USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 3
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Brief mention may be made of some of the leaders. Colonel Charles E. Hapgood was commissioned as captain, returned to Con- cord because of ill health and acted as recruiting agent, rejoined his regiment and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, led his regi- ment at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and was promoted to col- onel after the death of Colonel Cross at Gettysburg. He was severely wounded at Petersburg.
George Williamson Ballock was born in Claremont, December 3, 1825. He was educated at Norwich University and became a civil engineer in the service of railroads. He enlisted as first lieu- tenant and was detailed as commissary. In 1862 he was promoted as captain and civil engineer and in 1863 he was made chief com- missary, with rank of lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, of the eleventh corps. During Sherman's march to the sea he was chief commissary of subsistence of the left wing. He was assigned to important posi- tions in the Freedmen's Bureau under General Oliver O. Howard, disbursing more than twenty millions of dollars. Later he was superintendent of streets in Washington. He was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel and brigadier-general for meritorious service in the subsistence department.
Major Thomas L. Livermore was promoted to colonel of the eighteenth New Hampshire regiment. James E. Larkin entered service as lieutenant and rose through various grades to be lieuten- ant-colonel, commanding the regiment from June to October, 1864. After the war he served as postmaster of Concord and internal revenue collector.
Isaac W. Hammond left a mercantile career to become com- missary sergeant of the fifth New Hampshire regiment and served three years. Afterwards he was deputy secretary of state for ten years and then librarian of the New Hampshire Historical Society. He edited eight volumes of the State Papers. He was a member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, honorary member of the Maine Historical Society and a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. Dartmouth College con- ferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.
Francis W. Butler of Bennington enlisted as second lieutenant and rose to be captain of company K. On the 30th of June, 1864, while serving on the staff of Gen. W. F. Smith, he was wounded in an action and died July 30th after arriving home. He was a
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A HISTORY
soldier of approved valor and gentlemanly qualities. His portrait hangs in the corridor of the State House.
The sixth regiment was recruited from the western part of the State and had its rendezvous at Keene. It was mustered into service the latter part of November, 1861, and left for the South the 25th of December, ten hundred and twenty-four officers and men.
Nelson Converse of Marlborough was colonel, who had been major-general in the State militia. Ill health compelled him to resign on the eighth of March, 1862. Lieutenant-Colonel Simon G. Griffith was promoted to the colonelcy, and later was appointed Brigadier-General.
Phin P. Bixby was a trader at Concord at the outbreak of the war. He was commissioned Adjutant of the sixth regiment, was wounded at the second battle of Bull Run, taken prisoner and carried to Libby Prison, exchanged after five or six weeks, rejoined his regiment and was commissioned Major, October 15, 1862, in place of Obed G. Dort resigned. Major Bixby was again wounded in front of Petersburg, July 15, 1864, which necessitated absence from his regiment about three months. During this time he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in place of Lieut .- Col. Henry H. Pearson of Exeter, who was killed in action at North Anna River, May 26, 1864. At the last battle of Petersburg Lieut .- Col. Bixby had command of a brigade. He was promoted to Colonel, February 21, 1865, and was also appointed Colonel of United States Volun- teers,, by brevet, "for gallant and highly meritorious services in the assault before Petersburg, Va., to date from April 2, 1865."
Henry H. Pearson, born in Newport, Illinois, February 26, 1840, was a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, when the war broke out, and there he was held in great respect. He started for Washington and walked from Baltimore to that city, there enlisted and served till after the first battle of Bull Run. Then he returned to Exeter and was commissioned Captain, raised his own company and spent his odd moments in reading military history. The people of Exeter presented him with a sword as a testimonial of esteem. He was engaged in every battle of his regiment up to the time of his death and wrote interesting sketches of those battles. For meritorious conduct he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in December, 1863. A ball from a sharpshooter pierced his forehead,
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and he never spoke, dying in a few hours. No man of his rank excelled him in natural ability, knowledge of military affairs and gallant conduct. He commanded by force of character.
