Simon G. Griffin was born at Nelson, New Hampshire on August 9, 1824. Both of his grandfathers were American Revolutionary War veterans. Griffin was a farmer and a teacher. He represented his town in the State legislature and was admitted to the bar in 1860.[1][2]
Griffin's regiment was sent west with Major General Ambrose Burnside, where Griffin alternately served as regimental and brigade commander. He served under Major General Ulysses S. Grant during the Siege of Vicksburg when Major General John G. Parke took IX Corps to Mississippi. IX Corps served for the most time during the Vicksburg campaign with Major General William T. Sherman, preventing Confederate reinforcements from reaching Vicksburg.[2][3] Next Colonel Griffin participated in Sherman's Meridian and Yazoo River Expeditions in Mississippi in February 1864, which culminated in the Battle of Meridian.[1][2]
General Griffin was mustered out of the volunteer service on August 24, 1865. For gallantry at the Siege of Petersburg, on January 13, 1866, PresidentAndrew Johnson nominated Griffin for the grade of brevet major general of volunteers, to rank from April 2, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.[5]
General Griffin also was a local historian, co-author of:
Simon Goodell Griffin, Frank H Whitcomb and Octavius Applegate, Jr., A history of the town of Keene from 1732, when the township was granted by Massachusetts, to 1874, when it became a city, Keene, N.H., Sentinel Print. Co., 1904. Reprint: Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1980. ISBN0-917890-21-3, ISBN978-0-917890-21-5
Simon Goodell Griffin and Ebenezer Tolman, Celebration by the town of Nelson, New Hampshire (originally called "Monadnick no. 6" and incorporated as "Packersfield") of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its first settlement, 1767-1917, New York: Evening post job Print. Office, Inc., 1917. Reprint: Salem, Mass.: Higginson Book Company, 1998.[1]
^ abcdefgWarner, Ezra J.Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN0-8071-0822-7. pp. 191–192.