The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-03-18
HELD FIRST MEETING
SINCE CIVIL WAR
Veterans Had Splendid Visit in Barre,
Inspected War Flags at State
House and Talked Over
Old Times.

Reunited again for the first time since
the Civil war and reminiscing over
their army days five out Of the eight
known survivors Of the original Com
pany G, 9th Vermont regiment, have
been having splendid time in Barre
during the past two days. having come
together by invitation OF one of their
number, Emory L. Smith Of this city.
The other four comrades are George A.
Jones. originally Of Mortified. now Of
Shelburne Falls Mass. Jarvis G. Harris
Of Barre, William Strong OF Waterbury,
and Aaron Goss Of Moretown.
The other three known survivors of
the original Company G are Frank A.
Trask Of Randolph, Allen Mehuron Of
Waitsfeld and Lyman b. Stoddard of
Turkey, North Carolina. There may be
others living of the 81 men who were
mustered in Rt Waitsfield on October Is,
1861; but If so. 1t is not known to these
eight
The reunion of the FIVE came about
as the result Of a meeting last summer
between Comrades Smith and Jones The
latter stated to-day that he had been
seeking information about his old COM
pany mates ever since 1866 but without
result, until be went to an encampment
in Bennington where he met veteran
who said he was member OF Company
q but was recruit and not a mem
ber of the original company Mr.. Jones.
therefore, did not recognize the man, but
gained from him information as to sur
viying members of the original company,
among whom was r. t. Smith of Barre.
This information resulted in the meet
ing of Messrs. Jones and Smith last
summer, followed by the tentative plans
to get together as many of the old boys
as possible at the earliest opportunity.
So the invitation was sent out by Mr.
Smith to meet in Barre; and the Ave
men got together Saturday. II was
the first time since 1866 that Mr. Jones
had been in this section of Vermont,
al he had settled in Shelbufne Falls,
Mass, shortly after leaving the army
and had been attending closely to his
chosen trade of maehinist land by the
way he has been employed in the same
shop in Shelburne Falls for 81 yearsl
ever since giving up the United States
service.
So out of touch had Mr.. Jones become
with his old comrades that he thought
them dead, especially since he was one
of the youngest men in the company,
having enlisted when he was l6 But
he found that time had dealt gently with
them, as well as with himself; and the
reunion was Joyous in the extreme.
Comrades Jones and Goss, accompa-
MED by their wives, came to Barre FRI
day and have been guests at Mr.. Smiths
home on West street ever since. They
and Mr. Harris got together Saturday
and talked over the old times; and
later Mr. Jones expressed a desire to I
go to the State House in Montpelier !
to see the old battlefags again. So
they went and had very pleasant
time.
Meanwhile Comrade William Strong
had come to Barre from his home in |
and, missing the others, |
went to Montpelier to find them. The |
latter were walking along the street in
Montpelier when Mr.. Jones spied a fig |
ure which seemed familiar.
"Hello there's Bill Strongl"
And. sure enough, il was Bill Strong,
the comrade whom he had not seen since
they were Rebel prisoners together back
in 1862. Well, then it was joyous
time over again; and the party, thus
completed. spent the remainder of the
afternoon in bringing up "reminiscences.
They talked Of the war and of the in
iuries of each other; and, by the way.
it may be of interest to repeat that 666
men out of the ! $50 in the Sixth Yer
mont were either killed or wounded.
comrade Jones and Comrade Smith both
bear marks of the conflict to-day. The
farmer got his wound in the battle of
White Oak swamp in the Mcclellan cam
paign, being taken prisoner then, while
Mr.. Smith SUSTAINED his injury in the
battle of the Wilderness.
1t has been almost continual visit
since the comrades got together Mr..
Strong returned home Saturday night,
and the other two living outside of Barre
went to-day but each one expressed
he wish that this reunion after half
4 century might be repeated at an early
late.