TOWLE, Benjamin N - SurgeonDoctor Towle enlisted 11 Oct 1862 at age 33 as an Assistant Surgeon. He mustered in 11 Oct 1862, was commissioned in Company S, 15th Infantry; and he mustered out in Concord, NH on 13 Aug 1863. He and his wife Albronia resided in Newmarket and had set up his Doctor’s Office before the start of the War. The 1860 census list his occupation as a physician with a personal worth of $650.
When Fort Sumter was fired upon by the rebels in 1861, Dr. Benjamin N. Towle was the first man in the town of Newmarket, N. H., to respond to the call of the President for volunteers, and to offer his services to the governor of the state for the defense of his country. In 1862 he was appointed assistant surgeon, Fifteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers.
His regiment was placed under the command of General Banks, and in the course of time, with others, proceeded to Long Island to sail under sealed orders. The destination proved to be New Orleans, La., and Dr. Towle’s regiment was stationed at Carrollton, La. In April 1863, he was detailed to serve in the Barracks hospital.
The hospital was not far from New Orleans, and near the battle ground of General Jackson, and there he remained during the rest of his term of service. He was selected to have full charge of the surgery of the hospital, and all the operations during his service there were performed by him. The morning reports of the surgical department in this hospital, showed that the recoveries were fifteen per cent above those of any other hospital in or about New Orleans. At the expiration of Dr. Towle’s term of service he was offered a continuance of his position in the hospital as a contract surgeon, but this appreciative and complimentary offer he felt obliged to decline on account of home duties.