Representative Peleg Tallman

Peleg Tallman (July 24, 1764 – March 12, 1840) was a United States representative from Massachusetts and a merchant and public official in what later became the State of Maine. He was born in Tiverton in the Rhode Island Colony, where he attended the local public schools. Growing up in the closing years of the colonial era, he came of age as tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain escalated into open conflict, and he entered military service while still a young man.

During the American Revolutionary War, Tallman served aboard the privateer Trumbull, one of several armed vessels authorized by the Continental Congress to disrupt British commerce. In 1780 he took part in an engagement in which the Trumbull was captured; during the action he lost an arm, a severe and permanent injury that marked the rest of his life. Following the capture of the vessel, he was taken prisoner by the British and held in captivity. His wartime service and sacrifice established his reputation as a committed supporter of American independence.

After the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Tallman settled in Bath, in the District of Maine, which at that time formed part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There he engaged in mercantile pursuits, participating in the commercial and maritime activity that made Bath an important regional port. As a merchant, he became part of the town’s emerging business community during a period when coastal trade and ship-related enterprises were central to the local economy.

Tallman’s growing prominence in Bath led to his involvement in educational and civic affairs. In 1802 he became an overseer of Bowdoin College in nearby Brunswick, an institution chartered in 1794 and then in its formative years. He served in this capacity from 1802 until his death in 1840, a tenure of nearly four decades that reflected his sustained interest in higher education and the intellectual life of the District of Maine and, after 1820, the State of Maine.

In national politics, Tallman was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Twelfth Congress, serving as a United States representative from Massachusetts from March 4, 1811, to March 3, 1813. His term coincided with mounting tensions with Great Britain that culminated in the War of 1812, a conflict of particular importance to the maritime communities of New England and the District of Maine. After serving a single term, he declined to be a candidate for renomination, choosing instead to resume his private pursuits and local responsibilities rather than continue in federal office.

Following his service in Congress, Tallman remained active in public life within Maine. After Maine separated from Massachusetts and was admitted to the Union as a state in 1820, he served as a member of the Maine State Senate, participating in the early legislative development of the new state. His combined roles as merchant, educator, and legislator made him a notable figure in the civic and political life of Bath and the surrounding region.

Peleg Tallman died in Bath on March 12, 1840. He was originally interred in Maple Grove Cemetery in Bath. His remains were later reinterred in Forest Hills Cemetery in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a prominent rural cemetery established in the nineteenth century. His long record of military service, commercial activity, educational oversight, and legislative work linked the revolutionary generation to the early national and statehood periods in New England’s history.