Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
Assigned to Reno's division, which was sent to aid Pope in Virginia, he
commanded his regiment at the second Bull Run, where it was ordered,
with its brigade, to attack the enemy in a piece of wood. Forcing their
way for some distance, they received a murderous fire in front and from
the left flank and rear. Thinking it must be friends firing into them by
mistake, Col. Griffin took the colors and waved them in that direction,
but the fire only came the sharper; and finding himself nearly
surrounded by an immense force, and deserted by the other regiments, he
gave the order to retreat, and brought off the remnant of his men,
bearing the colors himself.
At the battles of Chantilly and South Mountain he commanded his
regiment; and at Antietam, after one attempt to carry the bridge in
front of Burnside had been made and failed, Col. Griffin was ordered to
make the assault with his own regiment and the Second Maryland. The
charge was gallantly made, but the approaches were difficult, the
enemy's fire destructive, and the column was checked; but
re-enforcements were brought up, and the bridge was carried, and the
Sixth New Hampshire, with Col. Griffin at its head, was the first to
plant its colors on the heights beyond. For gallantry in this action he
was recommended for promotion to brigadier-general. At Fredericksburg he
commanded his regiment, which again suffered severely in the assault on
the heights. Soon after that battle he obtained a leave of absence, and
was married to Margaret R. Lamson, of Keene, N. H., with whom he is
still living, and by whom he has two sons.
Early in the year 1863, the ninth corps was transferred to the
department of Ohio, and Col. Griffin was placed in command of the second
brigade, second division, serving in Kentucky. From there the first and
second divisions were sent to aid Grant at Vicksburg; and, upon the fall
of that city, Sherman moved upon Jackson, Miss., the capital of the
state, driving Johnston before him. While approaching the town, Col.
Griffin was at one time in command of the advanced line, consisting of
three brigades, when a sharp attack was made by the enemy, at three
o'clock in the morning, with a view to breaking our lines by surprise,
but was repulsed with considerable loss. Returning to Kentucky, he took
command of the second division, and marched over the Cumberland
mountains, joining Gen. Burnside at Knoxville. Several regiments of the
corps had been left in Kentucky, and Col. Griffin was sent to conduct
them forward to Knoxville. Before they had started on the march,
however, Kentucky itself was threatened with raids, in consequence of
our defeat at Chickamauga, and Col. Griffin and his troops were retained
for the defense of that state. While on that duty his regiment
re-enlisted for three years, or the war; and in January, 1864, he was
ordered with it to Covington, Ky., where they were remustered into the
United States service, and immediately proceeded to New Hampshire on
their thirty days' furlough, granted by the terms of re-enlistment.
In the spring of 1864, the ninth corps re-assembled at Annapolis, under
Gen. Burnside, and Col. Griffin was assigned to the command of the
second brigade, second division. On the 5th of May the corps joined the
army of the Potomac, on the Rapidan, and at two o'clock on the morning
of the 6th, Col. Griffin was sent with his brigade to attack the enemy,
and later in the day made a brilliant charge in repelling an attack made
on the second corps. At Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, Gen. Hancock
made the assault at four o'clock in the morning. Griffin occupied the
right of the ninth corps, on the left of Hancock, though some distance
from him, with orders to support that officer. Promptly at four o'clock
Griffin advanced with his brigade in line of battle, and made directly
for the point of attack indicated by the sound of Hancock's guns. As he
approached, he galloped forward to see just where to make the
connection. Passing out of a wood into an open field, he found Hancock's
troops wild with excitement over their success, but with organizations
completely broken up by the charge they had made. Looking across a
valley to a slope beyond, he saw a large force of rebels advancing
rapidly to make a counter attack. Hastening back to his command, he
brought it forward into position just in time to take that advancing
column in front and flank with a destructive fire. Other brigades came
up and formed on his left, and for five hours a terrific fire was kept
up, and the furious onslaught of three Confederate divisions was
repulsed. The loss on each side was fearful, but Hancock's corps, and
possibly the army, was saved from being swept away, and a victory was
won. By this gallant act Col. Griffin "won his star," being made a
brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, on the
recommendation of Generals Burnside and Grant, and confirmed by the
senate without debate, reference, or a dissenting vote.
On the 18th he made a reconnoissance with his brigade, and handled it
with coolness and skill in the fights of North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek,
Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. On the arrival of the army in front of
Petersburg, June 15, he was placed in command of two brigades, and made
a skillful attack on the enemy's advanced lines at daylight next
morning, capturing one thousand prisoners, fifteen hundred stands of
arms, four pieces of artillery, with caissons, horses, and ammunition,
and opening the way into Petersburg had supports been ready in time. At
the battle of the "Mine" he commanded his brigade, and did every thing
that could be done in his place to insure success; also at the Weldon
Railroad, Poplar Grove Church, and Hatcher's Run.
