Daniel Chaplin
Encyclopedia
Col. Daniel Chaplin was a Union officer in the American Civil War
who died in battle and was posthumously made a Major General. Under Chaplin's command, the ill-fated charge of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment
against Confederate breastworks during Siege of Petersburg
resulted on the greatest single loss of life by a Union Regiment in a single action. A total of 7 officers and 108 men were killed, and another 25 officers and 464 men wounded. These casualties constituted 67% of the strength of the 900-man force. Chaplin survived the action but was subsequently shot by a sharpshooter at Battle of Deep Bottom in 1864, and died four days later in a Philadelphia hospital.
Chaplin was born in Red Bank, New Brunswick
, Canada, on 22 Jan 1820. He moved with his family to Bridgton, Maine when he was about three years of age. There he lived until he was about twenty-one, when he became a clerk for Thurston and Metcalf, ship chandlers, of Bangor, Maine
. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private in Company F of the Second Maine Regiment, which was raised in Bangor. He was chosen captain of the company 28 May 1861, and was promoted to the rank of Major, 13 September of that year. On 11 July 1862, he was appointed colonel of the Eighteenth Maine Regiment, which became in January 1863, the First Maine Heavy Artillery.
Chaplin is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor
. In 1867 he was appointed a Brigadier General by Brevet in the Volunteer Army of the United States, for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia, to date from 17 August 1864. The same General Order appointed him Major General by Brevet, as of the same date.
In the HISTORY OF THE FIRST MAINE HEAVY ARTILLERY appears this tribute to him: "He was born a soldier, attractive and magnetic in person, a fine horseman with commanding presence. He gave to his officera a royal friendship, to his soldiers a fatherly care, and to all a considerate appreciation of merit, wherever found. He was brave almost to recklessness, but modest withal"
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
who died in battle and was posthumously made a Major General. Under Chaplin's command, the ill-fated charge of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment
1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment
The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment was a regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It suffered more casualties in an ill-fated charge during the Siege of Petersburg than any Union regiment lost in a single day of combat throughout the war...
against Confederate breastworks during Siege of Petersburg
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
resulted on the greatest single loss of life by a Union Regiment in a single action. A total of 7 officers and 108 men were killed, and another 25 officers and 464 men wounded. These casualties constituted 67% of the strength of the 900-man force. Chaplin survived the action but was subsequently shot by a sharpshooter at Battle of Deep Bottom in 1864, and died four days later in a Philadelphia hospital.
Chaplin was born in Red Bank, New Brunswick
Red Bank, New Brunswick
Red Bank, New Brunswick is a small rural community in Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located approximately 20 km west of Miramichi, New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Little Southwest Miramichi River, at its confluence with the Northwest Miramichi River...
, Canada, on 22 Jan 1820. He moved with his family to Bridgton, Maine when he was about three years of age. There he lived until he was about twenty-one, when he became a clerk for Thurston and Metcalf, ship chandlers, of Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private in Company F of the Second Maine Regiment, which was raised in Bangor. He was chosen captain of the company 28 May 1861, and was promoted to the rank of Major, 13 September of that year. On 11 July 1862, he was appointed colonel of the Eighteenth Maine Regiment, which became in January 1863, the First Maine Heavy Artillery.
Chaplin is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor
Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor
Mt. Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine is the second oldest garden cemetery in the United States. It was designed by architect Charles G. Bryant in 1834, the same year that Bangor was incorporated as a city, and likely modeled after Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts...
. In 1867 he was appointed a Brigadier General by Brevet in the Volunteer Army of the United States, for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia, to date from 17 August 1864. The same General Order appointed him Major General by Brevet, as of the same date.
In the HISTORY OF THE FIRST MAINE HEAVY ARTILLERY appears this tribute to him: "He was born a soldier, attractive and magnetic in person, a fine horseman with commanding presence. He gave to his officera a royal friendship, to his soldiers a fatherly care, and to all a considerate appreciation of merit, wherever found. He was brave almost to recklessness, but modest withal"