Here’s a Civil War Date Document Signed by Union General

HARRIS MERRILL PLAISTED

(1828 - 1898)

·       CIVIL WAR UNION BVT BRIGADIER and MAJOR GENERAL,

·       COLONEL and COMMANDER OF THE ‘HARD-FIGHTING’ 11^th MAINE INFANTRY,

·       38^th GOVERNOR of MAINE 1881-1883, and

·       U.S. REPUBLICAN and GREENBACK PARTY CONGRESSMAN FROM MAINE 1875-1877.

HERE'S A RARE CIVIL WAR DATE DOCUMENT SIGNED BY PLAISTED AS COLONEL OF THE 11^th MAINE – A “ CONSOLIDATED PROVISION RETURN FOR HOSPITAL OF THE 11^th ME. VOLS. FOR FIVE DAYS COMMENCING THE 6^th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 1862, AND ENDING THE 10^th DAY OF NOV. 1862.”

THE DOCUMENT LISTS QUANTITIES OF VARIOUS FOOD SUPPLIES FOR 61 MEN IN THE HOSPITAL.   

The Document is also Signed by Surgeon

NATHAN F. BLUNT

(1820 – 1871)

CIVIL WAR REGIMENTAL SURGEON IN THE FIELD and STAFF OF THE 11^th MAINE 1862-1865

Before the War Between the States, Dr. Blunt attended Bowdoin College and the University of New York, and served on the Bingham, Maine School Board for years. The good Doctor left his practice to join the Union Army and became a US Army Surgeon. After his return home, his health was broken but he continued to practice with much skill in surgery. He brought home his little army horse and on each Fourth of July, the doctor and his spirited animal held a prominent place in the exercises. The Post organized by the ex-soldiers of the Civil War bore the name of Nathan F. Blunt in honor of this popular townsman and soldier. He died in 1871 and is buried in the village of Bingham.

BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL HARRIS M. PLAISTED

Harris Merrill Plaisted (November 2, 1828 – January 31, 1898) was an American Civil War General, U.S. Congressman, and the 38th Governor of Maine.

Plaisted was born in Jefferson, New Hampshire, the son of Deacon William and Nancy (Merrill) Plaisted. He attended the common schools there. He was graduated from Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1853 and the Albany Law School in New York in 1856. Admitted to the bar, he commenced practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1856.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Plaisted enlisted in the Union Army and was commissioned as the lieutenant colonel of the 11th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment on October 30, 1861. He was promoted to colonel on May 12, 1862, and led the regiment in several campaigns in the Eastern Theater. He commanded his regiment in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and participated in the siege of Yorktown and the subsequent Battle of Williamsburg. Later in the campaign, he fought at the Battle of Seven Pines and in the Seven Days Battles.

In 1863, he and his men were involved in the Siege of Charleston. The following year, he participated in the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. He was brevetted as a Brigadier General of volunteers on February 21, 1865, and as a major general dating from March 13, 1865.

Following the war, Plaisted was elected as a Republican to the Maine House of Representatives 1867-1868, and served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868. He was Attorney General of Maine 1873-1875, and appointed to the Forty-fourth United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Congressman Samuel F. Hersey. Plaisted served as a congressman from September 13, 1875, to March 3, 1877, and did not run for renomination.

Plaisted broke with the Republican Party and allowed himself to be nominated for Governor in 1880 by the new Greenback Party. His nomination was seconded by the Maine Democratic Party, and he thus became the "Fusion" candidate. Elected by less than 200 votes, he served as Governor of Maine from 1881-83. He was thereafter editor and publisher of the New Age in Augusta, Maine, from 1883 until his death in Bangor, Maine, January 31, 1898, when he was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Plaisted's son, Frederick W. Plaisted, also became Governor of Maine in 1911-12.

History of the Eleventh Maine Infantry

Eleventh Infantry.--Cols., John C. Caldwell, Harris M. 

