USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 52
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The individual record of these men is as follows: Warren W. Lovejoy lost an arm, near Rapidan Station, September 14, 1863, and was discharged on that account February 2, 1864. Isaac H. Kingsbury was taken prisoner in Wilson's raid along the Weldon Railroad, and died in Andersonville Prison November 13, 1864. An excellent soldier, he had but recently been promoted Sergeant, when he was captured. Cyrus Harris, a recruit of 1864, became Corporal, was twice wounded, once at Nottoway Court House, June 23, 1864, and again, June 29, at Ream's Station. He died of disease at Petersburg, Va., July 22, 1864. Those taken prison- ers other than those mentioned were: Charles W. Lovejoy, twice, - first, at Mountville, October 31, 1862, and second, at the affair at Middleburg, 1863. He was soon paroled on each of these occasions. He was appointed. Corporal, and discharged at the
1 The battalion and its successor, First New Hampshire Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry, were engaged in forty-three skirmishes and battles, beginning at Port Royal, Va., May 30, 1862, and ending at North Fork, Va., March 6 and 7, 1865.
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expiration of his term of enlistment. Sergeants Leonard Taylor and Thomas W. Harrington were captured by Confederates at Mountville, and soon paroled. Both re-enlisted, and were mus- tered out with the regiment July 15, 1865. Levi Ward Cobleigh and George W. Corey were made prisoners at the battle at Mid- dleburg in June, 1863 ; both were paroled, and re-enlisted, and were mustered out with the regiment. Andrew Jackson was sick in the hospital at Falls Church, from whence he was removed to Providence, R. I., and discharged on account of disability Septem- ber 23, 1862. Henry A. Clough, John B. McIntire, recruits of 1864, were mustered out with the regiment. Hugh J. Richard- son, a citizen of this town, like his son Hugh R., was credited to another municipality, and discharged May 10, 1865. Thus all the men credited to Littleton are accounted for, except George Stevens, and he never was a Littleton man. He was a bounty- jumper from parts unknown, who cheated this town out of a handsome bounty by enlisting August 17, 1864, and the country of his services, such as they might have been, by deserting twelve days after his enlistment.
On September 20, 1864, the Governor of the State was author- ized to raise a full regiment of twelve companies of heavy artil- lery. When mustered into the service of the United States, it was known as the First Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Heavy Artillery. The regiment was mustered in at Concord in Septem- ber, 1864. Companies A and B had been organized in the sum- mer of 1863, and stationed at Fort Constitution, Portsmouth harbor. Company M was the Light Battery that went from Man- chester in 1861. The men in this regiment were enlisted for one year's service.
This town had been combed again and again for men to fill its quota under the several calls by the President, and prior to that of July 18, 1864, its books were balanced on this account. At one time the indications were that we should be compelled to resort to another draft ; but under the combined influences of a short term of enlistment, an assurance that the men were required only for garrison duty within the fortifications of Washington, thirty-two men became members of Company I in this regiment. These were Alden Quimby, Chauncey H. Greene, Albert H. Bow- man, James M. Cummings, George F. Buchanan, Asa A. Wells, William Harriman, John W. Gilbert, Ellery H. Carter, Cyrus E. Burnham, Alfred Bowman, John Barron, Eli Boprey, Charles Closson, Rinaldo Dodge, John Smith Davis, Joshua W. Dudley, George W. Hadlock, Sidney Jordan, Edward H. Johnson, James
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W. Merrill, George W. Place, Myron Page, Zadock B. Remick, Hugh J. Richardson, Frank Reaume, Gilman D. Shute, Horace Shute, True M. Stevens, Daniel Sherry, Franklin B. Towne, and Franklin B. Williams. It will be noted that a number of these men were veterans of other regiments whose former term of enlist- ment had expired, or who had been discharged on account of disability.
Of these men Alden Quimby was many years Railway Station Agent. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant September 8, 1864, and resigned on account of ill health in December. Chaun- cey H. Greene succeeded Lieutenant Quimby as Second Lieuten- ant of Company I, December 26, 1864. He was recently one of the Selectmen of the town. Albert H. Bowman and James M. Cummings were Sergeants. The only one who did not return from this service was Corporal John W. Gilbert. He was born in Canada of American parents. He died at Fort Reno, near Washington, of disease, in January, 1865. The only ones to be discharged before the expiration of their term were Asa A. Wells, on surgeon's certificate of disability, Alfred Bowman, on account of disability, in April, 1865, Rinaldo Dodge and Frank Reaume, both for disability. Eli Boprey was the only one in the squad who failed to discharge a soldier's duty ; he deserted at Concord before the regiment left for the front. The others did garrison duty in the defences of Washington during their entire term, and were mustered out at Washington June 15, 1865.
