Failed to complete organization

SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT NEW HAMPSHIRE VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. (NINE MONTHS.)

By HENRY 0. KENT, late Colonel Seventeenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. THE history of the Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry is peculiar, as it tells of patient service and weary waiting for thirty years before it received justice, which finally came by the high authority of an act of the Federal Congress defining its status and recognizing the full rank of its commander. The Seventeenth has been accorded fraternal recognition by the other military organizations of the State, and its name is on the memorial stone at The Weirs. It did its full duty amid surroundings that taxed the patience and zeal of officers and men, and its history should be fully recorded among those of the other commands that upheld the fame of the State during the great contest that saved the Union. Recognizing the propriety and necessity for the preparation of a lasting record relative to this regiment, I have responded to the request to supply this, so far as to quote from official documents in my possession sufficient to explain its position and service. For personal reasons I should have preferred a different authorship, but the character of the papers here cited will be at once my excuse and tell the story of the regiment--better, perhaps, than it could be presented in any other way. The following is from the report of the committee on military affairs of the United States Senate, made by Senator Proctor, late secretary of war, April 7, 1892: "Under the call of President Lincoln dated August 4, 1862, for 300,000 volunteers, the State of New Hampshire was required to organize three regiments, one in each of the congressional districts of the State, and field officers were appointed by the Governor for each regiment, with the understanding that the recruits enlisted in the three districts were to belong to the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth regiments of New Hampshire volunteers respectively. On the 23d day of October, 1862, Henry O. Kent, of Lancaster, in the third congressional district, was by the Governor duly appointed and commissioned colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment, and proceeded to raise troops and to organize the regiment from that district. "Under this arrangement there were enlisted, as shown by the report of the adjutant-general of the State, 791 men from the third district who belonged, by the assignment referred to, in Colonel Kent's command. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments assigned to the first and second districts not being filled, by reason of the failure of some of the towns to raise their quotas, and there being great pressure for troops in the field, made by the War Department upon the state authorities, it was determined by the latter to transfer men raised in the third district for Colonel Kent's regiment, to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth, thereby completing those regiments and hurrying them to the front. This was accordingly done, leaving Colonel Kent with but a small proportion of his men. "The Fifteenth and Sixteenth left the State in the month of November, 1862. Colonel Kent's regimental organization occupied the camp vacated by the Fifteenth, and continued there under his command from the 19th day of November, 1862, until the 16th day of April, 1863, excepting while a portion of the men were furloughed to save expense. Great exertions were made to fill the regiment by Colonel Kent, who was an able, accomplished, and popular officer; but owing to the extreme depletion of the arms-bearing population of the State and the necessity of filling the ranks of the older regiments, which was continually being done--largely as the result of Colonel Kent's efforts during the same period--it was found to be impossible to thus complete his regiment. "Thereupon various efforts were made to obtain service for the regimental organization as it stood, but it was finally determined on full consultation with the President and Secretary Cameron that it would be better to transfer the Seventeenth bodily into the ranks of the Second New Hampshire Volunteers; and this was accordingly done, with the exception of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers, who were mustered out under an existing General Order. They served out their unexpired time as soldiers of the Seventeenth New Hampshire Volunteers under the command of the officers, and as a part of the Second Regiment. As such they participated in the battle of Gettysburg, and were thanked by Colonel Bailey, of the Second New Hampshire Volunteers, for the disciplined valor they displayed in that decisive battle of the war by a regimental order, in which great praise was bestowed upon Colonel Kent and his officers of the Seventeenth for the unusual skill, steadiness, and efficiency of their deportment in the field. "Subsequent to the organization of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments, one full company and part of another, in all about 125 men, were added to the Seventeenth Regiment from the other congressional districts, who with the 791 men belonging to Colonel Kent's regiment, as enlisted from the third district, would have made the total number under his command 916 men--considerably more than the number entitling him to muster into the service of the United States as colonel of the regiment." From this high authority it appears that the Seventeenth Regiment was recruited above the minimum and had more than enough men to take the field had they not been diverted by the exigencies of the time to other commands. There was nothing lacking on the part of officers or men to fit the command for active service, as is fully proven by the General Order issued from the Headquarters of the Second, after the Gettysburg campaign, at the close of their enlistment. That Order is inserted in this connection: FAREWELL ORDER TO THE 17TH N. H. VOLS. HEADQUARTERS 2D N. HAMP. VOLS. DISTRICT OF ST. MARY'S, POINT LOOKOUT, MD. SEPTEMBER 22, 1863. GENERAL ORDER No. 14. Soldiers of the Seventeenth New Hampshire Volunteers: You are about to part with your comrades of the second for the more peaceful and happier atmosphere of your domestic firesides. Aroused by the necessities of your country, you assembled under a gallant and accomplished leader with justly high hopes to lead with him a brilliant career. * * * * After months of uncertainty * * * * the 17th and 2d N. H. Regiments were consolidated * * * * since which time you have labored patiently and harmoniously. You had no choice in your disposition--you were not electors of place. Yet, though not sent to battle under the most