We Captured Richmond!

This historical novel is based on the Civil War experiences of nine men from Pittsfield, New Hampshire, as told by the great grandfather of the senior author. They were all of a similar age and enlisted together in the 12th New Hampshire Regiment in 1862. When they entered the war, four were farmers; the others included a teamster, salesman, pharmacist, teacher and harness maker. Seven were married and left families behind. All but one were religious and church goers. When theirs was the first regiment to enter the Confederate capital in the final phase of the war, they had been exposed to enemy fire in a series of thirteen battles and skirmishes from Fredericksburg to Richmond. Only one was left to be mustered out with the regiment at the end of the war in June 1865. One died of disease, one was discharged for disease, one killed at Chancellorsville, one discharged for wounds acquired at Drury's Bluff, two discharged for wounds acquired at Cold Harbor, one for wounds at Petersburg and one was transferred out of the regiment for nervous shock before the Battle of Cold Harbor. However, they proved to be a particularly healthy group of men as, although all were sick at one time or another and several profoundly so, only one died of disease. At Chancellorsville, Drury's Bluff and Cold Harbor, they charged into battle, fully exposed to enemy fire on all sides. At Gettysburg they were disastrously placed, engulfed by the enemy and forced us into a chaotic retreat. All told, their regiment suffered greater losses than all but a few other Union regiments in the war. Of the 1,019 men mustered into the regiment in 1862, only 242 of the original members were left at the time they were mustered out in June 1865.