Two men from the town were in Company G, U. S. Sharp- shooters,- Charles L. Dudley and Davis B. Sargent. The former served his term, then re-enlisted ; and when the company was dis- charged he was transferred to the Fifth Regiment and with that regiment was mustered from the army.
Eight men at various times during the war served in the navy. Those who were residents of the town were transferred from the army ; the others, four in number, were substitutes or bounty men who never had any other connection with the town than to count on its quota.
Charles S. Norton, Nelson S. Cooley, and Frank Hunt were well-known naval volunteers who represented other towns, but lived here during the last years of their lives.
The town furnished two hundred and sixteen men for the army who were placed to her credit; of these thirty were killed in action or died of wounds. At least twelve of hier sons credited to other States fell in the great struggle, and more than thirty-six of her children are known to have entered the service from other States,
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and one hundred and nine men not of the town, but who were sometime residents before or since the war, had their names blazoned on the muster rolls of the army during the contest.
With hardly an exception the men who came from the army to reside in the town have added something more than numbers to its citizenship : intelligent, sturdy, law-abiding, thrifty men whose patriotism had been deepened and broadened by years of hardship and suffering in a war for the maintenance of the integrity of the Union, they were at home wherever the flag floated in the breeze, and quickly became a part of our municipal life. Three of these men had earned promotion in the army by a display of soldierly
qualities of a high order. Andrew Jackson Sherman, born in Lisbon, was a resident of Bethlehem when he enlisted in the Thirteenth Regiment, but for twenty years after the close of the war resided here. When mustered in, he was appointed First Sergeant. He won his straps on the field of Fredericksburg, where he was wounded, and promoted to be First Lieutenant October 28, 1864. Lieutenant Sherman was a strict disciplinarian ; always swift to obey, he required of his men the same implicit obedience. He never asked a service he would not willingly grant, - a fact his comrades recognized, - and they followed him with alacrity. The men respected him for his soldierly virtues, good fellowship, and the democratic manners which he had not cast off with his private's uniform, but has continued to this day. His courage was of the same general character as that of Captain Goodwin. On the battlefield he was seemingly as unconcerned in regard to personal danger as when on dress parade, enthusiasm fired his eye and nerved and quickened his action ; to get at the enemy quickly and effectively was the object of all his mind and energies. As modest as brave, he is reluctant to speak of the part he played in his regiment, but is generous in praise of the noble deeds of his companions in arms.
It was a crowning distinction to his services, that, by reason of the seniority of his company, he commanded the first company of the first Federal regiment that entered Richmond as an or- ganized body.
Another whose career as a soldier follows closely in some respects that of Lieutenant Sherman, is John Tenney Simpson. He was a member of the First Regiment, Maine, sent to the war. He enlisted in April, 1861, at Portland. Like Lieutenant Sherman, he was the first Orderly of his company, was made Second Lieutenant in October of the same year, and honorably discharged for disability incurred in the service in September, 1862. A
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brave soldier, Lieutenant Simpson has been a good citizen, and repeatedly honored by his townsmen by an election to important town offices.
