USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 45
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And there is one other fact that just now and for the first time presents itself, and this is that both the writer and the printer of this history have the honor of once belonging to the drum corps of the "Old Twelfth."
* See page 222.
t Query for the grandchildren : Damon's age, April 16. 1895.
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HISTORY OF THE COLORS.
The first stand of colors were presented to the regiment by the hands of Adjt. Gen. Anthony Colby, who made an appropriate speech, at " Camp Belknap," in Concord, September 26, 1862.
The state or regimental colors, like the national, were of regulation size, having a field of deep blue with an eagle, holding in its left talon a cluster of arrows and in its right an olive branch, as symbols of war and peace.
The first color bearers were Sergeants Jonathan M. Tasker, of Company B, and Charles HI. Kelley, of Company F, the former carrying the national and the other the state colors.
At or soon after leaving Arlington Heights, the state colors, according to the recollections of Sergeant Tasker as best authority, were taken by Sergt. William J. Howe, of Company E, who carried them on the march to Falmouth, Va., and through the battle of Fredericksburg. A day or two after this battle Sergt. Marquis D. L. McDuffee, of Company K, was selected to carry the state flag, and he and Sergeant Tasker carried the regimental stand of colors afterwards, until both were pierced with bullets in the midst of the terrible strife at Chancellorsville, and so seriously wounded as to be obliged to leave the service.
When Sergeant Tasker was hit in the leg he still bore up his country's flag by leaning against a tree for support. Colonel Potter, noticing this, asked the sergeant if he was hurt, and then told him to give the colors to one of the guard and go to the rear. The name of the corporal to whom the flag was then given is not known, but from the best information attain- able, it is quite certain that he was either killed or so seriously wounded as to die soon after. The next and last of the guard to take the national colors before retreating, was Corp. William H. Straw, of Company D, who was found by Sergt. Maj. A. W. Bartlett when the few left of the regiment were falling back to escape capture. When first noticed, Corporal Straw was lying at the foot of a tree a few rods back from the battle-line with the flag-staff still firmly grasped, as if he would only surrender them with his life, while the blood was fast flowing from a wound on one side of his head. The sergeant-major, scarcely stopping to see if the brave corporal was living or dead, for it was now a race for his own liberty or life, snatched the flag from his hands and by an urgent call upon the little strength he had left, succeeded in clearing the woods and crossing the brook just in time to escape capture. Even then, but for good luck that seemed almost providential, the flag must have fallen into the enemy's hands ; for before he could get over the little sand hill beyond the brook the rebels came pouring out of the woods close behind him.
REGIMENTAL COLORS.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
But the foremost, too eager to secure what seemed so near their grasp, discharged their pieces as they ran without effect ; and before they could reload, the " stars and stripes" - not " full high advanced," but fast retreating and carried in any way to least retard the bearer's flight- had nearly reached the crest. Only a rod or two further and they will be safe for a while, with a fair chance of reaching the rallying line of the Union forces at the Chancellor House. But how to gain the few feet that would carry them below the line of the rebels' aim, was the question of an age to be answered in a moment, for the hissing bullets come thicker and closer making hot air streaks across the temples of him who is now chiefly intent upon saving himself, though he still clings to the colors. He expects at every step to fall, and fall he does, not forward upon his face with a ball through his head or body as expected, but backward with both covered with earth and half buried alive, as he gladly finds when, spitting and scratching his mouth and eyes clear of dirt and gravel, he takes in the new situation, and sees a deep furrow that a friendly solid shot or shell has ploughed diagonally across his line of retreat. . His pursuers have seen him fall, dead as they suppose, but while they rush up to the foot of the hill on one side he descends as rapidly upon the other, and soon, with the flag of his country, is safe behind the Federal batteries that have been aligned to check the rebel advance. He has always remembered that cannon shot as a " friendly " one, because he thinks it saved his life, as the bullets were then flying so thickly and closely around him that it seemed impossible to escape.
