George Foster Shepley (judge)

Autograph of General George Foster Shepley from an autograph album he gave to his daughter Anne at Christmas, 1860 (Private Collection of H. Blair Howell)

Born on January 1, 1819, in Saco, Maine,[1] Shepley attended Harvard University, received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1837 from Dartmouth College and read law in 1839.[1] He entered private practice in Bangor, Maine from 1839 to 1844.[1] He continued private practice in Portland, Maine from 1844 to 1861.[1] He served as the United States Attorney for the District of Maine from 1848 to 1849 and from 1853 to 1861.[1] He served as a Brigadier General in the United States Army during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.[1] He resumed private practice in Portland from 1865 to 1866.[1] He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1866 to 1867.[1] He again resumed private practice in Portland from 1867 to 1869.[1]

Civil War service

General George Shepley

Shepley was commissioned a Colonel of the 12th Maine Infantry on November 16, 1861.[2] He was assigned to the Department of the Gulf, commanding a brigade during the New Orleans campaign from April 18, 1862, to May 1, 1862.[2] He served as military governor of New Orleans, Louisiana from May 1862 to July 1862, and then served as military governor of the Union-occupied parishes of Louisiana until March 1864.[2] He was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers on July 18, 1862.[2] He briefly headed a district in Virginia and then served as chief of staff of XXV Corps, in the Army of the James.[2] He then served as military governor of Richmond, Virginia from April 3, 1865, to July 1, 1865, when he resigned his military commission to return to private practice.[2]

Shepley was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on December 8, 1869, to the United States Circuit Courts for the First Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 16 Stat. 44.[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1869, and received his commission the same day.[1] His service terminated on July 20, 1878, due to his death in Portland.[1] He was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.[3] His tombstone has his birth date as January 1, 1819.[3]

• List of American Civil War generals (Union)

• State of Louisiana – Biography
• Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries
• George Foster Shepley at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• "16 Stat. 44" (PDF). United States Congress. April 10, 1869 – via Wikimedia Commons.

• "George Foster Shepley". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
• George Foster Shepley Writ of Election at The Historic New Orleans Collection