Pen and Ink Palmetto Tree, by Samuel Prescott, New Hampshire Volunteers
Pen and Ink Palmetto Tree - Inventory Number: CON 071 -SOLD
Sketch by Sergeant S.H. Prescott 4th New Hampshire Volunteers. Samuel Prescott enlisted into Company D of the 4th New Hampshire Volunteers as a Corporal on September 18, 1861. He eventually rose to the rank of 1st Lietentant in the same company. The 4th New Hampshire served in the Department of the South in Florida and South Carolina and as part of 18th and 10th Corps, Army of the James. Archivally framed, frame measures 8 7/8" x 9 7/8".
Samuel H. Prescott:
Enlisted on 8/12/1861 at Gilford, NH as a Corporal, at 20 years of age
On 9/18/1861 he mustered into "D" Co. NH 4th Infantry
He Re-enlisted on 2/28/1864
He was Mustered Out on 8/23/1865 at Raleigh, NC
Promotions:
* Sergt
* 1st Sergt
* 1st Lieut 2/17/1865
Other Information:
Born in Epping
After the War he lived in Concord
FOURTH REGIMENT NEW HAMPSHIRE VOLUNTEER INFANTRY THREE YEARS BY PRANCIS W. PARKER, late Lieutenant-Colonel Fourth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and Brevet Colonel United States Volunteers.
TWO hundred men were left over in organizing the Third Regiment, and they were ordered from Concord to Manchester to form the nucleus of the Fourth Regiment. The Fourth Regiment consisted mostly of natives of New Hampshire, with the exception of Company G, which was made up of stout-hearted Irishmen. It is said that the majority of the regiment were Democrats, politically. Quite a number of the officers had been officers in the New Hampshire militia, notably Colonel Drew, Captains Sleeper, Greenleaf, Newell, Bagley, Burley, and Badger. The first colonel, Thomas J. Whipple of Laconia, was a veteran of the Mexican war. Three lieutenants came from Dartmouth College,- Fuller, Carleton, and Kendall; one lieutenant, Parker, was a school-teacher from Illinois; the lieutenant-colonel, Bell, was a young lawyer. Company A enlisted at Dover; Company B at Nashua; Company D, at Laconia; Company F, at Great Falls; Company H, at Salem; Companies C, E, G, I, and K, were mostly Manchester men. A part of Company E was enlisted at Pittsfield.
The regiment was mustered into service at Manchester the 18th of September, just two weeks after the Third had left the state. The regiment left Manchester for Washington the 27th of September. There it remained until the 9th of October, when it joined Gen. T. W. Sherman's expedition to Port Roval, S. C. It embarked on one of the great ships of the fleet, the "Baltic," a side-wheel steamer, suffered a terrible storm of three days off Hatteras, and a severe fright in striking on Frying Pan Shoals; arrived at Port Royal November 4, and saw from the ship's masts the attack upon Port Royal, the demolition of Fort Walker and the capture of Hilton Head.
Here upon the sands on the beach of Hilton Head, close to the roaring surf, the regiment remained for three months, varying the monotony of camp life by an expedition to Tybee Island on the 3d of December. On the 26th of January the regiment embarked on ships, and started for the expedition on the Southern coast. It took part in the capture of Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine. Seven companies garrisoned at St. Augustine, while the other three companies remained at Jacksonville during part of the summer.
In September the regiment was ordered to Beaufort, S. C., and General Mitchell assumed command of the department. Active operations began which resulted in the battle of Pocotaligo, on the 22d of October. The regiment went into winter quarters at Beaufort. The monthly return of the regiment for September,1862, after a year's service, shows 630 men and 21 officers present for duty, the actual loss for the year being 189, or nearly one-fifth of the active number.
The spring of 1863 opened with an attack upon Morris Island, then followed the siege of Charleston. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore commanded the expedition. The division in which the Fourth New Hampshire found itself was commanded by Gen. A. H. Terry. The Fourth brigaded with the Third New Hampshire, Sixth Connecticut, and a battalion of sharpshooters. This brigade was commanded by Col. Louis Bell of the Fourth. Two long sand-bar islands on the coast just south of Charleston harbor formed the basis of an attack upon Charleston. Folly Island was captured with very little resistance. The Fourth New Hampshire worked twenty-one nights in building batteries to attack Morris Island, which is separated from Folly Island by a narrow creek.
