Focus: the 5th New Hampshire

Continuing the monument series, today’s focus is on one of my favorite regiments, the 5th New Hampshire Infantry.

The 5th New Hampshire has an obviously unusual monument. Located along Ayres Avenue, the monument stands where the brigade’s commander, Colonel Edward Cross (late commander of the regiment) was mortally wounded. A small regiment at Gettysburg, the 5th took 182 men into battle under the command of Lt. Col. Charles Hapgood (1830-1909). They suffered 27 killed and 53 wounded. The 5th was raised mainly from the counties of Caroll, Coos, Grafton, Merrimack, and Sullivan.

(The regiment also has a marker along Sickles Avenue that denotes the left of Cross’ Brigade.)

The 5th New Hampshire obtained something no other regiment in Federal service obtained.

Formed in August 1861 in Concord, the 5th New Hampshire fought in nearly all of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac. When after the War a historian named William Fox tallied up how many each Union regiment had lost, he came to the conclusion that the 5th New Hampshire — which lost a total of 295 men killed or mortally wounded in battle — held the first file position for loss of men killed or mortally wounded in action.

For some regiments, a high loss of men killed and/or wounded was a sign of poor leadership or just plain bad luck, but in the 5th New Hampshire’s case it represented the fact that it was a hard-fighting regiment that served in many of the War’s most bloody battles.

Colonel Cross, the regiment’s first commander, was a tough and out-spoken individual. Disliked by some members of his brigade as a “tyrant,” he was respected by the men of the 5th for molding them into an outstanding fighting unit (Cross had, for example, started schools to teach his corproals and sergents). Cross was mortally wounded in the stomach at Gettysburg in the July 2 fight for the Wheatfield as his brigade entered the fight. Not far from the 5th New Hampshire monument — in fact, just across the park avenue road — is a large moss covered boulder. It was from behind this boulder that the Confederate who mortally wounded Cross shot him. A member of the 5th New Hampshire named Charles Phelps brought down the Confederate (Phelps himself was later killed during the fighting).

Members of the 5th probably expected Cross to be back; he had, after all, been wounded many times before. This time, however, the wound was mortal. Cross died. His last words were recorded as: “I wished that I would live to see the rebellion suppressed and peace restored … I think the boys will miss me. Say good-bye to all.”

The simple monument to the 5th New Hampshire is one of the most unusual at Gettysburg. Four granite boulders form the base, with a block of octoganal shaped New Hampshire granite placed on top. Balanced on top of the granite block is another large boulder carved with the symbol of the Second Corps. The boulders were taken from various areas around the Gettysburg battlefield. Bronze plaques line the granite octagon between the boulders and explain what the regiment did at Gettysburg.

Costing just $600.00, the monument was dedicated on July 2, 1886. It was designed by Major Frank Rice of the 31st Massachusetts. Although simple and perhaps unimpressive to modern visitors, the monument is meant to symbolize the men of the Granite state who were, in the words of the regimental scribe William A. Child, “hard, enduring, patient, and unmovable.”

Members of the 2nd Corps,1st Division, 1st Brigade

Commander at Gettysburg: Lt. Col. Charles E. Hapgood (1830-1909)

Engaged 182, lost 27 killed and 53 wounded

Monument: Ayres Avenue in the woods just behind the Wheatfield. There is also a marker along Sickles Avenue.

Tags: Gettysburg, II Corps, Monument Project, new hampshire, Wheatfield