The state colors had left the field some time before, carried therefrom by their brave and resolute bearer, Sergeant McDuffee, who, though severely wounded, kept his promise to the colonel to bring them safely from the field if life and strength enough were left him to carry them. He refused to yield them to other hands until he reached the river and found the remnant of the regiment, that had been ordered back there for rest and reorganization. In this battle both colors were many times perforated with bullets.
Luther H. Parker, of Company D, and Charles W. Hoyt, of Company G, were next detailed for color bearers, the latter carrying his but a short time before Sergeant Howe, recovering from his sickness, took the state colors again, and he and Parker carried the colors on the march to the field and into the battle of Gettysburg, where both were shot down, Howe being instantly killed, and Parker receiving a mortal wound. As most of the color guard were either killed or wounded about the same time, it is not certainly known who took the colors when Parker was wounded, but there is but little reason to doubt that they were grasped by Corp. Samuel Brown, of Company C, who was one of the guard, just as he himself fell into the embrace of death. But even now the proud emblem of our national sov- ereignty so far from being allowed to trail in the dust, scarcely, if at all, touched the ground ; for, until rescued from capture, it served as a cover- ing sheet of that brave guard who fell and lay beneath its folds.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
To whom next belongs the honor of saving the regimental colors has been a subject of long and careful inquiry by the author of this history that full justice might be done to all concerned. He had supposed, at the commencement of his work, and it was very generally understood and believed by the regimental survivors that Adjt. Andrew M. Heath took both the national and state colors up from where they fell and carried them back to where the brigade halted and again faced the foe ; and such had become history so far as shown in the brief sketches of the regiment printed in the old adjutant-general's reports of the war. But the weight of the evidence that patient and thorough investigation has discovered to counterbalance this published statement is so preponderating as to demand its correction.
It now appears that Lieut. Charles S. Emery, then sergeant of Com- pany F, and Corp. John R. Davis, of the same company, deserve great credit for the part they took in saving the flags in that battle. It was they who first came to the rescue and saved them from the hands of the enemy by snatching them from the dead, while the danger of death was pressing heavily upon themselves, and carrying them until they caught up with the regiment, just as it halted to re-form its line for another advance, when they gave them to Adjutant Heath.
When Sergeant Howe fell he made a death grasp for his flag, as if his last thought was for its preservation, and so firmly were his fingers closed upon the fabric that when Corporal Davis snatched them away, while Emery grabbed the national colors, he tore out of the flag and left in the sergeant's death-clinched hand a piece about one foot wide and fif- teen inches long.
Lieut. A. W. Bacheler, then a private of Company E, being detained on the retreat to look after a wounded comrade, was one of the last to leave the ground ; and while doing so noticed the piece of flag which he attempted to snatch away as he hurried to catch up with the regiment. Seeing at a glance the cause of his failure, and not being willing that so much as a shred of either flag of his regiment should fall into the enemy's hands, he stopped long enough, though under a most destructive fire, to unclinch the dead sergeant's fingers, one by one, and thus save the pre- cious fragment which he kept and still has in his possession. When the regiment halted and re-formed, Adjutant Heath called for volunteers to carry the colors, and Corp. Edward L. Shepard and Private George E. Worthen, both of Company E, stepped out from the ranks and took them. For this gallant act both were promoted on the field, and the dates of their appointments as sergeant and corporal should have been July 2 instead of July 5 as appears in the records. Worthen, ambitious for promotion, was the first to step forward, and selected the " stars and stripes " as his stand- ard, which the adjutant, seeing that he was but a small and young private, hesitated at first to give up to him. But, feeling assured that such brave resolution to take could not lack of heroic determination to carry and
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
defend so long as there was muscular strength enough left to do so, he yielded to the brave private's wish : and Corporal Shepard, equally brave and patriotic, though less sanguine and impulsive, took the state colors. These two soldiers carried the colors through the remainder of that and the next day's fight, in the battle of Wapping Heights, and all the time until the Fall of '644, when the regiment was at Point Lookout. While stationed here the national colors were carried for a while, and next after Worthen, by Sergt. Charles S. Emery, of Company F ; and it was from this place that both the national and state colors that had been through three great battles of the war, and one smaller engagement, were sent home for preservation in the archives of the State.
