The Fifth Regiment was formed in Concord and commissioned by Gov. Berry
on August 27, 1861. The men were a representation of every member of
profession; farmers, mechanics, teachers, policemen and shopkeepers who came
from the length and breadth of the state, (Pittsburg) to Nashua and Keene
to Portsmouth. It's commander, Col. Edward E. Cross was adventurous and
dynamic. Born in Lancaster, April 22, 1832, he became apprentice at age
15 in the printing shop of the Coos County Democrat eventually becoming
a reporter for the Atlas newspaper in Cincinnati and later local editor for
the Daily Times. In 1858, as a business venture, he brought the first
printing press into the territory of Arizona and began publishing it's
first newspaper, The Weekly Arizonian in Tubec. There are several accounts
of duels between Cross and individuals who took issue with Cross's editorial
opinions. Apparently, no one was seriously injured in these altercations.
Cross eventually left the newspaper business and accepted a commission
in the Mexican Army . When news of Ft. Sumpter reached him, he resigned and
returned to New Hampshire where Gov. Berry appointed him Col. of the Fifth.
On October 28, 1861, the regiment was sworn into the service of the United
States and departed for Washington on the 29th with 1200 members. One of
Cross's first acts was to establish a school for his officers and NCO's in
which they were taught the principals of drill and military tactics. This
was highly unusual for a volunteer regiment and credits Cross with the
foresight that would reap high benefits. The unit as a whole was subjected
to hours of drill all closely supervised by Cross. Four hours a day of
close order drill had helped to make soldiers out of civilians and an extra
three nights a week for his officers and sergeants on practical and
theoretical problems in military tactics and organization had prepared
them for effective leadership.
Cross set the tone as a strict disciplinarian from the start and
expected the best from his men. Though sometimes harsh and impetuous,
the men respected him and felt that he treated them fairly. One incident
that illustrates Cross's philosophy is that of a soldier who went up to
Cross in battle in the greatest distress said, "Oh Colonel, I am
wounded." The Colonel looked down on him and gravely but quickly said.
"It is the fortune of war my young man, it is the fortune of war."
The first encounter with the enemy was on March 13, 1862 at
Rappahanock Station. Men of the Fifth got no more opportunity then to
fire a few parting shots at the withdrawing Rebel forces and suffered no
casualties. This would be the first and only time in it's history that
the regiment sustained no losses in combat and it's ironic that they
would become known as the "Bloodless Fifth".
The regiment was relatively inactive until McClellan's Peninsula
campaign during May and June of 1862. The culmination of McClellan's
inept efforts, required him to extricate his army from a Confederate
entrapment. One avenue of escape was across the Chickihominy River now
swollen by several days of rain. Existing bridges had been swept away.
Orders came down from headquarters to have two bridges rebuilt. Col.
Cross's regiment was selected to build one of them. So at dawn on May 28,
the Fifth stacked arms, took up axes and began. They labored throughout
the entire day felling trees and dragging them throughout the swamp, that
was, in places, three feet deep. On the morning of the 29th they were
joined by a contingent from the 64th N.Y. As a final step they lashed
timbers together by grapevines that flourished in the area. This detail
was to prove important. The main section of the span was 40 yards long but
included approaches making the total length one eighth of a mile. It was
completed in two days by more than 1000 men working at Cross's direction.
Soon after completion, it began to rain again, eventually washing away
all bridges except for the "Grapevine Bridge". It was thus the only
bridge available to a major portion of the army to effect a safe withdrawal.
The "Grapevine Bridge" is often called Sumner's lower bridge in some
Civil War books and is often incorrectly attributed to the army engineers.
The first major engagement for the Fifth was the battle of Fair Oaks,
June 1, 1862. Losses were 30 killed, 170 wounded, including Cross, who
was struck in the thigh by a minnie ball and in the left side of the face
by three buckshot. In all, seven balls struck his person or clothing.
Additional engagements at Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern
Hill, completed their involvement in the Peninsula Campaign.
Following the Peninsular disaster, McClellen settled the army into
camp at Falmouth. Some interesting, if not mundane, aspects of soldier life
were recorded by Thomas L. Livermore who was then 1st Sgt. of Co. K. "Some
of the men would keep dirty until I obviated it by details to scrub dirty
faces with soap and sand, and once taking three men down to the brooks in
front of the camp and requiring them to strip and go in, doing the same
myself to show them that it was not cruel." In the tradition of soldiers to
create their own amusement Livermore admits, "When I was among the first
squad, I used to lie after "taps" and tell wondrous stories to amuse my
comrades, and then finish by announcing the fabrication.
In September of 1862, Lee initiated his Maryland invasion which
resulted in the battle of Antietam on September 17th. Here, the Fifth
was involved in the heavy fighting of "the sunken road" or "bloody lane".