On the 10th of July the Fourth participated in an attack on Morris Island. The successive charges on Fort Wagner were repulsed by the enemy. On the 23d of July the Fourth dug the first trench and planted the first chevaux-de-frise, for the long siege of Fort Wagner. From the 23d of July to the 7th of September may be looked upon as one continued battle under the blazing sun of South Carolina, -- digging trenches, advancing lines, repelling attacks and doing severe out-post duty.
The morning of September 7, when the line was formed for the final charge, the news came that the fort was evacuated. The capture of Fort Wagner resulted in the immediate capture of the whole island. Then from the 7th of September to the 15th of January, 1864, the regiment took part in the siege of Charleston.
Under the guns of the enemy, 388 men re-enlisted for three years, or during the war. The enlisting officer was Capt. F. W. Parker. The regiment returned to Beaufort, S. C., once more, then formed part of the expedition up the Savannah river. It was afterwards ordered to Jacksonville, Fla., to support General Seymour, who had been repulsed at Olustee. Once more the regiment was returned to Beaufort.
In the spring of 1864, the re-enlisted veterans, under command of Colonel Bell, were furloughed. On the 12th of April, the remaining detachment, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Drew, was ordered to report to Major-General Butler, commanding the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. It landed on Gloucester Point, York river, where the furloughed veterans joined them. Gen. Adelbert H. Ames commanded the division.
On the 4th of May, the Army of the James sailed by the James river, for an attack upon Bermuda Hundred, the famous "bottle," or neck of land south of Richmond. Bermuda Hundred was taken and immediately fortified. The first advance movement was made upon the enemy on the 9th of May. General Ames' division tore up several miles of the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, and then, by a hasty march, joined the Eighteenth Corps at Swift Creek, where the enemy was attacked, and after a sharp fight driven to the defenses of Petersburg, on the Appomatox. At night the rebels, in turn, charged upon our lines, but were severely repulsed. While preparing to renew the advance in the morning, heavy firing was heard in the direction of General Terry's command, which had been stationed at Lempster Hill, to repel any advance from Richmond. General Ames' division immediately joined General Terry's command, and the whole Army of the James moved "on to Richmond."
The two armies met at Drewry's Bluff. There on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of May, the Fourth New Hampshire was in action. On the 16th, the regiment formed part of a line of advanced skirmishers. In the morning of that day, the enemy broke through our lines, doubled them up, and the Fourth Regiment was left alone, a thin line of skirmishers in the advance without flankers. A brigade suddenly appeared on the right of the line, and the regiment was to all intents and purposes captured, but in their innocence of capture they suddenly retreated. The loss at Drewry's Bluff was great. Company E went in with 42 men,and lost 28 killed, wounded, or missing. Lt. Frank Hutchinson fell while firing his revolver within a few feet of the enemy; Maj. Charles Sawyer received a wound which caused his death. General Butler was driven back from Bermuda Hundred again and " bottled up.'' Several ineffective attempts were made to break the Confederate line.
On the 28th of May, the division under General Ames was ordered to report to Gen. W. F.Smith, of the Eighteenth Corps. The corps was ordered to report to General Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac. It was taken by transports to the White House on the Pamunkey river, and took part in the battle of Cold Harbor on the 3d of June. Eight days of living and fighting in trenches followed, and on the 12th, it marched with the army in its change of position to the right bank of the James river.
On the morning of the 16th of June, the attack on Petersburg commenced. The Regiment was engaged in the first attack upon Petersburg. Colonel Bell's brigade took 125 prisoners and several pieces of artillery. Then began the siege of Petersburg. The siege of Charleston had prepared the Fourth Regiment for the duties of trench and fortification work. For thirty-six days Colonel Bell's brigade remained in one position-- on the left of Fort Stedman and joining the right of the Ninth Corps. The picket line of the brigade was within twenty feet of the Confederate outpost. The regiment lost 5o men killed or wounded while performing ordinary trench duty.
The Fourth New Hampshire was again brigaded under command of Colonel Bell with the Thirteenth Indiana, Ninth Maine, One Hundred and Fifteenth New York, and Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania. The division was commanded by General Turner.
On the 30th of July, the regiment was in the Crater Fight, or the battle of the " Mine." For hours it held the line on the right of the exploded fort close to the ravine, across which came a terrible enfilading fire from a battery. The regiment was quite small- 200 men- and out of this number 50 men were killed or wounded. Captain Clough was severely wounded, and Captain Parker took command of the regiment. In the fight the flag-staff was cut off twice, and fifty-five bullets and shells put through the flag. That night, what was left of the regiment marched back to Bermuda Hundred.
