Llewellyn Garrish Estes

Estes was born in Old Town, Maine on December 27, 1843. He joined the 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry Regiment{{sfnmp|Dyer|1908|1p=1216|Federal Publishing Company|1908|2p=47|Hodsdon|1867|3p=8}} as a first sergeant in October 1861, and was commissioned as first lieutenant in March 1862.{{sfnmp|Merrill|1866|1p=394|Tobie|1887|2p=127}} In May 1863 while serving on the staff of Maj. Gen. H. J. Kilpatrick, he was captured carrying a message to General Joseph Hooker. While part of a group of prisoners being escorted to Richmond, Virginia, they managed to overpower their captors during the night and instead returned with their Confederate prisoners to the Union lines.

Estes was promoted to captain in August 1863, and was appointed as assistant adjutant general the next month. Assigned with Kilpatrick's cavalry to Sherman's March to the Sea, he was commended by Generals Sherman and Kilpatrick for his skill in leading small raiding parties in Georgia. Part of the advance party that reached the Atlantic coast, Estes was the first to contact the Union naval forces waiting offshore. By the time he mustered out in September 1865 at the age of 21, he was a major, and had received a brevet promotion to brigadier general.[https://archive.org/stream/historicalregist01heitrich#page/408/mode/2up Historical Register and Dictionary of the US Army]

After contracting pneumonia, he died from heart failure at his home in Washington, D.C. on February 21, 1905, and his remains are interred at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/144619330 |title=Gen. L. G. Estes Dead: Hero of Many Battles Succumbs to Heart Failure. |date=February 22, 1905 |page=2 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 18, 2024}}{{sfnp|The Evening Star |1905}}

File:Llewellyn G. Estes Arlington National Cemetery.jpg

His Medal of Honor action occurred while serving with the 92nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

{{quotation|The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Captain & Assistant Adjutant General Llewellyn Garrish Estes, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 30 August 1864, while serving with U.S. Volunteers, in action at Flint River, Georgia. Captain Estes voluntarily led troops in a charge over a burning bridge.{{Efn|Citation misspelled first name as "Lewellyn".{{sfnp|Civil War (A-F) Medal of Honor Recipients|2013}}{{sfnp|Military Medals Database |2005}}}}}}

{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}

• List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F

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• {{cite book |last=Dyer |first=Frederick Henry |author-link=Frederick H. Dyer |title=A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion |publisher=Dyer Pub. Co. |place=Des Moines, IA |date=1908 |asin=B01BUFJ76Q |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OBkNAQAAMAAJ/page/1254/mode/1up?view=theater |format=PDF |access-date=August 8, 2015 |pages=1254–1255}}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |author=Federal Publishing Company |title=Military Affairs and Regimental Histories of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, And Delaware |publisher=Federal Publishing Company |series=The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 – Records of the Regiments in the Union army – Cyclopedia of battles – Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers. |volume=I |date=1908 |location=Madison, WI |page=555 |url=https://archive.org/details/unionarmyhistory01madi/page/60/mode/2up |oclc=694018100 |format=PDF }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |last=Hodsdon |first=John L |title=Annual report of the Adjutant General of the State of Maine, 1861–1866 |date=1867 |location=Augusta, ME |page=1346 |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportofad1863main/mode/2up |publisher=Stevens & Sayward |oclc=866320784 |format=PDF }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |last=Merrill |first=Samuel Hill |title=The Campaigns of the First Maine and First District of Columbia Cavalry |publisher=Bailey & Noyes |date=1866 |location=Portland, ME |page=436 |url=https://archive.org/details/campaignsoffirst00merr/page/n791/mode/2up?q=estes |oclc=1041622265 |format=PDF}}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |last=Tobie |first=Edward Parsons Jr |author-link=Edward Parsons Tobie, Jr. |format=PDF |access-date=August 2, 2018 |title=History of the First Maine Cavalry 1861–1865 |publisher=The First Maine Cavalry Association |date=1887 |location=Boston, MA |page=735 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffirstma00tobie/page/n183/mode/1up?q=estes |oclc=02013163 }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite web | last=History | first=U.S. Army Center of Military | title=Civil War (A-F) Medal of Honor Recipients | website=history.army.mil | date=2013 | url=http://www.history.army.mil/moh/civilwar_af.html#ESTES | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917052505/http://www.history.army.mil/moh/civilwar_af.html#ESTES | archive-date=September 17, 2013 | url-status=dead | access-date=17 November 2013| ref={{sfnref|Civil War (A-F) Medal of Honor Recipients|2013}} }}
• {{cite web | title=Lewellyn Estes | website=Military Medals Database | date=2005 | url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/2221 | ref={{sfnref|Military Medals Database |2005}} | access-date=August 30, 2016}}
• {{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-died-estes/154048820/ |title=Died: Estes |newspaper=The Evening Star |publication-place=Washington, D.C. |page=5 |date=1905-02-22 |access-date=2024-08-26 |via=Newspapers.com | ref={{sfnref|The Evening Star |1905}}}}

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Category:1843 births

Category:1905 deaths

Category:People from Old Town, Maine

Category:People of Maine in the American Civil War

Category:Union army officers

Category:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients

Category:American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor

Category:Military personnel from Washington, D.C.

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Washington, D.C.

Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery