b. Orland, Maine, 1826
d. Hot Springs, Arkansas, August 25, 1897

Samuel Harriman was colonel of the 37th Wisconsin Infantry and a founder of the town of Somerset, in St. Croix County, Wisconsin.

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Samuel Harriman

View the original source document: WHI 72755

Early Years

Harriman was born in Orland, Maine, in 1826. He spent four years in the California gold fields before coming to Wisconsin in 1856. With his brother, he platted the village of Somerset where they operated a lumber mill, a farm, and several small businesses that kept him from enlisting when war broke out in April 1861.

Military Service in Wisconsin

Once Harriman's business interests were in order, he recruited a company from St. Croix and Polk Counties (Co. A, 30th Infantry) and on August 25, 1862, was elected its captain. To his disappointment, the company was assigned to the home front enforcing the draft rather than being assigned to the South.

He spent almost two years policing the home front. According to Gen. Augustus Gaylord, Harriman once commented, "Some day when the war is over I'll be riding in the cars with some one-legged veteran talking of the war, and he'll ask me 'were you in it?' And I'll have to say 'Me? Oh, yes, I was in it, standing guard at Camp Randall over recruits, conscripts and deserters.'"

Battle of the Crater

On March 7, 1864, Harriman was appointed colonel of the 37th Wisconsin Infantry and soon saw his share of combat. His new regiment arrived in Virginia at the start of the Siege of Petersburg and fought at the Battle of the Crater on July 30. Harriman and his troops were among the men ordered into the crater left when the Confederate fort was blown up. Pinned down by Confederate crossfire, his regiment lost 155 of its 250 men that day.

The 37th continued to help besiege Petersburg until the city fell. During the final battle on April 2, 1865, the 37th and 38th Wisconsin infantry regiments stormed Ft. Mahone, seized its artillery, and repulsed six attempts by Confederate troops to recapture it. Harriman was brevetted brigadier general for his role in that assault. He was mustered out several weeks later and returned to Wisconsin.

Postwar Life

After the Civil War, Harriman returned to Somerset and resumed his business life. His farm possessed 555 acres and his mill cut 3 million feet of lumber per year. In 1887, he moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died on August 25, 1897.

Links to Learn More

• E.B. Quiner's History of the 37th Infantry

  in his book, "Military History of Wisconsin" (Chicago, 1866)

• William D. Love's Account of the Battle of the Crater

  in his book, "Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion" (Madison, 1866)

• View Original Documents Related to Col. Harriman

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography; Love, William Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion (Chicago, 1866); Quiner, E.B. The Military History of Wisconsin (Madison, 1866); Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 16, 1897.]