CHAPTER XXIV. IN MEMORIAM. "We bow to heaven that willed it so, Upon the memorial stone at The Weirs, presented by Comrade Sanborn of the Twelfth, and adopted by the Veterans' Association and the Grand Army, as the Sacred Cabala to commemorate the services and sacrifices during the war of the various New Hampshire organizations, there appears, in due sequence with the other commands, cut deep in the stone, the name of the Seventeenth Infantry. Together the Second and Seventeenth "labored patiently and harmoniously." Together they "stood firmly, shoulder to shoulder," on the field of battle. Their dead were buried side by side. The veterans of each still join hands at the yearly encampment, and thus perpetuate in loving remembrance the heroic deeds of these two bands now united to form one common whole. Upon the return of the Seventeenth men from the front, there appeared in Colonel Kent's newspaper the following: 66 IN MEMORIAM. In a distant city, occupied with new responsibilities, the editor of this paper, for the first time, sees a partial list of the casualties among the men of the Seventeenth New Hampshire Regiment transferred to the Second and participants in the campaign of 1863. It is with no ordinary feeling of interest and pride that he has watched the progress of these men, once under his immediate command. In thought he has shared with them the privations of camp and march, and in thought been with them on the field. At the expiration of their time of service, it is but a slight tribute to the patriotism of the living and to the memory of the gallant dead, to bear record of their consistent patriotism and soldierly career. “He feels justified in doing this, for he has never learned to subdue the keen regret with which he and his brother officers were obliged to part from these men, enlisted for their special command, or to feel the error which occurred when, in the territory assigned for this regiment, eleven hundred volunteers were raised, and but a fraction of the number were allowed to enter the camp; and that those who did, were, against the most vigilant efforts, obliged, by the urgency of the times, to take service elsewhere. "Nowhere could they have gone better than into the regiment that received them. The final order of the colonel discharging them is a handsome tribute to their bearing as soldiers. 66 Through the exhausting campaign of July, these men did their full part. On the field of Gettysburg they kept their post with the bravest veterans, and charged with the cool, resistless onset of practiced soldiers. On that day no men behaved better than the men of the Seventeenth New Hampshire. 66 This eminently glorious that war brings in its train. campaign was attended with the miseries Many of these men laid down their lives as holy offerings upon the altar of their country. Some sickened away from those they loved at home, drawing their last breath amid crowded hospitals; and others breathed out their spirit amid the roar and clangor of battle. Wherever they died, and however they fell, none fell with his back to the enemy. All earned a soldier's grave, and the grateful memory of their country. "The time of service expired, the survivors are again scattered among the homes of the state. They will be welcomed with rejoicing, while the tear will fall over those brave ones who have passed beyond the roar of battle to the reward that awaits the patriot soldier. It is little that the pen can compass to express the warm regard and earnest interest which the writer of this article, in common with many others, felt in the welfare of the men of this command; and it is equally little to award to those who have returned from so honorable a warfare, the credit which is their due, and to keep ever in memory the services and virtues of those who have fallen. Honor to their memory. No prouder epitaph can be inscribed upon the tablet that marks their final resting place than this: "THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY." CHAPTER XXV. THE COLONEL'S CONCLUSIONS. Though the mills of GOD grind slowly, Translation-Longfellow. Asked for a chapter in the history now in preparation, I approach a brief review of some of the incidents of those days covering our service, with mingled satisfaction and regret; satisfaction, that the story is to be told in this authentic and official manner, and regret for the lost hopes attending our endeavor; hopes, subordinated, let us believe, through the exigencies of the times to the public good, and an endeavor plainly aiding the military needs then para mount. Since the war-save among its own members and the loyal camaraderie of veterans, the Regiment has not always been understood aright. Indeed, it has been misunderstood, and sometimes with a persistency and perversity not wholly agreeable. At a critical period of military necessity its formation was authorized, territory assigned for its enlistment, and its field officers appointed. The necessary complement of a regiment responded. The command was ordered into camp, but many men volunteering in its territory so assigned it,—for reasons not heretofore generally known or understood were sent to commands numerically prior to the Seventeenth, which were so made effective, thus depleting the Seventeenth to an extent making immediate muster impossible, leaving its future to the dull delays of lethargic plans never pressed to fulfilment, until as the solution of the problem so unexpectedly forced, its remaining strength was consolidated with another regiment. I shall not essay the story of the Seventeenth Volunteer Infantry. That is done in these pages by one of its officers competent and authorized. It is my privilege and province to bear testimony to the excellence of the command, its intelligence, discipline, and willing obedience, and to the cordial regard entertained, each for all, among its members; a regard born of common trials and a common service. And so to you, my associates and comrades of the brave days of old, and to the people of the state, I bring this contribution. Although not at the front as a distinctive command, neither the members of the Seventeenth nor the public should forget that it served a valuable purpose and did its duty as valiantly and well as did any regiment of the state. Let me illustrate. The transfer April 16, 1863, of the men of this command to the Second, enabled that admirable regiment to return to the front with fuller ranks, stronger every way to engage, with the honor and success that attended it, in the Gettysburg campaign. The assignment of three companies from the territory. given it, to the Fifteenth, enabled that regiment to muster and take effective and honorable part at Port Hudson, and the attendant campaign. The assignment of three other companies from the same district, completed the Sixteenth, and sent it into the honorable and successful service of the Gulf campaign. At this time, the maximum of officers and men for a regiment of infantry was 1,046, a number heretofore attained before final muster, but there was also a minimum, on the |