Harris Merrill PLAISTED, Congress, ME (1828-1898)

PLAISTED Harris Merrill , a Representative from Maine; born in Jefferson, Coos County, N.H., November 2, 1828; attended the common schools, and was graduated from Waterville (Maine) College in 1853 and from the Albany (N.Y.) Law School in 1856; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1856; during the Civil War served in the Union Army and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, Maine Infantry, October 30, 1861, and colonel May 12, 1862; brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers February 21, 1865, and major general March 13, 1865; member of the State house of representatives in 1867 and 1868; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868; attorney general of Maine 1873-1875; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Samuel F. Hersey and served from September 13, 1875, to March 3, 1877; was not a candidate for renomination in 1876; author of ``Digest of Maine Reports from 1820 to 1880''; Governor of Maine 1881-1883; editor and publisher of the New Age, Augusta, from 1883 until his death in Bangor, Maine, January 31, 1898; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present