New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-18
RENNLNG TON.


The fall shaft that Vermont is to dedicate
on Wednesday in grateful and affectonate re-
membrane of the services and the sacrifices OF
her soldiers in three great wars forms truly
fitting monument TO all that is best in SOod
and great state. Those rough stones, ne"n
from the rugged sides OF her own Green Mouii-
tains, attest the respect men feel for maiinocu'
The first of these wars was struggle Ior IN
dependence, the second for existence, the last
and greatest of all for freedom and nationality
To each Vermont sent her bravest and best
maidens gave their lovers, wives their nus
bands. mothers their boys children their fathers
not crdgingly, but cheerfully, though with
swelling hearts, to the service of their country
and everywhere these men bore themselves as
worthy sons Of noble sres and mothers. Inc
service record of Vermont is one WHEREOF not
Vermonters only, but all Americans GO wen
to be proud, for it tells of duty DONE not BOAST
fully. but modestly and manfully whenever ana
wherever duty called.
Ticonderoga and Crown Point had gone be-
fore. and had already raised to enduring fame
the unique character of Ethan Allen, when Oh
the 9th of August, 1777, Bennington adu.u
another name to the roll of Vermont heroes IN
the person of John Stark, borrowed lor '"o
occasion. it must be confessed, with - some thou-
sand gentlemen more" from the nelshoorlns
State Of New Hampshire, which was luSt tleh
claiming Vermont as part OF ltSeH' NOME
Starl, was TO have been a widow that August
day, as the saying goes, if the red coats were
not beaten. They were, though, and so badly
that Burgoyne's triumphant advance toward
Canada meaning to cleave the rebellion OF the
uns4art coonists in twain by one quick, strong
hiov along the line of Lake Champldin ana the
Hudson here received its first check, ana TWO
months later came to a stalemate at saratoga
The nopulation of the province was theh
hordIv 20. 600. New-York and New-1ampShife
disnnted the sovereignty, but the stout er-
monters who had paid New-Hampshlre Tor thelf
Grants of land did not mean to pay lor ulcii
ocain IN the agents or even the successors OF
tho Drl,e of York. At length they took the
oortostod sovereignty to themselves and YER
,non+ hocore the fourteenth State of the Union
Al first the favorable situation of the easy
communications by the lake, the ST. Lawrence
and the Hudson caused the state TO gam rapiu-
" in population and resources. by lolo the
census accounted for 217,S95. Unpopular aS
the War of 1872 was throughout NeW-Englalu
generally. Vermont furnished nearly o'Ooo
soldiers. including the volunteers that took part
in tho triumph Of Plattsburs.
Ioval even among the loyal Vermont was
one Of the few States, seven in all, that fuf-
r;sbod nore than their quotas of troops for the
maintenance of the Union. With population
of al. 900 she compiled a record OF 33,2SS en-
Iistments. representing probably as many as
% 600 soldiers or one in every tWeVe III
babitants. How these brave men acquitted
themselves in the evil hour IS VIII large III
history. If they had a fault 1t was or so
thoir old comrades love to say, that they were
y trAe too ready to make their sklrmish line 10
tho work of the line of battle. Thus or other
,,iso Vermont lost 3.65 killed in battle out
Of ovorv hundred enlisted as compared with
o ca for all the troops of the Union. In the
q Vermont Brigade" of the Army of the Po'o-
mac 'the fighting brigade of the lighting
Sixth Corps" the percentage OF loss Is even
more appalling, rising TO 1l.O3 kllleu anu
mortally wounded in every hundred enllstmehtS'
AGAINST 473 for all the Union armies. lncIuu
mo the deaths from disease IN the noSpi'ils
and in the Confederate prisons, OF this splehuld
hrioode more than one man in four perlShed
vo+ nobIv. for it was to save their country ard
content as knowing that the colors they 81
s4o,,t,v bore were stained only by their life
blood.
The same manly qualities the men OF Yer
mont have carried with them into the arts OF
peace If the population of the State has IN
tho last decades increased so slowly, 1t is that
her neople have gone to other regions to prac-
tise. in building the new States, the SOund
lessons of thrift and energy and integrity, aye,
and of eood-humor and goodwill which they
learned in youth in the valleys and on the
s,ones of the Green Mountains. One seldom
secs a sour Vermonter; lazy one, never, or
never when there is something TO be done that
needs doing OF all the States her people re-
main the most homogeneous and the most
American. Those who have stayed at home
can point with the easy humor and the quaint
smile of their race to their Vermont horses,
their Vermont butter, their Vermont sheep,
their lush green pastures where the sleek Yer
mont cattle Craze, their Vermont maple sugar
half sweetness half romance. Vermont mod
estv might make them shy of speech as to the
hest products of their State yet what shall
hinder Ills from speaking of the Vermont men
and women that have done all the rest and
smpass all the rest?
That Bennington is fully alive to the impor-
tapce of this occasion is evident from the ac-
counts teegraphed from that ancient town Of
the elaborate preparations for the celebration.
The leading feature will naturally be the pres
ence and participation Of the President, al
though apart from his share in the exercises
the nrogramme is an interesting one