Fate of the 11th Maine

Fate of the 11th Maine. . The 11th Maine Infantry suffered the heaviest casualties during the Battle of Appomattox Court House losing 59 men killed, wounded and captured. These men from Colonel George Dandy's Brigade were moving at the "double quick" to support the left of Colonel Thomas Osborn's advance and charged around the Coleman house and out buildings towards the Confederate artillery. As shells, canister and bullets ripped into the soldiers of the 11th Maine, Confederate cavalry attacked their left flank as well. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Hill tumbled to the ground wounded and Captain Henry Adams took command, Among those killed was the Company D favorite Moses "Mustache" Sherman. A comrade wrote of Sherman: "'Poor little Mustache!' ever cheerfully smiling, ever ready for a lark or duty, more than liked by all of us, it seems hard indeed that one so able and willing to enjoy life, and make life enjoyable for others, should die on the last battlefield of the war." Moses' brother had also been killed August 16, 1864 at the Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia., The 34-year-old Colonel Hill had lost his right forearm when it was amputated after his wounding at the Battle of Deep Bottom. Wounded a second time at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, and temporarily taken prisoner, the Confederates left him behind when they retreated as they could not get Hill on a horse owing to his wound and missing right arm. He received promotion to the rank of brigadier general to date from April 9, 1865.