Macy, George Nelson

George N. Macy left his home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to serve as an officer in the Union Army of the Potomac's Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Co. I. He survived the war, despite being wounded several times, even losing his left hand in the Battle of Gettysburg, and he eventually attained the rank of Brevet Major General. Known as the "Harvard Regiment" due to the large number of Harvard graduates among its officers, the 20th Massachusetts played a major role in many of the most important battles of the Civil War, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and was even present for General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Throughout the war, George Macy maintained a correspondence with his friend Amasa Lyman Lincoln, a Boston banker. Lincoln kept these letters, as well as a scrapbook containing clippings relating to the 20th Massachusetts and other contemporary events. After the end of the Civil War, Amasa Lincoln and his family moved to Santa Barbara, where they established a hotel they called the Lincoln House. Today it is known as the Upham Victorian Hotel & Cottage Gardens, and is the oldest continuously operating hostelry in Southern California.

From the description of George N. Macy / Amasa L. Lincoln Papers, ca. 1779-1899 (bulk 1850s-1880s) (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 72439556