Monadnock Moment No. 167

Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850 to 1877

Bill Dunton Fights the War

Special events that commemorate important Civil War battles bring to mind the more than 2,000 Cheshire County residents who fought in that war. The experience of one local resident reminds us of the bravery and endurance of these men who volunteered to fight for the Union.

William Dunton of Fitzwilliam was one of the first local men to enlist when the fighting began. He was assigned to the 2nd Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. He was at the First Battle of Bull Run and several other engagements in Virginia in late 1861 and early 1862. The 2nd Regiment was also engaged at the Second Battle of Bull Run and Dunton was fighting there alongside his comrades on August 29, 1862. During the fighting Dunton was hit in the face by a bullet. The ball entered his right cheek, breaking his jaw and his upper teeth and exiting below his left eye. Dunton fell and was left for dead by his comrades.

Confederate soldiers stripped him of his possessions and most of his clothes and also left him on the field. Dunton's mouth soon began to fill up from the swelling, and he cut away the torn flesh with his knife so that he could breathe. Hours passed and then days, and still no help came. Finally, six days later, a burial crew found Dunton and carried him to an army hospital at Washington. The surgeons there decided that he could not be saved. To give him a chance, however, a small tube was inserted into his throat through which he was fed. Dunton clung to life and was fed through his tube for more than a month. Finally, two months later he had recovered enough to be discharged. William Dunton had survived, to return to Fitzwilliam and to tell the amazing tale of his Civil War experience.