USA > New Hampshire > A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion > Part 19
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Still, men were being con- stantly stricken in the line. Three captains lost their lives. Captain George W. Gordon, of Company I, had the top of his head plowed by a rebel bullet, and died within an hour. Cap- tain William H. Smith, of Capt. George W. Gordon, Co. I. Company B, was wounded in Killed at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. He enlisted from Allenstown, and coming to the regiment well versed, for those early days, i. military tactics, he was made its first sergeant- major. The Grand Army Post at Suncook was named for him. both legs, and died at Fort Monroe on the 6th. Captain Henry Hayward, of Company E, was lying prone upon the ground, sighting a rifle which he had picked up, when a bullet pierced his neck, and he died in about three hours. Acting Sergt .- Major Moses L. F. Smith was shot through the hips, living a short time in dreadful agony.
A sad incident, which has lingered in the writer's memory, was the death of Addison C. Messenger, of Company I. He joined the regiment, as a recruit, at Point Lookout, having previously served a term in the Sixteenth New Hampshire. More in jest than in earnest, probably, some of the men had expressed doubts as to his
238
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
courage, which, as events showed, rankled deep in his breast. He now exposed himself with the utmost recklessness. While most of the others, after the repulse, were hugging the ground, he stood up, fully exposed and as unflinching as a brazen image, loading and firing at the row of heads above the rebel works, until a bullet pierced his heart. The gun he was sighting fell from his hands, he swayed for a moment, and sank to the ground, dead. He had settled with his life the question as to his bravery.
Lieut. Herbert B. Titus, Co. A.
A native of Chesterfield, and the origi- nal second lieutenant of Company A. He was promoted to first lieutenant, and after a year's service with the Second was appointed major of the Ninth New Hampshire. Within a fortnight after joining his new command he was appoint- ed lieutenant-colonel, severely wounded at Antietam, and the following November was appointed colonel. He left the service a brevet brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious services during the war. He now resides at Nyack, N. Y., with his business office in New York city.
A bullet struck close to the head of Lieutenant George T. Carter, of Company I, throwing up a cloud of dirt. "Carter 's got it !" exclaimed a comrade. "No, I guess not !" replied Carter, raising his head ; and on the instant he did "get it" from a bullet which inflicted an ugly wound.
In this fight good old Doctor Bunton, Assistant-Surgeon, estab- lished his reputation with the men. He had been well liked, and it was in no spirit of disrespect, but on account of his bald pate, that he was familiarly known as "Old Lap- stone." In some way he got possession of a shovel, and taking a position well up to the line, he threw up a little intrenchment of his own, and was in position to render immediate surgical assistance to many a poor wounded fellow, who ever afterwards swore by "Old Lapstone."
The repulse of the Eighteenth Corps was practically the expe- rience all along the line, notwithstanding slight advantages were gained at some points. The battle of Cold Harbor had been short, sharp, and decisive. Not only was it one of the bloodiest, but one
239
IN THE TRENCHES.
of the most unequal of the war in the comparative losses of the two sides. Grant had lost ten thousand men, almost in the twinkling of an eye, while the rebel loss was only about one thousand.
The Second's loss on this day was about seventy, of whom eight were killed, and eight died of wounds. Its total loss during the Cold Harbor epoch was seventy-eight.
During the following night, in spite of the almost uninterrupted fire which was maintained between the two lines, men crawled out, at the imminent risk of their own lives, and rescued some of the wounded ; but others it was impossible to reach, and they all died miserably before a truce was arranged for their recovery.
Before daylight on the morning of the 4th the Sec- ond was relieved by the Eighth Connecticut, from Burnham's brigade of the First Division, which brought intrenching tools and imme- diately proceeded to make serviceable breastworks of the dirt line scratched up by the Second. The Second simply drew back a little distance, and in the days and nights Sergt. Ezra C. Goodwin, Co. D. that succeeded had its full Was severely wounded at Gettysburg; also at Cold Harbor. Re-enlisted. Discharged early in '65 for disability. Resides in Dover. share of duty on the front line. From this line the sharpshooting was continuous, and men were wounded every day. The pickets were in pits only a few yards to the front. They were relieved at night, and the person who passed in or out by daylight took a great many chances. It was a brace for a rush, a jump, a foot race against time, and a plunge for cover-and always plenty of music about one's ears before he landed.