William Hoit Stevens, who came to Littleton, in 1868, as the agent of the Woollen Factory then controlled by Jordan, Marsh & Co. of Boston, was a Green Mountain Boy, who had inherited the patriotic and soldierly qualities of that famous race and was true to their promptings. He enlisted in June, 1862, in Troop B, Seventh Squadron Rhode Island Cavalry, known as the Dartmouth Cavalry, as the company was made up largely of students from that college. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant upon joining the squadron, and mustered out early in October, 1862, the squad- ron having enlisted for three months only. He was then made Captain of Company C, Second Rhode Island Cavalry. While leading his company at the battle of Port Hudson, La., March 14, 1863, he was severely wounded and taken prisoner. As soon as his wounds had sufficiently healed to enable him to make the journey to Richmond, he became an inmate of Libby Prison. He was exchanged July, 1863, and honorably discharged from the service, on account of wounds, August 14, 1863. While a resi- dent of this town, Captain Stevens was interested in its social, business, and political welfare. His activities, however, were never selfish, but were freely given for the advancement of every good work. His party, then in a minority, frequently availed itself of his popularity to strengthen its ticket by making him a candidate for representative to the General Court. He was eminently a just man ; a foe to envy, malice, and all unchari- tableness ; a friend to the unfortunate and to all who endeavored to aid their fellowmen or elevate the standard of citizenship. A brave soldier, an accomplished gentleman, who won and, what is better, deserved the friendship of every citizen of Littleton. While yet in the prime of manhood with the promise of the bright afternoon and mellow twilight of life before him, his horizon was ob- scured by the cloud of an incurable disease, and promise and hope slowly faded into night. He passed away at his home, in Windsor, Vt., March 12, 1891.
Others, who were sometime residents since the close of those days of strife, were John J. Ladd and Franklin J. Burnham, who were principals of the High School, the first for three years, the last for one year. Mr. Ladd was Paymaster of Volunteers with the rank of major for a little more than a year. Mr. Burnham enlisted in July, 1862, and was mustered out in February, 1865. He entered the service as a private and left it as a First Lieu-
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tenant. George W. Ferguson enlisted from Monroe in the Thir- teenth Regiment, was Commissary Sergeant for a few months, when he was promoted to a Second Lieutenantcy and was mus- tered out as First Lieutenant. After the close of the war, he re- sided at West Littleton until his death, which occurred March 6, 1869. He was an excellent soldier and much respected in civil life. Lieut. George W. Hall of the Twenty-fourth Maine was another good soldier who made this town his home for a time after the war.
The scope of this work will not permit even brief reference here to all who pledged their lives for the honor and perpetuity of their country who were at some time connected with our town. But the friendship of youth and early manhood compels a tribute to the memory of one who, born within the borders of a neighbor- ing town, was in many ways a Littleton man. This was his post- office address, here he received his last school instruction, and here he attended church. Charles William Batchellor, born in Bethlehem in October, 1838, enlisted in the Thirteenth Regiment in August, 1862, was mustered in as Corporal and made a Sergeant of his Company soon after. He was wounded in the action at Provi- dence Church Road, May 3, 1863, and in the engagement at Proctor's and Kingsland's Creeks, May 13, 1864, he fell stricken with a mortal wound. He was conveyed to the hospital at Point Lookout, Md., where he lingered until the second day of July, when life ebbed away. His last days were solaced by the presence of his mother and the care and skill of his brother-in-law, Dr. Ralph Bugbee. It seems trite to refer to him, and others like him, as a brave soldier. The physical attribute of courage was the rule in those days of peril, but Sergeant Batchellor was some- thing more than this ; his soldierly conduct was guided by a con- trolling sense of duty, and having discharged its high behest, he was content, though life were to be the crowning sacrifice on its altar.
Dr. Albert W. Clarke and Dr. James S. Harriman served as surgeons ; the first as assistant surgeon of the Thirty-fifth Massa- chusetts Regiment. The doctor resigned the position after nearly a year's service, and established himself in practice in this town, where he was successful.
Dr. Harriman was assistant surgeon of the Thirteenth Regi- ment Massachusetts Volunteers from July, 1862, to January 30, 1863, when he was discharged for disability.
The army rolls of the Civil War bore the names of a number of men who were then, or subsequently became, clergymen and have
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been connected in a professional way with our religious denomi- nations. Among those belonging to the Methodist Conference, Rev. George S. Barnes was appointed Chaplain, but not mustered, to the Seventeenth Regiment. In November, 1864, he was com- missioned Chaplain of the Twenty-ninth Regiment United States Colored Troops, in which capacity he served one year. Rev. George W. Beebe, a veteran of the Mexican War, was a " warrant surgeon " during the closing months of the Civil War. Revs. George M. Curl, and George W. Ruland served as privates in regiments sent out by other States. The Rev. M. V. B. Knox enlisted in a New York regiment in April, 1861. When this term had expired, he again entered the service for three years. He left the New York regiment to accept a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Twenty-third Regiment United States Colored Infantry. In May, 1865, he was commissioned Captain, and was mustered from the service in August, 1865.
