Yale University Library 39002002965532 /¦•v.- i -; ;iiiiftillil| ¦P lib GzZZ. 5V5 //~e>r-/e6n4 urfwnaly S% GlLMAN MARSTON. A HISTORY Second Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. Martin A. Haynes, Company I. Lakeport, New Hampshire. i896. NOT COPYRIGHTED. No Rights Reserved. Cc $ Jl S'$ ~ PREFACE. Thirty years age and more, the present writer published a History of the Second Regiment — an unpretending little volume which has received much greater commendation than its author had even a suspicion it was entitled to. Its chief, and perhaps only, excellence lay in the fact that it was a "free-hand" sketch of the regiment's adventures and misadventures, dashed off while the events narrated were still as but the doings of yesterday in mind and memory. That little volume is now quoted as one of the scarcest of all the war histories, and the stray copy which occasion ally finds its way into the market commands an almost fabulous price. The present work is in no sense a re-writing or revision of the former volume. The writer has had at his command a great deal of material not then conveniently available, from which he has attempted to construct a reasonably complete and fairly satisfactory history of the regiment. He has carefully avoided all " padding." The aim has been, not to see how large a book he could make, but rather into how few pages he could condense the material he had, without omitting or slighting matters necessary to a proper under standing and appreciation of the regiment's career. He has also carefully avoided the temptation to indulge in lurid descriptions, and has told the story he had to tell in the straightforward, concise narrative form which has seemed the fittest setting for the Second's great deeds. The writer fully appreciates that his most exacting critics will be the grizzled old fellows who in their glorious young manhood wrought the deeds of which this book is a record. If it but passes muster with them, he has little care for what others may think or say. To you, living or dead, comrades of the Old Second, this volume is affectionately inscribed and dedicated. THE BOOK-MAKERS. In the making of this book, many hands have had a part, and many acknowledgments are due. The author takes great pride in the fact that the typographical composition, from cover to cover, is entirely his own handiwork. In the little toy printing office which is an adjunct of his library, he has spent his spare time in putting this book into type ; and when it is stated that an even year, almost to a day, covered the beginning and the end of the work, his fellow craftsmen, at least, will understand that he either had a great deal of spare time, or was very industrious — perhaps both. On the completion of a form, it was securely boxed and sent to the Republican Press Association, at Concord, who are entitled to all the credit for the character of the press work. Also the binding. The line engravings were all produced by the Union Publishing Co., of Manchester. The superintendent of their art department, our old-time artist friend Prof. J. Warren Thyng, kindly undertook the drawing of the pictures, and to him the readers of this book are mainly indebted for the beauty of these illustrations. Of the half-tone portraits, over fifty were engraved by Mr. Fred L. Nay, of Antrim. Purely from his own interest in the work, and a desire to have the men from his own section well represented, he scoured the country for portraits (often, we have reason to believe, at considerable expense to himself), thereby finding a number of rare portraits which otherwise would not have been secured. The great bulk of the half-tone engravings, including all the full- page, were made by the Republican Press Association. The interesting and appropriate vignettes at the commencement of each chapter were generously contributed by our old friend, Capt. John McElroy, manager of the National Tribune, at Washington. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. April, iSbi, to July is, iSbi.— EARLY REQUISITIONS FOR TROOPS— SECOND REGIMENT ORGANIZED FOR THREE MONTHS' SERVICE— RE-ORGAN IZED AS THREE YEARS REGIMENT — " CAMP CONSTITUTION," AT PORTSMOUTH— OFF FOR THE WAR— OVATIONS IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK— ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF LIEUTENANT WALKER— THE MARCH THROUGH BALTIMORE—" CAMP SULLIVAN," AT WASHINGTON— THE TRAGEDY OF CORPORAL CALEF— THE SECOND ATTACHED TO BURN- SIDE'S BRIGADE. i CHAPTER II. July ib to 22, i8bi— THE FIRST BULL RUN CAMPAIGN— ADVANCE INTO VIRGINIA— CAPTAIN EPHRAIM WESTON— IN CAMP NEAR CENTRE- VILLE— ADVANCE TO BULL RUN— A FEMALE PROPHET— SECOND FIRES ON A GEORGIA REGIMENT— CHARLES TABER'S EXPERIENCE— IMBO- DEN'S REBEL BATTERY — COLONEL MARSTON WOUNDED— UNION REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE— MCDOWELL ANNOUNCES A (VICTORY— BATTLE RENEWED— THE SECOND ON THE HENRY HILL— INCIDENTS OF THE RETREAT— JOHN L. RICE— THE AFFAIR AT CUB RUN— AMPU TATION OF ISAAC W. DERBY'S ARM— REPORT OF LIEUT. COL. FISKE. ig CHAPTER III. July 23, iSbi, to April 10, iSb2— HOOKER'S BRIGADE ORGANIZED AT BLAD- ENSBURG— MARCH TO THE LOWER POTOMAC— SECOND IN CAMP AT HILLTOP— A YOUNG MARYLANDER TAUGHT A LESSON— STAKING OFF THE GUARD LINE— WINTER CAMP AT BUDD'S FERRY— INCIDENTS OF THE REBEL BLOCKADE— GEN. NAGLEE IN COMMAND OF BRIGADE— MARSTON'S FAMOUS DUNGEON— MARSTON BEATS GEN. MCCEELLAN'S ORDNANCE OFFICER— THE REBELS EVACUATE THEIR POSITIONS- MURDER OF LUTHER W. FASSETT BY REBEL SCOUTS— HOOKER'S DIVISION EMBARK FOR THE PENINSULA— THE SECOND REGIMENT STORM-BOUND AT POINT LOOKOUT. 42 CHAPTER IV. April 11 to May 4, l8b2.— THE SECOND ARRIVES AT FORT MONROE— A SIGHT AT THE "MONITOR" AND " MERRIMACK"— DISEMBARKS AT CHEESE- MAN'S CREEK— THE SEIGE OF YORKTOWN— PROF. LOWE'S BALLOON —FATIGUE DUTY IN THE TRENCHES— ROAD BUILDING UNDER DIF FICULTIES—GEN. GROVER RELIEVES NAGLEE— REBELS EVACUATE YORKTOWN— THE PURSUIT TOWARD WILLIAMSBURG. 56 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. . May s, i8b2— THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG— GROVER'S BRIGADE OPENS THE FIGHT— THE SECOND IN FRONT OF FORT MAGRUDER— A CON TEST OF SHARPSHOOTERS— THOMPSON'S DEAD SHOT— FT. MAGRUDER SILENCED— THE SECOND AND THIRD BRIGADES OVERWHELMED— THE SECOND REGIMENT DEPLOYED AS SKIRMISHERS— A SAVAGE BUSH-FIGHT— LITTLE DICKEY'S PRISONER— DAVE. STEELE'S CHARGE — " YOUR OWN ADAMS "—A DESPERATE CRISIS— HEINTZELMAN AT A WHITE HEAT— KEARNEY'S ARRIVAL— THE FINAL RUSH— COLONEL MARSTON'S REPORT. 6S CHAPTER VI. May b to June 2b, l8bz.— ADVANCE UP THE PENINSULA— ACROSS THE CHICK- AHOMINY— IMPROVISED TORCHLIGHT PARADE^GROVER'S BRIGADE AT POPLAR HILL— THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS— HOOKER'S POSITION AT FAIR OAKS— A LIVELY PICKET FIGHT— SIMMONS' REBEL FRIEND —THE BATTLE OF OAK GROVE— DESPERATE VALOR OF COMPANY B -HARRIET DAME'S GRIEF— SHARPSHOOTING INCIDENTS— A TERRIFIC "GOOD NIGHT"— A CROWD OF SKULKERS— COL. MARSTONS OFFICIAL REPORT OF BATTLE OF OAK GROVE. 83 CHAPTER VII. June 27 to August 22, i8b2.— THE "CHANGE OF BASE"— BATTLE OF PEACH ORCHARD, OR ALLEN'S FARM— WITHDRAWAL ACROSS WHITE OAK SWAMP— THE SECOND LOSES THE ROAD— BATTLE OF GLENDALE— THE ATTACK ON MCCALL— SECOND REGIMENT DETACHED TO SUP PORT DE RUSSY'S BATTERY— IT REJOINS THE BRIGADE— GROVER REPULSES AN ATTACK, AND ADVANCES— EXPLOSIVE BULLETS FIRED BY THE REBELS— A COLONEL WHO HAD HEARD OF THE SECOND— A NIGHT OF HORRORS— BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL— COL. MARS- TON'S CONFIDENCE— AT HARRISON'S LANDING— MARSTON'S TILT WITH GROVER— HOOKER'S RECONNOISSANCE TO MALVERN HILL— THE PENINSULA EVACUATED— COL. MARSTON'S OFFICIAL REPORT OF BATTLE OF GLENDALE. 102 CHAPTER VIII. August 23 to September 3, i8b2— HOOKER'S DIVISION ARRIVES AT WARREN- TON JUNCTION— STONEWALL JACKSON IN THE REAR— THE BATTLE OF KETTLE RUN— A BATTERY THE SECOND DID NOT SUPPORT— EWELL RETREATS TO MANASSAS JUNCTION— THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN— CHARGE OF GROVER'S BRIGADE— INCIDENTS OF A HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE— THE LOSSES OF THE SECOND— WHAT THE OFFICIAL REPORTS SAY— ANOTHER DAY OF FIGHTING— RE TREAT TO CENTREVILLE— BATTLE OF CHANTILLY— THE RETREAT CONTINUED TO ALEXANDRIA. - 123 CHAPTER IX. September 4, l8b2, to February 25, /_$_.— ON DUTY IN THE DEFENCES OF WASHINGTON— THE DIVISION AGAIN MARCHES TO THE FRONT— THE TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix SECOND ON CENTREVILLE HEIGHTS— REJOINS THE ARMY BEFORE FREDERICKSBURG— BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG— THE SECOND AS GUARD FOR PONTOON BRIDGES— A DAY OF SKIRMISHING— DAVE. STEELE ON SNAKES— SERGEANT VICKERY PAYS FOR HIS FUN— INCI DENTS OF A TRUCE— ARMY RETIRES ACROSS THE RAPPAHANNOCK —THE "MUD MARCH"— RECONNOISSANCE TO UNITED STATES FORD. 141 CHAPTER X. February 2b to July I, /S6j.— SECOND REGIMENT ORDERED TO NEW HAMP SHIRE— "SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 13"— THE JOURNEY HOME— OVATIONS IN BOSTON AND MANCHESTER— GALA DAY RECEPTION IN CONCORD —THE SEVENTEENTH INCORPORATED WITH THE SECOND— RETURN TO WASHINGTON— IN CAMP ON EAST CAPITOL HILL— REJOINS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC— A NIGHT STAMPEDE— THE TOW PATH MARCH- DIARY ACCOUNT OF MARCH TO GETTYSBURG. - 152 CHAPTER XL July 2 to July 4, i8b3.— BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG- NIGHT MARCH FROM EMMITSBURG— SECOND REGIMENT REPORTS TO GEN. GRAHAM— IN SUPPORT OF AMES' BATTERY— HORRIBLE DEATH OF CORPORAL BIGNALL— JOHN A. BARKER'S EXPERIENCE— THE MURDEROUS FIGHT AT SHERFEY'S PEACH ORCHARD— ADVANCE OF MCLAW'S DIVISION- COUNTER CHARGE BY THE SECOND REGIMENT— THE REGIMENT'S SURPASSING DISCIPLINE— IT CHANGES FRONT, FIGHTING AND RE TREATING—ITS LAST STAND, AS TOLD BY COLONEL BAILEY- RECAPITULATION OF REGIMENTAL LOSS— RESCUE OF WOUNDED— CO. B'S FIGHT AT THE WENTZ HOUSE, AS TOLD BY PRIVATE HOLDEN —COL. BAILEY'S OFFICIAL REPORT, 166 CHAPTER XII. July s to July 30, l8b3.— PURSUIT OF LEE— A CAMP RIOT— BATTLE OF WAP- PING HEIGHTS— ADVANCE TO FRONT ROYAL— SECOND REGIMENT ARRIVES AT WARRENTON— DETACHED FOR SERVICE UNDER GEN. MARSTON— PROCEEDS TO WASHINGTON— THENCE TO PT. LOOKOUT, MD. 1,.,,., CHAPTER XIII. July 31, i8b3, to April 7, _m*.— POINT LOOKOUT— [DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR ESTABLISHED— THE PRISON CAMP AND DISCIPLINE— PLANS AND EFFORTS TO ESCAPE— SECOND REGIMENT FILLED UP WITH " BOUNTY JUMPERS "—A CITY OF REFUGE FOR CONTRABANDS— RAID INTO THE NORTHERN NECK— THE SECOND JOINS THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. igg CHAPTER XIV. April 8 to May 28, i8b4.— BUTLER'S CAMPAIGN ONJTHE JAMES— EXECUTION OF DESERTERS— THE ARMY OF THE JAMES LANDS AT BERMUDA HUNDRED AND CITY POINT— DESTRUCTION OF REBEL RAILROAD COMMUNICATIONS— BATTLE OF SWIFT CREEK— ADVANCE ON FORT DARLING— BATTLE OF DREWRY'S BLUFF— A WIRE MAN-TRAP— THE x TABLE OF CONTENTS. "FOG FIGHT"— SORTIE BY LIEUTS. SAUNDERS AND LEES— DEATH OF CAPTAIN PLATT— ARMY RETIRES TO BERMUDA HUNDRED— EIGHT EENTH CORPS SENT TO REINFORCE GRANT - 214 CHAPTER XV. May a? to June 8, /^.—EIGHTEENTH CORPS JOINS ARMY OF THE POTO MAC—BATTLE OF|COLD HARBOR— LAST FIGHT OF THE "OLD SECOND" —THE DISASTROUS CHARGE ON THE ENEMY'S WORKS— TIN PLATES FOR INTRENCHING TOOLS— DEATH OF CAPTAINS GORDON, SMITH, AND HAYWARD— "OLD LAPSTONE" ESTABLISHES HIS REPUTATION —THE OLD MEN RETURN TO NEW HAMPSHIRE— MUSTERED OUT AT CONCORD— STATISTICS OF ORIGINAL SURVIVORS. - 231 CHAPTER XVI. June q, l8b4, to March 2, i8bs.—" THE NEW SECOND "—REORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT— RETURN TO BERMUDA HUNDRED— RECONNOIS SANCE TO PORT WALTHAL JUNCTION— ASSIGNED TO MARSON'S "SEPARATE BRIGADE"— PATTERSON'S EXPEDITION TO HOG NECK- REGIMENT REJOINS EIGHTEENTH CORPS IN THE BESEIGING LINES— RECONNOISSANCE ON WILLIAMSBURG ROAD— IN WINTER QUARTERS. 245 CHAPTER XVII. March 3 to December 2J, _56_ .— THEiBRIGADF. ASSIGNED FOR SECRET SERV ICE—EXPEDITION UP THE RAPPAHANNOCK— RAID THROUGH THE NORTHERN NECK— MEETS SHERIDAN'S CAVALRY AT WHITE HOUSE —MARCHES WITH SHERIDAN TO REJOIN THE ARMY— THE CLOSING SCENES— THE SECOND ENTERS RICHMOND — SUBSEQUENT ASSIGN MENTS TO PROVOST0 DUTY— THE FINAL MUSTER OUT AND RETURN TO NEW HAMPSHIRE. - - 259 CHAPTER XVIII. GILMAN MARSTON. - 270 CHAPTER XIX. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: FRANCIS S. FISKE; EDWARD L. BAILEY; JOAB N. PATTERSON; SIMON G. GRIFFIN; HENRY E.PARKER; HARRIET P. DAME. - . a8+ CHAPTER XX. THE GETTYSBURG MONUMENT. - - 3o3 CHAPTER XXI. REGIMENTAL REUNIONS; FIRST REUNION AT MANCHESTER; THE OLD "-HOOKER BRIGADE" AT DEDICATION OF BOSTON SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT; HEADQUARTERS AT WEIRS. . 3^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XXII. SOME RHYMES OF THE SECOND; " OUR FAMOUS QUARTETTE; " "THE CHARGE OF THE SECOND;" "A SONG FOR THE SECOND;" "HAR RIET DAME AND STONEWALL," - 327 APPENDIX. FAREWELL ORDER TO SEVENTEENTH N. H. V. ; GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 19, CAMP CONSTITUTION; TESTIMONIAL TO CHAPLAIN ADAMS; LEGISLATIVE THANKS TO GEN. MARSTON; "THE CHICKAHOMINY;" COMPLETE LIST OF OFFICERS; SUMMARY; KILLED AND MORTALLY WOUNDED; PLACE OF BIRTH. - 337 PART II. COMPLETE ROSTER OF THE SECOND REGIMENT. 1 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Fort Constitution, 2 The Old Ropewalk Barracks, Portsmouth, 5 Hospital of the Second Regiment, Portsmouth, 10 Camp Sullivan, Washington, D. C, 16 Hospital Steward's Shanty, Camp Sullivan, 17 Hospital Steward's Quarters, Bladensburg, 43 Quarters of Second Regiment Butcher, Budd's Ferry, 46 Guard House of Second Regiment, Budd's Ferry, 52 Howe's Sawmill, near Yorktown, 58 The Fatal Bullet, 7 7 The Surgeon and his Assistants (groups), - 84, 85 Gen. Hooker's Position at Fair Oaks, 90 A Wounded " Coffee Cooler," 147 In Company G Street, Budd's Ferry (group), 156 Star Spangled Banner Masonic Lodge, Point Lookout, 208 ~Field Hospital at Point of Rocks, 240 Marston's Monument, 283 Second Regiment Monument at Gettysburg, 304 Second Regiment Headquarters at Weirs, 324 The Flags of the Second, - 333 Map of Battlefield of Bull Run, 2 7 Williamsburg, 69 Glendale, 108 The Peach Orchard, Gettysburg, 177 PORTRAITS. Page. Page. Adams, Enoch G., 75 Adams, Orren S., 51 Adams, John W., 244, 262 Adley, Lorenzo P., 161 Adams, Nathaniel W., 219 Aldrich, Lyman M., 203 ILL USTRA TIONS. xin Bailey, Edward L., Barker, John A., Barker, Thomas E., Page, 286 173 23 Barker, Tileston A., 3 Baxter, Albert F., 217 Bean, Darius K., 194 Bean, Edward D., 263 Blake, James W., ¦84 Bowman, Henry A., Brackett, Clarence A., 3M 162 Bresnehan, James, Brock, Orrin, 309 219 Brooks, Daniel S., 29 Brown, Wilber F., 172 Burbank, Daniel E., 32 Burrell, John H., Carr, James W., 116 229 Chandler, John, Chase, George F., Chase, John, Cilley, George W., Clifford, William, S3 22 181 269 251 Clifton, Henry F., Clements, George F., Coburn, George C, Coffin, William D., 45 178 192 125 Colburn, David W., 175 Cole, John H., Collister, Charles 0., 115 129 Converse, Levi N., 266 Cook, James A., 15 Cooper, John D., Dame, Harriet P., 267 89, 299 Damon, George H., Danforth, Charles H., 99 228 Danforth, Johnson N., Dascomb, Edmund, 138 170 Page. Davis, David O., 120 Davis, George G., 80 Derby, Isaac W., 38 Dewey, Jesse E., 106 Dickey, David G., 49 Dickey, Lyman A., 133 Dillon, Michael A., 127 Drown, Leonard, 77 Durgin, Abner F., 246 Eaton, John, 219 Emerson, George C, 66 Emerson, John A., 242 Everett, Henry H., 210, 211 Farnsworth, Albert J., 156 Farr, Evarts W., 68 Felt, James W., 249 Fisk, John B., 193 Fiske, Francis S., facing 33 Fletcher, Frank A., 230 Forbush, Abbott A., 158 Forristall, Jonas, 142 Foster, Charles E., 252 Gerrish, Hiram F., 212, 213 Glazier, Van Buren, 206 Godfrey, John S., 148 Goodwin, Aaron, 167 Goodwin, Ezra C, 239 Gordon, George W., 237 Gould, Daniel W., 156, 241 Gould, Gilman T., 156 Griffin, Simon G., facing 289 Hall, Albert L., 31 Hannaford, Abial A., 258 Hannaford, Alonzo M., 202 Hanson, Albert J., 254 Hartshorn, John A., 74 Hayes, Charles H., 165 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Page. Haynes, Alba C, 264 Marston, Gilman, Fn mtispiece Haynes, John, 39 Mclntire, Charles E., 207 Haynes, Martin A., 328, 329 McManus, Michael, 220 Haynes, Wells C, 28 Merrill, Jonathan, 183 Hayward, Allen B., 232 Merrow, James M., 151 Hayward, Henry, 235 Metcalf, Henry N., 180 Hayward, William A., 137 Miles, George, 97 Henaghan, Patrick H., 98 Milton, Charles A., 84, 85 Holden, Wyman W., 186 Minor, Michael C, 218 Holt, Charles F., 146 Mitchell, Edward I., 143 Holt, Harvey, 25 Montgomery, William, 160 House, James M., 191 Moore, Henry, 24 Howe, Frank E., ' 92 Moore, John C. W., 84 Hubbard, George H., 84,85 Moore, John J., 156, 216 Hubbard, Joseph A., 182 Morgan, Frank W., 255 Hubbard, Luther P., 63 Morgan, George W., 14 Hunt, Israel T., 13, 84 Morgrage, William 0., 130 Hurd, Warren H., no Morrill, William H., 7i Janvrin, Joseph E., 8,8S Mussey, John B., 128 Jaquith, Dana S., 198 Newell, Daniel W., 225 Jones, Burleigh K., 95 Oliver, Samuel H., 224 Jones, Henry L., 257 Parker, Henry E., 293 Kenney, John, 85, M4 Patch, Charles W., 174 Kuse, Nathan E., 169 Patterson, Joab N., facing 257 Lamprey, Horace A., 94 Pearl, Ichabod, 87 Lane, Nathaniel F., 72 Peaslee, Charles E., 78 Lang, Charles A., 37 Pendergast, George P., 320 Lang, Thomas M., 204 Perkins, Albert M., 184 Lawrence, Centre H., 57 Perkins, Francis W., 163 Leaver, Thomas B., 96 Philbrick, William K., 269 Lees, Thomas, 3J7 Pickup, George W., 221 Littlefield, Joshua F., 134 Pingree, George E., 86 Lowd, Sedley A., 195 Piper, Thomas W., 250 Lyle, Alexander, 73, 156 Piper, William H., 2.3 Mace, John H., 79 Plaisted, Charles E., 261 Marden, Mary A., 84 Piatt, James H., 227 Marshall, Thomas E., 256 Porter, Solon F., 47 ILLUSTRATIONS. Pressler, Christian, Page 243 Putnam, Charles E., 76 Rahn, William J., 85 Ramsdell, William H., 7 Read, Joseph B., Reagan, John, Rice, John L., Richardson, Hugh R., 205 156 35 215 Robbins, Leonard E., 269 Robinson, Frank 0., 132 Rogers. Sylvester, Rollins, Hiram, 275 34 Rugg, Andrew J., Saunders, James E., 121 156, 260 Sawtelle, William W., 44 Sawyer, Adoniram J., Shedd, Herman, 159 93 Shute, Charles H., 222 Sides, George E., Sides, John S., Sides, William 0., 201 1 1 2 54 Sleeper, Levi H., Smiley, Charles H., Smith, Alvin R., 60 131 164 Smith. Horace 0., 48 Smith, Moses L. F., 234 Smith, William H., 236 Snow, Thomas, 119 Soesman, Flavius A., 233 Spaulding, Milan D., 248 Stark, William G., Starkey, Elmer J., Steele, David, Stevens, George, Stevens, John O., Stevens, Josiah, jr., Stone, Albert G., Stone, John P., Stone, William P., Sullivan, John, jr., Summers, William, Taft, Edward N., Taft, Josiah O., Tash, Edwin S., Thompson, Ai B., Titus, Herbert B., Vickery, Charles, Walker, Richard A., Warren, Charles H., Wasley, Frank C, Weston, Ephraim, Whicher, John H., Whitfield, Smith A., Whitney, George G., Wilkins, William W., Wood, William W., Woodman, Alfred, Woods, John L., Young, Harrison De. 85, 247 156149 253 168 104 126 171281 21, 84 265inH3 6 1 1 238179 70 62 268 20 226278 59 84 200 61 114155 F., SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT. CHAPTER I. APRIL, I 86 I, TO JULY I 5, I 86 I. EARLY REQUISITIONS FOR TROOPS SECOND REGIMENT ORGANIZED FOR THREE MONTHS' SERVICE RE ORGANIZED AS THREE YEARS REGIMENT "CAMP CONSTITUTION," AT PORTSMOUTH OFF FOR THE WAR OVATIONS IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF LIEUTENANT WALKER THE MARCH THROUGH BALTIMORE ''CAMP SULLIVAN," AT WASHINGTON THE TRAGEDY OF CORPORAL CALEF THE SECOND ATTACHED TO BURN- SIDE'S BRIGADE. T ^HE Second Regiment New Hampshire Vol unteer Infantry was originally organized as a three months regiment, and many of its members were among the first in the state to enlist in April, 1861, under President Lin coln's requisition upon the Governors of the states for seventy-five thousand militia for three months' service. The quota of New Hampshire under this call was one regiment of seven hundred and eighty officers and men. The militia organization of the state had, in long years of peace, false economy, and careless security, been permitted to degenerate to such a degree that the Governor (to use his own words,) could not, by a military order, fulfill the constitutional obligations of. the state. He accordingly called for voluntary enlistments to fill the state's quota. But if New Hampshire had no organized militia — as fortunately had some of her sister states — with which to respond immediately to the President's call, she shared fully in the spirit of the grand uprising with which the North rallied for the defence of the Union. 2 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Volunteers were enrolled with such rapidity that but a few days after the issuance of enlistment papers more than the required number were in camp at Concord, with men still pouring in, singly, in squads, and by companies. The first requisition had been followed by an intimation from the War Department that another regiment might soon be required, and it was accordingly decided by the state authorities to raise and equip a second regiment from the material so freely offered. The surplus remaining in Concord after the organization of the First Fort Constitution. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from Wartime Sketch. Regiment was sent to Portsmouth as a nucleus for the Second. Brig. -Gen. George Stark, of Nashua, was ordered to Portsmouth to take charge of the men and the preliminary organization, and estab lished his headquarters there April 30. By the 10th of May there were nine hundred and seyenty-nine men in camp. They were quartered in an old ropewalk near the "south mill-pond," which, after a little interior rearrangement, made excellent temporary bar racks. The post was named " Camp Constitution." Thomas P. Pierce, of Manchester, who had seen service in Mexico as a lieuten ant in the New England regiment, was appointed colonel, Francis S. Fiske, of Keene, lieutenant-colonel, and Josiah Stevens, Jr., of ENLISTMENT. Concord, major, and entered upon their duties in organizing and drilling the regiment. Before the organization of the regiment was completed, Gov. Goodwin was informed by the War Department that only one regiment of three months troops would be required from New Hampshire ; but he was directed to enlist and make ready for service one regiment of ten hundred and forty-six officers and men to serve for a term of three years — that being the quota of New Hampshire under the President's call of May 3 for forty-two thousand " volun teers." A general order was issued May 19, by direction of the Governor, in which the three months men then assembled at Camp Consti tution were given the first opportunity to enlist under the new call. Enlistment papers were distributed on the 21st, and four hundred and ninety-six men at once re-enlisted for three years. There were twelve companies in camp, from as many re cruiting stations, each with a provisional organization, which were accredited with re-enlistments as follows — the letters in brackets, as also in succeeding table, indicating the companies they formed, or in which they were incorporated substantially as a body, in the regimental organization. Those not thus designated were broken up and distributed among the other companies : Capt. Tileston A, Barker, Co. A. The senior Captain of the Second. Had been prominent in public affairs for a quarter of a centu ry prior to the war. Though 54 years of age, he recruited a company for the Second and led it in all its battles until September, 1862, when he re signed to accept commission as Lieut. -Col. 14th N. H., with which he served until the close of the war. He died in Keene Dec. 7, 1879, anc* was buried with Masonic honors in Westmoreland, the town of his birth. 4 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. From Claremont company, 53 [f] Lancaster company, 44 Conway company, 20 Milford company, 21 [a] Keene, two companies, 90 [f] Laconia company, 37 [g] Littleton company, 34 [k] Portsmouth company, 70 [1] Manchester, two companies, 71 [e] Concord company, 56 496 The men who re-enlisted were given short furloughs to enable them to make arrangements for such absence as their new engage ment involved. The remainder were sifted by the surgeons, some being discharged for disability ; while of the sound men, thirty- eight were returned to the military camp at Concord, and two hundred and seventy-four sent to Fort Constitution, which had been put in condition for the defence of Portsmouth harbor against anticipated inroads by rebel privateers. Orders were sent to differ ent recruiting stations to enlist men to fill up the regiment, and between May 26 and 30 the following reported to Gen. Stark : [d] Dover Volunteers, Capt Rollins, 99 [e] Exeter Volunteers, Capt. Smith, 58 Hampton Volunteers, Capt. Dunbar, 42 [c] Rifle Rangers, Manchester, Capt. Carr, 100 [b] Goodwin Rifles, Concord, Capt. Griffin, 90 [h] Contoocook Volunteers, Capt. Patterson, 72 Canaan Volunteers, Capt. Smith, 14 [g] Peterboro Volunteers, Capt. Weston, 50 525 There were now in camp 102 1 men. But the Hampton Volun teers, or Winnacunnet Guards, were not mustered in the Second. They were assigned to Fort Constitution as a permanent garrison, The picture of the Old Ropewalk, on opposite page, gives a rear view, the artist probably selecting the most picturesque point. The tree in the background, on a hill, was in the field where the companies drilled. sjM /N ^J i /ii ! I \ / i H,i i - f . . 1 i >*\ The Old Ropewalk Barracks, Portsmouth, Process Reproduction of Pencil Drawing by IsraeliT.LHu. LHunt. SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. and in August became a part of the Third New Hampshire Regt. When the First Regiment went to the front, May 25 th, there were left in camp at Concord two companies : the Granite State Guards, of Great Falls, Capt. Ichabod Pearl, and the company recruited by Capt. Leonard Drown. These were soon relieved by the detach ment of three months men from Portsmouth, and joined the Second, their commanders being commissioned Captains of Companies H and E, respectively. The work of organizing, officering, and making the regiment ready for the field was actively pushed. Col. Pierce resigned on the 4th of June, and Oilman Marston, of Exeter, then a member of Congress from the First District, was commissioned as colonel and at once assumed command. On the 31st of May Major Seth Eastman, U. S. A., began the work of mustering the men, commencing with Company A, and closing with Company K on the 8th of June. The 10th of June was held as the date of regimental muster, on which date, according to the tabulations of Adjt.-Gen. Ayling, 1022 men had been mus tered. Subsequent individual enlistments filled the regiment to its maximum number, probably before it left the state, but all received after that date are classi fied as "recruits." The state equipped the Second Regiment (as it also had the First) in the most thorough and comprehensive manner according to the military standard of the day, and the. completeness of its outfit attracted the admiring at tention of old army officers. E. D. Townsend, late Adjt.-Gen. U. S. Army, has the following to say in his interesting "Anecdotes of Some of the regiments came to Washington <© Corpl. Edwin S, Tash, Co, D. Dover, N. H., March 16, 1805. Edwin S. Tash, a prominent grocer of this city, com mitted suicide at his home this forenoon by- shooting himself in the head with a 38-caliber revolver. Death was instantaneous. De spondency over business troubles was the cause. Deceased was 58 years of age, was prominent in local politics, and a Grand Army man. He leaves a widow and one son. the Civil War :" EQUIPMENT. admirably equipped. There were, especially, two from New Hampshire. They had complete clothing, arms and accoutrements, and tents. Their wagons were arranged like store-rooms, with boxes for their various supplies. They had also very good bands of music." The baggage train comprised sixteen four- horse wagons of the famous Concord make, and the horses were selected with the great est care. The wagoner who drew the rein over such a rig was, in those early days, quite as much of a fellow as the company com mander. It is needless, perhaps, to add that this part of the outfit was in due time turned into the common pool of the quartermaster's department, and the Second put as to trans portation upon a level with the rest of the army. The uniforms were gray, the jaunty forage caps and "spiketail" dress coats banded with red cord. A company at a time, the men were marched over to the "old custom house," made their individual selections from the grand jumble of garments, and generally went forth with misfits of a more or less exasperating nature. Nine companies were armed with smoothbore muskets, cal. 69, carrying "buck and ball" — a most efficient weapon for close work. William Humphrey Ramsdell, Co. I, A son of William Ramsdell, long a leading citizen of Milford. Had led an adventurous life, including several years as a gold hunter in California. Went to Portsmouth as lieutenant of the Milford company, on three months' enlistment, and on the breaking-up of the company, re- enlisted as a private in Co. I. He died in Milford June 19, 1879, aged 49 years. 8 S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. The " Goodwin Rifles" (Co. B) were armed with Sharp's rifles — breechloaders — which had been provided by the subscriptions of citizens of Concord. The expense was subsequently assumed by the state, and eventually by the United States. The muskets were exchanged, soon after the first Bull Run battle, for Spring field rifled muskets. The selection of line officers for the regiment was doubtless a matter of perplexity for the Governor, as it certainly was of disappointment to some whose ambitions were not gratified. Almost every detachment of any size had come in with a nominal company organization of its own so far as commis sioned officers were concerned. These could not all be retained. Some received their discharges, while others dropped down a notch or two in the official scale. Some accepted warrants Joseph E. Janvrin, Co. K, Served nearly seventeen months on the hospital staff of the Second. Oct. 28, 1862, he was com missioned Assistant Surgeon of the Fifteenth N. H. Dr. Janvrin now resides in New York city. as non-commissioned officers or stepped into the ranks as privates ; the high average social scale and character of the men then com posing the rank and file rendering the latter alternative by no means an entirely distasteful one. The roster of commissioned officers was finally completed as follows : Colonel — Oilman Marston, of Exeter. Lieutenant- Colonel — Francis S. Fiske, of Keene. Major — Josiah Stevens, Jr., of Concord. Quartermaster — John S. Godfrey, of Hampton Falls. Surgeon — George H. Hubbard, of Manchester. Assistant-Surgeon — James M. Merrow of Rollinsford. Chaplain — Henry E. Parker, of Concord. ORIGINAL ROSTER. 9 Company A. — Captain, Tileston A. Barker, of Keene. First Lieut., Henry N. Metcalf, of Keene. Second Lieut., Herbert B. Titus, of Chesterfield. Company B. — Captain, Simon G. Griffin, of Concord. First Lieut., Charles W. Walker, of Concord. Second Lieut., Abiel W. Colby, of Concord. Company C. — Captain, James W. Carr, of Manchester. First Lieut., James H. Piatt, of Manchester. Second Lieut., Samuel O. Burnham, of Pembroke. Company D. — Captain, Hiram Rollins, of Dover. First Lieut., Samuel P. Sayles, of Dover. Second Lieut., Warren H. Parmenter, of Dover. Company E. — Captain, Leonard Drown, of Fisherville. First Lieut., William H. Smith, of Exeter. Second Lieut., Ai B. Thompson, of Concord. Company F. — Captain, Thomas Snow, of Somersworth. First Lieut., Joshua F. Littlefield, of Somersworth. Second Lieut., Harrison D. F. Young, of Lancaster. Company G. — Captain, Ephraim Weston, of Hancock. First Lieut., Evarts W. Farr, of Littleton. Second Lieut., Sylvester Rogers, of Nashua. Company H. — Captain, Ichabod Pearl, of Great Falls. First Lieut., Joab N. Patterson, of Hopkinton. Second Lieut., William H. Prescott, of Somersworth. Company I. — Captain, Edward L. Bailey, of Manchester. First Lieut., (Adjt.) Sam'l G. Langley, of Manchester. Second Lieut., Joseph A. Hubbard, of Manchester. Company K. — Captain, William O. Sides, of Portsmouth. First Lieut., Edwin R. Goodrich, of Portsmouth. Second Lieut., John S. Sides, of Portsmouth. As time passed there was a growing impatience to be sent to the front. Many of the men had enlisted in the middle of April, on an emergency call, but were still in the state. To be sure, time passed very pleasantly at Camp Constitution, with an occasional extra excitement like the ridiculous hogshead regatta on the mill- pond, or the rebellion of the "Abbott Guard" (Co. I) against the character of its rations, which resulted in the company being put io SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. under guard in its quarters, but effected the desired change in the interest of the whole regiment. Occasionally, on Sunday, an entire company would march over to the city to attend divine service. June 2d the regiment formed on the parade ground and listened to the chaplain's first camp sermon. He selected as a text, Psalms, 146 : 5 : "Happy is he that Hospital of the Second Regiment, Portsmouth. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from Sketch by Israel T. Hunt. hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." The spirit of the discourse was that all men sought after happiness, that the South had taken the wrong path to secure it, and it was the mission of the loyal North to set her right. Nor did the spiritual head of the regiment fail of the admonition to " put your trust in God and keep your powder dry." On Saturday, June 1st, the portion of the regiment then uni formed marched over to the railroad station to greet a Maine regiment on its way to Washington. The sight of the Maine boys OFF FOR THE WAR. actually headed for the front rather increased the fear that the rebellion would be put down before the Second New Hampshire could put in a blow. But on the morning of June 20, the regiment left Portsmouth on its way to Washington. It was accompanied by the then famous Manchester Band, under the leadership of Walter Dignam. Their services were paid for by subscription, and they remained with the regiment about a fortnight after its arrival in Washington. The regiment arrived in Bostou at 12 o'clock. A tremendous ovation awaited it. At the Eastern Railroad station, fourteen hundred " Sons of New Hampshire" received it, under escort of the Boston Cadets, and with Gillmore's Band, all under the mar- shalship of Colonel O. A. Brewster. The procession marched through Black- stone, Commercial, State, Court, Tremont and Winter streets, to Music Hall, where a sumptuous colla tion was spread. Along the route the streets were crowded with " spectators, who cheered the troops at every step. Haymarket Square was a literal sea of heads. Music Hall was appro priately decorated. The galleries were occupied by the Sons of New Hampshire, and the floor by the troops, and every seat in the hall was filled. Vociferous cheers were given as the different parties arrived in the hall : for Gov. Berry and suite, for ex-Gov. Lieut. Ai B. Thompson, Co. E. In August, 1861, was promoted to Captain 18th U. S. Infantry, and distinguished himself at Perrysville and Murfreesboro. Brevetted Major for gallantry, and was retired for disability from wounds. Depart ment Commander of the G. A. R. in 1888. Elected Secretary of State for New Hampshire in 1877, which position he held until his death, which occurred at Concord Sept. 12. 1890. i ? S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. Goodwin, Gov. Andrew of Massachusetts, the Cadets, and the Second. The marshal called the company to order, and after the invocation of a blessing by Rev. Dr. Quint, then of Jamaica Plains, the eating commenced, at the conclusion of which Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, a native of Rindge, was introduced as the representative of the Sons of New Hampshire. He bade the regiment a hearty welcome. He reminded them of the revolutionary renown of their state, and of the patriotic governor, John Langdon, who pledged his last cent for the cause of his country. He said that war was a terrible crime ; but that an attack upon the integrity of the Union more than justified it. The stars and stripes must be respected south as well as north of Mason and Dixon's line. He closed by eloquently reminding Col. Marston of the importance of his trust. Col. Marston responded, and said in substance that he could not find words to express his emotions of gratitude at the cordiality of the reception tendered his regiment. The scenes of this day will nerve our hearts to do all that man can do for the honor of New Hampshire, God bless her ! We have not left our happy and peaceful homes for a war of oppression or conquest of anybody. We have taken up arms to preserve the freest and best government against the most causeless rebellion ever conceived. And we will do it ! When this war commenced, some doubt was expressed whether the people of the free states, having always been engaged in the pursuits of peace, would be able to defend the Union ; but the uprising of the whole North had settled that point. Massachu setts had been the first in the contest, as she was in the revolution. Many a tearful eye witnessed the march of the gallant Sixth of this state, in Washington, through Pennsylvania Avenue, hungry and fatigued, after the scenes in Baltimore, but as gallant and unsubdued a set of men as ever upheld the honor of any country. The Second New Hampshire is composed, not of military men, but civilians ; yet if they are given work to do, I will answer for them in the language of Colonel Miller, "We'll try, sir!" Col. Marston was frequently interrupted during his remarks by the most enthusiastic cheers. The regiment left Music Hall about half-past two, and marched to the parade-ground upon the Common, where they were reviewed by Gov. Andrew and staff, Gov. Berry, and ex- Gov. Goodwin. The RECEPTION IN NEW YORK. 13 review concluded, the regiment marched to the railroad station and embarked on a train drawn by two locomotives and consisting of twenty-two passenger and two baggage cars. At Fall River they were transferred to the steamboat "Bay State," and arrived in New York about ten o'clock on the morning of the 21st. They were warmly welcomed by the Sons of New Hampshire in New York, each of whom wore an appropriate badge. H. B. Perkins delivered an eloquent welcoming speech, concluding as follows : "Soldiers of New Hampshire ! We, who were born and nurtured amid the same granite hills to which you have just bidden adieu — we, whose kindred and friends are pillowed on her rocky bosom — we are proud of you today, and feel that the spirit of Stark and Langdon still lives and animates your bosoms. Onward ! onward ! then, shall be our motto, as we know it is yours ; onward, until the demon of treason and disunion is crushed from our land (cheers), and Yankee Doodle and The Star Spangled Banner shall again thrill the hearts of a patriotic, a united, an invincible people." (Cheers.) Charles Soule followed Mr. Perkins in a brief but eloquent speech, and presented an elegant silk flag — the same under which the regiment fought many of its hardest battles. The following is a New York newspaper's report of Col. Marston's reply : "The colonel, Gilman Marston, listened to the addresses on horseback and with uncovered head. His horse had stood mean time with little or no manifestation of uneasiness, but when his rider's voice was raised in response, the animal curvetted about considerably ; the colonel, nevertheless, spoke easily, and with as Israel Thorndike Hunt, Co. D. Served three months in the Hospital De partment of the Second, when he was promoted Hospital Steward of the Fourth N. H. To his facile pencil we are indebted for several fine drawings of early camp views which but for him would not have been preserved. Dr. Hunt now resides in Boston. 14 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. much dignity as his peculiar position at the time permitted, pausing for a moment and reining up his horse in front of the committee men, as often as the impatient steed carried him beyond the formal position he had at first taken. During the delivery of his reply, he said that in behalf of the regiment and himself, he presented their united and grateful thanks for the kind welcome they had been given, and the gift of so beautiful a flag. The stars and stripes had always been a type of our Union, to uphold which they had left the comforts of home to undergo the deprivations and trials of war; but he hoped that, by the blessing of God, the Union would be maintained for transmission to other generations. He accepted the flag for the regiment, and pledged for them their devotion to it, and their determination to uphold it with all their strength." The flag was then carried to the line, the Sons of New Hamp shire formed into sections at the head of the regiment, whose band struck up a national air, when the regimental line broke into platoons, and the column moved up Broadway amid the applause and cheers of thousands of spec tators. The officers dined with the committee of arrangements at the Everett House, and the men were entertained at the Elm street armory. At half-past four p. m. the regiment departed for Washing ton, being transferred on the ferry-boat "Kill von Kull" to Elizabethport, N. J., where it took cars by the Reading line. These were box-cars, roughly fitted with seats of unplaned boards — the first reminder to the men that they need no longer expect all their journeys to be garnished with cushioned seats. And when the barrels of cooked rations were opened, and beef was distributed which certainly had George W. Morgan, Co. F. Resides at Lancaster. ON TO WASHINGTON. i5 not improved with age, some of the men were ready to believe that modern civilization was indeed a failure. During the night, while passing through New Jersey, a lamenta ble accident occurred, Lieut. Charles W. Walker, of Co. B, falling from the platform of a car and re ceiving fatal injuries. His remains were sent back to Concord, where his funeral was attended by members of the legislature and a large concourse of citizens. The regiment reached Harrisburg June 22, and at midnight arrived at Golds- borough, Pa., where the men were marched from the cars, and the order given to load muskets. A rest of an hour was here had, and at eight o'clock on the morning of the 23d the regiment was in Balti more. It was really a disap pointment to the men that they got through Baltimore without a riot. But the city was then well under control, and the Union sentiment beginning to assert itself. Still, all preparations were made to force a passage if circumstances should require. With loaded muskets, and accompanied by the Seventeenth New York and a Pennsylvania regiment, the march was taken up — the Seven teenth in the middle of the street in column of platoons, the other two regiments marching by the flank upon the sidewalks on either side. The line of march was kept clear by cordons of policemen across the head of each intersecting street, behind whom pressed a solid mass of humanity, manifestly not of a very friendly character. Quartermaster James A. Cook, Was the original Commissary-Sergeant of the Second. June 9, 1862, promoted Quartermaster. July 2, 1863, pro. Captain and Com. Sub. He re tired from the service badly broken in health, and returning to his home in Claremont, died there May 13, 1866. *** . t - if ¦ i i 1 '•? ' 1 ^ " 1 f ^ -*-,V/ 4__ :./n\V.