Daniel Chaplin (January 22, 1820 – August 20, 1864) was a Union army officer in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Under Chaplin's command, the ill-fated charge of the

1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment was a regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It suffered more casualties in an ill-fated charge during the Siege of Petersburg than any Union regiment lost in a single day of combat througho ...

against Confederate breastworks during

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

resulted on the greatest single loss of life by a Union Regiment in a single action. A total of 7 officers and 108 men were killed, and another 25 officers and 464 men wounded. These casualties constituted 67% of the strength of the 900-man force. Chaplin survived the action but while supervising pickets on August 17, 1864, the day after the

Battle of Deep Bottom The Second Battle of Deep Bottom, also known as Fussell's Mill (particularly in the South), New Market Road, Bailey's Creek, Charles City Road, or White's Tavern was fought August 14–20, 1864, at Deep Bottom in Henrico County, Virginia, duri ...

, he was shot by a Confederate sharpshooter,Shaw, Horace H., ''The First Maine Heavy Artillery, 1862-1865,'' Portland, Maine: 1903, p. 141. and he died four days later in a Philadelphia hospital. Chaplin was born in

Red Bank, New Brunswick Red Bank, New Brunswick is a small rural community (unincorporated area) in Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located approximately 20 km west of Miramichi, New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Little Southwest Miramichi Rive ...

, Canada, on January 22, 1820. He moved with his family to Bridgton, Maine, when he was about three years of age. There he lived until he was about twenty-one, when he became a clerk for Thurston and Metcalf, ship chandlers, of Bangor, Maine. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a Private in Company F of the Second Maine Infantry Regiment, which was raised in Bangor. He was chosen Captain of the company May 28, 1861, and was promoted to the rank of Major, September 13 of that year. On July 11, 1862, he was appointed Colonel of the Eighteenth Maine Regiment, which became in January 1863 the First Maine Heavy Artillery. Chaplin is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor. In 1867 he was appointed a Brigadier General by Brevet in the Volunteer Army of the United States, for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia, to date from 17 August 1864. The same General Order appointed him Major General by Brevet, as of the same date. In the HISTORY OF THE FIRST MAINE HEAVY ARTILLERY appears this tribute to him: "He was born a soldier, attractive and magnetic in person, a fine horseman with commanding presence. He gave to his officers a royal friendship, to his soldiers a fatherly care, and to all a considerate appreciation of merit, wherever found. He was brave almost to recklessness, but modest withal".

Sources

* Chaplin Family Genealogy Forum https://web.archive.org/web/20110710223901/http://www.genforum.familytreemaker.com/chaplin/messages/303.html

References

Bibliography

* Eicher, John H., and

David J. Eicher David John Eicher (born August 7, 1961) is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of ''Astronomy'' magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American ...

; ''Civil War High Commands''; Stanford, CA; Stanford University Press; 2001; p. 170; . {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaplin, Daniel Military personnel from Bangor, Maine Union Army generals People of Maine in the American Civil War People from Northumberland County, New Brunswick Emigrants from pre-Confederation New Brunswick to the United States 1820 births 1864 deaths Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery (Bangor, Maine) People from Bridgton, Maine Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War