# 1288 - 1968 15c Prominent Americans: Oliver Wendell Holmes
15¢ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Prominent Americans Series
City: Washington, DC
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Color: Magenta
Birth Of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Holmes was a descendant of the powerful Quincy political family and the son of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., a prominent writer and physician. While Oliver Jr. and his mother Amelia supported the abolitionist movement, Oliver Sr. was interested only in preserving the nation. His attitude changed after South Carolina seceded, when the senior Holmes became a firm Unionist.
The officers of the newly formed 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry were mostly Holmes’ classmates and the group quickly became known as the “Harvard Regiment.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s first service in battle was at Ball’s Bluff during October 1861, where nearly half the Union’s 1,700 troops were killed or wounded. Holmes was one of the casualties, suffering a serious shot in the chest. After a lengthy recuperation, he rejoined his regiment in time to witness the loss of several comrades killed in the Battle of Fair Oaks in June 1862.
One of the telegraphs was sent to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in Boston. “Capt. Holmes wounded, shot through the neck. Thought not mortal at Keedysville.” A distinguished surgeon, the elder Holmes knew a shot to the neck was more likely lethal. He immediately boarded a southbound train in search of his son. During his journey, Holmes met a soldier that “mentioned incidentally having heard a story that… Wendell was killed.” Determined to find his son, Holmes pressed on and found him 11 days later. Holmes not only recovered, but returned to service and was wounded a third time in May of 1863.
Holmes was formally nominated on December 2 and confirmed unanimously by the Senate two days later. One of the best-known American judges, Holmes served as a member of the Supreme Court for 30 years. Known as the “Great Dissenter,” he insisted laws be viewed in light of a changing society rather than as old formulas to be adhered to. In 1881, Holmes wrote, “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience…the law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.”
Click here for a collection of Holmes’ quotes.
15¢ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Prominent Americans Series
City: Washington, DC
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Color: Magenta
Birth Of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Holmes was a descendant of the powerful Quincy political family and the son of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., a prominent writer and physician. While Oliver Jr. and his mother Amelia supported the abolitionist movement, Oliver Sr. was interested only in preserving the nation. His attitude changed after South Carolina seceded, when the senior Holmes became a firm Unionist.
The officers of the newly formed 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry were mostly Holmes’ classmates and the group quickly became known as the “Harvard Regiment.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s first service in battle was at Ball’s Bluff during October 1861, where nearly half the Union’s 1,700 troops were killed or wounded. Holmes was one of the casualties, suffering a serious shot in the chest. After a lengthy recuperation, he rejoined his regiment in time to witness the loss of several comrades killed in the Battle of Fair Oaks in June 1862.
One of the telegraphs was sent to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in Boston. “Capt. Holmes wounded, shot through the neck. Thought not mortal at Keedysville.” A distinguished surgeon, the elder Holmes knew a shot to the neck was more likely lethal. He immediately boarded a southbound train in search of his son. During his journey, Holmes met a soldier that “mentioned incidentally having heard a story that… Wendell was killed.” Determined to find his son, Holmes pressed on and found him 11 days later. Holmes not only recovered, but returned to service and was wounded a third time in May of 1863.
Holmes was formally nominated on December 2 and confirmed unanimously by the Senate two days later. One of the best-known American judges, Holmes served as a member of the Supreme Court for 30 years. Known as the “Great Dissenter,” he insisted laws be viewed in light of a changing society rather than as old formulas to be adhered to. In 1881, Holmes wrote, “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience…the law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.”
Click here for a collection of Holmes’ quotes.