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New Hampshire was a member of the Union during the American Civil War.
The state gave soldiers, money, and supplies to the Union Army. It sent 31,657 enlisted men and 836 officers, of whom about 20% were killed in action or died from disease or accident. [1]
In January 1861, as news arrived of secession of states from the Union, top officials were secretly meeting with Governor John A. Andrew of Massachusetts to coordinate plans in case the war came. Plans were made to rush militia units to Washington in an emergency. [2]
New Hampshire fielded 31,657 enlisted men and 836 officers. [3] The state provided eighteen volunteer infantry regiments (thirteen of which were raised in 1861 in response to Lincoln's call to arms), three rifle regiments (who served in the 1st United States Sharpshooters and 2nd United States Sharpshooters), one cavalry battalion (the 1st New Hampshire Volunteer Cavalry, which was attached to the 1st New England Volunteer Cavalry), and two artillery units (the 1st New Hampshire Light Battery and 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery), as well as 3000 men for the Navy and Marine Corps. [3]
Among the most celebrated of New Hampshire's units was the 5th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Edward Ephraim Cross. [4] Called the "Fighting Fifth" in newspaper accounts, the regiment was considered among the Union's best both during the war (Major General Winfield Scott called the regiment "refined gold" in 1863) and by historians afterward. [4] The Civil War veteran and early Civil War historian William F. Fox determined that this regiment had the highest number of battle-related deaths of any Union regiment. [4] The 20th-century historian Bruce Catton said that the Fifth New Hampshire was "one of the best combat units in the army" and that Cross was "an uncommonly talented regimental commander." [4]
The critical post of state Adjutant General was held in 1861–64 by elderly politician Anthony C. Colby (1792–1873) and his son Daniel E. Colby (1816–1891). They were patriotic, but were overwhelmed with the complexity of their duties. The state had no track of men who enlisted after 1861; no personnel records or information on volunteers, substitutes, or draftees. There was no inventory of weaponry and supplies. Nathaniel Head (1828–1883) took over in 1864, obtained an adequate budget and office staff, and reconstructed the missing paperwork. As a result, widows, orphans, and disabled veterans received the postwar payments they had earned. [5]
New Hampshire's governor for the first two months of the Civil War was Ichabod Goodwin. A former New Hampshire legislator, Goodwin raised ten regiments in response to Lincoln's call for troops. [6]
Nathaniel S. Berry defeated Goodwin for the Republican Party nomination for governor in the 1861 New Hampshire gubernatorial election and served from June 1861 until June 1863. [7]
Serving during the American Civil War, Berry was a strong supporter of the Union. During his governorship, New Hampshire provided to the Union Army fifteen infantry regiments, three companies of sharpshooters, four companies of cavalry and one company of heavy artillery.
In June 1862, Abraham Lincoln desired to issue a call for more recruits to join the Union Army, but hesitated because he wanted to demonstrate that the war effort still had popular support, following a perceived ebb in Union state morale as the result of several battlefield reverses. Berry was one of the organizers of an effort to send Lincoln a letter from the state governors to inform him that the states would respond positively if he issued a call for additional troops. Now able to demonstrate popular support for continuing the war effort, Lincoln requested the states to provide additional soldiers.
Berry was also an active participant in the September 1862 War Governors' Conference. During this meeting, Union state governors indicated their continued support for Lincoln's wartime policies, including the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln indicated he intended to issue at an opportune moment.
Joseph A. Gilmore was elected governor after Berry declined to run for reelection in 1863. He served from June 1863 to June 1865. [7]
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Nathaniel Springer Berry served as the 28th governor of New Hampshire during the American Civil War.
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. During the American Revolution, it was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule. One of the smallest U.S. states in area and population, it was part of New England's textile economy between the American Civil War and World War II. Since the 20th century, the state has been known for its presidential primary, outdoor recreation, its educational boarding schools, and being part of the biotech industry.
