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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 529 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 529

  Commending Brigadier General George Stannard and the Second Vermont 
    Brigade upon the 144th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2007

  Mr. Welch of Vermont submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Commending Brigadier General George Stannard and the Second Vermont 
    Brigade upon the 144th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Whereas in July 1863 the men of the Second Vermont Brigade, commanded by 
        Brigadier General George Stannard, reached Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 
        which was to become the greatest battlefield of the Civil War, having 
        only days and hours remaining in their nine-month enlistments;
Whereas when called upon to fight late on the second day of the battle, the 
        Second Vermont Brigade helped stabilize the Union line on Cemetery 
        Ridge, recaptured a battery of artillery, and captured 80 Confederate 
        soldiers;
Whereas on the morning of July 3 the 13th Vermont, 14th Vermont, and 16th 
        Vermont Regiments of the Second Vermont Brigade were positioned in front 
        of the Union line;
Whereas while Confederate artillery shelled the Union positions for two hours in 
        the early afternoon, the Vermonters held firm;
Whereas when General Robert E. Lee launched his frontal assault, known ever 
        after as Pickett's Charge, the Vermonters responded by launching an 
        attack;
Whereas General Stannard ordered the 13th and 16th Regiments to ``change front 
        forward on first company'' and swing out into a no-man's land of shot 
        and shell;
Whereas the sudden onslaught broke the flank of Pickett's Charge, the 
        Confederates themselves saying it was the Vermonters' fire that defeated 
        them;
Whereas the 16th Vermont launched a second flank attack that defeated a 
        supporting Confederate assault;
Whereas the 14th Vermont held firm its position throughout the charge;
Whereas the 12th Vermont and 15th Vermont Regiments of General Stannard's Second 
        Vermont Brigade, having completed the long march to the battlefield, 
        also stood ready to fight;
Whereas a grand statue of General Stannard stands on Cemetery Ridge honoring all 
        the Vermonters who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg; and
Whereas Vermonters have long remembered the deeds of their sons on those shot-
        torn fields of Pennsylvania: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That upon the occasion of the 144th anniversary of the 
Battle of the Gettysburg, the House of Representatives honors the 
heroic actions of the Second Vermont Brigade on the greatest 
battlefield of the Civil War, recalling its sacrifices in preserving 
the Union and in giving the United States of America a ``new birth of 
freedom''.
                                 <all>
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