5th New Hampshire Infantry

Alternate Designations: The Bloodless Fifth

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

Numbers: 182; 27 killed, 53 wounded.

Raised: Merrimack, Sullivan, Grafton, Carroll, and Coos.

Installed 1888. Dedicated June 12, 1889.

Location: Located along Ayres Avenue in the woods just behind the Wheatfield. Marks the location where Colonel Edward Cross, commanding the brigade, was killed.

Description: Costing just $600.00, the monument 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.” Monument comprised of an octagonal mid-section with bronze text plaques, topped by a large boulder.

Of the Fifth New Hampshire, Fox wrote: “Sustained the greatest loss in battle of any infantry or cavalry regiment, in the whole Union Army. Known to the corps and division commanders as a reliable regiment, it was the more often called upon to face the enemy’s fire, or assigned to the post of danger.”



Other Monuments: Main Monument | Flank Position Marker

Army of the Potomac > Second Corps > First Division > First Brigade