FIFTEENTH REGIMENT NEW HAMPSHIRE VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. (NINE MONTHS.)

By CHARLES McGREGOR, late Corporal Company H, Fifteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and Historian of the Regiment. THE Fifteenth New Hampshire Regiment was mustered into the United States service, in the state house yard, at Concord, Governor Berry presenting the colors, on the 12th day of November, 1862. This was the very darkest period of the war. It was the first regiment of New Hampshire's quota in response to President Lincoln's call for 300,000 nine months' men. A reference to the roster of the regiment will show that it included many men who were too young to enter the service at the outbreak of hostilities, but who had since become of military age. It will also show that many, at the expiration of their term, who possessed adequate health, immediately reenlisted and returned to the front. It is understood that the nine months' men were raised for a special purpose--as an auxiliary to our struggling armies already in the field, and to enable them to strike the rebellion a staggering and fatal blow. How well this work was done and at what a cost is already recorded in history. On the morning of the 13th of November the regiment proceeded, by way of Worcester and Norwich and the Norwich line of steamers, to New York, where it arrived early on the morning of the 14th. The regiment marched from the boat to City Hall Barracks, arriving at about 9 A. M., and there remained till 4 P. M., when it resumed its march for Jamaica, Long Island, nine miles distant, arriving there at 8:50 P. M., and passing a cold and blustering night on and about the seats of the "Union racecourse." Here the regiment joined the forces of the secret expedition of N. P. Banks, which, as was afterwards proved, was destined for New Orleans and operations on the lower Mississippi. On Sunday, the 30th, Companies A, D, H, and I, marched to Brooklyn, and were ordered aboard the three-hundredton propeller "James S. Green." The vessel was reached at dark. It was found that the steamer would accommodate but about one half the number, and she finally sailed on December 3, at 6:30 A. M., with Companies A and D and twenty men of Company H. Company I and the remainder of Company H returned to camp at the race-course. The "James S. Green" steamed down the coast, and, the weather being threatening, anchored in Hampton Roads, off Fortress Monroe, at 2 P. M. of the 5th. Saturday, December 13, coaled at Dry Tortugas; passed through the blockading squadron off Mobile bay, at 4 P. M. of the 16th -Fort Morgan, flying the rebel flag, was in plain sight; arrived at Ship Island at 11:30 P. M.; disembarked at Carrollton, just above New Orleans, on the Mississippi river at 10 A. M. of the 19th, having been on the boat nearly nineteen days. At two o'clock P. M. of December 3, the rest of the regiment broke camp at the race-course, and at 3:15 P. M. marched for the Brooklyn City Armory, arriving at 6:30 P. M., and there remained during the night. 0n the 4th the remaining men of Company H, and Companies E, G, and I, embarked on the steamer "Prometheus"; sailed on the 5th, and on the 8th at 2 A. M. arrived in Hampton Roads, off Fortress Monroe; December 13 coaled at Hilton Head, the same day that the "James S. Green" coaled at Tortugas; at 3 P. M. December 21, reached Ship Island; disembarked at Carrollton on the 22d, and then joined the detachment which had already arrived and was encamped on the famous Shell Road. Companies B, C, F, and K remained at the armory till 10 A. M. of the 11th. At 12 M. of that day boarded the steamer "Cambria"; sailed at sunrise of the 13th, the same day, as has been shown, that the two preceding steamers were coaling--the "James S. Green" at Tortugas, and the "Prometheus" at Hilton Head; off Fortress Monroe at 4 P. M. of the 14th; passed Cape Hatteras at 8 A. M. of the 15th; Charleston at 3 P. M. of the 16th; off St. Augustine at 2 P. M. of the 17th; on the 21st coaled at Key West; reached Ship Island at 1 P. M. of the 24th; landed at Carrollton at 1 P. M. of the 26th. The regiment was thus re-united, and encamped on the Shell Road, one half-mile back from the river. January 7, 1863, the regiment was provided with the Enfield rifle, which arm it carried during the rest of the service; on the 22d the camp was moved across the road; on the 23d made a short march on the Shell Road, in heavy marching order; on the 28th the camp was moved up river about two miles and pitched behind a parapet which extended from the river toward Lake Pontchartrain, and terminated in an impassible cypress swamp. Here the regiment was brigaded under Gen. Neal Dow, of Maine, with the Sixth Michigan, One Hundred and Twentyeighth New York, and Twenty-sixth Connecticut. The time was spent in drill, guard mount, dress parade, and general guard and police duty. On the night of March 14 the cannonading of Farragut's fleet was distinctly heard as it passed the enemy's batteries at Port Hudson, one hundred miles away. March 17 participated in a general sham fight, in which the parapet was manned, and its batteries fired at targets, and the war-ship "Portsmouth," lying at anchor in mid-stream, shelled the cypress woods in the direction of the lake. May 9 the regiment participated in a march to New Orleans, where the whole division passed in review before the commanding general. On the 20th six or eight companies of the regiment embarked, with the Twenty-sixth Connecticut, on the steamer "Crescent," and the remaining companies, with the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth New York, on the steamer "United States." At 5 A. M. of the 21st, steamed up the river with twenty-six officers and about five hundred and forty men. At 8 A. M. the "Crescent," being a faster boat, passed the "United States," the band playing Yankee Doodle. The "United States" reached Baton Rouge and dropped anchor at 8:30 P. M. These steamers mentioned were only two of many that assembled here, each loaded with troops and munitions of war. At 8 A. M. of the 22d the whole squadron left Baton Rouge and arrived at Springfield Landing, just