Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-07-17
The Vermont Brigade.
How New Jersey Regiment Got the
Laugh ON the YcrInonters,


Laugh ON the Newcomers.
Amos j. Cummings recently contributed
to the New York Sun the following chapter
of alleged "reminiscences of the Nermonters
in war time:
Every old soldier of the Army of the
Potomac remembers Burnside mud march.
1t began on January p, 1853. This was
40 days after his defeat at Fredericksburg.
In an effort to retrieve il he followed the
example of Charles XII. and opened win
ter campaign. He tried to strike the Rap
pahannock some miles above Fredericks-
burg, cross the river on pontoOns and reach
Lees rear. 1t began to rain on the even
ing of the 22d, and it rained necessarily for
three days. The pontOons never reached
the river. They were stuck i'm seas of mud.
Nearly every man in the army was wet to
the waist for days in efforts to drag them
to dry ground. The Confederates on the
other side of the Rappahannock quickly
OWNED the situation. They stuck up i'm
mense placards on the bank of the river
bearing such inscriptions as "Burnside's
army stuck in the mud Burnside is not
Mcclellan" and other pat sayings When
the sun began to shine and the pontOons
were dragged from the sloughs, the army
went back to its old camp. Everybody
was disheartened. The peninsular veter-
ans, who were staunch Mcclellan men,
shook their heads mOurnfully, saying: 81
told YOU how it would be-" The discon-
tent rose to such an extent that there was
a spirit of mutiny in some of the regiments.
Hundreds of assertions occurred every day,
and the army had no confidence i'm its com
mander until Joe Hooker succeeded Burn
side.
was a sergeant in Company G of the
2Gth New Jersey volunteers AT this time
The New Jersey regiment was part of the
2d brigade. The brigade had won a bril-
liant reputation on the peninsula and at
Antietam. 1t was known in the Army of
the Potomac as the Vermont brigade. 1t
was composed with the exception of the
Jersey regiment of Vermont troops. They
were tall, ungainly Yankees. They drawl-
ed their words, and gave them peculiar
nasal twang. Their feet were so big that
the Johnnies compared them to old-fash-
toned griddles. A Mississppian once told
me that they were so big that whenever
he killed a Vermont Yankee he had to 90
up and shove him over before he would
tumble | saw some captured North Car
olinians sent in from the front at the first
battle of Fredericksburg. In stature. gait
and accent they resemble the Nermonters
| believe that if they had worn the Federal
uniform the Nermonters themselves would
have taken them for brothers.
We went into camp after the mud march
near White Oak church. About two weeks
afterward Bill Young a big Scotchman in
our regiment, conhscated a sheep owned
by some farmer in the vicinity. He had
found little copse in an out-Of-the-way
L. 4.
the carcass to the limb of a tree by its hind
legs. and dressed it.. He had hardly finish
ed the work when he was frightened by a
file of men who were approaching the spot
After hastily concealing the carcass he
sneaked back to camp. Two hours later
he returned to the cOpse. The mutton
seemed to be all right. 1t did not appear
to have been disturbed. He avoided col
lision with the camp guard, and managed
to get it to his shelter tent after dark.
Then he cut it up and distributed it among
his friends in the ranks and the commits
stoned officers.
Twenty-four hours afterward a Vermont
regiment, then commanded by l.. \. Grant,
now assistant secretary of war land by the
way, Redtield Proctor was a captain in the
same regiment), passed through our camp
on picket detail. As they struck company
C's street, through which they marched
down the hill, they all began to bark like
dogs. The Jerseymen rushed from their
tents and wondered what the barking
meant. The Nermonters kept up the can
inc demonstration for half mile. yelling
with delight.
Commissioned officers who had parta ken
of the mutton were the first to solve the
riddle. Some of the cold meat was left
After the Vermont demonstration ii did
not taste like mutton. Ii was a little rank
one said, and tasted more like coon meat
that hadn't been parboiled Many who
had received the gift We're sick at the
stomach.
1t turned out that some bright Vermont
er had seen Young at work on the sheep.
He rang in his comrades and frightened
the ScOtchman back to camp. Then they
stole the carcass and put in its place the
dressed body of an old Newfoundland dog
that had been following a Wisconsin
brigade.
When the Nermonters returned from
picket duty and began to cross our camp
the barking was resumed. This time the
Jerseymen were ready for them. From 700
Threats came the cry: "EIead-cheese. head
cheese, you damned Yankees
This cry gave pallOr TO the Vermont
faces. Their stomachs were turned. While
they were on picket duty some Germans in
the Jersey regiment had gathered all of the
cold roast dog in camp, turned it into
head-cheese, and peddled it on the Yer
mont picket reserve. Head-cheese was a
delicacy rarely seen in the army. 1t had
gone like hot cakes. Everybody bought il.
Possibly even Secretary Proctor and Gen.
l.. a. Grant got their share of it. At all
events there was no more barking and no
more buying of head-cheese on the picket