for. Twenty boys from the class of 1863 responded to the call, among whom was Thomas Cogswell. He enlisted in that summer as a private in Company A, Fifteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, a company recruited in Gilmanton, Guilford, Alton, and Belmont, and entered the service for nine months. He was chosen by his company first lieutenant and was presented by his command with sword and equipments. For the ensuing year his history and that of the regiment are identical.
In October, 1862, the regiment was in camp in Concord, going to Long Island, New York, in November of the same year. The regiment was destined to join the expedition of General Banks and proceeded to Louisiana, where in the following spring Lieutenant Cogswell was taken sick with the chills and fever. He lost twenty-five pounds in weight in one week. He recovered sufficiently to join his company, of which he was commissioned captain April 8, 1863, before Port Hudson, and participated in the memorable attack. For a day and a half during the siege his command were without food. His weakened constitution could not withstand such exposure and deprivation, and again he was sent to the hospital. When the regiment was embarking to return north, after their term of service had expired, the physicians forbade his being moved, but he ordered four of his men, who came to see him, to carry him upon the boat with the regiment. This they did and he was brought home with them almost a physical wreck. When he entered the service he was a strong, rugged, healthy boy of twenty-one, weighing one hundred and eighty-five pounds; he weighed one hundred and six when he arrived at Gass' hotel in Concord, August 8, 1863. He was then twenty-two years old and wore the epaulets of a captain gained by gallant service before the enemy.
It is unnecessary to add that Captain Cogswell was a brave soldier. He left a sick bed to join his regiment on the eve of a great battle. He was a good executive officer, kind and considerate to his men, and thoughtful of their needs and interests. When the regiment was ordered from Long Island to embark on a transport for the Gulf of Mexico, he joined with his captain in refusing to march his company on board of a boat manifestly unsafe and over-loaded. This refusal led to a court-martial, by which the young officers were exonerated from blame. He never wanted his men exposed to danger in which he could not share, and looked after them like younger brothers. For a year after his return from the south he was recuperating and regaining his lost health, six months of the time being confined to his house and room. In the fall of 1864 Captain Cogswell was employed as a clerk in the commissary department and reported to Captain John R. Hynes, but saw no more active service.
LAW.
Mr. Cogswell commenced to read law in the office of Stevens & Vaughan, of Laconia, and afterwards studied at the Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Belknap County bar during the September term, 1866. In December of the same year he opened a law office in the village of Gilmanton Iron Works, where no lawyer had been settled for the previous twenty years. Formerly some noted lawyers had practiced law there, among whom may be mentioned James Bell, George Minot,
