Monadnock Moment No. 156

Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850 to 1877

Camp Brooks

In October of 1861 the following advertisement appeared in the New Hampshire Sentinel.

The Civil War had begun only a few months earlier, but New Hampshire had already put out a call for its sixth regiment of volunteer infantry. It was becoming painfully clear that the war might continue for a long time.

The Sixth Regiment was recruited throughout the state, but more than 230 of its original 885 members were residents of Cheshire County. As soon as the companies were filled, the men were ordered to report to Camp Brooks at Keene. The camp was located at Cheshire Fair Grounds, now the site of Wheelock Park. All ten companies had reported by November 27. Nelson Converse of Marlborough was appointed colonel of the regiment and Simon G. Griffin, a native of Nelson, was made lieutenant colonel.

Howard Rand of Rindge wrote home to his cousin that he had arrived at Camp Brooks on Wednesday November 26. He was inspected by the surgeon and mustered into the service the following day. The members of the regiment received their enlistment bounties on Friday and many of the men went into the village where "a good many got tight and made a good deal of disturbance..." One of Rand's first military duties was to go downtown and arrest the intoxicated members of his own regiment. He informed his cousin that: "We have got our uniform and look like bully soldiers." The ladies of Keene treated the enlistees to a Thanksgiving Day feast. The meal delivered to the camp consisted turkeys, geese, chickens, puddings, pies, cookies, and doughnuts for all of the men. Many residents of the region came to view the activities in camp.

The regiment's last week in Keene was a difficult one as the ground was frozen solid and the snow was piling up. The men struggled to keep the fires going to warm their large conical tents. On Christmas morning the soldiers broke camp and marched the 1 ½ miles from Camp Brooks to the train station through more than a foot of new snow. The Sentinel reported that the men were "heartily cheered by an immense crowd that had assembled to witness their departure." The regiment boarded 22 cars and rolled off to war, joining Burnside's expedition to North Carolina two weeks later.

The 6th Regiment was involved in many of the war's principal battles, including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Petersburg. Twenty-two year old Howard Rand, who had bragged in his letter to his cousin that he looked like "a bully soldier" after receiving his uniform at Keene in November of 1861, lay dead on the battlefield at Antietam, Maryland ten months later from an enemy bullet to the forehead. Like young Rand, 248 of the original 885 enlistees, 28 percent of the regiment, died in their attempt to preserve the Union.