Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-10-01
AMERICAN HORSE
NEWS DEPARTMENT
News Items Pertaining to all
Kinds of Horses are Solicited.
Address Matter for this Department to
c. A. Chapman, Ferrisburgh, Vt.
MORGAN HORSE CLUB.
Prominent Men Form Notable So
ciety.

A luncheon was served the Morgan
horse breeders and others interested in
the subject of the Morgans in tent on
the State fair grounds last week Satur-
day at 1890 o'clock. President Max
well Evarts stated the object of the
meeting to be the formation of a Nor
gan Horse club and such an organiza-
ton was perfected. Its membership
will include Morgan horse breeders and
others and its incorporation is proba-
BILE. An address was made by Presi-
dent Mellen of the New York, New Ha-
ven e. Hartford railroad and officers
elected are Henry S. Wardner of Wind
sor, president, and c. C. Stillman of
New York and Lyndonville, secretary
and treasurer. Mr.. Wardner read the
following interesting paper relating to
the Morgan horse in war.
At Piermont, New Hampshire, lives
George Austin, now 70 years of age,
an admirer of the Morgan horse. His
knowledge of the breed is derived from
an experience such as few men now
living have shared.
He was employed in 1861 by Quarter
master G. S. Blodgett, U. s. A., to
assist in the selection and purchase of
one thousand horses for the First YER
mont cavalry. The horses were pur-
chased in the Northeast section of YER
mont with a few from the New Hamp-
shire towns in the Connecticut River
Valley. The secretary of war who
knew the reputation of Vermont horses.
was anxious that a Vermont cavalry
regiment should Immediately take the
field, and in forty-two days the date of
the order for raising the regiment, the
regiment was in camp at Burlington,
the uniforms provided and the horses on
the ground. This was October Is, 1861.
Mr.. Austin says that the horses were
all Morgans, that they We're the best
cavalry mount in the entire Union
army and that they outworked and out
lasted the horses of any other regiment.
AS Mr.. Austin was a soldier in that
regiment from its organization to the
close of the war, he does not speak from
hearsay
1t is worth while to see what the
records have to say of the First Yer
mont regiment the first cavalry regi-
ment to go from the New England
States in the War of 1861 and to see
how far they support Mr.. Austin
opinion of the character of the mount.
The Newark. New Jersey, "Adver-
tiser" of December II, 1861, in describ-
ing the march of the First Vermont
cavalry through Newark on the way to
Washington, said: 'The Green Noun
tain Boys arrived about four O'Clock
and marched up Market street amid the
livliest tokens of enthusiasm. The
horses are small, compact and sinewy
and evidently capable of great endur-
ance. 1t was the general remark that
so splendid body of animals had never
been seen together in this city"
The regiment lived up to its fine ap-
pearance. In seventy-five battles and
skirmishes, among them some of the
great and bloody battles of the war,
the regiment was engaged and often
with conspicuous distinction. The ra-
pidity of its movements and its endur-
ance in covering distance brought it
promptly to the places where it was
needed and resulted in it's often being
placed in the advance for the attack.
The records of the war department
show the facts.
By public order on September II.
Is 3, General fitzpatrick expressed his
thanks to Colonel Sawyer of the First
Vermont cavalry for its prompt and
gallant manner in repulsing the enemy
the day before at Raccoon Ford. On
October IS, 1868, at Gainesville, General
Custer wrote: The First Vermont cal
vary, under Colonel Sawyer, deserves
great credit for the rapidity with which
they forced the enemy to retire
Clusters report of Cedar Creek bears
eloquent testimony to the worth of both
man and horse in the First Vermont
cavalry. This is what he wrote: ''The
rapid pace at which my command had
moved had, necessarily, extended nv
column, and upon reaching the vicinity
of the creek, l had but two regiments
available, the First Vermont and the
Fifth New York" He describes put
ting these regiments into action, and
then continues: "Owing to the dark
ness and the necessary delay at the
fords, the regiments | was expecting