James Gorham Sturgis was born around 1837 in Standish, Maine, to William and Joanna Sturgis. His father was a farmer who owned $2,000 of real estate. The family lived in Standish, Maine, and Sturgis attended school there. By 1860, he was working as a teacher in a common school. He attended medical school at Bowdoin College in 1862. He enlisted in the Union army on August 18, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company H of the 17th Maine Infantry later that day. As he explained to his parents, he “left the home of my childhood…to serve my country and protect its Flag.” The regiment took part in the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and the siege of Petersburg. He became a hospital steward on November 16, 1863. In February 1864, he wrote that he would “serve in no other capacity if possible while in the army,” because he “love[d] to be placed where I can be a friend to all who are suffering from sickness or wounds.” He mustered out as an assistant surgeon on June 4, 1865, in Washington, D.C.

 

Sturgis returned to Maine after the war, and he married Aravesta C. Higgins around 1866. They had at least three children: Edwin, born around 1866; Susan, born around 1871; and Gracie, born around 1876. In 1870, he was working as a physician in Standish, and he owned $1,300 of real estate and $700 of personal property. The family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, sometime in the 1870s, probably to help care for Aravesta's elderly parents. He died near Concord, New Hampshire, on October 16, 1889.

SOURCES