Civil War
In 1862, Harriman was appointed colonel of the 11th New Hampshire, a newly raised three-years regiment of infantry. He led his regiment from Cincinnati, Ohio, across the rugged Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee to join Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's army in Knoxville, Tennessee. Harriman had no horse and walked with his men. During this 20-day journey, Harriman and his regiment camped for several days on the Emory River in Tennessee near the future location of the city of Harriman. (The directors of the company that later founded the city there decided to name it for him after having a conversation with an elderly man who fondly remembered Colonel Harriman and recalled the colonel saying that there should be a town near his regiment's campsite.)
He interrupted his military service to run as a War Democrat in the 1863 gubernatorial campaign. He siphoned off enough regular Democratic votes to give the election to Republican candidate Joseph A. Gilmore. Harriman rejoined the 11th New Hampshire in time for the Battle of the Wilderness during the Overland Campaign. He was captured and sent south as a prisoner of war. He was exchanged in September 1864, and mustered out as a Brevet brigadier general in June 1865.
Read more about this topic: Walter Harriman (governor)
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The utter helplessness of a conquered people is perhaps the most tragic feature of a civil war or any other sort of war.”
—Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835–1930)