USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 6
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"My brave boys, knowing that all depended upon promptly checking
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the rebels, raised the wild Indian yell and poured an awful volley into their ranks. Their center regiment was literally smashed to pieces, and before they could rally their forces, several regiments hastened to my assistance. Then came the most terrific fighting. I had been in seven battles before, but they were nothing in comparison with Antietam. We shot down the rebel color-bearers as fast as they could get up, killed their officers, broke their ranks and piled them in heaps among the tall corn. I never felt better in my life, and if the rebels didn't hear the Apache whoop that day it was not my fault, for I yelled it until I was hoarse. My men fought nobly, gloriously; never shrank. Not a man but the wounded and the dead fell out. My officers also conducted themselves like heroes. As for myself I was hit five times but not seriously injured."
At the battle of Fredericksburg Colonel Cross was twice wounded by fragments of shells and lay four hours between the lines, with bullets from both sides hissing about a foot above him. He said that he laid himself out decently with his feet to the foe and awaited death, which did not then come to him. At Fair Oaks he commanded the brigade of General Howard, after that officer had been disabled. He was in command of a brigade at Gettysburg, when he was mortally wounded. A minnie ball entered the abdomen and came out near the spine. His last words were, "I did hope I would live to see peace and our country restored. Thank Heaven, I have done my duty. I think the boys will miss me. Oh! welcome death! Say fare- well to all." He was buried at Lancaster with Masonic honors.
Col. Fletcher Webster, son of Senator Daniel Webster, was born at Portsmouth, July 23, 1813, graduated at Harvard in 1833, studied law, and was private secretary to his father, when the latter was Secretary of State. He was secretary of legation in China under Hon. Caleb Cushing in 1843, and a member of the Massachusetts lower house in 1847. He held the office of sur- veyor of the port of Boston from 1850 to 1861. When the call to arms came, he said that his father had defended the Constitu- tion and the Union, and he would do the same, though in a different way. He was commissioned Colonel of the 12th Mass. Regiment and was killed in the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862.
Col. Thornton Fleming Brodhead was born in what is now Newfields, December 5, 1820, son of the Rev. John Brodhead, who was a member of Congress at one time. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and studied law at Harvard, begin-
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ning the practice of his profession at Detroit, Michigan. He served as Adjutant throughout the Mexican War and was bre- vetted Captain. He was wounded and captured while leading a charge. Returning to Detroit he became a State senator and postmaster. The First Michigan Cavalry was raised by him, and he was commissioned its Colonel. He died of wounds received in the first battle of Bull Run.
Byron Mccutcheon was born in Pembroke, May II, 1826, son of Rev. James and Hannah (Tripp) Mccutcheon. He fitted for college at Pembroke Academy and at Ypsilanti, Mich., and graduated at the University of Michigan in 1861. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the 29th Michigan Infantry and was promoted Captain, Major and Lieutenant-Colonel, 1862- 64, and brevetted Brigadier-General "for conspicuous gallantry." Twice was he wounded at Spottsylvania Court House, and he fought at Vicksburg, the Wilderness, Petersburg and a dozen other battles. He graduated at the Law School of the Univer- sity of Michigan in 1866 and practiced at Manistee and Grand Rapids. He served as county attorney and regent of the uni- versity and represented Michigan in the 48th, 49th and 50th congresses.
Edgar Addison Kimball was born in Pembroke, June 3, 1822. He was educated at Norwich University and became a printer and editor of the Spirit of the Age, at Woodstock, Ver- mont. He was commissioned Captain in the 9th United States Infantry in the Mexican War and was promoted Major. He was the first to scale the walls of Chepultepec and seize the Mexican colors. For some years he was connected with the New York Herald. As Major of the 9th New York regiment he lead a charge at Roanoke Island and was conspicuous for bravery at Antietam and Fredericksburg. He was shot and killed by Michael Corcoran, Colonel of a rival Zouave regiment, the 69th New York, at Suffolk, Virginia, April 12, 1863.
Reuben Delavan Mussey, son of Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, eminent surgeon and professor, was born at Hanover, May 30, 1833, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1854. He engaged in newspaper work in Boston, Cincinnati and Washington. He organized the Henry Clay Guards for the defense of the capital and was commissioned Captain in the Federal Army. He or- ganized colored troops, was appointed Colonel and was brevet-
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ted Brigadier-General at the end of the war. In 1866 he was military secretary to President Johnson. He was admitted to the bar and was Professor of Law in Howard University. Marietta College gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Died in Washington, D. C., May 29, 1892.