^' ' . . § :.--"'-^-?i1' '" - 1 Sis i * | * . ' _, "'¦' " ^^^ ***** Camp Sullivan, Washington, D, C, Process Reproduction of Pencil Drawing by Israel T, Hunt, CAMP SULLIVAN. 17 About noon the regiment arrived in Washington, and in the evening marched to its designated camping ground, on Seventh street, about a mile and a half from the capitol. It was not a comfortable location, being on the southern exposure of the long ridge known as Kalorama Heights, with but little shade in the camp limits. The camp was named "Camp Sullivan," in honor of . -AMrr. t&^C^^'^z-**"' /^^.^v*'^"/jij.i^,- r~«^«Jiii2_s_A2S^_^_ii=--- -"" ,,'.v,A\Vl»fe9£ Hospital Steward's Shanty, Camp Sullivan, Drawn by J. Warren Thyng. from Sketch by Israel T. Hunt. New Hampshire's great revolutionary general. Drill and discipline became the order of the day, and the regiment rapidly improved in both. It is amusing, now, to recall the wild camp rumors and reports which were flying in the Second, as in all the green regiments. A mansion house, seen in picture above, was currently reported to be a rebel signal station, from the gable window of which lights were occasionally displayed at unseasonable hours of the night. It was In the view of Camp Sullivan, on the opposite page, the three wall tents and two A tents on the knoll in the background, under the oak trees, are the quarters of the staff. The tents just below, with the small square flags, are the hospital. The tent at the left, with flag, is the sutler's. In the background, at the right, the gable and roof of a small house show above the tents. This is outside the camp, and has no connection with it. In foreground is a rude shelter made from an old tent-fly. On two of the tents are visible evidence that some of the boys have done their washing and hung their shirts out to dry. 1 8 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. also generally believed that spies fairly swarmed about the camp, and that danger lurked behind every bush for the camp-guard marching his beat at night. This ridiculous fear was the direct cause of a tragedy, one night, when Jonathan Calef, a corporal of Company A, who had been permitted by one sentry to pass a rod or two outside the camp line, was shot through the neck by the guard on the next beat, from which he died August 14. A casualty of a less serious character was met by private Joseph B. Conner, of Company I. A stack of loaded muskets fell to the ground, and one piece was discharged, the ball passing through one of Conner's arms, inflicting a wound which necessitated his dis charge for disability. The regiment was brigaded with the First and Second Rhode Island and Seventy-first New York regiments, all under command of Col. Ambrose E. Burnside, of the First Rhode Island. Attached to the brigade was Reynolds' Rhode Island Battery — six 13-pounder rifles — and the Seventy-first had two small boat howitzers — brass. CHAPTER II. JULY l6 TO 22, l86l. THE FIRST BULL RUN CAMPAIGN ADVANCE INTO VIRGINIA CAPTAIN EPHRAIM WESTON IN CAMP NEAR CENTREVILLE ADVANCE TO BULL RUN A FEMALE PROPHET SECOND FIRES ON A GEORGIA REGIMENT CHARLES TABER'.S EXPERIENCE IMBODEN's REBEL BATTERY COL. MARSTON WOUNDED UNION REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE MCDOWELL ANNOUNCES A VICTORY BATTLE RENEWED THE SECOND ON THE HENRY HILL INCIDENTS OF THE RETREAT JOHN L. RICE THE AFFAIR AT CUB RUN AMPUTATION OF ISAAC W. DERBY'S ARM REPORT OF LIEUT.-COL. FISKE. T two o'clock on the afternoon of July 16, the regiment marched from its camp on that short campaign which ended so suddenly and disas trously at Bull Run. It had rarely shown as full ranks as on that occasion. Men who had been under the surgeon's care for weeks buckled on their armor and obstinately refused to be left behind while the death blow was given the rebellion. One of the most striking examples of the triumph of determination over bodily infirmities was exhibited by Captain Ephraim Weston, of Company G. He was suffering at the time from the disease which ended his life only a few months later ; but he started with his company, and made the campaign which was his first and his last. Many a lift he got from the mounted officers on the march out, and at night his devoted men saw to it that he had the best bed and shelter the materials at hand afforded. He conducted himself with conspicuous valor on the battlefield, and in some way got safely back to camp. The tents were left standing at Camp Sullivan, with most of the knapsacks and personal baggage, in care of the invalids. The regi ment marched with its brigade across Long Bridge, where it was cheered by the venerable James Wilson of Keene and other New Hampshire men who had assembled there, and as it stepped upon 20 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. the soil of "Old Virginny" the band struck up "Dixie" with might and main, while the soldiers made the air resound with their marching songs and cheers. But the heat and suffocating dust soon began to tell upon the men, not yet hardened for such a march, and many were obliged to fall out of the ranks and seek shade and rest. The bivouac that night was at Bailey's Cross Roads, and the march was resumed early the next morning. Evidences of the recent presence of the enemy were met, the road having been obstructed at places by felled trees, and the pio neers of the Second — a select squad of twenty men under charge of a sergeant — found plenty of exercise in clearing the way for the column. About ii o'clock word was passed down the line that rebel earthworks were ahead. Orders were at once given to load. Then the ranks were closed up, the regiment broke into column of sections, and in this formation marched rapidly forward. The long line of works were soon in sight. They were of quite formidable- character, with a number of embrasures for artillery, revetted with sand bags, each bag bearing the initials of its late owner — " C. S. A." But the rebels had departed, evidently in haste, as considerable property was picked up in the brush camps to the rear of the works, which would not have been overlooked in a leisurely evacuation. A mile beyond was the little village of Fairfax Court House, Capt. Ephraim Weston, Co, G, Was from Hancock, and the original Captain of Co. G. Died of disease Dec. g, 1861. The Grand Army Post at Antrim is named for him, and furnishes the above portrait. ADVANCE TO CENTRE VILLE. which the brigade entered in bloodless triumph, but with a clearly defined impression that a serious blow had been dealt the rebellion. Arms were stacked in the streets and upon the village rj5 green, and a rebel flag which had been left floating from the cupola of the court house was gathered in by one of the Second Rhode Island, the regimental flag of the Second New Hamp shire taking its place. The soldiers scattered through the village and the aban doned camps, and of some of the looting done, the least said, the better. The richest find was a rebel mail bag which missed connec tions, and the contents of which were as good as a circulating library. Early Thursday morning, the 1 8 th, the march was resumed. The troops in advance seemed to be feel ing their way slowly and cautiously, as there were frequent and sometimes long halts. One of these was near Germantown, once a thriving hamlet of three or four houses and a blacksmith shop. These had all been burned but one house, in which the rebels had left two of their men sick with the measles. Many of the men ran over to get a view of this brace of real live rebels. It was agreed that if they were a fair sample of the Confederate soldiers the war would not last long. They were not a fair sample. The woods in the vicinity were swarming with swine, and the men added a good supply of fresh pork to their rations. It was on the afternoon of this day that the first serious John Sullivan, Jr., Co. E, A great-grandson and namesake of New Hamp shire's revolutionary general. Sept. 30, 1861, he was appointed Medical Cadet, U. S. A., serving over_ a year with the western armies. Was then commis sioned Assistant Surgeon of the Thirteenth N. H., with which he remained two years, more than half of the time as Acting Surgeon. Resigning his commis sion, he was appointed Executive Officer of the U. S. General Hospital at Troy, N. Y., then in charge of Surgeon Hubbard, formerly of the Second. Dr. Sul livan now resides in Boston. SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. encounter was had with the rebels, at Blackburn's Ford, and men a little out of the noise and confusion of the marching column could distinctly hear the sound of the firing. Burnside's brigade went into camp before reaching Centreville — about a mile from the village — and there remained until the morning of the 21st. In this bivouac (writes Lieut. -Col. Fiske) " two of New Hampshire's most distinguished men paid us a visit, and of course we gave them our best parlor bedroom, which was the inside of a baggage wagon on the left of the regiment. In the middle of the second night here there was an alarm on the extreme left of the brigade, followed by rapid and continuous firing, which raised some commotion. Soon after the firing began I saw, through the light of the campfires, our two guests coming at a pace which showed they were not out for a mere stroll about the camp. They did not return to their luxurious bedroom, but spent the remain der of the night out of doors within our lines. At the begin ning of the disturbance the Second New Hampshire was ordered to remain quiet and not to stir without orders. For this we scored our first compliment from the general, who com mended our coolness in a night alarm. I never learned the cause of the alarm, but it was supposed to be a rather close reconnoissance by the enemy." At one o'clock on Sunday morning — that ill-fated 21st of July — the brigade was roused from its slumbers. Blankets were hastily rolled, and at two o'clock the troops were on the march. In and beyond Centre ville many regiments were passed drawn up by the roadside, but George S. Chase, Co. F, Wounded at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and discharged for disability. Was a printer by occupation, and engaged in business at Laco- nia, where he died July 10, i8g4. MORNING MARCH TO BULL RUN. 23 near the village the brigade was brought to a wearisome halt of two or three hours, by the tardy movement of the troops in front. From Centreville the Warrenton road runs almost due west, crossing Bull Run creek at the stone bridge, about five miles from Centreville. A rebel force was known to be at the bridge — the left of Beauregard's defensive line — his army being posted along the west side of Bull Run to defend its various crossings. Three and a half miles beyond Centreville, Cub Run, a considerable affluent of Bull Run, was crossed, and just beyond the bridge, Hunter's division, followed by a part of Heint- zelman's, turned sharp to the right into a narrow country road or cart-path, while Tyler's division continued along the Warrenton road to the stone bridge. Tyler was to make a demonstration at the bridge, while the other column, by a wide detour, should cross Bull Run farther up, at Sudley's Ford, and come down upon the enemy's left and rear. Burnside's brigade led the flanking column. From the start, progress had been slow — too slow for the early surprise which was an important consideration in McDowell's well laid plan. The sun was well up when Burnside's brigade turned from the Warrenton road. Its route for five miles, to Sudley's Ford, was now over a rarely used woods road, with only an occasional small clearing. In one of these was a log hovel, the mistress of which — a very dirty and frowzy personage — told the sweltering Yankees there were Confederates enough ahead to whip them all out, and Corpl, Thomas E. Barker, Co, B. Wounded at Bull Run July 21, 1861. and taken prisoner. Exchanged, and discharged on account of wounds. Subsequently commissioned Captain in the Twelfth N. H., and promoted Lieut. -Col. and Colonel. Now resides at Maiden, Mass.! 24 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. her old man was among them. Despite her disreputable appearance, it must be conceded that she had a fine military judgment. The heat was by this time intense, and the dust suffocating. Skirmishers and flankers were thrown out, and two miles or more had been covered when, away to the left, the report of a cannon was heard. Tyler had reached the stone bridge and set about his task of amusing the enemy there. It was nine o'clock before Burnside reached Sudley's Ford. Some de lay was made here to give the men an opportunity to fill their canteens, during which Gen. McDowell, who had become impatient at the slow progress, rode up and passed to the front. Soon one of his staff came galloping back and asked for Col. Marston. "Tell him to have his men ready, for we shall soon meet the enemy in large force," he shouted, and continued on his way to other regiments. Beyond the ford the country grew more open, and the Second Rhode Island — the leading regiment — was sent forward to stir up the enemy. It broke from the column into the fields to the left, and soon disap peared beyond a point of woods. It was but a few minutes before there was heard the rattle of musketry and the reports of cannon. Words cannot picture the excitement of the men in the column, most of whom now heard for the first time the sound of hostile guns. The sergeant of the Second's pioneer squad asked what they should do with their axes and shovels. He was told to throw them Henry Moore, Co. B, Taken prisoner at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and was discharged for disability a year later. Above portrait taken at the time or his enlistment. Now resides in Goffstown. OPENING SCENES OF BULL RUN. 25 down by the roadside ; and the example of the pioneers was followed by a general dumping of the rolls of blankets with which the men were encumbered. It was, of course, intended to return for them when the little job ahead was ended ; but as the men happened to be pressed for time later in the day, they were never recovered. The Second was ordered forward as support for the Rhode Island battery, and went off up the road at a double-quick. A cannon ball came crashing through the tree tops as the regiment entered the woods. Every body bowed to it. Then came another directly in its wake. In a few minutes the Second emerged from the woods, and the opening scene of the battle was before it. The point toward which all eyes were turned was the long blue line of the Rhode Islanders some distance in advance and to the left of the road. The field was dotted with wounded men going out of the fight. It was a lively and apparently even contest. The rebel force at this time engaged was covered by woods and fringes of bushes, and consisted of thirteen companies of infantry and two pieces of artillery, with which Gen. Evans had hurried up from the stone bridge as soon as he divined McDowell's plan to come in on his left and rear. But before starting he had sent to Bee and Bartow for assistance, and the brigades of these two generals, with Imboden's battery, were already on the Henry plateau, ready to cross over to Evans' support. The Second filed from the road, to the right, and under what is Harvey Holt, Co. I, The first New Hampshire soldier killed in battle in the war. Was attached to the oorps of pioneers, which early in the action occupied a position in advance of the Rhode Island battery. A shell from one of its guns exploded prematurely, and a fragment struck Holt in the neck, killing him in stantly. He was from Lyndeborough, and the Post of the Grand Army in that town is named for him. 26 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. said to have been the erroneous order of some aide, advanced in line of battle toward the Dogan house. There were patches of forest — scrub oak and pine — upon the east side of the Sudley road, but on the west side, in front of the Second, there was open farm land clear to the edge of the opposite plateau, across the Warrenton road and the valley of Young's Branch. Near the Dogan house were stacks of hay or straw, behind which a few rebel sharpshooters had taken cover, but they did not stop long. From its most advanced position the regiment observed a body of rebel troops upon the opposite slope, and two or three volleys were fired at them by the two rifle companies — A and B. Owing to the great distance, it is probable that but little damage was done, although the troops fired on moved to cover at once. They must have been either the Seventh or Eighth Georgia, of Bartow's brigade. One of the most interesting chronicles of the Second hinges upon this little episode, which Lieut.-Col. Fiske has narrated as follows : "A year afterward, at the second battle of Bull Run, the same regiment was halted near where lay one of our wounded men, Charles Taber, of Company C. As soon as the Georgians saw the ' 2 N. H.' on his cap, they treated him with friendly solicitude, and removed him from where he was lying, exposed to dropping shot and shells, to the shelter of an embankment. They knew all about the career of our regiment, and what battles it had fought in, from the first to the second Bull Run. We were the first troops with whom they ever exchanged fire, and they manifested a very hearty good will toward us." •By this time the Rhode Island battery was getting into position just to the left of the Sudley road. The Second moved to the rear until in line with the battery, when the men were ordered to lie down. About this time Imboden's battery introduced itself to the Second. It was posted some distance below the Henry house, partially covered by a sinuosity of the ground, which from the Second's position had all the appearance of an artificial earthwork. Its first missile flew far above the Second, ending its course in the woods to the rear. Another followed, much lower. The gunners were finding the range, and about the fourth or fifth shot fell square in the prostrate ranks. But the Rhode Island battery was now GOOD BATTERY WORK. 27 about ready for business. The right gun was in position, and one of the lieutenants was sighting it. It was a magnificent shot. The shell burst, apparently, directly under one of Imboden's guns, and his men were seen scattering across the field to the rear like ants from an ant-hill. They were soon rallied, however, and came back BattltfUld of Bu.ll £uk. tSTievfing movement s a.nd ajJproXi«*&i"e joosi- to their work. Imboden does not mention this little incident in his rather self-laudatory official report, and the present writer takes great pleasure in supplying the omission. Meantime the Second Rhode Island was bearing the brunt of the battle, fighting a somewhat superior force. Major Wheat, upon •2 8 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. the rebel right, was emboldened to try a charge, but was checked and driven back. The movement gave matters a decidedly lively appearance, however. The First Rhode Island, which had come up, was sent to the left to the assistance of the Second, and at this critical moment Bee and Bartow advanced to Evans' support, coming into posi tion upon his right under cover of rail fences and fringes of bushes. The Seventy-first New York was next sent to the left, and a few minutes later the Second New Hampshire was ordered in the same direction. Moving by the left flank, it passed along the rear of the battery, upon which a severe fire was concentrated, both musketry and artillery. A cannon ball took a leg from each of the two wheel horses attached to a caisson, and the agonized flounder- ings of the poor beasts were witnessed by every man in the regiment. On the way, the two left companies, by the mistake of some aide not on the brigade staff, were separated from the regiment, and it was only by the active exertions of the regimental officers that they were brought back again- — an example of the blunders to which the inexperienced officers and men were subjected. A little distance to the left of the battery the Second was ordered to halt and lie down. It was a trying situation for green troops, the rebel Are being very sharp, while the regiment could only lie and take it, on account of the Rhode Islanders in front. But it was only for a few minutes, when the order came for the regiment to move Corpl. Wells C. Haynes, Co. B. Wounded at Bull Run, and taken prisoner, July 21, 1861. Died of wounds, in the hands of the ene my, at Richmond, Va., October 8, 1861. Enlisted from Candia, and was a son of Carr B. Haynes, sometime Deputy Sheriff of Merrimack County. COLONEL MARSTON WOUNDED. 29 still farther to the right and advance. In the next ten minutes the regiment met a large part of its loss for that day. Men went down in every direction. Hardly had Col. Marston shouted "Attention !" when he fell upon his face with a rifle ball in his shoulder. When the adjutant attempted to lift him by the wounded arm, the air was. burdened with choice selec tions from the old colonel's matchless vocabulary. The crippled commander was helped to the rear, while Lieut.- Col. Fiske led the regiment forward. With the Seventy-first upon its left, it rushed to the front, and opened its store of buck and ball on the enemy. In front of the Second the rebels were well covered from view by the dense brush along a line of rail fence in the edge of the woods ; but the men aimed low and blazed away. It was now a square stand-up fight of Burnside's four regiments, in a single line of battle, against nearly six full regiments of the enemy. Col. Porter, commanding the First Brigade, says Burnside "was at this time attacking the enemy's right with, perhaps, too hasty vigor " — a very pardonable military error. But reinforcements were now arriving. Porter's brigade came up and took position on Burnside's right, west of the Sudley road.. He soon sent Sykes with his battalion of regulars — eight companies — across to Burnside's assistance. They took position on the extreme left of the brigade line, which had been overlapped and threatened by the superior rebel force, and soon the rebel fire Daniel S, Brooks, Co. A, Taken prisoner at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and died in the hands of the enemy, at Richmond, Va., October 21, 1861. Was from Fitzwilliam. 30 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. upon Burnside's front perceptibly weakened. Porter was pouring a heavy fire in upon the rebel left, and the head of Heintzelman' s division was appearing on the Sudley road. The enemy were evidently staggered by the rapidly developing force of Union troops. At this time, also, a column of troops was seen emerging from woods away to the left, in the direction of Bull Run. This was Sherman's brigade of Tyler's division, headed by the Sixty-ninth New York, which, marching up stream from the stone bridge, had found a ford and crossed over to Hunter's assistance. This apparition seemed to be the straw that broke Evans' back. At any rate, Burnside's men about this time became aware that there was but little on their front to shoot at. Sherman's regiments passed along the rear of Burnside's line to the Sudley road, down which they turned with troops of Heintzelman's division. Burnside's men heard a few scattering volleys in and beyond the woods. The rebel forces were driven in confusion across Young's Branch and the Warrenton road and up the slopes of the Henry hill. The first clash of arms was over, and if the battle had ended right there, it would have been a most decisive Union victory. In fact, McDowell seems to have considered the battle already won, as he rode down Burnside's front, telling the enthusiastic, cheering men they had won a great victory. While the rest of Burnside's brigade was now withdrawn into the woods to the rear for the purpose of supplying those regiments with ammunition, the Second remained in position. It was not long before the men began to think that, considering the battle was over, there was a great deal of trouble on the opposite hill. As a matter of fact, the most desperate struggle of the day was taking place there, and some of the fighting, including the charge of the Black Horse Cavalry, was in plain view from the Second's position. Eben Gordon, of the Second Rhode Island, relates the following experience in his diary, recently published : " I then went back to the field, and found that the enemy had been driven entirely from the woods, and saw the Second New Hampshire formed in line of battle by the fence just outside the cornfield. I came across Lieut. Samuel P. Sayles, of Dover, N. H., with whom I shook hands, and then asked him where my regiment was. . He said they were TO THE HENRY HILL. 31 Portsmouth, June, iSbi. Newport, June, l8oj. Albert L, Hall, Co, I. Entered the service from Cornish. Was one of the men who carried John L. Rice to the rear, and as a result became a prisoner himself. Resides in Newport, and is Register of Probate for Sullivan County. ordered off to rest, so I remained by his side for half an hour and did what I could. While I was with the New Hampshire boys, the New York Fire Zouaves were charged by the Black Horse Cavalry, and Lieutenant Sayles looked at me and very coolly said, " Eb., you had better find your regiment, for our whole brigade will now have to charge and support the Zouaves." About three o'clock the Second was ordered forward to the Henry hill, Burnside says, in his report, " to assist one of Colonel Heintzelman's brigades, at that time three-quarters of a mile distant and driving the enemy before them." Col. Marston, having had his wounded arm bound up, came at this moment to the regiment, an orderly leading his horse. The pain he endured was plain to every man, and the regiment greeted him with tumultuous cheers. " Now," he said, "the New Hampshire Second will have a chance to show what it is made of." He accompanied the regiment until repeated entreaties not to take the risk of aggravating his wound induced him to return ; but he left the inspiration of his presence with the men. 32 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. The regiment filed into the Sudley road and marched clown into the valley, meeting many stragglers headed for the rear. It crossed the Warrenton road, splashed through Young's Branch, and was at the foot of the Henry hill. Here it came under a very sharp fire from rebel artillery, which struck down a number of men. Here Henry Morse, of Company I, was killed. A grape-shot struck him square in the neck. " My God ! " he gasped, and fell dead in the road. Here William H. Quimby, Lewis N. Relation and Franklin F. Wetherbee, all of Company C, were mowed down by one cannon ball. Quimby was killed outright, and the others died of their wounds, Wetherbee as a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. The regiment was halted for a considerable time, getting such shelter as it could under the slope, while an effort was made to find out where it was wanted and what was wanted of it. Col. Heintzelman could not be found, and no Union troops could be seen in action. The fight for the Henry hill was, in fact, already over, and there was nothing for the Second to do but to amuse the enemy while the beaten troops were retreating. But, after a while, Col. Burnside appeared. He rode fearlessly up the hill a little distance to the east of the road, took a good observation of the front, then dashed back to the Second and gave it its direction. The Henry hilljj falls not only toward the north, but on the west is gouged by the valley of a little rivulet known as Chinn's Branch, which runs north, parallel with the Daniel E. Burbank, Co. A, Burbank writes from his home in Worcester, Mass.: " The picture is a copy of one I had taken a few days after I enlisted in '6r. It looks very little like the gray-haired man of 53 that I now am, but my hear! is young, and there is a tender spot in it for the old boys of the Second. But be sure not to show this picture to a costumer until after you have made a sale." FRANCIS S. FISKE. Lt. Colonel 2nd N. H. Vols., 1861. Brevet Brigadier General, 1865, LAST STAND ON THE HENRY HILL. 33 Sudley road, into Young's Branch. The regiment filed to the right, and advanced up this little run, but far enough down to be covered from the rebel artillery. Arriving at a point in front of the Henry house, the regiment fronted and marched up the slope, toward the Sudley road, in line of battle. When the rebel fire began to tell, the men were ordered to lie down and fire at anything they could see to shoot at. While the Second lay in this position, the battalion of regulars was observed upon the Chinn hill, directly to the rear of the Second, across the little run or valley ; its front being at nearly a right angle with that of the Second. Their presence is thus explained by McDowell in his report : " The battalion of regular infantry alone moved up the hill opposite to the one with the house, and there maintained itself until our men could get down to and across the Warrenton turnpike on the way back to the position we occupied in the morning." While the Second was keeping up its fusilade, the regulars fired four or five solid, methodical, regulation volleys into the woods on their front, and then withdrew towards the Warrenton road. But the Second (which was meeting but few casualties) hung on several minutes longer, when it also received orders to retire. It was the last regiment to present a fighting front to the enemy on that blood-soaked hill, and it retired in perfect order and without haste over nearly the same route by which it had advanced. Its withdrawal, however, was marked by a little episode which made fun for the boys and added spice to the occasion. It is not certain that the movement was made under competent orders ; but the two left companies (B and I) went forward when the other eight companies started for the rear, taking cover in a depression of the Sudley road which served admirably as a rifle-pit. Almost in front was the riddled Henry house, around and beyond which the enemy were swarming, and excellent work was done on them during the little time the two companies could hold the position. But they were soon smoked out of their hole. Bullets began to whistle down the road from the right, and a rebel line was seen crossing in that direction, delivering a rapid file fire as they passed. "Boys," said Lieut. Joe. Hubbard, "it's time for us to go ! " and 3 34 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. go they did, every man for himself. The air was alive with bullets as they uncovered and struck a tremendous gait for the rear. When the Second, retiring from the Henry hill, reached the plateau from which it had gone forward, it found a scene of disorder, confusion and disinte gration. The Carter and Dogan farms were covered with squads of men separated from their commands and evidently gone to pieces so far as organization was concerned. The regiment halted near the spot where the Second Rhode Island opened the fight, and where the men of B and I, coming up from the valley, saw their colors and rejoined them. By this time a rebel brigade (Early's) was slowly advancing down the Henry hill, in several lines, their flags waving and bayonets glistening in the sunlight. One of the Union batteries did get into position long enough to pitch a few well-directed shells into the advancing ranks ; then limbered up and went to the rear. A short distance to the left and rear of the Second a battalion of regular cavalry sat their horses, and these two bodies were the only Union troops in the whole range of view that still held their organization. The cavalry at length faced to the right and moved off toward Sudley's Ford, and directly afterwards the Second followed their example. Not until the regiment entered the road did the men really catch the spirit of the hour or fully realize that the Union army was beaten. Everything was converging into and crowding that narrow highway — wagons, artillery, and panic-stricken men. In such a torrent it was impossible to hold any organization Capt, Hiram Rollins, Co, D. Severely wounded in the shoulder, at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps with rank as in the Second. He was promoted to Major and Brevet Lieut. -Col. Died at Washington, D. C, August 20, 1868. STORY OF JOHN L. RICE. 35 together; and crowded, broken, overrun, the Second was soon scattered and mixed in the general confusion. The most pitiful feature was the wounded men lying by the roadside, who begged not to be left to the tender mercies of the rebels. There was conveyance, however, for but very few of the severely wounded, and most of them were left behind and became prisoners. Some of the men, on their return to the regiment, months later, had interesting experiences to relate. Some, at first reported killed, turned up later as exchanged prisoners of war. Among these was John L. Rice, of Company A, whose funeral sermon was preached at his New Hampshire home, and whose friends mourned h i m as dead. His story has been told by himself, as follows : " In the final struggle for the Henry hill, just before the stampede of the Union army, I went down with a musket ball through my lungs. My comrades bore me off in the wake of our retreating forces toward Sudley Church, where our surgeons had established a hospital. In a short time, being closely pursued by the enemy, and finding that I was apparently dead, they laid me under a fence and made their escape. Some two days after the battle I recovered consciousness, but was unable to move. The blood from my wound soon putrified and attracted swarms of flies, whose larva; in a short time were wrig- John L, Rice, Co. A, Wounded and captured at Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Confined. in Libbey until Jan. "2, 1862, when exchanged and returned to duty. Nov. 18, 1862, _ discharged to accept captaincy in Sixteenth N. H. j In Oct., 1863, appointed Lieut. -Col. Third Louis- „ iana Native Guards (colored) afterwards known as 75th U. S. Colored Infantry. Commanded the regiment in Red River, campaign, and assisted Gen. Bailey in construction of Red River dam at Alexandria. Returned north in 1867, and settled in Springfield, Mass. Is in the practice of law and prominent in public affairs. Has been Rep- . resentative in the Mass. H. R. ; four years Chief of Police in Springfield; Postmaster four years; appointed Commissioner U. S. Circuit Court in i8go; also held important positions in G. A. R. 36 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. gling under my clothing and into my wound in constantly increasing numbers. In this condition I was found by Amos Benson and his wife, who lived on the opposite side of Bull Run. They were returning to their home at evening, after spending the day at Sudley Church assisting in the care of our wounded. The Confederate medical staff at that time was very poorly prepared for the emergency of a battle, especially for the care of the wounded of both armies. Had it not been for the efforts of the Bensons and the few other people living in the vicinity of the battlefield, our wounded would have had little food or attention during the first days following the battle. Benson, discovering life in me, brought an overworked surgeon from the church, who, however, turned away with the remark that he had no time to spend on so hopeless a case. Mrs. Benson meanwhile brought me food from her house, while her husband removed my clothing and scraped away the vermin that were preying upon me. They continued to feed and care for me till, at the end of ten days, I was so far revived that the surgeons were persuaded to remove me from under the fence to more comfortable quarters in a freight car at Manassas Junction, whence in a few days I was carried to Richmond and consigned to Libbey prison." Twenty-five years later, in 1886, being in Washington, Rice carried out a long cherished purpose to visit his kind benefactors. He found both still living, and it would be hard to tell whether he was more pleased to see them or they to see him. To Rice's assurance that he hoped to be able in some way to repay their kindness, they refused any recompense for themselves ; but Mrs. Benson replied: "If you want" to do that, you can help us poor people here pay for our little church yonder. It was destroyed during the war, and it cost us a severe struggle to rebuild it. We owe two hundred dollars on it yet, which in this poor country is a heavy burden." Rice promised to send her a contribution. When he reached home he related this to the editor of the Springfield Republican, who published the story with a request for contribu tions. Within two or three days $235 had been subscribed. A few evenings later the country people were assembled in that little church, and it would not be easy to picture the scene when Mr. CUB RUN BRIDGE. 37 Benson, coming from the post office at Manassas Junction, entered with Rice's letter and postal money orders for an amount more than sufficient to free their church from debt. The general belief in that retreating mob was that there would be a sharp pursuit by the rebels, and almost every man doubtless had mapped out a line of action when the Black Horse Cavalry should swoop down. It was already nearly dark when that partic ular division of the procession with which the writer was training approached the junction of the roads at Cub Run. He was but a few rods from the Warrenton road, and was congratulating himself that he now had a clear course to Centreville, when a shell came roaring down the turnpike. There was at once a wild stampede out of the line of fire. " Halt, boys, halt!" shouted Lieut. Piatt; "a hundred men can take that bat tery ! " He was just the man to have undertaken it if he could have gathered a squad ; but the panic-stricken fugitives could not be rallied. The rebels had sent this battery down the Warrenton road, from the stone bridge, to harass the retreating troops, whose utter demoralization they had, fortunately, not then fathomed. But they had builded better than they knew, as one of their shots wrecked a wagon on Cub Run bridge, which stopped everything on wheels that had not already passed. The Rhode Island battery and other guns were abandoned here, and the rebels had only to gather up their plunder. The writer reached the creek a short distance up stream from the blockaded bridge. The water looked black and deep. Scores of men were running along the bank above, looking for a place to ford. Burnside came riding down the slope. He halted a moment, then spurred his horse down the steep bank and across the creek — f i '' r~ ¦****) t /^jH \ •^"Tll • - *___H_ titk ^a _V\I_T\ W jr Charles A. Lang, Co. B, Present residence, Harrison, Maine. 38 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. the water coming to his saddle. As the rebel guns were quiet just then, the writer was emboldened to try the bridge. When half way over he had the usual experience — wished he had taken the other road. The rebel battery opened fire again, and in the few minutes it took to untangle himself from the wreckage it seemed to his disordered imagination that a hundred shells as big as flour barrels passed within six inches of his head. In later moments of calm consideration he has considerably modified this estimate, but has never brought himself to believe that he did not there receive one of the worst scares of his life. Near Centreville, troops of Miles' division were found drawn up in line of battle across the road, and the men, as they came _^^^ fc^L ,-_£' I UP> were directed to return to the camps they had left in the morn ing. Among those who came straggling into the camp of the Second was Corporal Isaac W7. Derby, of Company A. His arm had been smashed in the affair at Cub Run, and amputation was necessary. Derby consenting, the operation was performed without the use of anaesthetics, and with no light except such as was afforded by a tallow candle and a flickering brush fire. Derby was a nervy man. He never entered a hospital at all, and after a few days was attending to such duties as a one-armed man could do about camp. About midnight the sleeping men were routed out and told to make their way back to Washington. It was a long, weary tramp, and dusty until near morning, when it commenced to rain. A few miles from Washington some of the men who had been left in camp 1861. Corpl, Isaac W. Derby, Co. A, Lost an arm at Bull Run, July Was the first New Hampshire soldier suffer a capital operation in the war. Went 1 to Boston in 1867, engaged in real estate business, and was a member of the Massachu setts House of Reps, in 1873-4. Has been for 21 years a Deputy Tax Collector for the City of Boston. BACK IN CAMP SULLIVAN. 39 were met coming out to join the regiment. One by one, squad by squad, the men straggled into camp. Cooked rations were ready for them as they arrived ; but sleep and rest were the immediate demand, and it was noted that the men went straight to their tents, shed their equipments, and were not anxious for their meals unless they could have them served in their rooms. It was several days before the last straggler reported in camp and a correct estimate o f the regiment's loss could be made. It was not heavy, as losses went later in the war. Nine men were reported killed, thirty-five wounded, and sixty-three missing — the latter being all prisoners, and many of them wounded. Four men died of their wounds, mak ing the regiment's death roll thirteen. The only commissioned officer wounded, beside Colonel Marston, was Capt. Hiram Rollins, of Company D, who received a musket ball in the arm. Of the regiment's conduct in its maiden battle, Col. Burnside had this to say in his official report : " Col. Marston, of the Second New Hampshire, was badly wounded in the shoulder, but, notwith standing, he remained in the saddle under fire after his wound was dressed, his horse being led by his orderly. The regiment, under charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Fiske, conducted itself most gallantly. Both officers and men deserve great praise." The following, from the Washington National Republican, John Haynes, Co. K, Was for short time attached to the hospital staff of the Second, and subsequently commis sioned Assistant-Surgeon of the Tenth N. H. On leaving the service, he settled in the practice of his profession in Londonderry, in which town] he died May 4, 1874, aged 43 years. 40 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. although inaccurate in one or two minor details, shows the general estimation of the regiment's conduct : "The Second N. H. Regiment. During the late engagement the Second New Hampshire regiment behaved with the utmost gallantry. Arriving on the field the second regiment, they were instantly called upon to support the right of the Rhode Island Battery ; and with the coolness of veterans, although swept by the fire of the rebels, formed line of battle and remained in this trying position for more than an hour. When ordered to charge, they rushed forward with great impetuosity, driving the enemy from their position to the woods, and sweeping everything before them. At one time, when a retreat was sounded, Companies B and I remained in their position half an hour after every other company had retreated, and poured in a destructive fire on the rebels who were advancing to outflank them, only retiring when capture or annihilation became inevitable." Official Report of Lieut.