AUGUSTUS W. CORLISS AND FAMILY PAPERS

Augustus W. Corliss was born March 25, 1837 in North Yarmouth, Maine. During the American Civil War, he served with the 1st New England Cavalry, which later became the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. He rose to the rank of major. He transferred to the 2nd Rhode Island Cavalry October 3, 1862, where he was appointed lieutenant colonel. Corliss fought at Harper's Ferry, Virginia and Antietam, Maryland in September 1862. He also fought at Franklin, Louisiana and participated in the siege and capture of Fort Hudson, Louisiana in 1863.

Corliss resigned his volunteer commission July 11, 1863 and later joined the regular U.S. Army as a private. He received a commission in the post-war regular army on July 21, 1865 as first lieutenant of the Fifteenth Infantry. In 1873, he was promoted to a captain in the 8th Infantry.

Throughout a military career that spanned more than forty years, Corliss served at a variety of frontier posts including Fort Robinson, Nebraska; Fort Halleck, Nevada; Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming and Fort McDowell, Arizona as well as Angel Island, California.

Corliss commanded a military escort company during the Northern Pacific Railroad's Yellowstone surveys in 1872 and 1873. He campaigned against the Bannock Indians in 1878 and again in 1895. He participated in actions against the Apache Indians in the 1880s, including the 1886 Geronimo Campaign, commanded a company during the Sioux Campaign from 1890-1891 and led an expedition against striking workers at Evanston, Wyoming in July 1894.

In 1897 Corliss was promoted to major of the Seventeenth Cavalry. In this capacity he served in the Cuban Campaign of the Spanish-American War. He was wounded in the shoulder at El Carney, Cuba July 1, 1898. Following nearly two years in Cienfuegos, Cuba, Corliss became governor of Binario in the Philippines. In 1901 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and then colonel of the Second Infantry. In March 1901, Corliss was deployed to China to aid in putting down the Boxer Rebellion. A special act of Congress appointed Corliss to the grade of brigadier general on the retired list in recognition of his military service.

While serving in the Army, Corliss produced and published Old Times of North Yarmouth, Maine, a quarterly magazine devoted to the town's early history. The magazine, published in thirty-two quarterly issues, spanned January 1, 1877, through October 1, 1884. In January 1885, Corliss attempted to revive the magazine under the name The Westcustogo Chronicle but only one issue appeared before publication ceased.

After his retirement Corliss lived in Denver, Colorado, where he died September 4, 1907.