In the words of Livermore, "On looking about me I found that we were in
an old sunken road and that the bed of it lay from one to three feet below
the surface of the crest along which it ran. In this road there lay so
many dead rebels that there formed a line which one might have walked on
as far as I could see, many of whom had been killed by the most horrible
wounds of shot and shell and they lay just as they had been killed apparently
amid the blood which was soaking the earth. It was on this ghastly
flooring that we kneeled for the last struggle...As the Rebel advance became
apparent we plied the line with musketry with all our power and with no doubt
with terrible effect but they still advanced. A color bearer came forward
within fifteen yards of our line and with the utmost desperation waved the
flag in front of him. Our men fairly roared "shoot the man with the flag!"
and he went down in the twinkling and the flag was not raised in sight again.
As the fight grew furious the Colonel cried out "Put on the war paint!" and
looking around I saw the glorious man standing erect with a red handkerchief,
a conspicuous mark, tied around his bare head..Taking the cue somehow we
rubbed the torn ends of cartridges over our faces, streaking them with powder
like a pack of Indians and Col. to complete the similarity cried out, "Give
'em the war whoop" and all of us joined him in the Indian war whoop until
it must have rung out amid the thunder of the ordinance."
The losses for this day were seven killed and one hundred and twenty
wounded out of three hundred and nineteen present for duty. Among the
wounded were Cross and Pvt. Leonard Howard from Lancaster who was struck my a
musket ball that penetrated his right lung. His story is typical of the plight
of many wounded. " I lay on the battlefield right in that ditch {Bloody Lane}
for more than twenty-four hours. The stretcher bearers passed me by. No
doubt they thought that I couldn't live, so they didn't bother to pick me up.
My chum, Bill Corson, hunted all over trying to find me. At long last he
did and gave me a drink from his canteen. He tried to get the stretcher
bearers to help lug me off the field, but they refused. They said twas no use,
I'd die anyway. So finally Bill told a couple of stretchermen that he'd
report them to Col. Cross if they didn't take me off the field. They picked me
up and carried me to a set of farm buildings. The yard was filled with
wounded, as close together as they could lay. The house and barn were filled
with wounded officers and men. The strechermen couldn't find any other place
to leave me, so they dumped me in a hogpen. The hogs had been slaughtered by
the soldiers, of course, but the pen was a mess and swarm'in with flies.
(Howard survived the wound and lived to be ninety).
Following Antietam, the Fifth with the rest of the army was involved
in McClellan's ponderous pursuit of Lee. Corp. Gove wrote in his diary,
"October 29, 1862, The Fifth N.H. left Concord one year ago today. We then
had more than one hundred thousand men. Now we can but muster two hundred.
On Wednesday, Nov. 12, 1862, McClellan was removed from command of the
army. Gove recorded, "The boys feel badly about it, I do not care, have
lost confidence in Mac. Hope Burnside will do things up brown." On the
same subject, Cross recorded in his journal, "Here we have heard the removal
of McClellan from command of the army at this time an ill-advised operation.
We were going on well, and two days would have brought us to the enemy...He
carried the hearts of the army with him."
On the morning of Dec. 13, 1862 the Fifth New Hampshire formed with
the remainder of the Second Corps on the streets of Fredericksburg as part
of Burnside's disastrous assault on the Confederate lines entrenched on
the height above the town. Col. Cross recorded "I went to my regiment,
counted my files, and found that I had two-hundred and forty nine rifles
and nineteen officers - line, field and staff. I passed along the line and
spoke to the officers and men; told them it twas to be a bloody strife, to
stand firm, and fire low; to close on their colors and be steady. I told
the officers, I said that they were expected to do their duty. Then I placed
myself at the head of my men and we started, following the Irish Brigade."
Fate had placed the assault for the Fifth and the Irish Brigade directly
facing the infamous "stone wall" on the Marye's Height's where Confederate
infantry was massed four ranks deep. Along the six hundred yard path of
advance the men suffered dreadful casualties to the effect that by the
time the regiment reached the "brick house" a prominent landmark on the
battlefield one hundred yards from the "stone wall" on the Marye's Heights
where Confederate infantry was massed four ranks deep. Along the six hundred
yard path of advance the men suffered dreadful casualties that to the effect
that by the time the regiment reached the "brick house", a prominent landmark
on the battlefield one hundred yards from the "stone wall", all the officers
had been killed or wounded; Cross himself having been wounded by shrapnel in
the chest and face. Knocked to the ground he was agin struck, "I tried to get
to my feet but could not stand...I concluded to lie still, and lay there for
more than an hour in expectation of instant death or a mortal wound.