-Col. Fiske. Hdqrs Second Regiment N. H, Volunteers, Camp Sullivan, near Washington, July 27, 1861. Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers during the march and battle on the 21st instant. I give the time of our different movements as nearly as possible: The regiment left its camp near Centreville at 2 o'clock a. rn., and immediately took its place in the column of the Second Brigade, under Colonel Burnside. We continued in the column of the brigade until near the field of battle. On arriving at the battle-field (10.30) we were ordered up to support the Rhode Island Battery. Before arriving at the place indicated we were ordered on to the crest of a hill, in a field considerably to the right, exposed to the fire of the enemy's batteries. We here fired upon some battalions said to be Georgia troops, who retired to the shelter of the woods opposite. After they retired the regiment was withdrawn under the shelter of the brow of the hill. We were then ordered to the left to support the Rhode Island Battery, The men took their position and fired several volleys. Colonel Marston was wounded here and carried to the rear (11.30 a. m.) We were moved from here to a position on the left and in advance of the Rhode Island Battery, where we fired a few shots at the retreating enemy. After remaining here an hour, more or less, we were ordered to report ourselves to Colonel Heintzelman (1 o'clock p. m.) The regiment moved to a position near his column, and I sent the sergeant-major three several times to report the regiment ready to render any succor or support they were able to afford. The sergeant-major was unable to meet with Colonel Heintzelman or his staff. After remaining in this position some time I received an order (2.30 p. m.) to advance to a position indicated, which was to the left and !a quarter of a mile in advance of the troops engaged in that part of the field. The enemy were screened from our sight. As the men were exposed to fire from a battery and from musketry, I ordered |them to lie down, and fire whenever any of the enemy were exposed. After a short time we were ordered to withdraw. The men retired leisurely and in perfectly REPORT OF LIEUT- COL. FISKE. 41 good order, halting once under the shelter of some woods. On our way to rejoin our brigade we were ordered by an officer of dragoons, whose regiment was in advance in the retreat, to make haste, or we should be cut off by the enemy's cavalry. Our column was formed again in the brigade, but before the formation was complete the retreat began, and continued, with a short rest at our former camp, near Centreville, to Washington, The men obeyed orders with coolness and precision during the whole day. They took every position they were ordered to, and never wavered or retired until ordered to do so, and were among the last, if not the last, to leave the field. Their retreat on the whole route to their camp was unattended by tumult or any disorder further than leaving their ranks. Their conduct throughout the day inspires me with entire confidence in .their courage and steadiness, and I hope will meet your commendation. FRANK S. FISKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Comdg. Second N. H. Volunteers. CHAPTER III. JULY 23, 1 86 1, TO APRIL 10, 1 86 2. HOOKER'S BRIGADE ORGANIZED AT BLADENSBURG MARCH TO THE LOWER POTOMAC SECOND IN CAMP AT HILLTOP A YOUNG MARYLANDER TAUGHT A LESSON STAKING OFF THE GUARD LINE WINTER CAMP AT BUDD'S FERRY INCIDENTS OF THE REBEL BLOCKADE GEN. NAGLEE IN COMMAND OF BRIGADE MARSTON'S FAMOUS DUNGEON MARSTON BEATS GEN. MCCLELLAN'S ORDNANCE OFFICER THE REBELS EVACUATE THEIR POSITIONS MURDER OF LUTHER W. FASSETT BY REBEL SCOUTS— HOOKER'S DIVISION EMBARK FOR THE PENINSULA THE SECOND REGIMENT STORM-BOUND AT POINT LOOKOUT. >URNSIDE'S brigade was broken up very soon ) after the battle of Bull Run, all its regiments except the Second being three months troops. On the morning of August 9th the Second Regiment broke camp and marched over to Bladensburg, a well-known suburb of Wash ington. As the regiment filed into the field where it was to make its camp, a tall man, in civilian dress, but bearing the unmistakable impress of military training, rode up and directed the movements of the regiment. He was Joseph Hooker, one of the newly-appointed Brigadier Generals of Volunteers. His brigade, when organized, consisted of the First and Eleventh Massachusetts, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania and Second New Hamp shire regiments. The Second was the first to arrive at the brigade rendezvous, and consequently the first troops " Fighting Joe." commanded in the war. All the regiments were in camp within a few days. August 23d the brigade was reviewed by Gen. McClellan, who had been called to the command of the army gathered for the defence of Washing ton ; and on the forenoon of the 25 th, President Lincoln, with Secretaries Seward and Welles, came out and reviewed Hooker's BLADENSBURG. 43 troops. The regular routine of drill and camp duties was varied by work on the fortifications with which Washington was being surrounded, and the forts near Bladensburg in that stupendous system of defences were largely built by Hooker's men. Hospital Steward's Quarters, Bladensburg, Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from Sketch by Israel T. Hunt. Tent made from an old hospital fly and some boards, the front eked out with pieces of gunny bags. Here the Surgeon, with Bill. Stark, the Steward, (popularly known as " Old Cooney,") and his assistant (Dr. Hunt,) received the "halt, blind, lame, and lazy," when the " Surgeon's call" rang out, early in the morning. September 5 th the regiment received its first installment of recruits, a squad of nin.ty-seven arriving from Ns,v Himpshir under charge of Sergeant Cobb, of Company A. This number gauges pretty accurately the loss to the regiment up to that time from deaths and discharges on account of disability. On about the same date an important change was made in the equipment of the regiment, the smoothbore muskets being exchanged for Springfield rifled muskets. Early in October, Hooker's command was increased to a division by the addition of Sickles' " Excelsior Brigade,'' and Col. Cowdin, of the First Massachusetts, as senior colonel, assumed 44 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. command of the First Brigade. On Thursday, October 24, the division broke camp and started for the lower Potomac. The rebels had been permitted to blockade the river by the erection of powerful batteries on the Virginia shore at various commanding points below Occoquan Creek, be tween thirty and forty miles from Washington. This was quite a serious matter, as it practically closed one of the most important avenues of communication with the cap ital. But whoever, if any one, was responsible for permitting this to be done, Hooker's division was now sent to establish itself upon the Maryland shore, over against the blockade. The march occupied four days, the division arriving at its destination on Sunday, October 27. The Second, with Doubleday's battery, went into camp some five or six miles from the rest of the division, at the important village of Hilltop, consisting of one frame dwelling house, a cross-roads store, and two negro cabins. For three or four days the regiment camped in a frost-bitten hollow by Nanjemoy Creek, but was then moved to a higher and pleasanter location. One company was sent each day to picket the mouth of the creek, which had been a favorite point of passage for the rebels to and fro across the Potomac. Many of the young men of this part of Maryland had gone over and joined the rebels, but one, at least, remained long enough to be taught a lesson in good manners which it is not likely he soon forgot. At dress parade one afternoon he posted himself near the William Waterman Sawtelle, Co. G, One of Amherst's earliest volunteers, and her first victim in the war. Died at Bladensburg, ' October 25, 1861, having been taken with typhoid fever soon after his return from Bull Run. Plate from Boylston's "Amherst in the Great Civil Conflict.' CAMP AT HILLTOP. 45 regimental commander with the little group of citizens that had gathered to witness the ceremony, and kept up a string of offensive remarks evidently intended for the officer's ear. When for bearance ceased to be a virtue, the officer of the guard took him in charge, and the young Mary lander marched jauntily off to the guard tent. But when parade was dismissed, the poor devil was brought out and flayed alive. At the head of the first company street his tour commenced. A guard .of honor surrounded him with a hedge of bayonets, and a negro who had attached him self to the regiment was posted as his file-closer. For actual horror and suffering, Stanley's rear guard in Africa had a picnic compared with this fellow's short tour of camp. Livid and trembling with rage, he was kicked — kicked by a nigger ! — up one street, down another, out across the parade ground, and over the guard line. The negro was at once sent off out of reach of vengeance, and it is quite probable the young Marylander crossed the river and joined his friends in rebeldom. It was in this camp that the regimental commander got so neat a hoist by his own petard. Becoming disgusted one day with the slovenly marching of some of the camp guard, he ordered the guard line marked off with pegs driven into the ground at proper pacing intervals. The job was still in progress, when, having occasion to pass out of camp, he tripped on one of these pegs and went end over end. " Great guns ! " he roared as he gathered himself, " I 'd like to know what infernal idiot has been sticking the ground full of sticks. I '11 stop that !" And he did. Henry F, Clifton, Cc. C, A boy of sixteen, who joined the regiment with the first lot of recruits, at Bladensburg, and carried a gun for three years. Now resides in Manchester, is widely and familiarly^ known as " Harry," and is still young and lively enough to train with the Amoskeag Veterans. 46 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. On the 14th of November the Second joined and went into winter quarters with its brigade at Budd's Ferry. It arrived just in time to witness one of the most exciting little brushes of the season. A schooner, loaded with wood, was " running the block ade," when the wind failed her in mid-stream. She was struck two or three times by rebel shot, whereupon the crew dropped anchor and scuttled for the Maryland shore. A boat filled with rebel soldiers was seen pulling for the prize from the Virginia side ; whereupon a detachment of the First Massachusetts was sent to Quarters of the Second Regiment Butcher, Budd's Ferry. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from a Tintype. the rescue. The rebel party was the first to reach the boat. They set fire to her and pulled away as a boatload of the First men approached. The flames were soon extinguished ; then the anchor was hoisted, the jib set to catch what little wind there was, and the schooner was towed up the river and turned over to one of the gunboats of the upper flotilla. All this was done under a sharp fire from a rebel light battery which was run out on Cockpit Point. WINTER QUARTERS AT BUDD'S FERRY. 47 Hooker named the camp of his division " Camp Ba ker." He was joined about the first of December by the Second New Jersey Brigade — the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth regiments of that state — which became the Third Brigade of the division. The camps were established from a half to three-quarters of a mile distance from the river, and under cover of woods which screened them from rebel observation. The camp of the Second was near Gen. Hooker's headquarters, and close by the Posey house, which was quite notorious in the annals of those days. Posey had a son in the rebel army, had probably been a rebel agent before Hooker's arrival, (and perhaps after,) and was arrested therefor ; and as the writer remembers, was tried and got clear. Still, the Posey girls — who had been reported to Wash ington as signaling to the rebels across the river by lights at night and mirrors by day — were very pleasant acquaintances for some of the Yankees during the winter. Winter set in, and there was no lack of work to occupy the time and attention of the men. Timber was convenient and plenty. The "A" tents were stockaded four or five feet high, with fireplaces and chimnies of " cob- work " plastered thick with Maryland mud. The country roads became absolutely impassable — merely trenches of almost fathomless mud — and a corduroy road was built from the camps to the steamboat landing at Rum Point, at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek. Died of apoplexy 14, 1862. Solon F. Porter, Co. I, t Budd's Ferry, Md., March 4§ SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. " Laboring like patient oxen By the banks of Chickamoxen," was the rhythmic wail of Sergeant Adams, of D, who contested with Gunnison, of I, the laurel crown of regimental poet laureate. Nor was there any lack of amusements. Almost every day there was a free show out on the river, which the men could take in by simply going a few rods from camp. The blockade was only effective against large vessels, which from their great draft would be compelled to keep to the ship channel near the Virginia shore. Sloops and schooners, keeping well over to the Maryland side, ran up and down in broad daylight as boldly as they would have sailed into Boston Harbor. The rebels, as a matter of princi ple, always opened fire on them, and it was not unusual for one schooner to be the target for scores of shells before it got clear of the bat teries. Thousands of shot were fired by the rebels during the winter, and the atrocious wildness of their gunnery is in evidence in the fact that, with the exception of the wood-laden schooner before mentioned, not a vessel was hit from the beginning to the end of the blockade. Our war vessels, even — which had to keep the channel — ran the gauntlet unscathed, but always by night. On the morning of December 13 two gunboats made the run from the upper to the lower flotilla ; and at five o'clock on the morning of January 1 2 the frigate " Pensacola," which had been undergoing repairs at the Washington navy yard, went by without injury, under a fire so Horace 0. Smith, Co. E. One of a squad of twelve young men who went to Exeter from South Newmarket, May 5, 1861, and were mustered in by Charles H. Bell, after wards Governor. He is now engineer at the McLean Hospital, Waverley, Mass. MARSTON BUILDS A DUNGEON. 49 terrific (in noise) that everybody in Hooker's camps turned out to see what it was all about. Hooker reported to the authorities at Washington that a vessel had about as much chance of being hit by the rebels as of being struck by lightning ; and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, then the rebel commander, gave it as his opinion, a short time before the evacuation, that " the guns on the Potomac have very little effect," and stated that two or three of those on Cockpit Point had been burst. February 21st, Gen. Henry M. Naglee assumed command of the First Brigade, and in him it struck a Tartar. The very next day he had the officers of the day and of the guard of every regiment in the brigade under arrest on techni cal charges. Everybody, from highest to lowest, was soon arrayed against him. He met his match in Colonel Marston. One day, in inspecting the regiment, he visited the guard house, a very comfortable log building used in common by the camp guard and the pris oners. He decided at once that it was altogether too palatial for prisoners, and ordered Col. Marston to have a dungeon built of logs. " Build it," he directed, "without a crack or an opening, so that it will be perfectly dark." His orders were obeyed to the letter. Within a day or two he was over again, and his eyes beamed with satisfaction as they rested on the gloomy structure. But after walking around it, he halted with a puzzled look and inquired of Marston where the 4 David G, Dickey, Co. B, Was from Lyndeborough, and still resides there. Had a hand in building Naglee's dun geon, concerning which he writes: " I was one of the men detailed from my company to help build it. During the work I went to Colonel Marston to get an order on the Quartermaster for a saw to make the door. The old Colonel said, 'Tut! tut! who told you to cut a door?' I caught on, went back, and helped sling on the mud where the door should have been, wonder ing what Gen. Naglee would say when he saw 5 o S£ COND NE IV HAMPSHIRE. entrance was and how he expected to get anybody into it. "Oh," replied the colonel, complacently, " that's not my lookout. I have obeyed orders strictly. How does it suit you?" The general went his way, and " Naglee's dungeon " was still standing when the regiment left Budd's Ferry for the Peninsula. Gen. Naglee's connection with this, his first command, lasted only about two months, and that his reputation was well maintained in subsequent commands is shown by the following correspondence given to the world by Gen. Keyes in his " Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events :" " Headquarters Naglee's Division, Newburn, June 12, l8b3. General : I am most happy to advise you that I have been transferred with my brigade into the Department of North Carolina. It may be equally agreeable and satisfactory to you, as it certainly is to myself, to be assured that the separation will be a permanent one. H. M. NAGLEE. To Maj.-Gen. E. D. Keyes." " Headquarters 4th Corps, Yorktown, June 2S, i8b3. General: Your letter of the 12th instant has been received. The happiness you express in your announcement of a permanent separation is, I assure you, most cordially reciprocated. I will add, with the risk of being thought to exaggerate, that I do not believe any one of your previous commanding officers was made more happy at parting with you than I was. Very respectfully, etc., E. D. KEYES. Brig. -Gen. H. M. Naglee, U. S. Volunteers." Soon after the war a jilted woman took her revenge on Naglee by publishing in a book the letters he had written her, and the spiciest parts of the whole were his comments on public men and measures. Two or three samples will be sufficient to illustrate the vanity and egotism of the man : March 3, l8b2.—" I have an excellent brigade— two regiments of Massachusetts, one New Hampshire, and one Pennsylvania — and have great confidence they will do great credit to themselves. * * * 1 am very agreeably surprised to find that my duties come very naturally to me, and so have had no difficulty; on the contrary, although but two weeks here I have succeeded in completely capturing the confidence and respect of all my officers, and am received in the most flattering manner by all." March is, l8b2. — " Confidentially, that is, for your ear and that of your mother, one of my troubles comes from the fact that Hooker is inefficient; he is slow, and not capable. I came a long ways, and for the purpose of doing something. I come in contact with him often. I am too strong for him. My opinions receive favor at Washington, and to the condemnation of his plans. He is envious of me, but is afraid to oppose me. * * * Yet he dare not say I am not a superior officer, and that if I have a chance I will not make a mark." September 2q, i8b3.—" I am again the mark of the especial spite of the War Department, and am now on my way to Vicksburg to report to Gen. Grant. I enclose you the parting fare- MARSTON'S PULL AT WASHINGTON. 5i well at Norfolk, by which you will see that I have made many friends. Indeed, that was the cause of the order. I was becoming too well liked; too much influence." May 20, l8b4. — " You will have heard before this of my being no longer in the army. With out a word of explanation, without any justification, I have been dropped from the rolls of the army, and all because, despite all threats or offers of reward, T would not abandon my principles — I would not be abolitionized." November is, l8b4. — "The coming two years will try the country, and this people, and there will be an awful crisis. I shall only be too happy to be out of the way. If I cannot be 'permitted to save, I will not be a party to assist in the destruction." It was about the first of December before Col. Marston was sufficiently recovered from his wound to assume command of the regiment. Lieut. -Colonel Fiske had been in com mand until about the first of November, when he was detailed to court martial duty, and subsequently to the temporary command of the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania. So Major Stevens was much of the time in command, during the absence of Colonel Marston. After the assembling of Congress, the colonel divided his time between the camp and the House of Representatives. H i s " pull " at Washington was of great service to the regiment, more times than one. On one occasion he took the captain of Company B up with him to get some cartridges for their Sharp's rifles. McClellan's ordnance officer refused to issue the requisition, saying the general did not desire, and would not have, two kinds of ammunition in one regiment. Marston was quite as decided in his determination to hold on to his breech loaders. " You probably think you are bigger than General Orren S. Adams, Co. A. One of the first lot of recruits, joining at Blad ensburg, and serving until May, 1863, when he was discharged for disability. Now resides in Marlboro. 52 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. McClellan," the badgered officer at last said, testily. " No, sir ! " thundered the equally mad colonel, " but I will show you there is somebody in Washington that is ! " He went at once to see the Secretary of War, and laid the case before him. " Send that man to me," said Stanton to a messenger. In a short time the officer appeared, and as he emerged from the secretary's office a few minutes later, he said to Marston, with a sickly smile, " I have "^^^sffsg^p^^j^ '-H4, '«»W?V>"; ¦ '¦' • ¦-' Guard House of the Second Regiment, Budd's Ferry. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from Sketch by Sergt. J. E. Saunders. signed your requisition." The men of Company B, to mark their appreciation of the~colonel's victory over the major-general, which saved to them their beloved rifles, procured an elegant sword, which was duly and formally presented to Marston March nth. December 15 th, while sitting in his tent, Colonel Marston was severely wounded in the left hip by the accidental discharge of a revolver with which a boy was toying in an adjacent tent. The same day a large number of New Hampshire people came down on the boat from Washington to visit the camp. In the party were John P. Hale, E. H. Rollins, Daniel Clark, Waterman Smith, E. A. Straw, B. F. Martin, and a bevy of New Hampshire ladies. How the boys cheered that apparition of New Hampshire grace THE POTOMAC BLOCKADE. 53 and beauty, at dress parade that afternoon ! The regiment being formed in hollow square, with the guests in the inclosure, Major Stevens stepped forward and addressed the regiment as follows : " Fellow soldiers, we have something new in this square today. We are honored by the presence of four ladies from New Hampshire, who are heart and soul with us in this great struggle. The least we can do is to give them three cheers. Are you all ready?" The men were all ready. January 12 th the rebels seemed to be trying their long range guns on Hooker's camps. One 30-pound rifle shell passed directly over the Second's camp and struck on the parade ground without exploding. It was gathered in by Damon of Company I, and was sold to Maj. Stevens, who deposited it in the col lection of war relics in the Adjutant General's office at Concord. In February the ground got into such condition that drill was resumed — six hours a day. Much attention was paid to bayonet and skirmish drill, and the musicians were exercised in the ambulance drill. The men were expect ing to cross the river and attack the rebel batteries. In fact, Hooker was contemplating and arranging for such a move, but it was suspended by orders from General McClellan the latter part of February. Sunday, March 9th, was a memorable day. The rebels evacu ated their entire line of batteries, setting fire to their camps and the steamer "George Page" and several schooners in Quantico Creek. Corpl. John Chandler, Co. F. From a picture taken in dence, Plymouth. Present resi- 54 SECOND NE W HAMPSHIRE. The commanding sites on the Maryland shore were covered with interested spectators from Hooker's divison. It was an impressive scene, the Virginia shore being enveloped in dense masses of smoke for a distance of five miles. The little black gunboat " Anacosta," of the upper flotilla, cau tiously steamed down the river, throwing shells into the upper battery. Upon arriving opposite the bluff, a boat was seen pulling from her to the shore, and soon the Stars and Stripes broke from the towering staff which for months had flaunted the banner with a strange device. A large party of New Hampshire men and women had arrived in camp the day before, just in season to witness such a sight as comes to but few persons more than once in a life time. Detachments were sent over from the division to reconnoiter and take pos session. The guns were rolled down to the river bank, where they could be loaded upon barges ; and soon almost every man in camp had some little souvenir which "our friends the enemy" had left behind. April 2, while on this service; Luther W. Fassett, of Company E, was killed by rebel scouts or guerrillas. His company had located the grave of a rebel gun, and he, with a companion, was sent back to the landing for shovels. On the way, three men Capt. William 0. Sides, Co. K, Had been an officer in the state militia, and on the breaking out of the war was Commissary-General of the state. He is said to have been the first man in the state to enlist, being sworn in at Concord by Adjt.-Gen. J. C. Abbott, and receiving commission as recruiting officer. He enlisted a company at Portsmouth, which he led at the first Bull Run. While crossing Cub Run, on the retreat, he received injuries which led to his resignation. He was commissioned Captain in the Veteran Reserve Corps, with which he served until the closing days of 1865. Since the war he has been editor, custom house inspector, postmaster of Portsmouth, and the most irrepressible politician in the state. OFF FOR THE PENINSULA. 55 in citizen's clothes suddenly confronted them. Fassett immediately surrendered, notwithstanding which he was shot down in his tracks, whereupon his companion took leg bail and escaped. Fassett had a brother in the same company, and a wife and child in New Hampshire. Signs of an early movement now multiplied. The superfluous baggage was shipped to Washington; "shelter" tents were issued to the men ; temporary piers were erected for the embarkation of the division ; and steamers loaded with troops were passing down the river — a fleet of thirty large boats at one time. McClellan was transferring the Army of the Potomac to the Peninsula for an advance on Richmond by that route. The division broke camp and embarked April 5 th, but the boats bearing the First Brigade remained at anchor in the river until the morning of the 7 th. The Second, with three companies of the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, were crowded upon the " South America," a crazy old river boat. When the boat arrived at the mouth of the Potomac, a wild spring gale was blowing up Chesa peake Bay, and Colonel Marston would not permit the shaky and overcrowded boat to proceed. " I brought my men out here to fight," he said, "not to be drowned like rats." So the boat ran in to the pier at Point Lookout, and most of the men were landed. The Point had been quite a summer resort, and the vacant hotel and cottages were appropriated for quarters. But while the men were comfortably housed, they were by no means overfed, the three days' rations with which they had started from Budd's Ferry being about exhausted. The rain poured, the wind howled, and the men went hungry for nearly three days, when a relief expedition reached them from Washington, and on the afternoon of April 10th the "South America" pulled out from "Camp Starvation " and proceeded down the bay. CHAPTER IV. APRIL II TO MAY 4, 1862. THE SECOND ARRIVES AT FORT MONROE A SIGHT AT THE "MONITOR" AND "MERRIMACK" DISEMBARKS AT CHEESEMAN'S CREEK THE SEIGE OF YORKTOWN PROF. LOWE'S BALLOON FATIGUE DUTY IN THE TRENCHES ROAD BUILDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES GEN. GROVER RELIEVES NAGLEE REBELS EVACUATE YORKTOWN THE PURSUIT TOWARD WILLIAMSBURG. THE "South America" arrived at Fort Monroe on the morning of April nth, and tied up to the wharf for coal. Coming in, she passed close to the "Monitor," whose fight with the " Merrimack " had been announced to the Second as they were going on board the transport at Budd's Ferry. And as if it had been specially arranged to give the regiment a view of the whole outfit, it was not long before the "Merrimack" was seen ' '.» coming down from Norfolk, accompanied by two large steamers and a swarm of tugs. It was her first appearance since the famous combat in Hampton Roads, and all was excitement in anticipation of another big fight. Every vessel that could not fight struck out into Chesapeake Bay, while the war ships came in and took position to contest the passage of the rebel fleet. As the "South America" went out, she passed the frigate "Minnesota," coming in — a gallant show, with her men at the guns and her decks cleared for action ; yet, alone, she was no match for the rebel monster, and the hope of successful battle rested with that uncanny little raft and turret, which had once sent the " Merrimack," crippled, back to her den. A half- dozen shots, perhaps, were exchanged at long range between the "Merrimack" and the Riprap battery, when the rebel procession headed back for Norfolk and disappeared behind Sewall's Point. BEFORE YORKTOWN. 57 Late in the afternoon the "South America" arrived at Cheese- man's Creek, about six miles below Yorktown, and the troops were landed at Ship Point. The shores of the creek were lined with vessels discharging their cargoes of war materials. Seige guns, mortars, shells, and piles of army supplies of every description were on every hand, and thousands of soldiers were camped about, wait ing for orders to proceed to the front. The Second soon joined the brigade, going into camp on a flooded meadow, where the problems demanding immediate attention were : first, how to keep out of the swim ; second, how to splice the shelter tents — this being the first time the regiment had used them. On the 12 th the brigade moved up three or four miles, to near the head of Cheese- man's Creek, and on the 16th marched still further to the front, to its permanent position in the beseiging lines before Yorktown, The Army of the Potomac had recently been organized into army corps, designated by numbers. The Third Corps was commanded by Gen. Pleintzelman, and at the seige comprised the divisions of Generals Fitz-John Porter, Joseph Hooker and Charles S. Hamilton. Hamilton was, however, relieved by Gen. Phil. Kearney, before the seige was ended ; and Porter's division was taken from the corps soon after. The Third Corps held the extreme right of the beseiging lines, having upon its front the main rebel defences, extending from the York river, in front of Yorktown, to the headwaters of the Warwick river, which inter posed as a barrier between the two armies from that point to the James. Adjt. Centre H, Lawrence. Original 5th Sergt. of Co. A, and the first color bearer of the regiment. Sergt. -Maj., August, 1861. First Lieut, and Adjt., in Oct., 1861, and during the Peninsular cam paign. Asst. Adjt.-Gen. of Volunteers in Oct., 1862. Severely wounded by gunshot in left thigh at bat lie of Petersburg Heights, in July, 1864, and still carries the ball in his body. Brevetted Major in 1865. At pres ent practicing law in Washington, D. C, with residence at Linden, Montgomery Co., Maryland. 5 8 S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. Heintzelman's camps were at an average distance of a mile and a half from the rebel works, and so placed as to be masked from rebel observation. The Second's camp was immediately to the right of the Williamsburg road, upon the opposite side of which were the headquarters of Heintzelman and Hooker, and also Howe's steam sawmill, which was manned by the Yankees and kept Howe's Sawmill, near Yorktown. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from a Wartime Sketch. The point of view of the above sketch was within the camp limits of the Second Regiment. The tents in the background belonged to the headquarters of Heintzelman and Hooker. humming night and day, preparing dimension lumber for the engineers. Professor Lowe's balloon apparatus was also one of the Second's near neighbors, being located by the side of the road a few rods from the regiment's camp. Ascensions were made almost every day for a peep into the rebel works and camps. The balloon would no sooner show its swaying globe above the tree tops, than a spiteful fire would be opened upon it from some of the rebel guns SEIGE OF YORK TO JIN. 59 that seemed to be detailed to this especial duty. But for the constant movement of the men who held it captive by the drag- rope, thus distracting the aim of the rebel gunners, its chances of escape would have been small. Fragments of shell were scattered about the camps in a delightfully careless manner. But the men of the Second were quick to learn, and when Lowe was seen preparing to go up they were very liable to have business in a deep ravine a few rods from camp. It was truly remark able that not a man of the Second was ever injured in these little flurries, and the most serious loss recorded was a haversack of hard tack and a shelter tent. The proprietor was "abed," sleeping off a night's debauch with a shovel in the trenches, with his haversack for a pillow. A frolicsome piece of shell happened along, kicked the pillow from under his head, and scattered his reserve supplies in every direction. He tumbled out ready for a fight with the man who did it. The Third Corps bore its full share of the labors of the seige. A most elaborate system of works was laid out — redoubts, batteries, parallels — at a distance of twelve hundred yards or more from the rebel fortifications. Much of the work upon the trenches was done by night, and the Second fairly astounded the engineer in charge, on its first essay. - Every man dug as if the fate of the army rested on his individual shovel. But they soon learned to work with a moderation more in consonance with the spirit of the campaign. All the Second's trench digging was on the parallels across the George G, Whitney, Co. G, Resides at Antrim. 6o SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. head of the little peninsula of a few hundred acres between York River and Wormley Creek. It threw its last shovelfuls of dirt, as a regiment, some days before the evacuation, in widening and elaborating the extreme right of this line, on the bluff overlook ing York River; although a detail from the regiment was engaged, as late as May 2, on the great mortar battery (No. 4,) where ten pieces were being mounted to toss 13-inch shells into the rebel works. While other parts of the lines, and especially the batteries and redoubts, were screened by trees, the trenches on the right were in plain view of the rebel bluff batteries, which kept up quite a steady fire to annoy the working par ties. It was rarely, however, that a man was hit, and in time familiarity bred contempt. Many a time a party would climb out of the trench, spread a blanket on the ground to the rear, and have a sociable game of cards in spite of the rebel shells. One of these sittings was ru'dely broken up by a big shell which just grazed the top of the parapet and exploding over the party, showered it with a peck of unburned powder, more or less. The players simply dove — all but " Crackie," who never lost his nerve, (in a game.) He gathered up the collateral, put "the pack" in his pocket, carefully folded the blanket, and then got under cover. An immense amount of work was also done in the construction of roads leading up to and connecting the batteries. One was built along the shores of Wormley's Creek, the steep, high banks of which afforded protection from the rebel fire. Not far below the surface of this part of the Peninsula is a geological formation composed almost solely of fossil shells, compacted into a solid Levi H. Sleeper, Co. I, One of the original "Abbott Guard," who enlisted from Manchester, and still resides there. IN THE TRENCHES. 61 mass, and very difficult to work with picks and shovels. Thousands of tons of this material were tumbled down to make the roadbed along the creek, and this work of McClellan's army will doubtless remain substantially as they left it, long after every other mark of the works connected with the seige shall have been obliterated. A round of duty in the trenches did not always mean work with the spade. The completed parallels were occupied by a competent force, and sometimes were literally packed with troops ready to defend the beseiging lines against a sortie. One night the Second lay to the rear of, and outside, the trenches near Battery No. 2, under cover of the depression where a little finger of Wormley's Creek came up. It kept well under cover, and wide awake, as the rebels maintained a very well directed and sometimes rapid fire upon that particular portion of the lines. One shell swept through a line of muskets stacked just to the rear of a trench, scattering them in every direction. Several shells struck in the opposite bank of the narrow ravine, and exploded there. It was lively enough any way ; but the worst was to come. About mid night a commotion was heard to the rear, in the direction of the camps, as if some mule teams were stampeding over rough ground, and this was the signal for an infernal fire from every rebel gun that could be brought to bear. It was the noisiest night of the seige, excepting, possibly, the night of the evacuation. Another night (April 26) lives in the annals of the Second as the occasion when " Old Gil." lost half his regiment for an hour. The regiment entered the trenches after dark — and it was very dark — and poked off toward the left. The trench was narrow in places, Alfred Woodman, Co. B. Resides in Plainfield. 