When but six years of age, in consequence of the illness of his father, the boy was sent to live for some years with his uncle, Gen. Samuel Griffin, of Roxbury, N. H. He, too, had a decided talent for military affairs, had been a volunteer in the war of 1812, was prominent in the state militia, and was fond of repeating the military histories and descriptions of battles and campaigns that he had read, thus producing a deep and lasting impression on the mind of the lad. But never, after he was seven years old, could the boy be spared from work on the farm to attend school during summer. Ten or twelve weeks each winter at the district school was all the "schooling" he ever had; but his leisure hours were spent in reading and study, and, in spite of his want of advantages, at eighteen years of age he began to teach with marked success. He had also read much history, and the lives of the great military chieftains of ancient and modern times; and thus by inheritance, and by his early training and reading, he had become unconsciously fitted for the special work before him, and had cultivated the patriotic spirit and ability for military affairs which have won for him an honorable place among the distinguished soldiers of our state, and made him, as confessed on all sides, one of the best volunteer officers in the war of the rebellion.
Continuing his studies while teaching winters and working on the farm summers, he mastered all the higher English branches usually taught in colleges, studied Latin and French, and went through a large amount of miscellaneous reading. In 1850 he married Ursula J., daughter of Jason Harris, Esq., of Nelson; but soon after the birth of a son, the following year, both mother and son died. Returning to his former occupation of teaching, he took up the study of law, and while thus engaged represented his native town two years in the legislature, serving the second term as chairman of the committee on education.
S. G. Griffin Brig. & Brevet Maj. Genl. U.S.A.
He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and had just begun the practice of his profession at Concord when the war broke out. Throwing aside his law-books, he took up the study of military tactics, joined a company then forming at Concord, under the first call for troops,—volunteering as a private, but when it came to organization was chosen captain,—and finding the quota of New Hampshire full under the first call, immediately volunteered, with a large number of his men, for three years or the war, under the second call. Recruiting his company to the maximum, he joined the Second Regiment at Portsmouth, was mustered into the United States service in June, 1861, and commanded his company at the first battle of Bull Run, handling it with coolness and bravery, although it was under a sharp fire, and lost twelve men, killed and wounded. It was the celebrated "Goodwin Rifles," Co. B, 2d N. H. Vols., armed with Sharp's rifles, by the exertions of Capt. Griffin and his friends,—the only company sent from the state armed with breech-loaders.
In 1861 he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the 6th N. H. Vols., and joined that regiment at its rendezvous in Keene. The regiment was assigned to Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, and landed at Hatteras island in January, 1862. In March it removed to Roanoke island, and on the 7th of April, Lieut.-Col. Griffin was sent in command of an expedition, composed of six hundred men with five gunboats, to break up a rebel rendezvous near Elizabeth City, N. C. Landing at daybreak the next morning, he attacked and broke up the camp, capturing seventy-four prisoners, three hundred and fifty stands of arms, and a quantity of ammunition. On the 19th of April, at the battle of Camden, N. C., he commanded his regiment, which formed the reserve. At the critical moment he moved it forward in line of battle, within short musket range, halted the line, gave the command to fire, and the regiment poured in a volley with wonderful coolness and precision. The enemy broke and fled, and the battle was won.
On the 22d of April, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the regiment. Assigned to Reno's division, which was sent to aid Pope in Virginia, he commanded his regiment at the second Bull Run, where it was ordered, with its brigade, to attack the enemy in a piece of wood. Forcing their way for some distance, they received a murderous fire in front and from the left flank and rear. Thinking it must be friends firing into them by mistake, Col. Griffin took the colors and waved them in that direction, but the fire only came the sharper; and finding himself nearly surrounded by an immense force, and deserted by the other regiments, he gave the order to retreat, and brought off the remnant of his men, bearing the colors himself.
At the battles of Chantilly and South Mountain he commanded his regiment; and at Antietam, after one attempt to carry the bridge in front of Burnside had been made and failed, Col. Griffin was ordered to make the assault with his own regiment and the Second Maryland. The charge was gallantly made, but the approaches were difficult, the enemy's fire destructive, and the column was checked; but re-enforcements were brought up, and the bridge was carried, and the Sixth New Hampshire, with Col. Griffin at its head, was the first to plant its colors on the heights beyond. For gallantry in this action he was recommended for promotion to brigadier-general. At Fredericksburg he commanded his regiment, which again suffered severely in the assault on the heights. Soon after that battle he obtained a leave of absence, and was married to Margaret R. Lamson, of Keene, N. H., with whom he is still living, and by whom he has two sons.
Early in the year 1863, the ninth corps was transferred to the department of Ohio, and Col. Griffin was placed in command of the second brigade, second division, serving in Kentucky. From there the first and second divisions were sent to aid Grant at Vicksburg; and, upon the fall of that city, Sherman moved upon Jackson, Miss., the capital of the state, driving Johnston before him. While approaching the town, Col. Griffin was at one time in command of the advanced line, consisting of three brigades, when a sharp attack was made by the enemy, at three o'clock in the morning, with a view to breaking our lines by surprise, but was repulsed with considerable loss. Returning to Kentucky, he took command of the second division, and marched over the Cumberland mountains, joining Gen. Burnside at Knoxville. Several regiments of the corps had been left in Kentucky, and Col. Griffin was sent to conduct them forward to Knoxville. Before they had started on the march, however, Kentucky itself was threatened with raids, in consequence of our defeat at Chickamauga, and Col. Griffin and his troops were retained for the defense of that state. While on that duty his regiment re-enlisted for three years, or the war; and in January, 1864, he was ordered with it to Covington, Ky., where they were remustered into the United States service, and immediately proceeded to New Hampshire on their thirty days' furlough, granted by the terms of re-enlistment.