USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 76
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FRANKLIN HODSDON.
This soldier, a brother of Joseph Hodsdon, of this company, was born in Tufton- borough, in the year 1833, and was the son of Samuel and Sobrina (Stevens) Ilodsdon. There were three girls and five boys in his father's family.
About six years before the war he was married to Nancy Sargent. Children, John H. and Willie H.
Died of disease at Washington, D. C. (see roster).
CORP. JOSEPH HODSDON
Was born in Tuftonborough in 1830. (For family record see sketch of his brother, Frank- lin, above.)
Ile was in most of the battles of the regiment, and at the battle of Chancellorsville was wounded in, and lost a finger. le rejoined the regiment at Point Lookout after au absence of three months occasioned by his wound. After this he remained in the service until his discharge, June 21, 1865, but no further record is known of his being in other battles.
Married Tryphene, daughter of Stephen Dow, of Tuftonborough, but he has no children.
LIEUT. GEORGE W. HORNE.
Oldest of the three children (one daughter) of Barzilla and Louisa (Whitten) Horne, and born in Farmington, October 1, 1828. Grandfather, Joseph, in War of 1812.
Ile was recruiting offieer for a while when the regiment was raised, and enlisted several men for Company K. He was sick and excused from duty most of the time after reaching Falmouth. and was one of those who were gathered up and sent forward at the battle of Fred- ericksburg .* After his discharge from the Twelfth he remained at home until the fall of 1864, when he again enlisted and was appointed second lieutenant of Company G, First New Hampshire Heavy Artillery, and served as such until the end of the war.
Married December 27, 1816. to Betsey A. Straw, and again to Mary A. Bigslow, March 18, 1895, but no children by either.
*See page 52.
723
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. H. L. 5-10. JACOB HANSON.
1.0
Bk. DB. D. 5-10.
FRANKLIN HODSDON.
B. B. L. 5-9. CORP. JOSEPH HODSDON.
724
History of the Twelfth Regiment
OSCAR F. HORNE
Is the youngest of seven children of Napoleon and Deborah (Burleigh) Horne, and born in Dover, August 12, 1836. When he was four years old his father moved into Wolfeborough, where he resided until 1862, when he left the field of cultivation for the field of war.
Ile did not remain long in the service on account of being early disabled, and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., five months after he had enlisted (see roster), being engaged in none of the battles of the regimeut.
Married to Cynthia A. Ricker, sister of Captain Ricker, of this company, October 10. 1860. Ile has no children.
lle now resides ou the old homestead where his father was born and lived except for about six years.
SERGT. DANIEL W. HORNER.
Every company had its heroes, and Company K was not without its full share, and here is one of them. October 22, 1829, Granby, in the Province of Quebec, gives his time and place of birth. His father, John, fought against the British at the battle of Plattsburg. The subject of this sketch relates of him as follows :
" It was Sunday and he was eating breakfast when the cannonading commenced. He went twenty miles, carried his gun, and went aboard one of our war vessels when the deck was red with the blood of the dead and wounded. While he was there a rooster flew up into the rigging and crowed."
Ilis mother's maiden name was Mary Door. lle married Lizzie A., daughter of Walter N. Cotton, of Wolfeborough, June 15, 1858. Children, John W., George S., Arthur E., and Charles D., all living.
In every battle from Fredericksburg to Capture of Richmond. At Chancellorsville a minie ball ent off the middle band of his gun and so dented the barrel while he was load- ing that when he fired he was badly injured in arin and shoulder, lamning him for a long time ; and wounded again in left thigh by picket shot at Gettysburg, so he had to be carried from the field on a stretcher, vet he never left the regiment or went to hospital. While at Point Lookont, Mid., he was detailed as recruiting sergeant and sent to Concord, where he remained through the winter of 1861. He had charge for a long time of the men detailed from the regiment as pioneers, and acted as such in helping to bury the dead at Cold Harbor and other battles ; and in November, 1864, was detached as first sergeant of the brigade pioneer corps, composed from Twelfth New Hampshire, Eleventh New Jer- sey, One Ilundred and Fifteenth New York, and Sixty-second Ohio Regiments.
lle says : " Capt. T. E. Barker and myself were the first two to cross the breastworks at Chancellorsville, and Charles A. Warren and I were the last so far as I saw to leave the oaks where we fought so long and desperate. The whole regiment fell back and we knew nothing about it. I helped Charles Taylor, of Company C, off the field. He was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. I got him down to where we formed in line of battle in the morning and was letting him drink out of my canteen when a squad of rebels came within ten feet of us, and one cocked his gun when he saw us. I started then to run and they commenced firing. I threw away everything I had in trying to save myself, and get inside onr lines once more."