The Free Baptist denomination was represented in this list by the Rev. George C. Osgood. The Advent Society has been min- istered to by at least two men who served in the army, the Rev. Alonzo O. Hoyt and the Rev. George M. Little, as privates, -the last named in the Heavy Artillery from this State. The Rev. George G. Jones, the only representative of the Protestant Episcopal Church, served as Chaplain of the Thirteenth Regiment. Chaplain Jones was one of the most efficient men who served in that capacity. He was with the regiment from the time it was mustered in until he was transferred to the position of Chaplain of the Department Hospital, City Point, Md. Lieut. S. M. Thompson says of him, in his history of the Thirteenth (p. 324) : " Chaplain Jones deserves a good word at parting. He has always been kindly to a fault. He has cared for the regimental mail with more faithfulness than any regular postmaster. He has written letters home for those who could not write for themselves. His visits to the sick have been as regular as the day. He has written a full and heartily compli- mentary history of the regiment, which was lost at Drury's Bluff. His letters to home newspapers have greatly benefited the Thirteenth, by calling attention to the needs of the men. The chief obstacle to a proper appreciation by the men of his valuable services has been his use of a formal religious service. Fifty off- hand hearty words extemporaneously spoken, go further with them than fifty pages of set prayers, no matter how well read." Perhaps the example and kindly consideration of this man for the welfare of his comrades went further and made an abiding impression, by fixing in the hearts and minds of the men his
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" formal " words of wisdom and godliness, than hours given to the utterance of words ill considered yet just as "formal," would have done. Chaplain Jones was mustered from the army in May, 1865, his term of active service extending over a longer period than that of any other chaplain of volunteers who went from the State.
The summer of 1863 was a season of doubt and darkness that even the victory of Gettysburg could not dispel. The far-reaching influence of that decisive battle was then unknown, and its effect on the popular mind, though immense, was far short of what it would have been could the multitude with the eye of prescience have gazed into the future.
The demands of the government for more men were continuous and imperative. Volunteers were not coming forward ; the source of supply was exhausted for the time, and a draft, the last resort of the State, was ordered. New Hampshire was divided into dis- tricts, each congressional district having its provost-marshal, and drafts for a sufficient number of men to fill the quota of the State were made. The required number of men from this town was twenty-four, but in order to ensure that number who would pass the rigid physical examination of the post surgeon, fifty-six men were drawn. This draft was made at the headquarters of the pro- vost-marshal, at West Lebanon, on September 15, 1863. An in- tense feeling of apprehension had existed for several weeks among the enrolled citizens of the town and their friends, and reached its culmination on this occasion. A concourse surrounded the telegraph office while the drawing was in progress, and as the names of the men picked from the fatal wheel were read by the operator, congratulations were in order for the fortunate and words of hope and encouragement showered upon the victims of the wheel of fortune.1
1 The twenty-four unfortunates who passed tlie examination were : Curtis L. Lewis, Horace Shute, Charles Moffett, Davis B. Sargent, Lorenzo C. Kenney, James W. Robins, Benjamin B. Lucas, Michael Carroll, Henry P. Thayer, Warren L. Bartlett, Edward Kilburn, John H. McCullock, Loren Bowman, Noah Farr, William L. Place, Laban T. Thompson, Albert H. Quimby, Henry Brown, Henry L. Smith, Henry E. Sanborn, Willard Miller, Jr., Albert M. Fuller, William W. Cameron, and Willard A. Stoddard.
Eighteen were rejected on account of physical disability. These were : John A. Clark, William Hicks, Walter Kinne, Charles B. Eastman, Curtis P. Carter, George W. Eastman, Ai Fitzgerald, Harrison Brown, Richard E. McIntire, Ellery H. Carter, Elbridge G. Merrill, William D. Thompson, Chiarles Hodgman, George W. Russell, William Jackson, Jr., William J. Bickford, Charles F. Lewis, and Henry Merrill.
Twelve were exempt for other causes, as follows : William W. Buchanan, Fred- erick Rivers, Edmund Carleton, Jr., Franklin G. Weller, Andrew J. Shirley, Milo M. Little, Henry Cass, Chester H. Carter, Luther D. Sanborn, Frank Mozrall, Royal D.
