3rd New Hampshire Regiment - 3rd Regiment 1775-1776

3rd Regiment 1775-1776

Its first commander was Colonel James Reed. Companies were initially commanded by:

• Captain Jacob Hinds
• Captain Josiah Crosby
• Captain Philip Thomas
• Captain Jonathan Witcomb
• Captain Benjamin Mann
• Captain William Walker
• Captain Levi Spaulding
• Captain John Marcy
• Captain Hezekiah Hutchins

Under Reed, the regiment saw action on 17 June 1775, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, which is more properly known as the Battle of Breeds Hill. There they were on the field at two locations. The bulk of the regiment was at the rail fence positioned between John Stark's 1st New Hampshire Regiment which extended on the fence to the Mystic River and Thomas Knowlton's company of Connecticut militia. One company, under Josiah Crosby of Wilton, New Hampshire, was detached into Charlestown to snipe at the British Marines as they advanced on the redoubt where the bulk of the American forces were deployed.

Crosby's company's actions (along with one other company) resulted in the British ships on the Charles River loading their cannon with hot grapeshot and burning Charlestown. The battle occurred in three phases, and the 3rd Regiment participated in the first two, which resulted in the decisive defeat of the right wing of the British Army under Major General William Howe. However, the New Hampshire regiments were nearly out of ammunition and could only pull back to Bunker Hill to watch the final phase of the battle play out and then cover the retreat of the Massachusetts soldiers as they escaped the redoubt after it had been finally overrun.

On 1 Jan, 1776, the 3rd Regiment was redesignated as the 2d Continental Regiment and assigned to Sullivan's Brigade. On 27 April 1776, the regiment was assigned to the Canadian Department and was sent to Canada via New York City and then Albany via the Hudson River under Major General John Sullivan during the Invasion of Canada campaign. As the regiment arrived in Canada they suffered through a smallpox epidemic. They made it as far as Montreal where they were from June 12–17 and are shown there on Major Alexander Scammell's Return of the Continental Forces in Canada. The return of Reeds Regiment, dated 21 April 1776, showed 518 officers, staff, and rank and file, and then on General Horatio Gates' return, dated 24 August 1775, there were only 409 men in the regiment, an unfortunately typical loss for regiments in the Canadian Department. The 3rd Regiment returned to Fort Ticonderoga on 10 July 1776, and were there until November of 1776.

The 3rd Regiment spent the late summer and fall of 1776 at Fort Ticonderoga. Reed's health was failing, and in November the state sent representatives who with the help of John Stark secured the re-enlistment of many New Hampshire officers and soldiers and re-formed the 1st and 2nd New Hampshire Regiments with those men, which included many from the 3rd Regiment. It is because of this that the 3rd Regiment is usually given credit for participating in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton, though in reality these men had re-enlisted or had been reorganized into these new 1st and 2nd New Hampshire Regiments. The 1st New Hampshire Regiment was also known as the 5th Regiment of Foot and was commanded by John Stark, and the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment was also known as the 8th Regiment of Foot and was commanded by Enoch Poor. They left Fort Ticonderoga to join George Washington on November 16, 1776.

In November 1776, what remained of the 3rd Regiment was not much more than a corps of invalids and men who had not re-enlisted and whose enlistments would expire by the end of the year—about 250 in all. Those who did re-enlist in November were incorporated into the 1st and 2nd regiments. The main army at Fort Ticonderoga marched south to join Washington on 16 and 17 November 1776; the 3rd following two days later, and got as far as Peekskill, New York. There, Col. Alexander Scammell was given command of the 3rd Regiment. on 11 December 1776. Some of the company commanders had been commissioned as of 8 Nov, 1776, and were already in New Hampshire recruiting, and several more captains were added by March 1777 to complete the regiment and recruiting. The result was a new 3rd Regiment for 1777 with an experienced officer corps, but the new rank and file soldiers had little or no experience with the Continental Army or in battle.