2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment


caption=Flag of Maine
dates= May 28, 1861 to June 9, 1863
country= United States
allegiance= Union
branch= Infantry
equipment=
colonels_of_the_regiment=
battles= First Battle of Bull Run, Peninsula Campaign, Battle of 2nd Bull Run, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Chancellorsville

The 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment (also known as the "Second Maine Regiment", "Second Maine Infantry", or "The Bangor Regiment") was mustered in Bangor, Maine for two year's service on May 28, 1861 and mustered out in the same place on June 9, 1863. This was the first Civil War regiment to march out of Maine (in 1861), and was greeted with accolades by civilians as it made its way to Washington. [William E.S. Whitman & Charles H. True, "Maine in the War for the Union" (Lewiston, Me.: 1865), p. 37] It engaged in "eleven bloody and hard-fought battles" including both the First Battle of Bull Run, where it was the last regiment to leave the field, and Fredericksburg, where it took its greatest number of casualties. [Ibid, p. 55]

The first commander of the 2nd Maine was Col. Charles D. Jameson, a lumber merchant from Old Town, Maine who later became a Brigidier General. He died of "camp fever" after being wounded in battle. Jameson's successor was Col. Charles W. Roberts of Bangor, who had a horse shot out from under him at 2nd Bull Run. The last commander was Col. George Varney.
Augustus Choate Hamlin of Bangor, nephew of Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, was the regiment's Assistant Surgeon, and later Surgeon. He would write books about Andersonville Prison and the Battle of Chancellorsville after the war. Quartermaster Sargeant Luther H. Pierce became a wealthy Bangor lumber merchant in the post-war period and paid for the erection of a monument to the 2nd Maine at Mount Hope Cemetery. [Ibid, pp. 37-55]

Five of the ten companies of the regiment were raised in Bangor, including a Gymnasium Company, the Grattan Guards, and a company of Ex-Tigers (i.e. river drivers) under Capt. Daniel Sargent of Brewer, Maine, who would be promoted to Lt. Col. (second in command) under Varney. Other companies were from Castine, Milo, and Old Town. [Ibid]

When the regiment was eventually mustered out in Bangor, huge crowds gathered to celebrate its return on Broadway, and a ceremony was held at Norumbega Hall downtown. [Ibid, p. 55] Survivors of the 2nd Maine who had enlisted for three, rather than two years were transferred to the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment under protest. [http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/civilwar/11meinf.htm]

Casualties

The regiment lost 69 men killed in action or died of wounds received in battle and an additional 70 men died of disease and 15 men executed for mutiny. [http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/civilwar/2meinf.htm]

ee also

Maine Units in the Civil War

James H. Mundy, "Second to None: The Story of the Second Maine Volunteers, "The Bangor Regiment" (Scarborough, Me.: Harp Publishing, 1993)

Notes

References

External links

* [http://www.state.me.us/sos/arc/archives/military/civilwar/2meinf.htm State of Maine Civil War Records Website]