Plaisted, Jonathan A. Hill; Lieut.-Cols., Harris M. Plaisted, 

William M. Shaw, Robert F. Campbell, Winslow P. Spofford, 

Jonathan A. Hill, Charles P. Baldwin; Majs., William M. Shaw, 

Robert F. Campbell, Winslow P. Spofford, Jonathan A. Hill, 

Charles P. Baldwin, Henry C. Adams.  The ten preceding 

regiments had been raised at the expense of the state, under 

the act of the legislature of April 25, 1861, and the captains 

and subalterns of the organized companies elected the field 

officers.  The 11th was the first to be raised at the direct 

expense of the general government, and the colonel, lieutenant-

colonel and major were chosen before the companies were 

organized.  The regiment was organized for active service Oct. 

11, 1861, and mustered into the U. S. service on Nov. 12, to 

serve for three years.  It left the state the next day for 

Washington, where it remained encamped until March 28, 1862, 

when, as part of Casey's division, it proceeded to Alexandria, 

thence to Newport News.  Here on April 6 it was detached from 

its brigade (Naglee's), and went to the mouth of Warwick creek, 

where it was under the fire of the rebel gunboat Teazer.  On 

the 17th, it rejoined the division and brigade and proceeded to 

Yorktown, where on the 29th it was in a sharp engagement with 

the enemy.  Later it took a prominent part in the battles of 

Williamsburg, Seven Pines and White Oak swamp.  From Aug. 16, 

to Dec. 26, 1862, it was at Yorktown, and on the latter date 

embarked with Naglee's brigade for Port Royal, S. C., where it 

landed on Feb. 10, 1863.  Gen. Naglee, having been promoted to 

the command of a division, issued a spirited order on leaving 

the regiment, of which the following is a part: "Yours is the 

honor of having been the first to pass and the last to leave 

the Chickahominy.  And, while you led the advance from this 

memorable place near Richmond, you were the last in the 

retreating column, when, after seven days' constant fighting, 

it reached a place of security and rest at Harrison's Landing."  

The regiment remained in the South until April, 1864, during 

which time it participated in the unsuccessful attack on 

Charleston, and was engaged for a long time as artillerists, 

shelling Sumter and the Confederate works on Sullivan and 

James' islands.  In April, 1864, it joined Gen. Butler's 

command at Gloucester Point, Va., and during the remainder of 

the war saw almost continuous fighting.  On Nov. 2, 1864, about 

130 of the men left the field for Maine, as their term of 

service had expired, and were mustered out at Augusta on Nov. 

18.  The next day, Nov., 3, the rest of the regiment went with 

Gen. Butler to New York to assist in maintaining order in that 

city at the presidential election, after which it returned to 

the front.  The total casualties of the regiment during 1864 

were 363, killed, wounded, missing and prisoners.  It received 

549 recruits, also a full company of volunteers--the 8th 

unassigned infantry.  During the first three months of 1865, it 

formed a part of the 3d brigade, 1st division, 24th corps, and 

was stationed near the New Market road, 10 miles from Richmond.  

On March 27, it crossed the James and Appomattox rivers, 

engaged the enemy at Hatcher's run on the 31st, and was almost 

constantly exposed to the fire until April 2, losing meanwhile 

3 enlisted men killed, 2 officers and several enlisted men 

wounded, and 1 officer and 15 enlisted men captured.  It 

participated in the assault and capture of Forts Gregg and 

Baldwin, losing 25 enlisted men killed and wounded, and on the 

3d moved with the army in pursuit of Lee's forces.  At "Clover 

Hill" on the 9th, it lost 6 enlisted men killed, 2 officers and 

29 enlisted men wounded.  It remained in the vicinity of 

Richmond until Nov. 24, and on the 26th, moved to 

Fredericksburg, where it remained, doing patrol and other 

duties until the middle of Jan., 1866, when it was ordered to 

City Point, Va., to be mustered out.  It was mustered out on 

Feb. 2, 1866, in accordance with orders of the war department, 

and left on the 3d for Augusta, Me., where the men were paid 

and finally discharged.  The regiment saw an unusual amount of 

hard service, and left a splendid name for intrepidity and heroism.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 1

THE DOCUMENT MEASURES 8” x 10” AND IS IN VERY FINE CONDITION, WITH THE BOTTOM EDGE TONED.

A WONDERFUL & RARE ADDITION TO ANY 19th CENTURY AMERICAN MILITARY AUTOGRAPH & MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION!

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