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James Canwell (1840—1877) was an American Civil War cavalry soldier and Prisoner of War from Maine.

Civil-War Service

James Canwell was born on 19 September 1840 to Jeremiah and Lucy Canwell in Sumner, Oxford County, Maine. He enlisted in the 1^st Maine Cavalry Regiment, Company H, as a private, in Buckfield, Maine, at the age of 22. He would later be wounded and imprisoned on 17 June 1863 at Aldie, Virginia. Colo. Calvin S. Douty of the same regiment would also be mortally wounded via a gunshot to his side. After serving for over two years as a POW, Canwell was discharged on 1 August 1865, a few months after the war had ended. He would be described posthumously in 1894 as “a modest but brave and reliable soldier, was carried into the Confederate ranks on our charge by his strong-headed horse, which he was unable to control, and he consequently became a prisoner. After his exchange and return to his company he related to me the circumstances of his capture and voluntarily stated in relation to the mounted force whom the First Maine charged that "they ran more than two miles from where we struck them," and "I never saw men so badly frightened as they appeared to be."”

Life & Death After the War

Shortly after his discharge, he would marry Zipporah Fuller, a direct descendant of Mayflower Passenger Samuel Fuller among others, in 1868. With her he would have three children: Adelbert L. Canwell, father of Albert F. Canwell, on 9 March 1869; Bertie A. Canwell on 9 March 1869; and James M. Canwell on 4 October 1876. He died 12 April 1877, and is buried at Damon Cemetery in Buckfield Village, Maine.