Born in 1813 in
Livermore (in modern-day
Maine, then a part of
Massachusetts) to a prominent political family, Washburn spent his life in politics. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Thirty-first Congress in 1848; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, as a Republican to the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-sixth Congresses. He served from March 4, 1851, to January 1, 1861, when he resigned, having been elected Governor. He was Chairman of the Committee on Elections (Thirty-fourth Congress). He organized the Maine Republican Party from 1854 onward. He was the
29th Governor of Maine from 1861 to 1863. During the
American Civil War, he helped recruit
Federal troops from Maine. In 1862, he attended the Loyal
War Governors' Conference in
Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave
Abraham Lincoln support for his
Emancipation Proclamation. In 1863, Lincoln appointed Washburn Collector of the
Port of Portland, a position he held until 1877. Washburn was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society in 1882. Washburn was the brother of
Elihu B. Washburne,
Cadwallader C. Washburn,
William D. Washburn,
Samuel Benjamin Washburn, and
Charles Ames Washburn. He died in 1883 in
Philadelphia and is buried at the
Mount Hope Cemetery in
Bangor, Maine. The town of
Washburn, Maine is named in his honor. ==Notes==