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Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss)〔Some sources have incorrectly spelled the middle name of Nathaniel as "Prentiss." While many military historians spell it "Prentiss", this faulty spelling likely derives from a widely used biographical sketch he did not approve. The general declined to answer requests for biographical sketches, and compilers relying on earlier, faulty sketches apparently repeated this erroneous "Prentiss" spelling. Such a spelling does not appear in other important documents, on his tombstone, or in many letters to him from relatives. There is only one document in the voluminous Banks manuscript collections in which Nathaniel himself spelled his middle name. This was a partially completed fraternity application now at the American Antiquarian Society. He then spelled the name "Prentice".〕 Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician and a Union general during the American Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, and his oratorical skills were noted by the Democratic Party. But his abolitionist views fitted him better for the nascent Republican Party, through which he became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Governor of Massachusetts. At the outbreak of the war, President Lincoln appointed Banks as one of the first 'political' major generals, over the heads of West Point regulars, who initially resented him, but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war. After suffering an inglorious defeat in the Shenandoah at the hands of the newly famous Stonewall Jackson, Banks replaced Benjamin Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department of the Gulf, charged with liberating the Mississippi. But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and only took the surrender of Port Hudson after Vicksburg had fallen. He was then put in charge of the Red River campaign, a doomed attempt to occupy eastern Texas. Banks had no faith in this strategy, but the outgoing General-in-Chief, Henry Halleck, is believed to have told Grant that it was Banks' idea, in order to dodge responsibility for this expensive failure, for which Banks was removed from command. After the war, Banks returned to the Massachusetts political scene, where he influenced the Alaska Purchase legislation and supported women's suffrage. ==Early life== Nathaniel Startle Prentice Banks was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, the first child of Nathaniel P. Banks, Sr., and Rebecca Greenwood Banks, on January 30, 1816. His father worked in the textile mill of the Boston Manufacturing Company, eventually becoming a foreman.〔Hollandsworth, p. 3〕 Banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen, at which point the family's financial demands compelled him to take a job in the mill. He was a bobbin boy, responsible for replacing bobbins full of thread with empty ones.〔Hollandsworth, p. 4〕 Because of this he became known as Bobbin Boy Banks, a nickname he carried throughout his life. He was eventually apprenticed as a mechanic alongside Elias Howe. Recognizing the value of education, he continued to read, sometimes walking to Boston on his days off to visit the Atheneum Library. He attended company-sponsored lectures by luminaries of the day including Daniel Webster and other orators. He formed a debate club with other mill workers to improve their oratorical skills, and took up acting. He became involved in the local temperance movement; speaking at its events brought him to the attention of Democratic Party leaders, who asked him to speak at campaign events during the 1840 elections. He honed his oratorical and political skills by emulating Robert Rantoul, Jr., a Democratic Congressman who also had humble beginnings.〔Hollandsworth, pp. 5–8〕 His success as a speaker convinced him to quit the mill. He first worked as an editor for two short-lived political newspapers; after they failed he ran for a seat in the state legislature in 1844, but lost. He then applied to Rantoul, who had been appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, for a job.〔Hollandsworth, pp. 8–9〕 The job gave him sufficient security that he was able to marry Mary Theodosia Palmer, an ex-factory employee he had been courting for some time.〔Banks, R.H., pp. 9–25〕 Banks ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1847.〔Hollandsworth, p. 10〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nathaniel P. Banks」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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