Western Maine
32
Norway’s George Beal The enlisted man’s general
by Charles Francis
T
he State of Maine produced some of the most outstanding general staff officers who, besides distinguishing themselves during the Civil War, went on to notable postwar careers. Joshua Chamberlain was a four-term governor of Maine, who later, through force of character alone, defused the temper of an angry mob which threatened to occupy the capitol building. As military governor of Mississippi, Adelbert Ames made that state the role model for Reconstruction. Oliver Otis Howard founded Howard University, the first university for freed slaves in the country. And, of course, Neal Dow was largely responsible for the temperance movement which produced the first statewide prohibition law in the
United States, the Maine Law. There is another distinguished Maine Civil War general who, while his name is largely forgotten today, was better known and more loved by Maine war veterans than any of those named above. He was George L. Beal of Norway. In fact, Beal was often referred to as the enlisted man’s general because he did more for Maine war veterans than anyone else in the state. George Lafayette Beal was born in Norway on May 21, 1825. While still in his teen years, he worked on the Norway Oxford Observer as did Hannibal Hamlin, vice president during Lincoln’s first term, and Artemus Ward, the country’s first great humorist. He also worked as a bookbinder. His great
love was the military, however, and he always listed his pre-war professions as bookbinder and militia officer, even though the latter was non-paying. Throughout the colonial period and down through the War of 1812, almost every Maine town of any consequence had a militia company which drilled regularly. However, as the War of 1812 receded into the past and the nation entered into what is called the “Era of Good Feelings,” militia drills became fewer and fewer so that by the late 1840s there were only a few active companies left in the state. George Beal’s involvement in Norway’s militia company, in which he held the rank of captain, is therefore rather unique. The Norway Light Infantry was
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