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Civil War Soldiers - Banks
| Banks, Nathaniel P., major-general, was born in
Waltham, Mass., Jan. 30, 1816, received a common school education, and
then learned the trade of a machinist in a cotton factory of which his
father was superintendent. He afterwards became editor of a local
paper at Waltham, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1849
was elected a member of the state legislature. He was elected speaker
of the Massachusetts legislature in 1851, re-elected in 1852, was
chairman of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1853, and
was in the same year elected to Congress as a coalition-democrat. He
was re-elected on the "Know-Knothing" ticket, elected speaker of the
house of representatives, after a spirited fight, on the 133d ballot,
and at the next election was chosen congressman on the republican
ticket. On Dec. 4, 1857, he resigned to become governor of
Massachusetts, was re-elected governor in 1858 and 1859, and in 1860
accepted the presidency of the Illinois Central railroad, succeeding
Gen. George B. McClellan in that capacity. When the Civil war broke
out in the following year, he resigned his position, was commissioned
major-general of volunteers and assigned to the command of the 5th
army corps in the Army of the Potomac, seeing his first active service
along the upper Potomac and in the Shenandoah valley, in 1861-62. On
March 23, 1862, a part of his troops, under Gen. Shields, defeated
Jackson at Winchester, and the next month, at the head of two
divisions, Gen. Banks was assigned to guard the Shenandoah. When one
of the divisions had been withdrawn, leaving only 8,000 men with
Banks, the force was attacked by Gen. Jackson and defeated, but
escaped capture. Gen. Banks then joined Pope, who had command of the
army of Virginia, and on August 9, was defeated at the battle of Cedar
mountain. He was then for a time in command of the defenses of
Washington, and in Dec, 1862, commanded the expedition to New Orleans,
where he succeeded Gen. B. F. Butler as commander of the Department of
the Gulf. In the spring of 1863 he commanded the expedition against
Port Hudson, which finally, after several disastrous attempts to storm
it had failed, surrendered on July 9, 1863, when the occupants learned
that Vicksburg had fallen. Early in 1864 Gen. Banks led the expedition
up the Red River, his force strengthened by the addition of a powerful
fleet, and at Sabine cross-roads met defeat at the hands of Gen.
Richard Taylor. On the next day the Confederates made an attack at
Pleasant Hill, but were defeated, and the army withdrew to Alexandria.
There the skill of Gen. Joseph Bailey saved the fleet, and the whole
expedition withdrew to the Mississippi. In May, 1864, Gen. Banks was
relieved of his command, resigned his commission, and, returning to
Massachusetts, was elected to Congress, where he served, with the
exception of one term, until 1877, being for many years chairman of
the committee on foreign relations. In 1888 he was again elected to
Congress, but, after 1890, suffered from a mental disorder and was
forced to withdraw from public life. In 1891 Congress voted him an
annual pension of $1,200, and in 1894 he died.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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