The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-02-11
A WAR ROMANCE
Involving Vermont Veteran Who Re
Gently Resided In Pownal

involving vermont VETERAN WHO nv
Gently Resided In Pownal
Perhaps no stranger tale of war |
and romance the weird vagaries OF |
fate and the extended travels OF the |
little god of love, has been told than |
that of Henry Warboy, a former resi- |
dent of Pownal and now a farmer liy-
ing on the Hancock road, South VIII |
Jamestown, who for. some unknown
1 reason, has never told his tale for
publication before until he unfolded
recently to reporter.
Born In West Charleston near the
Canadian border, he became fred
with the desire to go to war" at a
tender age, and after his father had
twice prevented him from enlisting,
he finally permitted him to do so at
the age Of 20, in the 9th Vermont reg
iment, Company f, in which he had q
brother, Charles. Another brother,
Aaron, had enlisted in the 18th
Maine regiment.
Henry managed to get into more
real live exciting events in his term
of service than fell to the lot OF most
of his companions. With several
thousand other federals and General
Miles, he was captured and later ex-
changed in regiments.
Not long afterwards, with several
other Union men on scouting trip,
they encountered a squad OF Confed-
crate cavalry men and one Of them
whacked him over the head with
sabre just as he shot the horseman
dead. He grabbed the sword and as
Confederate reinforcements rode up,
took to swamp infested with alliga-
tors in which he was concealed for
some time, and then required so much
time to make his way back to the I'm
ion lines that word was sent home
that he was dead or missing.
Although he carries to this day
long scar on his head as the result of
that sabre stroke, it was not suffi-
cient to KEEP him out Of the fighting
ranks long, and at Richmond, Va,
piece of bursting shell wounded him
severely in the abdomen. This in
jury was sufficient to keep him in a
hospital at Fortress Monroe for many
weeks.
But in the interval between his two
wounds, he had managed to get next
to- a Confederate who bore the colors
of his side at the siege OF Suffolk, N.
\ c., and as he had done with the sabre
/ and piece of the shell, he captured
II the flag, and those three mementoes
/ of some of his strenuous days on the
II fighting line are, with others, to be
seen in his comfortable home In
II South Williamstown.
II But the strangest part of his tale II
II yet to come.
II When he enlisted he left behind
III him in West Charleston a sweetheart
III She grieyed over the report Of hi!
III death, which was never corrected un
III til his return to his home town at
VI ter the close of the war. BY that time
she had married and moved ava!
= from there. Mr.. Warboy, sometime
after his return from the war, ais,
married and finally moved to this Sc
I ton, living for a time In Pittsfiel,
and later in Pownal, the same tow
in which his first sweetheart hal
made her home for years, and wher
her husband had died over a score o
years ago.
One Sunday at church the ministe
announced to his congregation that h
IS would be unable to preach a sermo
N at that service as he must officiate q
~ the funeral Of Mrs. Henry Warboy.
The name, of course, recalled oil
9, memories in the breast of the so
% dier's sweetheart, but so firmly col
II vinced had she been that he was deat
N ha ua hot
her mind.
A few days later she was at I'll
home of a neighbor, ministering I
- the sick. when the conversation II
cluded mentios of West Charleston
VT. The old sweetheart of Hem
Wawboy mentioned the fact that
q was her native town and she ws
promptly asked IL she did not kno
of Henry Warboy.
She replied that she had know
him as a girl and boy, but that
had been killed In the Civil War.
Her establishment was beyond
scription when she was told tn
M Henry Warboy was not dead. and tn
vi furthermore he was living in Pown
and that his wife had but recent
died.
She did not tell OF the early 7
nance in her life. but suggested tn
she would like TO have him call, II
: felt inclined on a former townsw
a man, and he called the following Su
Y day.
j He explained the reason for his 81
posed death. Later he explained
81 lot more things and within the We
they were married, Rev. j. C. NJ
chell at that time pastor OF the Pc
:, nal Methodist church. performing 4
~ ceremony that made husband al
%. wife, two who had been sweethear
of years ago, both of whom had ms
ried and each OF whom had lost the
SO companion in life.
The terrible wound that Mr.. w,
nd boy received in the abdomen, CO
81 pels him now to wear a heavy h,
a. ness, but he does a mans work on /
~ farm, and besides, the ever-present
III minders of some OF his strenuo
90 days while fighting for his countl
ter draws a pension from the Cover
en- ment