Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
The commemorative poster entitled “Winchester’s Sacrifice to Patriotism” was created in the wake of the Civil War to memorialize Winchester’s soldiers who died in service. The first two men listed are Captain William A. Fosgate (27 June 1839–19 September 1864) and Artemas B. Colburn (1 August 1838–20 September 1864), both of whom served in the 14th Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers and died as a result of injuries sustained during the Third Battle of Winchester, known also as the Battle of Opequon. Fosgate and Colburn’s likenesses appear on the top and bottom, respectively, of the figure titled “Officers Killed at Opequon” in Francis Henry Buffum’s (21 October 1879–19 August 1967) History of the Fourteenth New Hampshire, and are listed on the Soldier’s Memorial, Fourteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers Company F lithograph produced by Currier & Ives.
The Battle of Opequon was fought near Winchester, Virginia on 19 September 1864. During the battle, Confederate troops were forced to retreat from Winchester to the more-defensible Fisher’s Hill. The battle was part of Union Major General Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley campaign, which resulted in the defeat of the Confederate troops serving under Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early at the Battle of Waynesboro on 2 March 1865.
The Battle of Opequon was the first of the Fourteenth New Hampshire’s engagements, and the regiment lost three times as many officers as the other regiments in the brigade, with Fosgate and Colburn among them.
William A. Fosgate grew up in Winchester, New Hampshire. He graduated from Fort Edward Institute in New York on 27 June 1860 and went on to study at Wesleyan University. Fosgate was remembered as an excellent student, and while on break from school he taught in Hinsdale and Queensborough, New York. He enlisted in the Union Army on 14 August 1862 at the age of 23, during his junior year at Wesleyan. He married Frances Hosmer while home of furlough in January 1864 and was promoted to Captain of Company B in February of the same year. He was said to have a reputation as a disciplinarian among the soldiers of the Fourteenth. Fosgate was one of the first of the Fourteenth to be killed during the Battle of Opequon. He died of a gunshot to the heart while leading his company in the first part of the battle.
Artemas B. Colburn was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. The youngest of six children, he received a common-school and business education and worked as a merchant before enlisting on 20 August 1862 at the age of 29. Colburn married his childhood sweetheart, Lydia Mann, the next day. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company B on 11 May 1864. Early in the Battle of Opequon, Colburn received a gunshot to the abdomen. He died of his injuries the next day. It was reported that Colburn’s last words were, “Give my love to my wife, and tell her that I died in a good cause.”
Both Fosgate and Colburn were among the soldiers buried in a mass grave on the battlefield at Opequon. The bodies were later exhumed and relocated to the National Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia. The State of New Hampshire erected an obelisk in 1868 at the National Cemetery, dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the Fourteenth regiment. Fosgate and Colburn’s names both appear on the monument.