NATHANIEL C. BARKER
Sergeant, Co. E, 11th New Hampshire Infantry
Place/Date of action: Spotsylvania, VA, 12 May 1864
Date of issue: 23 Sept 1897
Citation: Six color bearers of the regiment having been killed*, he voluntarily took both flags of the regiment and carried them through the remainder of the battle.

Nathaniel Churchill Barker, a Piermont, New Hampshire native, left home at age sixteen, moving to Manchester, NH, where he worked at a cotton mill. He enlisted on 21 Aug 1862, and was mustered into Co. E, 11th NH Infantry as a corporal on the 29th. He was promoted to sergeant on 30 Aug '63.

With the 11th NH, Barker participated in numerous engagements, including White Sulphur Springs, Fredericksburg, Siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Miss., Siege of Knoxville, Fort Sanders, and the Wilderness. The Battle of Spotsylvania, on 12 May 1864, fell next in his record of battles. 

The regiment,in the Second Brigade of Gen. Potter's 2nd Division in Burnside's IX Corps, held the Union's left flank when the battle commenced in the early morning of the 12th. His obituary, printed in the Boston Evening Transcript on March 8th, 1904, described the event, in part: "...six color bears were shot down. As the last bearer of the Stars and Stripes staggered from a rifle ball, Sergeant Barker sprang from his cover and seized the falling colors...the State's flag also fell, and this, too, was taken by the brave sergeant, who bore both flags through the remainder of the battle".

The following month, at Cold Harbor, Sgt. Barker was wounded in the hip, and spent the remainder of his service in several hospitals, until being discharged on 25 May 1865.

After the war, Nathaniel took a job at the County Jail in Manchester, and later at the Amoskeag Locomotive Works. In 1870, he removed to Somerville, Mass, where he was employed as a carpenter. He joined Ladder No. 1 of the city's fire department, was soon promoted to foreman, until reaching the assistant chief position in 1877.

Nathaniel Barker died in Somerville, MA on 7 March 1904, aged 67 yrs, from cancer of the liver and kidney. His body was sent to Merrimack, NH, where he was buried on the 11th in Last Rest Cemetery.

Links:
A History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteers: The Color Guard
Boston Evening Transcript, 8 March 1904 (pg 2)
Medal of Honor, 1863 - 1968: pg 25
​Note:
* While the citation claims that six color bearers were killed, only James K. Lane of Co. G was mortally wounded on that day, while the others in the guard fell wounded. A total of 19 men of the 11th NH were killed that day, with over a hundred twenty-five wounded.

​Over forty New Hampshire men, whether a native son, a resident, or a volunteer accredited to the state, earned a Medal of Honor for their actions during the Civil War. Here is one story:

HENRY W. ROWE
Private, Co. I, 11th New Hampshire Infantry
Place/Date of Action: Petersburg, VA, 17 June 1864
Date of Issue: 1 Dec 1864
Citation: With two companions, he rushed and disarmed 27 enemy pickets, capturing a stand of flags

Henry Walker Rowe enlisted on 14 Aug 1862, and was mustered in on 2 Sept '62 as a private in Company I, 11th New Hampshire Infantry. He was mustered out of service while a patient at the Douglas Hospital, Washington, DC, on 14 June 1865.

On the date of action, the 11th NH Infantry was with General Griffin's Brigade, at the front line near Petersburg. General Potter's Division in the Ninth Corps had the job of running through a ravine and breaking the rebel lines. Dropping their gear to prevent noise, the 11th NH led the 260 men in a 3 A.M. attack, quickly running through the pickets and headed for the breastworks. Private Rowe, with Jeremiah Batchelder, also of Co. I, and Sgt. Solomon Dodge of Co. C, ran around to the rear of a rifle pit, and surprised the men inside. "Surrender, you damned rebels" they yelled, and the 27 soldiers quickly dropped their weapons.The trio led their captives back to their own lines, along with a Confederate flag Pvt. Rowe had snagged [see write-up in "Deeds of Valor" for more on this story].

A month later, the 11th NH was part of the Mine Explosion at Petersburg on July 30th. Henry Rowe was shot in the right shoulder, and spent his remaining term in the hospital (Pvt. Batchelder, mentioned above, was killed in action the same day).   

After the war, Henry moved to Manchester, NH, where worked as a job printer. After a short stay in Dayton, Ohio (seen in the Soldiers Home there in 1879 books), he took his business to Boston, MA, where he remained until his death in 1913.

