Litchfield enquirer., 1875-03-11
COL. AUGUSTUS H. FENm.

We give below a spicy sketch of the army record of our candidate for Secreta- " of State, from the History of the Sec ond Connecticut H. V. A., by the late Theodore F. Vaill, Adiutant of the regi- ment. 1t gives no more than due credit to the pluck and energy of one of the very best officers our county produced. We are aware that this Is better year for Confederate than for Federal soldiers, but some of the men of the Old Nineteenth may perhaps like to recall the memory of an old comrade ia business somewhat more serious than politics.
 The most unpromising officer that left Camp Dutton with the old Nineteenth was First Lieutenant Augustus Fl. Fenn. He was but eighteen years old, of freckled face and awkward gait, and was regarded with surly contempt by windy and conse- quential brother officers. Every private soldier, too, had his fling at him. 1t was considered very impudent..in him to be an officer, at all; but he had recruited his forty men, and there he was, with com mission in his pocket from Governor Buckingham. There was no getting away from him, and he was assigned to Compa- ny K, which was a kind of regimental Botany Bay. Chat Company had been formed by transfer of what the Captains of the other nine Companies considered their refuse;-but it was, nevertheless, ,one of the best, most faithful, truest Compa- nies that ever went into the service.)
 But three years of fighting blew away a good deal of showy incompetency, and re- vealed true merit wherever 1t existed. Lieutenant Fenn grew in the estimation of his fellow officers and of all who knew hlm, until there was no tongue that dared to wag against him: He proved himself one of the best drill masters and disci- plinarians in the regiment, and one of the most competent officers in every position. Before going to the front he was made Captain of Company.C On the 22d of June he led his Company into the skir- mish at Petersburg as far as it advanced, and was then and there detailed A. A. A. General on Upton's staff, vice Captain Sanborn, of the Fifth Maine; and mount ing horse which had been brought to him, commenced his duties at once. at Tennallytown in July he was relieved. LII AC Hoo dppOIutcu OuUSO Advocate ot the Division Court Martial, which tried twenty-five cases. At Cedar Creek he lost his left arm. The Surgeons at Annapolis proposed to muster him out and discharge him for disability,-but he protested, and wrote to General B1acken- zie, urging his interference. The conse- quence was that he was retained, and in less than seue,a aOeeks from the time he had an arm taken off at the shoulder, he reported for full duty at the front, and was at once detailed as A. A. A. General of the brigade again; which detail was afterward changed to Brigade Inspector. He subsequently participated in several fights. He was detailed as Judge Advo- cate five different times; was brevetted Major after Cedar Greek; promoted to Major in January, 1865; brevetted Lieu tenant Colonel for Little Sailors Greek; and Colonel or''services during the war" He is now practicing law in Waterbury, Connecticut. Truly, in his case, the last became one of the first