James Leamon '55, professor of history at Bates College since 1964, cuts an impressive figure as the college mace bearer, an honor held by the most senior member or the faculty. "It's a handsome piece of craftsmanship," said Leamon about the mace he carried for the last time during the college's 134th commencement procession.

Leamon's sabbatical in 2000-2001 prefaces his retirement the following year, and scholarship leads his agenda. In the fall, Leamon ­ a colonial historian and authority on the Revolution in Maine ­ will begin a short biography of Benjamin Church, an Indian fighter whose forces were responsible for the killing of King Philip during King Philip's War (1676–78).

The author of "The Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine" (The University of Massachusetts, 1993), Leamon is also the co-editor of "Maine in the Early Republic" (The University of New England Press, 1988) and a contributor to "Maine: The Pine Tree State" (The University of Maine Press, 1995).

For the last 15 years, Leamon has offered a Short Term in historical archeology in which students have organized a cooperative search among a chain of colonial forts built along the Kennebec River. Led by Leamon and Norman Buttrick, an archeology instructor at area high schools, the latest team of excavators finally uncovered the Fort Shirley blockhouse on the grounds of the Pownalborough Courthouse in Dresden.

Leamon derives his greatest satisfaction from watching former students "mature as scholars," he said, having just returned from a presentation by Richard Samuelson '92 at The Historical Society in Boston. Samuelson's doctoral dissertation at the University of Virginia originated in one of Leamon's Bates seminars on Jefferson and Adams. Leamon also cites Tad Baker '80, now an historian at Salem State, whose formative experiences in Leamon's archeological Short Term led him to play an important role in the history and archeology of Maine. "Tad is a powerful illustration of the joy that comes from teaching."