Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. A lawyer pre-Civil War, a year after that conflict began he helped recruit what would become Company G of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry. Commissioned as Captain and command of the company on August 29, 1862, he fought with the 20th Maine Infantry at the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the unit was part of the futile Union army charges on Confederate positions at Marye’s Heights. At the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was Acting Major of the regiment and second-in-command to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. On the 2nd Day of the Battle he directed the 20th Maine’s left wing as they repulsed repeated Confederate attacks on their positions on Little Round Top (the regiment was the extreme left of the entire Union Army, and holding it was critical to success that day). Ellis Spear took command of the unit after Colonel Chamberlain was elevated to brigade command, and led it through the Appomattox Campaign in 1865 that culminated in the Confederate capitulation. He was promoted to Major on August 28, 1863, to Lieutenant Colonel on September 30, 1864, to Colonel on May 29, 1865, and was honorably mustered out on July 18, 1865. On April 9, 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers for “faithful and meritorious services during the campaign ending in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia”. After the war, became a patent attorney for the U.S. Commissioner.
Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. A lawyer pre-Civil War, a year after that conflict began he helped recruit what would become Company G of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry. Commissioned as Captain and command of the company on August 29, 1862, he fought with the 20th Maine Infantry at the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the unit was part of the futile Union army charges on Confederate positions at Marye’s Heights. At the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was Acting Major of the regiment and second-in-command to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. On the 2nd Day of the Battle he directed the 20th Maine’s left wing as they repulsed repeated Confederate attacks on their positions on Little Round Top (the regiment was the extreme left of the entire Union Army, and holding it was critical to success that day). Ellis Spear took command of the unit after Colonel Chamberlain was elevated to brigade command, and led it through the Appomattox Campaign in 1865 that culminated in the Confederate capitulation. He was promoted to Major on August 28, 1863, to Lieutenant Colonel on September 30, 1864, to Colonel on May 29, 1865, and was honorably mustered out on July 18, 1865. On April 9, 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers for “faithful and meritorious services during the campaign ending in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia”. After the war, became a patent attorney for the U.S. Commissioner.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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