62 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. and crowded with troops, and by some mistake the left wing was halted, while Marston went on to his designated position with the right. In time he came back, hunting for his lost companies, and got the regiment together again. Their position was near what was popularly termed the "Hungarian battery." There were reasons for anticipating an attempt by the rebels to surprise this part of the lines, and every man was on the alert. Sometime after midnight the sound of rushing feet was heard out at the front, and the men cocked their pieces and crowded up behind the parapet. The cool nerve which always characterized the regiment was well applied here, for although every man was ready and with his finger on the trigger, not a gun was fired. The pickets (from another regiment) came tumbling over the breastworks. But after waiting a reasonable time, and no rebels following, Marston concluded they had stampeded from nothing, and ordered them to their posts, with some very pointed directions not to come rushing back on him again unless they had some thing to come for. For a short time after its arrival at the front the brigade was afflicted by Gen. Naglee's ambition to appear " always ready." Every morning, before sunrise, his regiments in camp were formed in line and held in readiness to march at a moment's notice. This was a great hardship for men who were seeking a night's rest after twenty-four hours in the trenches ; and as soon as these buncombe morning parades came to the notice of Gen. Hooker, he ordered them discontinued. And soon after — about the 20th — Naglee was sent to afflict some other command Charles H, Warren, Co. K. In business in Boston, engaged in the manu facture of shoe buttons. YORK TO WN £ VA CUA TED. 63 and Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover, a competent and popular officer, took command of the First Brigade. By the opening of May McClellan's seige guns and mortars were in position, and but little remained to do further than to cut down the screens of trees on the front of the batteries and wipe Yorktown from the face of the earth. This, it is said, was to have been done on the morning of the 6th. But Magruder had no idea of waiting to be shelled out. He had " held up " the Army of the Potomac a whole month, and knew when it was time for him to be off. He evacuated Yorktown on the night of the 3d, and retreated up the Peninsula toward Rich mond. During the first half of the night he used up a great deal of ammunition, the fire of his guns being rapid and con tinuous. But as this unusual activity was suspended soon after midnight, a suspicion of Luther P. Hubbard, Co. I. He went west, soon after the war, to grow up with Minneapolis, and has long been con nected with the business management of the great milling establishment of the Pillsburys. what had happened ran through the Union lines. It was this suspicion that assembled many men of the Second around Lowe's balloon, as he was seen getting ready to ascend with the first break of day. The balloon was let up a few hundred feet, Gen. Heint zelman being with Lowe in the basket, and almost instantly a voice called to the signal officer below : " Telegraph to headquarters that there are no men to be seen in the enemy's works, and that a body of our troops are advancing on them as skirmishers." The news spread like wildfire, causing the greatest excitement. It was not long before orders were received to strike tents and pack up for a march. There was no time to draw and cook rations, and the men started with only such fragments as they happened to 64 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. have in their haversacks. One of Hooker's regiments was back at Cheeseman's Landing, and there were large detachments in the trenches. As these had to be gathered in, it was nearly one o'clock before the impatient Hooker was ready to march. Even then, Company F of the Second, on duty at Cheeseman's Creek, had not rejoined the regiment, and were left behind ; but as soon as they were relieved, Captain Snow and his men set out on a night march, and reported to Colonel Marston on the battlefield of Williamsburg, the following day. The division marched up through the rebel works, and pushed forward on the Williamsburg road. In a spirit of barbarous warfare, the rebels had planted torpedoes in places liable to be passed over by their pursuers, and several soldiers of the troops which preceded Hooker had been blown up by these infernal contrivances. But by this time many of the unexploded mines had been located, and were marked by little red flags or guarded by sentries stationed to warn men from them. There was but little straggling from the ranks, as safety lay in following the path where others had gone uninjured. Late in the afternoon, when about seven miles from Yorktown, a half-dozen wounded cavalrymen were met going to the rear. Hooker pushed on with the intention of supporting Stoneman's cavalry, which had struck the rebel line of defences before Wiliams- burg, but found the road in advance crowded with the troops of Smith's division of Keyes' corps. Hooker, the incarnation of vigor in the face of the enemy, grew impatient of delay, and entering a cross-road at Cheesecake Church, passed over to the Hampton road, a mile to the left, which intersected the Yorktown road, on ahead, near the place of the cavalry's engagement. The cross and side roads were in an execrable condition ; and to add to the difficulties and discomforts of the march, it began to rain, and a night of inky darkness came on. Hooker's men waded quagmires, and stumbled over stumps and roots, until nearly eleven o'clock, when they went into a most cheerless bivouac by the side of the road. CHAPTER V. MAY 5, 1862. THE BATl'LE OF WILLIAMSBURG GROVER'S BRIGADE OPENS THE FIGHT THE SECOND IN FRONT OF FORT MAGRUDER A CONTEST OF SHARPSHOOTERS THOMPSON'S DEAD SHOT FORT MAGRUDER SILENCED THE SECOND AND THIRD BRIGADES OVER WHELMED THE SECOND REGIMENT DEPLOYED AS SKIRMISHERS A SAVAGE BUSH-FIGHT LITTLE DICKEY'S PRISONER DAVE. STEELE'S CHARGE "YOUR OWN ADAMS" A DESPERATE CRISIS HEINTZEL MAN AT A WHITE HEAT KEARNEY'S ARRIVAL THE FINAL RUSH COLONEL MARSTON'S REPORT. T daylight on the morning of the 5th Grover's brigade, with the First Massachusetts in the advance, resumed its march through the mud and in the rain, the road traversing a forest of large trees with dense underbrush. It had proceeded about a mile and a half when the head of the column encountered rebel pickets and Hooker at once made his dispositions for a fight. Gen. Grover came riding back to the Second. " I want that New Hampshire company with patent rifles ; where are they?" he inquired. The company called for (B), and also Company E, were sent forward as skirmishers. The remaining companies filed to the right of the road and formed line of battle, while the First Massachusetts formed similarly on the left, and in this order, with the Eleventh and Twenty-sixth in reserve, pushed forward. Soon an almost impenetrable abatis of felled trees was encountered, through and over which the skirmishers wormed their way, driving back the rebel riflemen who contested the advance, until they reached the open ground beyond. The regiment halted in line near the edge of the standing timber while the skirmishers were clearing the slashing, and. here 5 66 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. met its first serious casualty of the day, Uriah W. Cole, of Company H, being crushed as he stood in the ranks by a solid shot from Fort Magruder. His cries of agony during the few moments he lived were heartrending. The line of battle, in due time, followed its skirmishers up through the abatis to the edge of the clearing beyond ; which being accomplished, the Eleventh and Twenty-sixth George C, Emerson, Co. B. Was taken prisoner in his first battle, at Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Was exchanged in season to start with the regiment for the Peninsula, and was killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. He was from Candia. were thrown to the right in skirmish formation to make connection with the Yorktown road and open up communication with Sumner, who was known to be well advanced in that direction and with a large force at his disposal. Directly in front of the Second, at a distance of six or seven hundred yards, the Hampton and Yorktown roads came together, and there, commanding both approaches, the rebels had erected a powerful earthwork called Fort Magruder — the largest of a line of BEFORE FORT MA GR UDER. 6 7 thirteen redoubts extending from the York to the James. Several field pieces were in this fort, which was embrasured for cannon, and the plain on its front was dotted with rifle pits each holding one or two sharpshooters. Facing this combination, the Second had all the essentials for a lively time, and the men distributed themselves behind stumps and logs, and did some very effective work upon the rebel gunners and riflemen. Col. Jenkins, who was in command at the fort, testified to the quality of the shooting, in his official report: "The enemy's sharpshooters, with superior range of guns, commanded the fort, and one after one the gallant men were shot down, until I was compelled to supply their want with infantry from the Palmetto Sharpshooters." An individual example of the fine work done at this point was furnished by Thompson of Company I. He was one of the charac ters of the regiment. One of his brothers was killed with John Brown at Harper's Ferry, and another was the husband of one of " Old Ossawattomie's " daughters, and he was naturally an abolitionist of the most pronounced and radical type. He was also a very handy man with the rifle. Thompson was observed to lie for several minutes, motionless, his eye ranged along the sights of his piece; and then it "spoke." "There," he grunted, "I plugged that fellow's head, and he was black enough to be a nigger !" The possibility that he had missed his mark never entered into his calculations. The next day, led by curiosity, one of the men went to the pit pointed out by Thompson, and found, curled up at the bottom, a swarthy man in gray, drilled through the forehead by the unerring bullet of the keen-eyed New Hampshire soldier. Among the dead man's effects was a newspaper printed partly in the Cherokee alphabet and language. The Second had been engaged nearly an hour, when, in the woods to the rear, a bugle was heard sounding a call, and in a few minutes Webber's regular battery came up the road and went into position in the open to the front of the Second. The guns in Fort Magruder at once directed their fire upon it; and before it had fired a shot most of the men abandoned their pieces and stampeded to the rear. Many of them came back upon the Second, and were not welcomed as heroes of the first water. But soon another body 6S SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. of artillerymen were seen coming. These were volunteers from Os- born's New York battery, who at once took possession of the guns and opened fire. Bramhall's New York battery also came up and went bumping over stumps and dragging through the mire to position on the right of Webber. Within half an hour Fort Magruder was completely silenced ; but in one of the redoubts far away to the left, beyond the reach of muskets, there were two or three rebel guns which kept up an annoying fire on the Second as long as it remained in this position. The New Jersey brigade arrived on the field about eight o'clock, and the Excelsiors an hour later. The Fifth New Jersey was at once sent forward to assist the Second in support of the artillery, while the other three regiments went off to the left, where, several hundred yards from the road, a projection of the woods marked the end of the slashing in that direction. Soon the rattle of a lively skirmish fire indicated that they had found something. But with the fire of Fort Magruder completely silenced, and the sharpshooters on their front in a very subdued mood, the Second now enjoyed for hours a season of comparative tranquility. There was some shooting, to be sure, and from that redoubt beyond Fort Magruder there came, every little while, a shell or solid shot, smashing and crashing through the abatis. But this did not deter the men from spreading their pieces of shelter tent over limbs and branches as a protection from the beating rain ; and some even nursed up little fires over which to cook a cup of coffee — raw coffee being about the only ration any of them had left after the morning's meal. Capt. Evarts W. Farr, Co, G. Lost right arm at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. The following September he was commissioned Major of the Eleventh N. H. After the war he practiced law in Littleton and attained prominence in public affairs. Was elected to 46th Con gress, and died at Littleton November 30, 1880, from the results of a cold contracted in conducting a successful canvass for re-election. BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 69 Gen. Hooker and staff rode up and out into the field toward the fort, apparently to get a better view of the plain beyond the point of woods to the left. A sharpshooter's bullet struck Hooker's horse, and he at once dismounted and examined the animal's wound. He came back to the artillery, and a change was made in its disposition, some of the pieces being advanced to a point where they would have a wider range to the left. Already there were fr.MA§^t^ Jj(0S.S,j3&y\d4, #t« Redoubts front. a.nd uncle.* •covei- ./w^t'c^ (-he /?«._e./s a.^vahcerf. indications of a concentration of rebel troops upon that flank A large force, apparently a brigade, came out from under cover of Fort Magruder, and moving rapidly by the flank across the plain, were soon hid from the Second by intervening woods. As time passed, the fire away to the left increased in intensity and volume. Longstreet, in command of the rebel forces, having 7o SECOND NEW HAMPSHLRE. determined to assume the offensive, sent forward into the woods from the cover of the redoubts, first Wilcox's brigade, then in succession the brigades of Hill, Pryor, and Pickett. The last of these troops were in position by eleven o'clock, and from that time the musketry was tremendous — a succession of crashing volleys with hardly any intermission. The First Massachusetts, and then the Excelsior brigade, regiment by regiment, had been sent in to the support of the Jerseys, and Hooker, finding himself hard pressed, sent word of his condition to Heintzelman, who was supposed to be with Sumner on the Yorktown road. The cavalry man carrying the note was gone but twenty minutes. Finding that Heintzelman had already started to join Hooker (but not by the short route used by the messenger), he delivered the note to Sumner. There was much feeling, afterwards, over what Hooker considered Sumner's failure to properly support him at this critical time. For three hours and more the two brigades stubbornly held their own against Longstreet's four. D. H. Hill's rebel division had been hurried back to Longstreet's assistance, and Johnston, the rebel commander-in-chief, was also upon the field ; but it looked as if Hooker's division was to be left alone to work out its own salvation. The crisis became so acute that Hooker ordered the Eleventh and Twenty-sixth to the left, but through some misunderstanding the latter regiment remained in position near the Yorktown road until the following morning. About three o'clock it became apparent to the anxious men of the Second that the left was being driven back. The Fifth New Jersey, anticipating the coming storm, was seen to change front by Richard A, Walker, Co, E, Wounded at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, and died of wounds July 20. His venerable mother, Eliza A. Walker, now, at the age of 77 years, living in Greenland, N. H., writes: "He was my only son, and the best boy that ever blest a mother. When he died, his father went to Fortress Monroe and brought his body home. The journey and his grief were too much. He never was well after that, but lived, an invalid, thirty years." HOOKER'S LEFT DRIVEN BACK. 7i getting into line, in some manner, in the road, near the left of the Second. The firing steadily advanced — out into the felled timber at length. Bullets came in upon the Second thicker and faster. The Fifth New Jersey fired two or three volleys, then disappeared down the road in the woods. The Second held on until the few men of its left who could get into position were hotly engaged, at close quarters, with the Ninth Alabama and other rebel troops. Not only was that network of felled trees swarming with the enemy, but a regiment (the Twenty-eighth Virginia) came up along the edge of the field, crouching under cover of the abatis. The artille rymen were driven from their guns, and the Second was in this advanced position, alone, unsupported, and flanked. It had two military alternatives — either to change front so as to present a fighting face to the enemy, or to get out. Entangled as it was, the first movement was utterly impossible ; so the men were directed to get back to the edge of the woods and there re-form the regimental line. This meant the abandon ment of the artillery, but there was no help for it. In fact, the guns were so badly mired, and so many horses killed, that the rebels were able to carry off but four of the twelve pieces. It is also claimed, and is prob able, that the fire from Peck's brigade of Keyes' corps, which came into position far to the right, near the Yorktown road, interfered with the removal of the guns. As soon as the regiment was re-formed it was marched to the left, across the road, and with its right resting thereon, deployed as skirmishers ; the purpose being to flank the flank movement of the enemy. Away it went by the left flank, stretching out like a great elastic band, until Hooker had a long, thin skirmish line facing the William H. Morrill, Co. E. One of Col. Marston's little squad of towns men in the Second, being from Exeter. He was killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. 72 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. enemy. It was not a parade ground deployment, men dropping off at irregular intervals, sometimes singly, and quite as often in little bunches ; but it covered a great deal of ground, and was as full of fight as a swarm of hornets. Ordered to advance and keep covered as much as possible, the line went forward and was soon engaged in a fierce bushwhacking fight. For two hours there was maintained over that ground one of the most remarkable contests in the whole history of the war. The line established by the Second was reinforced by men from the broken regiments of the division, and such volunteers were bound to be the very best of fighting material. It comprised the self-assorted pick from several regiments, after all who had got enough of it had been sifted to the rear, and it may well be questioned whether another line was ever formed during the war with so large a pro portion of desperate, hangdog fighters as was there brought together. There could be but little concert of movement along such a line. Every man was fighting on his own hook, dodging from tree to tree through the thick underbrush. Little parties got together and pushed forward in quest of adventure. Squads of Union and rebel soldiers sometimes passed in the thick brush before discovering each other's presence. Hand-to-hand encounters were frequent. Quite a number of prisoners were harvested. Little Dickey, the shortest man of Company I, gath ered one in. He told how he did it, that night, over the camp fire : " I had drifted over toward the left, and got behind a big tree. I peeked around it, first one side, then the other, but couldn't see Nathaniel F. Lane, Co. A. Killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING. 73 \* cw anything, so I started for another about two rods ahead, and just as I jumped, out came a Johnny Reb. from behind that very tree, on his way to mine. I guess it was a surprise party all 'round, and I know my heart was in my mouth, I was so scared. I had just strength enough to get my gun up to my shoulder and holler, ' Drop that gun, you , and come in ! ' and he dropped it and came." Lieutenant Dave. ' Steele, of Company G, was out with a little squad of men, when he suddenly ran up against a bunch of rebels of twice his own number. Dave, was of that class so often heard of, but so rarely met, a man absolutely fear less, and who actually enjoyed a fight. Without a moment's hesitation he dashed right in among the rebels, swinging his sword and shouting with stentorian voice,. " Surrender, you d — d cusses, or I'll blow you to h — 1 ! " Dave.'s sword was not loaded, but they were sufficiently impressed by his great stature, his flow ing red mustache, and his reckless self-reliance, and surrendered on the instant. More tragic than this encounter was the one in which Corporal John A. Hartshorn, of Company G, lost his life. Encountering three rebels in the thick brush, he shot one, bayo- netted another, and was himself shot dead by the third, the whole tragedy being enacted in but a few seconds. The only eyewitness, so far as the writer has information, was Colonel Cowdin, of the First Massachusets, although there may have been others. The next day the three brave men were found lying together, as they fell. This was Hartshorn's first, as well as last, battle, he having Alexander Lyle, Co, G. Killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. Was from Peterborough. Born in Scotland. 74 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. been detained in hospital, against his vigorous protests, when the regiment marched to Bull Run. Sergeant Enoch G. Adams, of Company D, caught a bullet in the neck, and started to carry it to the rear. With his hands to his head, and covered with blood, he ran up against Captain Sayles, who did not recognize him. "Who is this?" inquired the captain. " It's I !" came the sputtering reply. "But who is I?" persisted the captain. The sergeant was indignant at this refusal o know him. He did not appreciate the change the gushing tide had wrought in his general appearance. "It's I!" he roared with renewed emphasis — "II — Adams !— Sergeant Adams ! — hang it, Cap'n, don't you know_'_«r own Adams ?" The rebels made several determined attempts to crush with a solid line of battle the front which was so tenaciously holding them at bay. Then there was music, and the old woods rang with the steady roar of musketry. The only effect of these sallies was to push back the protuberances, straighten up the line for the time, and weld the whole mass together. There was a well defined zone in those woods, beyond which the men would not be pushed. When they reached that point they held on with grim tenacity and refused to be crowded farther. Towards five o'clock the pressure was terrible. Longstreet had just put in Colston's brigade and two regiments of Early's, from Corpl, John A. Hartshorn, Co. G, Killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, in hand- to-hand encounter with three rebels. Son of Dea. John and Susannah P. Hartshorn, and was born in Lyndeborough, July 14, 1840. His great-grand fathers on both sides were soldiers in the Revolu tion, and a grandfather in the War of 1812. Devout, conscientious, and fearless, he was of the type of the old Cromwellian " Ironsides." THE CRISIS OF BATTLE. 75 Hill's corps, and perhaps other troops. Fort Magruder had again opened fire, and was sweeping the road with its shells. Smith's New York battery had got up and was posted near the right of the line — two of its guns in the road with their wheels sunk deep in the mud — and was giving the enemy canister in return for the rifle bullets with which they were show ering it. Many of the men had exhausted their ammunition, and none had more than a few rounds left. It was a crisis, and everything depended upon holding that line just a little longer. Hooker, Grover and Heintzelman were hurrying from point to point, cheering and encouraging the men. Hooker was coated with mud from head to foot, having been thrown from the sec ond horse shot under him that day. Old Heintzelman . was at a white heat. He rode furiously here and there: " Give it to 'em ! Pile 'em up ! " he shouted. Some of the men told him they were out of ammunition. " If you have n't got any powder, shout, hooray, make a noise, do something !" he replied. A little knot of musicians got together and were brought well up towards the line. " Go to tooting on your old trumpets — Lieut, Enoch George Adams, Co, D, Entered the service from Durham as private in Co. D. Promoted sergeant; severely wounded at Williamsburg; promoted second lieutenant August i, 1862. April 30, 1864, he was commissioned captain First U. S. Vols., and was mustered out of the service at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Nov. 27, 1865. Brevetted major for gallantry. From May to September, 1865, was in command at Fort Rice, Dakota, as ranking officer of the three regiments comprising its garrison. After leaving the service he spent many years on the Pacific coast, being Register of Lands, under appointment of President Grant, at Vancouver, and publishing a newspaper there. Has now settled quietly upon a farm in Berwick, Maine. 76 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Yankee Doodle — Dixie — anything — blow away ! " shouted Heint zelman. Then he was back with the men : " Hooray ! Richmond taken ! Reinforcements are close at hand — be here in fifteen minutes ! Give it to 'em ! " The band struck up with a discordant energy never equalled outside a Salvation Army parade ; the men who had no ammunition cheered themselves hoarse ; and the old general's reckless spirit took possession of everybody. Reinforcements were, in fact, close at hand. Kearney's gallant division, following Hooker's route, was pushing up the Hampton road with all the energy bone and muscle is capable of sustaining. Kearney arrived with Berry's brigade just in the nick of time. Hooker met him close by the road, and with a sweep of his arm was apparently pointing out posi tions. Bullets were whistling like mad. A man, going back with his gun at a "carry," had arm and musket swept away by a cannon ball from Fort Magruder just as he passed the two generals. The head of Berry's column halted a little distance to the rear to close up the trailing ranks. Soon its lead ing regiment was seen forming right forward into line by company ; and when the line came up in solid array, many men of the Second, determined to see the show to the end, borrowed a few cartridges and went in with it. The rebels were now steadily pressed back, and in a short time the battle was over. The most determined stand was made at the very edge of the felled timber on the left of the road, and was a matter of necessity rather than of choice on the part of the rebels. An unfortunate portion of their line was here caught between a Charles E. Putnam, Co. H, Killed at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862 from Claremont. He was THE CLOSING RUSH. 77 relentless enemy pressing their front, and the abatis crossing their rear, so impenetrable as to prevent the rapid retirement their desperate fortunes now demanded. They had the advantage of an old rifle pit of revolutionary date, which still afforded a very good cover, and behind which they made a brave stand until flanked by the Thirty-eighth New York, which charged up the road, at the same time the impa tient mass on their front rushed in and helped close up the affair. For the rebels, that narrow strip, only two or three rods wide, between the trench and the abatis, was the slaughterpen of the battlefield. In no other position were their dead found lying in such ghastly array, all the result of a few minutes' close work. And for some distance beyond the abatis was dotted with the dead and wounded who were shot down in endeavoring to escape through that terrible ' entangle ment. In the grand round-up that abatis cost the rebels more The Fatal Bullet. , m_n th_n [f h_d cQgt thei_ The above is a representation of the bullet that killed Captain Drown. Passing Opponents earlier in the day. through his neck, it lodged in the arm of Charles F. Holt, of Co. G, from which it Right here the Second lost was extracted by the surgeon. Capt. Leonard Drown, Co.'E, The first commissioned officer from New Hamp shire killed in battle in the war. He was shot at Williamsburg under circumstances of exasperating treachery set forth by Colonel Marston in his official report. He was from Fisherville (now Penacook.) 78 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. several of its best men ; among others, Corporal Bush, of Company C, a veteran of the Mexican War. Here, the following morning, was found a Second man who had met his death in a singular manner. He wore a " bullet-proof " vest some what in vogue just at that time — an ordinary looking garment covering two thin plates of steel in the breast. A rebel had evidently made a desperate lunge at him with a bayonet, the point of which, striking well around to the side, glanced along the steel, cutting the cloth in its course, until passing between the plates at their junction, it deeply pierced the soldier's breast. The Second was assem bled upon its colors, and marching back about a mile, went into bivouac, wet, weary, and without rations. The day's work had cost the regiment one hundred and three men. Sixteen were killed, sixty-eight wounded (six mortally), and nineteen captured or missing. The only commissioned officer killed was Captain Leonard Drown, of Company E. Captain Evarts W. Farr, of Company G, lost his right arm. He was aiming his revolver, when a bullet struck his arm, shattering the bone. Coolly picking up the revolver with his uninjured hand, he made his way to the rear. Lieutenant Samuel O. Burnham, of Company C, received a severe wound in the foot, permanently crippling him, so that he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. The Second Regiment had no reason to be ashamed of its record here made. Its good conduct was fully recognized by General Heintzelman in his official report : " In General Grover's Charles E. Peaslee, Co. G. Killed at Williamsburg by the same volley and within a few feet of Captain Drown. HOOKER'S INDIGNATION. 79 brigade most of the regiments did very well — the Second New Hampshire particularly so, and it suffered greatly." But few battles of the war were productive of harsher criticisms of, or more bitter criminations between, high officers than this. Both Hooker and Heintzelman, in their official reports, plainly intimated that Sumner — the senior officer upon the field until McClellan's arrival late in the day — did not support Hooker as he could and should. To which Sumner replied that he sent Kearney to Hooker's assistance as soon as he learned he was in need. " History will not be believed," wrote Hooker, " when it is told that the noble officers and men of my division were permitted to carry on this unequal struggle from morning until night unaided, in the presence of more than thirty thousand of their comrades with arms in their hands. Nevertheless, it is true." A study of the positions of troops shows the probability that had other generals shown half the energy and soldierly judg ment that Hooker did in getting ¦at the retreating enemy, he might have been completely overwhelmed and routed. As it was, the battle of Williamsburg was in its essential features a rebel victory. Longstreet not ||L. only performed his duty as rear guard by holding the pursuers at bay all day, while the rest I of the army and its impedimenta •- . i were making their way up the CorpL John „_ Mac. Co B| Peninsula, but he came very Now resides in Boston. In . communica. tion to a Boston newspaper, some time ago, he gave a version of the band incident as it came under his observation: " The band episode that the writer witnessed happened about four o'clock in the afternoon. During a charge which was made in the woods on the left of the road, the writer secured a couple of prisoners and started back to the rear with them. I had not gone far when some artillery came dashing to the rear on the gallop. Many troops who were lying about, waiting for ammunition, seeing the artillery going- to the rear, thought a retreat was in order, and started to the rear also. General Heintzelman, seeing the men running to the rear, drew his sword, and, waving it above his head, cried out with a nasal twang: 'Halt! halt! you ! Halt!' Thinking he would like to question the prisoners, I stood near him. On seeing me he pointed to the flying troops and said: 'Shoot the ! Shoot 'em!' At this moment some members of a band hap pened along. On seeing them he cried: 'Halt there! halt! Give us Yankee Doodle or some other — doodle!' The band struck up a national air (not Yankee Doodle), which had the desired effect." 8o SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. George G. Davis, Co, A, Was severely wounded at battle of Williamsburg, leading to his discharge for disability the following September. Settled in Marlborough, where he has been successfully engaged in manufacturing, mercantile and other business interests. Fifteen years town clerk, twenty years town treasurer, three terms as county commissioner, aide-de-camp on Gov. Currier's staff, and terms in the state senate and house of representatives, are among the political honors that have fallen to him. near utterly routing one division of the pursuing forces. The most important factor in preventing this, after two brigades had been overwhelmed, was the staying quality of what one of the rebel prisoners termed " the New Hampshire squirrel hunters." It is stating it very mildly to say that Hooker's men were astounded when they learned from McCllellan's dispatches that he had treated Hancock!s little affair on the right — brilliant and soldierly, as Hancock's movements always were, but still only an COLONEL MARSTON'S REPORT. 81 episode — as the battle of Williamsburg, with Hooker's all-day fight and loss of sixteen hundred men as a side show. He did, six days after the battle, for the first time, " bear testimony to the splendid conduct of Hooker's and Kearney's divisions; " but he was not so tardy in self laudation — in ascribing to his own belated arrival at the front some power of saving grace, and results in which he really had about as much active instrumentality as the mummified cats in an Egyptian necropolis. Witness his dispatch to General Franklin on the night of the battle : " I found great confusion here, but all is now right. * * * We have made a tangent hit. I arrived in time." And to Secretary Stanton, May 9th : " Had I been one-half hour later on the field on the 5 th we would have been routed and would have lost everything." Colonel Marston's Official Report. Sir: I have the honor to report the part taken by the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers in the battle of Williamsbuig on the 5th instant. We arrived before the strong works which the enemy had erected in front of Williamsburg and within range of his guns about 5.30 a. m., preceded by the First Massachusetts Volunteers, and followed by the Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Company E, Captain Drown, and Company B, Lieutenant Boyden (Captain Colby, of Company B, being seriously ill at Camp Winfield Scott) , were immediately deployed as skirmishers in the fallen timber on the left of the road by which we advanced. The remaining companies (seven) formed in line of battle in the wood and on the right of the road, the left resting thereon. About 7.15 a. m. I was- ordered by General Hooker to advance the line through the fallen timber about 250 yards to the margin thereof and there shelter the men from the enemy's fire as much as possible, and be prepared to support the batteries under Major Wainwright, which were about to be placed in position in front of us. We remained in that position for more than six hours, constantly under1 fire of the enenjy's batteries, and the rain all the while falling in torrents. I am sure no veteran soldiers could have endured the discomforts and the dangers of those six long hours with more courage and cheerfulness than did the officers and men of the Second Regiment of New Hamp shire Volunteers. Companies E and B, who had been deployed as skirmishers in the morning,. quickly chased the skirmishers of the enemy from the fallen timber, and then from the rifle pits, and finally into their fortifications. They then directed their attention to the cannoneers of the enemy, and so unerring was their aim that the fire of the batteries was very much enfeebled, and sometimes completely silenced. Captain Snow, Company F, who had been on detached service at Cheeseman's Creek, arrived about 1 o'clock p. m., having marched all night to join his regiment. For several hours the fire of musketry had been very heavy in the wood some half a mile or more on the left of the road, and in advance of the position I occupied in the fallen timber. Sometimes the fire seemed to advance and again to recede, and we were doubtful how the day was going in that part of the field. About 3 o'clock p. m. the fire of the enemy suddenly increased on the left, and, appar ently advancing indicated that the left was about to be turned. As it was impossible to change front in the fallen timber where we lay and'preserve any formation whatever, I got the regiment out of the brush and moved across] the road by the left flank, to aid in driving the enemy back, where our troops seemed to be very hardly'pressed. The regiment had become very much broken in making its way through the almosfimpenetrable 6 8 2 SE COND NE W HA MPSHIRE. thickets in which we had lain for so many hours. Other regiments were in the same condition, but every man that had a musket to fire went into the fight with whatever regiment or company he happened to fall in with, and so continued until night put an end to the contest. Captain Drown had collected a company composed of his own men and those of other regiments, and bravely led them on to a body of the enemy, firing his revolver and cheering on his men, when the rebel barbarian in command exhibited a white flag, and cried out to him, " Don't fire, don't fire; we are friends," at the same time directing his men to trail their arms. Captain Drown, believing they were about to surrender, directed his men not to fire, whereupon the whole body of the enemy suddenly fired upon him, killing him instantly, and also several of his men. There was no braver man in the service of the country than Captain Drown, no truer patriot, no citizen more conscientious and upright. There were 4 field and staff officers, 26 company officers, and 740 non-commissioned officers and privates present in the engagement belonging to the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, of whom 16 were killed, 66 wounded, and 23 missing. In concluding this hasty report I take leave to say that the officers and men of my regiment, notwithstanding all the fatigues and privations to which they had been subjected, were throughout the day of battle not only uncomplaining but cheerful, and apparently anxious for nothing but the opportunity to do their country in the day of battle all the service in their power. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, GILMAN MARSTON. Lieut. Joseph Hibbert, Jr., Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. CHAPTER VI. MAY 6 TO JUNE 26, 1862. ADVANCE UP THE PENINSULA ACROSS THE CHICKAHOMINY AN IMPROVISED TORCHLIGHT PARADE GROVER'S BRIGADE AT POPLAR HILL THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS HOOKER'S POSITION AT FAIR OAKS A LIVELY PICKET FIGHT SIMMONS' REBEL FRIEND THE BATTLE OF OAK GROVE DESPERATE VALOR OF COMPANY B HARRIET DAME'S GRIEF SHARPSHOOTING INCIDENTS A TERRIFIC " GOOD NIGHT " A CROWD OF SKULKERS COLONEL MARSTON'S OFFICIAL REPORT OF BATTLE OF OAK GROVE. N the morning of the 6th troops began to pour up the road towards Williamsburg, and during the day Graver's brigade moved up out of the woods and went into camp on the plain in front of Fort Magruder. The burial of the dead commenced the same day. Most of those from the Excelsior and New Jersey brigades were collected and interred in long trenches. This could not well be done with the dead of Graver's brigade, as they were widely scattered, upon every portion of the field. Several days were spent at this duty, in gathering arms and equipments, and burning the felled timber, and then the brigade moved up nearer the city, the Second Regiment camping in a field close to William and Mary College. Gen. Grover was appointed military governor, and the brigade performed provost duty for some time, while the army was advancing up the Peninsula. May 15 th the brigade was relieved by a cavalry detachment and marched to rejoin the army. The roads, cut and churned by the feet and wheels of two armies, were in a frightful condition, especially where they led through the sloughs and morasses of the Chickahominy swamp. The first day's march covered about sixteen miles, and on the following day, after a march of ten miles, the brigade joined its 84 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 123 45 678 9 The Surgeon and his Assistants, No. 1, From Photograph taken at Bladensburg in August, 1861. T — A civilian named Leach, servant of Dr. Hubbard. 2 John C. W. Moore, Co. B. Was promoted to Asst. -Surgeon Eleventh N. H., Jan. 3, 1863. Was from Concord, and now a practicing physician there. 3 James W. Blake, Co. D. The ambulance driver, full of fun, mischievous as a monkey, a good banjo player and singer — the life of the hospital. Familiarly known as " Wes." 4 — John Sullivan, Jr., Co. E. [See page 21.] At close of the war settled in Boston as a druggist, firm of Sullivan & Lotz, and retired a few years ago on a competency. 5 — G-eorge H. Hubbard, Surgeon. [See opposite page.] 6 — Israel Thorndike Hunt, Co. D. [See page 13.] Son of Gen. Israel Hunt, of Nashua. , After his transfer to the Fourth Regiment, he served under Sherman on the Port Royal expedition and at the capture of Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine, Fla., when he was honorably discharged for disability and returned to New Hampshire. Resided several years in New York city, and graduating in medicine, settled in Boston, where he has resided since 1871. Has retired from active practice, and now devotes his leisure time to examining for life insurance, being chief examiner at Boston for various companies. 7 — William Wesley Wilkins, Co. I. Was a practicing physician in Manchester before his enlistment. In September was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Navy, and served on the blockading squadron until the fall of 1862, when he resigned. He was subsequently Assistant Surgeon of the Tenth N. H.^ He was for many years one of the leading physicians of Manchester, in which city he died September 1, 1892. 8 — Charles A. Milton, a sergeant of Co. B, from Hopkinton. He was appointed U. S. Med ical Cadet (the second one appointed) Oct. 1, 1861, and died at the U. S. General Hospital at Mound City, 111., in May, 1862, from poisonous virus which fell on a scratch on his wrist while dressing a soldier's wound. g— Mrs. Mary A. Marden, of Windham. With Miss Harriet P. Dame, was nurse, cook, and mother to everybody. She was much older than Miss Dame — too old to bear the privations and hardships of active campaigning, and got sick and went home in January, 1862. SURGEON AND ASSISTANTS. 85 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Surgeon and his Assistants, No. 2, From Photograph taken at Bladensburg in August, 1861. i — The civilian Leach, also appears in picture on opposite page. 2 — John Kenney, Co. G. A general utility man, and not half as ministerial as he looks. He now lives at Milford, engaged in real estate and insurance business. Is a " hustler," and personally known to nearly everybody in New Hampshire. 3 — Charles A. Milton, Co. B. He also appears as No. 8 in opposite picture. 4 — George H.Hubbard, Surgeon. Was a physician of high standing in Manchester. He resigned October 1, 1861, to accept commission as Surgeon of Volunteers, and was ordered to duty at Tipton, Mo., where he remained during the winter of 1861-2 in charge of the hospi tals in that department. In the summer of 1862 he was ordered to Paducah, Ky., where he served as Medical Director until the summer of 1864, when he was put in charge of the great military hospital at Troy, N. Y., where he remained until the close of the war. After his muster out he resumed private practice in Lansingburg, N. Y. He soon built up a very good practice, and was highly esteemed. Everything was bright and happy until the death of a beautiful daughter; 'From that day he seemed to lose all interest in life, and died a year or more after his daughter, on the 19th of January, 1876. A son and widow who survived him are now both dead. 5 — Joseph E. Janvrin, Co. K. [See page 8.] He went from Exeter. After the war he settled in New York city, and after a time became an assistant of Professor Peaslee, the eminent physician and expert in diseases of females; and on Dr. Peaslee's retirement from practice, he succeeded him. He has amassed a large fortune, has an enormous practice, and is one of the most prominent physicians in New York city. 6 — William G. Stark, Co. D. Was a druggist in Manchester, before the war, and put up prescriptions for Dr. Hubbard, who persuaded Stark to go with him in the Second. He was appointed Hospital Steward, and served in that capacity three full years, when, having meantime re-enlisted, he was commissioned Assistant Surgeon, and remained with the regiment till the end. He died at Manchester, November 4, 1880. 7 — William J. Rahn, Co. I. Served in the capacity of ward-master until June 15, 1862, when he was appointed Commissary-Sergeant to succeed James A. Cook, and served out his term of enlistment in that capacity. 86 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. division, near New Kent Court House. The entire Third Corps — now reduced to two divisions by the detachment of Porter's — was in the vicinity of New Kent Court House and Cumberland, the latter place being a steamboat landing on the Pamunky, a few miles below White House, where McClellan had established his base of supplies, and from which he was repairing the railroad toward Richmond. The 17 th was a day of rest for the brigade, and on the 1 8th it advanced three or four miles, passing through New Kent Court House. On the 19 th the division moved to Baltimore Cross Roads, a distance of eight or nine miles, where it remained quietly in camp until the afternoon of the 23 d, when it marched to Bottom's Bridge, on the Chickahominy. The last stretch of that march, made ] in the night, over a flooded swamp road, with mud and water knee deep, was unanimously voted " the worst yet." The next day (24th) Hooker's division crossed the river as support for a recon- noissance towards Fair Oaks by Naglee's brigade of Keyes' corps. Advancing about two miles, to some rifle pits upon the Williamsburg road, it remained all day in line of battle, with its artillery in position. At sunset it began its return to the morning's camp. It was already dark when the troops struck down upon the flooded flats bordering the river and began to wallow across. Light was wanted, and there were men in that column equal to the emergency. Carpi, George E. Pingree, Co, G, Wounded at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, by a volley from the Fourteenth Louisiana, the ball passing through his right forearm. Discharged for disability, he was commissioned captain of Co. G, Eleventh N. H., with which he served until his wound assumed so serious a form as to necessi tate his transfer to the Veteran Reserve Corps. He remained in the service,' in connection with the Freedmen's Bureau, until January 1, 1868. Now resides at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he has large manufacturing interests. ACROSS THE CHICKAHOMINY. 