Maine Governor Joshua L. Chamberlain looked at the recommendation for a pardon that his executive council had placed in his hands. As he read the name of the prisoner it concerned, his mind no doubt wandered to a moment from seven years earlier and 500 miles away during the Battle of Gettysburg. That hellish firefight had made his reputation, eventually propelling him to a generalship and later the very gubernatorial seat he now occupied. One image continually returned to Chamberlain’s mind: “Through the mist of the battle could be seen our colors, planted in the ground, and held firmly by our sergeant with musket in his hand. That color-sergeant was Andrew Jackson Tozier, of Plymouth, the man and place well named.” Now that bold and brave flagbearer was imprisoned. What would Governor Chamberlain do?
Born February 11, 1838, Andrew Jackson Tozier was the fifth of seven children of John and Theresa Tozier of Monmouth, Maine. The Toziers’ financial situation was precarious, with just $200 property to their name in 1850. Ten years later, they were designated “paupers.” Older brother Augustus was a sailor, and in 1851 young Andrew followed the same path. Half a century later, Andrew’s wife explained, “He went to sea at the age of thirteen years and followed the life of a sailor continuously [for a decade] accept [sic] short visits to his parents until he enlisted.” Embracing maritime culture, Tozier acquired two tattoos later described as “female on…right arm” and “five pointed star in first interosseous space of right hand.” The second tattoo was likely a nautical star symbolically intended to guide sailors back home.
When the Civil War began, Andrew returned home and enlisted in the 2nd Maine on July 15, 1861, about six weeks after the unit’s formal mustering-in. Not surprising given his worldly experience, height of 6 feet, and tattoos, Tozier stood out, and despite being a later addition to the unit, he was promoted to corporal in early 1862.
June 1862 was a watershed month in Tozier’s life as he suffered the trifecta of disease, battle wound, and capture. The 2nd Maine spent much of June building roads and bridges in the swampy eastern approaches to Richmond. It was backbreaking work with severe consequences. William Jones, a member of the 2nd, remembered Tozier “did become disabled by having contracted Disease
