In this blog entry you’re being introduced to Maine’s 35th Governor. His name was Selden Connor and he was dedicated soldier, successful banker, and popular politician. He was also one of Maine’s finest Civil War heroes, and one tough nut. I’ll tell you why I wrote that in a minute.
Selden Connor was born in Fairfield, Maine on January 25, 1839. He was educated in local area schools, including The Hartland Academy in Hartland and the Westbrook Seminary before heading off to college at Tufts University. After graduating from Tufts in 1859 he moved to Vermont to study law in the law offices of Washburn and Marsh.
In his second year as a law student in Vermont the Civil War broke out. Selden wasted no time. Within just 5 days of the announcement, he had left his schooling to join the cause to preserve the Union by enlisting for a 3 month tour with the 1st Regiment of Vermont Volunteers. He quickly moved up in rank to Major, and then Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th Maine.
Selden Connor was involved in many important military campaigns;
- In 1862, at the age of 23, he was put into temporary command of the 77th New York Regiment after the Union Victory at the battle of Antietam.
- He was involved with the Peninsula Campaign, which was a direct Union offensive on the Confederate Capitol of Richmond, Virginia. The campaign lasted from April of 1862 to July 1862. The Union was not successful at capturing the city.
- He was also present at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where he was wounded, but not so badly he couldn’t continue on with his duties.
- He was present at the battle of Gettysburg where the 7th Maine joined the right flank.
- And he led his men to fight in the Battle of the Wilderness. It was in this campaign he was wounded by a musketball that struck his inner thigh, ripped through his quad muscle and essentially shattered his left femur. This leg injury would cause him much grief for the remainder of his life. It ended his field career and relegated him to administrative duty for the duration.
Selden was promoted to Brigadier General after sustaining this leg injury but was mustered out of the service in 1866. In 1866 he fell and fractured his leg again which left him housebound for 2 years, much of which he was bedridden.
In 1868 is when Selden Connor’s political career began when he was appointed to the position of “assessor of internal revenue’ by governor Joshua Chamberlain. Within a few short years he was appointed the “collector for the Augusta district”.In 1875 he made a successful run for Governor as a Republican and 2 follow-up re-election bids which he also won – serving from 1876 through 1879. In 1876 he appointed James G. Blaine to fill an empty Senate seat when Lot Myrick Morrill was tapped by President Grant to become the US Secretary to the Treasury. In 1882 he was employed as a U.S. Pension Agent, a position he held until 1886 when the office itself was abolished.
From 1893-1897 Connor served as the 23rd Adjutant General of Maine. The Adjutant General is an esteemed military appointment, responsible for State Level Military. So, in this capacity he was responsible for all facets of the Maine National Guard.
His later life accomplishments included serving as the President of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, the Senior Vice Commander of the Loyal Legion, and the President of the Northern Banking Company.
He was a lifelong member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. He also held memberships in the Maine Historical Society, the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, and was the Senior Vice Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (or the G.A.R.).
Selden Connor died in 1917 at the age of 78. His death was determined to be caused by “Nephritis of 22 years and abscess of the kidney”. He left behind a political legacy we all still live by today. Some things Selden Connor was known for;- He was a Civil Service Reform Advocate – which meant he was opposed to the “spoils system” in Government jobs where incoming presidents would wipe out government employees who weren’t of their political backing only to replace them with big money donors, or political party favorites. In short, Civil Service meant that employees who were ‘civil servants’ wouldn’t necessarily identify with the party of the office of the President.
- He pushed hard for a free public school system here in Maine. And he signed an act that led to the building of a teacher’s school in Fort Kent, Maine in an effort to Americanize the state’s French Settlers in the Madawaska Territory. It was originally called the Madawaska Training School but that name morphed over the years to; The Fort Kent Normal School, The Fort Kent State Teacher’s College, Fort Kent State College, and finally, the University of Maine at Fort Kent
- He was an outspoken voice in cleaning up the political arena of bribery & forced voting practices – where employers wouldn’t hire employees with opposing political ideologies, and who would also force employees to vote for whomever the boss told them to.
- He was an outspoken proponent for the Women’s Suffrage Movement to the point he held the position of Vice President of the Maine Woman Suffrage Association.
- And finally, Selden Connor was a mighty fine cook. Being the son of a Lumberman meant he knew his way around a bean pot. Lumbermen of the time had this special way of making Beanhole Baked Beans and Selden had perfected the recipe so deliciously it was darn-near legendary.
