Charles Hollingshead Hatch was born in 1835, the son of George G. Hatch, who died in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1842, leaving Charles and his two siblings fatherless. His mother, Elizabeth Champion from Waterford Township, Gloucester County, turned to her family, the Champions, for support.
The Champion family were farmers, and young Charles followed suit, working on his Uncle Benjamin Champion’s farm. In his late teens, he lived for a while in Philadelphia with other family members. At the outbreak of the Civil War in early 1861, he joined a company formed in Philadelphia, though it was later disbanded.
Returning to Camden, he followed his cousin, William Browning Hatch, and enlisted on October 24, 1861, as a Private in Company G, 4th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. He quickly rose in rank to Second Lieutenant, while William eventually became a full Colonel in command of the regiment. Charles was promoted to Full Sergeant Major on October 18, 1861, and to Second Lieutenant with Company H on November 4, 1861.
Their regiment became part of the Grand Army of the Republic, initially defending Washington, D.C., before participating in the Peninsula Campaign to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. They fought their way up from the James River to within several miles of Richmond but were overwhelmed by Lee’s forces. The Fourth New Jersey fought on June 27, 1862, at Gaines’ Farm, VA, also known as Gaines’ Mill. During this battle, Lieutenant Hatch was wounded and took shelter in a nearby farmhouse, once used by General Porter.
Three days after the battle, Confederate soldiers captured the wounded Charles Hatch, along with his cousin, Lieutenant Colonel William B. Hatch, and a Private from Company I, Woodrow Hughes. They were taken to Richmond and imprisoned in the infamous Libby Prison. Other prisoners from Company H included Thomas Grapevine and Joshua Fish Stone.
After a relatively brief captivity, the cousins and most of the other prisoners from the 4th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, were exchanged for Confederate prisoners and returned to their regiment. However, Charles Hatch’s wound rendered him unable to serve, and he was eventually honorably discharged to a doctor’s care in Camden. He resigned his commission on September 3, 1862, but remained on the unit’s roster through the end of the war.
William B. Hatch was promoted to full Colonel and led the Fourth New Jersey at Fredericksburg in December 1862. During the battle of Marye’s Heights, he was fatally wounded. Colonel Hatch was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, where a monument to his service was erected.
Charles Hatch returned to civilian life but never fully recovered from his wound. He began collecting a Civil War disability pension in 1871. He served briefly as a Magistrate in Mays Landing until a stroke left him further disabled. His first wife, Margaret “Mary” Woolf of Philadelphia, died shortly after giving birth to their son, Thomas. In 1890, he was living at 855 North 2nd Street in Philadelphia. He later remarried Elizabeth Cruickshank and lived on a small disability pension, spending some time in the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers in Kearny, New Jersey, where he was living at the time of the 1900 census. He died in 1907 after his health rapidly declined and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery alongside his second wife.
Another cousin, Joseph Champion, also served in the Union army during the Civil War.
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Charles H. Hatch
Charles Hollingshead Hatch was born in 1835, the son of George G. Hatch, who died in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1842, leaving Charles and his two siblings fatherless. His mother, Elizabeth Champion from Waterford Township, Gloucester County, turned to her family, the Champions, for support. The Champion family were farmers, and young Charles followed suit, working…
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