favorable circumstances, you have comported yourselves as men should, and have secured the respect and friendship of your companions and officers. Your term of service, though short, has been eventful. You will return to the quiet of your pleasant homes with the proud satisfaction that your career embraced participation in one of the most arduous campaigns and the hardest fought and most glorious battle, in its results, of any of this war. Called to sustain a part which tested your patriotism and valor, the ordeal prepared for you was the occupancy of the most exposed position; during that terrible contest you stood firmly, shoulder to shoulder, with the familiars of fifteen battles, fighting as valiantly. * * * * I thank you for the prompt, brave, and efficient performance of duty; your respect and cheerful obedience to orders, which has been your conduct uniformly during the period I have had the honor to be connected with you in the capacity of a commander. * * * * ED L. BAILEY, Col. 2d N. H. V. JOHN D. COOPER, Adjutant. No more complete testimonial to the discipline, valor, and worth of this regiment could be given than this official recognition by a colonel in the field. The venerable Ex-Governor Nathaniel S. Berry, war governor of the State, placed before Congress in February, 1892, a statement relative to this regiment, from which the following extracts are made: To the Congress of the United States: I, Nathaniel S. Berry, now of Bristol, in the County of Grafton and State of New Hampshire, make this statement for use in the matter of Senate Bill No. 1129, now pending. * * * * When I was inaugurated governor, Henry 0. Kent, whom I had for some years previously well known, was acting under a commission of my predecessor, Governor Ichabod Goodwin, as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, at Portsmouth, where the Second New Hampshire Infantry was then in camp, and where state troops were holding Fort Constitution. Colonel Kent had been a cadet, and was a graduate of a military academy, and had been under the orders of the governor and adjutant-general in enlisting and organizing the earlier troops from the State, from the date of hostilities. He was continued in this duty by me during the recruiting of 1861. I understood that his services at the front were at all times at the disposal of the State, whenever I might call for them. In 1862 he was elected to the Legislature from Lancaster, and was chairman of the military committee of the House, shaping the legislation of that year relative to the volunteers and the militia. In the autumn of 1862 President Lincoln issued a call for three hundred thousand volunteers, the quota of New Hampshire being three regiments. The governor and executive council, in determining how this quota should be raised, consulted sundry of the public and military men of the State, among these, from his familiarity with the State, his prior connection with the service, and his position in the Legislature, was Colonel Kent. He suggested that the three regiments called for be assigned respectively to the three congressional districts of the State, as then constituted. This plan was adopted, and it was decided to organize the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth infantry regiments, in the first, second, and third congressional districts, to appoint their field officers, and authorize them to recruit for their several commands. * * * * * * * * * * * * The Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments being in camp, but not full, by reason of the failure of some towns in the first and second congressional districts to fill their quotas, and the War Department urging haste in forwarding regiments, men, and companies from the third congressional district were ordered into these regiments, the intention being to supply their places in the Seventeenth by filling these quotas for that regiment at a later period. As a result of this policy the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments were sent to the front early in November, 1862. The Seventeenth Regiment was ordered into the barracks vacated by them, during the same month. It became difficult to secure enlistments to fill these laggard quotas. * * * * Unable, as the governor and his executive council viewed the situation, to fill the Seventeenth Regiment by volunteers, and a state draft having been abandoned, * * * * I visited Washington, and laid the case before Secretary Cameron, being very anxious to meet the views of Colonel Kent and his command, and have the regiment placed on duty. After many delays and disappointments, its was decided to consolidate the Seventeenth Regiment with the Second New Hampshire Infantry, which was to be ordered home for that purpose. The Second New Hampshire Infantry, Lieut. Col. Edward L. Bailey commanding, arrived in Concord on furlough. The muster and transfer rolls were made, and on the 16th day of April, 1863, Colonel Kent paraded his regiment, and turned the men over to Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, by whom they were incorporated in the Second New Hampshire Volunteers. * * * * * * * * * * * * Colonel Kent was commissioned to raise a regiment. He did raise a regiment. Many of his men, by the exigencies of the times, were taken from him; but he organized and commanded as a regiment what were left him. If any action is needed to place beyond question his rank and status, I have no hesitation in saying that it will only be an act of justice long delayed, to perfect such action. NATHANIEL S. BERRY. February l6, 1892. The act referred to, which, after careful examination and favorable reports in each branch, passed both Houses without opposition, directs the secretary of war to recognize Henry O. Kent as colonel of the Seventeenth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, thus establishing at the War Department the status of the regiment and the rank of its commanding officer. The report of the adjutant-general for 1866, in referring to the history of this regiment, closes in the following language: "Every indication observable relative to discipline, drill, and instruction proved the fitness of the officers of the Seventeenth for duty; and the excellence of the men, together with their attachment to their original officers and organization, added to the regrets that followed the consolidation. "In the record of New Hampshire regiments, the officers and men of the Seventeenth Infantry should have honorable mention, as citizens who performed their entire duty under discouraging circumstances, with steady promptitude and consistent patriotism."

Source: New Hampshire Soldiers & Sailors War of the Rebellion, Ayling

New Hampshire 17th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

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