George H. Nye Correspondence

George H. Nye was born in Hallowell, Maine in 1828 of an old New England family. His early career in cotton manufacturing was interrupted by the Civil War, for which Nye volunteered only one month after its beginning in 1861. Nye spent Thanksgiving of 1861 at Camp Kelsey at Annapolis Junction, not far from where he would later live. During his service Nye, who was first part of the 10th and later the 29th Maine, participated in the Battle of Antietam and in campaigns that took him as far south as New Orleans. He was wounded at Cedar Creek and Cedar Mountain. Nye was promoted to Brevet General at the War's end. Nye's post-war manufacturing career brought him to Laurel, Maryland in 1877. He bought a mill that had been closed for months. The mill continually had problems - not the least of which were a leaking dam, shortages of cotton, and layoffs. Nye, who invested in the mill, ultimately lost his investment, a disaster to the ready-to-retire former general. As the largest employer in town, Nye, his wife Charlotte (Charlie) and children Clara, Grace, Gertie, and George Junior had immediate entree into Laurel Society. Nye left Laurel in 1885 after the mill again closed. He moved to S. Nattick, Massachusetts and never worked in manufacturing again. He died in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1908.