His occupation, before enlistment and since discharge, farming and running a saw mill. Sick or wounded he never went to hospital, but always staid with his regiment in field or in camp. Able, willing, brave, and faithful, he acted well his part in the tragic drama of 1861-5.
725
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. L. L. 5-73. LIEUT. GEORGE W. HORNE.
D. BK. D. 5-7.
OSCAR F. HORNE.
B. D. D. 5-52. SERGT. DANIEL W. HORNER.
726
History of the Twelfth Regiment
LEVI W. LADD.
The only son and child but one of Gordon and Dolly (Young) Ladd ; born July 11, 1843.
Lived in Tuftonborough, and worked on his father's farm until his enlistment in the Twelfth Regiment.
Taken sick on march to Falmouth, Va., and left at Lovettsville, where he came very near being captured by Mosby's guerrillas; Mosby himself visiting the very house where he was secreted. Rejoined regiment on the last day's fight at Gettysburg, and in most or all of the battles after that ; for though wounded in left leg by shot or shell, that he attempted to dispute the right of way with at Cold Harbor, he kept along most of the time with his comrades in the ranks, and came home with them at the end.
Married Maranda S., daughter of George Mills, of Hudson, Mass., and widow of Wil- lard Hunting, who was a member of the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteers, and died in Salisbury prison, N. C. Children, Etta M. and Lizzie E.
Farmer's boy before the war, machinist and carpenter since, and resided most of the time at Lawrence, Mass., and is as good a citizen as he was a soldier.
He says : "Lieutenant Jewett and I carried Chaplain Ambrose off the field, when he was wounded with the bullets flying thickly around us. He was the coolest man I ever saw and several times encouraged us by brave and cheering words."
CORP. DANIEL LEARY.
Born in Cork, Ireland, May 3, 1819, and came to this country when he was twenty-five years old.
January 6, 1852, he married Mary A. Swett, of Tuftonborough, by whom he had five children, Sarah A., Martha P., John N., and Eveline M., the oldest and youngest of whom are dead.
Ile was in Fredericksburg, and instantly killed in the battle of Chancellorsville by a musket ball through his head.
Ile was a good and brave soldier and nobly gave his life for his adopted country. May his children and their descendents be long remembered and respected.
CAPT. SILAS MAY.
Hle was born in Salem, Mass., July 8, ISIS, and was the son of Silas and Pamelia (Wyman) May.
Ilis years before the war were occupied as machanic.
Ile was in the battle of Fredericksburg, and in Chancellorsville where he was wounded in left leg below the knee, just as the battle commenced at the edge of the woods. llis brother, Henry W., served honorably in a Massachusetts regiment.
Captain May was twice married, first to Salem Tilden by whom he had two children, Pamelia J. and Fanny W., and second to Ilannah C. Goodwin, whose children by him were, Silas D., Ettie E., and John D., all now dead but last two, the son living in Buffalo, Wyo., and the daughter, Mrs. John T. Wentworth, of Wakefield.
While in the Veteran Reserve Corps (see roster), he was stationed at Washington when Lincoln was inaugurated. Ilis daughter gives the following extraets from his letters : " My regiment received what is considered the post of honor. *
* * * My post was on the steps of the east wing, the senate wing. This was the entrance, the main or middle entrance being closed. and a platform erected in front where the oath of office was admin- istered to the president and from which he delivered his inaugural address. From my position I could see all worth seeing." May 7, 1865, he wrote : " I have been on duty at the arsenal where Harold, Paine, and others, of the assassin tribe, are confined and I do not feel the least emotion of pity, only that they should have been so wicked as to plot and undertake the terrible murders they did."
727
New Hampshire Volunteers.
II. Bk. L. 5-43. LEVI W. LADD.
B. D. L. 5-7. CORP. DANIEL LEARY.
H. B. D. 5-10. CAPT. SILAS MAY.
728
History of the Twelfth Regiment
Sometime in March, 1865, he was sent south where, at Granada, Miss., he died Octo- ber 22, 1866, of typhoid fever, " and the government lost," as said of him, " a faithful and efficient officer and his family one to whom he was most affectionately devoted."
The picture shown is engraved from one taken of him while a captain in the Veteran Reserve Corps. One thing should be mentioned here which speaks loud in his praise. When the regiment arrived at Washington after the Gettysburg campaign he met them with his heart full of pity as shown by his acts of brotherly kindness," and who shall say that ere this he has not met many of them again on the other shore.
SERGT. MARQUIS D. L. McDUFFEE.