The men soon got acquainted, so to speak, with certain sharp-
240
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
shooters along the rebel lines, as the Johnnies doubtless did with some of ours. There was one particularly sociable fellow who had a perch in a prominent clump of trees on that portion of the rebel line, over to the right, from which the brigade had been enfiladed in its charge on the 3d. He appeared to give his entire and undi- vided attention to a little opening or vista (probably an old cart path) in the forest front along the Second's position. The men very soon learned to be careful of exposing themselves on that danger line. But for all that, he got a victim occasionally ; and
Field Hospital at Point of Rocks.
The above is a view at the field hospital at Point of Rocks on the Appomattox river, sometime in the latter part of 1864, while the Army of the Potomac was beseiging Petersburg In the doorway of the log cabin is seated Harriet Dame, with her dog "Whisky," so named because his twin was called "Quinine."
when business was dull, he would send over a random bullet, just to advise the Yankees that he was at the same old stand. One of the scalps in his belt was that of Lieutenant Colcord, of Company K. Colcord rejoined the regiment on the 5th, from sick leave, and while strolling along the rear of the works, unwittingly halted right on the danger line. Some of the men warned him, but too late. He went down with an ugly, although not dangerous, bullet furrow in his scalp. It was a close call for Colcord.
June 8 was memorable as the day when the old men whose term of service had expired marched from the trenches on their return
241
RETURN HOME OF THE OLD MEN.
to New Hampshire to be mustered out. They encamped about three miles to the rear, and at 4 o'clock the next morning started for White House, where they arrived at 10 a. m. They embarked on the little steamer "Young America," which, at 7 p. m., anchored for the night about seven miles above Yorktown.
The next day (June 10) they went to Norfolk for the baggage which had been stored there, and thence back to Fort Monroe to await transportation north. On the 11th the steamer " Detroit" was assigned for conveyance to New York. She was then at the wharf, awaiting the discharge of her cargo. The men were impa- tient of delay, and expressed their willingness to unload her themselves. Their offer was accepted, and the work was conducted with such amazing celerity that about half-past eight in the evening the boat pulled out from the wharf and headed for the Capes of the Chesapeake.
The " Detroit" arrived at New York on the evening of Daniel W. Gould, Co. G. the 13th. The next day the Enlisted from Peterborough, his native town, and lost an arm at Williamsburg. He resides at Chelsea, Mass. For many years he held a position as Inspector in the Boston Custom House, until "bounced" by Collector Warren the first of Octo- ber, 1895. [See group picture on page 156]. detachment took the "Com- monwealth" for Groton, and at II o'clock in the forenoon of June 15th were again in the capital of the Old Granite State. In a storehouse near the railroad station the men stacked their arms for the last time together. "Good bye, old comrade !" was the unspoken farewell in many a heart, as the hand parted with the faithful old musket it had carried in many a fierce battle. The citizens of Concord had made arrangements for a grand reception, but it did not take place according to program. The men could
16
2.42
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
not wait for it, but scattered on the earliest trains to the four quarters of the state to meet the home receptions which awaited them.
On Tuesday, the 21st of June, the men again assembled at Concord. They were paid off by Paymaster Henry McFarland, and received their certificates of honorable discharge from Captain Charles Holmes, mustering officer. Then, in the shadow of the great elms in the state house yard, they listened to the last roll call, and, company by company, were declared "mustered out of the United States service."
Before following further the fortunes of the Second, a few lines may be spared to consider how the regiment was affected by the separa- tion from it of so large a proportion of its veteran John A. Emerson, Co. K. members. Of the ninety- Was captured at Williamsburg, released, and discharged at Washington, all within seventeen days. Subsequently enlisted in the Ninth New Hampshire. Resides at Deerfield. eight enlisted men who "veteranized," or re-enlisted, sixty-six were of the original members, and thirty-two from the first year's recruits. The dis- charges of one hundred ninety-nine enlisted men bear date June 21, 1864 ; and twenty-eight commissioned officers, including all the field and staff, excepting Adjutant Cooper, went out with the old men. But four commissioned officers remained upon the rolls : Captain Patterson, Adjutant Cooper, and Lieutenants Saunders, of Company D, and Carter, of Company I. These figures show that of the one thousand and more officers and men who left New Hampshire in June, 1861, the names of two hundred and ninety- seven were borne upon the rolls at the expiration of the term of service, in June, 1864, who are accounted for as follows :
243
THE ORIGINAL SURVIVORS.
Mustered out June 21, 1864.
Re-enlisted.
Enl. Men 6
66
B,
66
66
2
66
66
66
7
6.
C,
66
3
66
66
22
4
D,
6
IO
. .
