12th Maine Infantry Regiment
military unit
The 12th Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Formation
The 12th Maine Regiment, formed in November 1861, was one of the 10 regiments Major General Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts received permission to form.
George F. Shepley a Democrat and a noted Portland lawyer and U.S. Attorney for Maine, headed the new regiment.
On October 1, 1861, Shepley wrote to Maine Governor Israel Washburn Jr. to report that he expected the new 12th Maine Regiment to be filled soon "with the very best men in the State."
Shepley also reported, "I have abandoned every other thought and pursuit, and have embarked in this movement all my hopes energies and efforts and, if need be my fortune and my life."
Accounts of engagements
The 12th Maine in Louisiana
According to The New York Times, "The town of Madisonville, La., on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain, has been captured without resistance and is now garrisoned by our forces. The expedition consisted of a portion of the Maine Twelfth, the Connecticut Ninth, two battalions from the convalescent camp of the Thirteenth Corps, the Massachusetts Fifteenth battery, battery of the United States artillery and a company of the Louisiana Second cavalry, the whole under the command of Col. Kimrall, of the Maine Twelfth.
The 8th of January was observed by a salute at meridian by order of Gen. Banks.
The great Union mass meeting was held here the same night at the St.
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