A native of Alton ; son of Iacob and Amanda (Piper) MeDuffee, and born Novem- ber 24. 1833.
Married Clara, daughter of Greenleaf Piper, of Tuftonborongh, March, 1855; one son, Walter L., deceased, unmarried. Second wife, Alice C. Foss ; no children.
llis grandfather, James McDuffee, was the first settler in East Alton.
In Fredericksburg, and carried the state colors in the battle of Chancellorsville, where. for one hour and twenty minutes, he defiantly held them aloft against the terrible battle blast of lead and iron hail, until, with his clothes and the flag riddled with bullets, and himself severely wounded in the leg, he heroically fulfilled the promise he had made to his colonel, to bring his colors safely from the field, if the rebels left him enough of life and strength to do so.
Like all truly brave men he is modest and unassuming and esteemed most by those who know him best. Ilis name honors the rolls of his country's defenders.
ISAAC N. MCINTIRE.
This son of lsaiah and Mary Ann (Stevens) MeIntire was born in Tuftonborough. March 5, 1838.
Married Nancy JJ. Stewart, of his native town, November 11, 1850, by whom he had one son, Charles A.
He was in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, part of Siege of Petersburg ; then taken sick and was unable to do active duty until the fall or winter of 1864. He was also in the Capture of Richmond and detailed at Potomac Creek to build hospital.
ALVIN MITCHELL.
This most worthy veteran of the late war is the second of the four children (one daugh- ter) of Samuel and Sally ( Drew) Mitchell, and was born in New Durham, September 25, 1840. Ilis great-grandfather. John Mitchell, fought seven years for onr independence, being all through the war ; his grandfather. Joseph. enlisted in 1812 to vindicate it, and he, himself, has fought and shed his blood to preserve our perpetuity.
In all the battles of regiment, except Cemetery Hill, and part of the Siege of Petersburg, when he was in hospital with wound in left arm by minie ball at Cold Harbor, as the regi- ment debouched from the woods just before the charge.
Married December 1, 1874, to Francis J. Twombly, of Dover, and their children are Jennie A. and Albert II.
There were as few skim-milk soldiers in Company K as any company in the regiment. and yet it can be truthfully said that this soldier was one of the very few that in every company constitute the cream. One of those quiet and unobtrusive men who attract no especial notice in "the piping times of peace," but need only the occasion to prove their worth, and be known to fame.
* See page 143.
729
New Hampshire Volunteers.
Bk. DB. D. 5-10. SERGT. MARQUIS D. L. MCDUFFEE.
I. D. D. 5-S. ISAAC N. MCINTIRE.
DH. LB. L. 5-S2. ALVIN MITCHELL.
73
History of the Twelfth Regiment
JAMES MOULTON.
Ilere is one of the many unpromoted heroes of the regiment who is worthy of high praise. Born in Tuftonborough, August 20, 1821; son of Jacob and Eunice (Dean) Moulton, who were the parents of ten chiklren, he being the fifth, and three sisters being the only survivors.
Married May 3, 1849, to Lonisa, daughter of Israel Hunting, of Wellesley, Mass., where they now reside. John F., George A., James W., Clara L., Charles H., Abbie A., Mary E., and Willard II., are the names of their children ; all living but two.
In most of the battles of the regiment, except Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, when he was on detached duty in the ambulance corps, but present on the field. Wounded slightly in right heel at Gettysburg and severely in left shoulder at Cold Harbor but rejoined his regiment in time to enter Richmond and served until its final discharge. Jacob, his brother, in the same company, and taken sick after the battle of Fredericks- burg, being sent to Alexander hospital, Va. He was soon after sent to Point Lookout to do light duty, but on account of sickness he was given a furlough. He died at Washing- ton, on his way home, at Armory Square hospital of typhoid fever. He was the youngest of the family and never married.
His wife's brothers. Israel, Jr., and Willard Hunting, served in the Forty-fourth and Twenty-ninth Massachusetts regiments, respectively, the latter being captured on the Wel- den railroad and died in Salisbury prison, S. C.
"One of Company K's best," is what his comrades say of the subject of this sketch, and there were few, if any, better in the regiment.
SERGT. ENOCHI C. PIPER.
Gaze sadly yet proudly upon his picture for his name is on the " Roll of Honor." One of the three sons in a family of six who were born to David and Sarah (Haley) Piper, his birth being April 1. 1831. Hle was of Scotch descent and his blood was tinctured with that of Robert Bruce, for his great-great-grandfather, Thomas, married a Bruce of the royal family and coming with her to this country, settled upon a grant of land on the coast of Maine, then known as " Black Point," at or near where the city of Portland now is. His grandfather was in the War of 1812.
