At Baton Rouge, La., 1863.
Just as the Captain was being put into the ambulance he said to Dr. Hurd, “It is too bad about poor Captain Todd; he went down right in front of me and we went right on over his dead body.” “Not by a d—— sight!” said the Doctor. “I took an old broken French bayonet three inches long out of his mouth and he is all right.”
Captain Sherman was seriously and dangerously ill for some time, and it was feared that the Doctor’s prophecy might become true,—that the Captain would “leave his bones in Louisiana,” but he recovered sufficiently to return home with the regiment.
Officers and men were so much needed at the time that Captain Sherman’s disobedience of the order “not to leave the hospital” was condoned, and upon the recommendation of his superior officers, he was brevetted Major “for gallant and meritorious services.”
Major Sherman subsequently served in the military and civil services of the State. In 1864, at the time of General Early’s raid on Washington, he raised a company for one hundred days and was elected its Captain, and the company became Company K of the 6th Regiment.
He served as Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Colonel, and as Chief of Staff of the Division, General B. F. Butler’s, from 1867 to 1876. He served fourteen years as District Attorney for Essex County, five years as Attorney General, and now a Justice of the Superior Court, where he has served since 1887.
Capt. J. Scott Todd was an excellent officer, always faithful to every duty.
He was wounded and disabled in the charge on June 14. The enemy were short of ammunition and they used broken iron. An old piece of a French bayonet three inches long struck him in the mouth, knocking out his upper and under front teeth, cutting his tongue in two, its full length, and finally embedded itself in the roof of his mouth. The blow was so severe that the Captain lay on the field stunned and unconscious for a long time. With assistance he finally reached the rear and the doctor removed the iron and he was soon in condition for duty.
After the war the Captain did honorable service in the civil government of the State. He served two years in the State Senate. He also served for many years as a Trial Justice.
The following is taken from Hanson’s History of the Sixth Regiment: