George F. Shepley

George F. Shepley

George Foster Shepley (born January 1, 1819 in Saco , Massachusetts , † July 30, 1878 in Portland , Maine ) was an American politician and general in the Union Army . He was the military governor of the state of Louisiana from 1862 to 1864 .

Early years

Born in what is now Maine, George Shepley, son of US Senator Ether Shepley , attended Dartmouth College until 1837 and Dane Law School until 1839 . After studying law, he began a legal career and practiced in Bangor and Portland. He was a federal attorney in Maine from 1848 to 1849 and between 1853 and 1861 .

Military and political career

When the Civil War broke out , he became a colonel in a Maine infantry unit . During the siege of New Orleans , he commanded the 3rd Brigade. At that time he was promoted to Brigadier General in the Union Army. After the fall of New Orleans, he was acting mayor of that city in May and June 1862. On June 2, 1862, he was named Military Governor of Louisiana. He controlled the part of the state occupied by the Union troops. The part still controlled by the Confederation was still ruled by Governor Thomas Overton Moore . Shepley implemented judicial reform in his area. In addition, a conference was called to draft a new state constitution.

Another résumé

Shepley's tenure as military governor ended on January 24, 1864. He was then transferred to Virginia . In 1865 he took command of Union forces in occupied Richmond . Between April and June 1865 he was the military governor of the city. After the war ended, he retired from the Army and practiced as a lawyer in Portland, Maine. Between 1869 and his death in 1878, he was a federal judge on the United States Circuit Court for the First District Court. George Shepley was married to Lucy Ann Hayes.

Web links

• George Shepley in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Louisiana

• George F. Shepley in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• George F. Shepley in the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges