The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-11-05
Veterans Reunions.

when the follow ing officers for the ensuing
year was elected: President, G. ID. Gates
of Cambridge; secretary, s. II. Wood of st,
Adams; treasurer, w. l.. Greenleaf, Bur
llnEton; vice-presidents, Co. a, Warren
Gibbs of st. Adams; Co. b, w. w. Conger
of 81. Adams Bay; Co. G, p. G. j. Cheney
of Dover, n. H.; Co. ID, Henry A. Moore of
ST. Johnsbury; Co. e, NJ. j. Plummer;
Co. f, William c. Royce; Co. G, James
Barrett of Clarendon; Co II, Henry o. Ed
son Of Rutland; Co. |, Captain Il. Grant Of
Irasburgh Co. X, Captain Moore of Shore
ham; Co l., w. f. Blum of Whalleusburgh,
N. Y. Co. NJ, Peter Landon of Burlington;
staff surgeon, p. ON. Edison of Boston.
A society badge was adopted, to consist of
"A horseshoe, crossed sabres and sunburst.
The annual reunion and banquet was held
at eight o'clock at the Pavilion with sew
enty-iive comrades in attendance The an
nua address was delivered by 9. r. Pierce
of Nergennes, secretary of Fifth New York
Cavalry, who was elected an honorary mem
Der The speech making, in charge of
Henry o. Edison of Rutland was pariici-
pated in by Major Grout of Derby Line,
Comrades Dodge of New York, f. S. Strana-
han and Warren Gibbs of St. Adams, Gen
eral w. l.. Greeneaf of Burlington and
President-elect 9. o. Gates. The secretary
was requested to tender the goodwill and
sympathy of the First Vermont Cavalry to
the Fifth New York Cavalry and the com
rades dispersed to the music of "Od John
Brown"
The seventeenth annual reunion of the
Eighth Vermont Infantry was held at Capital
hall Wednesday, beginning in the morning
After social hour spent in Misunderstanding
and exchanging fraternal greetings, the as
ISOLATION was called to order by Colonel f.
E. Smith, as the president. Both vice-pres-
idents were absent. Colonel Il. NJ. Brown
was called to the chair to preside as chair
man pro TEN. The following officers were
then elected: Vice presidents, Il. Il. Smith
and Il I, RurgtOtV. nd
g. M. Ferrin; chaplain, III. X. Page; sur
geon, w. II. Gillett; marshal, q. w. 10th
rOp. General Stephen Thomas is iper-
manent president of the association A re-
cess was then taken. During the intermis-
sion, the old soldiers partOOk of a stump
tuous repast spread in the back part of the
hall by the ladies of Christ church. Suisse
Quently unanimous vote of thanks TO the
ladies was passed. Letters were read by the
secretary from Comrades George n. Carpen-
ter, w. IL. HOlton and j. G.. Morse aud re-
marks were made by Comrades In. Hutch
inson, Moses Mcfarland and j. j. BarstOw.
Gen. Gilmore gave report of the erection of
granite monument in the national ceme-
terry at Washington for thirty-twO of the
Eighth Vermont boys who were buried in
that cemetery. a plan of the monument
was shown during the reunion. The fol-
| lowing obituary committee was appointed
| George n. Carpenter, Boston; II. e. Hill,
Boston; j. l.. Barstow Shelburne; G. NJ.
Ferrn, Essex Junction A committee con-
| sisting of Comrades Moses Mcfarland, f.
e. Smith and E, NJ. Brown, reported the
following resolutions, which were unani-
| mously adopted:
ResolUed, That we have heard with most
| profound regret that our old commander,
General Stephen Thomas is prevented
| by sickness from being present with lis at
| this our seventeenth annual reunion.
! " ReSOired That, with unchanged appre-
| citation ana admiration of his patriotism
and heroic bravery on the field of battle
and, with unchanged personal love and
affection, we tender to him our earnest SYM
patty and best wishes for speedy recov-
cry"
About 100 members of the regiment were
present.
1t had been intended to make a call on
| General Thomas, bur it was finally decided
| chat in view of the condition of the gener-
ais health, visit from hundred COM
radeS would be too much for him. The
resolutions expressed what the boys would
| have said personally had the call been pos
sible.
LETTER TO THE EIGHTH.
The following letter to Comrade C. NJ.
Ferrin was read at the reunion of the
Eighth regiment last week Wednesday:
Dr. g. W. Perrin. Dear CoInrade: | had
| hoped to be able to attend the reunion of
our grand old regiment, but the fates are
entirely against me. Not only the press of
business devolving upon me at the end of
the month prevents, but Mrs HOlton was
taken quite i'll this morning, rendering it
| impossible for me to leave home. About
one-iifth of my army service was with the
| gallant Eighth Vermont and | esteem it the
| greatest honor to have, at any time, been
connected with it. ! have no army friend
ships so strong as those for my comrades of
the old Eighth, 1t was gallant band, gal
lantly led, and it accomplished great things.
1t is not fulsome praise of self for me TO
compliment the Eighth, my own career with
it was so brief The official figures of its
losses, impartially told by the truthful
statistican, are its greatest commentator.
In Colonel FoX's "Regmental Losses
in the American Civil War" in table
giving maximum percentages of loss, in a
list of siXty-three regiments, meeting with
phenomenal losses in single engagements, -
the gallant old Eighth Vermont is given
seventh place, and is credited with Sus
tanning a loss of 60 per cent at Cedal
Creek After giving this table embracing
SiXty-three regimentS) Fox remarks: " 1t is
well to pause here and consider what these
figures mean; to think what these eXtraor
binary percentages imply. Perhaps theiI
significance Will be better understood when
compared with some extraordinary loss in
foreign wars,-some well-known instance
which may serve az "A standard of measure
ment. Take the charge of the " Light
Brigade at Balakava. Its extraordinary
|
roic verse and story in every land, unit
the whole world has heard Of the gallant
six hundred - and their ride into the val
ley of death. Now as the Light Brigade >
accomplished nothing in this action
merely executed an order which was
blunder-it must be that it was the danger
and its attendant loss which inspired tn,
interest in that historic ride. What wa,
the loss? The Light Brigade " took 67;
officers and men into that charge. They
lost 113 killed, 1874 wounded-total o: 247
: or 36.7 per cent. The per cent of loss o
the Eighth Vermont at Cedar Creek ex
ceeds the per cent of loss of the " Lgh
Brigade " at Balaklava by 31.2 per cent
) Fox also mentions the loss of the Eight
Z at the siege OF Port Hudson, May 90 to Jul.
s, 1868, ~ larger than that of any othe
regiment of Augur's command.
1t makes fellow sad to think of tn
Y good things to be dispensed free to al
. members by Quartermaster Fred e. Smit
t Qadies assisting)," which | must miss. Ne
o thinks that repast will beat anything eve
Q brought into camp by even Comrade Sellec
h from his most successful foraging eXged
: ton, Would | were with you. How W
would wag our bald and fast-beachin
| 10 4 a Il,