1st New Hampshire Infantry Regiment filled its ranks within two weeks of President Lincoln's call for 70,000 men on April 15, 1861. Between April 17 and 30, 1861, not less than 2,004 men volunteered to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. The volunteers organized and mustered at "Camp Union," the Fair Grounds of the Merrimack County Agricultural Society on the east side of the Merrimack River, in Concord between May 1 and May 7, 1861. After the 1st NH was filled, volunteers were given their choice to enlist in the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment or serve their three months as the garrison of Fort Constitution at Portsmouth Harbor. Four hundred and ninety-six (496) enlisted in the 2nd NH, and the remainder were sent to Fort Constitution.
During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort. Despite the state's boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, it was divided politically. Portions of Southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Abraham Lincoln's policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, and remained a haven for escaped and runaway slaves during the war years.
During the American Civil War, the State of Vermont gave strong support to the Union war effort, raising troops and money. According to Rachel Cree Sherman:
By the spring of 1865 Vermont was devastated, having sent one tenth of its entire population to war, with a loss of over 5,000 lives to battle, wounds, and disease. The state had dedicated nearly $10 million to support the conflict, half of that amount offered up by towns with no expectation of recompense.
The Colorado Territory was formally created in 1861 shortly before the bombardment of Fort Sumter sparked the American Civil War. Although sentiments were somewhat divided in the early days of the war, Colorado was only marginally a pro-Union territory. Colorado was strategically important to both the Union and Confederacy because of the gold and silver mines there as both sides wanted to use the mineral wealth to help finance the war. The New Mexico Campaign was a military operation conducted by Confederate Brigadier General Henry Sibley to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado, the mineral-rich territory of Nevada and the ports of California. The campaign was intended as a prelude to an invasion of the Colorado Territory and an attempt to cut the supply lines between California and the rest of the Union. However, the Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico and were forced to retreat back to Texas, effectively ending the New Mexico Campaign.
The 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, primarily in the Western Theater. It was later mounted and became the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment.
The state of New Jersey in the United States provided a source of troops, equipment and leaders for the Union during the American Civil War. Though no major battles were fought in New Jersey, soldiers and volunteers from New Jersey played an important part in the war, including Philip Kearny and George B. McClellan, who led the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War and unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1864 against his former commander-in-chief, Abraham Lincoln.
The 2nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of the war as a member of the famous Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. It suffered the largest number of casualties as a percentage of its total enlistment of any Union Army unit in the war.
Michigan made a substantial contribution to the Union during the American Civil War. While the state itself was far removed from the combat theaters of the war, Michigan supplied many troops and several generals, including George Armstrong Custer. When, at the beginning of the war, Michigan was asked to supply no more than one regiment, Governor Austin Blair sent seven.
The 1st United States Sharpshooters were an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. During battle, the mission of the sharpshooter was to kill enemy targets of importance from long range.
The 2nd United States Sharpshooters was a sharpshooter regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. From 1861 to January 1863 they were members of the "First Iron Brigade" also known as the "Iron Brigade of the East".
The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters) originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", was a specialized regiment of infantry sharpshooters that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was intended, raised, and mustered into Federal service as the Western Theater counterpart to Army of the Potomac's 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooters ("Berdan's Sharpshooters").
The New England state of Connecticut played an important role in the American Civil War, providing arms, equipment, technology, funds, supplies, and soldiers for the Union Army and the Union Navy. Several Connecticut politicians played significant roles in the Federal government and helped shape its policies during the war and the Reconstruction.
The present-day state of Nebraska was still a territory of the United States during the American Civil War. It did not achieve statehood until March 1867, two years after the war ended. Nevertheless, the Nebraska Territory contributed significantly to the Union war effort.
The Second Battle of Pocotaligo, or Battle of Pocotaligo Bridge, or Battle of Yemassee, often referred to as simply the Battle of Pocotaligo, took place during the American Civil War on October 22, 1862 near Yemassee, South Carolina.
The following list is a Bibliography of American Civil War Union military unit histories. More details on each book are available at WorldCat.