On the 13th of August, a movement was made under Gen. W. S. Hancock north of the James river. The Tenth Corps crossed the river and began a series of skirmishes which culminated on the 16th of August in a severe battle, with Gen. Robert E. Lee in our front. The battle is called, generally, the battle of Deep Bottom. Deep Bottom is situated at the rear of Malvern Hill. Three commanders of the brigade were wounded in succession- first, Colonel Osborne, of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, then Major Walrath, of the One Hundred and Fifteenth New York, followed by Captain Parker, of the Fourth, who received a very severe wound in the neck. Captain Hobbs, of Company A, took command of the regiment and the Tenth Corps withdrew to Bermuda Hundred. A captain was in command of the brigade, and only one captain was left for duty in the Fourth.
On the 18th of September, 174 men, who had not re-enlisted, left for New Hampshire, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Drew. In the spring of, 64, the regiment was 1000 strong. At the charge of Fort Gilmer (or New Market Heights), only 40 men could be mustered for the fight. Sergt. Willard K. Cobb, of Company E, who had just recovered from a severe woundwas killed. The Fourth was under the command of Lt. John H. Roberts.
The regiment was in the two expeditions against Fort Fisher-the first under General Butler, and the second under Gen. A. H. Terry. In the second and successful attack on Fort Fisher, the Fourth Regiment did some brave fighting. Colonel Bell, commanding the brigade, was killed on the corduroy road leading to the gate of the fort. In the long struggle in the fort under command of General Ames, the flag of the Fourth New Hampshire was locked with the Confederate flag on the top of a mound for twenty minutes. Capt. John H. Roberts was in command of the regiment during the fight. The night of the victory, a number of the Fourth New Hampshire were killed by the explosion of a magazine.
The regiment remained at Fort Fisher until the 11th of February. Captain Parker was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, returned from the hospital and took command. The Army of the Ohio, under General Scofield, advanced upon Wilmington and captured it. General Sherman was steadily advancing from Savannah. The Army of the Ohio and Sherman's Army joined at Cox's Bridge, near Goldsborough. The Fourth New Hampshire was ordered to guard the railroad between Wilmington and Little Washington, in order to forward supplies to Sherman's Army.
After this duty was done, the regiment was ordered to rendezvous at Magnolia. Colonel Parker and Adjutant Challis were captured near Magnolia and spent the rest of their time with the Army of General Johnston in its retreat to Greensborough. The regiment was quartered at Raleigh, N. C.,until ordered home. They arrived in Concord and were mustered out on the 23d of August.
This is a brief compendium of the history of the regiment-so brief that no personal mention can be made of bravery and endurance on the part of many heroes of the old Fourth still living, and of those, the larger number, who await us at the final roll-call beyond the lines of earth.
The Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers was attached to, and a part of, Sherman's Expeditionary Corps, October 28, 1861, to March 31, 1862 ; at various stations in Department of the South, March 31, 1862, to April, 1864 ; First Brigade, Third Division, Tenth Army Corps, April 25 to June 19, 1864; Third Brigade' Second Division, Tenth Army Corps, June 19 to December 3, 1864; Third Brigade, Second Division, Twenty-fourth Army Corps, December 3, 1864 to April 2, 1865; Third Brigade, Second Division' Tenth Army Corps, April 2 to July 13, 1865; FirstBrigade, Second Division, Tenth Army Corps, July 13 to August, 1865
E N G A G E M E N T S.
Port Royal, S. C. Nov. 7, 1861
James Island, S. C. June 10, 1862
Pocotaligo, S. C. Oct. 22, 1862
Siege of Ft. Wagner, Morris Island, S. C. July 10 to Sept. 6, 1863
Siege of Ft. Sumter, S. C. Sept. 7, 1863, to Jan. 15, 1864
Swift Creek (or Arrowfield Church), Va. May 9, 1864
Drewry's Bluff, Va. May 14- 16, 20, 1864
Near Bermuda Hundred, Va. May 17-19, 21-18, 1864
Cold Harbor, Va. June 4-12-, 1864
Petersburg, Va. June 16, 1864
Siege of Petersburg, Va. June 23 to July 29, 1864
Mine Explosion, Petersburg, Va. July 30, 1864
Deep Bottom, Va. Aug. 14- 16, 1864
New Market Heights (Ft. Gilmer), Va. Sept. 29, 1864
Ft. Fisher, N. C. Jan. 15, 1865
Ft. Anderson, N. C. Feb. 18, 1865
Inventory Number: CON 071 - SOLD