87 Fishing from haversacks and knapsacks little pieces of candle, they lighted and stuck them in the muzzles of their guns, and almost in the twinkling of an eye Grover's brigade blossomed out into one of the finest torchlight parades of the season. But as quickly as it was evolved, just as suddenly it vanished when an aide, wild with the urgency of his mission, came ploughing back from the head of the column, shouting at the top of his voice : " Put out those devilish candles ! " So the men floundered along as best they could in the darkness, back to their old camps. The following day (25th), leaving the Excelsior Brigade at Bottom's Bridge, the First and Third Brigades again crossed the river and advanced to and occupied Poplar Hill, an important position twelve miles from Richmond, commanding the approach to Bottom's Bridge from the Charles City and Long Bridge roads. Upon the front was White Oak Swamp, an arm of the Chickahominy, traversed by a small but practically fordless stream from above this position to its mouth, and here crossed by its only bridge. Grover's brigade remained here a week, literally "in clover" — acres of it. On the afternoon of the 30th, and extending well into the night, came that almost unparalleled storm, but for which the battle of Fair Oaks would not have been fought. For hours the rain came in a deluge, and even the sodded slopes of Poplar Hill were furrowed deep in places by the rushing floods. The sluggish Chickahominy was transformed into a raging torrent, and its bordering lowlands were a turbid sea. But two corps — Keyes' Capt, Ichabod Pearl, Co, H, Was from Great Falls, and the original captain of Company H. Resigned August 12, 1861. He died at Somersworth December 25, 1879. 88 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. and Heintzelman's — were on the south side, with Casey's division of the former advanced to Fair Oaks. Johnston was quick to see his opportunity and act upon it ; for on the following day he moved out to crush the two corps before they could be reinforced from the north side. Casey was overwhelmed and driven back, losing his camps and several pieces of artillery, and Johnston's triumphant advance was only checked at nightfall by Couch's and Kearney's divisions, assisted by a portion of Sumner's corps, which with remarkable promptness and under extreme difficulties had crossed the river on two bridges built by the corps some distance above Bottom's Bridge. If the movement against the Union left by Huger's division, which had formed a part of Johnston's plan of battle, had not miscarried, Hooker's division would have become involved in this day's fight ; but as it was, the men remained quietly in their camps, listening to the heavy firing on the right. The following morning (June ist) the Excelsior and New Jersey brigades were hurried to the right, leaving Grover's brigade with four pieces of artillery to defend the Poplar Hill position. The bridge was torn up and the artillery posted to command the crossing, the Eleventh Massachusetts deployed as skirmishers along the creek, and the other regiments held in line of battle upon the hill. They were not disturbed, however, for as the result of this day's fight the rebel forces were driven back, the lost positions recovered, and Johnston had failed in his well-planned attempt to crush the left wing of the Union army. And not only this, but he was himself severely wounded, and Gen. Robert E. Lee succeeded to the command of the rebel army, which he retained until the final smash at Appomattox. On the 3d of June Grover's brigade marched to Fair Oaks and joined the rest of the division, at once relieving the Excelsiors at the incomplete works from which Casey had been driven — the Second Regiment taking position immediately to the left of the redoubt on the Williamsburg road. The country was still flooded, large areas being transformed into shallow ponds, and the trenches were half filled with water Many of the dead were still unburied, as were Casey's artillery horses, which lumbered the ground to the rear of the redoubt, and the stench was terrible. All night the FAIR OAKS. brigade remained under arms amid these cheerless surroundings. There were piles of cordwood close at hand, but the orders were strict against building fires. The best and only use that could be made of it that night was in the construction of cobwork seats upon which the men could roost out of the mud. Grover took extraordinary precautions that his brigade should not be caught napping, and was continually trudging through the mud from one end of his line to the other to see that everybody was awake and on the alert. The pickets were doing considerable shooting out at the front, and it was assumed that the rebels were liable to burst in, as they had on Casey, at almost any moment. On the afternoon of the day following its arrival the brigade was relieved and went into camp a short distance to the rear. Within a day or two the surround ings were made somewhat more endurable by the cremation of, the horses and the burial of the dead soldiers ; the latter duty being generally performed in the sim plest manner, by merely piling dirt upon the bodies as they lay. But it was not unusual as long as the army remained here, to find unburied bodies in the less fre quented parts of the patches of felled timber. The position of Hooker's division was astride the Williamsburg road, connecting upon the right with Sumner, and on the left with Kearney. It did not take long to thoroughly intrench the position, and the digging was merely a pastime in comparison with what had been done at Yorktown. The works commenced by Casey were completed, and another redoubt was built, to the right of the Williamsburg road. In front of this intrenched line open ground Miss Harriet P. Dame. From a portrait taken in the field. A portrait of later date, with biographical sketch, will be found elsewhere. 9o SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. .¦¦ r ' t 0i^ Witt * ^ o "J g V 3= ._ PICKET FIGHTING. 91 extended for a distance of several hundred yards ; then a dense swampy chapparel, with felled trees in places, backed by an irregular line of woods. A famous and conspicuous landmark in this part of the field was the lookout tree, standing solitary and alone at the outer edge of the field, from which the spires of Rich mond could be seen. The picket line was maintained in the bush, generally advanced about a hundred yards from its edge. Two brigades were constantly on duty, in the trenches and on picket, the brigades alternating so as to give each a rest in camp every third day. But the brigade nominally off duty, was liable to be turned out and double-quicked to the front at any hour of the night or day. In fact, every man in the division was on a constant strain, which, aided by the unhealthy surroundings, swelled the sick list very rapidly. About the middle of June the brigade was reinforced by the Sixteenth Massachusetts, which came up from Fort Monroe with full ranks and new clothes. It was composed of excellent material, and had a chance to show its metal very soon after its arrival. On the 1 8th, having been ordered to make a reconnoissance to the front, Grover sent the Sixteenth forward. They went in with all the headlong dash of new troops determined to make a record, ran over the rebel pickets and tumbled the picket reserves out of the woods into the open fields beyond, where the main line of rebel works brought them up with a round turn. They lost fifty-nine men, and the fact that of these seventeen were killed shows the short range at which the fighting was carried on in the dense brush. On the 23d of June, late in the afternoon, Hooker advanced his picket line, comprising five companies of the Second and a few Massachusetts companies — the Second being upon the left and connecting with Kearney's pickets. There had been but very little seen of the rebel pickets during the day, and the exact location of their line was very uncertain. But with orders to find and drive it as far as possible, Hooker's men crawled forward under cover of the bushes. So stealthy was the advance that the two lines were almost intermingled before they discovered each other. The writer and his left-hand neighbor, Jesse E. Dewey, had the fortune to open the racket. A startled face suddenly topped a big bush from 92 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. which they were greedily sweeping big handfuls of blueberries, and three shots were fired within as many seconds by men who could almost have knocked each other over with a club, with the grand result of nobody hurt; but Johnny was galloping to the rear, leaving his accouterments piled up at the foot of a big tree against which he had evidently been leaning and dreaming. Dewey's share of the spoils was a knapsack and a bottle of "bitters;" the writer's, a cartridge box with Johnny Reb.'s initials neatly tooled on the outside. There was a wild fusilade for a few moments, and the assailants pushed forward with but slight opposition until they had advanced nearly half a mile from the starting point, when signs began to multiply that it was about time to stop. While the right of the line was still in the bush, the left of the Second came out into the end of an open field extend ing a long distance to the front. The line was halted to straighten up and take bearings, and the left files, in the open field, closed in on the right to the cover of the bushes. It was evident that for some reason Kearney's pickets had not advanced, and that the left of Hooker's line was "in the air," a half-mile from any supports. While these dispositions were in progress, two of the rebel pickets came into the field from the rear, making for their lines at a dog trot. Some of the Second rose from their concealment and Frank E, Howe, Co. G. In the advance of pickets in front of Fair Oaks, June 23, 1862, he started in with the line, but never came back. His fate was a mystery until rebel records became accessible which showed he was wounded and captured and died July 1. He was from Peterborough. ADVANCE OF PICKETS. 93 The ex-Johnny was called to them to "come in;" to which they paid no heed, but side by side, with guns at a "right-shoulder-shift," kept doggedly on their course. They were fired upon, and both men fell, one dead, the other badly wounded. The wounded man got upon his feet again, came in slowly and painfully, and was sent to the rear with Simmons, of Company I, to assist him. The acquaintance of these two men was strangely renewed several years after the war, when Simmons, travelling upon a railway train in Georgia, was accosted by a supposed stranger : " Your name is Simmons, and you was in the Second New Hampshire." Simmons pleaded guilty. " Well, do you remember helping a wounded Johnny to the rear at Fair Oaks? I was the man. effusive in his demonstrations of delight at the meeting. He brought up and introduced all his friends in the car, and nothing would do but Simmons must stop off and be his guest for an indefinite period. He was a prosperous planter, and Simmons spent several days with him and was treated like a prince. The incident well illustrates how little personal animosity there was between the men who stood up in the war, man fashion, and tried to kill each other. So far the Second had had it all their own way ; but now the rebels took their turn. A Corpl. Herman Shedd, Co, G. Killed at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862. Was from Peterborough. The Grand Army Post at Greenville, which is named for him, contributes the above portrait. sharp fire was opened upon the left from the woods directly across the field. Probably forty or fifty of the Second men were in position to reply, and had hardly got fairly to work when the rebel yell was heard upon the right, close at hand, and a rebel battle flag, soaring above the bushes like a bird of evil omen, told what was coming. The Second at once decided that if the rebels were going 94 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. to make such a fuss over it they could have that little bit of swamp and blueberry bushes. That ominous gap at the left was also troubling them with a suspicion that the enemy might have discov ered it and thrust in a force to cut off the retreat. But they got back safely to the edge of the brush, and there found Col. Cowdin with several companies of the First Massachusetts, upon which they rallied. " Let 'em come on now," exclaimed the fiery old colonel ; " there won't half as many go back as come out." A man was sent up the lookout tree, who, though the target of sharpshooters, maintained his position until he had counted and reported five rebel flags at the front. But the rebels contented themselves with reestablishing their picket line. In this little affair there were only four or five casualties in the Second, of which one was fatal. Frank E. Howe, who disappeared with no definite information as to his fate, is now known to have been wounded and captured, and to have died July ist. The affair of the 23d was but the prelude to a bloodier one two days later, when an advance in force was made over the same ground, under orders from McClellan to Heintzelman to drive the enemy's pickets from the woods in his front in order to gain' command of the cleared fields still further in advance. The brunt of this fight — known as the battle of Oak Grove — was borne by Grover's and Sickles' brigades, although the entire corps, with one brigade of Keyes' and a part of Sumner's, were more or less engaged. Early in the forenoon Hooker's division was under arms, and leaving a portion of the New Jersey brigade in the intrenchments, the remainder of the division marched down across the fields to attack the enemy. Horace A, Lamprey, Co. B, Wounded at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862, and died the following day on the hospital boat "St. Mark." He was from Concord. BATTLE OF OAK GROVE. 95 Grover's brigade was upon the left of the Williamsburg road, and its line of advance was directly over the ground covered by the Second's pickets on the 23d. Halting at the edge of the thicket, the First and Eleventh Massachusetts deployed skirmishers and went in to wake up the enemy — the First being upon the right, with the Second as support. The First disappeared in the bush, and hardly a minute had elapsed when there was a rattle of musketry and the wounded came streaming back. Among these was an officer, who had caught a bullet in his mouth. He attempted to tell General Hooker something, but his face was so badly lacerated that his words were utterly unintelligible ; but his manner and gestures told plainer than words that the First was in a tight place. That they were having close work was indicated by the prisoners they were sending back. Among these was a jaunty rebel lieutenant, who, as he passed General Hooker, gave a military salute, which was promptly and politely returned. It was evident that the rebels were in considerable force and did not propose to be rushed back without a fight, as they had on the 23d. Cowdin called for reinforcements, and four companies of the Second were sent forward, under Major Stevens, toward the left of the First. Soon after, Colonel Marston led his four right companies forward to position on the right of the First ; and the two remaining companies were directed by General Grover to join Major Stevens' detachment. The First had been gradually closing on its centre, to strengthen its line and fill the places of the killed and wounded, until, skirmishers and all, it was in a somewhat irregular and disjointed regimental line, and the detachments from the Second came up very opportunely to fill gaps upon either flank. The heart of the fight, it was apparent, was directly on the front Burleigh K, Jones, Co, B, Wounded at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862, and died of wounds on hospital boat "St. Mark," Hampton Roads, Va., July i, 1862. He was from Hopkinton. 96 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. of the First, and at the request of Major Chandler of that regiment, Major Stevens deployed Company B of the Second in front of the First as skirmishers, and the line again advanced. In all its proud history that company never showed to better advantage than on this occasion. Pushing forward with surpassing intrepidity, the rapid and accurate fire of its breechloaders soon cleared the front of a particularly annoying nest of sharpshooters who had been desperately contesting the First's advance. But in doing this work it suffered severely, seven teen out of its forty- two men being killed or wounded — nearly one-half of the regimental loss (38) on that day. Sergeant Thomas B. Leaver and Corporal George H. Damon were killed, and Privates Horace A. Lamprey, Patrick H. Henaghan, Burleigh K. Jones and Nelson S. Swett were mortally wounded. The only mortal casualties in the regiment, besides these, were George Miles, of Company A, and Herman Shedd, of Company G, killed, and John Brown, of Company I, mortally wounded. There was an affecting scene at the regimental hospital, within the intrenchments, when the bodies of Leaver and Damon, who fell almost at the same instant, were carried back. Harriet Dame was there, ministering to the wounded. In a moment of leisure she went to the two stark bodies, and lifting the edge of the blankets with which they were covered, saw the faces of the two boys who, from old acquaintance, were perhaps closer to her heart than any others in the regiment. " My God ! " she gasped, " It is Tom. Leaver ! " She had been a neighbor of the Leavers, in Concord, and had known Tom. from boyhood. With her own hands she Sergt. Thomas B, Leaver, Co, B, Killed at battle of Oak Grove, July 25 1802. He was from Concord. INCIDENTS OF OAK GROVE. 97 tenderly prepared the bodies for burial, and saw them laid in the ground at the foot of an oak tree near the hospital. The rebel pickets and their heavy reserves were now driven rapidly back, until the limits of the previous advance were reached, when a halt was called, the lines straightened, and connections established. Major Stevens' detachment of the Second found itself again facing that open field, at no point more than two hundred yards in width ; and it was understood that the position was this time to be held at all hazards. They were hardly in position when a rebel regiment was seen to enter the field far to the right, crossing it by the flank at the double-quick. It disappeared in the bush toward the Williamsburg road, and at once ran upon a terri ble snag in the shape of the Seventh New Jersey. One crashing and unexpected volley delivered in their very faces settled the whole business, and as the demoralized fragments went back in helter-skelter flight, the Second opened a cross fire which dropped many the Jerseys had spared. This was the last serious attempt made by the rebels to recover their picket line. The fight now became one of sharpshooters, and was lively enough to satisfy anybody. In front of Major Stevens' detachment the field was narrow, and the men dragged in logs and anything else that would stop a bullet, and piled up a rude breastwork which doubtless saved many casualties. A lone chimney midway of the field was taken possession of by riflemen from the Second, who crawled out through the grass to that advanced and dangerous position. Rebels, wearing broad white bands upon their arms, came out with stretchers and picked up their wounded, unmolested, 7 George Miles, Co, A. Killed at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862. He was from Fitzwilliam. 9« SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. at the same time bullets were spinning in every direction. The most annoying rebel sharpshooters were those perched in the branches of high trees, generally some distance back from their lines ; and it was in tumbling two of these, after he had himself been shot through the left hand, that Sergeant-Major Norton R. Moore showed his great nerve and superior marksmanship. Major Stevens had one of his shoulder straps clipped by a rebel bullet, and there were many almost equally narrow escapes, but not many men wounded. Night came on — a very dark one, too — but the riflemen _ kept popping away, now shooting at the flash of the enemy's guns. Pickets were thrown for ward a little distance into the field, and a ticklish position is was, between the two lines of fire. The troops who had won the ground were relieved dur ing the night, mainly by troops from Couch's division. The left wing of Patrick H, Henaghan, Co, B, Wounded at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862, by a rifle ball piercing his forehead, and died the same day. He was from Newmarket. the Second was relieved about half-past eleven — two hours after Colonel Marston and the right wing had retired to the works. While the left wing was being relieved, and just as the two lines were doubled up at the breastwork, the opposite wood was suddenly lit up with a blaze of musketry, such as could have come only from a solid battle line. The rebels were clearly in force and wide awake, and hearing the unusual movement on their front, had fired in anticipation of an attack. On such an invitation, the double line of Yankees faced to the front, and together poured in one stunning, deafening volley. It was the Second's " Good night ! " to THE SKULKERS. 99 the rebels, and apparently a very impressive one, as there were no more volleys from the rebel side of the field ; but instead, there were unmistakable indications of a panic, the commands of officers rallying and steadying their men being mingled with the shrieks and cries of the wounded. One touch of that buzz saw was all the enemy wanted. The Second, again united, rested until morn ing in the works. But the morning light revealed an exasperating condition of affairs at the front. The farther edge of the field was blue with masses of troops, which it was soon discovered were simply stragglers who had sneaked back from the advanced lines during the night. It looked very much as if the position which it had cost five hundred men, killed and wounded, to secure, had been absolutely aban doned in the night. Officers of high rank were included in these cowardly backsliders. One (a lieutenant-colonel with an elaborately braided uniform), was within a hundred feet of Casey's redoubt, snugly curled up under some wheeled vehicle. Out stalked Dave. Steele, and seizing the skulker by the feet, unceremoniously dragged him forth. The officer planted himself upon the dignity of his rank, but when Dave, met him with a list of his own official titles, past, present, and future, military, civic, and mythical, ending with an ominous flourish of his long arms and a thunderous order to " Git ! " the skedaddler sneaked off amid the jeers of the men who Corpl, George H, Damon Killed at battle of Oak Grove, June 25, 1862. enlisted from Fisherville (now Penacook). He ioo SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. lined the works. As soon as the situation was understood, several companies were deployed well in advance of the intrenchments, which no one passed, coming in, unless he could show good reason. A hundred men were also detailed from the Second to go out and cut down some trees by the Williamsburg road ; but before noon the regiment returned to its camp. Col. Marston's Official Report of Battle of Oak Grove. Hdqrs. Second New Hampshire Volunteers, Camp jiea?' Fair Oaks, Va., June, 1862. In compliance with orders from the brigadier-general commanding the brigade I marched my regiment at 7 o'clock on the morning of the 25th instant to the front of the redoubt at Fair Oaks. At 8.30 o'clock, agreeably to further orders, I sent four companies, under command of Major Stevens, to support the left of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, who had a few moments previously advanced into the fallen timber in front toward the enemy's lines. At fifteen minutes before 9 o'clock I advanced with four companies from the right wing of my regiment to the right wing of the First Massachusetts, which had now become engaged with the skirmishers of the enemy. Advancing through the fallen timber and into a swamp covered with a dense growth of bushes I came upon four companies of the First Massachusetts and formed upon their right. The fire to the left and in front was now quite severe, and the shots of the enemy fell thickly in our ranks. Sending messengers to the front and left I soon ascertained the position of the remainder of the First Massachusetts, and then, with the detachment from my own regiment and the four companies of the First Massachusetts before mentioned, quickly advanced and formed a connection with their right. Major Stevens formed his detachment on the left of the First Massachusetts, and at the request of Major Chandler deployed Company B, armed with Sharp's rifles, as skirmishers in front of that regiment. The whole line then rapidly advanced through the fallen timber and underbrush and over the swampy ground on the right, the enemy retiring, but all the while keeping up a sharp fire in front and from the timber on the left, which was returned with spirit and good effect along the whole line. As we approached the margin of the wood the enemy was seen in considerable force flying in confusion across the open field in front. Several well-directed volleys were fired into the retreating foe before he could cross the open ground into the woods beyond. Officers and men were anxious to follow the retreating enemy, but the general commanding the brigade ordered that no farther advance be made, but to hold the line we then occupied at all hazards. I should have mentioned that soon after I advanced with four companies from the right of my regiment the two remaining companies were ordered to join on the left and be detached under Major Stevens, which they did. The line thus formed on the margin of the wood we occupied during the remainder of the day, being continually annoyed by the sharpshooters of the enemy, stationed in the woods' to the left of our line. A portion of Company B was deployed as skirmishers, and did good execution upon the enemy lurking in the woods in that vicinity. During the afternoon we were much annoyed by the fire'of some pieces of our own artillery to the right of us, many shots from which fell very near us and some in our own ranks. Toward night the enemy brought down some pieces of artillery immediately in front of our line, but concealed from view by a narrow belt of bushes beyond the open ground, but the fire being directed to the right, we did not suffer" therefrom. About 9.30 o'clock the four companies from my right wing were relieved and marched back to the redoubt at Fair Oaks, and about 11.30 o'clock the six companies on the left of the First Massachusetts were also relieved, and just as they were about to march back to the redoubt the enemy came out into the open field in front and there forming in line fired one volley without much effect, which being returned by a fire OFFICIAL REPORT. 101 along our whole line was not repeated. Major Stevens then marched his detachment back to the redoubt, where my regiment remained- in the trenches until 8 o'clock the next morning, when we were relieved, and the regiment marched into camp. I should have remarked that after fighting all day and standing in the trenches the following night about ioo men were detailed from my regiment at 5 o'clock in the morning to fell timber on the Williamsburg road until 8 o'clock a. m. During the operations of the 25th the detachment under Major Stevens was handled judiciously and effectively by that officer. It is but simple justice to the regiment to say that all the officers and the men, with but very few exceptions, acquitted themselves admirably. They were confident, brave, and obedient to orders. Adjutant Lawrence is deserving of commendation, not only for his activity and efficiency on the 25th instant, but also for the promptness with which he performs all his duties; also Sergeant-Major Moore, a brave man and a good soldier. He brought down 2 rebel sharpshooters from the trees where they were concealed and was himself severely wounded in the hand. I wish particularly to call attention to Surgeon Merrow. I believe there is no one in the medical corps who performs his duties more faithfully or more skillfully than this officer. Where almost every man performed his part well and according to the best of his ability it might be considered invidious to mention particular cases of gallantry and good conduct, which otherwise I should be glad to do. The casualties in my regiment on the 25th instant were 4 killed and 32 wounded, 4 mortally. [Revised statement showed 34 wounded.] Of these 17 occurred in Company B. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GILMAN MARSTON. Colonel Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers. Joseph Hibbert, Jr., Assistant Adjutant-General. CHAPTER VII. JUNE 27 TO AUGUST 22, 1862. THE -"CHANGE OF BASE" BATTLE OF PEACH ORCHARD, OR ALLEN'S FARM WITHDRAWAL ACROSS WHITE OAK SWAMP THE SECOND LOSES THE ROAD BATTLE OF GLENDALE THE ATTACK ON MCCALL SECOND REGIMENT DETACHED TO SUPPORT DE RUSSY'S BATTERY — IT REJOINS THE BRIGADE GROVER REPULSES AN ATTACK AND ADVANCES EXPLOSIVE BULLETS FIRED BY THE REBELS A COLONEL WHO HAD HEARD OF THE SECOND A NIGHT OF HORRORS BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL COL. MARSTON'S CONFIDENCE AT HARRISON'S LANDING MARSTON'S TILT WITH GROVER HOOKER'S RECONNOISSANCE TO MALVERN HILL THE PENINSULA EVACUATED COLONEL MARSTON'S OFFICIAL REPORT OF BATTLE OF GLENDALE. [UNE 26th, was fought the battle of Mechanics- ville. Lee, banking upon McClellan's timidity and inertness, withdrew the greater part of his troops from the Richmond lines, and concentrated them against Porter, on the north side of the Chickahominy. McClellan's fears had swelled the force opposed to him to overwhelming proportions. He had informed the War Department that the army on his front numbered two hundred thousand men ; and in his official report, written some time later, he still adhered to the belief that he was confronted by twice his own numbers. The cold figures of the rebel official records show that Lee's force was ninety thousand, of which he massed sixty-five thousand against Porter, leaving only twenty-five thous and, under Magruder, in the Richmond defences. Thus, while threatening McClellan's line of communication with White House, he audaciously left his own base in imminent peril from an enter prising adversary. A determined effort by the force on its front RETREAT FROM FAIR OAKS. 103 would probably have resulted in the occupation of Richmond. This was what prominent rebel officers feared, and Magruder says in his official report : " His [McClellan's] failure to do so is the best evidence that our wise commander fully understood the character of his opponent." Hooker's men, at Fair Oaks, heard the deep "thrum" of Porter'.s artillery, and in the evening it was announced to the troops, under instructions from headquarters, that " Porter has whipped them on the right." He had, in fact, fought a magnificent battle and given Lee a bloody repulse when the fight closed on the 26th; but the men were made very skeptical by the retreat^to the James which so quickly followed, and " Porter 's whipped 'em on the right" was for a long time the derisive cry in Hooker's division when news was given out which seemed to require verification. During the 27th, while Porter was fighting a vastly superior force at Gaines' Mill, Magruder kept up a tremendous hullaballoo along the Richmond lines, repeating with great success' his early Yorktown tactics. There was a constant fusilade on the picket line ; threatening demonstrations were made at various'points ; the rebel artillery was freely used ; and a balloon was ostentatiously sent up, as if to spy out the Union positions. So artistically did Magruder perform his part of the program that he kept the sixty thousand men on his front in momentary expectation of an attack, and it was not dared either to assume the offensive or to weaken the lines by sending adequate reinforcements to Porter. Porter withdrew to the south side of the Chickahominy that night, and McClellan, having thus abandoned his base on the Pamunky, commenced a retreat, or more politely speaking, "change of base," to the James. Sumner and Heintzelman occupied their intrenchments until the morning of the 29th. During the 28th the air was full of rumors, some of a sinister character, but the idea of a retreat by that great army, without a general engagement, did not enter into the speculations and calculations of its rank and file. Early on the morning of the 29th Grover's brigade was under arms in its camps, prepared, as the men supposed, to take the customary round of trench and picket duty. At the last moment before marching an 104 .SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. intimation was given the Second, from some source, that the men had better take their shelter tents along — a hint which was quickly acted upon. In this matter they were, more fortunate than many of the regiments, who marched off leaving their camps standing. The brigade marched to the trenches and relieved the New Jersey brigade. It was noted that the artillery had been removed from the redoubts, and before long the pickets were withdrawn. Then the brigade filed back into the Williamsburg road and abandoned the works to the enemy. As the brigade proceeded down the road, marching rapidly, it was. seen that the tents were still stand ing in some of the abandoned camps, but men were running through them, slashing the canvas into shreds, and setting fire to everything combustible. Barrels of sugar and coffee were emptied upon the ground and scat tered in the mud, and as an all- around carnival of destruction the evacuation was a success. Even 'the sutlers were keeping open shop, shouting to the men to help themselves to what they wanted, without money and without price ; and it looked as if they would be pressed for time to dispose of their stocks, even on such liberal terms. Everybody was in a hurry. A mile or more to the rear, the corps of Sumner, Heintzelman and Franklin halted and took position to cover the withdrawal of the rest of the army and the great train of five thousand wagons across White Oak Swamp. Sumner posted his corps on Allen's farm, between Orchard and Savage Stations, with his left upon the railroad, where it connected with Heintzelman, whose line extended across and covered the Williamsburg road. Grover's brigade was on Heintzelman's extreme right, next to Sumner. The Second Major Josiah Stevens, Jr. The original major of the regiment. From Concord. He resigned July 25, 1862. He had, the month previous, been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth N. H., but declined. He was for several years in the employ of the Concord Railroad, at Manchester, in which city he died October 26, 1875. BATTLE OF PEACH ORCHARD. 105 Regiment was posted upon an uneven ridge, covered with a dense tangle of bushes, from which there was a view up" the railroad nearly or quite to Fair Oaks Station. The pioneers of the regiment cleared the brush from a portion of its front, upon which a battery was placed in position to command the railroad, while the men settled down to await developments. The regiment had not been in position an hour when, through the haze of smoke which enveloped everything in the direction of Fair Oaks, shadowy forms were seen upon the railroad, indicating that the rebels were feeling their way forward, in pursuit. A hush of expectancy fell upon the waiting line. It was about eleven o'clock when the silence was broken by the report of a cannon, followed by the rush and explosion of a shell a little distance to the right. A lively artillery duel was immediately on. Several shells swept over into Grover's brigade, wounding a number of men. Then came the shrill rebel yell, with a rattle of musketry, lasting but a few minutes, when a swelling chorus of good round Yankee " 'Rah's ! " told that the rebels were repulsed. After a time the attack was renewed, and again repulsed. No part of the engage ment could be seen from the Second's position, but the firing was very near — just over the ridge to the right. The attack was made by Magruder's division, and he was so rudely checked by Sumner that he did not try conclusions again until four o'clock in the afternoon, when he was tempted by the premature withdrawal of Heintzelman's corps — made under some misapprehension of orders — and was again soundly thrashed and driven from the field. Sumner, after the last repulse at Allen's farm (or Peach Orchard, as the engagement is officially known), decided to move back to Savage Station, a distance of about a mile, and his troops were put in motion to that end. The green flags of Meagher's brigade suddenly lifted in front of the Second, and his Irishmen came pouring up out of the bush and back into the Williamsburg road. After a time, Heintzelman also withdrew, but instead of halting farther back and stopping with Sumner and Franklin until night, he pushed on and crossed White Oak Swamp. But for the failure of Stonewall Jackson to rebuild Grapevine Bridge in season io6 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. to cross over to Magruder's assistance, this might have been a costly error ; * but as affairs turned out, it was in one way an advantage to the general movement, as there remained but two corps, instead of three, to crowd the narrow defiles of White Oak Swamp at night. Heintzelman's withdrawal commenced at three o'clock. One hour of that march brought as much anxiety to Colonel Marston, probably, and as much hard work to the legs of his men, certainly, as either experienced in the same length of time during the war. There was a considera ble interval between the Second and the regiment preceding it in the column, and coming to a fork of the road, with no troops in sight ahead, Marston was in doubt which road to follow. He sent the adjutant some distance down one, who returned with the report that he had seen no troops. So away the Second went on the other road, hit or miss, closely followed by the Twenty-sixth Pennsylva nia, and the progress of those two regiments was a marvel of pedestrianism. It was a great relief all around when they came out at Brackett's Ford and there found the rest of the brigade, which had taken the other, and more direct, road. On the morning of the 30th the entire army and its material were across White Oak Swamp, the fords and their approaches obstructed by felled trees, and White Oak Bridge torn up. From Sergt, Jesse E, Dewey, Co, I, The above portrait is from a faded ambrotype, taken in the old state uniform. Dewey settled in Lebanon soon after the war, where he has been active in public and business affairs. Has represented the town in the legislature, and is engaged in insurance and express business. THE LINE OF RETREAT. 107 the bridge to Malvern Hill— following first the Long Bridge and then the Quaker road — is a distance of between four and five miles, and the various corps were disposed so as to cover this line for the protection of the immense army trains, which, stretched out in a single line, would have extended forty T_ri_es. The following diagram will assist the reader to an understanding of the line of retreat and the approaches to it from Richmond : § Long Bridge Road. -X- Quaker R. § *Malvern Hill. x. New Market Road. -z. Darbytown Road. 3. Charles City Road. Keyes' corps was upon the James, covering the mouth of the hole into which McClellan had determined to run his army. Porter was at Malvern Hill with two of his divisions and a powerful park of artillery. Franklin's corps, with Richardson's division of Sum ner's, defended the various White Oak crossings, Slocum's division extending as far as the Charles City road at a point considerably in advance of its intersection with the Long Bridge road. Heintzel man's corps, Sedgwick's division of Sumner's (with which Sumner made his headquarters), and McCall's division of Porter's, were at the position where the Long Bridge, Charles City and Quaker roads come together, and where it was probable the great effort would be made to cut the retreating army in two. The commanding general passed on to the James river early in the morning, and Sumner,. Heintzelman and McCall manoeuvred and fought independently, where there should have been a paramount authority to control and systematically direct the whole field. Heintzelman, commanding the only full corps present, designed placing his troops so as to cover the Long Bridge road and, in connection with Slocum, the Charles City road — Kearney's division across the angle formed by the two roads, and Hooker's in io8 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. extension upon its left. But while Kearney was getting into position, McCall moved down the Long Bridge road, across which he posted his division, a considerable distance in advance of Kearney's left. This threw Hooker out of position and made the separation of Heintzelman's two divisions advisable. Hooker was accordingly posted along the Quaker road, Grover's brigade upon the right, and its right upon a narrow cross road or lane affording a & r ? fs) e l c-o-J tfeintzelnian'c f-/_l o y-5 3/^TTLt °f {^LEND/\L_^CH/y\LE^_iTy £r\0_- f\p/\0_ -|;7 — §Tio\n/"inri' approximate posilionsof troops / ,-5 ' ' V I — NOtORAw'rJ TO &CA__ short cut between the Long Bridge and Quaker roads. Sedgwick was in an open field to Hooker's right. Hooker, strangely enough, was not aware even of McCall's presence on the field, until about eleven o'clock, when some army wagons were observed on his front, and making an examination he found McCall's division several hundred yards in front, its line stretching off at an obtuse angle with the direction of his own. BATTLE OF GLENDALE. 