After this the regiment never had any state or regimental standard, but carried only the national flag for its banner. It is not known who was the first standard bearer after receiving the new colors, but if not one of those already mentioned it was probably Sergt. John C. Sweatt, of Com- pany H, who took the national flag about that time and carried it from then up to and through the battle of Swift Creek, Va., which was fought within two miles of the city of Petersburg.
On the same day and immediately after this battle Sergt. Charles W. Hoyt, of Company G, was selected to carry the colors. Sergeant Sweatt being for a time disabled from doing so : and he continued to act as the regimental standard bearer until he was cut down in the terrible charge at Cold Harbor. He bravely upheld his country's flag through the battles of Relay House, Drury's Bluff, and Port Walthall, and when disabled by a severe wound at Cold Harbor he still chung tenacionsly to his colors and had succeeded, by dodging from tree to tree, in getting back nearly or quite to the breastworks, when he gave the colors to Corp. William Wallace, Jr., of Company K, who carried them off the field. There has been a little dispute between these two brave soldiers as to just what part of the field the latter took charge of the colors ; but it is of trifling importance as affecting the well deserved honors of either, and not at all to be wondered at.
When Corporal Wallace found the few left together of the regiment. he gave the flag, with the staff stained with blood from Sergeant Hoyt's wound in the hand, to Colonel Barker,* and this was his presentation speech : "Here, colonel, are your bloody old colors. Sergeant Hoyt sends them to you with his compliments, and wants me to tell yon that he is wounded." No old soldier need be told that they were received with cheers. The bullet that wounded Sergeant Hoyt left its mark on the flag-staff. t
Corporal Wallace was then and there made sergeant and entrusted with the colors he had helped to save. He carried them during the try- ing days that the regiment continued to face the enemy at Cold Harbor. through the siege of Petersburg,-except for a few days that he was sick,-the battle of Cemetery Hill, all the time at Bermuda Front, and north of the James until inspected and sent home by order of General Butler .;
ยท See page 206.
t See sketch of Hoyt's life. # See post.
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Upon the regiment receiving a new national standard he was ready and willing to carry it on the march and stand up under it on the field again, as he had with the old one : and he was rewarded at last by the proud privilege of bearing it triumphantly into the city of Richmond. Having borne the colors for a longer time than any other standard bearer of the regiment, and until the end of the war, it seemed too bad that sickness should prevent him from exercising the still prouder privilege of carrying them home to the capital of his native State.
He reluctantly relinquished his trust, being no longer able to carry them, but a few days before the regiment started for home, and Sergt. Joseph F. Stockbridge, of Company B, who had carried the colors for a short time once before, and whose enviable record as a soldier merited the honor, was selected as the last color sergeant of the Twelfth New Hampshire, to bear aloft that glorious and now world-respected banner of freedom that this regiment had so long and heroically defended.
The following are copies of the official papers that were sent home with the colors from Bermuda Hundred, November 4, 1864. The request of Colonel Barker, that the flag be sent home for preservation instead of being condemned for being no longer serviceable, which probably accom- panied the adjutant's certificate here printed, has not been found.
I certify that the National colors of the 12th N. H. Vols. became unservice- able in the following manner : At the battle of Drury's Bluff, May 16, 1864, the ferrule on the top of the staff was struck by a bullet and split.
During the twelve days' engagement at Cold Ilarbor, Va., the staff was shot off in two places, one of the tassels destroyed, and the colors badly torn. In the engagement before Petersburg, August 1, 1864, the spear-head was shot away and the colors otherwise damaged, all of which was done by bullet shots from the enemy.
A. M. HEATII, Adjt. 12th N. H. Vols.
The request was returned with the following endorsements :
Dropped from returns. Names of battles mentioned in the Adjutant's certifi- cate to be inscribed on them and the colors to be forwarded to the Adjt. General of New Hampshire to be preserved in the archives of the State with their his- tory. The Inspector feels unwilling to place the mark of condemnation on a standard that has so good a record.