below Port Hudson, at noon. Landed, and thence, at two o'clock, with one hundred rounds of ammunition, marched back into the country and into the rear of Port Hudson. Continued the march till dark, and then halted for the night at a place called Beulah Plains. In the forenoon of the 23d, the division was formed in line and reviewed by General Sherman, our band furnishing the music. At 3 P. M. moved toward Port Hudson, and rested for the night within about four miles of the same. On Sunday, the 24th, advanced to the enemy's outer works, and found them abandoned. Here rested for the night. Heavy firing, both artillery and musketry, on the left and right. There was a dense belt of woods between us and the enemy's works, which were about two miles distant. Upon our band commencing to play, toward evening, the enemy opened on our camp with shells. At this time the Fifteenth Regiment formed a part of a large army which had now invested Port Hudson, a part having approached from the north and a part from the south, and gradually drawing in upon the enemy's works and enclosing them from the river above to the river below. The works thus invested consisted of a parapet, some seven miles in extent, built in a generally semi-circular form, and enclosing a large tract around the outside bend of the river at this place, where the land lay some eighty feet above the water level, with beetling bluffs facing the river. The enemy's water batteries, for blockading the river, were planted along the brink of this bluff, and the seven miles of parapet were for their protection against an army approaching from the land, as ours had now done. The Fifteenth Regiment from its last position advanced into the edge of the belt of wood, which has been mentioned as lying between us and the enemy, a part of the regiment being still further advanced as pickets and supports for the First Vermont Battery. On the 26th, a detachment engaged in the affair of burning a mansion called the "Schalter house," which stood well up toward the enemy's works and which was said to shelter a body of their sharpshooters. At midnight Companies A, D, E, and K were advanced to the front and right as sharpshooters, and remained thus detached from the regiment during the assault of the next day. They, however, though sheltered by fallen trees, were within rifle range of the enemy and were hotly engaged until the close of the battle at nightfall of the 27th; the remaining six companies were engaged in the assault. Advancing through the woods on the morning of the 27th, and peering out at the other edge, the enemy's parapet could be seen across an open field some eighty rods away. Toward noon the regiment moved by the left flank some distance to the left and then advanced into the open, at a point where a narrow tongue of wood concealed them from the enemy. Halting here the line was dressed and volunteers called for to join the Sixth Michigan and lead the extreme front. All that were required immediately stepped forth. The regiment, thus depleted by the detail of Companies A, D, E, and K, and these volunteers, then moved back to the position in the woods which it had just previously left. But on its return, instead of keeping in the shelter of the woods, it advanced directly across the open field by the right flank in column of fours. During this return, it was subjected to a terrific cannonading of shot and shell. Soon after noon the assault was made. The Fifteenth Regiment was third in column of attack, being led by the Sixth Michigan and the Twenty-sixth Connecticut, and followed by the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth New York. The assault was unsuccessful, but it is not our purpose here to describe battles. From this time on till the surrender, on July 9, the regiment was always at the front and constantly under fire, and engaged in sharpshooting, building batteries, working in trenches and manning them, and in the general and incessant labor of the siege. On June 13, fifty men from our regiment, under the lieutenants of Company H, and a like number from the Twenty-sixth Connecticut, advanced on the enemy's parapet and reached a position within twelve rods of the same. Of the fifty in this affair, two were killed and six wounded. The position was held till twelve at night, when they were recalled to rejoin the regiment. At 1 o'clock A. M. of Sunday, the 14th, the regiment with others moved some miles to the left, and then, at 8 A. M., charged the enemy's works at a point near the river. In this affair, the Fifteenth led the advance. On approaching the enemy's works it was found that they were built on the further brink of a deep ravine whose precipitous bank was impossible of ascent. And the attack failed. This was the last general assault in which the regiment engaged, but the siege work grew closer and hotter up to the time of the surrender on July 9. July 16 the regiment marched into the works and there remained till Sunday, the 26th, when it boarded the steamer "City of Madison," for Cairo, Ill., which place was reached at daylight of August 3; thence to Chicago, arriving at 2 A. M. of Wednesday, the 5th, and leaving at 8 A. M.; thence home by the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore line. From Chicago and through New York, the regiment enjoyed a continuous ovation. Arrived at Concord at about noon of Saturday, the 8th, and was mustered out on the 13th. The Fifteenth New Hampshire Volunteers was with United States forces at Carrollton, La., Department of the Gulf, December 24, 1862, to January 27, 1863; attached to First Brigade, Second Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, January 27 to July 11, 1863; Second Brigade, Third Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, July 11 to July 18, 1863; Second Brigade, United States forces, Port Hudson, La. (Nineteenth Army Corps), July 18, 1863, to date of muster out. ENGAGEMENTS. Siege of Port Hudson, La. . . . . . May 27 to July 9, 1863

Source: New Hampshire Soldiers & Sailors War of the Rebellion, Ayling

New Hampshire 15th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

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