Paul Douglas
Douglas was born on March 26, 1892 in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of Annie (Smith) and James Howard Douglas. When he was four, his mother died of natural causes and his father remarried. His father was an abusive husband and his stepmother, unable to obtain a divorce, left her husband and took Douglas and his older brother to Onawa, Maine in Piscataquis County, where her brother and uncle had built a resort in the woods.
A History of the Adjutants General of Maryland
Henry Kyd Douglas, fifteenth adjutant general of Maryland, was born at Sheperdstown, Va., (now West Virginia), 29 September 1840.
Graduated from Franklin-Marshall College in 1859; studied law, graduating in 1860.
Enlisted at Harper's Ferry as private, company B, 2nd Virginia infantry, ("Stonewall" Brigade), C.S. Army, 18 April 1861; promoted to be first sergeant, 5 June 1861; second lieutenant, 14 September 1861; appointed captain in 1862; major and assistant adjutant general to rank from 13 June 1863; was adjutant and inspector general of the "Stonewall" Brigade, from which he was transferred to a post as aide-de-camp on General "Stonewall" Jackson's staff; after Jackson's death served in succession on the staffs of Generals Edward Johnson. John B. Gordon, Jubal A. Early and others, commanding the "Stonewall" division and Jackson's corps; made colonel of the 13th and 14th Virginia regiments consolidated and assigned to command of the light brigade formerly commanded by Generals Early and A. P. Hill; was promoted to rank of brigadier general, but his commission did not reach him.
Was wounded severely at Gettysburg and for a short while confined in the old Capitol prison; was at Appomattox and was paroled 9 April 1865.
After the war he practiced law in Winchester, Va., and in 1868 came to Hagerstown, Md.
Was appointed Colonel and aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Carroll, February, 1876; in 1877, during the railroad strikes of that year, in command of the Department of Western Maryland.
Captain, Hagerstown Light Infantry, 22 November 1880; commissioned lieutenant-colonel, 1st Battalion, Maryland Infantry, 29 September 1881; colonel, 1st Regiment, Maryland Infantry, (1st brigade), 29 May 1886; resigned, 16 April 1891.