Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-04-14
VERMONT FIRST IN WAR
HER REGIMENTS WERE ALWAYS
FILLED WITH VOLUNTEERS.
Introduction Written by Elk. Governor
Frederick HoIbrook to History of
Department Of Vermont, G. A. r.,
Which Appears in April Vermonter.

Which Appears in April vermonter
All Hail! Veteran Vermont soldiers
of the Grand Army of the Republic!
You have n warm place in the heart
OF the writer of this introduction, and
he Is always glad to meet you with
hearty hand shakings and cordial
greetings. AS you pass along down
the western slope of life, towards its
setting, may you be blest with kind
friends and the comforts of life to at
tend you! The words of the poet,
which the writer has heretofore quoted
to you, he cannot forbear quoting
again to you, they are so applicable
To you and your services during our
late civil war for the preservation of
the Union:
20 beautiful! my country, ours once
more!
/ What words divine of lover or of poet
Could tell our love and make thee
know Il,
Among the nations bright beyond COM
pare?
What We're our lives without thee?
What all our lives to save thee?
We reck not what we gave thee;
We will not dare to doubt thee;
But ask whatever else, and we will
dare!'
The Vermont soldiers are dstin-
guished for sturdy courage, endurance
and steadiness under fire, and were
not excelled in these qualities by those
of any state. They proved themselves
worthy descendants of the Green
Mountain Boys" of old, that the race
has not degenerated, but is now, as of
old to be depended upon in any and
all emergencies. Then. too, what re-
spectacle and useful citizens these
veterans have been since the return of
peace, filling, as many of them have,
and still do important positions of
public trust and usefulness! At the
outbreak of the war of secession the
young men of Vermont were ready at
once to volunteer their services as sol
diers to their country, and rushed to
fill the ranks called for as fast as the
successive calls We're made by the
government authorities.
The Vermont regiments from time
to time, as called for were filled by
volunteers. And when the last call |
came. for three hundred thousand
militia, or drafted men, the Vermont /
quota of five regiments under that |
call was quickly filed by volunteers /
instead of drafted men, which was the /
the quota was thus filled. The patri- I
otism of the people of Vermont was
such that the time had not come for a
draft, and the state authorities re-
quested leave from the authorities at /
Washington to fill Vermonts quota
under that call with volunteers in lieu
Of drafted men, which request was
granted
The people of Vermont were much
IN earnest for the preservation of the
Union against the scourges of the re-
and never faltered in the
slightest in their patriotic efforts. and h
ler young men We're ever ready to Z
engage in the conflict of arms and go
Onward as volunteers under each call I,
rom the government.
At the opening of the session of the
General Assembly of Vermont, in Oc-
ober, 1861, the governor offered to 1t
he suggestion that one half the ex-
Denses of war be paid ''as we CO., by
lirect taxation; the other half to be /
aised by the issuance and sale of
lines in the future. The suggestion
net the approval of the legislature, +,
nd an act was at once passed en- I
,odying the proposition. Bonds for one ,
nd one-half millions were issued and /
i once negotiated at handsome ,
'remium, one-half the expenses of the :
var being liquidated as they accrued. !
he result followed that at the close =
f the war the war debt of Vermont ,
vas less in proportion to population
nd men and means furnished, than =
hat of any other state, and Vermonts
var debt was the first state war debt .
aid off in full by any state; and this, [
90. notwithstanding that Vermont $
aid her soldiers seven dollars per
lonth, in addition to their monthly
ay by the general government.
So staunch and perseveringly patri- t
tic were Vermonters and so deter I
lined to conquer the rebellion that s
ne state sent a very large per cent Q
it's population to the front, and no v
lore sturdy and reliable soldiers were t.
ent from other states. Each regl- t
rent. independent company, or other G
,rmation of armed soldiers was COM o
osed mostly of volunteers. h
Vermont sent seventeen regiments G.
infantry, ten hundred and forty men ii
lch, regiment of twelve hundred il
len as heavy artillery, regiment or Il
lvalry of about twelve hundred men, e,
lree companies of sharp shooters, II
lree batteries of light artillery, and D
large number of recruits to I'LL va p
inches in the older regiments. OF
as the establishment of military =,
,spitals within the state for the r.
eatment and cure of sick and wound iy
soldiers. Arrangements were made .,
it'll the authorities at washington q
, which at first was the providing OF Fl
capacious military hospital at Brat n,
aboro. The government bafrack fl
lildings on the camp grounds, or al
hich there were many, We're removed mi
a sheltered position on the GROUNDS; %
ranged in hollow square, lathed ana n,
a Stored walls. nice floors laid, pro- 70
ded each with chimney, bountifui AZ
pply of pure spring water brought 90
them. this at state expense; Dut III
it was reimbursed to the m
ate nv the government after IT'S ga
edicaj inspectors had reported that as
Q percentage of cures at this hospl- to
was greater than at that or any he
s. hospital in camp or other statlons ed
ar near the front. The experiment 81
Is so satisfying that the eoVernlli.enii ne
Ilingly established another hospltai tn
MONTPELIER. with like good results. be
The secretary of war provided the w,
,te military agent for the seeking ex
T and transporting of sick soldiers of
,ereyer found i'm camp or other nos
ais with an order to surgeons IN fe
arge thereof to deliver such SICK tn
rmont soldiers to said state agent, 81
transport back to their state IoT nil
spital treatment. The pan wo oraa of
e. well that soldiers begun to come ar
Sopads of about one hundred pa m,
MS in cars fitted up for their COM w
fable transit. The change soon to
wed so beneficient to the transport lea
soldiers, that the first summer there Sc,
re from ten to fifteen hundred pa, CO..
mrs treated: most of whom beng