Harris M. Plaisted

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Harris M. Plaisted

Harris Merrill Plaisted (November 2, 1828 – January 31, 1898) was an American Civil War general, U.S. Congressman, and Governor of Maine.

[edit] Biography

Plaisted was born in Jefferson, New Hampshire and attended the common schools there. He was graduated from Waterville (Maine) College (now Colby College) in 1853 and the Albany (New York) Law School in 1856. Admitted to the bar, he commenced practice in Bangor, Maine in 1856.

During the Civil War Plaisted served in the Union Army and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 11th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, October 30, 1861, and Colonel May 12, 1862. He was brevetted Brigadier General of volunteers February 21, 1865, and Major General March 13, 1865.

Following the war Plaisted was elected as a Republican to the Maine State House of Representatives 1867-1868, and served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868. He was Attorney General of Maine 1873-1875, and appointed to the Forty-fourth United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Congressman Samuel F. Hersey. Plaisted served as a Congressman from September 13, 1875, to March 3, 1877 and did not run for renomination.

Plaisted broke with the Republican Party and allowed himself to be nominated for Governor in 1880 by the new Greenback Party. His nomination was seconded by the Maine Democratic Party, and he thus became the "Fusion" candidate. Elected by less than 200 votes, he served as Governor of Maine 1881-1883. He was thereafter editor and publisher of the New Age in Augusta, Maine from 1883 until his death in Bangor, Maine, January 31, 1898, when he was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Plaisted's son, Frederick W. Plaisted, also became Governor of Maine in 1911-12.