The sixth regiment joined Burnside's expedition to North Carolina and distinguished itself in the battle of Camden. After encamping a while on Roanoke Island it was ordered to Virginia, where it took part in the second battle of Bull Run. It fought also at Chantilly, Antietam, where it lost one-fifth of its number, Fredericksburgh, where seventy-five of the regiment fell, or one- third of those who went into battle, after which it rested for a time at Newport News. Then it was transferred to Kentucky. After the surrender of Vicksburg the regiment suffered more se- verely from malarial fevers than it ever did from fighting. Hence it proceeded north and rendezvoused finally at Annapolis, Maryland, where it was recruited. It joined the army of the Potomac under General Grant and participated in all the battles of the final cam- paign against Lee's army and in the capture of Richmond. The regiment was mustered out July 17, 1865, and arrived at Concord on the 22d, where a formal reception was given. It had fought in about a score of pitched battles, besides much skirmishing and many reconnoissances. Its losses were many, especially among the officers. During its term of service it marched more than twenty thousand miles and served in seventeen different States.
The seventh regiment was organized at Manchester under the direction of Joseph C. Abbott, late Adjutant General of the State, who became Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, refusing the office of Colonel, in order that a graduate from West Point might fill that office. Indeed the understanding was that he should nominate the commissioned officers. The organization and muster- ing in were completed December 14, 1861.
The first colonel of this regiment was Haldimand Sumner Putnam, born in Cornish, October 15, 1835, son of Judge John L. Putnam of that town. He was graduated from the Military Academy at West Point with high honors in 1857 and served on the western frontier as Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Topo- graphical Engineers, being promoted later to First Lieutenant. In 1861 he was summoned to Washington, sent on a hazardous mission to Fort Pickens, arrested and imprisoned at Montgomery, Alabama, released after a few days and served for a short time on General
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McDowell's staff, participating in the first battle of Bull Run. For some months before his death he had been acting as brigadier- general and had won the confidence and respect of all. He was mortally wounded at the assault on Fort Wagner, while leading his men through a terrible storm of shot and shell. He was suc- ceeded in the colonelcy by Joseph C. Abbott, who has been men- tioned in connection with the first regiment.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Albert Henderson was born at Dover, December 1, 1833. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1855 at the head of his class, and at the Harvard Law School in 1861 and was admitted to the Suffolk bar. Realizing that the country had need of trained men he spent some months at Norwich University in military study and drill, and in November, 1861, was appointed Adjutant of the seventh New Hampshire regiment. He became Major in August, 1862, and Lieutenant-Colonel in July, 1863, after the assault on Fort Wagner. He led his regiment at Drury's Bluff and Deep Bottom, where he was mortally wounded by the severing of an artery. Able, brave, self-sacrificing, an honor to his college and his State.
The regiment made another great sacrifice in the death of Major Daniel Smith, who was born at Durham, January 27, 1823. He had been a surveyor, Lieutenant-Colonel in the State militia. deputy sheriff of Strafford county, city marshal of Dover and twice representative of that place in the legislature. He contracted fever at Beaufort, South Carolina and returned home to die, August 26, 1862. He filled all his offices with distinguished ability and faithfulness, and was highly esteemed as a citizen and soldier.
The seventh regiment spent a month in barracks in New York City and then went to Dry Tortugas, on one of the Florida Keys. Thence it went to St. Augustine, after having lost about two hun- dred through sickness. Then it went to Folly Island, and took part in the attack on Fort Wagner, where in a brief charge two hundred and eighteen were killed, wounded and missing. At the battle of Olustee, Florida, in February, 1864, two hundred and nine were lost. In April following the regiment was transferred to the army of the James and took part in the battles preceding the fall of Richmond, including the siege of Petersburg and the cap- ture of Fort Fisher. When the regiment was mustered out July 20, 1865, there were less than one hundred men of the original volun-
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teers. Three hundred and twenty men and twenty-two officers returned. Of the original field and staff officers only one remained, Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus W. Rollins of Rollinsford, who en- listed as Major. Major Jeremiah S. Durgin of Penacook died in 1867 as the result of exposure and hardships in this regiment. He enlisted as captain and was promoted September 30, 1864.
