The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-06-08
Judge READS Military Record.

Certain contemporaries, more dis
tinguished for fool in the head and
malice in the heart than for sense
or decency, have sought to score a
point against Judge Read because he
was drafted into the military service of
the country during the civil war; and
have been, by comparison, exslting the
mighty patriotism of Gen. Grout be-
cause he volunteered" They con-
descendingly presume, as one says,
that Judge Reed may have been "a
good soldier-all Vermonters were-but
the fact that he was drafted into the
service stands out poorly in contrast
with the prompt action [sic] of his OPP
ponent, the present congressman from
the district"
The petty and indecent attacks upon
Judge heed have already brought out
the real facts of his entry into the mill
tary service of his country and the
story Of his two years. service, credit.
able in the highest degree to the pa
patriotism, the grit, and the mod
esty of the boy and the man, but the
WATCHMAN cannot forbear reproduc-
ing the subjoined editorial article from
the Windsor Journal, pertinently and
pointedly reviewing the case presented
by the Groutites in comparing the mill
tary records of the two candidates for
Congress. Taking for its text the
paragraph quoted above the Journal
says:
Let us see what comparison of rec
ords shows. General Grout was born,
May "a, 1886. Judge Read was born,
December 26, 1912. When the war
broke out General Grout was almost
twenty-five years of age; Judge Read
was barely eighteen years of age.
General Grout was his own master;
Judge Read was minor, and in obedi-
ence to his father. Gen. Grout did not
enlist until the summer of 1862. More
than one year Of the war had passed
before he was moved to "prompt &C.
tion." Judge Read tried to enlist in
the summer of 1861, but was peremp-
torily forbidden by his father. In the
fall of 1861, not yet nineteen years of
age, he again tried to enlist, and was
again prevented by his father, who
felt himself dependent.upon this son,
the oldest of nine children. Mean
while there are but few evidences of
the prompt action" of General Grout,
then nearly twenty-six years of age.
Regiment after regiment had been
raised, and he was still practicing law
in Barton. In fact, no evidence of
''prompt action" is found until after
the call for the nine months men in
the summer of 1862. Up to that time,
which had given the strongest proof of
pure patriotism, the boy of nineteen, or
the man Of twenty-six?
When General Grout enlisted in the
Barton company, more than one year
of the war had passed. prompt &C.
tion," that! He was elected its cap.
tain, and chosen lieutenant-colonel of
the regiment at the election of field Of
ficers at st. Johnsbury, September 20,
1862. He returned to Vermont after
nine months service, and remained
there during the rest of the war. Pos
sibly ''prompt action" in that, also.
After the St. Adams raid in October,
1864, he was elected brigadier. generai
by the State Legislature. While max
ing this remarkable war record, in
which is found no evidence that GEN
eral Grout was ever on q battlefield,
except as visitor, the boy of eighteen
had passed his twentieth birthday, the
draft of 1868 had occurred, and, refus-
ing the offer of his father to release
him by the payment of the commuta-
ton fee of $500, he had gone to the
front as private in the ranks of the
Second Vermont Volunteers. He was
with his regiment at Rappahanock Sta
ton, Mine Run and on other battle
fields, where the Old Vermont Brigade
gained imperishable renown. He was
severely wounded in the bloody strug-
gle of the Wilderness in May, 1868,
and bears the marks of that battlefield
to this day. Late in 1854, he was trans
ferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps
ly mustered out of the service in Au-
gust, 1866.
Such, in part, is Judge Reads mill
| tary record-the record of boy who
was not permitted to enlist of his own
free will and accord; of minor, who
accepted gladly the opportunity af-
forded him of entering the service, and
of young man who sealed with his
own blood the evidence of his patriot
ism and his devotion to his country.
True, he was but private in the ranks,
without political influence and backing
to procure for him the shoulder straps
of a lieutenant colonel or the rank of
brigadier general Of militia. True, that
as private he performed every duty
required of him fearessly and man
fully-who shall not say better because
of his earlier obedience to parental
commands?
Who are ashamed of his military rec
| nrdO Mot hia frinnda tuhn Imam In