Guide to the Almon Libbey Varney U.S. Army Regalia, 1865-1904, undated

Almon Libbey Varney was born April 5, 1839, at Windham, Maine, to Joel and Jane (Lowell) Varney. After a year at Tufts College he entered Bowdoin's Class of 1862 as a sophomore. In 1861 he volunteered with the 13th Maine, where he was appointed lieutenant, rising to the rank of captain in 1862. Commissioned as second lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps of the regular army in 1865, Varney was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1874, captain in October 1874, major in 1891, and lieutenant colonel in 1901. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1903 and was commissioned colonel, retired in 1904.

Varney married Hannah Josephine Gibson in 1866. He died on December 25, 1922, in Washington, D.C., survived by his sons, Gordon Edward Varney and Theodore Varney.

Personal effects, chiefly post-Civil War, late nineteenth-century U.S. Army regalia. Military attire includes Almon Libbey Varney's U.S. Army officer's kepi, sash, shoulder boards, and dress epaulettes. The collection also includes military certificates, printed War Department material, biographical and genealogical information concerning Varney, and his Bowdoin College diplomas.