USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 70
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Ilis was a patriot's heart that ceased to beat in conflict with the wrong.
641
New Hampshire Volunteers.
D. D. L. 6-0. JESSE M. MASON.
B. L. L. 5-5. CORP. WILLIAM P. MASON.
Bk. B. D. 5-9.
JEREMIAH MARSTON.
Bk. B. D. 5-9. ALFRED W. MAXFIELD.
642
History of the Twelfth Regiment
JOIIN B. MERRILL.
This soldier was the son of James and Mehitable (Bradly) Merrill, and was born in Northfield, December 12, 1829. His father served in the War of 1812, and was taken pris_ oner and confined for some time in the Dartmoor prison, England, which at one time con. tained twenty-five hundred American prisoners.
lle was married August 10, 1852, to Elenor P., daughter of James Johnson. of Pitts- field, and had two children, John J. and Emma B.
lIe was in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, being the first man of his company to fall in that battle. His wife had repeatedly dreamed, for years before the war, of seeing him lying bleeding on the ground. It had such an impression upon her that when he enlisted she thought of her dream and feared the result. lle was naturally of a humorous and jovial disposition ; but on the march to the field of battle, he all at once became very sober and silent, which one of his comrades noticing, remarked in a joking way. " I guess John is afraid he is going to get killed." llis reply was, " You may laugh, boys, but it don't change the fact that I shall be killed in the next battle and shall be the first man in my company to fall." His prediction proved true a day or two later.
His mother was a daughter of Richard Bradly, once governor of New Hampshire.
CORP. GEORGE F. MESERVE.
.
This victim of Southern cruelty was the son of Frost and Priscilla (Newt) Meserve, and born at Dover in 1838 and died in Andersonville prison, Georgia, in the summer of 1864. He was in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Swift Creek, and Drury's Bluff, where he was captured and held prisoner until his death.
lle married Lavonia L. Emerson. September 15, 1862. One son. John E., was his only child.
There was long delay in getting his widow a pension because she could not prove his death. But at last the government granted her claim on the ground that " last heard of in a rebel prison " was equivalent to actual proof of death.' ller claim was made a test case, and after a long consideration was decided as aforesaid in her favor. (See roster.)
CORP. IRA MESERVE.
Brother of George F. Meserve and was born in Dover, March 25, 1840. (See about parents in last sketch.)
Ile was in the battles of Chancellorsville* and Gettysburg, and severely wounded at last named by musket ball passing through both legs, disabling him for further service with the regiment (see roster).
lle was married a few days after enlistment to Arvilla A. Emerson, of Northwood, and his children's names are Bertha E., Blanche M., and Florence G.
lle is a shoemaker by trade, and has worked at it ever since his discharge.
FRED S. MORSE.
Son of Isaac E. and Mary F. (Stevens) Morse ; born in London. July 13. 1845, and was the youngest member of his company. A mere boy in appearance as well as years. he was selected as " marker" early in the service, carrying a small flag instead of a gun until the last year of the war, when he acted as orderly for Colonel Potter, commanding brigade. Ile was with the regiment in most of its marches and battles, and although not in the line of battle, used to do some fighting now and then, exchanging shots with rebel sharpshooters.t
Married July 9, 1873, to Martha Cummings, of Chelsea. Mass .. where he has resided for several years.
lle was always full of life and fun, ready and resolute, and game to the end.
* See anecdote, page 411. t See pages 431-432.
643
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. B. L. 5-10. JOHN B. MERRILL.
B. D. D. 5-10.
CORP. GEORGE F. MESERVE.
Bk. Bk. D. 5-10. CORP. IRA MESERVE.
644
History of the Twelfth Regiment
JOHN D. NUTTER.
Product of the union of Samuel D. and Ruth M. (Knowles) Nutter, and was trans- planted from the mother stock in 1836 at Barnstead. In the year 1858 he left his Barn- stead home for Pittsfield, where he enlisted in September, 1862.
He married, January 4, 1868, Mary E., daughter of William Tibbetts, of Pittsfield, and his children are Laura U. and John W. (deceased ).
He was in the battle of Fredericksburg, with the teams at Chancellorsville, and was wounded slightly in left ankle while helping a comrade from the field of Gettysburg. He was also in the battle of Wapping Heights. An interesting incident about him is related elsewhere .*
Ile is still among the living, and has resided for many years at Lynn, Mass.
SERGT. JOHN II. PHILBRICK
Was born in Epsom, January 17, 1836, and his parents' names are John II. F. and Martha (Ham) Philbrick, who had three boys and one girl.
