FRANCESTOWN – A memorial ceremony and parade for Civil War veteran Brevet Maj. Augustus Holmes Bixby will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Francestown Cemetery.

The parade will march from Francestown Elementary School south down the Second New Hampshire Turnpike and enter the cemetery. Members of the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry, led by Capt. Rick Goodwin, will follow on horseback.

Marchers will proceed to the grave site, where cavalry member Howard Leonard will be waiting with a memorial wreath supplied by the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry.

Remarks, including a brief biography of Bixby, will be made by Bob Duffy, president of the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry. At the conclusion of remarks,
re-enactors using replica Civil War cavalry carbines will fire a volley over Bixby’s grave.

Parade participants may begin to form up in the school parking lot at noon. Mounted participants may arrive earlier, and they will form up in Francestown proper, parking horse trailers in the carriage shed lot across from the meetinghouse.

A table with bottled water and light snacks will be set up in the school parking lot.

The 1st New Hampshire Cavalry was a volunteer regiment serving the Federal forces during the Civil War. Organized at Concord as a battalion of four companies, it was attached to the 1st New England Cavalry Regiment.

Federal authorities changed the name to 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, much to the annoyance of the 400 New Hampshire men – one-third of the regiment.

In January 1864, the men of the remnants of the 1st Rhode Island were allowed to join new recruits and form an all-New Hampshire Cavalry Regiment. From that time until the end of the war in April 1865, the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry participated in campaigns with the Army of the Potomac and in the Shenandoah Valley that forced the surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The 1st New Hampshire Cavalry, Co.K, today is a Civil war re-enactment group formed in 1993. Several founding members still are active. The New Hampshire Governor’s Horse Guards was formed in 1999 from members of the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry.

The 1st New Hampshire Cavalry participates in parades, living history presentations, educational displays, town celebrations and battle re-enactments. Great care is taken to accurately represent the original 1st New Hampshire Cavalry. Members wear authentically reproduced uniforms, and carry replica arms, including swords, pistols and carbines. Their horses are outfitted with correct McClellan saddles and military tack. Tents, camp gear and personal effects are also replicas of period equipment.

Business meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month in New Boston. Meetings often include business of the Governor’s Horse Guards.

For more information, call Capt. Rick Goodwin, of Greenfield, at 547-8861; President Bob Duffy, of Nashua, at 791-0771; or Treasurer Bob Beausoleil, of New Boston, at 494-3672.

Bixby was born in Francestown on March 12, 1827, and died in 1904. He participated in 25 engagements during the Civil War, and was with Maj. Gen. Phil Kearny when that one-armed American hero was killed at Chantilly on Sept. 1, 1862.

Bixby was one of the few men possessing the Kearny medal, an unofficial medal worn by officers of the 1st Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, who adopted a resolution establishing a “Medal of Honor” to be presented to officers who had honorably served in battle under Kearny in his division.

This gold medal with black enamel hung on a red ribbon and featured the words “Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori,” which roughly translates to “It is sweet and right to die for your country.”

After the war, in July 1865, Bixby was brevetted major, as he had commanded a battalion at Middleburg. For the rest of his life, he would be addressed as “Major Bixby.”

Returning to Francestown, he held several town offices and served as a state representative in Concord.