The eighth regiment was mustered at Manchester and entered the service of the United States December 23, 1861. Their encamp- ment was on the Fair Grounds north of the city and was called Camp Currier, in honor of Hon. Moody Currier, who was after- wards governor of the State. The regiment left camp January 24, 1862, for Fort Independence, Boston harbor, where three weeks were spent. On the way the troops were entertained at Faneuil Hall, Boston. Thence they sailed for Ship Island, Mississippi, as a part of the expedition under command of General Benjamin F. Butler. Thence they went to New Orleans by way of Lake Ponchar- train, capturing Forts Wood and Pike on the way. During the summer the regiment was employed in clearing the rebels out of Louisiana, and in this campaign lost its first one killed in action, Captain John Q. A. Warren of Nashua. Two days later, October 27, 1862, fell Captain John Kelleher of Manchester. The regiment took part in the battle at Port Hudson. In the first assault, out of three hundred engaged, one hundred and twenty-four were killed or wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Lull being among the slain. The surrender of Port Hudson followed quickly upon the capture of Vicksburg by General Grant. Afterwards the eighth was mounted and participated in the Red River campaign and in the disastrous expedition to Sabine Pass. In December, 1864, three hundred and five re-enlisted and the remainder came home, having served three years. Those who remained formed a battalion under command of Captain James H. Landers of Concord, and they did duty in the vicinity of Natchez till the end of the rebellion. Of the seventeen hundred men who were enrolled in this regiment one hundred and seventy-five returned to Concord to be "received" and discharged. They had fought seven pitched battles and en- gaged in fifty-three distinct skirmishes. Captain Dana W. King was in command of the returning battalion, who was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel by the governor of the State.
Colonel Hawkes Fearing of Manchester commanded the eighth.
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He was born in Hingham, Mass., May 20, 1826, and served in the Massachusetts militia as private and captain, and as lieutenant- colonel in the fourth Massachusetts regiment for three months. Colonel Fearing was once wounded, served for some time as com- mander of a brigade, returned to Concord to raise recruits and went back with six hundred new men. After the war he returned to Hingham and filled various positions of trust and honor.
Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver Woodbury Lull was born in Weare, January 14, 1826 and died fighting at the head of his regiment at Port Hudson, May 27, 1863. He had taught school and practiced law at Milford, N. H., and was First Lieutenant in the Governor's Horse Guards. A sword given by the people of Milford and a horse by the people of Nashua attest the esteem in which he was held. The night before he fell he encouraged his men by saying, "Some of us will be sure to fall, but you know that all good soldiers go to heaven." After being wounded, when told that he could not live, he exclaimed, "Thank God, I die for my country." Such was the spirit in which thousands breathed their last breath. To say that any man was truer and braver than any other is a great mistake; that an unnumbered host were as true and as brave as any is the exact historic truth. They had the spirit of martyr- dom, the willingness to die for others and in defense of great principles, as well as to save the Union.
The ninth regiment was organized at Concord in July, 1862. There was a bounty offered to every volunteer, twenty dollars, sub- sequently increased to fifty, and sixty dollars to new recruits for the old regiments. The regiment left Concord August 25, under command of Colonel Enoch Q. Fellows, who had resigned his com- mission in the third regiment.
This regiment was put at once into active fighting. Within twenty days of their departure they took part in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, losing ten killed and over one hun- dred wounded, among the latter being Lieutenant-Colonel Titus and Captains Cooper and Whitfield. At Fredericksburg a des- perate and prolonged charge was fruitless, resulting only in with- drawal after a loss of four killed and eighty-two wounded. In February, 1863, the regiment was ordered to Newport News, whence it was sent by way of Baltimore to Lexington, Kentucky. After fattening for a short time in the Blue Grass region it did
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duty in Kentucky and Tennessee, where a large percentage suffered and were disabled by fevers. During 1863 and 1864 eight hundred and twenty-eight recruits were sent to this regiment, but four hundred and forty-four of them never arrived, or they deserted soon after arrival, proving the worthlessness of mercenaries. After about a year the ninth was ordered back to Annapolis, Maryland, and its numbers were swelled by convalescents and recruits to five hundred and twenty-eight. Soon they were in Virginia and at the battle of Spottsylvania were driven back in a charge with a loss of forty-two killed, ninety-four wounded and seventy missing. In the battle of the "Mine" again half of their number fell. There was heavy fighting about Petersburg and all through the Wilder- ness campaign. In the final march on Richmond this regiment did not participate, but the few of them left were doing guard duty near Petersburg. It took part in the grand review at Washington and was mustered out in June, 1865.
