New Hampshire's First

The 1^st New Hampshire Cavalry was officially detached from the 1^st New England Cavalry January 7^th 1864.

From October through December 1861 there were four companies of cavalry organized in Concord, New Hampshire.  These companies were attached as a battalion to the 1^st New England Cavalry as Companies I, K, L and M.  The battalion was detached on January 7^th 1864 and officially became the 1^st New Hampshire Volunteer Cavalry.  Under the command of Colonel John L Thompson they were ordered to Washington, DC April 23^rd 1864.  They were attached to the 2^nd Brigade of the 3^rd Division of the Army of the Shenandoah.  A part of the regiment was in service at the Battle of Cold Harbor from June 1^st to 12^th 1864.  They were involved in all of Union Philip H Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, including the Battle of Cedar Creek.  They were on guard and patrol duty in the defenses of Washington, DC in March of 1863 against raids of Mosby’s Raiders.

During their service they had 33 men killed of mortally wounded, and 114 who died from disease.  The 1^st mustered out of service July 1865.

A Skirmish Over Hancock

The Battle of Hancock a part of Jackson’s Romney Expedition was fought January 5^th and 6^th 1862.

Confederate General Thomas J Jackson led his men on January 1^st 1862 from Winchester, Virginia to Bath, Virginia for an attack on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.  They arrived on the Potomac River on January 5^th 1862 across the river from the town of Hancock, Maryland.

There was a skirmish with the Union soldiers garrisoned in the town.  Jackson had artillery moved to Orrick’s Hill, and they opened fire on the town.  The garrison commander Union Brigadier General Frederick W Lander refused to surrender his position.  Jackson continued the bombing of Hancock for two days.

Jackson withdrew his men on January 7^th 1862 and they moved on to Romney, Virginia.

The Yankees Are Sending Babes

John Lincoln Clem a Union drummer boy, who was only 9 years old when he tried to join the army, became a paid member of the 22^nd Michigan January 5^th 1863.

John Lincoln Clem was born John Joseph Klem, August 13^th 1851 in Newark, Ohio the son of Roman and Magdalene (Weber) Klem.  Following his mother’s death when he was 9, he ran away to become a drummer boy in Union army.  Clem’s first attempt to join up in May 1861 was rejected by the 3^rd Ohio Infantry because he was so small and young.  From here he moved onto the 22^nd Michigan.  They also turned him down, but this time he just “joined” them.  The men of the 22^nd adopted the boy as their mascot and he became their drummer boy.  The officers of the 22^nd chipped in to pay Clem a soldier’s wage.

The legend around Clem is that he precipitated in the Battle of Shiloh, where his drum was said to have been smashed by an artillery round. On January 5^th 1863 he officially became enlisted in Company C of the 22^nd.  Clem became famous during the Battle of Chickamauga.  He was seen riding an artillery caisson and on the front line shooting a musket which had been remade to fit his small size.  During a retreat of the Union, Clem refused to surrender to a Confederate Colonel and shot him instead.  Following the battle he was promoted to Sergeant, the youngest ever non commissioned officer in Union service.  Clem was captured October 1863 in Georgia by Confederate cavalry.  He was exchanged in a short time, but the Confederate newspapers reported on Clem’s young age to show "what sore straits the Yankees are driven, when they have to send their babes out to fight us."  After serving with the Army of the Cumberland and being wounded twice, Clem was discharged in September 1864 at the age of 13.

After the war Clem finished his early education.  He served as the Captain of the “Washington Rifles” a militia unit in the District of Columbia in 1871.  After an attempt to enter the United States Military Academy failed, Clem with the help of President Ulysses S Grant became a Second Lieutenant in the 24^th United States Infantry December 18^th 1871.  He would become a First Lieutenant in 1874.  Clem would continue with Army serving in the Spanish American War and rising in rank and becoming the Chief Quartermaster at Fort Sam Houston by 1906 in Texas as a Colonel.  He retired at the mandatory age of 64 in 1915, with the retirement rank of Major General.  He was the last Civil War veteran to be on active military duty.  Clem died in San Antonio, Texas May 13^th 1937.  He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.

