Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-28


| diligent and never-tring quartetto had all the
fun to themselves. Bostwick might buy the
CITY Of B0stOR and order IL sent home to his
father for a coal barge, and Miller might run
a variety show in Yorktown village for two
days and nights and pursue a never-endng
search after ELIZA Wormley," but this did
not prevent the other fellows from finding
their share Of fun and entertainment, each in
his own good way. The battalion glee club
no less than the audience who CHANGED to be
present on the occasion, will long remember
one evening when the club took front seats
| in the Yorktown "concert hall" and had pro.
gramme and music their own way. The au-
| dience approved with applauding cheers, and
well they might, for the "show" was inn
mensely bettered by the Yermonters' efforts.
In an earlier part Of this narrative we have
spoken of the comical two-wheeled carts
which were the almost invariabe native con-
veyauce. Afavorite bit Of sport with the boys
was to capture one of these carts with its bony
horse, OK or mule, and its load of 'uncles,"
'aunties" and ''pickaninnies," and, piling in
and on, witha grotesque crowd posing around,
to be thus photographed. Numerous such
souvenirs are in existence and they tell the
story of life at Yorktown far more faithfully
and wildly than we can put IL in words.
The river, with its feet of gayly-decked
American and French men.of-war its steam
| beeho hhh bhAkbht huu AluuihtIhDlt hhllluk
| craft was a source of great attraction aud,
because Of its freedom from dust, was alto
| gether the most comfortable spot at the scene
! OF tho celebration. The boys were quick TO
discover this fact, and singly or in squads they
found great delight in searching for curious
shells, bathing, rowing sailing and crab
fishing. And speaking of crabs reminds us
that, given paiful of these shell-fsh, with
their vicious claws set at rest by suitable i'm
mos I 4
| Brazor as masters Of ceremonies, and Patsey
Sullivan to "show you how to lock der claws,
sab yes, sab, ies' like dat, sab can't bite
| you now, sah"-and party of ten or doz-
| en- would have very welcome supplement to
| Glascock's manu. And this reminds us, still
further, that, three times day, there was
the march TO Gascocks and the raid on his
Hotel Continental, where the Yermontors
were quartered for rations. On this point
there is abundant opportunity to enter into
| detail, but we forbear, knowing full well that
the mere mention Of this feature of each days
diversion will be sufficient to keep it fresh in
| mind until the day of the next centennial.
Did somebody mention tea coffee, or milk
On the morning of President Arthur's ar
rival party of Estey Guard men, including
the Captain aud Second Lieutenant were
sailing on the river, aud the scene at the fir
| ing of the presidential salute, which they
| witnessed, will linger long in their memories.
| Numerous sailing parties at various times,
| boarded the several men-of-war and were
courteously received and shown about. Lieut.
! Col. Estey paid visit to Lieut. George W.
| Tyler on board the Tennessee and was most
cordially and politely received.
| Two at least of the Co. men, Reynolds
and Howe, visited Richmond and received
hearty welcome at the hands of Mrs. Pullen,
the mother of Estey Stiles Pullen. On
| Wednesday Gen. Peck, Col. Pingree, Gen.
Seaver, Mai Denison and Surgeon. General
| Bingham drove TO Lees Mills four miles
| west of Yorktown, to look over the scene of
the battle which took place there during the
rebellioD-Col. Pingree having been one Of
| the one hundred men who waded across the
mill pond to attack the rebel earthworks.
| The same party visited the national cemetery
at Yorktown and there identified the graves
of all the Union dead killed in that battle.
For ourself, we were daily and hourly re-
minded how good a thing it was for a luckess
| newspaper man, who had left home at a mo-
ment's notice, with no previous preparation,
and with scarcely more baggage than Grant
carried on the Vioksburg campaign "a tooth
| brush), TO have his lot cast in the tent Of the
/ company officers of the Estey Guard, with
the lieutenant colonel of the regiment as a
sort of presiding genius. Whatever was
theirs was ours and our best hope for these
| generous-souled veterans is that they didn't
regret having taken two members of the press
4 gang under the shadow OF their hospitable
wing And let us not forget that the comfort
| of both hosts aud guests would have been far
| from complete bad 1t not been for the watch
full and unfailing care of Mr.. Andrew j. Reed
| candy" for short, the hero of many a mus
ter field.
| A notably pleasant incident for many mem
beers of Co. was the visit to their camp, on
Wednesday evening of Major Pullen, father
of the little girl, Estey Stiles Pullen, above
referred to, and who is known as 1.-THE daugh-
| ter OF the Estey Guard" from the fact that,
ON his return from the Philadelphia centen-
NAL her father gave her the name of Estey,
in recognition of the many favors which the
| Virginia company TO which he belonged had
received at the hands OF the Estey Guard.
Maj. Pullen's brother accompanied him, and
an hour was pleasantly spent in recalling with
Lieut.. Col. Estey and his old command the
scenes Of five years ago.
| Our last and pleasantest recollection Of
Yorktown will always be connected with the
scene from the top of the bluff, late on Thurs
day afternoon, at the moment at close of the
naval review when the British flag was run
up on the Tennessee, the yards of the fleet
| were manned, and from the sides of the grim
looking men-of-war there belched forth an
| echoing welcome to the emblem of the moth
er country, the artillery of the regulars, away
down on the right, sending back an answering
boom. little later the American flag was
| displayed, the men on the French war ships
swarmed like spiders up the shrouds to man
the yards, and French aud American guns
joined in a salute to the stars and stripes.
| This was the closing act in the celebration of
| the great surrender at Yorktown in 1881. The
smothering dust and sand were left well be-
hind, the fresh, cool air came like life giving
balm up from the river, the blue smoke from
the guns curled gently skyward, and the rays
| of the setting sun seemed to have in them
| certain peace and restfulness for the knot of
tired and dusty Northern visitors who linger-
ed to catch the inspiration OF the unusual
scene. Let us hope that the spirit of peace
| which seemed at that moment to pervade all
nature was prophetic of a hundred years of
peace and good will to come.
The Journey Home.
On Thursday afternoon camp was broken
and baggage packed for the journey home. A
| goodbye look was taken at the dusty scenes,
a few additional relics we're picked up, just
| at dusk the two-mile march to Yorktown viii
lage was retraced, and at $50 the Vermont
battalion shook the sacred soil of Old Vir-
ginia" from their feet and stepped aboard the
little steamer Sue for the passage to Balti-
more. The accommodations of the boat were
not the most commodious, but any lack which
existed in this respect was compensated by
the fact that the battalion had the craft en-
tirely to themselves, no other passengers be-
ing carried, and that a wholesome and sub
stantial supper and breakfast were served on
board. In the morning four hours of sail by
daylight up the Chesapeake were greatly en-
joyed the band and glee club enlivening the
way, as on other similar occasions The
| landing at Baltimore was made at about IL
O'Clock, a march TO the Philadelphia, Will
mngton & Baltimore railroad station was tax
en- by way of the more interesting business
portion of the city, and at 12:40, thanks to
Acting Quartermaster Mckenzie, though three
hours late aud the railroad company from
that fact relieved of all obligation to the par