Harris Merrill Plaisted (November 2, 1828 - January 31, 1898) was an American Civil War general, member of the US Congress, and 38th Maine Governor.
Video Harris M. Plaisted
Biography
Plaisted was born in Jefferson, New Hampshire, son of Deacon William and Nancy (Merrill) Plaisted. He attended a public school there. He graduated from Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1853 and Albany Law School in New York in 1856. Acknowledging to the bar, he began training in Bangor, Maine, in 1856.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, Plaisted enrolled in the Union Army and was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the 11th Maine Infantry Infantry Regiment on 30 October 1861. He was promoted to colonel on May 12, 1862, and led the regiment in several campaigns at the East Theater. He ordered his regiment in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and participated in the Next Yorktown Siege and Battle of Williamsburg. Later in the campaign, he fought at the Battle of Seven Pines and in Seven Days Battles.
In 1863, he and his men were involved in the Charleston Siege. The following year, he participated in the Overland Campaign and Petersburg Siege. He was attacked as Brigadier General volunteer on 21 February 1865, and as a major general since March 13, 1865.
After the war, Plaisted was elected a Republican to the Maine House of Representatives from 1867-1868, and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868. He was the Attorney General of Maine 1873-1875, and was appointed to the Forty-Four States Declaring Congress to fill the void caused by the death of Congressman Samuel F. Hersey. Plaisted served as a congressman from 13 September 1875, until 3 March 1877, and did not run for re-election.
Plaisted severed ties with the Republican Party and allowed himself to be nominated for Governor in 1880 by the new Greenback Party. His nomination was backed by the Democratic Party of Maine, and he became a candidate for "Fusion". Elected by less than 200 votes, he served as Governor of Maine from 1881-1983. He was then editor and publisher of New Age in Augusta, Maine, from 1883 until his death in Bangor, Maine, January 31, 1898, when he was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Plaisted's son, Frederick W. Plaisted, also became Governor of Maine in 1911-12.
Maps Harris M. Plaisted
See also
- General list of American Civil War brevet
References
- United States Congress. "Harris M. Plaisted (id: P000374)". Directory of Biographies of the United States Congress . Retrieved on 2008-08-13
External links
- "Harris M. Plaisted". Find Grave . Retrieved 2008-08-13 .
- The 11th Infantry Infantry Infantry Regiment Officer
- Ã, "Plaisted, Harris Merrill". Appletons' CyclopÃÆ'Â|dia of American Biography . 1900. Ã,
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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