E,
6.
2
66
66
18
66
66
I 2
..
F,
66
3
66
66
16
..
G,
2
31
66
66
7
H,
I,
6
1
66
66
29
66
66
I
66
K,
66
2
6.
66
14
66
66
6
Field and Staff,
7
I
Line Officers,
3
28
199
70
. .
2
66
2
66
66
13
66
5
Many of the men discharged June 2Ist soon found their way into the service again in other organizations. Their refusal to re-enlist in the Second was in a great measure influenced by their dislike of the uncongenial mass of mercenaries in which their state had submerged them. The original Second had been a close brotherhood, picked from the best blood of New Hampshire. A very large pro- portion of its members were young men not yet out of their teens, or but just passed them, who, with no family cares and duties to bind, were free to drop the tools of the artisan or the books of the student, and take up the musket at a mo- ment's notice. An enthusiastic, homogeneous clan of intelligent New Hampshire boys, loving First Sergt. Christian Pressler, Co. A. A native of Saxony, Germany. Resides at Keene. their state and proud as Lucifer
Company A,
Com. Off. 2
Enl. Men 17
19
66
20
8
244
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of their regiment ; a regiment that brigade and division com- manders soon learned to rely upon implicitly, and which never failed them-that was the "Old Second." These men had made for it its unsurpassed record as a fighting regiment. They had inscribed with their best blood its Alpha at Bull Run and its Omega at Cold Harbor, for never again was the regiment to meet the heavy losses in battle which had marked its career in the past.
From the old men that remained, however, the regiment was finely officered, and under Patterson was brought to a high state of efficiency and discipline. But what Lossing has written of the army as a whole was fully true of the Second : "Many veterans remained ; but a vast portion of the army was composed, if not entirely of raw troops, of those who had been little disciplined, and in a great degree lacked the buoyant spirit of the early Army of the Potomac, when led by Mcclellan and Hooker."
Chaplain Adams and Flora.
From a tintype taken at Manchester, Va., just across the river from Richmond, May 1, 1865. Flora was a roan mare, raised in Exeter by the father of Captain Albert M. Perkins, and was successively owned by Captain Perkins, Surgeon Merrow, and Chaplain Adams. She had a repu tation as a trotter, in New Hampshire, before the war, and was known as one of the finest animals in the army.
CHAPTER XVI.
JUNE 9, 1864, TO MARCH 2, 1865 .- "THE NEW SECOND"-REOR- GANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT-RETURN TO BERMUDA HUNDRED -RECONNAISSANCE TO PORT WALTHAL JUNCTION-ASSIGNED TO MARSTON'S "SEPARATE BRIGADE"-PATTERSON'S EXPEDITION TO HOG NECK-REGIMENT REJOINS THE EIGHTEENTH CORPS IN THE BESEIGING LINES-RECONNAISSANCE ON THE WILLIAMSBURG ROAD -IN WINTER QUARTERS.
HEN the " Old Second " took up its homeward march, Captain Patterson found himself in command of about two hundred and fifty men who remained in the trenches-the " New Second," composed of men who had re-en- listed and recruits who had joined the regi- ment since its organization. For a time he was the only commissioned officer on duty. There were still on the rolls of the regiment six hundred and sixty names. This number, although not enough to admit of the muster of a colonel, allowed the organization of ten companies to be retained, and the muster of a lieutenant-colonel, major, surgeon, and a proportionate number of line officers.
The re-officering of the regiment at the earliest practicable moment was a matter of great importance, and about a week later, after the return of the Eighteenth Corps to the Army of the James, recommendations to fill all vacancies, approved by Generals Smith and Marston, were forwarded to Governor Gilmore. At once, on the muster out of the retiring officers, commissions were issued to the new. Captain Patterson was commissioned as lieutenant- colonel, and Adjutant John D. Cooper as major. Quartermaster- Sergeant Abner F. Durgin was promoted to quartermaster, and
246
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Hospital Steward William G. Stark to assistant-surgeon. Chaplain John W. Adams declined to return home with the old men. He remained in the trenches with the remnant of the regiment, though there was no authority for retaining a chaplain, and his services must be the free offering of a patriotic spirit. Later, however, when the new organization was completed, Chaplain Adams was retained in the position to which he had brought so much ability and fidelity. Assistant - Surgeon Stone, who was mustered out as such June 21st, was appointed surgeon, and rejoined the regiment early in July. Captain Converse (also mustered out on the 21st) was re-commissioned on the 24th ; and Lieutenants Carter and Saun- ders were promoted to captaincies. Lieutenancies were filled by the promotion of various sergeants to be first lieutenants, as follows : L Samuel F. Holbrook, Company A ; Quartermaster Abner F. Durgin. Frank W. Morgan, Company B ; Enlisted from Fisherville (now Pena- cook) as a private in Company E. He re-enlisted, was appointed quartermaster- sergeant, and on the reorganization of the regiment was commissioned as quarter- master. Edward D. Bean, Company C ; George W. Nixon, Company D; Charles McGlaughlin, Company E ; Henry A. Flint, Company F ; Charles A. Locke, Company G : Albert J. Hanson, Company H ; Thomas E. Marshall, Company I; James I. Locke, Company K. By these appointments each company was given at least one com- missioned officer.
