Thomas Hamlin Hubbard  Thomas Hamlin Hubbard (December 20, 1838 – May 19, 1915) was a Union Army colonel from Maine during the Civil War who was awarded the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, for meritorious service. After the war, Hubbard was a lawyer, railroad executive, financier, businessman and philanthropist. Soldier, lawyer, philanthropist, and financier, Hubbard was best known for his enthusiasm for Arctic exploration, which contributed to the discovery of the North Pole. Following the death of founding President Morris K. Jesup in 1908, he became President of the Peary Arctic Club, which had been formed in 1898 to give Admiral Robert E. Peary financial backing in his polar quest. Even after this quest had ended in success Hubbard's interest in the frozen north did not end, and he was one of the financial contributors to the Donald B. MacMillan expedition in the Arctic studying the native tribes. Hubbard was born in Hallowell, Maine, December 20, 1838. He was the second son of Maine governor Dr. John Hubbard, who signed the unpopular Maine Liquor Law in 1851. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1857 and studying law, he was admitted to the bar. He then moved to New York and began studies at Albany Law School. He received his LL.B. in 1861, and was admitted to the New York bar. The Civil War soon broke out, and the young lawyer went to the front as a first lieutenant and adjutant with the 25th Maine Infantry, a nine-month regiment. Hubbard later enlisted in the 30th Maine Infantry as lieutenant colonel. He had a hand in the construction of the famous Red River Dam, which was built to raise the water level so that Federal gunboats which had run aground could be floated out of danger, and his services as a whole were so conspicuous and so valuable that on June 2, 1864 he was made colonel of his regiment. He succeeded Colonel Francis Fessenden, who had been promoted to brigadier general, U.S. Volunteers, May 10, 1864. Hubbard resigned his commission on July 23, 1865. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Hubbard to the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, to rank from March 13, 1865. The United States Senate confirmed the award on March 12, 1866. On January 28, 1868, Hubbard married Sibyl A. Fahnestock of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.