Biography of Hazen W. Willey :Pittsfield, Merrimack County, New Hampshire

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Submitted by: Jody Goodson  kestrell@prodigy.net
Date: May 14, 2001
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From the Book
'History of Pittsfield, N. H. in the Rebellion'
by H. L. Robinson, published 1893

Note: A photograph of Hazen is in the book.

Page 162 & 163

HAZEN  W. WILLEY.
     Among the early annals of the town of Barnstead, the names of Willey
and Bunker often occur. Enoch Willey married Polly Bunker, and from them
sprung a large family of children, at least four of their sons enlisting in
the army during the War of the Rebellion, three of them from this town.
     The subject of this sketch was born at Barnstead Parade on March 1,
1828. When he was seven or eight years old his parents moved to Pittsfield,
and for many years lived in a house that stood north of the town hall,
nearly opposite the freight depot. Previous to its discontinuance in 1868
the road from the town hall to the house of A. H. Young was known as the
Willey road.
     Hazen Willey was a shoemaker by occupation. September 28, 1849, he
married Miss Eliza Spurlin of this town, by whom he had two children. He
enlisted in Company G, Seventh New Hampshire volunteers, on the 21st day of
October, 1861.
     He participated in all of the hard campaigns in which his regiment was
engaged until July 18, 1863, when, in the terrible Battle of Fort Wagner,
during a charge upon that fortification, he and a few of his comrades gained
the slope of the parapet and were climbing up its surface when he was
wounded so badly that when our forces were repulsed he was left in the hands
of the enemy. He was taken to Charleston, S. C., where he died. One
authority says his death occurred on the 20th day of July, another says it
was the 21st, while still another puts the date as the 22d of the month.
     His captain, speaking of him, says that he was one of the best soldiers
that ever shouldered a musket,-- always ready for duty and faithful in its
discharge, very quiet while in camp, yet in battle he had that cool courage
that makes an ideal soldier. No matter how long the weary march might be, no
matter how cold or wet the weather was, no matter how hot the sun poured
his fierce rays upon the glaring sand, no matter how hungry or thirsty the
soldier was, Hazen Willey never uttered a word of complaint but did his duty
in a cheerful manner.