The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1905-10-19
RESCUE OF A
CONTRABAND
A Renaissance Of the War
For the Union
TOLD AfTERf0RTY YEARS
Letter from . Former Slave Who
CsmpaIsnsd With svsrmoni
Rsslmsnisl Band.

L tsAat " hte t@ttet IsFt ~ sAtff t"fss
ihsrV cane Iale our camp near Alet'
Andria, Va, = bright. young ooloFsd
man, 9 fugitive slave. -ho desired =
posiilon 81 soms character. that h.
might assist Ia ihs sar vh,ch b. he
llssed 10 10 10 tho Interest 81 he ir.o
dom Of biz peoPls. IL hapPeasd 10
meet Capt frank crosssii, lsadvg "
our rcglmeui hand, ~ho ibqulrei Of
him shat be- could d.. lie replied
that he could cook. iaSs care Of horses
or mos, any hing 10 make Ne boys
comfortable he -as taken 10 Col.
whiting, Commander ~ he Rssi. uho
assigned bin Ia The band AZ cook.
9th Tho rvmsrk that -la,cry vas still
In esisishce and reminded him % The
iiablll , Of his being capsshcd and Ia.
ken bsck by his master or depuilcs
appointed for that purpose. CrDsscsi
assured tho Col that the band would
take care Of that pari Of the business.
So Louis Sanders vas Installed as
cook. The rags b. worc wcrc replaced
by q beat uniform 81 blue and = clean
shave, haircut aud bath created =
lightning change that would have BAT.
led the sharp eyes Of his master had
he met him. Louis proved TO be- "a
intclllgeni 80 he was faithful ard a.
vas the case with many Of the slaves
his greatest desire waste learn 10 read
and write. Primary books we're p o.
cured for him and all took q hard Ia
giving him assistance, 30 10 the coarss
Of few months be was well started In
the way Of an education. The band
came home the FIRST Of December OF
the same year and Louis name vas
placed upon the roll as full icdged
member. In order 10 get him out OF
Virginia. aud through Maryland.
Fortunately We had no trouble, and
reaching Philadelphia, our man real
ized ths, he was n free citizen. 10 the
mean time 4 place bad been procured
for him with a Mr. Foster. a farmer OF
Spcncerport, N. Y, who was a rela.
ton OF one OF the boys. He met us In
New York aud took Louis TO his home
Nothing had been heard from him
since until about q month ago a letter
was received from him by the writer,
In which he gives q brief history OF
his career, that will be more interest.
Ing as told by himself. He says:
al was born In Virginia. | ran
away from my master becauseI want
ed to be free. There we're six OF us
boys left the plantation together and
five OF them we're captured and taken
back. l was reported killed and
thrown into the Potomac river. They
did not know | could swim. Before
the war my father was a servant owned
by Gen. Cook OF Revolutionary fame
and my mother belonged to Mr. Cliff
ton. After his death she fell to Mr.
Waller who sold 30 OF his slaves TO
60 TO Georgia. Among them were two
OF my sisters, Winnie and Liza, whom
we never heard OF after. was taken
away from my mother at this time
and hired out at % year. All my
brothers and sisters that | knew are
dead, also my father and mother.
"Mr Foster took me into his family
and treated me very kindly. There
was q son IA years of age and a daugh-
ter who continued my education. j
lived with them for thirty years when
Mr. Foster died. The family then was
broken up and went to Chicago to live
with the son. | then bought farm
which l now carry on. have never
been sick but always happy and thank
full that fell in with the members OF
Capt. Crossett's End Vt, Regt. band.
God Bless them all wherever they may
be-" He adds do you remember the
old log shanty at Camp Griffin where
cooked you all breakfast, dinner
and supper and some times / took hold
OF the Bass Drum with John Kehoe
on Dress Parade?" 1.-THE proudest event
In bis life at tn at time,
The above is only one instance in
thousands of like character where
men were saved to themselves and fam
lilies in the early sixties and brings
wildly TO the minds of those members
now living circumstance pleasant to
remember but almost forgotten. So
far as can learn there are now but
six living of the twenty-five members
of Crossett's famous End Regt. Band,
two, Thomas 81 Hutchins and Norman
M Puffer reside here. The other four
are scattered through the West.
The band left Bennington the 10Th OF
June, 1861 and joined the regiment at
Burlington and started for the seat of
var the 10th. Marching proudly thro
altimore at the head of the regiment
having vive L'America, Capt james
alunnmn1uC A of Bennin ~