Protecting The Northern Border

Major Johiah Grout Jr

The Union Frontier Cavalry was organized by the authority of the War Department, and it’s first unit was organized on January 4^th 1865 to patrol New England’s northern border.

The Frontier Cavalry organized under the special authority of the Union War Department in December 1864.  It was a volunteer regiment and was placed under Union General John A Dix’s Department of the East.  It was organized as a response to the raid by Confederates on October 19^th 1864 in St Albans, VT.  At the beginning it was made up of returned veterans, militia and in Vermont by cadets from Norwich Military Academy.

The cavalry regiment was known as the 26^th New York Cavalry, and was made up of 7 companies from New York, 2 from Massachusetts, and 2 from Vermont.  The Vermont companies which were raised by General Order #6 were stationed in St Albans, VT; the other companies were stationed in New York along the Canadian border.  The first Vermont unit was recruited in Rutland, VT and filled out January 4^th 1865.  The commander of the regiment was Union Major Josiah Grout Jr who had served in the 1^st Vermont Cavalry.

The Vermont companies mustered out of service June 27^th 1865.

The Fort Fell Before Alabama Seceded

Fort Morgan a masonry star fort in Mobile Bay, Alabama was captured by southern forces on January 3^rd 1861, eight days before Alabama seceded.

Fort Morgan is a masonry star fort built at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and named for Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan.  It was built on the site of the former stockade fort known as Fort Bowyer, which was used during the last land battle of the War of 1812.  After several other tries it was completed by Untied States Army Corps of Engineers using slave labor in March 1834.  The first command in the Fort was Company B of the 2^nd United States Artillery under Captain F S Belton.

Just eight days before Alabama seceded from the Union, in the early morning hours of January 3^rd 1861, Colonel John Todd with four companies of volunteers captured the Fort.  Fort Morgan protected the only approach to Mobile Bay that was deep enough for large ships to pass.  The Confederates worked hard to strengthen Fort Morgan’s defenses and those of Mobile Bay.  The Fort’s heavy guns were moved to cover the channel, redoubts and trenches were built to prevent land attack, and a flotilla under Confederate Franklin Buchanan patrolled the Bay.

The Fort would fall back into Union hands on August 23^rd 1864 after two weeks of siege, having been bombed from the land and sea.

I'll Send The First Union Troops

Alexander Ramsey became the second Governor of Minnesota January 2^nd 1860.

Alexander Ramsey was born September 8^th 1815 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  His family was of Scottish and German heritage.  He attended Lafayette College; becoming a lawyer he had a practice in Harrisburg.  He served the state of Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1847.  Ramsey then became the first Territorial Governor of Minnesota from 1849 to 1853.  He became the mayor of St Paul, Minnesota in 1855.

On January 2^nd 1860 Ramsey became the second Governor of the State of Minnesota.  He was in Washington, DC when the fighting of the Civil War broke out, and he became the first governor to commit troops the Union cause.  It was also during his term that he called for the removal of all American Indians from Minnesota, stating on September 9^th 1862 that “The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state."

He was elected to the United States Senate in 1863 and would serve in that office until 1875.  Ramsey would also serve as the United State Secretary of War under President Rutherford B Hayes from 1870 to 1881.  From 1882 through 1886 he was the chairman of the Edmunds Commission which was working on the question of Mormon polygamy and the state hood of Utah.  Ramsey died April 22^nd 1903 in St Paul, Minnesota and is buried in the Oakland Cemetery there.

The First Volunteers

Maxcy Gregg

The 1^st South Carolina Infantry known as “Gregg’s First” was constituted January 1^st 1861 by an order of South Carolina Governor Francis W Pickens.

South Carolina Governor Francis W Pickens passed an order for the formation of a regiment of soldiers for the state on January 1^st 1861.  The 1^st South Carolina Volunteers was raised for six months and mustered in at Columbia, South Carolina February 1^st 1861 under the command of Colonel Maxcy Gregg.  The regiment was made up of 11 companies, one more then called for, so Company “D” became artillery.  They moved to join other military units on Morris and Sullivan Islands and served as part of the forces bombing Fort Sumter.  In April the 1^st was sent to Richmond, Virginia, the first regiment from another state to transfer to the Army of Northern Virginia.  Their enlistment ended in early July 1861.