Henry Lyman Patten was born in Kingston, April, 1836. Graduated at Harvard in 1858. Was a professor in Washing- ton University, St. Louis. Entered Law School at Cambridge, Mass. As an officer in the 20th Massachusetts regiment he served through the Peninsula campaign, was wounded at Glen- dale and again at Petersburg. Was promoted Major and had command of his regiment. Again was wounded at Deep bot- tom, a leg was amputated and he died soon after.
Col. Jesse H. Gove was born in Weare, in 1824, and was educated at Norwich University. He served as a lieutenant in the Mexican War, though sickness prevented him from action in battle. Afterwards he made his home at Concord and took much interest in the State militia. October 13, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 22nd Massachusetts regiment and was killed at the battle of Gaines's Mill, Va., while leading his command. He was a soldier of approved valor and ability, greatly esteemed by his regiment. His portrait adorns the entrance hall of the State capitol at Concord.
Charles Edward Blunt was born in Portsmouth, February I, 1823. He graduated at West Point in 1846. He rose through the grades of Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel to be brevetted Colonel for meritorious service during the war. After the war he was an officer on the Corps of Engineers and had charge of river and harbor improvements and defenses, on the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario, in Portsmouth harbor, on the coast of Maine, and of the survey of the Niagara Ship Canal. He died July 10, 1892.
Gen. Richard N. Batchelder was born in Meredith, now Laconia, July 27, 1832. He was educated in the common schools of Manchester and was engaged with father in railroad construction. Having an unusual talent for business he early attained rank and the confidence of his community, being made collector of the city of Manchester and a bank director. He was also a member of the legislature two years. In 1861 he was commissioned Quartermaster of the First New Hampshire
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regiment and later became Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac, with rank of Colonel. He was then thirty-one years of age and had been promoted over several graduates of West Point. He had charge of immense baggage trains, of 5000 wagons and 27,000 horses and mules, yet he handled them all with the comprehensive grasp of a great military commander. All the generals testified to his surpassing ability. He was made Quartermaster-General of the army in 1890 and brevetted at the close of the war Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He died at Washington, D. C., January 4, 1901.
George W. Gile was born at Bethlehem, January 25, 1830. He entered military service as lieutenant in the 22nd Pennsyl- vania Infantry and rose steadily to the rank of Colonel. He was brevetted Brigadier-General, May 6, 1865, "for energy and good conduct in assisting to repel the attack on Fort Slocum, D. C." He was thrice brevetted for gallant and meritorious conduct, after the battles of Bull Run, South Mountain, and An- tietam. At the last battle he was wounded while in command of his regiment. He died February 26, 1896.
Of New Hampshire's more than three hundred officers in the navy during the Civil War some arose to distinction. Tunis A. M. Craven was born in Portsmouth, January II, 1813. He was a midshipman from 1829 to 1837. In 1841 he was a lieu- tenant, assisting in the coast survey. He commanded the Atrato expedition, to survey the isthmus of Darien, by way of the Atrato river, for a ship canal. He commanded the Mohawk when it was stationed off the coast of Cuba to intercept slavers and captured a brig with five hundred negroes on board, whom he sent back to Africa. For rescuing the crew of a Spanish merchant vessel the Queen of Spain presented him with a gold medal. In 1861 he was given command of the Tennessee and for two months he blockaded the rebel privateer Sumter in Gibraltar, till officers and crew abandoned her. At the battle of Mobile Bay he had command of the monitor Tecumseh, which was sunk by the explosion of a torpedo, and he went down with his vessel by making way for the pilot to escape.
Rear Admiral George Eugene Belknap was born in New- port, January 22, 1832. He entered the navy in 1847 and served throughout the Civil War. Afterwards he made deep sea sound- ings of great importance, in the Pacific ocean. He was pro-
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moted to be Commodore in 1885 and was superintendent of the Naval Observatory at Washington. In 1886 he commanded the Navy Yard at Mare Island, California. In 1889 he became Rear Admiral and till 1892 commanded the Asiatic squadron. He was retired because of age in 1894 and from that time till his death was president of the Board of Commissioners of the Massachusetts Nautical Training School. Dartmouth College gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was author of a work on deep sea soundings. He died at Key West, Florida, April 7, 1903.
