1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
| 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
|
Flag of the United States, 1861-1863 | |
| Active | 3 May 1861 to 5 August 1861 |
| Country | United States |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Engagements | None |
| Commanders | |
| Colonel | Nathaniel J. Jackson |
The 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Service
Abraham Lincoln's first call for volunteers in April, 1861 required Maine to raise one regiment of infantry for three months of Federal service. This was done by reorganizing ten existing companies of the state militia, completed at Portland, Maine on 28 April 1861 and mustered into service on 3 May 1861, a total of 779 soldiers. The regimental commander was Colonel Nathaniel Jackson.
The First Maine was transferred to Washington, D.C. on 1 June 1861, where it remained until 1 August 1861, encamped on Meridian Hill. It spent its entire service in the Washington defenses and saw no combat. They were mustered out on 5 August 1861.
Although the regiment's required Federal service was only three months, all of the soldiers had enlisted for two or three years. Many soldiers in the regiment who were required to remain in service joined the 10th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which retained eight of the 1st Maine's ten companies.
The regimental history was published as History of the 1st-10th-29th Maine Regiment written by Major John Mead Gould.
Casualties
The regiment lost no men during its brief period of service.[1]
Organization
The companies of the 1st Maine were named as follows:[2]
- A - Portland Light Infantry
- B - Portland Mechanic Blues
- C - Portland Light Guards
- D - Portland Rifle Corps
- E - Portland Rifle Guards
- F - Lewiston Light Infantry
- G - Norway Light Infantry
- H - Auburn Artillery
- I - 2nd Co. Portland Rifle Guards
- K - Lewiston Zouaves
A previous incarnation of the 1st Maine was formed in state service in 1854, and thus was older than any other Maine regimental organization. An historian of the 240th AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) Group, a former Maine National Guard unit, has concluded that numerous subsequent Volunteer Maine Militia and Maine National Guard units are descended from the 1st Maine.[3]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Maine State Archives 1st Maine Infantry page
- ↑ Gould and Jordan, p. 66-79
- ↑ Units descended from 1st Maine
References
- Hodsdon, John L. Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Maine 31 Dec 1861. Stevens & Sayward, Augusta, 1862
- Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
- Edwards, Abial Hall. "Dear Friend Anna": The Civil War Letters of a Common Soldier from Maine (Orono, ME: University of Maine Press), 1992. ISBN 0-89101-079-3
- Gould, John Mead. The Civil War Journals of John Mead Gould, 1861-1866 (Baltimore, MD: Butternut and Blue), 1997. ISBN 0-935523-63-4
- Gould, John Mead. Directory of the First - Tenth - Twenty-ninth Maine regiment Association (Portland, ME: S. Berry, Printer), 1889.
- Gould, John Mead & Jordan, Leonard G. History of the First - Tenth - Twenty-Ninth Maine Regiment: In Service of the United States from May 3, 1861, to June 21, 1866 (Portland, ME: S. Berry, Printer), 1871.
- Attribution
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This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.