At the final breaking of the lines in front of Petersburg, on the 2d of
April, 1865, after charging the enemy's picket line and capturing two
hundred and forty-nine prisoners during the night previous, he formed
his brigade near Fort Sedgwick, in column by regiments, with three
companies of pioneers in front armed only with axes to cut away the
_abatis_. Just at daybreak, at a preconcerted signal, in connection with
Gen. Hartranft on his right and Col. Curtin on his left, he led his
column to the charge. Nothing could exceed the coolness and intrepidity
with which officers and men pressed forward under a terrific fire of
grape, canister, and musketry; for our artillery had opened and given
the enemy warning. Tearing away the _abatis_, they dashed over the
parapet, seized the guns, captured hundreds of prisoners, and held the
line. The loss was frightful, but the backbone of the rebellion was
broken; and when the news of the assault reached Richmond, on that
Sunday morning, Jefferson Davis crept out of church and stole away, a
fugitive; and Petersburg and Richmond were occupied by our troops next
morning. For gallantry in that action Gen. Griffin was brevetted a
major-general of volunteers, and succeeded to the command of the second
division, ninth corps, holding that position till the close of the war,
with the exception of a short time while he was president of an
examining board of officers at Washington. He joined in pursuit of the
rebel forces, and his division formed a part of the column that
encompassed Lee and compelled him to surrender. Returning with the army
and encamping at Alexandria, he led his division in the Grand Review, on
the 23d of May; and when the last regiment of his command had been
mustered out, he also, in August, 1865, was mustered out of the service
of the United States.
Gen. Griffin's service had been a most honorable one. Brave, able, and
patriotic, he was always in demand at the front, and his service was of
the most arduous kind. He took an active part in twenty-two great
battles, besides being engaged in numberless smaller fights and
skirmishes, and his troops were never under fire, or made a march of any
importance, except with him to lead them. Yet he never received a
scratch, although he had seven ball-holes through his clothes, and had
two horses killed and five wounded under him in action; and he never
lost a day's duty from sickness,--the result, no doubt, of temperate
habits. As an example of the severity of his service in Grant's campaign
of 1864, he left Alexandria with six regiments, reporting twenty-seven
hundred fighting men. At the close of the campaign he had lost three
thousand men, killed and wounded,--three hundred more than his whole
number,--new regiments having been assigned to him, and the older ones
filled up with recruits.
At the close of the war the government appointed him a field officer in
one of the regiments in the regular army; but he had no desire for the
life of a soldier when his country no longer needed his services, and he
declined the offer. In 1866, 1867, and 1868, he represented Keene in the
New Hampshire state legislature, serving the last two years as speaker
of the house, which position he filled with marked ability, showing rare
talent as a presiding officer. In January, 1866, he presided over the
Republican state convention; and Dartmouth College that year conferred
on him the degree of Master of Arts, _causa honoris_. In 1871 he was
nominated for congress by the Republicans of the third district, but the
opposition carried the state that year, and, although making a good run,
he was defeated by a few votes. Renominated in 1873, he was again
defeated by a small majority.
The habits of study so diligently cultivated by Gen. Griffin in youth
have never been laid aside, but are still kept up in the midst of an
active and busy life, he being engaged in large enterprises in the South
and West. As a public speaker he is able, graceful, and convincing, and
his work always shows thorough preparation, correct taste, and sound
judgment. In a book of Garfield's speeches, with a short sketch of his
life, published by a firm in St. Louis, a few memorial addresses,
selected as the best delivered in the country, are inserted as a
supplement, and Gen. Griffin's, delivered at Keene, and the same day at
Marlborough, is found among them.
In his home, where he is cordially seconded by Mrs. Griffin, there is a
tender and affectionate union of the members, a courteous hospitality, a
library rich in choice books which are read and known, and all the
comforts and enjoyments of a true New England home; and from that home
abundant good works go out that make for the well-being of a community.
COL. DAVID LYMAN JEWELL.
BY J. N. McCLINTOCK.
The chief industry of the flourishing village of Suncook is the
manufacture of cotton cloth. The China, the Webster, and the Pembroke
mills are three great establishments under one management, built on the
banks of the Suncook river, and operated principally by its power, where
this class of goods is made. About these mills, which give steady
employment to over fifteen hundred operatives, has grown up a
substantial village, with fine public buildings, spacious stores,
elegant private residences, and long blocks of neat tenement-houses,
inhabited by a liberal and public-spirited class of citizens, and
governed by a wise and judicious policy which renders this community
comfortable, attractive, and law-abiding. The man to whose clear head
and skillful hand is intrusted the management of this great corporation,
of such vital importance to the village of Suncook, is a genial
gentleman of forty-five, Col. DAVID L. JEWELL, a brief outline of whose
life it is my purpose to sketch.
DAVID LYMAN JEWELL, son of Bradbury and Lucinda (Chapman) Jewell, was
born in Tamworth, N. H., January 26, 1837. In the midst of the grandest
scenery of New England, under the shadows of the Ossipee mountains, and