Federal Regiment

5th New Hampshire Infantry

Organized: Concord, NH; mustered in 8/27/1861
Disbanded/Mustered out: 5/28/1865

Commanding Officer on the Antietam Campaign:
Col. Edward E. Cross

This Regiment's Chain of Command:
  Army - Army of the Potomac
  Corps - Second Army Corps
  Division - 1st Division, 2nd Corps
  Brigade - 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 2nd Corps

Unit history

Gov. Berry appointed Edward E. Cross Colonel of the Fifth and October 28, 1861 the regiment was sworn into the service of the United States, and departed for Washington on the 29th with 1200 members.

The regiment was relatively inactive until McClellan's Peninsula campaign during May and June of 1862. They constructed a bridge across the Chicahominy River at flood during McClellan's change of base, 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.

On the Antietam Campaign

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 the Colonel, 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.

Among the wounded was Col. Cross.

Statistics

Initial Strength: 319; Killed in Action (KIA): 7; Wounded (WIA): 120;
Losses, % of Initial Strength: 39.8%

Maps Showing this Unit

Detail Map #9: Richardson's Division Attacks the Sunken Road (10-11 am)
Detail Map #10: Confederate Counterattacks in the Center (11 am-1 pm)
Detail Map #14: Sykes' Regulars Near Sharpsburg (4-5 pm)

Battlefield Tablets for this Unit

Tablet #35: Second Army Corps - 15 Sep, 7 AM to 15 Sep, 8 PM
Tablet #34: Richardson's Division, Second Army Corps - 15 Sep, 8 PM to 17 Sep, 7 AM
Tablet #115: Second Army Corps - 15 Sep, 9 AM to 17 Sep, 7 AM
Tablet #45: Caldwell's Brigade, Richardson's Division - 17 Sep, 10 AM to 17 Sep, 2 PM
Tablet #121: Army of the Potomac - 17 Sep, 8 AM to 17 Sep, 6 PM
Tablet #116, cont: Second Army Corps - 17 Sep, 9 AM to 17 Sep, 12 PM
Tablet #44: Richardson's Division, Second Army Corps - 17 Sep, 9 AM to 17 Sep, 2 PM

After the Antietam Campaign

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."

The regiment had casualties of about 200 of the 270 who were part of the assault on that stone wall in front of Marye's Heights.

Following Fredericksburg the regiment went into winter quarters at Falmouth. It was during this time that Cross was promoted to Brigade commander and the Fifth came under the command of Lt. Col. Charles Hapgood.

In it's next action, at Gettysburg in July 1863, the Regiment 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. 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.

On November 9th, they arrived by steamer at Point Lookout, Maryland where they, along with the Second and Twelfth New Hampshire, were ordered to 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 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.

After Appomattox, on May 23, 1865, 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.

References & Notes

See the colorful history of the Regiment transcribed from the Fifth New Hampshire Membership manual - source for most of the text above.

We have 135 individuals in the AotW database who were on the Maryland Campaign with this unit:

