Civil War Union Army Officer. Mortally wounded during the Union attack on the Confederate Fort Fisher, North Carolina, January 15, 1865, he died of his wound from a Confederate sharpshooter the day after the battle. During the attack, he commanded the Third Brigade, Second Division, XXIV Army Corps. An account was written in September 1865, by John Bell Bouton, claiming Colonel Louis Bell was awarded a Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers rank by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton per order of President Abraham Lincoln. Based on this, the family placed the rank of general on his grave stone and several publications identified him with the general rank. A controversy occurred when it appears from “official” records published after the war, he was not awarded the honorary rank. Despite the controversy, the largest city in New Hampshire, Manchester, named their Grand of the Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Post #3 after Louis Bell. A veterans plot in Manchester’s largest cemetery, Pine Grove, was named after and dedicated by the Louis Bell Post #3. Over 130 veterans are buried in the Louis Bell Post #3 Plot. A large group of veterans from around the state, led by G.A.R. Post #3 members had a ceremony on Memorial Day every year from 1868 to 1932 at Louis Bell’s grave site. At the start of the war, he was a practicing attorney in Farmington, New Hampshire. He joined the 1st New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment as Captain of Company A, in 1861. The regiment was disbanded after six months upon which Louis Bell was appointed by the governor as Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to command of the Fourth as 4th and then to command of a brigade, though he was not promoted to the brigade commander’s rank of brigadier general before he died.
Civil War Union Army Officer. Mortally wounded during the Union attack on the Confederate Fort Fisher, North Carolina, January 15, 1865, he died of his wound from a Confederate sharpshooter the day after the battle. During the attack, he commanded the Third Brigade, Second Division, XXIV Army Corps. An account was written in September 1865, by John Bell Bouton, claiming Colonel Louis Bell was awarded a Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers rank by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton per order of President Abraham Lincoln. Based on this, the family placed the rank of general on his grave stone and several publications identified him with the general rank. A controversy occurred when it appears from “official” records published after the war, he was not awarded the honorary rank. Despite the controversy, the largest city in New Hampshire, Manchester, named their Grand of the Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Post #3 after Louis Bell. A veterans plot in Manchester’s largest cemetery, Pine Grove, was named after and dedicated by the Louis Bell Post #3. Over 130 veterans are buried in the Louis Bell Post #3 Plot. A large group of veterans from around the state, led by G.A.R. Post #3 members had a ceremony on Memorial Day every year from 1868 to 1932 at Louis Bell’s grave site. At the start of the war, he was a practicing attorney in Farmington, New Hampshire. He joined the 1st New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment as Captain of Company A, in 1861. The regiment was disbanded after six months upon which Louis Bell was appointed by the governor as Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was later promoted to command of the Fourth as 4th and then to command of a brigade, though he was not promoted to the brigade commander’s rank of brigadier general before he died.
Bio by: Bruce
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