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Each of the twenty-four who successfully passed examination furnished substitutes. These soldiers of fortune then cost some- thing like six or seven hundred dollars each, - a sum much in ex- cess of the value of most of them. There is no list extant of these men, but the alleged names of many are to be found on the rolls of the Seventh and Eighth regiments.
As a rule the "bounty-jumper " was an adventurer without home or honor. He possessed many of the elements which charac- terize the "tramp" of the present day ; honorable labor he ah- horred ; he was indifferent to the opinion of others, and a scorner of the law. A natural coward, he was willing to take large risks, such as involved loss of limb or even life, in order to avoid submis- sion to established order. He differed from the "tramp" prin- cipally in the fact that his object in the prosecution of his business was to acquire money without rendering an equivalent. The suc- cessful bounty-jumper was often a creature of extraordinary busi- ness ability, who succeeded in escaping a cordon of provost- marshals, the police of towns and cities, the machinery of a vast army, and in gathering large sums from many municipalities, and defrauding the government of the services of a score of soldiers. He sought fields where bounties were large and paid within " ten days of mustering in ; " after securing the cash he would desert at the first opportunity, and tramp to a new scene of conquest ; and this thing was kept up until bounties ceased to be paid. The town and some of its citizens invested something like $15,000 in substitutes. She fared much better than the average, for not more than sixty per cent of these deserted. Such men as " George Welch," of the Seventh, " John Wheeler," " William Weschery," Denis H. Morgan, " Thorwald Foss," " Thomas Johnson," Peter Kirwin, John Dehorne, and a few others, were valiant soldiers who deserved well of our country. They were citizens of distant lands who were under no patriotic obligations to us, and probably entered the army for the sake of the bounty, yet they kept their plighted word of honor.
The eldest recruit from the town was Lewis O. Place, who was fifty-five at the time of his enlistment ; the youngest, Charles R. Coburn, born July 10, 1848, enlisted August 6, 1862 ; he was but fourteen years and twenty-seven days old when he signed his first army roll.
Lewis O. Place was the father of four sons who served in the
Rounsevel, and Samuel P. Nurse. Two, Stephen L. Hicks and Lewis Cutran, did not report, - Hicks, for the reason that he was then in the service, and Cutran, on account of absence, visiting friends in Canada.
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army and of another who furnished a substitute. He enlisted in the Fifteenth Regiment September 3, 1862, and was discharged August 13, 1863, on account of disability. The sons who enlisted were George W., Alonzo, Jonathan, and Jesse W. William L. sent a substitute. The first two were discordant elements in every organization with which they were connected. They were born figliters, who were seen at their best in the midst of a shower of bullets ; but they were uncontrollable, and kept on fighting be- tween battles. To relieve the regiment and secure to their com- rades an occasional semblance of peace, they were kept moving from one regiment to another.
George W. was a member of the squad enlisted for the First Regiment, and then went into the Second. He was wounded and captured at Williamsburg, paroled within a few days, and dis- charged from the regiment. He then enlisted in the Fifteenth, was discharged in 1863, after nearly a year's service, and finally entered the First Regiment Heavy Artillery, and managed to re- main with that organization until it was mustered out.
Alonzo had the most varied experience of any soldier who went from the town. He served two States and in both army and navy. His first enlistment was on June 1, 1861, in the Third Vermont Infantry. From this regiment he was discharged for disability September 18, 1862. His next venture was as a substitute, in which capacity he joined the Fifteenth Regiment, October 3, 1862, only fifteen days after he had been discharged from the Vermont regiment on account of disability ; he was assigned to Company C of the Fifth Regiment, and soon transferred to Company F, and discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment, August 13, 1863. On this occasion he represented the town of Bath. In the following October he joined the Fifth Regiment as a substitute credited to this town. He remained with this organization at its camp in Lower Maryland during the winter, and in April, 1864, was persuaded to enter the navy as an ordinary seaman. It is presumed that he did not particularly enjoy the discipline prevail- ing on board the steamer " Thomas Freeborn," as he abandoned her without leave, August 27, 1864.
The younger brothers, Jonathan and Jesse W., were made of entirely different material. They were excellent soldiers, faithful, obedient, and companionable, both in camp and on the battlefield. Both enlisted in the Thirteenth, in the Littleton company. Jona- than laid down his life in the battle at Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864, and Jesse W. lost an arm in the heroic charge and capture of Battery Five near Petersburg, June 15, 1864. On recovering from
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