Ile married Mary A. Durgin, of Pittsfield, July 5. 1859.
His father was in the late war, in Company E, Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteers, and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness. The subject of this sketch was in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Swift Creek, Relay House, and Drury's Bluff. lle was taken siek at Gettysburg and sent to Carver Hospital, Washington, D. C. He rejoined the regiment at Point Lookout, from which he was sent home on recruiting service, one sergeant being chosen from each company, in charge of Lieut. Durgin. lle was absent on detached duty from the regiment at Cold Harbor, returned in front of Petersburg, and remained with it all the rest of the time until the close of the rebellion. At Chancel- lorsville he received a slight wound in the neck.
Ilis residence (see roster).
CAPT. JOHN H. PRESCOTT.
This officer, whose lionorable career as a soldier and civilian gives him an enviable- position in history, was born in Pittsfield, October 14, 1840, and was the oldest son of John and Mary (Clarke) Prescott. His grandfather, Samuel, was in the Revolution.
Soon after enlistment he was appointed commissary sergeant, acting in that capacity until receiving his first commission, December, 1863. From this to the end of the war he was most of the time on detached duty, acting as aide-de-camp or commissary of subsis- tence to and for Generals Wister, Steadman, Smith, Weitzel, Potter, and Donohoe ; and was present or participating in nearly all the battles of the war. At Chancellorsville he begged permission of Colonel Potter to go with the regiment into the battle instead of remaining in the rear, and went near enough the front line to have the visor of his eap torn by a musket ball while assisting the wounded, and capturing a stray "Johnny " that he found between the lines.
Ile had narrow escapes from and exciting experiences with the enemy, some of which will be found related elsewhere in this history.t Ile is believed to be the first Union officer to enter Libby prison after the evacuation, and his family has one of its large door keys that he found upon the floor of the building before even our pickets had reached it.
After the war he went west, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and located himself for life at Salina, Kan. Ile was prosecuting attorney and afterward judge for that judicial district, which latter office he held with great credit to himself for ability and integrity. Hle was elerk of the house of representatives for several years, a member of the state senate, and had he lived would doubtless won new and higher honors. Ile loved justice for justice's sake, and could not do otherwise. for it was but a part of his own ideal self. The city which had grown up around him appreciated and trusted him as one of her fore- most citizens while living, and sincerely mourned his death. Much might be quoted from
* See page 30.
t See pages 250 and 425, et seq.
645
New Hampshire Volunteers.
Bk. Bk. D. 5-43 . FRED S. MORSE.
G. B. D. 5-5. JOHN D. NUTTER.
Bk. Bk. D. 5-4. SERGT. JOIN II. PHILBRICK.
646
History of the Twelfth Regiment
her daily presses in just praise of him, but the writer pauses, for he well knows, as one of his most intimate friends, that his wish and will, could he make them known, would be that others, as bravely good as he though less fortunate, might share with him on the pages of history. He would say : " Spare all your fast wasting powers, dear friend, to do, so far as you are able, justice to the noble and heroic boys who deserve far more of praise than I, for they sacrificed all, even life itself, upon the altar of their country."
Ile was married to Mary E. Lee, of Topeka, Kan .. January 6, 1869. Children, Henry L., Fred C., Carl F., Maude, Edward S., and Margaret. Three of these are graduates from llarvard College, where one of them is an instructor.
" Farewell, dear friend, my heart with thine is still, A solemn silence, now, its chambers fill ; While cruel memory, as if my grief to swell, Puts all our past in this, my last farewell. Sad, parting word, yet this of hope to me, Farewell with us is welfare bright for thee."
GEORGE II. REYNOLDS.
This brave soldier fell and was buried by the enemy on the field of Chancellorsville.
Descendant of a worthy yeoman ancestry, his grandfather, Miles Reynolds, serving in the last war with England. He was born near where Rev. Benjamin Randall established his first church on New Durham Ridge, March 29, 1840, and was the youngest of the four children of John and Hannah ( Bennett) Reynolds, only one of whom is now living.
lle was in the battle of Fredericksburg, and always present and ready for duty from the time of his enlistment to his death. When struck by the fatal bullet, he turned to Lieutenant French and calmly informed him that he was wounded. Being told to go to the rear, he started, but fell dead after going but a few steps.
llis life, though short and uneventful before the war. was in its close nobly heroic, for he gave it to his country, and his name is indelibly written in the golden-leafed book of her remembrance.
CORP. JOSEPH RODERICK.
