New Hampshire supplied twenty-nine military organizations to the Federal
armies. To the Granite State belongs the grim distinction of furnishing
the regiment which had the heaviest mortality roll of any infantry
organization in the army. This was the Fifth New Hampshire, commanded by
Colonel E. E. Cross. The Fifth served in the Army of the Potomac. At
Gettysburg, Colonel Cross commanded a brigade, which included the Fifth
New Hampshire, and was killed at the head of it near Devil's Den, on July
2, 1863.