5th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry

The 5th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment has the unfortunate distinction of having sustained the greatest total loss in battles of any infantry or cavalry regiment in the Union Army, with a total of 295 killed and 756 wounded, for a total of 1,051 men.

Service

The 5th New Hampshire Infantry was organized in Concord, New Hampshire and mustered in for a three year enlistment on October 22, 1861 under the command of Colonel Edward Ephraim Cross.

The regiment was attached to Howard's Brigade, Sumner's Division, Army of the Potomac, to March 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to July 1863. Concord, New Hampshire, Department of the East, to November 1863. Marston's Command, Point Lookout, Maryland, to May 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1865.

The 5th New Hampshire Infantry mustered out of service June 28, 1865 and was discharged July 8, 1865.

Detailed service

Left New Hampshire for Washington, D.C., October 29, 1861. Camp at Bladensburg, Md., defenses of Washington, D.C., until November 27, 1861. Expedition to lower Maryland November 3-11. At Camp California, near Alexandria, Va., until March 10, 1862. Scout to Burke's Station January 17, 1862 (Company A). Advance on Manassas, Va., March 10-15. Reconnaissance to Gainesville March 20, and to Rappahannock Station March 28-29. Warrenton Junction March 28. Moved to the Virginia Peninsula April 4. Siege of Yorktown, Va., April 5-May 4. Temporarily attached to Woodbury's Engineer Brigade. Construct Grapevine Bridge over Chickahominy May 28-30. Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Orchard Station June 28. Peach Orchard, Allen's Farm and Savage's Station June 29. White Oak Swamp and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing until August 16. Movement to Fortress Monroe, then to Alexandria and to Centreville, Va., August 16-30. Cover Pope's retreat from Bull Run. Maryland Campaign September-October. Battle of South Mountain, Md., September 14 (reserve). Antietam Creek, near Keedysville, September 15. Battle of Antietam, September 16-17. Duty at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., September 21 to October 29. Reconnaissance to Charlestown October 16-17. Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va., October 29-November 17. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15. Burnside's Second Campaign, "Mud March," January 20-24, 1863. Duty at Falmouth until April. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5. Reconnaissance to Rappahannock June 9. Gettysburg Campaign June 13-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3. Moved to Concord, N.H., July 26-August 3. Duty at Draft Rendezvous, Concord, N.H., until November. Moved to Point Lookout, Md., November 8-13, and duty there guarding prisoners until May 27, 1864. Moved to Cold Harbor, Va., May 27-June 1, and joined the Army of the Potomac. Battles about Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg, Va., June 16-19. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1865. Deep Bottom, north of James River, July 27-28. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (reserve). Demonstration north of James River August 13-20. Strawberry Plains August 14-18. Ream's Station August 25. Non-veterans mustered out October 12, 1864. Reconnaissance to Hatcher's Run December 9-10. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5-7, 1865. Watkins' House March 25. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. On line of Hatcher's and Gravelly Runs March 29-30. Hatcher's Run or Boydton Road March 31. White Oak Road March 31. Sutherland Station April 2. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Sailor's Creek April 6. High Bridge and Farmville April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Moved to Washington, D.C., May 2-12. Grand Review of the Armies May 23.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 473 men during service; 18 officers and 277 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 176 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Colonel Edward Ephraim Cross - mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg while commanding 1st Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps
• Colonel Charles E. Hapgood - commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg and afterward
• Colonel Welcome E. Crafts - took command after Hapgood was wounded; also took command when the regiment was redesignated as 5th New Hampshire Battalion
• Lieutenant Colonel James E. Larkin
• Major John S. Ricker

See also

• List of New Hampshire Civil War units
• New Hampshire in the American Civil War

References

• Child, William. A History of the Fifth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, in the American Civil War, 1861-1865 (Bristol, NH: R. W. Musgrove, Printer), 1893.
• Child, William. Letters from a Civil War Surgeon: The Letters of Dr. William Child of the Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers (Solon, ME: Polar Bear & Co.), 2001. ISBN 1-882190-63-7
• Cross, Edward Ephraim. Stand Firm and Fire Low: The Civil War Writings of Colonel Edward E. Cross (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England), 2003. ISBN 1-58465-280-2
• Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
• Pride, Mike & Mark Travis. My Brave Boys: To War with Colonel Cross and the Fighting Fifth (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England), 2001. ISBN 1-58465-075-3
• Grandchamp, Robert. Colonel Edward E. Cross, New Hampshire Fighting Fifth: A Civil War Biography (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company), 2012. ISBN 978-0-7864-7191-1.

Attribution

• This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.

External links

• 5th New Hampshire monument at Gettysburg
• 5th New Hampshire living history organization
• Story of the 5th New Hampshire at Gettysburg
• A history of the Fifth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, in the American Civil War, 1861-1865 (1893) on Internet Archive