Kudos for Tewksbury/Gettysburg Hero Story
Posted by Marie on 04 Jul 2008 at 10:08 pm | Tagged as: Greater Lowell, Lowell
Lowell SUN Sports reporter David Pevear crossed into very different territory this week with his wonderful two-part story: “Our Gettysburg Hero.” He hit a home run! So appropriate for this July 4th week, Pevear recounts the story of General Adelbert Ames born in Maine but a true son of Tewksbury and Lowell. Adelbert Ames commanded troops in many major battles in the Civil War including during the bloody days at Gettysburg. He later served - some believe controversially - in the post-war days of Reconstruction as Mississippi’s Governor and then U.S. Senator. This Congressional Medal of Honor winner for valor at the First Battle of Bull Run later served in the Spanish American War. He was married to Blanche Butler, daughter of the famous or infamous Ben Butler depending on your geographical, political and philosophical sympathies. Ames returned to the area and while living with his family at the Butler Andover Street home in Lowell he built a large estate on The Hill in Tewksbury known as “The Castle.” In his business career he was President of the Wamesit Power Company and the Middlesex Company. His children were accomplished including son Butler Ames a U.S Army officer who served as did his grandfather as a member of the U.S. Congress. The family is buried in the private Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell.
In sidebars, interviews, lists, maps, photos and with a slideshow and video on the SUN website, Pevear presents this important story that may inspire some to do more research on Ames, Butler and their extraordinary influence in history locally, regionally and nationally. I urge you to check it out.
The Pevear/Ames story, slideshow, video and sidebars all available at: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_9762909 and http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_9774740
I agree 100%
Regards — Cliff
First Lieutenant Adebert Ames won the Congressional Medal of Honor on 21 July 1861. Two years late on 2 July 1963 at Gettysburg (PA) he was a brigadier general leading a division.
Another Civil War General with an interesting career.
Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was his finest hour, but his relief by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade caused lasting enmity between the two men.
In San Francisco, California, after the war, he obtained a patent on the cable car railway that still runs there. In his final years in New Jersey, he was a prominent member and later president of the Theosophical Society. His most lasting claim to fame is the popular myth that he invented baseball, which has been debunked by almost all sports historians, although Doubleday himself never made such a claim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Doubleday
I was in the process of reading the book gods and generals when this article came out. It was just a great article.
[…] vigorous response to the Lowell Sun’s two-part article on Adelbert Ames and to Marie’s related post suggest that many of our readers have an interest in U.S. History, particularly the Civil War […]