Caldwell, John Curtis, 1833-1912

Caldwell was born in Lowell, Vermont. He graduated from Amherst College in 1855 and moved to Maine, where he was the principal of the Washington Academy in East Machias.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Caldwell was 28 years old and had no military experience. However, his bearing as an academic principal seems to have impressed others because he was elected colonel of the 11th Maine Infantry regiment on November 12, 1861. Early in the Peninsula Campaign (April 28, 1862), he was promoted to brigadier general and assumed command of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of II Corps of the Army of the Potomac after the brigade commander, Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard, was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines. At the Battle of Glendale, he displayed "personal gallantry" in coming to the aid of the beleaguered Union division led by Philip Kearny.

...