Elhanan W. Whitcomb was born around 1833 in Mercer, Maine, to Levi and Cordelia Whitcomb. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate by 1850. He grew up in Mercer, and he married Lavina C. Blackstone on October 25, 1856. The couple apparently had no children.

 

Whitcomb enlisted in the Union army on October 13, 1862, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company K of the 28^th Maine Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the siege of Port Hudson. Whitcomb was eventually reduced to the ranks, and he mustered out on August 31, 1863. Even after leaving the army, however, he remained deeply invested in the war effort. In March 1865, he argued that “Volenteers is worth more then drafted men & I dont like to see men go that dont wornt to for their is enough who is wilen to go but those who does not go aught to pay those who does go.”

 

He settled in Lewiston, Maine, after leaving the army, and he earned a living as a mill worker. By 1870, he owned $1,500 of real estate. He eventually moved to Hallowell, Maine. He applied for a federal pension in January 1891 and eventually secured one. He died in Hallowell on March 22, 1897.

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