Hubbard, Thomas H. 1838-1915

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 population.