With mind and body of sound material made, he entered the battle ranks of life in the town of Bath, Me., November 25, 1842, as the son of Joseph and Sophia ( Roderick). Roderick. Ile worked at shoe-making and farming before enlistment, and was known as an honest and dutiful boy.
He was in Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and after recovering from a wound received in the last named battle in right arm. he was on detached duty as guard at division commissary department until November, 1861, after which he returned to and served with his regiment to the end of the war, being present at the attack on Bermuda Frout and the Capture of Richmond. Ile was one of the color guard during the last year of the war.
Married Hannah E. Pender, of Northwood, January 16, 1864, by whom he had the following children : Willie A., Agnes II., Perlie A., Sadie A., and Maud A., all of whom are living except the first and third.
This soldier's ability and deportment was far above the average, and the very promptness and efficiency which should have given him much higher rank operated against. him in this respect by keeping him so long on headquarter duty where his worth was fully appreciated, but not recognized as it should have been. Many interesting incidents and anecdotes might be related of his army experience, one or two of which will be found in the chapter of incidents and anecdotes .*
Since the war a farmer and shoemaker and a highly respected citizen of Northwood where he enlisted, and has ever since resided.
* See pages 418 and 419.
647
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. D. L. 5-93. CAPT. JOIN H. PRESCOTT.
B. G. D. 5-9.
GEORGE H. REYNOLDS.
Bk. Bk. D. 5-6. CORP. JOSEPH RODERICK.
648
History of the Twelfth Regiment
GEORGE H. SANBORN.
This soldier was the son of Abraham and Abigail (Brown) Sanborn and was reared in Pittsfield where he was born, January 18, 1836.
In most or all the battles of the regiment until August 18, 1861, when he was severely wounded, while in front of Petersburg, by ball through left shoulder, lodging in the lung, from the effects of which he constantly suffered (coughing up a piece of his vest more than a year after) and finally eausing his death nearly twenty years later, at Pittsfield, August 16, 1885. He acted as cook much of the time in camp and during the siege of Petersburg ; and while dealing out rations to his company in the entrenchinents, Captain Johnston had just said to him : " You are sitting in a dangerous place there," when he was hit by a ball from the rifle of a rebel sharpshooter. When his comrades bid him "good bye " at the hospital where they carried him, they never expected to see him alive again.
Ile was true blue to the core, and as brave on the field as he was useful in eamp.
CHARLES L. SWEATT.
Son of Stephen and Judith (Little) Sweatt, and was born in Boseawen, June 4, 1636.
This soldier, before enlistment and for some years after the war, was employed as a miller at Pittsfield, to which town his father removed with his family when he was a small boy.
Ile was in the battle of Fredericksburg; after which he was detailed as orderly at General Whipple's headquarters. While there he was taken siek and sent to Fortress Monroe hospital. le rejoined the regiment and was a participator in the battles of Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and several others.
Ile married Martha A., daughter of John M. Eaton, of Pittsfield, July 9, 1858. Chil- dren, Frank J., Mary L. (deceased), Eugene II., Charles C., and Gertrude A.
Since the war a shoemaker and farmer and now living in Pittsfiekl.
SERGT. BENJAMIN M. TILTON.
You will find this soldier, near this sketch, looking as brave and prompt ou paper, as he really was on the field.
Hle is one of the nineteen children of John Tilton, of Pittsfield, and his mother's name was Sally Nelson. He was born in Pittsfield, January 13, 1844.
Hle met and fought the enemy in most or every battle of the regiment, except Gettys- burg and Wapping Heights, when he was sick in hospital with his shoulder shattered by a bullet at Chancellorsville, where he fell into the arms of Sergt. Maj. A. W. Bartlett, who was just then passing behind him in search of a musket to do a little fighting for himself. After he was wounded he was taken prisoner and hekl for thirteen days on the field in the enemy's lines, during which time his wound was not dressed. At the charge at Cold Har- bor he was slightly wounded where, like all the rest of the regiment, he had a narrow escape from death.
After the war (March 14, 1867), he married Love O. Towle, of Chichester. IIe has no children.
For many years he has been engaged in the harness and saddler business in his native town where, despite losses by fire and limbs broken by accident, he has, by the same grit manifested by him in the army, successfully managed his business until the present time.
Ile was a brave, plucky soldier, and is a good citizen. Mention is made of him in sev- eral places in this history .*
* See pages 398, 409.
649
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. DB. L. 5-S. GEORGE H. SANBORN.
Bk. D. L. 5-43. CHARLES L. SWEATT.