Pending this reorganization, the Second was, on June 9th, assigned to special duty as provost guard at the Eighteenth Corps headquarters. On the 12th, preparatory to the movement to place the Army of the Potomac on the south side of the James, the Eighteenth Corps marched to White House for its return by water to the Army of the James, and during the night most of the troops embarked on transports.
247
PORT WALTHAL JUNCTION.
The Second embarked on the 13th, and on the 15th were at Broadway Landing, on the Appomattox. The corps had arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the night of the 14th, and on the same night the van of the Army of the Potomac reached the banks of the James and was prepared to cross at Fort Powhatan. Passing to the right bank of the Appomattox, the Eighteenth Corps, on the 15th of June, made the first of the series of assaults on the defences of Petersburg by which Grant hoped to capture the city before it could be filled with reinforcements from Lee. Had General Smith pushed forward in the night, following up his first successes, it is probable he could have occupied the city and held the bridges leading north to Richmond. But he did not know, and it was another of the lost opportunities of the war. Be- fore morning Lee's troops were streaming into Petersburg from Richmond, and the long seige of ten months had begun.
Asst .- Surgeon William G. Stark. See portrait and sketch on page 85.
On the 16th, with the Tenth Corps, Terry moved out from the Bermuda Hundred lines-the rebel force having been withdrawn from the intrenchments on his front to assist in defending Petersburg-and advanced to the Petersburg and Richmond railroad. The Second Regiment was ordered by General Butler to report to General Turner, who, with a small picked-up command of odds-and-ends-mounted and dis- mounted cavalry, hundred-days men, and negroes-was to make a reconnoissance to the left of Terry's line of advance. Turner's little command advanced from Port Walthal, and at noon reached the Petersburg and Richmond railroad at Port Walthal Junction. A long stretch of the railroad was speedily destroyed, as was the camp of a North Carolina brigade, which had apparently departed
2.48
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
in haste, probably on a loud call from Petersburg. Tur- ner met with no opposition worthy of the name, notwithstanding the Tenth Corps was heavily engaged, about a mile to the right, with Pickett's division, which came down from Richmond.
With the heterogeneous mass at his command, it was probably fortunate for Tur- ner that he did not meet a very large or vicious rebel force. But with only a weak Lieut. Milan D. Spaulding, Co. C. picket line to oppose him, he was able to push right One of the 1861 recruits, who re-enlisted, received a commission, and resigned as soon as the fighting was over. He now resides at Fitchburg, Mass. along and make a success of his expedition. Upon reporting to him, Captain Patterson very properly advised him of the exceptional condition of the Second and its lack of commis- sioned officers. Later in the day, Patterson was somewhat amused when two "hundred-years" second lieutenants, under orders from Turner, reported to him for duty. He had no use for them, as all his companies were in charge of competent sergeants of more than three years' service ; and as soon as he could do it decently and without hurting their feelings, he thanked them warmly for the valuable aid they had rendered him, and gave them permis- sion to return to their own command.
Had there been a serious collision, it is safe to say that the dismantled Second Regiment would have proved one of Turner's mainstays. He-a skillful and experienced soldier-must have appreciated this when, along late in the day, an organization in front of the Second went all to pieces before a few shots and struck for the Appomattox at a tremendous pace. The Second at once advanced and occupied the vacated position.
249
BESEIGING PETERSBURG.
The command returned to their camps about sunset, with a happy consciousness of having done a great deal of mischief with but trifling loss to themselves. General Turner made the following report :
HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES, Point of Rocks, l'a., June 16, 1804.
