Howard Mather Burnham Lt . Howard Mather Burnham ( March 17 , 1842 – September 19 , 1863 ) , is best known for having fought and died at the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia , during the American Civil War . Early life . Burnham attended a military high school in Hamden , Connecticut and upon graduation he attended Sanborn ' s school in Concord , Massachusetts and Lawrence scientific school ( now known as Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences ) in Cambridge , Massachusetts . Soon after the Massachusetts Volunteers were attacked in Baltimore , Maryland , he enlisted in the " Springfield City Guards " on April 19 , 1861 . Military career . Burnham was sent to the 10th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in command of the Fifth Artillery in the regular Union Army . He served impatiently for several months as a Union Army recruiting officer in Towanda , Philadelphia , New York , and Dubuque until he was ordered to Fort Hamilton in New York on garrison duty . He went to Washington , DC for an assignment as Aide - de - camp to his uncle Major General Joseph K . Mansfield , commander of the XII Corp of the Army of the Potomac , but before he had the chance to join his staff Gen . Mansfield was killed at the Battle of Antietam . After several months he was promoted to First Lieutenant and joined the 5th U . S . Light Artillery , Battery H of the Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans . Shortly after taking command of Battery H , he had been appointed Chief of Artillery of the 1st division , 14th army corps and placed on the staff of Gen . Absalom Baird . Battle of Chickamauga . On September 19 , 1863 , Burnham was overseeing the artillery on Lookout Mountain at the Battle of Chickamauga . With Confederate troops charging his position , he attempted to bring his horses forward to haul off the guns , but alert Confederates shot the animals as soon as they were within sight . With no chance of escape , he ordered his gunners to load their four 12 - pound Napoleons with double - shotted canister . Battery H opened up as soon as the 18th Infantry skirmishers were clear , causing the Confederates to take cover . The 16th Infantrymen in front of the guns occupied a slightly lower elevation and saw the shells flying over their heads . But Battery H did not have much infantry support and enemy fire quickly shot down their gunners . Burnham was shot in the chest , mortally wounded . When his second in command , Lt . Joshua A . Fessenden , asked Burnham if he was hurt , he responded : " Not much , but save the guns ! " . Lt . Fessenden had the following to say about the battle that day : During the morning , after an all night march , we were ordered forward by General King . The battery was hardly in position before the troops on the right gave way and it was exposed to a most terrific fire of musketry from front and flank . General King ordered us to limber to the rear , but it was impossible to execute the order , since many of the cannoneers were either killed or wounded , and the horses shot at the limbers . At the first fire , Lieut . Burnham fell mortally wounded ; Lieut . Ludlow was also wounded and fell into the enemy ' s hands , and myself slightly wounded in the side . The battery was taken by the enemy , after firing sixteen rounds of canister . Lt . Fessenden had himself been shot in the hip , but he assumed command . Battery H was overrun but Lt . Fessenden successfully rallied his troops , recaptured his artillery , and even took one gun of the Confederates . Lt . Fessenden kept the field and brought off the pieces but without their caissons as these had to be abandoned through lack of horses . While the battle ranged on Burnham survived for another two hours . In addition to Burnham , 42 men in his unit were either killed or wounded and more than one - third of the horses were shot that day . Gen . John King dispatched the following in his report : I take this occasion to speak in the highest terms of the officers of Battery H , 5th Artillery , 1st Lieut . H . M . Burnham and 2d Lieutenants Israel Ludlow and J . A . Fessenden . The officers of this battery , finding it impossible to retire , remained with their pieces , firing , until they were forcibly taken from them by the enemy . Family . Burnham was a descendant of Thomas Burnham ( 1617 – 1688 ) of Hartford , Connecticut , the first American ancestor of a large number of Burnhams . The descendants of Thomas Burnham have been noted in every American war , including the French and Indian war .