Francis Fessenden Francis Fessenden ( March 18 , 1839 – January 6 , 1907 ) was a lawyer , politician , and soldier from the state of Maine who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He was a member of the powerful Fessenden family , which was prominent in national politics during the mid - 19th century . Early life and career . Francis Fessenden was born in Portland , Maine , in the spring of 1839 . He was the son of U . S . Senator William P . Fessenden and a brother of James Deering Fessenden , who would also serve as a general in the Union army . Another brother , Samuel , would be killed at the Second Battle of Manassas during the war . Two uncles , Samuel C . Fessenden and T . A . D . Fessenden were U . S . Congressmen . He was educated in the local schools and then graduated from Bowdoin College in 1858 . He studied law at the Harvard Law School , passed his bar exam , and joined his father ' s law firm . Civil War . Following the outbreak of the Civil War , Fessenden received a commission as a captain in the Regular Army in the newly raised 19th U . S . Infantry on May 14 , 1861 . He spent much of the year as a recruiting officer , helping raise additional troops . In January 1862 , he assumed duties as a line officer in the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee and was severely wounded at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh . He became the colonel of the 25th Maine Infantry and commanded a brigade as part of the 22nd Army Corps in the defenses of Washington , D . C . . He was married that year to Ellen Winslow , a daughter of Edward Fox of Portland . In July 1863 , his term of enlistment in the volunteer Union army expired and he reverted to his rank of captain of the 19th U . S . Infantry in the Regular Army . In September , Fessenden was appointed as the colonel of the 30th Maine Veteran Infantry . On May 10 , 1864 , he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and served later that year in command of a brigade in the army of Nathaniel P . Banks in the Red River Campaign . He saw action in several battles in that campaign , including Sabine Crossroads , Pleasant Hill , and Monet ' s Ferry , where he led a major assault in which he suffered a severe leg wound that necessitated amputation . After convalescing , he was assigned to administrative duty for the rest of the war , commanding various garrisons and supply trains . Postbellum career . Following the end of the war , Fessenden stayed in the army . He served on the military commission that oversaw the war crimes trial of Henry Wirz , who was executed for his controversial actions while commanding the Andersonville Prison in Georgia . He also served as the president of a military court of inquiry . He was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 19 , 1865 , and assigned command of the 1st Division of the Department of West Virginia . He was subsequently assigned to the 1st Veteran Corps . He served in the Bureau of Refugees , Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in 1866 . He declined an appointment as the lieutenant colonel of the 45th U . S . Infantry in August 1866 . Later that year , he was transferred to the 28th U . S . Infantry during the sweeping reorganization of the army . He retired from the Regular Army on November 1 , 1866 with the rank of brigadier general . Fessenden then returned home to Portland and resumed his legal career . He was elected as the city ' s mayor in 1876 . He wrote a biography of his father , " The Life and Services of William Pitt Fessenden " , which was published in 1907 . Francis Fessenden died in Portland , where he is buried in Evergreen Cemetery .