime he was a politician . He died at the age of 97 as the last general in the Civil War. His son was the scientist Adelbert Ames Jr.

After a short time at sea, Ames attended the US Military Academy at West Point , New York , graduating in 1861 from fifth of 45 in his class.

In the civil war

Ames was transferred to the 2nd US Artillery Regiment as a lieutenant on May 6, 1861. With his battery he took part in the First Battle of the Bull Run , in which he was wounded. Despite the wound, he continued to fight and received the Medal of Honor in 1893 . During the peninsula campaign in spring 1862 he fought at the siege of Yorktown , Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill . For the achievements shown, the artillery commander of the Potomac Army , Colonel Henry J. Hunt , proposed him for promotion to Brevet - Lieutenant Colonel , which took place on July 1, 1862.

Ames knew that only as an infantry officer could he rise quickly. So he returned to Maine to apply for the command of an infantry regiment. On August 20, 1862, he took command of the newly established 20th Maine Infantry Regiment . Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was his deputy .

The regiment fought in the Maryland campaign in 1862 but was kept in reserve in the Battle of Antietam . At the Battle of Fredericksburg , Ames led his regiment against the Confederate positions on Marye's Heights west of the city. During the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, Ames served as an adjutant on the staff of Major General George Meade , commanding general of the Potomac Army's V Corps . During this time Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain led the regiment, which, however, did not actively participate in the battle.

Two weeks after Chancellorsville, Adelbert Ames was promoted to brigadier general of the volunteers and was given command of a brigade in the XI. Corps. He led this into the Battle of Gettysburg , in which his former regiment came to fame under the leadership of Chamberlain, who is now promoted to colonel. Ames' brigade itself, the Division Brigadier General Francis Channing Barlow was assumed struggled on the first day of the battle against Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell , who beat the brigade to flight. Barlow was wounded during the fighting and Ames took command of the division, which was reformed at Cemetery Hill.

After Gettysburg Ames', again Brigade Commander and promoted to Brevet Colonel of the Regulars, was transferred to the Defense Area South (South Carolina and Florida). He took part in fighting in South Carolina and Florida . As a division commander, his division was subordinated to the X. Corps of the James Army under Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler in 1864  and took part in the fighting on the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula and the siege of Petersburg . Butler later became his father-in-law. In the winter of 1864 the division was subordinated to XXIV Corps and sent to North Carolina . There she fought in the Battle of Fort Fisher , for which Ames was promoted to Brevet Major General of the Volunteers and Brevet Brigadier General of the regular army in recognition of his achievements .

After the civil war

Ames was appointed provisional governor of Mississippi in 1868 , then commander of the 4th Military District, which consisted of Mississippi and Arkansas . From 1870 to 1874 he was the US Republican Senator for Mississippi.

Ames married Blanche Butler, daughter of General Benjamin Butler, his former commander in chief, in 1870. The couple had six children, including scientist Adelbert Ames Jr. (August 19, 1880 - July 3, 1955), who achieved success in physics, physiology, ophthalmology, psychology, and philosophy. In 1874, Ames was elected governor of Mississippi and then gave up his senatorial post. He held the office until 1876.

In 1898 Ames took up arms again: In the war against Spain he fought as a brigadier general of the volunteers in Cuba . He wrote memoirs that were published posthumously in 1964. On April 12, 1933, Adelbert Ames died as the last surviving general of the Civil War in Ormond Beach, Florida. He is buried in the Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell , Massachusetts.

Web links

Commons : Adelbert Ames  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Adelbert Ames in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Illustrated biography (English)
• Adelbert Ames in the National Governors Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tomb of Adelbert Ames in the Find a Grave database .