Rear Admiral George Henry Wadleigh was born in Dover, September 28, 1842. He graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1863 and immediately entered active service as ensign, serving on the "Lackawanna." He was present at the attack on Fort Powell, the battle of Mobile Bay and the sur- render of Fort Morgan. He served on the "Richmond" in 1865. As commander of the "Alliance" he was sent on a special cruise in search of the "Jeannette" in the Arctic Ocean and reached a point over eighty degrees north latitude. Then he was light- house inspector and later had charge of the Navy Yard at Boston. As commander of the "Minneapolis" in 1892-4 he cruised off the coast of Asia Minor to protect American mis- sionaries. Again he had charge of navy yards at Boston and at League Island. He retired from the navy in 1902 and made his residence in Dover. He is author of "Notable Events in the History of Dover."
Commodore John Grimes Walker was born in Hillsborough, March 20, 1835, nephew of Governor Grimes of Iowa. He en- tered the Naval Academy in 1850 and was a lieutenant at the beginning of the Civil War. He served at the taking of New Orleans and Vicksburg and in almost all of the naval engage- ments on the Mississippi river and its tributaries. He com- manded the gunboat "Shawmut" at the capture of Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1865. The following year he was made assistant superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was secretary of the light-house board for five years. In 1891 he was made a commodore and for eight years he acted as chief of the bureau of navigation in the Navy Department at Washington. He was president of the Nicaragua Canal Com- mission and also of the Isthmian Canal Commission, to report
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on all practicable routes for a canal across the isthmus. At one time he had command of the North Atlantic squadron. He died at York Beach, Maine, September 16, 1907.
Commodore George Hamilton Perkins was born in Hopkin- ton, December 20, 1826, son of Judge Hamilton Perkins. He graduated at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1856 and was a lieutenant at the outbreak of the war, having already served in Central and South American waters and on the African coast. His first exploit was as executive officers of the "Cayuga" in Farragut's fleet, in passing Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the lower Mississippi, which had seventy-five and fifty-five guns respectively and were garrisoned by seven hundred men. Per- kins' vessel was the first to pass amid a storm of shot and shell. His ship was hit thirty-two times. He kept on and captured a regiment of rebels on the river bank, releasing the officers on parole. At batteries further up the river fourteen more hits were received. Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Perkins were ordered to go on shore and demand from the mayor the sur- render of the city. They made their way unarmed through a mob of hooting rebels, who demanded that the intruders should be hanged. Two days later the forts below the city surrendered and General Butler with 15,000 troops or more took possession of New Orleans. Eleven rebel vessels had been sunk or cap- tured in the fight on the river.
Perkins was a Lieutenant Commander in December, 1862, and the following year had command of the "New London," conveying powder and dispatches between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. He ran the batteries at Port Hudson success- fully five times, but was disabled in the sixth attempt. He had command of the "Chickasaw" in the operations that led to the surrender of Mobile, the reduction of Forts Gaines, Powell and Morgan, and the capture of a rebel ironclad, the "Tennessee," that received more pounding from the "Chickasaw" than from all the rest of Farragut's fleet. In 1865-6 Perkins was superin- tendent of ironclads at New Orleans. He was promoted to be Commander in 1871 and for the next five years was ordnance officer in Boston and light-house inspector. He commanded the "Ashuelot" in the Asiatic squadron in 1879-81 and had charge of the torpedo station at Newport in 1882. Then he was pro- moted to be Captain and had command of the "Hartford" in the
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Pacific squadron, 1885-6. He was placed on the retired list in 1891, after forty years of service in the navy. Congress by a special bill made him a Commodore, without increase of pay, May 9, 1896.
Commodore Perkins bought a large tract of land near Lake Winnepocket, formerly "Long Pond," in the town of Webster, and out of an old square farm-house made, by renovations and additions, a beautiful summer resort. The wilderness was made to blossom and produce hay and vegetables. He kept on buying and improving farms till he had sixteen of them, containing eighteen hundred acres. He had in all, in his last year, sixty horses, one hundred and ten cattle and three hundred and fifty sheep. History does not record that he made as much money by farming as he did by serving in the navy.
