Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-11-23
COL. Il. b. SAWYER.

tory, DrlgnV WIN couIaSo' honoi anu pa
triotism, is, alas, marred with some ex-
hibition of envy, jealousy, and the spirit
of detraction, which causes one to blush
for human nature"
When the full and true history of this
great struggle comes to be written, as it
will be. by the honest and impartial his
torian. it will be found far from furnish
ing an exception to the above sad rule.
In order to have our readers clearly
understand all that is to follow in this
case, it will be necessary to state briefly
some facts. which transpred little earl
ier than the facts relating to the main
question involved
On the 18th day of Sept. 1861, after
the first battle of Bull Run had settled
the question of earnest war, Col. Sawyer,
enlisted as a private soldier for three
years or the war. Under authority from
Col. L. B. Plat, he Immediately set
about raising company for the LIST Vt
Cavalry, in the counties of Lamoille and
Orleans.
Col. Platt stated plainly to the appli-
cants for the post of recruiting officer for
the company, of whom there were several
from the counties of Lamolle and Or
leans, that he would commission no man
to recruit who did not himself intend to
enlist and go. Sawyer's competitors, most
of them, upon this statement, admitted
that they did not mean to risk their pre-
cious lives by going to the war, but I'M
dertook, as an offset, to induce him to be-
lievc that Sawyer neither meant to 60.
Col. Platt was informed by gentlemen of
high standing who had known Sawyer all
lis lifetime, that if he said he intended
to 60, he meant it, Platt believed him
and appointed him. But this was by no
means to be the end of the patriotic ~
opposition Sawyer was to encounter. The
young men were cautioned against enlist
ing under him. He was playing the part
of decoy. He meant to. inveighle them
into the service and slip his own neck out
He never would Co. He was III for the
money. And almost thousand similar
lies were spread, to which he paid no far.
Their attention than occasionally in pri-
vate circles to give vent to his boiling in
dignation as those who have heard him
know he can. His opposers gathered
strength and courage from impunity and
heaped up SANDER upon detraction, but
all to no purpose in defeating his
raising his company. To what other
good these exhibitions Of meanness and
malice led, will be shown in the sequel.
He raised most excellent company, was
unanimously elected its Captain, and
stamped upon it during the five months
he remained its commander, character
for discipline and spirit which it carried
throughout its three years service. No
man darcs deny that in this short space
of time, Though when he enlisted he new
er had locked inside of an Army Regu-
lations or Book of Tactics he had earn
ed for himself the reputation of being one
of the very best officers in the regi
ment. He having thus far falsiGed the
evil predictions of his traducers in ac-
cordancc with we'll known principle in
human nature, was far from gaining their
love or appreciation. Nothing can arouse
mean, low nature. more than to give
the lie to his predictions of evil against
you. He not not only knows that others
see his deformity, but he sees it himself.
The picture exasperates him.
1t ought to have been stated that at o
time when many people in the county
thought and said no more men could be
raised, he raised a company for the 9Th
Regiment. of which Col. +. G. Benton
was made Capt. That while raising thi.
company he encountered an opposition
which seemed to spring from the depths
of an incredible meanness. Political
causes, to which we hope to find it unnec
essary to advert in the course of this vim
dication, had contributed somewhat tt
this opposition. But the opposition which
he encountered while raising his own com
pany. was merely a continuance of war
fare commenced upon him sometime pre-
viously, from causes not necessary her,