2nd Maine Infantry Regiment

2nd Maine Infantry Regiment
2nd Maine Infantry at Camp Jameson, 1861
ActiveMay 28, 1861, to June 9, 1863
Country United States
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnited States United States Army
TypeInfantry
EngagementsFirst Battle of Bull Run
Peninsula Campaign
Second Battle of Bull Run
Battle of Antietam
Battle of Chancellorsville
Commanders
ColonelCharles D. Jameson
Lt. Col.Charles W. Roberts

The 2nd Maine Infantry Regiment (also known as the Second Maine Regiment, Second Maine Infantry, or The Bangor Regiment) was a Union Army unit during the American Civil War. It was mustered in Bangor, Maine, for two years' service on May 28, 1861, and mustered out in the same place on June 9, 1863.

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 (firemen). Other companies were from Castine, Milo, and Old Town.[1]

The 2nd Maine was the first Civil War regiment to march out of the state, and was greeted with accolades by civilians as it made its way to Washington, D.C.[2] It engaged in "eleven bloody and hard-fought battles" including 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.[3]

When the regiment was mustered out in Bangor, huge crowds gathered to celebrate its return on Broadway, and a ceremony was held at Norumbega Hall downtown.[3] Those soldiers who had enlisted for three years, rather than two, were transferred to the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment under protest.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Whitman, pp. 37-55 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ William E.S. Whitman & Charles H. True, Maine in the War for the Union (Lewiston, Me.: 1865), p. 37
  3. ^ a b Whitman, p. 55
  4. ^ "11th Maine Infantry". Archived from the original on 2006-09-16. Retrieved 2006-08-20.