Thomas Hamlin Hubbard

Who was Thomas Hamlin Hubbard?

Thomas Hamlin Hubbard was a Union Army colonel from Maine during the Civil War who was awarded the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, for meritorious service. After the war, Hubbard was a lawyer, railroad executive, financier, businessman and philanthropist.

Soldier, lawyer, philanthropist, and financier, Hubbard was best known for his enthusiasm for Arctic exploration, which contributed to the discovery of the North Pole. For years he was President of the Peary Arctic Club, which was formed to give Admiral Robert E. Peary financial backing in his polar quest; but after this quest had ended in success Hubbard's interest in the frozen north did not end, and he was one of the financial contributors to the Donald B. MacMillan expedition in the Arctic studying the native tribes.

Hubbard was born in Hallowell, Maine, December 20, 1838. He was the second son of Maine governor Dr. John Hubbard, who signed the unpopular Maine Liquor Law in 1851. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1857 and subsequently studying law at Albany Law School, he was admitted to the New York bar.