B. Bk. L. 5-7. SERGT. BENJAMIN M. TILTON.
650
History of the Twelfth Regiment
COMPANY G.
There were more different counties and towns represented in the arrangement of this company than in any other, there being some from the counties of Carroll and Grafton, but mostly from Belknap county. The town of Gilford supplied thirty-eight : Moultonborough, fifteen ; and Warren, nine ; and the rest being from almost as many different towns in said counties.
Those from Moultonborough and several other different places had intended to enlist, sooner or later than they did, but the enthusiasm and desire dependent on raising the Twelfth immediately, made many changes and swept everything before it. Town and war meetings were held in Gilford, Moultonborough, Laconia, and Warren. J. M. Emerson en- listed about thirty men in Moultonborough. This company met at Lake- port, and the following officers of the company were selected by the men to represent them :
For captain, Charles W. Chase ; first lieutenant, John M. Emerson (resigned a month or two later) : and John S. Veasey, second lieuten- ant. The sergeants chosen, and afterwards appointed, were Arthur St. Clair Smith for orderly or first sergeant. The names of the other sergeants were Charles O. Davis, Samuel L. Goss, Elbridge Jacobs, and Joseph K. Whittier. The corporals elected were Benjamin B. Clark, Joseph P. Whittier, Charles W. Hoyt, Marshall C. Dexter, William Ladd, Charles H. Hinman, Henry J. Smith, and John P. Lane. George W. Merrill and Jonathan K. Kelsea furnished the music.
This company was mustered as such into the United States service, September 9, 1862.
651
New Hampshire Volunteers.
GEORGE W. ANDREWS.
Born on the shores of Lake Winnipiseogee in the town of Centre Harbor, June 20, 1844, where his parents. Ensley G. and Nancy ( Allard) Andrews had long resided.
Ilis patriotism was inherited from his grandfather Andrews, who enlisted at the begin- ning of the War of 1812. He was engaged in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville, Drury's BInff, Port Walthall, Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg, and Capture of Richmond. During the engagement at Cold llarbor he received a slight wound from a shell. Ile was taken prisoner while helping to carry Colonel Potter from the Chancellor House, and was retained for twelve days, when he was released and rejoined the regiment at Point Lookout, from which place he remained with it until the end. Enlisted and dis- charged as a private, but his ability to wield the sword was never questioned.
Married May 3, 1866, to Sarah L. Barrett, of Bridgewater. Ilis children are, Inis May and Lillian Francis.
A farmer before enlisting and has been a farmer and tanner since. He was as brave and faithful a soldier as he is a good man.
BVT. MAI. EDWIN E. BEDEE
Was born in the town of Sandwich, January 8, 1838.
lle was a printer before the war, enlisting first from Albany, N. Y., in the first three months' regiment as orderly sergeant, and was promoted to second lieutenant. Later he was appointed messenger in the citizens' corps, and on the expiration of his term of service he returned to Meredith in time to join the Twelfth Regiment. He enlisted in this regi- ment as sergeant major, and was repeatedly promoted until he reached the rank of major, which rank he held at the time of his muster-out.
He was in most of the battles in which the regiment was engaged. At Chancellors- ville, after most of the officers had been wounded, he, by virtue of his rank, took command of the remnant of the regiment, although himself slightly wounded, and later was hit by a piece of shell, rendering him unconscious. At Cold Harbor he was wounded severely, and also in front of Petersburg. He was taken prisoner on the Bermuda Front, but three months later paroled and returned to the regiment. For a while he served on the staff of General Potter, and was on special duty at Washington at the time of the assassination of President Lincoln. Hle was at Ford's Theatre on that eventful night .*
Major Bedee deserves great praise for the part he so well acted in some of the exciting scenes of the great tragic drama of the war. Brave, sometimes almost to rashness, he was always conspicuous where the harvest of death left its sheaves the thickest, and if he knew what fear was, it was but to scorn it by courting instead of shunning dangers. Strict in discipline, even to severity when the occasion demanded it, he was equally ready and willing to commend and reward, and no good soldier had cause to find fault with his orders
AMOS CHATTLE.
Born in Meredith on the 11th day of March, 1844, and son of Thomas and Nancy B. (Bowman) Chattle. His grandfather, Francis Bowman, died in the service during the War of 1812.
This soldier was in the battle of Fredericksburg. He received a fracture of the right elbow by being accidentally thrown down during the winter before Chancellorsville, from the effects of which he was afterwards discharged (see roster). Before this he promised to make one of the best of soldiers, but thus early had to succumb to the inevitable.