ABEL E. LEAVENWORTH, Lieut. and A. A. Inspector General, Provisional Brigade 18th A. C.
HEAD QUARTERS DEPT. OF VA. AND N. C. FORTRESS MUNROE, VA., Oct. 12, 1864.
The disposition within recommended will be made.
BENJ. F. BUTLER, Maj. Genl. Com'd'g.
Approved :
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
HEADQUARTERS 12TII N. H. VOLS., PROV. BRIGADE, PROV. DIVISION, ARMY OF THE JAMES, DEFENCES OF BERMUDA HUNDRED, NOV. 4, 1864.
To the Adjutant General of New Hampshire.
SIR,- I take pleasure in forwarding to you the national colors, which have been the banner of the Twelfth New Hampshire Volunteers for the year past. to be preserved in the archives of the State, as recommended by the Inspector General, and ordered by General Butler.
A standard, that has been so gallantly borne and so bravely defended, is worthy of as proud a position as is in your power to give it. Their tattered folds speak volumes to the heroic few who still remain to tell the sad story of those who have fallen in their defence.
Ages hence, when treason and rebellion, at home and abroad, shall be known only among the things that were, when the stalwart men who are now defending their country's rights and honor shall become bowed with age, and their heads silvered with the frost of time, then will they look upon the " stars and stripes," under which they have fought and conquered, with an honest pride, and bless those who have so wisely prepared a place for their preservation.
This stand of colors has been in the possession of the regiment since Sept. 1, 1863 ; and has been carried during the present campaign in the following named battles : Swift Creek, Va., May 9th and 10th, 1864; Drury's Bluff, Va., May 16th, 1864; Cold Harbor, Va., June 3d to 12th, 1864; Petersburg, Va., June 15th, 1864; Cemetery Hill, Va., July 30th, 1864 .*
Honorable mention should be made of Sergeant Hoyt, of Co. G, who so gallantly carried the colors at Cold Harbor and brought them from the field amid a shower of bullets, even after he was severely wounded. Sergeant Wallace, of Co. K, is also deserving of much credit for the brave and commendable manner in which he has since borne them.
We transfer them now to the care of the State, hoping they will be carefully preserved until we have fought a few more battles and made peaceful citizens of traitors and rebels. When peace shall be restored, the Union re-established, and our glorious banner shall wave proudly over the whole and united country, then we will return to the quiet walks of life and resume our peaceful vocations.
I am very respectfully, Your obedient servant, THOMAS E. BARKER, Lieutenant Colonel 12th N. H. Vols. Com'd'g Regt.
* See revision of battles and losses.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
THE SIGNAL SERVICE.
Communication by signals of some kind on land and sea, in time of war, is a practice as old almost as history itself; and has increased in importance since the invention of gunpowder, and down through the annals of modern warfare until a signal corps and code of some kind is to-day considered an indispensable part of every regularly organized army among all civilized nations.
This practice of sending orders and dispatches by means of signals is of especial utility when, as is frequently the case, time and distance are important factors and the result of lasting consequence, as was conspicu- ously illustrated in our late war by the messages sent by General Sherman to General Corse, while marching through Georgia.
One of these messages gave to Corse the information that a part of Hood's army was marching toward Allatoona with the evident design of capturing a large amount of ammunition and other stores, and of taking possession and filling up a long, deep railroad cut near there, now known as " Alla- toona Pass"; and ordered him to reinforce both places and fortify the latter at once, as the holding of the road at that time was essential to the success of Sherman's plans. The order was obeyed just in time to save the pass from a most desperate attempt to capture it by a rebel division sent there by General Hood for that purpose. It was during this fight, which lasted for six hours, and was one of the most stubborn of the war, that Sherman, who had ordered troops to the relief of the garrison, sent the now world-famous dispatch : " Hold the fort for I am coming," and to which the heroic defender, General Corse, made the bull-dog reply : " I am short a cheek bone and an ear, but can lick all h-1 yet."
