Background
Garcelon was born in Lewiston, Maine, to French Huguenot parents.
Garcelon was born in Lewiston, Maine, to French Huguenot parents.
Garcelon attended Monmouth Academy, Waterville Academy, and New Castle Academy. In 1836 Garcelon graduated from Bowdoin College, and in 1839 he graduated from the Medical University of Ohio, which was the Medical College of Ohio at the time, and then returned to Lewiston to practice.
Garcelon taught school during the winter terms to help pay for his tuition. Garcelon co-founded the Lewiston Journal in 1847. He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1853-1854, 1857-1858, and in the Maine Senate from 1855-1856.
Garcelon donated to Bates College to Lewiston in 1855 and served as an instructor and trustee at the College.
He was elected as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856. During the, Garcelon served in the Union Army as Maine"s Surgeon General.
During the impeachment of Andrew Johnson after the War, Garcelon became disgusted with the Republican Party and became a Democrat. In 1871 he was elected mayor of Lewiston, and in 1879 he was elected Governor of Maine by the legislature, serving one term until 1880.
Senator James Blaine came to Augusta with a hundred armed men to protest the results, and Garcelon called out the state militia.
Civil war was narrowly averted, thanks to the peaceful intervention of militia leader Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. In 1883 Garcelon was once again elected mayor of Lewiston. Garcelon died in Medford, Massachusetts, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Lewiston, Maine.
Whig Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party.