I04 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
lantly made ; but the approaches were so difficult, and the enemy's fire so destructive, that, when the column reached the bridge, it had so diminished in numbers that it was found impossible to take the bridge and hold it.* The few who were left unharmed dropped behind such cover as they could find, and held their ground till reinforcements came up, when the bridge was carried, and the Sixth New Hampshire, with Colonel Griffin at its head, was the first to plant its colors on the heights beyond. For gallantry in that action, General Burnside recommended him for promotion to be brigadier-general, and for some weeks after the battle he was in command of the brigade by seniority.
While the army was on its march from Pleasant Valley to Fredericksburg, the enemy having appeared on the opposite bank of the river, near Warrenton Springs, Colonel Griffin was sent to hold them in check and protect the flank of the army, which he successfully accomplished. At Fredericksburg, he commanded his regiment, which again suffered severely in the assault on the heights abov^e the city. Soon after that battle he received a leave of absence, and was married to Miss Margaret R. Lamson, of Keene, N. H., with whom he is still living, and by whom he has two sons.
Early in 1863 General Burnside was assigned to the command of the Department of Ohio, and the Ninth Corps was transferred to that department. While the Corps was in Kentucky, preparing to march to East Tennessee, Colonel Griffin was placed permanently in command of the First Brigade, Second Division, consisting of the Sixth and Ninth New Hampshire and Second Maryland, Forty-eighth Pennsylvania and Seventh and Twelfth Rhode Island Regiments. Just as the troops were about to march across the moun- - tains, orders came from the War Department to proceed at once to the aid of Grant at Vicksburg. Leaving a part of the troops in Kentucky, the Corps hastened by rail to Cairo, and thence by boats to Milldale, Mississippi, and joined the forces under Sherman, then watching Johnson, who was threatening Grant's rear. While in camp theie. Colonel Griffin was sent by General Sher- man with two regiments of his brigade to make a reconnoissance, and found the enemy's advance ner.r the Big Black. The Colonel returned to camp, obstructing the roads, as I e came, by felling trees. Immediately upon the fall of Vicksburg, Sherman moved upon Jackson — driving Johnson before him — and captured that city. While approaching the town. Colonel 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 about three a. m., with a view to breaking our lines by surprise, but which was repulsed with considerable loss.
The work of that campaign being finished, the Ninth Corps returned to the Department of Ohio, arriving in Kentucky the last of August, and once more prepared to advance into East Tennessee. Colonel Griffin, in command of the Second Division by seniority, marched over the mountains through Cumberland Gap, and joined General Burnside at Knoxville.
His own regiment and many others had been left in Kentucky to recover from sickness, contracted in the malarial regions of Mississippi, and General Burnside gave him an order to return and collect those regiments and bring them forward to strengthen his force at Knoxville. Arriving in Kentucky, in October, the regiments were ordered to rendezvous at Camp Nelson ; but before they were ready to march, it became known that, in consequence of the defeat at Chickamauga, not only was Burnside hard pressed in East Ten-
- •' Tlicv clin-jT' il lr<i;M a point at a considerable distance below the bridge, were compelled to make
their wiiy t.'irougli a narrow opening in a tirm chcstnnt fence, which there was no time to remove, and then run a long distance in the face of a well-posted enemy." — Woodbury's " Burnside, and the Ninth Army Corps."
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