Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-07-18
AROUND THE
CAMPO s, IN
IA h=AAzz-SAE
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YOUNG DRUMMER BOY a HERO
First Medal of Honor awarded to
Julian Scott, Fifteen Years Old,
of Vermont

The first soldier to win the coveted
medal Of honor was Julian Scott.
hfteen-year-old drummer boy in the
Third Vermont infantry in 1862 The
act which gained him the medal was
performed several months before the
congressional act instituting the re-
ward was passed.
The medal Of honor is the highest
decoration for personal valOr awarded
10 the soldiers and sailors of the Unit
ed States. 1t is to Americans what the
Victoria Cross is to the English or the
IRON Cross to the Germans.
The act of congress ordering 1000
of these medals to be prepared was ap-
Iroved by President Lincoln July u,
1862, and the first medal was issued
the following year. It was a f1ve-point-
ed star of gun metal, tipped with ire
foil. each point containing a victor's
crown Of oak and laurel
On official occasions, says Uncle
Sans Magazine. it was worn suspend
ed around the neck and under the cen
ter line of the chin by order of the
president. A bowknot of ribbon is
worn in the lapel of the coat In the abb
sence Of the medal.
In 1868 the Grand Army of the Re
public organization adopted a design
so similar that it was misleading and
steps were taken by the Medal of
Honor Legion to have a new design
issued to replace the old one. Con-
gress in 1904 adopted the new medal.
1t is of silver, heavily electroplated In
gold.
The fve-pointed star has been re-
tanned and in its center appears the
head Of the heroic Minerva, the high
est symbol of wisdom and righteous
war. Surrounding this central figure
in circular form are the words, United
States of America" An open laurel
wreath, enaneled in green, encircles
the star, and the oak leaves at the
bases of the prongs of the star are
likewise enameled in green to give
them prominence.
1t was on the morning Of April Is
that the afterward famous Vermont
brigade-Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth
regiments-was ordered to advance
and to attack a strong ratification
masked in a forest near Lees Mills,
or Burnt Chimneys, on the right bank
of Warwick river. When the command
reached the bank of the river under
cover of the fire Of a light battery
four companies of the Third regiment,
in one of which Julian Scott was serv-
ing as musician, despite desperate re-
sistance by the enemy, hidden among
trees and a dense underbrush on the
opposite side, succeeded in wading
across.
The water midstream was breast
high and soaked the paper cartridges
carried in little leather boxes on the
back The rest of the brigade failed
to come up, but the plucky advance
guard drove the Confederates from
their position and had pursued them
some distance before they rallied.
Then, unsupported and with worthless
ammunition, the Vermonters fell back.
AS soon as the enemy realized that
the retreating companies had no de-
fence but bayonets they subjected
them to merciless fire.
The climax to the catastrophe came
when the Vermont companies reached
the stream they had forded an hour
earlier and found it a roaring flood.
While the fighting had been going on
the Confederates had opened the food