HENRY W. ROWE was born in Candia, NH on 1 Apr 1840, the son of John and Lydia Rowe. He died on 9 Oct 1913 in Roxbury, MA, from hypostatic pneumonia. He was first married to SOPHRONIA J. WALLACE in 1861, and second to LAVINIA T. ROWE in 1866. By his second wife, he had a son, HARRY SHERMAN ROWE, born 1874 in Boston, MA.

Links:
A History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, pg 518
Deeds of Valor: pg 366
11th NH Civil War records: [Enlist. page, Muster-Out roll, Must-out roll (2)]
​Medal of Honor, 1863 - 1968 [pg 212]

This item is a flyer for the "order of exercises" for the Memorial Day event which took place in Farmington, NH on 31 May 1897 [the usual day of the 30th being on a Sunday, the holiday's service had been moved to Monday]. It began with a parade from Main St to the town cemetery, led by the Farmington Cadet Band, with the local company of National Guard, the G.A.R. and Woman's Relief Corps members following, and the town officers, clergymen, and the public bringing up the rear. 

After the ceremony at the (Pine Grove) Cemetery, it was followed by exercises at the Civil War monument downtown. That evening, a program was held at the opera house.

The back side of the flyer listed the "Names of Deceased Soldiers and Sailors, of Farmington, N.H." that were decorated, including veterans of other wars besides the Civil War.

Farmington Cemetery

WAR of 1812
Jeremiah Willey, Timothy Davis, Asa Willey, George L Whitehouse, Thomas Ham, Daniel Willey
1812 - Ten Rod Road
Mark Demeritt, Nicholas Ricker, Samuel Chesley, Samuel C. Jones, Timothy Henderson, Dennis Downing
Chestnut Hill Road - John K Walker
Rochester Road - Isaiah Peavey, John Tanner
MEXICAN WAR
John F Place, C.B. Roberts, ----- Shapleigh (Florida War)

Outside Yards
Augustus Horne, Ten Rod Road
Thomas Pinkham, Hodgdon Yard
Jonathan Stevens, Stevens Yard
Samuel Bunker, Bunker Yard

More about: 
Farmington News, 28 May 1897
Farmington News, 4 June 1897
Pine Grove Cemetery burial listing on Find a Grave

Note: The Carlton Post, No. 24, of Farmington, NH, was first organized in 1870, with 51 members. It later disbanded, only to be reorganized in 1882. It was named for Ralph Carlton, who was captain of Company I, Third New Hampshire Infantry. New Durham born, he was a resident of Farmington when he enlisted in 1861. He was killed 16 June 1862 in Secessionville, SC.

The Battle of the Crater, aka "Burnside's Mine", took place on the 30th of July, 1864, near Petersburg, Virginia. With a siege of the city having just begun, a plan was devised to break through the Confederate lines by mining under a section of their defenses, and blowing it up with explosives.

The attack began at 4:44 am, when the mine exploded, leaving a 200 foot long, 50-60 foot wide crater in the line, some 25 to 30 feet deep in places. A division under General Ledlie led the attack, and marched straight into the hole in the line. They were to continue on towards Cemetery Hill, but were bogged down within the crater. Two other divisions followed them in, to occupy the grounds on both flanks of Ledlie, while he continued forward.

Several New Hampshire regiments were a part of the 2nd Division, 2nd Brigade, of the IX Corps: the 6th, 9th and 11th Infantry Regiments. They followed the 1st Division into battle, and went to the right of the crater, in an attempt to reach the high ground of "Cemetery Hill" (Blandford Cemetery). 

It did not take long before the Confederates were able to recover from the explosion, and attacked the Union forces. With many of the troops still within the crater, and more marching into it, the soldiers were caught in a crossfire, with nowhere to go. Shortly after noon, the order was given to fall back to the Union lines. The losses for the day were around 4400 dead, wounded, and missing, all but 100 of them from the IX Corps. 

​Aylings Revised Register listed the number of killed and mortally wounded of the NH units as follows:
6th NH Infantry: 1 officer and 8 enlisted men
9th NH Infantry: 1 officer and 22 enlisted men
11th NH Infantry: 22 enlisted men

The 4th NH Infantry, which was part of the X Corps (attached to the XVIII), suffered 13 dead in the battle.

Further reading:
​Jackman, Lyman and Hadley, Amos. History of the Sixth New Hampshire Regiment in the War for the Union. Concord, NH: Republican Press Association, 1891.
Lord, Edward Oliver. History of the Ninth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion. Concord, NH: Republican Press Association, 1895.
Cogswell, Leander W. A History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, Volunteer Infantry in the Rebellion War, 1861-1865. Concord, NH: Republican Press Association, 1891.

Websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Crater​
​http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/the-crater.html?tab=facts
​