Commodore Perkins died in Boston, October 28, 1899. His bronze statue stands in the rear of the State House at Concord. The inscription makes Admiral Farragut say that Commodore Perkins was "the bravest man that ever trod the deck of a ship." His biographer quotes Farragut as saying, "No braver man ever trod a ship's deck." The last is nearer to the truth. He was a very brave and able commander, and there have been many others.
Rear Admiral Enoch Greenleaf Parrott was born in Ports- mouth, December 10, 1814. He entered the navy in 1831 and was commissioned Lieutenant in 1841. He accompanied General Fremont in the expedition from Monterey to Los Angeles, 1846-48. He was promoted Commander in 1861 and with the brig "Perry" captured the Confederate privateer, Savannah. In command of the steamer "Augusta" he served under Dupont at the capture of Port Royal. He was in command of the "Monad- nock" in the attacks on Fort Fisher and at the surrender of Charleston. In 1866 he was made Captain; in 1870, Commo- dore; in 1873, Rear Admiral. He was retired from the navy in 1874 and died in New York city, May 10, 1879.
Captain James Shepard Thornton was born at Merrimack, February 25, 1827, a descendant of Hon. Matthew Thornton. He entered the navy in 1840 and served in the Mexican War. He was executive officer of Farragut's flagship, the "Hartford," at the taking of New Orleans and Vicksburg. At the battle of Mobile he commanded the "Winona" and sunk several Con-
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federate vessels. He was executive officer on the "Kearsage," when it sunk the rebel privateer "Alabama," off Cherbourg, France, in 1864. Special trains ran from Paris to see the fight. In 1866-67 he was stationed at the Navy Yard in Portsmouth harbor; was made Commander in 1866, and Captain in 1872; died at Germanton, Pa., May 14, 1875.
Charles Whipple Pickering was born at Portsmouth, De- cember 23, 1815, and died at St. Augustine, Florida, February 29, 1888. He was a midshipman in 1832 and lieutenant in 1838. For a short time he had command of the "Kearsarge" and later of the "Housatonic," when she was destroyed by a torpedo near Charleston, S. C., February 17, 1865, at which time Lieutenant Pickering was wounded. He was ordered to the Pacific navy yard in 1865, made Commodore in 1867 and retired from the service.
Of the many who served as surgeons in the army and navy during the Civil War a few can be mentioned. John Mills Brown was born in Hinsdale, May 10, 1831. He graduated at the Medical School of Harvard in 1852 and was appointed assistant surgeon of the United States Navy Yard the follow- ing year, and served till 1855 at Mare Island, California, and then on ships on the western coast. In 1861 he was commis- sioned surgeon on the "Kearsage," and he wrote the account of the fight with the "Alabama" for the Century Magazine. In 1865 he was ordered back to California and superintended the building of the Naval Hospital at Mare Island, remaining in charge there ten years. Being commissioned Medical Director in 1878 he came East and the following year was appointed a member of the board of visitors to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. As naval representative to the International Med- ical Congress he visited England, and about the same time was made a member of the national board of health and had charge of the United States Naval Museum of Hygiene. In 1884 he represented the United States at the International Medical Congress at Copenhagen, and in 1888 he became Sur- geon-General and Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He retired from service in 1893, having reached the time limit; died December 7, 1894, and was buried in the national cemetery at Arlington, Va.
Luther V. Bell, M.D., LL.D., was born in Francestown,
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December 20, 1806, son of Governor Samuel Bell. Having prac- ticed medicine six years at Derry, in 1836 he became superin- tendent of the McLean Asylum for the Insane at Somerville, Mass., and continued there many years. In 1856 he was the candidate of the Whig party for governor of Massachusetts. At the asylum for the insane he is said to have had the care of 2696 patients, sixty per cent. of whom recovered. He was the author of several standard medical works. When the Civil War broke out he offered his services and was appointed sur- geon of the IIth Massachusetts regiments. In August, 1861, he was promoted to be brigade surgeon and died the eleventh of the following February. He attained eminent rank in his profession, was an ardent patriot and a kindly, sympathetic helper of his fellow men.
