Closer to Richmond: USA Brig. Gen. Charles Jameson

[Battleline]

Brig. Gen. Charles D. Jameson (b. 1824, d. 1862) During the Peninsular Campaign, Charles Davis Jameson declared his troops could have been “in Richmond in less than two hours had (he) not been recalled” during the Battle of Seven Pines (May 31-June 1, 1862) That proved to be one of the brightest moments in Jameson’s brief career as a brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. Jameson soon after contracted “camp fever” and while returning to Maine, died on a steamboat Nov. 6, 1862. Jameson was not a solider by trade. Born in Orono, Maine, Feb. 24, 1827, he was a very successful businessman. He was one of the biggest manufacturers of lumber and shippers on the Penobscot River. A Democrat and Stephen Douglas supporter, Jameson twice was nominated by that party for governor of Maine. He took an interest in military matters and was commander of a militia regiment. He as made colonel of the 2nd Maine, which started as a 90-day regiment. However, it remustered for two years of Federal service. In the Federal foray from Washington, D.C., the 2nd Maine covered the Federal retreat following the defeat at Manassas July 21, 1861. This action earned Jameson a promotion to brigadier general of volunteers to rank from Sept. 3, 1861. By the time Maj. Gen. George McClellan took the Army of the Potomac into the Peninsular Campaign in the spring of 1862, Jameson led a brigade in Phil Kearny’s division of Samuel Heintzelman’s III Corps. He was “general of the trenches” May 4, 1864, when he discovered the Confederates had left Yorktown. At the Battle of Williamsburg, Jameson’s men were in reserve. Despite his claim at Seven Pines, two of his Pennsylvania regiments were nearly surrounded and forced to withdraw. Heintzelman reported Jameson was “particularly distinguished” during the battle. Jameson had one horse shot out from under him. Soon after that battle, Jameson became ill. His death was on a boat between Boston and Bangor, Maine. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Stillwater, Maine.