Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-11-01

tie. BY all ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS human
endurance has become exhausted. The
foundations of earth are shaken by the
furious cannonade, but not the lines OF
these brave men. There they stand up
on those bloody slopes, far to the front
OF other lines, as firm as the hills OF their
own Green Mountain home, and receive
sud shatter the charging columns OF trea-
son amid the unrestrained applause OF
the veterans of other corps who were
the admiring spectators of the stipend.
Gus tragedy. 0ettysburgh Is won, and
the brows of vermont's gallant soldiers
! are garlanded with the laurels of the
victory from which the wave of Rebel
lion ever after receded.
Time will not allow me to detail the
events that preceded the 10Th day of Oc-
tober, 1864. The Shenandoah Valley had
again become the active theatre of war.
The intrepid Sheridan had pushed his
victorious army, comprised largely OF
Vermont troops, far up the valley.
Smarting under repeated defeats, and
fully conscious of the importance OF
holding this valley, the rebels hadpuiet-
ly assembled large and well appointed
force near Middletown, and resolved up
on one of those sudden and overwhelm-
ing strokes that not unfrequently have
decided the fortune of war.
On the morning of the 9th of October
circumstances combined to render the
success of the contemplated blow ex-
ceedingly probable. The victories that
had so lately crowned the Union arms,
rendered an attack from the enemy I'M
probable. Sheridan was absent. The
elements even were favorable to a sur
prise. The fog9y atmosphere of early
morning covered the rebels stealthy
movements. No sound broke the all
pervading stiffness. While the victors
of recent fields were resting in the heavy
slumber of over tasked nature, just
as the first streaks of morning pierced
the Eastern horizon, the rush, the shout,
the opening'volley startled the sleepers
to duty. The surprise was complete. In
front, in flank, in rear, v0lleys poured
from an unseen foe. But the hardened
veterans cannot yield without stru2-
Ole. Blow is returned for blow. One
position after another is taken, but the
rebel onset is irresistible. Thus passes
morning into midday. Many have fall
| GU, uiOEt uhNC DCSh NhPbNiChl SHARS NHN
artillery gone. The fruits of past vic
tories seem slipping away. But at this
crisis Sheridan arrives upon the Held ,and
riding along the lines, he reins up in front
of the Vermont regiments and inquiries,
what troops are these. 'The sixth corps
the Vermont Brigade" is shouted stimuli
taneously from the ranks. ave are all
right !" exclaimed the General, and
swinging his hat above his head be
passes OF to the right "amid the exuit-
ant shouts of the men," Soon the de.
fensive is abandoned and the offensive
assumed, and foremost in that murderous
charge, that aunihilated the last rebeI
: army of the valley, were the standards
of Vermont.
But. comrades, the history of these
and many other days is made, it is fresh
: in our memory, and we need not be oul
own eulogists.
Had you selected one to address you
l tonight who was not of your number
one accustomed to stand up on great &C.
= casions and portray the heroic deeds o
brave men, one whose lips were eloquent
with we'll selected words of eulogy, he
inspired by his theme, would have dwell
e long upon the scenes to which | have
D only referred. He would have told you
of the first regiment the militia of Yer
: mont, the school which graduated mor'
VI than half q regiment of officers. HI
a would have dwelt upon the glory VOL
l. by our two regiments upon the shore
T. of the gulf, and amid the bayous of tn
e Mississippi He would have spoken Q
ii that regiment which was so long tn
II pride, because the best of the aighteent
lie corps, and the first of the army to trea
Ie the streets of RicSS mond; of the gallan
d Tenth which at Monocacy and else
y where separate from other Vermont reg
IT ments, won imperishable fame in honOl
able competition with the brave troop
ID of sister States OF that last offspring {
Is Vermont, which ere its ranks were file
u took up its march Richmond. ward, an
O. scarcely halted except for battle, unit
ne called uT for its final muster-0ut; of tn
ne sharp-shooters and batteries Away
ol summoned to the post of danger of OF
w ubiquitous cavalry which upon sevent,
~ ~ two hard fought fields rolled up trophie
III OF victories as the tabled" giants "upO
VI Ossa rolled the lesfy Olympus"
10 And he would have dwelt upon til
~ deeds of our "O!d Brigade" which b.
~ came like the Old Guard of France,
We the Respondent glory of the Empire, th
e. pride and envy of the army; not the leas
o. of whose honors it was to win and retail
&c the confidence and admiration {
Of those two eminent Generals, th
10 one that skilful soldier of Vernon
" whose genius alone could reliev
y beleaguered and discounted arm
OF in the defenses of chattanooga from wha
e appeared to others to be an impending
Y fatality, and whose lofty conception
&c carried victory through the clouds c
IL heaven over confident and previousl
e victorious enemy; the other, that rugge
lie veteran of the West, under whom tn
e. brigade reached the pinnacle of heroi
/ achievement, and to whose careful train
: ing and soldierly example the brillian
: career and surprising fame of the brig
= ade are largely due. He would ais
u have told you Of that younger brigad
7. with q briefer but not less glorious ser
3 vice. He would have presented In de
| fo,1 ho nf it'll