109 Meantime four rebel columns were pushing forward against as many different points on the line of retreat : Holmes' division on the New Market or River road ; Longstreet and A. P. Hill on the Darbytown or Central road ; Huger upon the Charles City road. Jackson was to attempt the passage of White Oak Creek in the wake of the retreating army. Holmes was easily scared off by Porter's artillery and the gunboats. Huger found his road badly obstructed, and was not heard from after a brush with Slocum's artillery. Jackson made desperate efforts to force a passage at White Oak Bridge, but was stubbornly held to his own side of the creek. Longstreet's column, the supreme importance of which was indicated by the presence with it of General Lee and Jeff. Davis, was the attacking party in the bloody battle variously known as Glendale, Charles City Cross Roads, and Fraser's Farm. Hooker's division, once in position, enjoyed a rest of several hours in the grateful shade of forest trees. A stream of army wagons crowded the road to their rear, just across which an immense train was parked waiting its turn to join the procession. This commenced to break about noon, and the last wagon got away before sunset. Commencing before noon, heavy artillery firing was heard in the direction of White Oak Bridge, but everything was quiet in the vicinity of the cross roads until nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, when the advance of Huger came within reach of Slocum and was touched up by the latter's artillery. Longstreet, who for some time had been waiting to hear from Huger, at once advanced upon the Long Bridge road and threw his column upon McCall. After a stubborn fight of nearly an hour, in which a part of McCall's troops did some of the best fighting of the campaign, his little division was forced back, losing most of its artillery, and many of its regiments in complete disorganization and confusion. The Second New Hampshire had no hand in the bloody repulse which the rest of Grover's brigade inflicted upon the rebel force that pursued the fragments of McCall's left. About the time of the commencement of Longstreet's attack the regiment was ordered to proceed with the utmost haste to the support of De Russy's battery, which had become engaged with Huger on the Charles City road. SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Up the Quaker road the regiment went, in a cloud of dust, and finally halted and came into line in an open pine wood, three- quarters of a mile from its starting point. It had not reached the battery it was directed to, and the indications were it would not be needed there, for although the firing on the left was swelling to big proportions, it seemed to have died out almost entirely on the Charles City road. Huger's movement had, indeed, collapsed, after his usual fashion. Orders came to Colonel Marston to rejoin the brigade, and the regiment hurriedly retraced its steps. The hour of its absence had been big with exciting events. Longstreet had overwhelmed McCall, only in turn to be savagely re pulsed and thrown back by Hooker's right assisted by two or three of Sedgwick's regiments. Sumner's artil lery, as the Second passed along its rear, was sweeping the woods in front with a tornado of shells. Its infantry supports lay almost concealed in the tall grass. One regiment sprang to its feet as if to meet an infantry attack, but almost instantly went back out of sight again. Arriving at the head of the little cross road, one of Hooker's aides was met, who swung his hat and shouted exultantly, " General Hooker has whipped the enemy handsomely, and he wants you to join the division." The men, of course, imbibed the aide's Warren H, Hurd, Co, A, He A native of Keene, and a printer by trade. wounded and taken prisoner near Savage Station, June 20, 1862. In December, 1863, he was appointed First Lieut. 23d U. S. Colored Infantry, and was in command of the first camp of colored troops enlisted in the District of Columbia. Was severely wounded in front oi Petersburg, and commissioned captain. He and his command were complimented in Generai Orders for good conduct at the battle of the Mine. Now lives at Anthony, Kansas, in business as finan cial agent. GROVER'S BRIGADE ADVANCES. enthusiasm, and cheered lustily. The regiment filed into the cross road, up which it marched a little distance, then went into line to its left, with three regiments of the brigade, which were there in position. The Eleventh Massachusetts had been detached and sent to the extreme left to reinforce the Excelsior brigade. The Sixteenth Massachusetts and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania were along the line of a rail fence on the crest of a low ridge, and the Second took position to the rear, and in support of, the Sixteenth. Longstreet was following up his success over McCall by vicious assaults, now here, now there, along the Union lines. While the Second remained in position awaiting .developments, Sumner's artillery, to which De Russy's and perhaps others of Heintzelman's batteries had been added, was deluging the woods with missiles, and several assaults were handsomely re pulsed. At length the blow fell upon Grover. The rebels suddenly advanced upon the front of the Sixteenth, delivering a very sharp and destructive fire. Col. Wyman fell from his horse, shot through the heart, and his adjutant and lieutenant-colonel, with many men, also went down. The right wing being most exposed, was badly cut up, and soon gave back in confusion. But when the Second sprang to their feet, and with bayonets at a charge, slowly advanced up the slope in line, the reassured men at once rallied and were ready for business again. The Sixteenth, aided by an oblique fire from the Twenty-sixth, on their left, speedily broke the rebel attack, whereupon Grover proceeded to clear his front of the enemy. The Second advanced Edward N. Taft, Co. A. Killed at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. He was a native of Nelson, 27 years of age, and resided in Keene at the time of his enlistment. SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. to the crest, while the Sixteenth withdrew by the right and rear to "get together." The Twenty-sixth went off in a wild charge down the slope, partially crossing the Second's front, picking twenty or thirty rebel sharpshooters out of holes and from behind rocks, and entering the woods from which the attack on the Sixteenth had come. Grover pushed directly forward from the left with the First Massachusetts, passing a long distance to the front, until the regiment ran into a cross fire in the darkness, from which it suffered a severe loss. The Second moved a little to the right and then advanced into the woods in an effort to pick up its connection with the Twenty-sixth. It was now getting to be quite dark, which with the settling smoke and dense underbrush, shut off any extended view of the front. Rebel bullets were flying, as if from a line of pickets or skir mishers, but the Second was cautioned not to reply, as it was feared the Twenty-sixth or some other Union troops might be on the front. For a time the men were a good deal puzzled to account for sharp reports which were heard in every direction — to the rear, overhead — everywhere. In connection with the deepening" gloom, the manifestation was decidedly uncanny. The mystery was solved, however, when a bullet, cutting across the breast of Captain Sayles, suddenly exploded, inflicting a painful lacerated wound. Soon the regiment was moved still further to the right, coming into an open field, and took position as support to one of Sumner's regiments. Its colonel came to Colonel Marston, evidently with great anxiety. " Colonel, can I rely upon your regiment to stand Lieut, John S, Sides, Co. K, The original First Lieutenant of Company K. Resides in Portsmouth. THE SECOND'S REPUTATION. n3 by me in case of an attack?" " Yes, sir," snorted Marston, " there won't a man of my regiment run away, sir; not a man." "What regiment is yours?" "The New Hampshire Second." "Good! I have heard of you before." Immediately after, he was heard encouraging and bracing up his regiment with the announcement that "one of Hooker's regiments" was supporting them, and " a bully one, too . " But there was no further attack. The battle was over, except for the firing of pickets and the occasional collision of scattered detachments blindly groping their way, in the darkness, over the extremely broken ground of the front. Longstreet had been completely foiled and bloodily repulsed. Except for his early success over McCall, which had been dearly earned and amply avenged, he had nothing to his credit. And yet, it was on the evening of this day of successful defence at every point that McClellan telegraphed the Secretary of War from the cover of the gunboats on the James : "Another day of desperate fighting. We are hard pressed by supe rior numbers. I fear I shall be forced to abandon my material to save my men under cover of the gunboats. * * If none of us escape, we shall at least have done honor to the country." It was very fortunate that the army was not as badly rattled as its commander. When it became apparent that no further attacks were to be apprehended, the Second moved over toward the left, where the brigade was reunited and lay upon its arms until morning. During the day the regiment had zigzagged all over the field, but had hardly fired a gun. It had lost a man here and a man there, until the number wounded aggregated eleven — only one mortally — John H. Breeze, of Company E. The horrors of that night at Glendale can never be forgotten by Josiah 0, Taft, Co.^A, A native and resident of Fitz- william. Sick unto death, yet he started on the retreat, and expired near Harrison's Landing, June 30, 1862, while his regiment was engaged at Glendale. 114 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. those who lay in line there during the long, weary hours. The ground between the two lines was thickly strewn with the rebel wounded, but few of whom were within reach of succor, and the shrieks and groans and cries for help which came up from that valley of death were appalling. Hooker wrote, in his official report : " From their torches we could see that the enemy was busy all night in searching for his wounded, but up to daylight the following morning there had been no apparent dimi nution in the heartrending cries and groans of his wounded. The unbroken, mournful wail of human suf fering was all that we heard from Glendale during that long, dismal night." During the night the troops were all withdrawn to Malvern Hill, where Hooker's division arrived shortly after sunrise. In the early hours of that day (July ist) there was witnessed upon Malvern Hill one of the most impressive pageants of the war, several entire army corps being massed upon its broad, open slopes. Shortly after Heintzelman's arrival, and while his troops were resting upon the plateau in front of the Quaker road, advance parties of rebels made their appearance on that road, emerging from the woods, and were followed in time by a battery, which boldly advanced a considerable distance into the fields, deliberately went into position, and opened {ire. Almost its first shot struck in a group of mounted officers surrounding General Hooker, the shell passing through the body of Captain Beam, commanding one of Hooker's batteries. Probably ten thousand men saw the incident and wondered how long Hooker would stand that. Not long ! There was a stir n several of the batteries. Guns were wheeled John L. Woods, Co. B, Resides at Hollis. BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. H5 into position on the spots where they happened to be resting, and within five minutes what was left of the rebel battery was tearing for the rear at a wild gallop, the drivers lashing their horses, and the cannoneers scattering out of the line of fire. The position of Heintzelman's corps that day was on the left center. Grover's brigade was in a very comfortable position, in a rather open wood ; and the situation was rendered peculiarly attractive to men who had been drinking swamp water for weeks, by several springs of clear, cool, wholesome water which bubbled out at the base of a slight declivity a short distance to the rear of the line. Upon this higher ground the Excelsior brigade was in line as support, and could have done most effective work in c.se of an attack by firing over the heads of Grover's men. It was a very strong position, and as soon as the line was established and pickets thrown out, the Second made it still stronger by piling the forest debris into a breast work. Though tired, hungry, and by this time mostly with empty haversacks, the men were never in better spirits for a fight, and a rebel line on the front would have been greeted like old friends. Colonel Marston was fairly bubbling with this spirit of confi dence. He walked down the line, inspecting the work with a satisfied air, and accompanied by a brand new "contract surgeon," who was naturally alive to the possibilities of the situation. The fighting had just commenced in good earnest on the left, and the men were spreading loose cartridges where they could be readily reached when needed, putting the finishing touches to the breast works, and making the numberless little preparations which count Corpl. John H, Cole, Co, C. Was a member of the color guard in many of the Second's hardest battles. Now janitor of the City Hall building in Manchester. n6 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. in the defence of a position. " Your men have got a good position," said the surgeon, whose eyes cast many furtive glances into the forest depths from which trouble might be expected to come at any moment. " Yes, my boys are great on intrenchments," replied the colonel. " Do you think you will be attacked?" " Well, we may be — they 're at it pretty brisk on the left." " How many men would it take to drive you out of here?" "Well," said the colonel, as if making a mental calculation, " six thousand might, but five thousand would get killed doing it !" The boys who overheard " Old Gil.'s " estimate laughed and concurred in its correct ness, and his figures were soon passed along the line and accepted and adopted. As on the previous day at Glendale, the fighting com menced between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, and when it closed, at nine o'clock, Lee had suffered one of the bloodiest and most demoralizing repulses of the war. Assault after assault was directed against the Union left, the brunt falling upon Porter and Couch, and again and again the rebels were driven back with terrible slaughter. The fire of the Union artillery was almost unprecedented in warfare, the great array of field batteries which had been concentrated upon the hill being assisted by the fire of the seige train, largely composed of 30-pounder Parrotts, posted in a commanding position on the crest of the plateau, and the ponder ous armament of the gunboats. Hooker's front was not involved in any of the assaults ; but at a time when Porter was hard pressed, Heintzelman sent the Excelsior brigade to his assistance, where it gave a good account of itself. John H, Burri Discharged, after serving three years, he again enlisted, and was assigned to Co. C. He writes from Hawley, Minn.: "I have lived here twenty-two years. I have no picture of war times, so had this taken for the occasion. On the whole, perhaps it will be as well, as I should like to see my 'old comrades as they look now, so as to judge how time has used them." A T HARRISON'S LANDING. 1 1 7 About nightfall a cheerful apparition appeared to the Second in the form of the quartermaster and a squad of men with a supply of hardtack carried in tentcloths and blankets. The battle ended, the retreat was resumed, against the passionate protests of some of the Union generals. It commenced to rain early in the night, and soon the roads were in very bad condition. That unmolested march of only a few miles to Harrison's Landing had a more depressing effect upon the rank and file of the army than all the marching and fighting they had done since leaving the lines in front of Richmond. It began to dawn upon them that they were taking part in a grand skedaddle for cover, instead of some brilliant feat of aggressive strategy. Up to this time the average impression had been that the army was very well able to take care of itself, and all the fighting had only strengthened the confidence of the men. All the conditions were conducive to straggling, and it was a bedraggled mob, with here and there a patch of organization, that poured out upon the broad, open river bottom at Harrison's Landing. At the head of the road aides of the division generals were posted to direct the men to their commands, and in this way they were again assembled upon their colors as they arrived. The " change of base " was effected. That magnificent army was disgracefully huddled "under cover of the gunboats," and at once set to work in all haste to cover its front with intrenchments, while its commander was frantically calling for reinforcements. Lee hung around for a few days, then leisurely withdrew to Richmond. After the completion of the intrenchments, work upon which was pushed night and day, the duties were not heavy, consisting mainly of an occasional review or round on picket. But the heat was phenomenal, and there was considerable sickness. The camp of the Second Regiment was a short distance to the left of Row land's mill pond, a body of water covering several acres, which gave thousands of men good bathing facilities. The camp was simply a sand oven, without a tree or a bush standing in its limits, in which the thermometer made nothing of registering above 100 degrees, day after day. It was not long after the arrival here that Colonel Marston had his famous tilt with General Grover. For some reason the Second 1 1 8 S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. was not paraded, one morning, according to orders of the brigade commander. Grover sent for Marston, and a conversation ensued about as follows : " I noticed, Colonel, that your regiment was not out this morning. What was the reason? " "The reason was, I did not order them out." " You will order them out now, then, and remain under arms two hours." " I will do nothing of the kind." " What ! " — in profound astonishment. " I said the regiment will not be ordered out. If there is any fault, it is not that of my men, and they will not be punished. If you want the officers to parade, we will come out and stand as long as you please." This was rank insubordination. " I would have you under stand, Colonel Marston," said Grover, warningly, " that I am the brigadier-general commanding this brigade." " And I would have you understand," was the quick response, " that I am a member of the body that makes brigadier-generals." The matter dropped, right there, and the regiment was not ordered out. The incident did not lessen in the least the affec tionate admiration the Second always had for Cuvier Grover. July passed uneventfully and monotonously enough, but August was ushered in by a tremendous display of fireworks. On the night of July 31st the rebels posted about forty pieces of artillery at favorable points on the south side of the James, and at midnight opened on the shipping and camps near the river. The gunboats responded, and after an hour of uproaT the rebels withdrew, having killed ten men and wounded twenty or thirty more. A few days later, Hooker returned the compliment by a recon- noissance in force to Malvern Hill. Late on the afternoon of August 2d he marched from the intrenched camp with his division, a regiment of cavalry, and two horse batteries ; but being misled by an incompetent guide, returned to camp before morning. On the afternoon of the 4th, however, he moved out again ; and this time there was no misleading or taking wrong roads. The division followed a circuitous route, by a back road which entered the MALVERN HILL REOCCUPIED. 119 Quaker road near the scene of the great battle of June 30th at Glendale. The few inhabitants along the line of march were placed under guard to prevent their carrying news to the enemy, and about midnight the division halted within a few hundred yards of the cross roads, which were known to be held by a rebel cavalry picket. Strict orders were issued against lighting matches, loud conversation, or any unusual noise, and the troops lay quietly on their arms until morning, with the first dawn of which the march was resumed. The rebel pickets fired a few shots and scampered off, when the column, with the cavalry and a battery in the lead, turned into the Quaker road and marched rapidly for Malvern Hill. A section of artillery, posted on the lawn of the quaint old brick man sion on the hill, opened fire as the column approached, and one shell burst in the ranks of the Second, wounding three or four men — the only casualties in the regiment that day. General Hooker, seated on his favorite white horse under a widespread wayside tree, directed the troops to position as they came up. Grover's brigade filed to the right and took position between the road and the battery, which was already replying to the rebel guns. It was a most unequal fight for the rebels, as they were also under fire from a gunboat in their rear ; the shells from which were, however, quite as much of an annoyance to Hooker's men as to the Johnnies, as many of them passed completely over the hill and exploded near Hooker's lines. Had General Patterson advanced promptly with the Third Capt. Thomas Snow, Co. F. The original captain of Company F. After fourteen months' service he was prostrated by diseases incident to the climate and service, and resigned. He never recovered his health, and died at Marblehead, Mass., April 18, 1880. SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Brigade and occupied the river road, the battery and its support of four hundred cavalry would have been bagged. But he failed to do so, and the rebels wisely concluded to go while they could. They went in such a hurry as to leave behind a caisson, the implements of one gun, and two dead artillerymen, one still clutching in his nerveless hands the shell he was carry ing to his gun when struck down. The cavalry at once set off in pursuit, and pressed the enemy sharply in a run ning fight in which the lieutenant-colonel in com mand was mortally wounded. Grover's brigade advanced on the first signs of flight, many of the mounted men skurrying across the fields in pursuit of the scattered foot men who could not keep up with the procession. Lieut. Joe. Hubbard, then serving as an aide on General Grover's staff, dashed into a squad of five, and they came in with him on his nonchalant assurance : " It 's no use, boys — you can't make it ; come along." The pickets, alarmed by the commotion, were also showing up, singly and in squads, only to find themselves in the hands of the Yankees. All in all, about a hundred prisoners were picked up. The following day (August 6) Hooker was reinforced by the divisions of Couch and Sedgwick, while Lee sent four divisions down from Richmond to look after the matter. Hooker made his dispositions for a fight ; but the day passed quietly, and during the night the entire force was withdrawn to Harrison's Landing. It was a sleepless, wearisome night for the Second. The regiment Corpl. David 0, Davis, Cc. D. Was discharged for disability Sept. 19, 1862. The following August he was drafted and assigned to the Fifth N. H. Was promoted to corporal, wounded at Fort Stedman, captured at Farm- ville, and again discharged for disability, after the surrender. Now resides at Newmarket. THE PENINSULA EVACUATED. was posted in a dense forest, in line of battle across a byroad leading up to the hill. Putting out no pickets, the regiment stood in line there, hour after hour, until withdrawn sometime before daybreak. With the installation of Halleck as General-in-Chief, it was decided to withdraw McClellan's army from the Peninsula and join it to that of General Pope. The movement was earnestly opposed by General McClellan ; but as Lee was detaching troops against Pope in such num bers as to threaten to overwhelm him, while McClellan was unwilling to resume offensive operations without large reinforcements which the government was powerless to send him, Hal leck adhered to his plan, and spurred McClellan to move quickly. The sick and all the impedimenta were sent off on transports, and on August 16 th the last division took up its march down the Peninsula. Most of the army crossed the Chickahominy on a pon- Andrew J, Rugg, Co, A, _ A recruit, from the town of Sullivan, who joined the regiment in September, 1861, and died of disease, in hospital at Philadelphia, Pa., July 25, 1862. toon bridge at Barrett's Ferry, near the mouth of the river, but the Third Corps crossed farther up, at Jones' Bridge, proceeding by way of Diascund Bridge, Barhamsville and Williamsburg, to York- town. The itinerary of the Second was as follows : August 15. Started from camp at noon, passed through Charles City Court House, and camped three miles beyond. 16. Started at 6 a. m. and marched till 3 p. m., crossing the Chickahominy at Jones' Bridge. 17. Marched about fourteen miles, to Barhamsville. 18. Marched at 1 p. m., and arrived at Williamsburg (18 miles) at 2 o'clock the following morning. 122 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. 19. Left Williamsburg at 10 o'clock a. m., and marched to within three miles of Yorktown. 20. Remained in camp. On the 21st the regiment embarked on the steamer "State of Maine," and the following day the little fleet bearing Hooker's division and its fortunes steamed away from the frowning defences of Yorktown and Gloucester. Colonel Marston's Official Report of Battle of Glendale. Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, Camp near Harrison's Landing, Va,t July io, 1862. On the morning of the 29th ultimo this regiment marched with the First Brigade, Hooker's division, from Fair Oaks, and after awaiting an attack from the enemy about two miles from that place on the road toward Savage Station until past 3 o'clock p. m., again marched toward White Oak Swamp, crossing the same at sunset, and camped near Saint Paul's Church. About 9 o'clock a. m. of the 30th ultimo the regiment was posted in line of battle on the right of the road leading past said church, and there remained until about 3 o'clock p. m., when by order of the brigadier-general commanding the brigade I moved the regiment rapidly to the right about half a mile to the support of De Russy's battery, which was then hotly engaged with the enemy in that quarter. Before reaching the battery I was ordered to return to the ground originally occupied, the enemy having made a very determined attack in front and to the right of that position. Thence I was immediately ordered forward and formed line of battle at the base of a slight ridge of land beyond which the enemy were in force, thence forward to the crest of the ridge, then by the right flank into a wood on the same elevation, then further to the right into an open field, where we remained until 9 o'clock p. m., momentarily expecting an attack at that point, the enemy being at this time in force beyond a narrow belt of woods in front of us. We were subsequently moved to the left, to the position we had before occupied, on the crest of the rising ground in the wood, throwing one company forward to observe the enemy. Soon after the regiment was moved farther to the left and in the rear of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and this position we continued to occupy until dawn, when the whole brigade marched toward the James River. Although my regiment occupied so many positions on the field of battle during the day, and all the while within long musket-range of the enemy, it did not become actually engaged. We were never in position to return effectively the fire of the enemy, which reached us from it distance as late as 9 o'clock p. m. I have never seen the men of my regiment so eager for a fight as on that day. Every individual man seemed anxious to come to close quarters with the foe and to strike telling blows for the great cause in which they had voluntarily engaged at the peril of their lives. None were killed upon the field. Captains Edward L. Bailey and Samuel P. Sayles were slightly wounded, as also were William A. Heywood and John W. Harmond, of Company A; Joseph Tallin and James M. Wiggin, of Company H; James Mayhew, Company F: James M, Wellman, Company G; Abiel W. Colgan and George H. Thyng, Co. E, and John H. Breeze, of the same company, mortally. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GILMAN MARSTON, Colonel Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers* Capt. Joseph Hibbert, Jr., Assistant Adjutant-General, CHAPTER VIII. AUGUST 23 TO SEPTEMBER 3, 1862. HOOKER'S DIVISION ARRIVES AT WARRENTON JUNCTION STONEWALL JACKSON IN THE REAR THE BATTLE OF KETTLE RUN A BATTERY THE SECOND DID NOT SUPPORT EWELL RETREATS TO MANASSAS JUNCTION THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN CHARGE OF GROVER'S BRIGADE INCIDENTS OF A HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE THE LOSSES OF THE SECOND WHAT THE OFFICIAL REPORTS SAY ANOTHER DAY OF FIGHTING RETREAT TO CENTREVILLE THE BATTLE OF CHANTILLY RETREAT CONTIN UED TO ALEXANDRIA. ^HE following day (August 23d) the fleet conveying Hooker's division was at Acquia Creek, where it remained for several hours while it was being determined whether the division should land there, as had some of McClellan's troops, or proceed to Alexandria and go to Pope by rail from that point. The stop was taken advantage of by many of the men to have a good swim in the Potomac ; but a gloom was cast over the Second by the accidental drowning of one of its original members — James E. Seavey, of Company K, — who, apparently seized with cramps, sank beneath the muddy waters, and was never seen again. The fleet arrived at Alexandria" that night, and the following day (24th) the troops were disembarked and went into camp about two miles out from the city. Late on the afternoon of the 25 th the division was packed upon trains of box cars, every place, inside and out, where a soldier could stick, being occupied, and started to reinforce Pope. It was long after dark when the trains arrived at Manassas Junction, where a short delay was made. There was considerable good-natured chaffing between " McClellan's men " and the guard holding the Station. It was apparent that Stonewall Jackson was 1 24 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. the nightmare of that region, and not without reason, as the very next night he swooped down and drove or carried off the whole crowd. At midnight the division arrived at Warrenton Junction, and the next day went into camp in a delightful location near Cedar Creek, where the men were assured they would probably remain several days. But Stonewall Jackson had not been consulted on that matter, and they remained only one night in the new camp. Early on the morning of the 27 th the troops were routed and ordered to be ready to march at five o'clock. The occasional reports of cannon in the direction of Manassas indicated that there was trouble in the rear ; and, indeed, there was, of a very serious nature. Stonewall Jackson, with three divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, had made a rapid march through Thoroughfare Gap, and captured Manassas Junction, with several railroad trains and the great depots of army supplies which had been gathered there. But if Jackson was rapid in his movements, the counter move ments to head off and crush him before Lee could reunite the widely separated wings of his army, were also prompt. Hooker's division — the nearest the scene of action — marched directly for Manassas Junction, accompanied by General Pope himself. On arriving at Catlett's Station, about two miles from camp, evidences of the recent presence of the enemy and of his destructive tenden cies were found, and Companies B and K of the Second were thrown forward as skirmishers, the regiment heading the column. The day was intensely hot, and many men suffered from sun stroke ; but the march was pushed with all of Hooker's accustomed energy, the troops using both the railroad and the highway, which were parallel and close together. At various points the ruins of bridges and culverts were met, and at length, as the head of the column emerged from woods into a broad farm clearing, a rebel outpost was sighted. Several mounted men were seen scurrying away from a farm house off at the right, while directly ahead, on the opposite edge of the clearing, a section of artillery was plainly visible. A battle line was immediately formed — a front of two regiments on each side of the road. Grover's brigade was upon the right, the BATTLE OF KETTLE RUN. 125 New Jersey brigade on the left, with the Excelsior brigade march ing by the right flank immediately behind the left of the New Jersey line. The rebel battery, while these dispositions were being made, disappeared without firing a shot, and the division advanced about two miles farther, unopposed, when, at Kettle Run, EwelPs entire division was encountered. The Second's two skirmish companies, after passing the run, crossed an open field and entered a narrow belt of pines extending on either side of the railroad. They found themselves well up to a line of rebel pick ets ; and at the same time the orderly-sergeant o f Company K, being on the extreme right, discovered that his flank had actually walked right into a pocket formed by the disposition of the rebels. Word was passed to fall back, and it was one of the strangest incidents in the entire his tory of the Second, that its skirmishers backed out of their predicament without a shot being fired on either side. Grover's brigade was at once halted, while the other two pushed forward on the left of the railroad, passed through the skirt of trees, and engaged Ewell, who was found in position, awaiting attack. Almost at the first touch — perhaps a little before — a rebel battery opened, and burst a number of shells over Grover's brigade ; but it soon had enough to attend to nearer home, when one of Hooker's batteries was trundled along the railroad track, through the cut in a slight roll of the ground, William D. Coffin, Co. G, Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. He was a machinist, and working at his trade, in Milford, when the call came. Laying aside his tools, he pinned a red, white and blue rosette upon his breast, went and had the above picture taken, and enlisted. He was a jovial, light-hearted, brave fellow, full of life and animation. 126 SECOND NEW HAMPSHLRE. bringing it into good hand in the game. sharp, and bloody, hour. How near the ing a share in it, as why it did not, is report of Brig.-Gen. manding the Second the infantry from the artillery, I rode to forward one of Meeting General matters to him, when order up the Second unteers to support the commandant of tery, I informed him of what Albert 6, Stone, Co. A, After serving a term in the First N. H. he enlisted in the Second, was wounded at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, and died of wounds November 2, 1862. He was from Fitzwilliam. position to take a The fight was short, lasting less than an Second came to hav- well as the reason indicated in the Nelson Taylor^ corn- Brigade : "To relieve fire of the enemy's the rear to bring our own batteries. Grover, I explained he told me I might New Hampshire Vol- the battery. Finding an unoccupied bat- He very reluctantly I desired. consented, and was so slow in his movements that when he got his battery in position the necessity for his services had ceased." The dilatoriness of the battery, with the vagueness and somewhat irregular form of Marston's orders, put him in a terrible state of mind, and he raged about in undisguised bewilderment, trying to find out " where in h — 1 they want my regiment, and where is the battery I am to support?" Ewell was driven back, and retreated precipitately toward Manassas Junction. The fight had cost Hooker three hundred men, mostly from the little Excelsior brigade, which, now a mere skeleton organization, lost nearly one-third its number. Grover's brigade advanced rapidly to lead the pursuit. It pushed through the timber belt, across a portion of the battle field, and through the rebel camps, strewn with the personal belongings of the late occu pants. There was ample evidence that rations of fresh beef had been issued that day ; and when Grover's lines were clear of the camps many a bayonet was decorated with fresh meat speared from the ground or from the kettles simmering over the camp fires. Hooker had no cavalry with which to press the enemy, and although Grover's brigade pushed forward rapidly and without 'STONEWALL" AT BAY. 127 once halting, it could not get within reach of the retreating force. A rebel horse battery, finely handled, took position occasionally, just long enough to give the Yankees a few shells, then slid to the rear. The pursuit was pressed about two miles, being suspended at nightfall near Bristoe Station, where the divivision went into bivouac in front of Broad Run. Through the night Hooker's pickets saw upon their front the light of burning trains and stores, which Jackson was destroying pre paratory to an evacuation of the Junction. In the morning (28th) Reno's division came up, and after a short halt for rest, during which the general rode out to the picket line and made himself acquainted with the position of affairs by conversa tion with some of the men, it continued on to Manassas, which was found abandoned, Hill's rebel division having moved in the direc tion of Centreville three hours before. In the afternoon Hooker's division also advanced, passing through the devastated Junction, and at night went into bivouac at Blackburn's Ford — K earney's division having preceded it to Centreville. The following morning (29th) the division moved toward Centreville. The booming of cannon was heard, far away to the north-west ; and as the division moved along Centreville Heights, from which there was a comprehensive view of the country clear to the Bull Run Mountains, the smoke of battle was seen, while long lines of dust mapped the routes of marching troops. Jackson had taken position near the old Bull Run battle field, Michael A, Dillon, Co, G. Shot through the lungs, at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, in an encounter in which he shot the color bearer of the Forty-ninth Georgia. He has been given a medal of honor — the only one ever Destowed upon a member of the Second. Was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, in the uni form of which he appears above. Has held a government clerkship in Washington for twenty-five years or more ; now in Second Auditor's office. Prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, and founder of the Union Veterans' Union. 128 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. there to await the arrival of Longstreet, who was hurrying through Thoroughfare Gap with the other wing of Lee's army. Hooker's division followed the Warrenton road from Centreville, crossing Bull Run at the stone bridge, and at eleven o'clock Grover's brigade arrived on the field. General Heintzelman, as the Sec ond passed him, was pointing out to some of the newly-arrived officers the positions of troops. "There," he exclaimed, pointing towards the right, " is Kearney's line, extending from that house to where you see that gun flash." The position indicated was almost the identical one where Burn side's brigade had opened the first Bull Run battle, except that Kearney now faced toward what had been Burnside's rear. Jackson occupied a strong defensive position, his left near Sudley Ford, and his right on the Warrenton road, near the little hamlet of Groveton. For most of this distance the line was along the alternate cuts and fills of an unfinished railroad ; and his front, except for a little distance near Groveton, was screened by a belt of thick woods from one hundred to six hundred yards in width. His own old division, under Starke, held the right of this line, Ewell's the centre, and A. P. Hill's' the left. Soon after Grover's arrival he was ordered to report to General Sigel, whose troops, since early morning, had been engaging the enemy in the centre. The brigade marched down the Warrenton road toward Groveton, past the stone house and the crossing of the Sudley road, and at length filed into the fields to the right, when the First Massachusetts was sent forward to support Sigel' s line, while the remaining four regiments rested in two lines, sheltered John B. Mussey, Co, E, Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. t enlisted from Fisherville (now Penacook.) SECOND BULL RUN. 129 from the enemy's artillery by a roll of the field in front. The position was nearly opposite the southern limit of the woods, and in view of the batteries on Jackson's right, which sent a shell over every little while as a reminder to the Yankees that they were being watched. One of Sigel's batteries, attempting to take position on the swell to the front of the brigade, met a reception so prompt and hot from the rebel guns that it fled precipitately, tearing down through the ranks of its supports, who cheerfully gave it the right of way. A single battery could not have lived ten minutes in that position. From the woods there came the sounds of an irregular, dropping fire of musketry, occasionally swell ing into a businesslike volley, then receding to the old monotony. At three o'clock Grover received orders to advance and attack the ene my. The brigade at once moved up to the edge of the woods, and there formed in order for battle. Grover placed his command in two lines — the Second in the center of the first, with the First Massachusetts on its right and the Eleventh on the left. The advance was to be over the ground where Milroy's brigade of Sigel's corps had been engaged all day, against the center of Jackson's position, held by Ewell's division. Milroy rode up to Grover, meeting him just to the rear of the Second, where the two were joined by the regi mental commanders. There was an earliest consultation, lasting but a few moments. " They are behind a railroad bank, and the only way you can dislodge them is to charge," some of the men 9 Charles 0. Collister, Co. G, Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. He was from Peterborough. 130 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. heard Milroy say — and they then knew what was coming. Colonel Marston came forward and gave the order to " fix bayonets ! " Grover rode the length of the line, telling the men they were to fire one volley, then rely upon the bayonet. Then he took position in rear of the left wing of the Second and gave the order to advance. Slowly and steadily the line went forward. No sound was heard but the crashing of the brush, with an occasional mut tered order, such as " Give way to the right," or " to the left." The left of the line approached an open field, and a halt was ordered while Grover went for ward to reconnoiter the front. A dozen bullets, either one of which came near costing the service a good general, warned him of the presence of a vigilant enemy. Many of Milroy's dead and wounded were scattered about ; it was also evident that a few of his effectives were lying low, watching the enemy, near the edge of the open in front of the Second. Some of these arose and passed to the rear as Grover's line came up. From Milroy's official report it also appears that he had a regiment in line not far to the left, possibly overlapped at this time by the Eleventh Massachusetts. At any rate, after spying out the land to the front, Grover moved the brigade a considerable distance by the right flank before closing with the enemy. There was a spirit of grim determination in that line. In the New Hampshire section, it was understood and agreed that the Old Second was to be put in, this time, " for all she was worth." Every man knew the supreme moment was close at hand, and was nerved for the struggle William 0, Morgrage, Co, I, Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. Shot through the body, he was brought out of the woods, and lay in the field, dying, while the fight was renewed around him. " How bad are you hit, Billy?" inquired a comrade. "A man can not live long, suffering as I am," he caimly answered, and shortly expired. He was from Goffstown. GROVER'S CHARGE. 