Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-22
The Vermont Brigade-Ry One who
Did Net nelonE 90 II, and who he
yer Was In Vermont. I

Dl0 Net mBlOnT 10 H ana who he
. Was In Vermont.
From the New York C~itiEen.l
They were honest farmers turned vaga-
bonds. They were simple countrymen
changed into heroes. They were quiet
townsmen that had become rovers. They
stole ancient horses and bony cows on the
march. They pillaged moderately in
other things. They swept the diaries and
they stripped the orchards for miles where
they travelled. They chased rabbits when
they went into camp after long marches,
and they yelled like wild Indians when
neighboring camps were silent through
fatigue. They were i'll disciplined
and familiar with their officers.
They staggered in q cool, impudent way,
and looked down with a ~patronizing Yam
kee GOODNESS upon all regiments better
drilled, and upon that part of the army
generally that did not belong to the Yer
mont Brigade. They were strangely
proud, not of themselves individually,
but of the brigade collectively; for they
knew perfectly well that they were the
best fighters in the known world. They
were long of limb, and could outmarch
the army. They were individually self
reliant and skillful in the use Of ar ms,
and they honestly believed that the Yer
mont Brigade could not be beaten bv all
the combined armies of the rebellion.
They were veterans in fighting quail
ties almost from the first skirmish. This
was at Lees Mills. They crossed a mar
row dam under a fire, made the attack
they were instructed to make, and came
back wsding deep in the water, with &
steadiness that surprised the army. They
we're an iRcorrigible, irregular, noisy set
of rascals. They were much sworn at
during their feur years of service; yet they
were, at all times, a pet brigade. There
were but two thingsthey would do-march
and fight; and these they did in a manner
peculiar their own. They had a long.
slow, swinging stride on the march, which
distanced every thing that followed
them. They had a quiet, attentive, earn
est individual way of fighting that
made them terrific in battle. Each man
knew that his neighbor in the ranks was
not going to run away, and he knew, also,
that he himself intended to remain where
he was. Accordingly none of the atten-
ton of the line was directed from the i'm
psrtant duties of loading and firing, rap
idly and carefully. When moving into
action and while holly engaged, they
made queer, quaint jokes, and enjoyed
them greatly. They crowed like cocks,
they ba-a-ed like sheep, they neighed
like horses, they beloved like bulls, they
barked like dogs, and they counterfeited
with excellent effect the indescribable
music of the mule. When, p~erchance,
they held a picket line in the forest, it
seemed as if Noah'ssr had gone to pieces
there.
In every engagement in which this
brigade took part, it was complimented
for gallant conduct. One of the most re-
markable of its performances, however,
has appeared in print MOI has it
been noticed in the reports. After the
battle of Gettysburg, when Lees army
was in the vicinity of Hagerstown and
the Antietam, the Vermont Brigade was
deployed as a skirmishing line, covering a
point of nearly three miles. The enemy
we're in force in front, near Beaver Creek.
The 9Th Corps were held in readiness in
rear of the skirmish line, anticipating a
general engagement. The enemy had
evidently determined to attack. At
last his line Of battle came forward.
The batteries opened at once, and the
skirmishers delivered their fire. Our
troops were on the alert, and stood watch
ing for the skIrmishers to come in, and
waiting to receive the coming assault.
But the skirmishers would not come in,
and when the firing died away it appeared
that the VermOnters thus deployed as y
skirmish line had actually repulsed a full
line-of-battle attack. Twice afterward the
enemy advanced to carry the position, and
were each time again driven back by this
perverse skirmish line. The Yer
mOnters, it is true, were strongly
posted in a wood, and each man fired
from behind a tree. But then everybody
knows that the etiquette in such matters
is for a skirmish line to come in so soon
as they are satisfied that the enemy means
business. These supplemented patriots
from the Green Mountains, however,
adopted a rule Of their own on this occa-
sion and the enemy, disguised with such
stupidity, retired across the Beaver Creek.
When the Vermonters led the column
on a march, their quick movements had to
be regulated from Corps or Division
Headquarters, to avoid gaps in the CO.
lumn as it followed them. If a rapid or
forced march were required, it was a com
mon thing for Sedgwick to say, with a
quiet smile: Put the Vermonters at the
head Of the column to-day, and keep
every thing well closed up"