Alpheus Benning Crosby was born in Gilmanton, Feb- ruary 22, 1832, son of Prof. Dixi Crosby, who filled the chair of surgery in Dartmouth Medical College. The son was fitted for college at Hanover and graduated at Dartmouth in 1853. Adopting the profession of his father he studied at Dartmouth and the College of Physicians in New York, serving also as interne in the United States Marine Hospital at Chelsea, Mass. On receiving his degree as a physician he was appointed Dem- onstrator of Pathological Anatomy in Dartmouth Medical Col- lege and filled the office five years. In 1861 he was appointed surgeon in the First New Hampshire regiment and after three months' service was commissioned brigade surgeon of United States volunteers. Promoted to the rank of medical director he served on the staffs, successively, of Generals Stone, Casey, Sedgwick and Peck. At the end of his service in the army he returned to his work at Hanover and by invitation added to his labors the duties of the chair of surgery in the University of Vermont and the University of Michigan. In 1870 he succeeded his father in the chair of surgery at Dartmouth and delivered a course of surgical lectures in the Medical Department of Bow- doin College. In 1871 he was surgical professor in the Long Island Medical College and the following year he accepted a professorship in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, which he retained till his death. Similar invitations to other medical schools he was obliged to refuse. He wore him- self out prematurely in his efforts to accomplish the largest good
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possible and lectured to his class at Dartmouth forty-eight hours before his death, which occurred August 8, 1877. He was among the most eminent surgeons and teachers of sur- gery that this country has produced, and the goodness of his heart is attested by all who knew him.
Dr. George Franklin French was born in Dover, October 30, 1837. After fitting at Dover High School he graduated at Harvard with degree of A. B. in 1859, and had from the same institution the degree of M. D. in 1862, and of A. M. in 1871. As surgeon in the Union army he saw service at Alexandria, Va., and on General Grant's staff at Vicksburg. Accompanying Sherman's army in its march through Georgia to the sea he established a field hospital at Rome, Ga., of 3500 beds, and at Atlanta, of 5000 beds. He was surgeon-in-chief of the First Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and at the close of the war was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel and offered a commission in the regular army, which he declined. Thereafter he prac- ticed his profession in Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minn., serving in the latter city as professor in the Minneapolis Hos- pital College, as president of the State Medical Examining Board and as president also of the Minneapolis Academy of Medicine. He died in Minneapolis, July 13, 1897.
Chapter V CIVIC AFFAIRS DURING THE REBELLION
Chapter V
CIVIC AFFAIRS DURING THE REBELLION
United Demand of Unionists for the Abolition of Slavery-Peace Confer- ence-Congress Throws a Sop to Cerberus-Gov. Nathaniel S. Berry- Citation from His Message-Resolves of the Legislature-Sanitary Commission and Christian Commission-How the Soldiers Voted-Gov. Joseph A. Gilmore-A Higher Law then the Constitution-Population of the State and Number of Representatives-Enlargement of the State House-The State Debt-The Draft-National Cemetery at Gettysburg-Case of Lieut. Andrew J. Edgerly-Case of Thomas Weir -Ratification of Amendment to the United States Constitution-Elec- tion of Lincoln and Johnson-New Hampshire Represented well.
T HE election of 1861 was, to some extent, a test of loyalty. Life-long Democrats found it hard to change their minds and still harder to change their votes. Therefore they called themselves War-Democrats and for a time continued to vote the ticket of good old Jeffersonian democracy, whatever that might mean, while they acted with the Republicans in the en- deavor to crush the rebellion. Gradually votes changed, and the Republican party in the North kept growing stronger, while the remaining Democrats were suspected at least of having affiliations with the South. The minority in the State legisla- ture talked as loudly as the Republicans about the preservation of the Union, but they were equally strenuous to conserve State rights and not meddle with the peculiar institutions of the South. Gradually the Republican party came to adopt the principles of the abolitionists and to demand the extinction of slavery, first in the District of Columbia, then in the territories and at last, by the Proclamation of Emancipation as a war measure, throughout the whole country. But at the beginning of the Civil War there was no plan for the uprooting of African slavery on American soil. Public opinion grew to demand it, and as a military measure it seemed wise and almost necessary. Colored troops could not be utilized while slaves, and the pros- pect of liberty made every negro a friend to the Union army, wherever it went. First they became "contraband of war," as
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General Butler phrased the situation, and then "God's free- men," as the poet Whittier sang; the chorus of voices grew in numbers and loudness, like the voice of many waters, while the freedmen thrumbed their banjos, like an innumerable com- pany of "harpers harping with their harps." The year of jubilee had come.
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