Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-09-18
coY.-ELEcr WOODBURY..

CoV.-ELECT WOODBURY..
The story, told below, of the loss of
Gov. Woodbury's right arm and subse-
quent imprisonment, having been read
| by Dea. VIM. e. Murphey, the latter in
forms us that he was taken prisoner at
the same time. AS Gov. Woodbury. is
expected to be present at the 9th Corps
meeting tonight it will be in order for
| these two companions-in.a arms to tell-of
their experience in rebeldom. The Gov
ernor tells the story in the Boston Jour
nal, as follows:
81 enlisted at Elmore, March Goth, 1861,
and was made First Sergeant of Com
! pany H, Second Regiment, Vermont
Volunteers. The regiment rendezvoused
in Burlington the first part of June, 1861,
! being the first three-year troops from
Vermont. We were mustered into tie
| United States service June goth, and ar
rived in Washington the 2Gth.
"On the 10th of July the regiment en-
tered Virginia and camped at Brooks
| Hill, a few miles from Alexandria.
| There we were brigaded with the Third,
Fourth and Fifth Maine, and placed un-
der the command of Brig. Gen. o. O.
Howard. Henry Whiting was our colo
mel. On the evening of July Goth the Of
| ficers and men learned that a fight was
| imminent, and on the following morn
ing we were astir before daybreak, and
after breakfast were put into marching
order
''Soon we were advancing to meet the
enemy. Our regiment was fully equip
! ped. We had dress coats, knapsacks
| filled to repletion1 haversacks almost
| bursting, 40 rounds of cartridges, can
teens, etc., and were armed with smooth
bore Springfield muskets. Upon arriv-
| ing at Sudley Church we were halted, and
remained there several hours.
"At o'clock we were ordered to ad-
vance at the double quick. The first evil
dence of the battle in progress that we
saw was an ambulance bringing the
wounded to the rear The regiment, af-
ter marching a short distance, left the
road and emerged into the open field.
| We were soon discovered by the Coufed-
crates, who opened fire upon us with
| solid shot and, as we advanced further,
with shell and musketry.
"Our regiment was the extreme right
of the army. AS we descended the hill
to the Warrenton Pike we heard the
heavy firing to our left and front. A
portion of the Fourteenth Brooklyn was
retiring to our left, and Ricketts, Bat
terry was flying to the rear on our right
"While marching at double quick
down the slope at trail arms, at the head
of my company, which was next to the
color guard, 1 was hit in the right arm,
near the shoulder by piece of shell
which passed across my breast and
whirled around and fell to the ground.
Another piece from the same shell,
killed my file leader, Corp. Bennett of
| Company c, of BrattlebOro. His life was
| ~ q IL. 4 - ,1k g l.
| try in battle by Vermonter.
/ II was carried to the rear by two COM
rades after my bleeding was partly stop
ped, placed in an ambulance, carried to
a little old cooper's shop near Sudley
| Church and placed upon a board lying
on the ground. My arm which was com
pletely shattered, and hanging together
onlp by the skin and muscles, was at
once amputated by Surgeon Ballou of
my regiment. l remember seeing him
standing over me as l was being ether
lied, and l did not see him afterward
for % years, almost to day, when l met
him at the Van Ness House in Burling-
ton. The regiment continued on and
soon become closely engaged with the
enemy. They fought CALAMITY, and
only retreated when peremptorily or
dered to do so.
''Soon after recovered my conscious
ness heard the cry, 'The Black Horse
Cavalry is comingn And soon a major
of rebel cavalry came into the improvis-
ed hospital and sternly Informed me that
was a prisoner. The shop was filled
with our wounded, all of whom were
soon removed to Manassas Junction,
bound for Richmond. At Manassas we
were put in an old tobacco shed for the
I rsNeT T,lx,
were loaded into some old freight cars
and started for the capital of the Confed-
racy. After terrible ride of 80 hours,
over rough road of 130 miles, we ar
rived at Richmond, more dead than
alive. l was carried to the Poorhouse,
and was there visited by those minister
ing angels, the Sisters of Charity.
81 was soon transferred to tobacco
warehouse next to Libby Prison, after
being in the Poorhouse five months.
''My prison life was like others, which
has been so often escribed-deprivation
filth, hunger and i'll treatment. In OctO-
Der, the welcome news was received that
those who were so badly wounded they
would probably not be fit for service
again would soon be paroled. At last
the happy day came for about so prison
ers, and we went aboard a small steamer
and sailed down the James RIVER to with
in 80 miles of Fortress Monroe, where
we were met by the Union steamer Ex-
press. As went upon the deck of the
Union steamer presented sorry spec
tacle. l wore my old gray trousers, a
knit jacket and cap and shoes. AS we
saw the old flag floating over us, canes
and crutches were thrown into the air
and we forgot that we were crippled.
In due time we arrived at Fortress
Monroe, from which place we went to
Baltimore, and there started for home. J"
Col. Woodbury. subsequently re-inlisted
as private in Company D, Eleventh
Vermont, and was commissioned Cap
tain Nov. 49, 1862. He served in the Vet
eran Reserve Corps until March, 1865,
when he was honorably discharged.
Governor Flower is deriving good
deal of pleasure from his visit to the