For the rest of the men who continued on, the accounts of survivors
echo similar records. Corp. John McCrillis, "The line has now reached the
"brick house". Every man belonging to the color guard of the Fifth is dead
or wounded. Col. Cross is severely wounded, no man dares leave the ranks to
assist him. Major Sturtevant, Captains Perry, Murray and Moore and Lieutenants
Ballou, Netteton, and Little are killed. Beyond the "brick house" extends
a close board fence parallel to the "stone wall". We have now reached the
fence, the point beyond which no previous line had been able to go. The
dead and dying lay in a wide row along this fence. With the butts of our
muskets we knocked the boards off in several places. Sgt. Gove of Co. K
with the company colors dashed off toward the Rebel line Gove halted. I was
the first man on his left, next to my left was Foss of Co. E. Gove and Foss
were the only two men standing. All the other men that were not shot down,
fell down on their own accord. I asked them to lay down. Gove made no reply
while Foss said that he would stand up until he was hit. Hardly had Foss
said this before he was shot throughout the hip. At the same instant I heard
Gove call my name. I looked as he was going down. I started to go to him
when I was struck by a piece of shell in my left arm above the elbow, cutting
a piece out of my overcoat, blouse and shirt, rendering my arm useless. I
managed to get to Gove. He told me that he was shot through, and that I
must save the colors and not mind any thing about him. I rolled him over as
carefully as I could, and gathered the tattered folds about the staff.
At this time there was no one to my right or left except the dead or wounded.
Fixing my eye on an opening in the fence I made a break for the rear, out to
the "brick house" where there were hundreds of men huddled...I decided to go
to the rear. Arriving at the place where we came into line at the canal
I found a few of our own regiment and one officer." On the morning of Dec.
14, 1862, seventy men answered the roll.
In his history of the Second Army Corps Gen. Francis Walker writes
"The dead of Fredericksburg were buried on the following Saturday by a detachment
under the command of Col. John R. Brook who was accompanied by Captain Morgan,
Inspector General of the Second Corps. Both these men have testified, in the
most precise manner, that the bodies found nearest the "stone wall" were
those of the Sixty-ninth New York, Fifth New Hampshire, and Fifty-third
Pennsylvania."
Following Fredericksburg the regiment went into winter quarters at
Falmouth. It and the entire Second Corps were spared the misery of Burnside's
"mud march". Here at Falmouth they slowly renewed their numbers through returned
convalescents and recruits. Journals and accounts reveal a monotonous routine
of drill and mundane camp life activities from January well into April. It
was during this time that Cross was promoted to Brigade commander and the
Fifth came under the command of Lt. Col. Charles Hapgood.
At the battle of Chancellorsville the Fifth was held in reserve through
most of the engagement and was given, along with the Eighty-first and
Eigthy-eigth New York, the task of digging in to stop the Confederate troops
who had routed the Eleventh Corps.
After Hooker's defeat at Chancellorsville the army withdrew back to it's
camp at Falmouth. In June Lee began his campaign into Pennsylvania and the
army of the Potomac moved in response that led to the battle of Gettysburg.
The Fifth New Hampshire arrived on that field late in the evening of July 1
and was held in reserve throughout most of July 2 until about 4:30 in the
afternoon when the brigade commanded my Cross, was ordered into the "wheatfield"
to turn back the aggressive Confederate attack on the Federal left. In three
hours of desperate fighting the regiment lost eighty-six officers and men of
one hundred seventy-seven men present for duty. Col Cross was mortally wounded
by a musket ball that struck him in the navel and exited near the spine. He
was carried to a field hospital behind Culp's Hill where the regimental
surgeons did their best for him and many members of the regiment came to
speak to him. Cross, conscious throughout this final struggle, died shortly
after midnight July 3. His final words "I wished that I would live to see
the rebellion suppressed and peace restored...I think the boys will miss me."
Thomas Livermore left these reflections "With Col. Cross's death the glory
of our regiment came to a halt. It is true that the regiment maintained
a good reputation to the end of the war and did some splendid fighting, but
it was not the old regiment. He was a brave man and clear headed in a fight;
he took the most excellent care of his men in a sanitary way and was a good
disciplinarian. He taught us by rough measures, to be sure, that the implicit
obedience to orders was one of the cardinal virtues in a soldier. He taught
us to ignore the idea of retreating. Beside this he clothed and fed us well,
taught us to build good quarters and camped us on good ground and in short
did everything well to keep us well drilled and always ready to meet the enemy."
With less than one hundred men present for duty after Gettysburg, the
army command detached the Fifth from the Second Corps and returned it to New
Hampshire for recruits to rebuild their decimated ranks. The men were
understandably pleased to return to New Hampshire and they did, arriving in
Concord on Aug. 3, where the soldiers were granted leaves to visit their
homes throughout the state.
