The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-09-02
,rHE aAI.Lorisa FIRST. :


4 ies'a's II ihe closing dag u She army
mAnesasFss Al rsne uAmp n, u. Monday
Nas a strenuous light besween the militia
II The slalss Of Nsnnoal and Maine. The
srsinlehls that t@ak Part aetr the fsfsl
Nrtmons, commanded hy Col. j, Il, ksiss,
shd The eeooUi Maine. commanded ~
telansl Hume. The iFnhlem aas that :
teslnrnl II infantry which Nas the all
kanse Hiani Ut 4 division had crossed the
islsek river aud aas making lie nay to
sieEllngyille With the ahinei u destroying
stores accumulated there The hlus lotee,
whlfh Mas represented By the First hsE-
mont, got away from camp Ia good order
AZ ~ and made direct Tor belts Mllls,
II Mas shortly followed hy the seeond
Maine regiment, which ,ivprrschled the
rei army, and is destination was ilnb'
hsuis Crossing. Tho ground between tbs
Two iofoes Mas we'll adapted for such
maneuser aud At the appointed hour the
Two loroes got under way,
Colonel Hume decided 10 send out Com
pans l. a. the advance guard, with the
remaining ihnar COMPANIES III the second
haiialions under command of Malor Mayo
closely following up aud holding the two
remaining haitAllons Ia fessne, After
advancing abonl a mile the point was hrei
upon aud the three companies were
brought w AZ double time.
They quickly developed the enemy in
the underbnish on the left Of the road.
Here some sharp fighting took place aud
Colonel Hum. eeni N the third battalion
commanded ~ Major Southland and reln'
forced him hy the first battalion under
command oi MAJOR fnrssun,
The fighting became fierce bat grad
ually the Blue army gave way and in
short order the Maine men captured
couple al squads of the Blues. Pressing
on, the Blue army was put ~ iull retreat
and as they ran across the open 10
clump ~ woods they we've subject 10 a
mling lire from the 900 men OF the He'd
army.
Reaching cover they reformed and gave
the Red army several yoleys and then
withdrew. but 10y this time the Reds had
completely surrounded the Blues and II
there had been actual bullets used II
would have been hardly possible for a
man 10 have escaped.
10 the surprise OF Colonel Hume he de
covered that lac had been fighting with
only two companies of the rear guard oil
the Blue army, under command OF Major
Thomas, who evidently siaid too long aud
consequently sacrificed his forces. lie,
however. had accomplished all that wa.
expected OF him and he enabled Colonel
Estey TO push the remainder OF his reg
ment ON toward Sterlingyille aud was
within two miles OF that town when hos
Utilities were declared of.
IL appears that when Colonel Esiey
reached the appointed place where he
was ordered and the time for hostilitics
had commenced, he sent out his mounted
sconts-some half.score young students oil
the Vermont military collegc-who lmne-
diately discovered the enemy and report
ed their location 10 Colonel Estey The
latter Immediately detached the two
companies under comamnd OF MAJOR
Thomas with instructions to held the
enemy while he pushed on to Sterlingvllle;
To do this he had to make forced
march. making a reputation for the reg-
ment. and hereafter the First Vermont
will be known as the "Galloping First,
To reach his goal he had TO make wide
detour clear around liogsback and then
over the plank road direct to Sterling
vile. -,
cred this maneuver earlier he might nave
cut him off at Cold Springs and com
PEELED the colonel to fight, but 1t was TOO
late and time was up.
The fight between the two companies
of the rear guard was rather spectacular,
as the Maine regiment was IN ilne posi-
tion and when the Blues made break
for the woods across the open the, Name
bovs came out of the underbrush Ike rap
bits out of holes and shouted like conan
che Indians, only to be met by volley after
volley from the reformed enemy on what
was their last stand. !, J. A.,
The regiment looked well as 1t charged
across the field, the men being deployed
as skirmishers, and was well IN hahu;:
| The two companies under command OF
Major Thomas should also be commended
as they well knew they were ioriorh
hope. They kept up magnificent hfe'
both in volleys and at will.
| One of the most interesting spectatols
of the fight was General Grant, VINO Ma1
ont with Colonel Andrews, and several
officers and was present at the close wnep
the Reds reformed for the march nome.
In the evening Captain Malone, VINO wa
cbiaf umpire. met the officers OF potn
eontending forces and pointed out TO tnenil
the errors made and he also had a w9 II1
~ nraise for both officers and men, he
ornIained why Colonel Estey could push
along as he did in the enemys country
as he knew that a division OF thu, biues
was close in his rear, and If he could ohls
reach the stores and destroy lnem ~, i'
would be rescued from his position 'n'
Roth regiments did excellent work, ah 4,
tho benefits from these maneuvers VIII D'
Of great value in the future to Ihe men
Va 3 III ,op;meuts Both officers anC