131 Hardly had the advance been resumed when there was a crash of rebel musketry, an answering roar of Yankee cheers, and almost instantly the Second was pouring over the railroad embankment. The dash was evidently a sur prise to the rebels, as most of them, having delivered their fire, were closely hugging the ground under cover of the bank. They were expecting a return volley, apparently, but had not anticipated looking into the muzzles of the guns that delivered it. Those who made a fight were instantly shot or bayonetted, and in less time than it has taken to write it the rebel first line was disposed of. Some threw up their hands and cried for mercy ; some, doubt less, "played possum," lying as if dead and making no sign; while others, as soon as they could realize what had hap pened, made a break for the rear, closely followed by the men of the Second, now wild with the rage of battle. There was a desperate dash for a stand of rebel colors, but they were saved by the fleetness of their bearer and the devoted bravery of the color guard. Yet in this wild turmoil of murder there were not wanting instances of man's humanity to man. One fleeing rebel, tripped by a bullet or some other obstruction to locomotion, and cumbered by two or three rolls of blankets (probably spoils from Manassas), pitched headlong; and down in the same heap went Sergeant Wasley. Quick as a flash Wasley yanked from the Johnny's belt a ferocious looking " Yankee killer," fashioned from a huge flat file — such as many of that regiment seemed to carry for side arms — and swung it aloft for the finishing blow. The poor fellow's eye caught Corpl. Charles H. Smiley, Co, I, Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. So far as known, no one saw him fall. Shot down in the brush, it is only known that he was miss ing and never returned. Was from Manches ter. 132 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. the glint of the vengeful steel just in season, and in a piteous tone he gasped out : "Oh, for God's sake — do n't!" The blow was suspended. "All right, Johnny ! " said Wasley, as, pushing the weapon into his own belt, he scrambled to his feet. The fragments of the first line were driven in upon a second, a few rods beyond the railroad, and here occurred the most desperate fighting of the da y — a hand - to - hand melee with bayonets and clubbed muskets. Such a fight cannot last long. New Hampshire won. The second rebel line was routed and scat tered to the rear. By this time no semblance of organization was left in the Second, but the men still on their feet dashed on again, every one for himself. A third line was encountered ; but the charge had spent its force. The scattered men of the Second halted close up to the enemy, and loaded and fired as rapidly as possible in an effort to hold the position they had won until supports could come up. But it was soon apparent that the Second's headlong dash had carried it much farther than the rest of the line had advanced. The Eleventh, on its left, had crossed the embankment and pulver ized the first line, but was thrown back by the second line, assisted by the fire of rebel artillery to which its left flank became exposed. The First had been able to carry but a portion of the first line, and not to hold that long. Grover rushed the Sixteenth, from the second line, into the gap the Second had cut, in an effort to flank the enemy ; but it was without avail. Ewell's division had been given a terrible shaking up ; but the brigades of Starke and Bradley First Sergt. Frank 0, Robinson, Co, C. Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. Shot through the bowels, he was left near the railroad bank, dying. " I might have brought him out," said Captain Carr, a few minutes later, " but he was dying — is dead by this time — so I helped out one of my men who has a chance to recover." He was from Manchester. GROVER REPULSED. 133 T. Johnson were at this critical moment hurried up from the rebel right and thrown upon Grover. The Second held on until it found itself not only overwhelmed in front, but flanked, and with rebels passing to its rear, when the men made a break to escape capture. As they recrossed the rail road bank they were exposed to a murderous fire from each flank, to say nothing of the very bad language used by the rebels in calling upon them to stop ; and a few minutes' delay would have found that gap closed and almost the entire regiment securely corralled. Just after recrossing the railroad the writer came upon Lieut. Sylvester Rogers, of Company G. He had one wound through the k n e e — t h e leg apparently _____„ — - -1 broken — and another through the small of the back, which was bleeding profusely. One of his own company, with an arm around him, was trying to lift and urge him forward. With the writer's assistance he was carried several rods, when, in answer to the words of encouragement, " Cheer up, Rogers, we will carry you safely out of this," he uttered a faint moan, gasped, his fell forward — he was dead. Lieutenant Marshall says Rogers was wounded well up to the rebel third line, and he (Marshall) sent a man back with him to help him out. It is probable that he received the fatal wound in the back while running the gauntlet at the railroad. While Marshall can not recall its char acter, he does not think the wound that started him to the rear was a mortal one. Sergt. Lyman A. Dickey, Co. I, Just as soon as he came upon the railroad bank a rebel, seated on the ground, fired up at him, the ball traversing almost the entire length of his forearm. It will always be an open question whether that fellow was kicked or stabbed to death, as Dickey's heels and bayonet landed on him at the same moment. He now lives in Londonderry; P. O. address, Wilson's Crossing. 134 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Capt. Joshua F, Littlefield, Co. B. He entered the service from Somersworth as First Lieut, of Company F, and in August was promoted to Captain. Before leaving the Peninsula he had been appointed Lieut. -Colonel of the Eleventh N. H., but determined to go through this cam paign with the Second before joining his new command. In the charge over the railroad he was severely wounded and left in the hands of the enemy. He lay upon the field several days, until rescued by a Union relief party, and lingered until Sep tember 17, when he died. The above portrait, furnished by Littlefield Post, G. A. R., of Somersworth, is a copy of the picture hanging in their post room. The brigade came straggling back into the field where it had been formed for the charge, but here the flight ended, the men rallying on the flags of their respective regiments with a spirit which showed how little daunted they were by the ordeal through which they had passed. A line was gathered, facing the woods, its left resting on a detached clump of bushes an acre or so in extent. At this time a brigade of the Ninth Army Corps came up and advanced into the woods just to the right. The Second noted from the flags that one of its regiments was the Sixth New Hampshire ; but there was no time then to go a-visiting. There was heard a roll THE RE GIMENT DE CIMA TED. 1 3 5 of musketry, and in a short time the scattered squads came pouring back as Grover's men had done, the brigade having lost over five hundred men. This repulse was followed by the immediate advance of Pender's brigade of Hill's division. The counter attack fell directly on the gathered fragments of Grover's brigade, and the Second again caught the brunt of the fight and was the last to fall back. The rebel line which appeared in the edge of the woods was greeted with a destructive fire at short range, but there was not enough of it ; and at last the Second — still preserving its line, though men of all companies were mingled together — fell slowly back toward the Dogan ridge, on which the batteries were posted. The rebel line followed a short distance — as far, probably, as was consistent with Jackson's purpose of a strictly defensive fight ; but its retirement to the woods was visibly accelerated by the fire of the batteries. In this closing tussle the Second lost a number of its best men, among the killed being Lieutenant Norton R. Moore, whose hand, at the time of his death, bore the still unhealed wound he had received at Oak Grove. The remnants of the brigade were now assembled in a little grove by the side of Young's Branch, and the rolls called. Out of about fifteen hundred men the brigade had lost four hundred and eighty-six, killed, wounded, and missing. The heaviest loss had fallen upon the Second, which, out of three hundred and thirty-two officers and men, reported sixteen killed, eighty-seven wounded, and twenty-nine missing. Subsequent revision, when the fate of all had been definitely ascertained, with the addition of the mortally wounded, raised the regiment's death roll in this battle to thirty- eight — more than eleven per cent, of the number engaged. The Second had been decimated. In addition to the three officers who lost their lives (Littlefield, Moore, and Rogers), seven were wounded. Lieutenant Holman received a terrible wound in the thigh, and never rejoined the regiment. Lieutenant Cooper, shot through the right lung, was supposed to be mortally wounded, but came around, in time, " as good as new." Lieutenants Ballard, Roberts, Steele, Young and Gordon received wounds of greater or less severity. 1 3 6 S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. The lot of the severely wounded, many of whom were left in the hands of the enemy, was most deplorable. By the retreat of their own people, and the withdrawal of the enemy with practically no provisions for their care, they were almost literally abandoned to their fate. The experience of Corporal William Dunton, of Com pany A, as narrated in the printed History of Fitzwilliam, is an illustration of what others must have suffered before rescued by a party sent out nearly a week later to bury the dead and bring in the wounded who were still alive : "He was struck by a ball on the right cheek, which passing through his mouth so as to break up the bone and teeth of the entire upper jaw, came out just below the left eye. Dunton fell and was left for dead when, shortly after, they were obliged to retreat. Being now a prisoner, he was stripped of nearly all his clothes and of almost everything he had, by the enemy, and left to die. Finding his mouth and throat fast filling up from the swelling of the mangled flesh, he succeeded in getting his knife from his pocket and deliberately cut away the torn flesh, and so cleared his mouth as far as possible. Hours passed, and so did nights and days. No relief came. He could not cry out, or even speak aloud, and could not have swallowed a morsel of food or a drop of water, if he had had either. For six days and nights he endured this agony, but on the seventh morning he was discovered by a party of our own men who were burying the dead. He was still alive, but so weak that the men despaired of his living till he could reach a hospital. He was at length placed in the hands of surgeons at Washington, D. C, five of whom decided no human skill could save him. Still, desiring to give him a chance for recovery, they dressed his wounds, inserted a tube in his throat, and finally succeeded in having him swallow a few drops of brandy, which revived him. Dunton was fed in this way for more than four weeks, and still lives, after more than twenty years [1888], to tell the story of his sufferings, and to remind all who meet him of the enormous cost involved in saving our country." Official reports, and history, have done full justice to the charge of Grover's brigade. General Heintzelman says in his report : " It was on this occasion that General Grover's brigade made WHAT MILROY SA W AND DID. 137 the most gallant and determined bayonet charge of the war. He broke two of the enemy's lines, but was finally repulsed by the overwhelming numbers in the enemy's third line. It was a hand- to-hand conflict, using the bayonet and the butt of the musket. In this fierce encounter, of not over twenty minutes' duration, the Second New Hampshire, Colonel Mars ton, suffered the most. The First, Eleventh and Sixteenth Massachusetts and Twenty-sixth Penn sylvania were engaged." The following extract from General Milroy's official report is also in teresting as showing how Grover's charge appeared from his standpoint : " Toward evening General Grover came up with his New England brigade. I saw him form ing a line to attack the rebel stronghold in the same place I had been all day, and advised him to form his line more to the left, and charge bayonets on arriving at the railroad track, which his brigade executed with such telling effect as to drive the rebels in clouds before their bayonets. Meanwhile I had gathered the remnant of my brigade, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to assist him. I soon discovered a large number of rebels fleeing before the left flank of Grover's brigade. They passed over an open space some five hundred yards in width in front of my reserved regiment, which I ordered to fire on them, which they did, accelerating their speed William A. Hayward, Co, A, After serving a three months term in the Third Massachusetts, he went to Concord and enlisted as a recruit in the Second N. H., being assigned to Co. A, in which was his brother, Ailen B. He was wounded in the face by a buckshot, at Glendale, and met his Fate at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, when he was hit in the right thigh by a musket ball, and had his left leg broken below the knee by a fragment of shell. He died on the field while the surgeons were amputating his limb. 138 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. and discomfiture so much that I ordered a charge. My regiment immediately dashed out of the woods we were in down across the meadows in front of us after the retreating foe, but before their arrival at the other side of the meadow the retreating column received a heavy support from the railroad below, and soon rallying, came surging back, driving before their immense columns Grover's brigade and my handful of men." That night Hooker's divis ion slept upon the ground where Burnside's brigade had opened the battle of 1 86 1 ; the Second Regiment on almost the identical spot where it had formed its first battle line in face of the enemy. The fore noon of the 30th passed rather quietly on Hooker's front. Jackson maintained his position of the previous day, and there was an occasional feint or little brush at various points. A movement of rebel troops in the vicinity of Groveton, early in the forenoon, led to a short-lived belief that the rebels were retreating. At two o'clock in the after noon the battle was renewed in earnest upon the plateau to the south and west. Viewed from Hooker's position, the battle field lay in the form of an immense V, with arms a mile or more in length, and its point near Groveton. The northerly arm was the scene of the battle of the 29th, while the fighting of the 30th was mainly on the southerly line, from Groveton to the Henry Hill. Hooker's men were interested spectators of Longstreet's attack on McDowell's corps, nearly the whole of the battle line being visible. At four o'clock the battle had grown to tremendous proportions, and soon after this hour the order suddenly rang out Johnson N, Danforth, Co. B, Wounded at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, and died of wounds October 4, 1862. He was from Hopkinton. BATTLE OF CHANTILLY. 139 for the division to " Fall in ! " There were indications of an advance on Hooker from a point near Groveton. A rebel battery opened fire, and some of Hooker's guns responded ; but when the division moved forward, the rebel force which had uncovered went quickly back to the cover of the woods. The excitement of this little flurry had hardly quieted down when an aide arrived with orders for the entire division to cross to the other hill immediately. Batteries were limbered up in a hurry, and the troops were off at the double-quick in the direction indi cated. Moving from one point to another, Grover's brigade came into position several times, but did not become engaged ; and it was a coincidence worth mentioning that the last line formed by the Second was on the Sudley road, in front of the Henry house, where Companies B and I had made the last stand the year before. In the movements of troops it was now plainly to be seen that the battle was lost ; and when Grover's brigade at last marched down the hill and turned into the Warrenton road, it came under a terrific fire from artillery which Longstreet had massed to sweep the valley. Everything on foot or on wheels was going to the rear on the run, when its turn came ; but there was no panic or rout. Grover's brigade forded Bull Run Creek a short distance above the stone bridge, through water waist deep, and before midnight was in camp at Centreville, where it remained until the afternoon of August 1 st. On that day Jackson attempted to gain a lodgment on Pope's line of communications, between Centreville and Fairfax Court House, and the battle of Chantilly ensued. Late in the afternoon Kearney's division, followed by Hooker's, was sent to support Stevens' division of the Ninth Corps, which had been attacked. The rebels were driven back, but both Stevens and Kearney were killed. The battle was fought in a cold, pouring rain. Grover's brigade, with pickets thrown to the front, was posted in line along the Cen treville road, which was crowded with the trains pushing toward Washington. Cold and shivering, the men stood in line in the dense jungle of dripping bushes, while the battle raged upon the right. There was some comfort to be got out of the situation, in nagging the demoralized stragglers who always form the fringe of a 140 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. fight, and urging the nervous teamsters to hurry on out of the way before the fight commenced right there. The fighting was kept up long after the darkness of night had come, but Grover's brigade did not become engaged. When the firing had died out, the brigade was moved to the right, near the scene of the fighting, where it spent a comfortless night, one-third of the men remaining under arms, while the rest " went to bed " in what the sense of feeling indicated was a flooded sweet potato field. Two days later, on the afternoon of September 3d, Heintzel man's corps arrived at Fort Lyon, near Alexandria, and became a part of General Banks' command, occupying the defences of Washington, while the army was engaged in the campaign which culminated at Antietam. Official Report of Captain Joab N. Patterson. Headquarters Second N. H. Vols., First Brig., Grover's Div., September 14, i8b2. Sir: In accordance with instructions I have to report the following as the proceedings of this regiment from the date of its arrival at Alexandria, Va,, from the vicinity of Harrison's Land ing, Va. : The regiment left- Alexandria, Va., by railroad on Monday, August 25, 1862, and arrived at Warrenton Junction during the night; from thence went into camp about one mile from the point of debarkation. Subsequently we were engaged in marches and battling with the enemy until our arrival in the vicinity of Fort Lyon, Va., September 3, 1862. I have here to say that I possess no data from which to compile an adequate summary of the proceedings of the regiment from the date of its march from Alexandria, but know that Colonel Marston, now absent with leave at Washington, is possessed of the required information, and desires to make the report thereon. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. N. PATTERSON, Captain, Commanding Second New Hampshire Volunteers. Lieut. C. H. Lawrence, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. CHAPTER IX. SEPTEMBER 4, 1862, TO FEBRUARY 25, 1863. ON DUTY IN THE DEFENCES OF WASHINGTON THE DIVISION AGAIN MARCHES TO THE FRONT THE SECOND ON CENTREVILLE HEIGHTS REJOINS THE ARMY BEFORE FREDERICKSBURG BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG THE SECOND GUARDS PONTOON BRIDGES A DAY OF SKIRMISHING DAVE. STEELE ON SNAKES SERGEANT VICKERY PAYS FOR HIS FUN INCIDENTS OF A TRUCE ARMY RETIRES ACROSS THE RAPPAHAN NOCK THE "MUD MARCH" RECONNOISSANCE TO UNITED STATES FORD. OON after arriving at Alexandria both Hooker and Grover were assigned to more important commands, Sickles succeeding Hooker in com mand of the division. After remaining a few days near Fort Lyon, the First Brigade moved over to near Fairfax Seminary, going into camp to the rear of Fort Ward. Work enough was found to keep the men out of mischief. A strong picket was maintained, about two miles out, and large details were made almost every day for work on the fortifications. The brigade built a line of rifle pits between Forts Ward and Worth, and picket and fatigue duties combined became so excessive as to cause much dissatisfac tion among the men ; especially as much of the work in both directions was more a matter of furbelows than of utility. A picket tour generally meant an absence from camp from morning until well into the night of the next day, often in a cold fall rain storm, and with a prohibition against fires more exacting than was the rule in face of the enemy. And the men did not take kindly to the work of trimming the forts — adding a few inches here, and shaving off a few inches there, to please the critical eye and fancy of the engineer officer who rode over from Washington in a carriage to lay out the work. 142 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. This discontent made it easy for a number of the Second to transfer their allegiance to the regular cavalry under a recent order permitting men in the volunteer service to serve out their terms in the regular cavalry or artillery. Colonel Marston was terribly exer cised, one late October morning, on learning that a squad of the best men of Company I — some of the original members — after a forty hours' picket turn in the rain and without fires, had gone down to Alexandria and enlisted into the Second U. S. Cavalry ; and when, the next day, they packed their knapsacks and marched off, he sent a sergeant's squad to bring them back. It was of no use, however. The squad were ordered away from the rendezvous by Colonel Starr, the officer in charge, in a very peremptory man ner. The Second lost nearly thirty men, whom it could illy spare, by this crusade. But so far as the quartermas- master's department could provide, the troops were made very com fortable. September 19th, the men received their knapsacks, which had been placed on barges at Harrison's Landing. Soon after, Sibley tents, with stoves and fuel, were supplied, and there was food, clothing and blankets in abundance. Still it was with unalloyed pleasure that, on the first day of November, the division broke camp and again set its face toward the foe. That day the First Brigade in the direction of Fairfax Court House, and the next day to within three miles of Manassas Junc tion, camping by the side of Bull Run Creek. On the 3d, the larger part of Sickles' division was assembled at the Junction, and was at once distributed to cover the Orange and Alexandria Railroad as far as Warrenton Junction, relieving the various detachments of Sigel's corps. Jonas Forestall, Co. A, Died of disease, at Fairfax Sem'y Gen'l Hospital, October 26, 1862. He was from Fitzwilliam. marched eight or nine miles ON CENTREVILLE HEIGHTS. M3 November 5 th, the Second Regiment was sent to occupy Centreville Heights, relieving the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, a. new regiment of the Second Brigade. A very strong defensive position was taken up, on an area inclosed by three of the old rebel redoubts, in each of which a section of artillery was posted, after a few days. The log barracks occupied by the rebels the previous winter were a mine of wealth, afford ing an abundance of well seasoned firewood ready to hand, and from which were quarried boards enough to erect a veritable " Slab City " on the hill. The busy men of the Second knocked this together in a few days ; and although not quite up to the highest architectural stand ard, yet comfort and content found an abiding place therein. Every shanty was fitted with a stone fireplace and chimney, often topped out with a few courses of brick ; and one householder in that city — then a boy, but now a gray-haired man — in retrospective mood often snuggles again with his partner (long since dead) in their little six-by-seven castle, with its deep four-foot fireplace heaped with blazing logs. November 9th, the regiment sent six companies as guard for a wagon train going out to McClellan, who were absent three days. The first snow storm of the season came on the 7th — a veritable blizzard, with very low temperature. But fine weather followed, and some of the men made trips to the Bull Run battle field. One of these parties brought in the sword scabbard of Lieutenant Moore, which they had picked up near the spot where he fell. Time passed very pleasantly, on the whole, until the 18th, when Edward I, Mitchell, Musician, Co, D, The above picture is from a wartime portrait. He now holds a responsible position in the Gen'l Office of the I. C. R. R., at Chicago. 144 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. camp was broken, the division having been ordered to rejoin the army, then on the line of the Rappahannock and under command. of Burnside, who had recently superseded McClellan. The Second was relieved by one of Sigel's regiments, which was ready to march into the shanties as soon as the men who built them marched out into the rain. Some crossgrained fellows swore that although they had spent a good part of their time digging trenches for others to fight behind, they 'd be blanketyblanked if they 'd build barracks for the rear guard to live in. The result was a miniature Moscow when the Second evacuated the position. The swearing would have been appalling to the well brought up and sensitive New Hampshire boys, if so much of it had not been in strange tongues ; but if those fellows were really in earnest about wanting shanties, there was no known objection to their building some, as the Second had done. It rained continuously for several days, with attendant discom forts and difficulties of moving. The second day's march brought the brigade to Wolf Run Shoals, a ford of Occoquan Creek, not far from its entrance into the Potomac. The entire division remained in camp at and near this point until the morning of November 25th, when it marched to Dumfries; 26th, marched to Acquia Creek; 27th, to Potomac Creek; 28th, joined the army in front of Fredericksburg. Under Burnside, the army was organized into three " Grand Divisions" — the Right, Left, and Centre, commanded by Sumner,. Franklin, and Hooker, respectively. The Centre Grand Division comprised the Third and Fifth Corps. General George Stoneman was assigned to the command of the Third Corps, to which was. John Kenney, Co. G. Resides in Milford. [See page 85.' BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. 145 added a third division under General Whipple. Grover's old brigade was strengthened by the addition of the Eleventh New Jersey, and received General Joseph B. Carr as its commander. For a fortnight the Second Regiment lay inactive in its camp about two miles below Falmouth. Although the weather was, just then, bitter cold, and snow and rain frequent, it was well under stood the army would not go into winter quarters until it had once more tried conclusions with the enemy. From the steep bluffs upon the Falmouth side of the river (known as Stafford Heights) the army could look over into the city of Fredericksburg, and sight seers gathered daily to watch the rebels in the town and on the fields and hills beyond. On the nth of December was commenced the battle of Fred ericksburg. The Second was out at early dawn, and moved with the division toward Falmouth, to a position where it remained,. awaiting developements, through that day and the following night. The Union artillery, posted on the flats along the river, kept up a tremendous fire, the reverberations from height to height making a din that was truly infernal. Under its cover attempts were made to lay the pontoon bridges ; but, time and again, the workmen were- driven from their labors by rebel sharpshooters concealed in the houses near the river bank. These obstinately held their ground,. until a forlorn hope of brave men ferried themselves across the river in some of the pontoon floats, and cleared the right bank of the waspish riflemen, when the bridges were completed and a sufficient force crossed to render them secure. During the forenoon of December 12 th the long columns of the Right and Left Grand Divisions were crossing in a seemingly endless procession — Sumner into the city, and Franklin a mile and a half below. The Centre Grand Division was, most of it, held in reserve on the Falmouth side. The Third Corps was massed near the head of Sumner's bridges, ready to cross to his assistance should occasion require. Whipple's division did cross into the city ; but the First and Second Divisions moved down the river to a position near Franklin's crossing ; and during the night four regiments from Carr's brigade (including the Second) were sent to guard Frank lin's two bridges — the Second being posted at the Fredericksburg 146 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. Charles F. Holt, Co. G. The Soldier of '61, to the extensive plain beyond the river a partial view was obtained of the desperate fighting of the 13 th. A mile or more to the right, above the orchard trees and the buildings of the city, the crest of Marye's Heights was in plain view, ablaze with the mus ketry and artillery fire which was scourging Sumner's columns, on the plain below. To the left, Franklin sent forward Meade's division, sup ported by Gibbon's, which, after a considerable success, were at last driven back upon Birney's and Sickles' divisions of the Third Corps, which meantime end of the upper one, where it remained on duty through the entire day of the 13 th. No person, ex cept he was wounded or had a pass from a general officer, was permitted to pass to the Falmouth side ; but the skulkers and skedaddlers taxed human ingenuity with their devices for getting to the rear. It was a unique experience for the Second, whose training had taught them more of the ways of the battle line than of the rear. By climbing the bank Charles F, Holt. The Boniface of '95. Proprietor of the Lake House, at Antrim. UP AT THE FRONT. M7 had crossed the river to their support. In this affair a considerable number of rebels were made prisoners, including one North Caro lina regiment almost entire. They were sent back under guard of a detachment of Rush's Lancers, and corralled for a time under the river bank, near the bridges. The Second men were much amused by the unsuccessful efforts of the lieutenant-colonel — the maddest man, just then, in either army — to ferret out the conscienceless traitor who shouted, " Do n't fire, they are our own men ! " when the Yankees ran over his men in the brush. At midnight of the 13 th the Second and the Eleventh Massachu setts were relieved at the bridges by the Second New York, and marching up to the front, joined the First and Twenty-sixth — the only regiments of the brigade then up. The position was in a corn field, which had been trampled and cut up until the mud was ankle deep, and those who were fastidious about going to bed in such quarters whiled away the rest ' of the night in conversation with the men in the first line, a proportion of whom were under arms. The two regiments, although not actively engaged during the day, had lost twenty or twenty-five men each from rebel sharpshooters. The rebel camp fires gleamed along the low hills to the front; and an occasional bullet, whistling over the brigade and striking in the fields far to the rear, showed the prox imity of the rebel pickets. As the morning gradually broke the firing of the pickets became brisker. The inability of the Twenty-sixth men on the outposts to keep down the rebel fire was soon woefully apparent. There was no cover, all the troops in this part of the field being upon an open plain, where the rebels could count them, if they cared to, man by A Wounded "Coffee Cooler." At Bull Run, August 29, Charles F. Holt, whose portraits appear on the opposite page, received a musket ball in the face, tearing away a good part of the upper jaw, with six teeth at tached, and at the same moment the faithful servant hanging by his side was disabled in the manner shown in above picture. 148 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. man. The great slugs fired from the long-range Mississippi rifles were bad enough and plenty enough ; but when, as the mists lifted, a battery back on the hills began to shell the brigade, General Carr seemed to lose all patience. He did what the Second's brigade commanders had a habit of doing — put the Second to work to keep the enemy down. Riding over to the regiment, he directed Colonel Marston to " send out twenty or thirty riflemen to stop that battery." Company B was at once sent forward to that duty. Deploying as skirmish ers, they advanced rapidly, and soon their Sharp's rifles were heard barking on the picket line. In a very few minutes the rebel gunners had got all they wanted of it, and fled from their pieces, which were not manned again during the day. Attention was then paid to the rebel pickets, and the skirmish was kept up until near night, the Second keep ing out one company at a time, relieving as fast as ammunition was exhausted. The advanced position, when once reached, afforded many advantages for cover. A plantation road ran, diagonally, into the rebel lines, with a ditch, an embank ment and a post-and-rail fence along the side toward the rebels. There were two or three piles of lumber in the vicinity, two great plantation gate posts flanking the road, and a burnt chimney a little in advance. Each company, as it went forward, was deployed as skirmishers, the men, as soon as the enemy's fire was felt, throwing themselves upon the ground and creeping to position. The crawling movement Quartermaster John S. Godfrey, The original Quartermaster of the Second. He was appointed Captain and A. Q. M. Oct. 31,1861; under Burnside, was Cbief Quarter master of the Centre Grand Division; and was brevetted Major and Lieutenant-Colonel. He was from Hampton Falls. A DAY OF SKIRMISHING. 149 was too much for Dave. Steele. When he led Company G out, everything was harmonious until they shifted from the perpendicu lar to a horizontal. " Say, boys," he roared in a voice which could have' been heard far within , the rebel lines, "are you going to crawl out there on your bellies like a mess of d — d snakes? Attention, Company G .'" Every man was on his feet. "For ward, double quick!" and there was a race for the front, where every man arrived in safety. The casualties of the regiment during the day were remarkably few, being officially reported as only five wounded. Including the slightly wounded, how ever — men who stuck right to their business and made no fuss about it- — nearly a dozen men were hit. Two of Company B's men died of their wounds : William E. Morse on the 17 th, and Daniel S. Martin one day later. Sergeant Charles Vickery, of Company I, was wounded under exceptional circumstances. His position as " left general guide" would have excused him from the fight when the whole regiment was not engaged ; but when he saw his company deploy ing he decided to take his share of the fun, and followed it out. Taking shelter behind a pile of lumber, he was taking a preliminary peep at the front, when a rifleman's bullet struck his "eagle plate," crumpling it up like a piece of paper, and deflecting the bullet into Vickery's neck. Capt, David Steele, Co. G, The original First Sergeant of Co. G. Big, brawny, large hearted, and of dauntless courage. He was among the pioneers in California, and a fillibuster with Walker in Nicaragua. It was just like him, after serving a term with distinc tion in the Second and rising to the rank of cap tain, to enlist and serve as a private in the Eighteenth N. H. After the war he went back to California, and died at Colusa County Hospi tal, October 8, 1890. 150 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. About four o'clock in the afternoon a rebel officer came out with a white flag, and the firing ceased immediately. A truce had been arranged by Franklin, upon the left, for the purpose of remov ing the wounded and burying the dead left by Meade the previous day; but though his skirmishers had been shouting themselves hoarse to " Cease firing on the right ! " the Second men industri ously pegged away until the flag showed up. At once the men on both sides straightened up out of their holes, laid down their arms, and mingled together between the lines in the most fraternal manner. There was an exchange of courtesies, and notes were compared as to the results of the firing. A rebel colonel had had a close call from, and conceived a great admiration for, the man behind the burnt chimney, and wanted to meet him. The captain of the battery frankly acknowledged that he had been roughly handled in the morning by that company of sharpshooters, and wanted to know who they were. When told they were from New Hampshire, he said one of his men killed in the affair was from that State. There was no end of sharp but good-natured chaffing, and before the two lines separated again, having got acquainted and mutually found out what good fellows the other side were, come to know them, it was agreed that there should be no more picket shooting ; a compact which was religiously kept by both parties on that part of the lines. Sunday and Monday, the 14th and 15 th, the troops remained in position upon the plain, and Monday night the army was withdrawn across the river, in perfect order, and leaving no material for the enemy. The night was favorable for the movement, being rainy and dark and with a high wind blowing, which drowned the noise of rumbling wheels and tramping feet, and the first intimation the rebels had of the retreat was when the morning sun revealed to them the unoccupied plains on their front and the long blue lines disappearing over the Stafford Hills. On the 3d of January the Second, with the rest of the brigade, went into winter quarters about a mile east of the Fitzhugh house, at which, later, General Sickles established his headquarters. The monotony of January was relieved by participation in Burnside's "mud march." On the 20th the division left camp and marched THE "MUD MARCH.' iSi about two miles in the direction of Falmouth, but after shivering for hours in the cold rain, the troops, at nine o'clock in the even ing, were marched back to their camps and re-habili tated the dismantled quar ters for a few hours of rest. The following morning they were off again, and by night were near Banks Ford,aboveFredericksburg,about six miles from the starting point. It rained incessantly, and the entire country was a quagmire. The infantry, by scattering and picking routes, were able to get along after a Surgeo(] James „_ Merrow fashion, but everything on He was from Rollinsfordj and the original Assistant. Wheels Was inextricably Su.rS«>n: appointed Surgeon ito succeed Dr. Hubbard, J and was mustered out with the old men, June 21, 1864. bogged and mired. Light He died at Newneld. Maine- in l87°- field pieces, with a dozen horses attached, were stuck fast in the mud, and the unwieldy wagons of the pontoon train were immovably anchored, here and there. Burnside had lost his opportunity to cross the river by a surprise. On the 2 2d details from the division were busy corduroying roads, and on the 23d the troops returned to camp. The sun, which had been hidden from sight for days, shone warm and clear as soon as the retrogade movement began. February 5 th, the division marched to Hartwood Church to guard the fords near there, while a force of cavalry advanced to Rappahannock Station and destroyed a bridge which the rebels had recently constructed. The First Brigade and a battery were posted near Richards and United States Fords, and upon the return of the cavalry, on the 7 th, the division marched back to camp. CHAPTER X. FEBRUARY 26 TO JULY I, 1 863. —SECOND REGIMENT ORDERED TO NEW HAMPSHIRE "SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 13 " THE JOURNEY HOME OVATIONS IN BOSTON AND MANCHESTER GALA DAY RECEPTION IN CONCORD THE SEVENTEENTH INCORPORATED WITH THE SECOND RETURN TO WASHINGTON IN CAMP ON EAST CAPITOL HILL REJOIN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC A NIGHT STAMPEDE THE TOW PATH MARCH DIARY ACCOUNT OF THE MARCH TO GETTYSBURG. OR two weeks after its return from Hartwood Church the Second performed the customary routine of duty in a winter camp. Important changes were made in the high commands of the army. Hooker replaced Burnside, and Sickles succeeded Stoneman in command of the Third Corps. Berry took command of the division. But a change was impending which concerned the Second more vitally than any of these. For months rumors had been flying that the Second Regiment was to be ordered to New Hampshire, until the men had entirely lost faith, and treated each new story as sim ply a camp canard. It transpired in time, however, that the reports were well founded. The movement had been discussed in inner circles in New Hamp shire, although no efforts appear to have been made to bring the matter to a head until after Hooker's appointment to the command of the army. Then (as he once related it to the writer) Colonel Marston went to see the Secretary of War ; but Stanton said Hooker had just been appointed to the command, and the War Department would not feel justified in taking the regiment from him at that time. Marston thereupon set out to get Hooker's STIRRING "SPECIAL ORDERS." 153 consent. "I do not want to lose that regiment," said Hooker, "but if the President should order it I would, of course, send the whole army away." Marston went to see the President. In the waiting room of the executive mansion he encountered General Hooker, and was fearful he was in for it then, sure enough. But when Hooker came out from his interview with Lincoln, he said to Marston, " I will issue the order." It was evident Hooker had attended to the matter himself, and in a manner to please Marston, who accordingly retired without troubling the President. There was but the thinnest concealment of the fact that political considerations were at the bottom of the transfer. A sharply contested political campaign was on in New Hampshire, the loss of which by the supporters of the administration, would have been considered almost as serious a disaster as the loss of a battle in the field. The arrival in New Hampshire of the Second Regiment — almost solidly Republican — was, in fact, the turning point of the campaign. On Wednesday, February 25 th, the regiment was directed to be ready for a movement on the morrow, orders having been issued for it to report to General Wool, commanding the Department of the East. It is not necessary to read between the lines of the following Special Orders, to catch the spirit of the hour : Headquarters Third Army Corps,1 2sth February, i8b3 . Special Orders, \ No. 13. j The General commanding cannot sever, even temporarily, his relations with the Second New Hampshire Volunteers, without expressing his regret that this gallant regiment no longer belongs to his command. Entering the service at the beginning of the war, this regiment has participated with distinction in the combats which have made the campaigns of this army illustrious. Unchallenged in loyalty as in valor, the devotion of the Second New Hampshire to our sacred cause is today as unyielding as when the fall of Sumter inflamed the Union. Sol diers! your patriotic State will soon fill up your ranks. You will be greeted at home with affectionate welcome by those who appreciate your worth and share your unselfish love of country. You will, perhaps, encounter not a few who find everything to deplore in the means employed to suppress this rebellion, and nothing to commend, except their own exertions to confer authority upon those who apologize for treason, and sue for peace with the traitors who spurn them. You have offered your own lives for the Union. You have buried many brave comrades on the bloody fields of the rebellion. Yon will know how to repel the approach of renegades who would betray the cause for which your flag has been proudly borne in battle. To your commanding officer, Colonel Gilman Marston — twice wounded at the head of his regi ment, distinguished for gallantry in the field and for signal ability in the national councils — I desire to acknowledge my obligations for his able and zealous co-operation as an officer of this command. 