Edward Lyon Bailey.

Edward Lyon Bailey.

Birth: Dec. 10, 1841, Manchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
Death: Mar. 12, 1930, Manchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
Burial: Piscataquog Cemetery, Manchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.

Edward L. Bailey succeeded Marston as colonel of the Second Regiment. He was a native of Manchester, and received his education in the common schools of that city. At the opening of the war he was a clerk in the Manchester post office, under postmaster Thomas P. Pierce, to whose powerful influence and friendship he was largely indebted for his early commission in the Second. Enlisting in the "Abbott Guards," commanded by Captain William C. Knowlton, he went to Concord as first lieutenant of the company, April 24th it being the first company to report at camp for the First Regiment. May 1st, the company was transferred to Portsmouth, it being understood that Thomas P. Pierce was to be colonel of the Second Regiment, and the men desiring to serve under him.

In the reorganization of the Second Regiment for three years, Captain Knowlton was ".turned down," and Lieutenant Bailey succeeded him in command of the company, the "Abbott Guards" forming the nucleus of Company I. He was appointed major July 26, 1862 ; lieutenant-colonel October 23, 1862; and April 26, 1863, upon the promotion of Colonel Marston to brigadier-general, he became the colonel of the regiment.

Although one of the youngest officers, being but twenty-one when he won his eagles, he was one of the bravest and most skillful. His handling of the regiment in its awful test at Gettysburg, was a model of technical skill and a triumph of personal valor. He commanded the regiment in all its battles from Gettysburg to Cold Harbor, led home the old men in June, 1864, and was mustered out with them.

Soon after leaving the service he went into business in Boston, in the hat trade, but soon became convinced that he was not in his proper sphere as a trader. His talents and his formative training were all in the direction of a military life, and he sought a commission in the regular army.  March 7, 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Fourth U. S. Infantry. His good services as a volunteer were speedily recognized in a batch of brevets for gallant and meritorious services during the war, as follows : for Williamsburg,"brevet first lieutenant ; for Fair Oaks, brevet captaia ; for second Bull Run, brevet major ; for Gettysburg, brevet lieutenant-colonel.  But actual promotions in the regular army, in time of peace, come slowly, and only after long waiting. It was almost nine years (February 26, 1876), before a first lieutenant's commission came to him : and it was not until December 4, 1891, that he attained the rank with which he had entered the volunteer service, thirty years before captain. He left the service in 1893, and is now at Boise City, Idaho