Mustering In

"I shall stand by the Union...with absolute disregard of personal consequences. What are personal consequences...in comparison with the good or evil which may befall a great country in a crisis like this?...Let the consequences be what they will.... No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall in defense of the liberties and constitution of his country."                                                             
                                                                                                                                        Daniel Webster (July 17, 1850 address to the Senate)

 
New Hampshire’s ties to the Civil War go far beyond Walpole filmmaker Ken Burns’ groundbreaking documentary. One hundred and fifty years ago, New Hampshire’s men and women served their country both on the battlefield and here at home in ways that still affect us.

Eighteen New Hampshire infantry regiments, as well as cavalry, heavy artillery, light battery and sharpshooter units, served the Union between 1861 and 1865. To begin New Hampshire’s Preservation Month focus on the Civil War, the Department of Cultural Resources has posted online calendars and databases that cover key dates and locations of New Hampshire regiment service, including when they mustered in and out, and the places where they fought. The information can be viewed and downloaded at www.nh.gov/nhculture/nh_civilwar.htm.

Title:  “Cook’s galley, Co. F, 3D N.H.V., Hilton Head, S.C.”

Summary: Photograph shows Company F soldiers at the Camp of the
3rd New Hampshire volunteers posing at the cook’s galley, including
a young African American boy.
Publisher: Henry P. Moore, Concord, N.H.
Medium: print
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Title: Quarters of Emmons & Handerson, Hilton Head, S.C.
Photographer: Moore, Henry P.
Medium:print
Summary: Photograph shows officers George W. Emmons
and Henry C. Handerson, sitting in front of a tent at the camp of the
3rd New Hampshire Infantry.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

New Hampshire's regiments left behind a rural landscape of farms, towns and villages, and forests of birch, maple and pine. In 1860, the state had a population of 325,858, with almost half living in towns with less than 1,000 residents. The growing industrial city of Manchester was by far the state's largest community, with 20,107 inhabitants. Many soldiers never returned after the war, dying in battle or of wounds, diseases or infections. Others emigrated to the fertile lands and more moderate climates they had seen as soldiers in the West and South. By the federal census of 1870, the state's population had dropped for the first time in its history, losing almost 8,000 residents, or about 2% of the population.

This portrait of Harriet Dame, by Caroline
L. Ormes Ransom in 1901, was the first
portrait of a woman to be hung in the
New Hampshire State House. It is displayed
there today, on the first floor.

Women also left New Hampshire to serve in the war. Harriet Patience Dame was among the most well-known and honored Civil War nurses. Born in Barnstead, Dame also lived in Concord. She was assigned to the Second Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, a regiment that fought in more than 20 battles and lost more than a third of its soldiers. Dame herself was captured twice and released. After the war, the State Legislature awarded her $500 for her service, which she used to build a cottage at the New Hampshire Veteran's Association at The Weirs. Dame worked as a clerk for the Treasury in Washington, DC, for 28 years, and died in 1900.

Title:  “Chickahominy River, Va. Grapevine bridge built May 27-28,1862, by the 5th New Hampshire Infantry under Col. Edward E. Cross”
Summary:  Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August, 1892
Photographer:  David B. Woodbury
Medium:  Glass negative
Repository:  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Sources:

http://www.nh.gov/oep/programs/DataCenter/Population/1830-920.htm, accessed 4/23/12

http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/warheroes/dameh.html, accessed 4/23/12
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Daniel+Webster, accessed 3/20/12