George P. Estey

George Peabody Estey, also spelled Este, was a Union Army general during the American Civil War.

Biography

George P. Estey was born on April 24, 1829, in Nashua, New Hampshire. For some time, he attended Dartmouth College, though he didn't graduate, and he briefly moved to California and Illinois to study law before settling in Toledo, Ohio. There he practiced in partnership with future Chief Justice of [the United States|Chief Justice] Morrison R. Waite.
When the Civil War began, he became lieutenant colonel of the 14th Ohio Infantry Regiment, a three-months unit that eventually reorganized for three years of service. With his men, he fought in the Western Virginia Campaign and in Kentucky before being promoted to colonel, again serving in the Tullahoma Campaign. By the time of the Atlanta campaign, he commanded a brigade of the XIV Corps. He received a leg wound while leading a bayonet charge at the Battle of Jonesborough, receiving praise from division commander Absalom Baird. During the Savannah Campaign, on December 9, 1964, he was brevetted brigadier general. He then participated in the Carolinas campaign. On June 26, 1865, he was appointed full brigadier general, the confirmation by Congress coming just in 1866 after he had resigned in December.
After the war, he returned to practicing law in Washington, D.C. for the remainder of his life. He died from pneumonia in Manhattan, New York, on February 6, 1881, and was interred at his birthplace.