From August 3rd through October, the regiment remained in the state receiving
conscripts. On November 9th, they arrived by steamer at Point Lookout,
Maryland where they, along with the Second and Twelfth New Hampshire, were
assigned the duty of guarding Confederate prisoners. Here they remained until
May of 1864 when they were recalled to the Army of the Potomac, then engaged
in the Wilderness and Spotsylvania.
It is ironic that Col. Hapgood should report his regiment present for
duty, literally on the eve of the deadly assualt at Cold Harbor. According
to Hapgood's official report, "At 4:30am June 3, the regiment with the brigade,
charged the enemy's works and carried them, capturing two guns and one hundred
and twenty five prisoners which were sent to the rear... Ascertained that
the other regiments of the other brigades of the regiment had not carried
the works...and that the Fifth regiment was between the enemy's lines with no
connection to either flank and immediately...gave orders to retire." The
casualties were 202 killed out of 577 present for duty. It was the most
costly single day in the regiments history.
In the continuing campaign that developed into the siege of Petersburg,
a series of engagements occurred between June 15 and June 19th at Baylor's
Farm, Withal, and Wier Bottom Church that continued to erode the regiments
rolls. On June 17th Hapgood was severely wounded and command of the regiment
passed to Major Larkin.
From June till the battle of Deep Bottom, VA on August 14th the journals
from the members of the regiment show a series of marches and countermarches
or simply being prepared to move at a moments notice. The Fifth was not
engaged at Deep Bottom but two days later engaged the enemy at Charles
City Crossroads. It was during this battle that skirmishes from the Fifth
shot and killed Confederate General John R. Chambliss.
In October 1864, the enlistment's of the original men were completed
and many were mustered out and went home. Surgeon Child recorded that: "The
Fifth having been reduced below the minimum number for a regiment by the
discharge of the original three year's men whose time had expired was now
designated the Fifth New Hampshire Battalion. Captain Welcome A. Crafts
was promoted to Lt. Col. and Captain Thomas L. Livermore to Major. The
character and condition of the organization was in no matter changed and
it was still the same hard working, reliable, fighting organization."
The Fifth continued to perform reliable service for the rest of the
war but it should be noted that during it's recruiting duties the ranks were
rebuilt to a to a strength of 800 with more than 400 recruits only 80 of
which were volunteers. The balance were the nemesis of the Civil War army,
the bounty man, a fate which many other regiments suffered. Scores of these
bounty men deserted before the regiment reached the field and so many
deserted from the Petersburg trenches that the Confederates opposite the
regiment put up a sign reading Recruits Wanted.
One significant event that occurred during the Fall was the replacement
of General Hancock by General Humphreys as Second Corps commander. It is
also about this time that the famous Berdan Sharpshooters unit was broken up
and the two New Hampshire companies reassigned to the Fifth.
The long siege of Petersburg was at last broken on April 1st, 1865
when Phil Sheridan's Cavalry and the Fifth Corps took the strategic crossroads
of Five Forks, Lee's last line of supply. Grant followed this with a general
assault along his entire front and on the night of April 2nd, Lee's army pulled
out of the Petersburg trenches. Lee's plan was to head west in an effort to
unite Johnston's Army in North Carolina. There thus began a race between both
armies. If the Federal forces could win the race and place itself across
Lee's path, he would be effectively surrounded. All of the Federal army
commanders, therefore, pushed their soldiers like they had never been pressed
before.
On April 7th, the Second Corps was in pursuit of General John B. Gordon's
Corps, which turned to oppose them in the small town of Cumberland Church, near
Farmville Va. The Second Corps deployed for assault with the first brigade,
first division opposite Mahone's Division which outnumbered the assaulting
party several times. The units comprising this brigade were the 26th Michigan,
140th Pennsylvania, 81st Pennsylvania, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery and six
companies of the Fifth New Hampshire. The remaining companies of the Fifth
were with Col. Crafts as skirmishers.
The line moved forward and almost immediately came under a direct
crossfire. The six companies of the Fifth were commanded by John S. Ricker
who had two horses shot from under him and then was finally wounded in the leg
and then in the groin. Two companies had to make a charge without ammunition
and without bayonets. When the colors advanced to the enemy works the Confederates
threw a force on either flank of the regiment, capturing the colors along
with fifty-two men and five officers. The colors and men were recaptured on
April 8th by the 91st Pennsylvania. In this rather inglorious but still
honorable fashion, this was the Fifth's last battle of the war.
On April 9th, 1865, Lee surrendered his army and on May 23rd the
Fifth participated in the Grand Review in Washington. By June they were back
in New Hampshire. On the 28th, they turned over their shot-torn colors to
the state and passed into history.
- Dave Nelson
Fifth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers
transcribed by Dana Tremblay from the Fifth New Hampshire
Membership manual.