Sgt. Geo. Hammond

Sgt. Geo. Hammond

At age 21 George Hammond was elected first sergeant of Company G.  The following excerpts from his letters describe the assault of May 27 across "Slaughter's Field:"  "The morning of the 27th we formed in line of battle with the 15th [New Hampshire] on our left and the 128th [New York] on the right in the woods. 

You have heard much said, no doubt, about the peculiar sound (of buzzing, whistling, or screeching) [bullets] make coming toward you.  

If so, that was what we had for a change.  The first thing done was to accept 30 volunteers from our regiment & more from others to form an advance storming party.  [The Confederate] parapet had a ditch filled with water outside & in order to get over it you must fill it or make a bridge. 

Now, with this party went a lot of Negroes with poles and boards to make this bridge.  We had a battery on our left (1st Vermont) clear the parapet.  Soon came the order, Charge!  Bayonets! Forward! Double Quick!  We got within a few hundred yards when they opened their musketry & shot & shell. 

Our battery dare not fire in our front so we had to contest our way with muskets alone.  Balls whistled on either side.  Men commenced to be wounded.  But we rushed on as best we could and it brought the different regiments together.   We broke our line, which is not military, but in our haste to advance could not be helped.

We fought in this way about an hour & then there was an order to retreat, but most did not & would not.  There was a ravine at the right of the line where many men got to. But it was no use.  We could not carry the place this day.

Colonel Kingsley was wounded three times -- wrist, arm, and through the mouth.  He was within 20 rods of the parapet.   Our Captain [Stanton] was brave, very, but was equally as rash or crazy.  He was up the farthest . . . of most any cheering and waving his hands in defiance of the Rebels & was shot through the head and died almost instantly."  As a result of Captain Stanton's death, Hammond was promoted to acting lieutenant and finished his term of service with this rank.