Herbert B. Titus was teaching school in Chesterfield, his native town, when the first call came for volunteers. He at once enlisted and exhorted others to do so. He was commissioned Second Lieu- tenant in the second regiment and served till June, 1862, when he was promoted to Major of the ninth. He became Lieutenant- Colonel of the same on the 26th of August, and on the resignation of Colonel Fellows was promoted to Colonel, November 22, 1862. He held this rank till the regiment was mustered out. He was wounded by a rifle ball at the battle of Antietam. March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant and meritori- ous services during the war. Afterwards he practiced law in New York City.
George H. Chandler, brother of Senator William E. Chandler, was a member of this regiment. He graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1860, read law with his brother at Concord and was for a short time deputy Secretary of State. He became Adjutant of the ninth and was promoted to Major. He was wounded at the battle of Spottsylvania, was detailed to aid the Navy Department in some investigation, and returned to his regiment in April, 1865, as Lieu- tenant-Colonel. He graduated at the Harvard Law School and began practice in Baltimore, Maryland. He died August 12, 1883, while visiting a brother at Boscawen, lamented and esteemed for scholarship, gentlemanly qualities and soldierly bearing.
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Colonel John H. Babbitt was born in Keene, June 12, 1835. He was living in Bloomington, Illinois, when the war began, was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the fifty-eighth Illinois regi- ment and soon after was promoted to Captain. He was wounded at Fort Donelson and again at Shiloh, when he returned to his home in Keene to recuperate. After recovery he was commissioned Cap- tain in the ninth New Hampshire regiment and three months later was promoted to be Lieutenant-Colonel. This position was held till May 7, 1864, when he was ordered to take command of the thirty-second Maine regiment. He was severely wounded at Spott- sylvania and, December 5, 1864, was discharged from service for disability.
The tenth regiment was mustered at Manchester in September, 1862 and was composed principally of men of Irish birth or descent. The State gave a bounty of fifty dollars to each volunteer, and this was supplemented by liberal bounties from towns, in order to avoid the alternative of a draft, or conscription. Nearly six companies of this regiment came from Manchester. The entire number of officers and men was nine hundred and twenty-eight. It left Manchester September 22, 1863 and arrived at Washington, on the 25th, having been banqueted at Worcester and Philadelphia and having suffered a railroad collision between Baltimore and Washington, wherein some were fatally injured. It encamped at Maryland Heights, near Harper's Ferry and soon formed a part of the army of the Potomac. The defeat at Fredericksburg cost the tenth three officers wounded and fifty men killed and wounded. A good deal of skirm- ishing follewed, and the regiment did heroic work at Drury's Bluff and Cold Harbor. In the latter battle ninety of the regiment fell in five minutes under a withering fire of musketry and cannon, yet the rest pressed on and held the trenches taken. At Fort Harrison the regiment distinguished itself for bravery and endurance. Soon after some of their number were entrapped and sent to Salisbury prison, where most of them died. The remains of the tenth regi- ment were among the first to enter Richmond. It was mustered out in June, 1865. Though of foreign birth this regiment showed as much bravery and loyalty to the flag as any other. On one occasion to prevent the colors from falling into the hands of the enemy the State flag was destroyed, and the stars and stripes were ยท wrapped around the body of Sergeant John H. Durgin, who died a prisoner at Salisbury, but the flag was never heard from.
