Thomas W. Hyde letter about cigar, Richmond, Va., 1862
Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Description
Thomas W. Hyde of Bath, captain of Co. D of the 7th Maine Infantry, sent John Marshall Brown of Portland a cigar and an accompanying letter that explained its origins.
Hyde, who founded what became Bath Iron Works, and who was stationed near Richmond, Virginia, told Brown that a soldier in the regiment made the cigar from tobacco he obtained while on picket duty. He took it from the Gaines Estate on the Chickahominy River.
Hyde wrote, :The men make large numbers of them and we call them the Chickahominy brand." He said the tobacco is the best in Virginia.
Hyde was promoted to colonel in Co. S of the 1st Maine Regiment in August 1864 and breveted a brigadier general in April 1865. He received a Medal of Honor.
Brown, son of Portland sugar magnate John Bundy Brown, enlisted in the 20th Maine Regiment on Sept. 1, 1862. He was later promoted to He was later promoted to captain, then as an officer in the U.S. Volunteers Adjutant General Department, then to full colonel in the 32nd Infantry in May 1864.
He was breveted as a brigadier general.
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