154 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. Your comrades of those heroic Divisions which are forever inseparable from the names of Hooker and Kearney, will always cherish their recollection of the glorious service in which you have been associated; nor will they cease to look with solicitude to the day, which all hope will not be distant, when you will return to the Third Army Corps with renovated ranks and undi minished ardor, eager to share with us the honors of new and eventful campaigns. By command of D. E. Sickles, Brigadier-General. [Signed] O. H. Hart, A. A. General. Official: H. D. F. Young, Capt. and Aide-de-Camp. February 26. The regiment marched to Stoneman's Switch; thence by a very slow, but sure, private train (mostly flat cars) to Belle Plain, the railroad terminus on the Potomac. In an immense pile of express matter stacked up on the wharf some of the men found boxes sent them from home, which had been held up there for weeks from the inability of the express agent to procure trans portation to the front. In spite of the agent's protests against such informal proceedings, several men marched on board the steamer "Sylvan Grove" with their belated boxes on their shoulders. Feb. 27. Disembarked at Washington, and marched to the depot barracks, or "Soldiers' Rest." Feb. 28. Mustered for pay, and in the afternoon took cars for Baltimore. March 1. Arrived at Philadelphia in the morning, and had dinner at the Soldiers' Refreshment Saloon. Arrived in New York in the afternoon, and were quartered at the Park Barracks, near the City Hall. March 2. The men were engaged in "seeing the sights ;" some of them so industriously that they missed the steamer " C. Vander- bilt," on which the regiment embarked in the afternoon. The next morning (March 3) the boat was at the pier in Provi dence. "Hurrah for old New England!" The Sons of New Hampshire in Boston duplicated their former reception, and in historic old Faneuil Hall the men sat down — or rather, stood up — to a feast which furnished a strange contrast to their accustomed bill of fare. But when the regiment arrived in its own state, then the deluge. At nine o'clock in the evening the train bearing the regiment rolled into the depot at Manchester. A tumultuous, swaying crowd of thousands rent the air with their cheers, above which could be THE WELCOME HOME. 155 heard the roar of an artillery salute. They formed in column, and under an imposing escort of local dignitaries and organizations the Second's triumphal march began. The culmination was at Smyth's Hall, in the body of which, upon long tables, was spread the most tempting collation Manchester wealth and hospitality could supply, with a swarm of Manches ter's fairest daughters as table attendants. But the main point of attraction for the soldiers was the gallery, packed with ladies, most of whom had been waiting there for many long, weary hours — the friends, mothers, and sisters of the men ; and sweetest of all, the happy face of "the girl I left behind me." But amid all the joyousness there were some whose eyes were swimming with tears as they joined in the greetings to those who had been comrades of their own loved ones who would never come back. The venerable Mayor of the city, Theodore T. Abbott, wel comed the regiment in a feeling and appropriate speech, which was responded to by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey. After "rations," Hon. Frederick Smyth was introduced as toast- master, and short speeches by members of the regiment and by citizens filled the time until a late hour. The next day was a gala day in Concord, and the reception was upon a magnificent scale, consisting of a grand procession, dinner at the hotels, and speeches of welcome. General Wool was there to give eclat to the occasion. The headquarters of the regiment Capt. Harrison De F. Young, Co. F, Entered the service as Second Lieutenant of Co. F; promoted to First Lieutenant and Captain. He was for a long time on staff duty as ordnance officer of the Second Division, Third Corps, and also of the corps. Resides in Lancaster. 156 SECOND NE W HAMPSHIRE. In Company G Street at Budd's Ferry. A Group of " Peterborough Boys." From a Tintype in the possession of Elmer J. Starkey. i — Oilman T. Gould. Appointed corporal June 20, 1863; sergeant, Sept. 1, 1863; re-enlisted; wounded at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1854; appointed first sergeant July 1, 1864; first lieutenant Co. F, Feb. 5, 1865. Died at Chelsea, Mass., March 15, 1876. 2 — Albert J. Farnsworth. Promoted corporal Oct. 1, 1862; sergeant, Sept. 1, 1863. 3 — John Reagan. Born in England. A corporal. Captured at White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862; paroled" Sept. 13, 1862. Has been an inmate of the National Home at Togus, Maine. Last known address, Fall River, Mass. 4 — James E. Saunders. [See portrait and sketch elsewhere.] 5 — Alexander Lyle. The bonnie Scotch lad, killed at Williamsburg. [See page 73.] 6 — Elmer J. Starkev. Original second corporal. Wounded at Bull Run, Aug, 29, 1862, and discharged on account of wounds Jan. 24, 1863. Present P. O. address, Chesham. Starkey was a member of a detachment which, after the rebel evacuation, was sent across from Budd's Ferry on the little steamer " Stepping Stones." They had just set fire to some fish houses which had been used by the rebels for storehouses, when rebel cavalry dashed in and drove the party on board the boat. In the rush one man (now remembered as being named Currier) was left behind. To escape capture he finally took to the water, and performed the astonishing feat of swimming the river to the Maryland shore. 7 — Daniel W. Gould. Wounded at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, and discharged on account of wounds Nov. 28, 1862. Now resides in Chelsea, Mass. 8 — John J. Moore. Promoted corporal Sept. 1, 1862. [See portrait later.] THE SEVENTEENTH CONSOLIDATED. 157 were established at Concord, where seven companies were stationed in camp at the fair grounds on the east side of the river. Compa nies D, E and K were stationed at Fort Constitution. There was a general granting of furloughs to the men, but this was largely a mere matter of form, as they were permitted to go and come about as they pleased, regardless of furloughs. As then constituted, the Second Regiment had but little of the stuff from which deserters are made. Many of the men visited Canada, the harbor of refuge for sneaks and runaways ; but on the summons to assemble, pre paratory to returning to the seat of war, hastened back, once more to take their places in the ranks. Following the promotion of Colonel Marston to Brigadier- General, Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, Major Carr and Captain Sayles were at this time promoted to fill consequent vacancies. A number of volunteer recruits were received by the regiment during its stay in New Hampshire, but the main addition to its strength came from the Seventeenth Regiment, which had been in course of organization at Concord. The officers of the Seventeenth were discharged, and the privates, under a nine months' enlistment, incorporated into the ranks of the Second. This arrangement was not entirely to the liking of the men of the Seventeenth. In fact, they placarded their camp with the motto, " The Seventeenth or nothing ! " which gave the Second men the opportunity to observe that there was n't much choice. They were, however, a fine body of men, and fought like veterans at Gettysburg. The number transferred was ninety-four ; of whom seven were killed or died of wounds, five died of disease, five deserted, eleven were discharged for disability, and sixty-six discharged by expiration of term of service. Monday, May 25 th, the regiment, having been assembled at Concord, started again for the front ; by rail to Allyn's Point, where it took the old freight steamer " City of Norwich," for New York. May 26. Arrived at Jersey City at seven this morning, and took cars for Philadelphia, where we had dinner at the Soldiers' Refreshment Saloon. Arrived in Baltimore about midnight, where supper was furnished by the Union Aid Association. May 27. Arrived in Washington this morning, and were quartered at the Soldiers' Rest. i58 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. May 28. The regi ment, under orders, started for Camp Chase, on Arlington Heights, but before reaching Long Bridge the desti nation was changed to Capitol Hill. Pitched A tents in a level field about one mile east of the capitol. Not a tree or bush for shelter. May 29. Began to drill two hours daily. General Martindale, in command of the defen ces of Washington, paid the camp a visit. May 31. Regiment was inspected, in the forenoon, by an officer of General Casey's staff. As it was very hot and dusty, he went through with his business as rapidly as possible, very much to the satisfaction of the men. The quartermaster was directed to draw straw enough to bed the tents. Two of the boys who saw "Old Gil." in the city yesterday asked him what was to be done with us, and he said that within eight days we would be with our old division in the Army of the Potomac. June 1. The Second Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps crossed the river this evening, and the Second and Four teenth New Hampshire and Thirty-fourth Massachusetts are the only regiments now remaining on this side. June 2. The boys have been having fun over a February mail which was sent up and distributed to the regiment today. It has been lying in Washington ever since the regiment went home. Abbott A. Forbush, Co, G, Enlisted from Peterborough, his native town. He is now a member of the New Hampshire colony in Washington D. C. CAMP ON CAPITOL HILL. 159 June 3. Gen. Marston visited camp, and the boys gave him fhe best they had, includjng unlimited cheers and a grand sere nade by six pieces of the band — all that could be mustered. June 6. The musicians (drummers and fifers) got into a snarl at dress par ade, and then made a big jabber over it. As a reward-of-merit they were perched on barrels in front of camp, and for one hour entertained a delighted audience with a concert of "choice selections." June 7. Inspection of arms in the forenoon. A city missionary, with two ladies, held religious ser vice in camp, and supplied the men with hymn books and tracts. arrived from New Hampshire. June 8. The colonel, major and adjutant set their horses loose to graze about camp, and the animals are now put down as desert ers. Forty rounds of cartridges per man were distributed this morning. The balls are called "musket shells" — an explosive bullet — and woe to the Johnny that stops one ! June 9. A Dutchman is in the guard house for thrashing a boy he accused of stealing his horse. The paymaster showed up, and left two months' pay with the men — to May 1 . June n. The regiment broke camp this forenoon, and started to rejoin the Army of the Potomac — to Acquia Creek on steamer "Hugh Jenkins," thence by rail to Stoneman's Station, where it Corpl, Adoniram J. Sawyer, Co. H. Enlisted from Hopkinton, and was wounded at Wil liamsburg. Now lives in Newton, where he is in the retail boot and shoe trade, also member of the insur^ ance firm of Sawyer & Heath. Has served the town as representative in 1887-8; selectman in 1893-4; and moderator several years. Was postmaster under Pres ident Harrison. About a dozen belated men i6o S£ COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. arrived about dark and went into bivouac for the night. The surrounding country presents a scene of utter desolation, the army having broken camp and moved off in the direction of Warrenton. June 12. The Second were off about sunrise, and marched to Hartwood Church, about ten miles, reaching there at noon. The rest of the Third Corps left here yesterday, and is somewhere on ahead. Notwithstanding last night's rain, the roads were very dusty, and the march fatiguing. We ran across a number of the old brigade boys, who were mighty glad to see the Second again. June 13. At half-past four this morning we fell into column with the Excelsior brigade, which came up from guarding one of the Rappahannock fords, and marched with them to join the rest of the division at Rappahannock Station — about twenty-five miles. Regimental orders against straggling were read in the morning — a rather queer docu ment, to the effect that if more than three men were absent from any company, its officers would be subject to court mar tial. But many could not keep up, especially the Seventeenth men, as the march was very severe. The Second is hard up for grub, and anxiously looking for the supply train. We find we are not to join our old brig ade, but are assigned to the Third Brigade of the same division, consisting of the Fifth to Eighth New Jersey and One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsyl vania. June 14. Three regiments of the brigade were on picket through the day. The division was under orders to be ready to march at a moment's notice, and got away at about a quarter to ten in the evening. Lieut, William Montgomery, Co. H, Severely wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, while first sergeant of Company H, and promoted to second lieutenant. He resides at Contoocook. A NIGHT STAMPEDE. 161 This night march from Rappahannock Station to Warrenton Junction is memorable for one of the most ridiculous stampedes on record, when the bulk of Joe. Hooker's old fighting division was routed by one runaway team. The troops marched upon the railroad, while the wagons and artillery followed the turnpike, which in its general course was parallel with the railroad, crossing and re- crossing it at various points. At one of these crossings a team got into a flurry and bolted into the column not far from the head of the Second Regiment. The men in the immediate vicinity at once gave it the right of way, and the bolt swept in both directions like the tumble of a row of bricks. The plod ding men could hear the coming storm from afar off, and when, peering through the gloom, they saw every body stampeding for the bush, they no longer stood upon the order of their own going, but went. The average momentary impression probably was that the rebels had set a car running wild down the track to break up the procession. Officers, from mere force of habit, shouted " Halt ! halt ! " at the top of their voices, at the same time their legs were carrying them along as fast as any of the men. The ditches were filled with sprawling men, while those who escaped that trap met their fate on stumps and other obstructions to rapid travel in the dark. The panic subsided as rapidly as it arose, and after a short time spent in gathering and sorting the debris and taking a general account of stock, the column was again pushing on for Warrenton. June 15. Reached Warrenton Junction at seven o'clock this Sergt. Lorenzo P. Adley, Co. F, Was from Milan. Promoted to first lieutenant Twenty-second U. S. C. T., February 15, 1864^ He was killed in a railroad accident at Ottumwa, Iowa, October 12, 1878. 162 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. morning, where we rested until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the march was resumed to Manassas Junction, where we arrived about midnight. The heat was awful, the dust suffo cating, and many men were sunstruck. Most of the Seventeenth men gave out on this afternoon's march. June 1 6. Drew three days' rations, to last until Friday night, the 19th. At midnight the Second and the One Hundred and Fif teenth Pennsylvania went on picket about two miles out on the Centreville road. June 17. The Second came off picket at nine this morning and marched to Blackburn's Ford to await the arrival of the rest of the corps. The Fifth Corps passed us there, and in the afternoon we went on, camping about a mile be yond Centreville, on the Warrenton pike. Colonel Bailey had a fine horse presented to him by the officers of the regiment. June 18. One of the New England Cavalry was in camp today, who said the regiment was badly smashed yesterday, and many of its men captured. At night a very strong picket guard was detailed from the division. June 19. The division marched to Gum Springs, about eleven miles on the Leesburg road. June 20. Lay all day at Gtim Springs. Two days' rations issued. Reports that the corps is surrounded by the enemy ; also that one of General Birney's aides and two orderlies have been captured by guerrillas. Clarence A, Brackett, Co. E, Brackett enlisted from Antrim as a musician in Company E, and was subsequently transferred to Company C. He had a chronic disagreement with his officers, which became so hot that he " dis charged himself" after a year's service. He en tered the Seventeenth Vermont and made a good record, being appointed corporal, then sergeant, and wounded and captured. He lives in Antrim. UP INTO MARYLAND. 163 June 21. Heavy artillery firing heard in the direction of Aldie, and in the afternoon the corps was under arms and posted for battle, but the rebels did not give us a call. June 22. It is reported that several guerrillas picked up by our men are to be hanged. The gambling craze broke out, and many " sweat- boards " were in full blast on the outskirts of the camp until Col. Bailey suppressed them. June 23. A number of men detailed to guard wagon trains. Had a dress parade at six o'clock. Among other rations today we got the much needed one of soap. June 24. Went through the useless ceremony of drilling from 2 to 4 p. m., and then, with two other regiments, the Second marched out about three miles on the Leesburg road. Threw out pickets and a heavy patrol on the road, when the regi ment formed in hollow square and slept on its arms. June 25. The entire corps marched in the forenoon, crossing the Potomac on pontoons at Edwards Ferry. Our division marched up the towpath of the Ohio and Chesapeake canal in the direction of Point of Rocks. The official report of General A. A, Humphreys, commanding the division, speaks as follows of this day's march : "At 10 a. m. the division marched to Edwards Ferry, through Fairfarm and Franklinville, and crossing the Potomac on the pontoon bridge about 5 p. m., marched on the towpath of the canal to the mouth of the Monocacy, reaching that point about midnight, after a march Quartermaster Francis W, Perkins, Was from Concord, and mustered as a ser geant in Company B. The first quartermaster- sergeant, and promoted to quartermaster Aug. 21, 1861. Appointed Captain and A. Q. M. June 9, 1862. He served on brigade and divis ion staffs, and was chief of water transportation in the Department of the Gulf, with rank of lieutenant-colonel. After the war he settled in New Orleans, and was murdered in his office March 6, 1871. 164 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. of about 25 miles, that portion on the towpath being rendered very fatiguing and exhausting by a heavy rain that set in at nightfall. The whole command, officers and men, were more exhausted by this march than by that of the 14th and 15th." This "towpath march," unprecedented in some of the circum stances attending it, ruined for the time being General Humphreys' popularity with the men of the division. This was doubtless unjust, as the difficulties of the march could hardly have been anticipated, and when they were appreciated it was so late that the only course was to go ahead, regardless of consequences. Night came on, dark and rainy, and the men jogged along the narrow pathway, which soon took on a treacherous coat of slimy mud. The frequent splashings, sputterings, and volleys of "cuss words" which told of a "man overboard," were the only cheerful feature of the occasion. The men grumbled at being trailed along that treacherous "hog back," while a good turnpike, though inaccessible to them, lay just the other side of the canal. No halt, no rest, but they plodded along, hour after hour, hoping to reach a lock or a bridge by which they might get out of the trap ; but no such avenue of escape opened up. One by one, squad by squad, the exhausted men sank upon the ground and refused to go farther, until the little cut-offs of land on the river side were covered with stragglers. Commanders of regiments were left without the colors, and almost without men, and when General Humphreys arrived at his goal he had hardly enough of his division with him to form a headquarters guard. In Alvin R. Smith, Co, C, Resides in New Boston. THE EVE OF GETTYSBURG. 165 the morning a stream of men poured from the towpath across the Monocacy acqueduct, and it was late in the forenoon before the division was assembled and the march resumed. June 26. The corps marched to the vicinity of Point of Rocks, going into bivouac on Catoctin mountain. There were plenty of rails for fires, and the men had a good time drying them selves June 27. Marched to a point near Middleton, passing through Jefferson village. South Mountain, where the battle was fought last fall, was in sight all day. June 28. Passed through Middleton, Frederick City and Walkerville, camping about two miles from the latter place. While marching through Frederick we got a glimpse of General Marston, and the cheers the boys gave him told him how strong a hold he has upon them. We are getting into God's country, now, where there are loyal people, and where American flags and cheers for the Union are the rule, and not the exception. June 29. Made an early start, and marched to Taneytown, within five miles of the Pennsylvania line. General Sickles joined the corps and was given a hearty welcome as he rode down the marching column. June 30. Regiment mustered for pay in the forenoon, and at three o'clock p. m. marched to Monocacy bridge, about five miles. Passed a squad of a dozen rebel prisoners who, while out foraging, were gobbled up by some of the Eleventh Corps. July 1 . Marched to Emmitsburg in the forenoon and went into camp near the city. Charles H. Hayes, Co. B, Born in Concord, brought up in Concord, enlisted from Concord, returned to Concord, and is still in Concord. A Concord boy. CHAPTER XI, JULY 2 TO JULY 4, 1863. THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG — NIGHT MARCH FROM EMMITSBURG SECOND REGIMENT REPORTS TO GEN. GRAHAM IN SUPPORT OF AMES' BATTERY HORRIBLE DEATH OF CORPORAL BIGNALL JOHN A. BARKER'S EXPERIENCE THE MUR DEROUS FIGHT AT SHERFEY'S PEACH ORCHARD ADVANCE OF MCLAW'S DIVISION— COUNTER CHARGE BY THE SECOND REGIMENT THE REGIMENT'S SURPASSING DISCIPLINE IT CHANGES FRONT, FIGHTING AND RETREATING ITS LAST STAND, AS TOLD BY COL. BAILEY RECAPITULATION OF REGIMENTAL LOSS RESCUE OF THE WOUNDED COMPANY B'S FIGHT AT THE WENTZ HOUSE, AS TOLD BY PRIVATE HOLDEN COL. BAILEY'S OFFICIAL REPORT. THE fight of the First and Eleventh Corps on the 1st of July, in which the accom plished Reynolds lost his life, led to the rapid concentration of the army for a great and decisive battle at Gettysburg. Leaving one brigade and a battery from each of his two divisions to cover the position at Emmitsburg, Sickles, without waiting for specific orders from Meade, marched at two p. m. on the 1st with the remainder of the Third Corps to Gettysburg, a distance of twelve miles. The regiments of Burling's brigade went very com fortably into camp near Emmitsburg, having plenty of straw to bed their shelter tents During the evening orders were issued to the regimental commanders to be prepared for an early march in the morning, although at that time Colonel Burling had received no definite instructions in regard to moving. But at 1.30 on the morning of July 2 he received orders directly from General Meade to immediately rejoin the corps at Gettysburg. The night being very dark, and the brigade considerably scattered by its disposition to cover various roads, it was between three and four o'clock before NIGHT MARCH TO GETTYSBURG. 167 the command was assembled. Without breakfasting, the Second formed column with the brigade and started for Gettysburg. At the end of each hour a halt of about ten minutes was made for rest, the sunrise halt being somewhat longer, to enable the men to cook a hasty cup of coffee. It was a weird night march. Dark clouds were scudding across the sky, which let loose an occasional quick, sharp shower upon the hurrying troops. The consciousness of impending battle had by some subtle influence taken possession of the minds of the men. During one of the early morning halts there was heard, away to the north, the indistinct sounds of a slow fire of artillery. It was about half-past seven o'clock when the column came into the more open country in the immediate vicinity of Gettysburg. As it approached the now famous Sherfey's peach orchard, where the road ascends the southern elbow or termination of Seminary Ridge, a line of Union skirmishers in the fields to the left, evidently very much awake, indicated the imme diate presence of the enemy and that the brigade was nearing its destination. An occasional shot was heard, well out, and the sup ports, posted by the road, gave Burling's men the assurance that there were plenty of rebels "right over there." It was seen that the skirmish line was retiring from the more advanced positions, and presently, the brigade having passed, it was extended across the road to the rear of the column. It is now known that soon after this time Hood's division of the Confederate army lay across that highway, and Burling's brigade had escaped by only a narrow margin what would have been a most unexpected encounter. The brigade advanced slowly beyond Sherfey's, and then, leaving the road, passed across the fields to the right, toward the Aaron Goodwin, Co, B, Wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, and died of wounds August 17. He was from Salem, where his only surviving rel ative, a sister — Mrs. Adeline Ayer — still lives and keeps his memory green. i68 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. foot of Cemetery Ridge, where the brigade commander reported his arrival to General Sickles. This junction occurred at about nine o'clock. The mists, clouds and showers of the early morning had been dissipated, and the sun shone in a cloudless sky. Massed in column of regiments, the brig ade rested for three hours, or until nearly noon. An ominous quiet, almost oppressive, rested upon the field. The fringe of forest beyond the Emmitsburg road formed a leafy curtain behind which it was VI certain Lee was setting the stage \^S *^^S lor tms day's great tragedy. It \__jj was felt that the rebel chief would attempt to follow up his partial. success of the previous day; but where would the blow fall? The time was approaching when this problem would be solved. Sickles, by an energetic reconnoissance to the front, led by Berdan, uncov ered the movement of an immense rebel column toward the left, held at once placed his command in His Second Division was Sergt, John 0. Stevens, Co. B. Wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, and died of wounds July 3. He was from Wentworth. by the Third Corps, and he position to meet the coming assault. posted along the Emmitsburg road, its left at Sherfey's ; the First Division thrown back so as to face nearly south, with Graham's brigade at the peach orchard, holding the salient angle of the corps line, DeTrobriand's in the centre, and Ward's upon the left, a considerable distance in advance of the Round Tops. Burling's brigade was at first moved to position as support for the other two brigades of its division, but was shortly ordered to report to General Birney, commanding the First Division. By his direction the brigade was massed in a piece of woods west of Little Round Top, and not far from the wheat field, where, later in the day, the Fifth New Hampshire fought and Cross fell. Colonel THE ENEMY'S OPENING SALUTE. 169 Cross, with others of the Fifth, came to greet acquaintances in the Second, but there was time for only a momentary chat. The brigade was formed in columns of masses, facing west. There was but little, if any, artil lery firing as yet, but the rifles of the skirmishers were beginning to talk. The brigade was ordered forward out of the woods,' and advanced, first at quick, then at double-quick time. If the move ment was intended to develope the enemy's position by drawing his fire, it succeeded to perfection. The instant the brigade uncovered it was greeted with a storm of shells from rebel guns about a thousand yards distant. The Sec ond's colors were shot out of their bearer's hands, the staff being broken into three pieces, and several men were wounded. The blue mass halted, until the purpose of the movement being accom plished, as was supposed, it was about-faced and marched back to the slight cover afforded by the grove and the conformation of the ground. Simultaneously a battery of brass guns came tearing up and went gallantly into position a little to the right. One of Sickles' aides rode up to Burling and in an excited manner inquired by whose authority the brigade had been moved back. "By my own," was Burling's reply ; and he was ordered to take his command forward again. But orders were now flying thick and fast. Before the move ment could be executed one of Birney's aides dashed up with orders for the brigade to change direction to the left, by which it would be brought to front with the division line of battle. This had barely been accomplished when another aide was up with orders for Burling to detail two of his largest regiments to report to Sergt, Nathan E. Kuse, Co, E, Wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, and died of wounds July 31. South Newmarket. Hei ; from 170 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. General Graham, and the Second New Hampshire and Seventh New Jersey were detached to that duty. The Second at once withdrew from the brigade column of mass. By the somewhat circuitous route taken to avoid a swampy run the distance to Graham's position was probably more than half a mile, most of which was covered by the Second at the double-quick. As the regiment approached the peach orchard, marching in column of fours, it was formed, first by companies into line, and then by com panies forward into line, all in double-quick time, and marching up the slope in one of its best lines of battle, the Second was reported to General Graham. He directed it to be placed in immediate support of Ames' New York battery — six brass twelve-pounders, then in position at the north-west angle of the peach orchard. The right wing of the regiment moved directly forward _ in line, and was ordered to lie down, being then parallel to and facing the Emmitsburg road. The left wing, by the movement then known as " by the right flank by file left," followed the rear of the left of the right wing, and upon being halted, faced to the left, being thus brought into line at right angles with the right wing. Com pany B was detached as sharpshooters and stationed near the right of the battery, about the Wentz buildings, a one-story wood farm house and two or three small outbuildings on the east side of the Lieut, Edmund Dascomb, Co, G, Wounded at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, and died of wounds July 13. He was finely educated, and possessed of high literary talents. At the recep tion of the regiment in Manchester, i„ 1863, he made a speech whic h carried the audience by storm, and subsequen tly took an active part in the political campaign, on the stump. His body rests in the national cemetery, Grave 11, Section A, New Hampshire Lot. SUPPORTING AMES' BATTERY. 171 Emmitsburg road, which at this point is intersected by the Fairfield (or Millerstown) road, running east and west. The Sherfey build ings, more often quoted in general mention of this position, were about thirty rods north, on the west side of the Emmitsburg road. It was soon apparent that, as the enemy's fire was developing, the right wing of the regiment was unnecessarily exposed, and to secure better shelter it made a change of front forward upon the color company, bringing the whole regiment to face south, with its right in the garden to the rear of the Wentz house. This move was made at about 3.15 p. m. Ames' battery was having quite a lively duel with rebel guns away to the south, near the Emmitsburg road, and was apparently having the best of it, when a four gun battery came out of the woods directly to the west and opened from a distance of five hundred yards, completely enfilading the Sec ond and its battery. Ames at once turned his right section upon this new arrival, and these two pieces, with the assistance of Company B, gave the rebel battery a wicked reception. One of its guns was dismounted by a lucky shot, and its gunners knocked over, right and left, until they decided to go out of business for the time being. For two hours aad more the regiment lay in this position, the men closely hugging the ground and biding with the stoical philosophy of veterans the time when they could "get in their work." As they lay, the foliage of the peach orchard screened from their view everything in front of the battery, but an officer would occasionally saunter out to the guns to take in the situation. First Sergt. John P, Stone, Co, A, Killed at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. He was from Swanzey, and the original eighth corporal of the company. 172 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. There were lulls in the artillery firing, but Ames gave the rebels the best he had whenever they became too demonstrative. Other Union batteries could be seen at work, both to the left of the peach orchard and along the Emmitsburg road, but the interest of the Second was centered upon Ames. The regiment, from its position, caught a good share of the missiles hurled at the battery, and many men were hit ; the wounds being mostly of the horrible character incident to artillery work. Several car tridge boxes were exploded. A shell struck and burst on the box of Corporal Thomas Bignall, of Company C. The cartridges were driven into his body and fired, and for nearly half a minute the devilish " musket shells " issued at Washington were exploding in his quivering form. But death was mercifully quick. The next moment a fragment of shell explored the cartridge box of Sergeant James M. House, of Company I. The rapidity with which he tore off the infernal machine hanging by his side was astonishing, and he escaped with only a severe wound. John A. Barker, of Company C, here received a notable wound, necessitating a trephine of the skull. The case is recorded in the " Medical and Surgical History of the War," and the piece of bone removed is now in the Army and Navy Medical Museum, at Wash ington. Barker has given the following interesting account of his Wilber F, Brown, Co. B. Enlisted from Epsom. Captured at Gettys burg, July 2, 1863, and died in Andersonvllle prison, August 26, 1864. His grave is No. 6,871. Though but a boy, he was a marvelous shot with a rifle. He exhibited his skill when the regiment was at home by shooting a wild goose at Sugar Ball Eddy, in Concord, from a distance of nearly three hundred yards. A WOUNDED MAN'S EXPERIENCE. 173 experiences : " I was leaning up against a small peach tree at the time. A shell burst within a dozen feet of me. I hardly know how to describe my situation. The last thing before my eyes was the form of Colonel Bailey and the prostrate forms of the men as they were lying down for safety. The shell exploded at my left ; I was struck on top of the head by a fragment, and was knocked insen sible. The first thing I knew afterwards was that my comrades Corpl, John A, Barker, Co. C, Was taken prisoner at the first Bull Run battle. Severely wounded at Gettysburg. Now City Messenger of Manchester. were trying to carry me to the rear. I could see nothing. Sud denly I was dropped, and I never knew why until I got home, months afterwards, and met my comrades. It seems that the man who had hold of my right leg, Charles Moore by name, was killed, and the remainder of my would-be rescuers were ordered back to the regiment and had to obey. Moore is now buried in the national cemetery at Gettysburg. I laid on the ground. The Rebs 174 SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE. were coming up fast. It seemed to me as though matters were becoming pretty warm, and I commenced to crawl. I did not know where I was going, but had the queer impression that I was headed for the rear. Soon I crawled up against a man. I tried to arouse him to have him assure me that my direction was correct. The man, however, was dead. I did not dare to go around him, for fear I would lose my way by swerving, and I strad dled over him. I came to another fellow, who was wounded. I was about to crawl over him, when he asked me where I was going. I told him that I was going to the rear. He called an officer, and the latter ordered two men to take me to the rear. All the time I had been crawling along the rear of the battle line. I was taken to the corps hospital. I was struck by the shell at four o'clock in the afternoon, and did not get under the surgeon's care until the next afternoon, when I was told my skull was fractured." During this time rebel batteries were moving to position around that devoted angle, until fifty-six pieces were within a range of not more than a thousand yards. At five o'clock it was apparent the crisis was near. Ames' battery, having exhausted its ammunition, was withdrawn, the men of the Second making way for its passage to the rear through their ranks, and Battery I, Fifth U. S. Artillery, an estray from the Fifth Corps, took its place. The Rodman rifled guns of these regulars were hardly in position when the rebel artil lery opened a terrific concentric fire upon that doomed angle. The veterans of the Second, who had learned to read the signs, knew there was an infantry assault behind all that hubbub. Hood's Lieut, Charles W, Patch, Co. K, Received a gunshot wound in the abdomen at Gettysburg,' July 2, 1863, from which he died July 10. He was from Portsmouth, and was mustered in as third sergeant of Co. K. M CLAW'S ASSAULT. 175 division of Longstreet's corps was already furiously assailing the left, where the Fifth Corps and a portion of the Second had been sent to Sickles' assistance. The fight for the possession of Little Round Top, in full view of the Second, was at its height, the rocky pinnacle belching flames like a volcano, and the crash of musketry was heavy and continuous. Now every gun upon that great outer circle seemed to concen trate its fire upon that little acre about the Wentz house. The Third Maine, which had been skirmishing in front of the battery, was withdrawn and formed to the rear of the Second, while the Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania took position upon its left. It was toward six o'clock when, under cover of the artillery fire, the long-concealed infantry of McLaw's rebel division dis closed itself and moved forward for a simultaneous, converging attack upon both faces of Sickles' salient. Kershaw's brig ade, followed by Semmes', crossed to the east side of the Emmitsburg road, and pressed forward to get within striking distance of the peach orchard from the south, while Barks- dale's brigade, with Wofford's in support, advanced against the Emmitsburg road front. Colonel Bailey, while taking a view from a point of observa tion near the Emmitsburg road, noted the rapid advance of a column of massed battalions. He watched it just long enough to determine that it was a genuine column of attack, with no skirmishers thrown forward, and that it was pushing directly for the battery the Second was supporting and would be upon it in a very few minutes. He ran with all speed to First Sergt, David W. Colburn, Co, C, Killed at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. He was from Goffstown, and entered the service as a corporal of Company C. 176 SE COND NE W HAMPSHIRE. General Graham, meeting him some distance to the rear of the Second, gave him warning, and suggested that the Second should charge. "Yes, for God's sake, go forward !" replied Graham. The Second came to their feet with a great sigh of relief. They had begun to chafe in the leash. Despite many casualties, there were probably more than three hundred men still left to " go for ward." No time was wasted on frills — only a moment for a hasty aUnement. There was not time even to rally Company B into the line, and most, if not all, of its men were left at their work about the Wentz house. Besides, they appeared to be fully engaged, just then. The lieutenant in command of the battery was seen to be spiking his guns, indicating that he considered them as good as lost. He was not acquainted with his supports. It is safe to say that no battery commander in the Third Corps would ever have done that so long as he had the Second New Hampshire with him. But this battery had been very nearly silenced for some time by the overpowering rebel fire, and its commander simply lost his nerve. " Forward, guide center ! " — and the Second was off. One of the battery lieutenants, with the aid of a corporal, was training one of the guns upon the head of the advancing column, and just as the Second passed, the double-shotted piece was discharged. Simul taneously came the order to charge, and with a roar of defiance from three hundred throats the Second went tearing down the slope. They did not have to hunt for the enemy — there he was, right before them. The rebels halted a moment, in dazed surprise at this devil's whirlwind which had been let loose upon them. It seemed to be a halt involuntary and without orders. Those ragged veterans saw it " meant business." The savage, confident dash of the charge was suggestive of a heavy support behind, and there was not much time for them to stop and think the matter over. They did what any other body of troops would have done under like circumstances — about-faced and went back as fast as they could run, for a new start. On went the Second, in a south-west course, about one hundred and fifty yards, through the peach orchard, its right wing out at its angle and partially across the Emmitsburg road. A sharp fire was maintained upon those fleeing rebels, until they reached a little IN THE PEACH ORCHARD. 177 depression in the fields and piled into it, out of sight. There was: some difficulty in halting the Second. Its blood was up, and many of the men seemed to think that now was the time to go into Rich mond. But they were at length cooled down, and the regiment was quickly moved a little to the left along the line of a rail fence at the southerly edge of the orchard, its right resting on the road. The fire was now directed, at the left oblique, upon a body of N ;fL__Ji]urf i eiU^i w-~- Se-; -_¦ 2F Itimf— ^V3-i^i g> 14-I Pa. 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