Co.	Rank	Name	Casualty?
A	Lt	Bean, John Wesley
A	Pvt	Cook, Jacob H.	KIA 09/17
A	Corp	Dearborn, David J.
A	Pvt	Duntley, John H.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Ferrin, James H.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Frost, Charles C.	WIA 09/17
A	Sgt	Gibson, Daniel	WIA 09/17
A	Corp	Hersum, George L.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	James, Thomas	KIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Johnson, Lewis T.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	LaBonta, John	WIA 09/17
A	Corp	Morse, Benjamin Frank	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Smith, Frank W.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Thompson, George F.	WIA 09/17
A	Pvt	Whitney, John	AWOL 09/16
A	Pvt	Woodford, Charles B.	KIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Abbott, Albion P.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Aldrich, Putnam	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Aldrich, Sewall R.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Andrews, Samuel Albert	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Bishop, Henry D.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Bush, Peter	WIA 09/17
B	Capt	Crafts, Welcome Alonzo	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Edson, Cutler	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Harriman, Jacob A.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Howard, Leonard W.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Leathers, Levi	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Marden, Elijah F.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	McCarty, Thomas	WIA 09/17
B	Lt	Parks, James W.
B	Sgt	Rhodes, Eldad Alexander	WIA 09/17
B	Lt	Ricker, John S.
B	Lt	Twitchell, O'Neil R.	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Wilson, Solomon	WIA 09/17
B	Pvt	Yates, William Kilborn	MWIA 09/17
C	Pvt	Blake, Benjamin Y.	WIA 09/17
C	Sgt	Hale, Charles Austin
C	Sgt	Harris, Joseph Hartwell	WIA 09/17
C	Pvt	Labarre, Octave	WIA 09/17
C	Pvt	Moulton, John Franklin	WIA 09/17
C	Capt	Perry, James B.
C	Pvt	Persons, James	WIA 09/17
C	Pvt	Spencer, Charles F.	KIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Avery, John	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Barnett, Chauncey William
D	Corp	Bartlett, Charles H.	AWOL 09/15
D	Pvt	Bliss, Charles	WIA 09/17
D	Corp	Downing, George W.	WIA 09/17
D	Corp	Garland, Winslow O.	KIA 09/17
D	Lt	Gay, George Adams	MWIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Gilpatrick, Reuben E.	WIA 09/17
D	Corp	Horne, Wesley R.	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	McCone, John	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Murphy, Peter	WIA 09/17
D	Capt	Murray, John
D	Corp	Pierce, John C.	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Ricker, William	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Shaw, Alonzo Whipple	WIA 09/17
D	Pvt	Trask, Charles Mitchell
E	Pvt	Allen, Oscar D.	WIA 09/17
E	Pvt	Austin, Hiram M.	WIA 09/17
E	Pvt	Buss, Henry T.	WIA 09/17
E	Pvt	French, Jonathan L.	WIA 09/17
E	Lt	Hurd, Sumner Florentine	WIA 09/17
E	Pvt	Love, John G.	MWIA 09/17
E	Capt	Randlett, Nathan Hammond	WIA 09/17
F	Pvt	Atkinson, Joseph	WIA 09/17
F	Lt	Goodwin, George F.
F	Pvt	Quinn, Charles A.	MWIA 09/17
F	Pvt	Sweat, George F.	MWIA 09/17
F	Pvt	Welch, William B.	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Burns, Thomas	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Cone, Lyman H.	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Giles, Lemuel A.	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Hill, Elisha	MWIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Leach, Charles W.	WIA 09/17
G	Lt	Little, Samuel Brown	WIA 09/17
G	Capt	Long, Charles Hatch	WIA 09/17
G	Corp	Nettleton, George	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	O'Shea, Walter	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Roys, David Reuben	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Severance, Charles Lucien	WIA 09/17
G	Corp	Smith, Nathaniel	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Stevens, Charles H.	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Stevens, George H.	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Tibbills, Chester F.	WIA 09/17
G	Corp	Veasey, Lucius	WIA 09/17
G	Pvt	Woods, William	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Allen, Mark	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Avery, Edgar	WIA 09/17
H	Lt	Bean, Charles W.	MWIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Eaton, Daniel C.	MWIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Gilman, Alvin	WIA 09/17
H	Lt	Graves, Janvrin W.	WIA 00/00
H	Sgt	Green, Gilman	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Griffin, Israel	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Nason, William B.	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Nutt, Ezra	WIA 09/17
H	Capt	Pierce, Horace Truman Hanks
H	Pvt	Sanborn, Charles Stillman	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Sargent, Charles E.	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Shaw, Ira	WIA 09/17
H	Pvt	Tibbetts, Charles Everett	WIA 09/17
H	Sgt	Townsend, Sampson W.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Briggs, Gilbert	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Bronson, Ira Thomas	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Canfield, James W.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Dowst, James	KIA 09/17
I	Lt	George, George W.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Keezer, Reuben	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Lougee, Philander	WIA 09/17
I	Corp	Martin, Richard K.	KIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Mooney, Levi J.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Putney, William W.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Russell, Augustus G.	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Sanborn, William Jewett	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Stinson, Edward G. F.	WIA 09/17
I	Corp	Vose, George	WIA 09/17
I	Pvt	Way, Lucius A.	WIA 09/17
K	Sgt	Clark, David Oliphant	WIA 09/17
K	Pvt	Clifford, Isaac B.	MWIA 09/17
K	Capt	Cross, Richard Everett
K	Pvt	Cummings, Engrim J.	WIA 09/17
K	Corp	Davis, John M.	MWIA 09/17
K	Pvt	Hurd, Marshall P.	MWIA 09/17
K	Pvt	Law, Thomas H.	MWIA 09/17
K	Lt	Livermore, Thomas Leonard
F&S	ASrg	Child, William
F&S	Col	Cross, Edward Ephraim
F&S	Lt	Dodd, Charles
F&S	Pvt	Knight, Edwin Augustus
F&S	Surg	Knight, Luther M.
F&S	Sgt	Liscomb, Charles F.	WIA 09/17
F&S	Chpl	Ransom, Milo M.
F&S	Maj	Sturtevant, Edward Everett

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