In all the principal battles but one to Cold Harbor, when a minie ball wound in his ankle resulted in the loss of his leg and life. Wounded three times in quick succession, in head, shoulder, and hip, at Chancellorsville. Died in Lincoln hospital, Washington, and buried in Tuftonborough.
CORP. WILLIAM B. RENDAL
Is one of the five children (one daughter) of William and Mary A. (Blake) Rendal, who was a daughter of Elder Daniel 1. Blake. William B. was born in the town of Wolfe- borough, November 7, 1839, Ilis brother, Henry B., served in the Fifth New Hampshire Regiment where he was promoted to a second lieutenant, but had to resign on account of lung disease of which he died at Wolfeborough Bridge, but a few miles from his father's house, and only a few days after the subject of this sketch had enlisted.
lle was in Fredericksburg and also in Chancellorsville, where he was wounded and reported missing (see roster) and supposed for a time to be killed or taken prisoner. lle rejoined his regiment at Point Lookout, Md., in the autumn following but was not able to enter upon the campaign the next spring and was discharged.
lle was married December 31, 1867, to Mary S. Wiggin and has had but one child, whose name is Mabel W.
He has been since the war a shoemaker and farmer and is to-day one of the respected and worthy citizens of his native town.
731
New Hampshire Volunteers.
If. Bk. D. 5-53. JAMES MOULTON.
HI. A. L. 5-94. SERGT. ENOCH C. PIPER.
I. D. L. 6-1. CORP. WILLIAM B. RENDAL.
732
History of the Twelfth Regiment
CAPT. EPHRAIM W. RICKER.
Here you can see him as he looked about twenty years of age, just after he received his commission as captain, and it is just at that time that the author is glad to introduce him to the public and reproduce him to his old comrades who will gladly greet him once again as of yore. Ile is a native of Tuftonborough ; born March 11, 1842, and is the son of William and Lucy ( Whitten) Rieker, who had seven children, of whom five were boys, and one of his daughters married Osear Horne (see sketeh).
From Wolfeborough academy he followed the sound of the fife and drum into the ranks of war, where he fought bravely in every battle of his regiment, yet " never went to a surgeon's eall, and in hospital except for two days to rest," as written by his own truthful pen. And it is a most remarkable record yet he was never wounded except slightly by spent ball at Petersburg. lle was several weeks on General Steadman's staff at Cold Har- bor, and during the advance upon and Siege of Petersburg ; and acted as assistant provost marshal a while at Danville, Va. Ilis grandfathers on both sides were in former wars for the country.
For eight years after the war, he was employed, most of the time, in shoe manufac- turing and active in the meantime as a Christian worker, being converted when but nine years of age.
Ile was married July 16, 1865. to Clara A., daughter of a Mr. Ilurd, of Dover, and has two children. Herbert L. and Gracie HI.
.Iune 3, 1873, he was ordained at Alton, as a minister of the Free Will Baptist church, preaching at Alton, Dover, Lakeport, Providence, R. I., and Haverhill, Mass., where he now lives.
It should be said of him, as most of all to his credit. that he was a poor boy, and his highly honorable record as a patriot and a Christian is owing to his own unaided efforts. There is but little danger of saying too much in praise of the subject of this sketch, and may he long live to fight with the resistless power of the Word, as he once fought with the gun and sword, for humanity and Christian liberty.
CAPT. JJEREMIAH SANBORN.
This officer enlisted under the name of George Pickering, from the town of Tufton- borough, August 28, 1862, and served until his final discharge, June 21, 1865.
Ile was born in Hartford, Conn., in the year 1839, and enlisted as private but wore the captain's insignia before his discharge. For his line of promotions see roster.
Ilis residence, when last heard from, was Philadelphia, Penn. Hle was an active, efficient, and brave officer.
JAMES H. SEAVEY
Was born in Tuftonborough, in 1811, and is the son of James C. and Esther E. ( Hooper) Seavey.
He was married September 19, 1867, to Iennie Fernal, of his native town. No ehil- dren. llis grandfather. Hooper, was a veteran of 1812.
lle was in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Swift Creek, Petersburg, Cemetery Ilill, and Capture of Richmond, and in Fort Harrison, when serving as sharp- shooter, and was one who helped take the fort. He was one of the best shots in the regi- ment when hunting rebel game and has and even now goes out and shows the boys how to make a hole through the pupil of a " bull's-eye " at a single squint. He is seen here in the uniform of one of the Boston keen-sighted " Independent " companies of several years ago.
Ile has for a long time been engaged in making paper boxes in Boston, Mass.
