The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-01-04
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
Vermont In the War.

900 men to the front from 1861 to 1860,
and expended IS, 100000 in their sup.
port. vermont i'll the Civil War
has been admirably written by G. G..
Benedict, state military historian, and
is said TO be by far the most concise
and best written work of any state his
tory of the war.
1t is impossible to publish the deeds
OF valor OF each soldier, as it would take
a list of at least three-fourths of our
brave boys, who, day after day and
month after month, for four long years,
plodded steadily on, with no wish but
that of helping save their country from
destruction and ruin, and by ~steadfast-
ness and fighting qualities gave their
officers the wonderful record which
they now have.
Vermont was represented at the fall
of Fort Sumter on the 18th of April,
1861, by Truman S ymour, captain OF
the First Artillery, U. S. A. The first
Vermon,er to volunteer his services for
the wal of the rebellion was George
Jenison Staunard of st. Albans,
colonel of the Fourth Regiment of
Mi itia. This occurred on the 18th of
April, 1861. The first reconnaissance
in force upon Virginia soil by the
U tied States troops was made bv the
First Vermont Regiment on the 90 of
May, 1861. The first Vermont soldier
to lose his life was Private ID. II. Whit
ney of the Bradford company (D),
FIRST Regiment, who was killed by a
rebel scout on the 22I of June, 1861, at
Newport News, Va. The FIRST empty
sleeve from Vermont in the wal of the
rebellion was that of First Sergeant
Urban A. Woodbury., Company H,
Second Vermont Volunteers, in action
at Bull Run, Va, July 81, 1861.
The last shot of the Sixth Army
Corps was fired by the Second YER
mont Regiment, April 6, 1866, on the
eastern branch of Sailors Creek, Va.
Toe last fighting by Vermont troops
was done by the Seventh Regiment at
Whistler, Alabama, April ID, 1865, and
by the First Vermont Cavalry At APP
pomattoX Court House on the morning
of Lees surrender, April 8, 1865. The
last Vermont soldier killed was Private
George b. Dunn of Company NJ, FIRST
Vermont Cavalry, April s, 1865, and
the last wounded was First Lieutenant
Willard Firrington of Company l.,
FIRST Vermont Cavalry, early in the
evening of April S, 1865.
The First Vermont Btigade and the
Tenth Regiment, serving with the
Sixth Army Corps, were among the
first troops to enter the city of Peters
burg, Va, on the morning of its cap.
ture, April 3, 1865. Ga the same
morning r chmond was captured, and
skirmish line, which was the first or
~o,;,,I bod, Oc trnOnc 20 on,or fho
rebel capital, was commanded by Cap
tain Abel L Leavenworth, Ninth Yer
mont, assisted by Lieutenant Joel G.
Baker and Burnham Cowdrey, with
detail of 100 men from the same regi'
ment.
Colonel William T. Fox, United
States Volunteers, in his elaborate
work entitled "Regimental i sses in
the American Civil War;" gives a list
of eight " famous " brigades-made pre-.
eminent by their fighting qualities as
shown by their losses in action. IL
this noble list the First Vermont Brig.
ade stands first. "The greatest loss oil
life" SAYS Colonel Fox, " in any one
brigade during the war, occurred in the
Vermont Brigade of the Second Get
ty's) division of the Sixth Corps"
OF the cavalry regiments in The
armies he mentions nine which los
from 119 to ia men each, killed OF
mortally wounded in action. In thi
list the First Vermont Cavalry stand
fifth. 1t is admitted that it was sec
ond to none, however, in captures o
guns, prisoners and battle flags.
From over 1000 regiments in tn,
Union armies Colonel Fox selects 30
as the Fighting regiments" which los
from 134 to 224 men each, killed auc
died of wounds. OF this number Yer
mont furnished nine-the First Regi
ment Vermont Cavalry, the Second
Seventeenth Regiments of Infantry
and the First Regiment of Vernon
Artillery, or Eleventh Regiment.
Companies E, Fifth Regiment, an
F, First Regiment, United States Sharp
shooters, suffered the greatest loss il
killed and wounded of any compan
organization from Vermont, the forme
losing thirty-seven killed and mortal
wounded out of 19l taken into tn
field, or almost twenty per cent; tn
latter losing thirty-two out of III tota
enlisted, OF eighteen per cent.
The greatest loss of officers killed o
died of wounds in Vermont organiza
tons was in the Seventeenth regiment
which lost fourteen.
The consolidated statement show
that l 1872 soldiers were killed in actio'
and died of wounds, and 3,405 died O
disease, in prison and from accident
a total of 8 237.
OF the services and losses of the Vel
mont troops, Colonel Fox, the autho
of the elaborate work on Regiments
Losses in the Civil War;" writes me
"It is a wonderful record-and l do nc
remember its equal in military history
The loss of the German army in tn
Franco Prussian war, killed and mo
tally wounded, was 81; allied army
the Crimean war, 80; Austrian arm.
war of 1916, &c; war of rebellion
1906, Al. Pennsylvania sustaine
the greatest loss in killed of any stat
its percentage being IL. Vernon
comes next, with a loss of of 6
Through the channel of The war d,
partment | hndthat about 300 Vernon