Capt. A. TERRY,
Assistant Adjutant General:
CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following report of a reconnaissance made today in obedience to orders received at 8 a. m. from the major-general commanding. I moved with the Sixty-second Ohio. Nineteenth Wisconsin, Second New Hampshire, and twenty-five men of Mounted Rifles (in all about 550 men) over the causeway on my extreme left. At the same time I shoved forward my picket line, about 100 strong, on the mill road. I found but few of the enemy in my front, and they were easily pushed back. I advanced without delay to the junction of the Port Walthal railroad with the Petersburg and Richmond railroad, and immedi- ately commenced the destruction of the road. I was here joined by the Maryland cavalry, dismounted; 200 First U. S. Colored Cavalry, dismounted; District of Columbia Cavalry, and One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio, 100-days' men. The Maryland regiment was to have been with me from the start, but it did not reach the rendezvous in time, and I went without it. The others were ordered from camp after I started. 1 destroyed about a mile of the road completely, burning every tie, and heating the rails, and from a half to three-quarters of a mile was over- turned onto the side of the road or down the embankment. I also destroyed the telegraph line both on the railroad and turnpike, and a camp containing quite an amount of camp and garrison equipage and subsistence. 1 remained till 5 p. m., when, in obedience to the orders of the major-general commanding and Brigadier-General Terry, I withdrew to my line, the enemy following in small force.
Very respectfully, &c.,
In due time commissions were issued as previously indicated, and the Second Regiment was once more fully organized. It remained on duty at corps headquarters until August 13th, when it was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division, Eighteenth Corps, con- sisting of the Second and Thirteenth New Hampshire, and Eighty-first, Ninety-eighth and One Hundred and Thirty-ninth New York, and commanded by Colonel Aaron F. Stevens, of the Thirteenth New Hampshire. This brigade occu- pied the extreme right of Grant's beseiging lines south of the Appo- mattox, its rifle trenches ending
JOHN W. TURNER, Brigadier-General, Commanding.
Lieut. James W. Felt, Co. G.
One of the first lot of recruits, entering Company A. Re-enlisted, and promoted to first lieutenant of Company G. Resides at South Ashburnham, Mass.
250
SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
at the river, which had an uncomfortable habit of flooding a portion of the pits. The distance between the opposing lines at this point was less than three hundred yards, and the courtesies of foeman to foeman were only such as their rifles could carry. The fire of sharpshooters was continuous, with an occasional artillery outbreak, and men were killed almost every day.
Sergt. Thomas W. Piper, Co. B.
Enlisted, as an early recruit, from Hopkin- ton. Promoted to sergeant July 1, 1864. Was wounded in the trenches before Petersburg, August 17, 1864, and died on the 19th.
August 26th, the Eighteenth Corps exchanged positions with the Tenth, crossing the Appomattox at Point of Rocks during the night, and occupy- ing the Bermuda Hundred defences. The Second's posi- tion was to the rear of Battery Sawyer, a prominent salient of the line, about midway between the Appomattox and the James.
In Special Orders, No. 233, from General Butler, bearing date August 25, it was ordered :
" XVI. The Second New Hampshire Volunteers will be sent without delay to relieve the regiments of roo-days men now at Fort Pocahontas. The latter regiments, upon being relieved, will be placed en route to Washington, D. C., preparatory to being sent home to be mustered out."
And in Special Orders, No. 237, dated August 31 :
" XI. Brig .- Gen. Gilman Marston, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby assigned to the command of all the U. S. troops on the James river, east of City Point and west of Fort Monroe. He will establish his headquarters at Wilson's wharf."
General Marston's command was known as the "Separate Brigade," and it was charged with the policing of the army's line of communications by the James and its protection from interference by rebel raiding parties. The Second Regiment was detached from the brigade September Ist, and on the evening of the same day reported to General Marston at Wilson's Landing (or Fort
251
MARSTON'S SEPARATE BRIGADE.
Pocahontas). A new camp was immediately laid out, the men working with a will to make everything trim and comfortable. From this point the regiment made several excursions into the country to the north of the James, destroying much prop- erty of value to the Confederate army. On the 2 1st of Septem- ber, Major Cooper, with one hundred men, went up the Chickahominy river, convoyed by a gunboat, and destroyed a steam sawmill in full working order. The detachment returned the next day without loss, bringing with them 50,000 feet Hospital Steward William Clifford, of lumber, although guerrillas Enlisted in Company B, from Warren. Re- enlisted, and in January, 1865, was appointed hospital steward. Resides in Lowell. appeared occasionally and fired upon them from the banks of the river. A more extensive raid was made on the 27th, under the following instructions :
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