733
New Hampshire Volunteers.
HI. B. L. 5-10. CAPT. EPHRAIM W. RICKER.
H
G. B. L. 5-73. CAPT. JEREMIAH SANBORN.
B. LB. L. 5-93. JAMES H. SEAVEY.
734
History of the Twelfth Regiment
FRANKLIN STUART.
Born at Alton, December 11, 1836. Died at Falmouth, Va., May 27, 1863. Oldest son of Charles and Jane (Piper) Stuart, and his grandfather was in War of 1812.
Married to Emily 11. Melntire, of Tuftonborough. November 25, 1859, and left three children. Ida M. (Mudgett), John E., and Alice C. (Wallace).
By the decree of fate and not from his desire does his name not appear on the battle call roll of his regiment, except at Fredericksburg when, or on the " mud march " that fol- lowed, he doubtless contracted the disease of which he died. In the diary of one of his comrades he is spoken of as a good soldier and much lamented by the company.
CAPT. BENJAMIN B. THOMPSON.
Of all the Thompsons of the Twelfth, and there were seven. this was the strangest one of all. In fact, he was sui generis in his subcranial organization, and in some respects he had not his match in the regiment. "I went out with the rest of the boys," as he once said. " but went where I pleased after I got there," which .was strictly true ; and the rebel picket line was not the boundary of his perambulations either. He went to Richmond with about the same ease that he did to Washington, and is said to have acted as a Union spy. Although with the regiment from the start he did not enlist in it until the spring of 1864, and about a year later was discharged and commissioned captain in Company I, Eighteenth Regiment, where he served until the close of the war.
Since then he has been nearly everywhere and into almost everything, and no one of his relations or former acquaintances can tell where he has been, what he has been doing. or whether he is now living or dead.
In most or all battles of regiment (as believed) while a regular member thereof, and his capture at Bermuda Hundred and escape from Libby prison * was little more than an amusing episode in the strange drama of his life, for rebel walls and guards had but little terror for him. Though fickle fortune might play false and betray him, his natural tact and shrewdness quickly come to his rescue, and seldom, if ever, in vain. Obstacles seen- ingly insurmontable to others were trifling hindrances to him ; for reniam riam aut fac- iam was something more than a sophomoric star-pointer in his classics.
A few of the many anecdotes about him have been already written in this history.t Death, it is feared. has got the better of him at last, but hardly any of his surviving com- rades can be made to fully believe it, though he has not been seen or heard from for several years.
MOSES F. THOMPSON.
" The boy is the father of the man." The bright, brave, and ambitious youth will. in spite of fortune and almost fate, find himself at the flood-tide of his manhood, standing, self- reliantly independent at the hehn of success. The subject of this sketch is an example. Though cut down in middle age by that dread disease, diphtheria. which at the same time took from the widowed mother three of five children, he had succeeded in accumulating an ample life competency for the loved ones left, and established a reputation of being one of the most successful business men ever raised in his native town, where he first opened a store soon after the war.
lle first enlisted and would have gone out in the Fifth Regiment had not his father objected, but when the Twelfth was raised, finding he was bound to go anyway, his father consented rather than have him ruu away. lle was then but half way through his "teens" and so small of his age that Larkin D. Mason, a friend of the family, was surprised to find him one day in the ranks at the front, and asked him how he ever got the consent of his father. " By making him believe that I knew more about war than he did, and I guess I do now," was the witty reply. His mother, speaking of him, said while wiping the tears from her eyes : " He was a good, happy dispositioned boy, and always brim full of frolic and fun."
* See page 460, et seq.
t See pages 397 and 402.
735
New Hampshire Volunteers.
B. DB. D. 5-63. FRANKLIN STUART.
DB. DB. D. 5-S. CAPT. BENJAMIN B. THOMPSON.
B. LB. L. 5-II. MOSES F. THOMPSON.
736
History of the Twelfth Regiment
In several battles, eight or nine (as believed), and came home with his regiment at the close of the war, which is all that need be said of his merits as a soldier.
One of six children, three boys and three girls, and born May 20, 1846. His grand- father came from Deerfield and settled in Wolfeborough, in 1802 or 3, and his great-great- grandfather, David, was the first settler (as believed) in the state, being sent over by the English government on official business connected with the harbor at Portsmouth.
Ile had attended high school at home, and commenced school for a time at Concord.
Married to Abbie II., daughter of George W. Hersey, of Wolfeborough, December 28, 1870. Children, Lester II., Guy M., Dana M., Helen A .. and Edith ; the first and third living. Removed with his family to Minnesota in the spring of 1883.
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