Holman Melcher GAR badge, Portland, ca. 1870
Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Description
Holman Melcher of Topsham joined the 20th Maine as a corporal, was later promoted to captain, and was brevetted as a major. This Grand Army of the Republic badge indicated his membership in the Portland Bosworth Post of the veterans' organization.
After the war, he was a wholesale grocer in Portland and was active in the GAR and other civic groups. Melcher served as Portland's mayor in 1889 and 1890.
View additional information about this item on the Maine Memory Network.