Sending messages by means of signals is therefore of great advantage to an invading army where a dispatch bearer would often have to cross the enemy's country and liable to be captured, or where word can only be sent by penetrating the enemy's lines where greater danger still would be incurred. For this reason, knowing that the rebellious states would have to be invaded, the signal corps was early organized, and thoroughly drilled and equipped under the orders of General Mcclellan, as soon as he took command ; and its history, which is being written, cannot fail to show its great usefulness not only in transmitting orders and messages of impor- tance, but in collecting and reporting important facts of observation.
To assist in both these ways, but especially in the latter, high signal towers were erected at the most convenient and available points, while the Union army lay south of Richmond and Petersburg in 1864-65. They were built of pine logs by the engineer corps and varied from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet in height. They were so strongly braced as not to be easily blown over or shot down ; although both the " Cobb Hill" and
THE COBB HILL SIGNAL TOWER.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
" Crow's Nest" towers, alluded to elsewhere in this history, * came very near being destroyed, the first by wind and the other by the rebel artillery. These two towers were of the same dimensions, each being one hundred and thirty feet high, thirty feet square at the base, and seven feet square at the top, which was reached by means of long ladders zigzagging from platform to platform from the ground up.t
The picture here given is of the "Cobb Hill" tower and shows the parapet of the fort lying between the position of the artist's camera and the tower; and which cuts off, as will be noticed, the bottom view of the latter. This fort was built upon the spot where the owner of the estate lived in a large family mansion when our troops first landed at Bermuda Hundred and City Point, and from whom the tower took its name.
The tower and detachment of men connected therewith were, at the time the picture was taken, in charge of a signal officer who had previously followed the colors of the Twelfth Regiment, and is shown in the engrav- ing sitting in a chair and holding a newspaper in his hands. The man standing near him was his colored cook and waiter, and the two others reclining at his right and front were two naval captains then in command of gun-boats, lying in the Appomattox river a short distance away ; while the person seen standing by the wagon on the opposite side was one of the men employed by Brady & Co., the noted war photographers of New York city, the other, being at the camera, cannot of course. be seen.
The house. occupied at that time as the officer's headquarters, had been the family residence of one of the slaves that worked upon the plantation ; and the staging across the ridgepole was built to signal from before the tower was built. The quarters of the men, some of whom can be seen upon the tower, and the stables for their horses were on the other side of the fort. The dark spot seen on the first section below the top of the tower was a sort of box shelter for the men on duty during the winter season, as one of them had to be constantly on the watch, no matter how cold or severe the weather.
Quite a long and interesting account might be written of this tower. General Butler wrote several pages about it in his recently published book, but his statements are mostly laudatory of himself and require a liberal sprinkling of " salt." as the boys call it, for easy mental digestion. Even his statements of matters of historic value are, to say the least. open to considerable criticism. He describes, for instance, the projectile thrown by a 12-pounder Whitworth gun as being " some two feet long. in shape a four-sided bolt, and revolving on its axis made a great noise." and in the same connection refers to it as making a " terrific shriek." Now it is no wonder that such a projectile as he describes should make a terrific shriek, but it is a wonder that any person who had ever seen or heard the sound of one should have written about it as above quoted : and more wonderful still that such a description should come from the pen of one of General Butler's reputation.
* See pages 173 and 241. + One of these towers had a windlass elevator : see engraving and anecdote.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
One who has seen and heard much more of, if not about, them than General Butler ever did, says that a "Whitworth bolt" as they were aptly called by those familiar with them, was cylindrical instead of rectangular in form, and that every one was evidently turned out by a lathe as smoothly and with as much symmetrical precision as any piece of very nicely balanced shafting. This indeed was absolutely necessary to that accuracy of aim for which the Whitworth gun has been so long noted. " A four-sided bolt, revolving on its axis" would be much more likely to hum than to hurt, and by its " terrific shriek" give unnecessary warning of its coming, as it would never be likely to hit any person or thing at which it was aimed. It is true also that a 12-pound bolt was about ten instead of twenty-four inches in length, and two and one half inches in diameter, being conic shaped at one end, and with a spiral groove around it, so as to fit into a corresponding twist projection in the barrel of the gun.
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