Private George Foster Robinson and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant were the only two Civil War veterans recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal for their valorous service to the Union Army.
George was honored on March 1, 1871 for saving the life of Secretary of State, William H. Seward, when he was attacked by Louis T. Powell, also known as Lewis Paine or Lewis Payne - one of John Wilkes Booth's co-conspirators. The Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and $5,000 to George for his actions after receiving a request from the Maine legislature to have his heroic actions recognized.
Booth and his team had set out on the evening of April 14, 1865 to decapitate the Federal Government. They wanted to assassinate the entire line of succession for the Presidency of the United States. Booth's accomplices targeted Vice President, Andrew Johnson; Secretary of State Seward and even General Grant who fortunately was on his way to Philadelphia at the time of the attacks.
George joined the 8th Maine Regiment as a Private in Company B on August 15, 1863 after being drafted in Bangor. On May 20, 1864, he was wounded just below his right knee while serving in the Bermuda Hundred campaign near Ware Bottom Church, Virginia. He was convalescing in Washington hospitals for almost a year before he was assigned as an attending nurse to Secretary Seward on April 12, 1865. George was 32 years old at that time.
The Secretary was bedridden after having been seriously injured in a carriage accident on April 5, 1865 a week before the assassination attempt. Seward had broken his jaw and arm and suffered many bumps and bruises after falling from a runaway carriage.
When Powell forced his way into Secretary Seward's bedroom, he struck George in the forehead with his knife knocking him to the floor. George regained his footing and then jumped onto Powell's back to stop the attack on Seward.
Powell was slashing at the Secretary in his bed with his large knife while he kept his mis-firing pistol in his left hand. Powell used the gun to beat George about the head with little effect as they struggled over the bed and onto the floor.
The commotion of the attack woke Major Augustus Seward, the Secretary's eldest son, who joined George in the struggle and they were eventually able to force Powell from the room and on his way out of the house, but not before George was stabbed twice in the shoulder.
George and Seward's daughter, Fanny, tended to the Secretary's new wounds and stopped the bleeding saving his life.
Luckily, Secretary Seward was wearing a metal brace on his face and neck to splint his broken jaw. The apparatus deflected the initial blows of Powell's knife. After George was able intervene, Powell’s later blows only caused some terrible damage to Seward's facial skin.
George was a key witness against Powell when the Booth conspirators went on trial. Robinson asked for Powell's knife as a souvenir, in a letter dated July 10, 1866, to Joseph Holt, Judge Advocate of the United States Army. Judge Holt presented the knife to Robinson after the trial. The nearly 9 inch knife was supposed to become a cherished family heirloom, but its current location is unknown.
George was discharged as a Private on May 19, 1865. He then worked as a clerk in the Treasury Department from June 6th until November 1866.
George returned to Island Falls where he applied for and was awarded a pension for his injuries received in the war and rescuing Secretary Seward. The grateful citizens of the State of New York (Seward's home state) offered George a farm in the West and collected $1,600 to reward him for his service.
On January 8, 1869, George returned to government service as a clerk in the Quarter Master of the Armies staff.
In 1871, the Congress awarded George the Congressional Gold Medal for his valor in saving Secretary Seward's life.
George was commissioned as a Major and Pay Master of the US Army on June 23, 1879 where he served until his retirement in 1896.
In 1892, George purchased a 20 acre orange grove in Pomona, California while visiting there. After his retirement as Pay Master in Denver, Colorado on January 1, 1896, George and his wife Aurora moved to Pomona where their son, Edmund, managed the ranch.
George was promoted to lieutenant colonel on the retired list on April 23, 1906.
George died of pneumonia at the age of 75 on August 16, 1907 in his home at 245 East Pasadena Street, Pomona, California. He and his wife, Aurora, who died in 1922 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Their grave is near the JFK Memorial.
George's war time, pocket diary and a couple of letters are held in the Pearce Civil War Collections at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
George was born in Hartford, Maine on August 13, 1832 in a home owned by his mother's family. A historic plaque is now located in the former family home in Hartford.
After attending two colleges he worked in the family lumber and farm businesses near Island Falls, Maine before being drafted.
In 1965, the Maine Centennial Commission renamed May Mountain outside Island Falls in George's honor as Robinson Mountain.
Likewise in Alaska the Congress named a mountain after George too, but mistakenly identified him as Sergeant Robinson, perpetuating the confusion of the Private from the 8th Maine with the Sergeant from Ohio. Mount Sergeant Robinson, is a 10,415-foot peak about 90 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska.
As noted in Joe Blackstone's article for the Arlington National Cemetery, George has remained an obscure part of our American history despite the heroic actions he undertook the evening of April 14, 1865. There is a lot of confusion about his true identity which has resulted in even the mountain named in his honor in Alaska bearing the inaccuracies of the flawed historical record.
Recent books published on Lincoln and the Booth conspiracy and recent documentaries have consistently failed to mention George and his important role in our history. He is often only referred to as an anonymous nurse or attendant at the Seward home with no credit for his actions or acknowledgement of his involvement. At the 8th Maine, we try to preserve his memory and the true story of his heroic actions.
