The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1855-03-14
NUMBER ~.
Speech of Hon. solomon Foot,

On the Extension of the Bounty Land
! Ld,Os; in the Senate, Jan. le, 1855
Mr.. President, when this bill was un.
der consideration some days ago, / moved
an amendment TO tifc effect that tho
Plattsburgh volunteers should be in.
cluded within its provisions. This was
accepted by the Senator from Maiuo
! (Mr. FesseDden) ns an addition to All
amendment which he had previously Of
fered, and that amendment, so modified,
( is the question now pending before tho
! Senate, as understand it; and on tho
latter clause of that amendment partic.
ularly, which was accepted by the Sena-
tor from Maine on my suggestion dc.
/ sire TO submit q very few remarks, in ad-
dition to what took occasion TO address
to the Senate at the time / moved the
proposition had hoped that such q
proposition would meet with no resist
auce and no objection in this body, ca
pecially from the friends of the bill l
still entertain the hope that all opposi.
tion to a proposition so manifestly just
as this is will be withdraw, or at least
that it will bo overcome BY the voice Of
/ the Senate. ! undertake to say that no
class of beneficiaries included within the
provisions of the bill present stronger
claims upon the consideration and bouu-
ty of this Government, as none rendered
moro essential services to the country
in the war Of 1912 than those Platts-
burgh volunteers Your country at tho
time was invaded by hostile army of
fnn faa a nd etr I'D xxlara
had no adequate regular force to resist
its march and these volunteers, obedi-
cnt to the call of duty and patriotism,
turned out upon the first sound of alarm
met that invading army upon tho field
Of battle, routed and drove them back
over the Canada line. They indeed
turned the fortunes Of the day, saved
your regular troops from q disastrous de
feat, and delivered your country from thu
presence and the depreGations OF hos.
tile and predatory army, boastful and
confident of victory. The llth day Of
September, 1874, is little less mcmore-
bic in the annals Of the last war with
Great Britain, than is the Sth Cf Janu.
ary, 1915. Both are canouized in the
grateful recollections of tue American
people. The battle Of Plattsburgh was
to the war Of 1912 what the battle Of
Saratoga was to the war of the Revolu.
ton; and the honors and the glory Of
that day belong in good part, to those in,
whose behalf, as an act of impartial JUS
tice, ask you 10 extend the benefits Of
this bill.
As the claims and services of these
volunteers are very well set forth in
report made to tho House Of Rerpesen-
tatives by the Committee on Military
Affairs i'll March, 1850, aud as tho ro-
port is not n long one, / will take leave
; to read it
MARCH 2s, 1850
Mr.. j. A. King, from the Committee
on Military Affairs, made the following
report:
The Committee on Military Affairs.
to whom was referred the petition of the
volunteers Of Vermont for compensation
for services at the battle Of Plattsburgh,
in 1914, rsport.
That it appears from the petition of
more than two hundred volunteers froln
The State of Vermont that they and many
of their deceased companions were at
Plattsburgh in the month of September,
1914, and were present at the battle of
the lth of that mouth, serving under
the Immediate orders Of Gen Strong, Of
that State, and under the command of
Gen. Alexander Macomb, who bold the
garrison at Tlattsburgh at that time
that, while engaged in their ordinary oc-
cupations, they heard that the British
army of fourteen thousand men, uudor
Sir George Provost, accompanied by a
powerful feet, had invaded the ne;ghbor-
ing State of New York, with the avowed
purpose Of conqueriug the fort at Platts.
burgh aud the American feet then lying
at anchor in the lake; that Gen. Ma.
comb, with a garrison of only fifteen hun.
dred men, bad in this imminent peril aud
emergency called upon the Governors Of
Vermont and New York for militi.
force and, as the population Of that
part OF New York was sparse, and
large number of men could not be sud
denly collected in season to repel the eu.
envy, the alternative was presented to
them of volunteering to cross the lake,
and 10 hasten to the aid Of their brethren
whose fresides wefe threatened BY
powerful foe, or to await the attack upon
their own soil. They preferred the
former and leaving their plougbs in the
furrow and the tools of their trade where
last used, they seized their arms and
reached the field of battle 10 time TO tsko
their part in the decisive check which
was then giving to the British army
that, having done their duty, and seen
the army of the enemy in full retreat
and his feet in the possession Of the gal.
liant McDonongh and his brave sailors
and no further aid being required at
their hauds. they returned,as they came;
without any compensation for their SER
vices beyond the share Of common glory
which each had right to claim for him
sell aud his State that they come now
before Congress to ask for such compen.
saation for their short but efficient scr.
vices on that memorable occasion as has
been awarded to others under similar
circumstances aud in particular to a regi.
ment of militia, 1.-THE fourth regimeut.sc.
cond brigade. aud third division of Yer.
mont) suddenly collected BY its col.
onel, and also present and aiding in
the defence Of PlattsburgL on tho
llih Of September, lsI4, the officers
snd mtn Of which regiment we're allow.
ed by the act Of Is4s a compensation e.
quail to one months service on that occa.