Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-11-09
AN HLSTORICAL .SKETCH
BY Private PETER s CHASE.

~, iSSS
Coprades Of 20. l., ID w. Vols, Lddies ana
Gentlemen
IL was twenty seven years ago last june
that the Second Vermont regiment left the
state for Washington, D. G. The first of
the three years regiments, it was longer in
the service than any other Vermont regi-
ment except the Seventh, which was re
tanned on duty in the Department of the
Gulf for nearly year after the close OF
the war. It had share in almost every
battle fought by the Army Of the Potomac
from the first Bull Run 10 the surrender of
Lee, and its quality as a fighting regiment
is indicated by the fact that its list Of killed
and wounded in action numbered no less
than ijl, or forty per cent of its aggregate
Of 1858 officers and men while its ratio Of
killed and mortally wounded was more than
eight times the general ratio Of killed and
mortally wounded in the Union army. The
heroic fame Of the Second Vermont regi
ment was kindled at Bull Run, and was a
beacon to the Army of the Potomac through
the peninsular campaign, from Lees Mills
to White Oak swamp.
At Fredericksburg. Va, ON December l3,
1862, it was proved to all doubling minds
that the fighting qualities of the Second
Vermont were second to none. The charge
Of Mary's Heights and the defeat of three
times their number at Salem Heights were
also proofs Of the valor Of those men. They
s.,t ,l.tut1.,l
with the rest of the brigade 10 hold the
most responsible point in the whole line of
battle How well they fought the list Of
killed and wounded will show, no less than
the desperate character of the service re
quired and the spirit with which the regi
ment stood up to its work Its casualties
on the 9TH and 9Th of MAY, 1864, exceeded
those Of any other regiment in the brigade,
its loss being POI men out of a total of 800
present for duty, or about 81 per cent. of
these 81 were killed or mortaly wounded,
POS less severely wounded, and 32 missing.
To-day we drop the sympathetic tear as we
remember our brave and beloved comrade,
Col. Newton Stone, who fell martyr in
None knew him but To- love him,
None named him but t1 praise
And there was another-Lieut.- Col John
; Tyler, boy in years, but no less sol
dier than the brave Leonidas, who fought
with his 300 Spartans in the battle Of Their
mopylo'. The regiment fought with no less
Spartan bravery down through Spottsylva-
mia, Cold Iiarbor, Petersburg, Winchester
and Sailors Creek. 1t is not my purpose at
this time, however, to give a history of the
grand old regiment, but 10 speak more in
detail of one Of the companies which com
posed it.
Comrades Of Company l. it is with pecu-
liar pleasure that we greet one another in
this our third company reunion. 1t is a
wonder to those who never faced the foe in
the storm Of battle, why the old soldiers
take So much solid comfort in these social
reunions The reason is this 1t is more
than - years since we swore allegiance to
our country aud the old flag. Then We
were all young men and beardless boys
Today, as you look upon the gray hair and
bald heads the crippled forms, the empty
sleeves, and watch the feeble steps Of your
country's defenders, remember that they
are the young men and beardless boys Of -
years ago that they have passed through
the fire Of battle. have been tried in the
furnace Of war, have fought through the
heat and smoke at the cannon's mouth We
stood by one another when the sky was
dark with impending woe and the air heavy
with the battles roar. Together we rushed
to meet our foe we drank from the same
canteen, shared the last piece Of hard-tack
with hungry comrade laid under the
same blanket in storm and in sunshine,
bound up each others bleeding wounds and
marched at the tap of the same drum under
the grand old stars and stripes. We helped
TO save a nation entrusted to our care and
break the shackles from four million bond
men.
How faithfully and well you did your du
ty during those four long years of civil war
let those six hundred blood stained battle
fields on which YOU and your comrades no
hly stood, barring your bosoms to shot and
shell, answer Let the hordes of treason,
once flush with victory but at last forced to
an unconditional surrender upon the banks
Of AppomattoX, answer, Let the thous-
ands Of our brave comrades who suffered
all the torturing, agonizing pains of starva-
ton and death in the miserable prison hells
Of the South, answer. Let the myriad
throng of noble spirits who took their flight
from earth to heaven amid the roar and
carnage Of battle, answer, Yes, my friends,
if the 10000 Of our dead comrades, and
the 400, 600 more of manned and crippled
ones, could stand in line before our great
nation today, their answer would he full
and complete Can you forget all the
blood and treasure that was poured out like
water. Would you have us forget that the
same gentle winds that sing their requiem
over the graves of Mcclellan, Burnside,
Mead, Grant, Sheridan, Hancock Brooks,
Sedgwick, and our brave and beloved Stan
nard watt buoyantly the stars aud stripes
over united land today
"Oh beautiful my country ours once more
Smoothing thy gold of wardisheveled hair
O'rr such sweet hrows as never other wore;
What all our lives to save thee;
We reck not what we gave thee;
We will not dare to doubt thee
Bow down, dear land, for thou hast found re-
lease;
Bow down in prayer and praise;
Thy God. in th,se distrmper-d days.
Hath taught thee the sure wisdom Of His ways
Aud through thine enemies hath wrought thy
peace.
There were 1913 officers and men ON the
rolls Of Co. |, There were twelve commits
stoned officers, four of whom held the office
of captain. viz Noney 5, Fullam, Newton
stone twho afterwards became colonel Of
the regiment), Daniel s. White and HoratiC
F, Taylor, Fifteen men were transferred
from the company, viz; Erastus G. Bal
lou, Philip E. Chase, Newton Stone, Angus
tus H. Pratt. Silas II, Pease, Duane o. Ross
John Barrett, Edwin II. Whitman, Hiland
Smell Orrin l.. Whitcomb, Sullivan f. Reed
Webster d. Derby, Chas. f. Kidder Geo
II -..-..-..l 1 IL A. GL.t,.,. fpls.t,. a..