His father and brother, Horace, were in the Eighth New Hampshire, the former, taken sick on the march, died at Camp Stevens, La., and the latter killed at Port Iludson. An- other brother, Noah, who enlisted in the Fifteenth New Hampshire Volunteers, was also killed at Port Hudson.
Married November 29, 1866, to Annie E. Meader, of Tamworth, by whom he has two children, Charles M. and Amy J.
* See page 294. Other references, 421, 429.
652
History of the Twelfth Regiment
LIEUT. BENJAMIN B. CLARK.
Lieutenant Clark was the oldest son of the seven children of David and Abigail ( Phil- brick ) Clark, and was born in Franklin, March 14, 1829. The earliest known ancestor of this branch of the Clark family, whose name was John, settled in Stratham ; and his grandson, Satchel, who was the great-grandfather of Benjamin B .. above named, was the ninth man to start a home in the town of Sanbornton, working there two years " without seeing a woman's face."* The united ages of his seven children before the death of any of them, he being the oldest, was over five hundred and thirty-two years. * He is said to have served in the Revolution, as did his oldest son, John Clark, who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
lle, Benjamin B., as will be seen above, had good blood in his veins and proved it on every battle-field of the regiment, except the Chancellorsville campaign, where his knee was badly sprained. and Wapping Heights, from which he was kept by a wound received in right leg, above the knee. at Gettysburg. lle was wounded by the same bullet, and in nearly the same place as was his " file-closer," Charles P. Holmes, who bled to death on the field. The surgeon, who dressed his (Clark's) wound told him that it came within one- eighth of an inch of severing the same vital artery as in the Hohes case.
Ile was for a long time orderly sergeant of his company and had the offer of a lieuten- ancy, by rank. long before he was appointed as such. Ile was a machinist by trade, and after the war was employed for some time as draftsman, for which he seemed to have a natural talent. A sketch of the position of the regiment at Cold llarbor was drawn by him on the field under the enemy's guns.t lle is connected with many facts and incidents in this history as will be seen by the reader.# For promotions see roster.
November 24, 1851, he married Mary A. Eaton, of Newton. Mass., and his children are Annie J., Grace E., Frederick W., Fannie G., Edith N., and David W.
llis brother, Samuel A., served with Berdan's sharpshooters, and lost a leg at the second Bull Run. Lieutenant Clark was one of the very best men and soldiers of the regi- ment, and his name is an honor to its rolls. He died August 10, 1891.
WILLIAM H. CLINTON.
Discharged, like many others, too late, and died of disease contracted there soon after his return home. Ilis father, De Witt, a member of the Fifteenth New Hampshire Vol- unteers, came home with his regiment, sick with malaria fever, and lived but four days afterward. A brother, llosea 11., died from wounds received in the war. This soldier (William H.), married before enlistment, but his only son died a day or two before its father, and its mother has since followed them. Another brother and sister have also died leaving no one of the family living but his mother, Ursula Maria (llanson nee Bean) Clinton, whose first husband bled to death before her eyes and whose two children by him both died young. Such is the sad chapter of death that this brave and noble hearted woman has been obliged to read, as her own, through tears of anguish and years of sorrow. Yet she still lives. || all alone and almost blind, at the age of seventy-eight, prayerful in the present, and hopeful of a happier life beyond the grave. Her life of constant toil, hardship, and privation for the living, has been only equalled by her sorrow for the dead. Through all this, the Bible, which before losing her eyesight, she had read through nearly thirty- three times, has been her comfort and her strength; and relying on the promises of its Great Author, she expects soon to be welcomed home by her son who died " so happy, Oh ! so happy." And he, who listened to those words from her trembling lips, now records what he then thought : " The mothers Oh! the mothers of the brave boys who fought and died for our country. Whose hand shall hold the pen that can do them justice?"
* Runnels' History of Sanbornton, Vol. II, page 131. t See page 204.
# See pages 421 and 428.
I Deceased since the above was written.
653
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. L. L. 5-S3. GEORGE W. ANDREWS.
A. LB. L. 5-9. BVT. MAJ. EDWIN E. BEDEE.
DII, DB. L. 5-113. AMOS CHATTLE.
Bk. Bk. L. 5-113. LIEUT. BENJAMIN B. CLARK.
JI. LB. F. 5-93. WILLIAM II. CLINTON.
654
History of the Twelfth Regiment
CORP. NEWELL DAVIDSON.
This brave and faithful soldier is the son of John B. and Sarah II. (Lowd) Davidson, and was born in Holderness (now Ashland), on the twenty-third of May. 1843.
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