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Michael T. Donahoe was born at Lowell, Mass., November 22, 1838 and was educated in the schools of that city and at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass. At the outbreak of the rebellion he was living in Manchester and raised a full company for the third regiment, becoming its captain. For dis- tinguishing conduct he was commissioned Colonel of the tenth, August 6, 1862. He came home to Manchester and by public and private appeals to his countrymen within a month had enlisted the necessary number of volunteers. At Fort Harrison, on the 29th of September, 1864, a horse was shot under him, and later in the day he was severely wounded. He was appointed Brigadier-General of United States volunteers, by brevet, to date from March 13, 1865. After the war he held an important position on the Concord Railroad. He was a brave and efficient officer and a prominent and respected citizen.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Coughlan of this regiment was born in Vermont of Irish parents. He was elected to the State legisla- ture from Manchester in 1859, the first Roman Catholic elected to any State office in New Hampshire. He worked hard to raise the tenth regiment and in the absence of Colonel Donahoe was often in command. He was promoted Colonel of United States Volunteers, by brevet, for gallant conduct in the field, to date from March 13, 1865. He was afterward detailed as Provost-Marshal of the department of Virginia and North Carolina.
A zealous admirer1 of his compatriots of the Emerald Isle has claimed rather too much for the Irish in the Civil War. He esti- mates that 4,631 Irishmen served in New Hampshire regiments while official report allows only 3,067. He arrives at this number by adding to the Irish companies all who had an Irish surname in other companies and also half of those who bore the surnames Jones, Smith, Brown, Dunn, Barrett, Crosby, Griffin, Cox, Cook, Black, White, etc., since many of such surnames are found in Ireland. Probably all of these and many others were of Scotch and Welch and English origin, even if their ancestors lived on Irish soil for a generation or two. He does not add, what is true, that a lot of the Irish substitutes were deserters, and that the
1 Hon. John C. Linehan, in First New Hampshire Regiment, p. 233.
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Irish living in the South fought just as valiantly for the Confed- eracy. The Irish tenth regiment were good fighters, but the per- centage of their losses was not half that of several other regiments from New Hampshire.
The eleventh regiment was mustered into service at Concord in September, 1862. It arrived at Washington on the fourteenth of that month. Its first battle was at Fredericksburg, where it lost fourteen killed and one hundred and fifty-six wounded. Like old veterans they were immovable under a deadly and prolonged fire. Captain Amos B. Shattuck was mortally wounded in this battle.
The regiment was transferred to Kentucky and Tennessee and took part in the siege of Vicksburg. Many suffered and died here from disease, and the remainder were transferred back to the army of the James, after having participated in the siege of Knoxville and several minor engagements. They made moccasins of green hides in place of shoes, so difficult was it to get supplies. Colonel Harriman had come North for recruits and with six hundred marched over the mountains to East Tennessee, a distance of two hundred and forty miles, to rejoin his regiment. After resting at Annapolis they took part in the battle of the Wilderness, where in a heroic charge they drove the enemy from their last entrenchment at the point of the bayonet. Here Colonel Harriman was captured and Lieutenant-Colonel Collins was killed. Then followed the siege and capture of Petersburg, the march to Appomattox and the surrender of Lee's army. The eleventh was at the grand review in Washington and was mustered out on the fourth of June. The reception at Concord, three days later, was cordial and joyous. The regiment had participated in twelve battles.
The eleventh was commanded by Colonel Walter Harriman, a native of Warner. In his early life he taught school and was a free lance as a Universalist preacher, giving eloquent addresses throughout the State. In 1849-50 he represented Warner in the legislature and in 1853-54 he was State Treasurer. In 1858 he was again a member of the House and in 1859-60 a member of the Senate of the State. Up to this time he was affiliated with the Democratic party. As editor of the Union Democrat of Man- chester in 1861 he upheld President Lincoln and from this time he acted with the Republican party. He was with his regiment
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in the field all the time except four months that he was a prisoner. For seven weeks with other captured officers he was kept in a prison in Charleston, South Carolina, where they were most exposed to the fire of Union batteries on Morris Island, but the building was unharmed. Colonel Harriman was exchanged and led his regiment at Petersburg. He was brevetted Brigadier-General, for gallant conduct during the war. He came home to be at once elected Secretary of State for New Hampshire and was re-elected in 1866. In 1867 he was elected Governor and re-elected the fol- lowing year by an unprecedented majority. In 1869 he was ap- pointed naval officer at Boston by President Grant. A commanding presence and natural gifts of intellect, as well as a warm heart, made him a popular favorite, and he was never defeated in an election contest.
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