The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-05-05
RANK Q. HOVE Editor and Publishes
The BENNETT YOUNG EPISODE
Some Resolutions and Also a Little
Terse Comment.

adopted by the ST. Adams u. A. X
post in reply to the criticism of Elk
Governor Ormsbee on the invitation
of Gen. Bennett Young to visit st.
Adams:
A news dispatch from Rutland tells
how the officers of Roberts Post,
G. A. r. Rutland, have received from
ex-Gov. Ebenezer }, Ormsbee OF
Brandon. a member of the order, a
letter approving in unmistakable
terms the action of the Rutland post
in passing resolutions critizing GOV.
George H. Prouty, of Newport, and
MAYOR Warren r Austin of ST. Al
bans. in inviting to st. Adams Ben
nett II. Young, leader of the st. AL
bans raid of 1864, to be the guest Of
honor during the tercentenary cele-
bration. Ex-Gov. Ormsbee said.
Il write to express my unqualified
of your resolutions in refer
ence to the unaccountabie, if not dis
graceful action of the powers that be,
in inviting the so-called Col. Bennett
Young to participate in the Lake
Champlain tercentenary celebration.
Had a similar invitation been extend
ed to a regular Confederate soldier or
officer for any sufficient cause or rea-
son. | would not say a word in pro
test, but this Mr. Young played the
part of brigand, pirate, guerilla,
I'm the St. Adams raid at the expense
of one of more lives, and quarter of
n million of property If this ill-con-
sidered and deplorable performance is
TO go on and Vermont is to have an
exhibition of this brigand, why not re
surret Wirz, of Andersonville fame
and shame and have him mummiiied
and take a seat in the procession by
the side of Mr. Young. | feel that there
is something due to the patriotic SEN
timent of Vermont not only to have We
teran soldiers and their families, but
to the people generally, who are no
less patriotic, although perhaps not
quite so sensitive or appreciative as
the old veterans-something other
and different and more in accord with
the real sentiment of our people than
this proposed outrageous perfor-
When a man of the undoubted i'm
portance of ex-Gov. f. J. Ormsbee
sets out TO publicly denounce a sue
cessor in the high Office he himself
has held and the mayor and other
citizens of a leading Yer
mont city as the authors of an out
rageous performance, he ought first
to be sure of his facts.
He says. 1t will be observed, Had
Il similar invitation been extended to
a regular Confederate soldier or Of
fcer for any sufficient cause or rea-
son, l would not say a word in pro
test. but this Mr.. Young played the
part of a brigand, a pirate, gueril-
la" etc.
If Ex-Governor Ormsbee means ex
actly what he says. he owes 1t to GOV
ernor Prouty and Mayor Austin to
publicly recall his letter to Roberts
post and tender his apologies, because
Bennett II. Young was a Confederate
soldier and officer and held the rank
of lieutenant in that service when he
led the St Adams Raid.
The Messenger has already printed
the text of the commission Bennett Fl.
Young had from the Confederate sec
rotary of war and the letters of in
struction, etc, from the secretary OF
war and another official. The fact was
clearly established long ago that the
st. Adams Raid was a part of great
plan set afoot by the Confederate gov
eminent in its last desperation, that
it was organized and executed by
Confederates acting under the Off
cial sanction and direction of their
government and that il was regarded
by them as a fair attempt at retalia-
ton for similar injuries done to the
South. II Ex-Governor Ormsbee Will
consult the Official Rebellion Records
ne will have no trouble in verifying
this assertion, or, if he wants to be
more expeditions in arriving at the
truth. he can quickly iind all its es
sental features laid down by James
Ford Rhodes, the most critical and
authoritative historian of the period.
Rhodes says Young was a lieuten-
mt in the Confederate service, and
acted in the Raid in obedience to the
general line of instructions OF his
government.
Bennett H. Young is recognized by
The Confederate veterans themselves
rs a Comrade and as one deserving
aigh honor because they have made
him president of the Confederate
nome, and the head of their organiZa-
ton in the state of Kentucky, and
when the late Gen. John b. Gordon
was commandments of the Con
federate Veterans he appointed Young
I mon Der of his personal staff
This invitation then, fulfills the
condition named by Ex-Governor
Ormsbee in that it was extended ito
a regular Confederate soldier or Off
GER" and he is, therefore, in duty
bound to retract his protest
But Ex-Governor Ormsbee says
Young was "a brigand, pirate, a
guerilla" Let us examine that The
st, Adams Raid certainly was de
plorable affair. 1t brought taste OF
the alarm and peril of actual warfare
right home to us here at the Nortl
after we had ourselves been spread
ing desolation and ruin, havoc, pillagt
| slaughter, throughout the South Il
has been condemned as an act of ire
gular warfare by good authorities, bu
the South sought to justify its as
measure of retaliation. 1t must be re
called that the Raid took place in tn,
| last despairing months of the COME
deracy when the desperate leaders O
the Rebellion were ready to resort Il
almost any means to bolster up thei
tottering cause. The South was tn,
seat of the War and it had suffere,