St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-09-17

to say he was not again interrupted.
1t will be remembered by those
who. we're living at the time, that
there was a good deal of braggadocio
INDUCED in by the hot heads both
North and South such as THE
Yankees are no good at fighting .
on the one hand, and 1.-The South
erners were too lazy to fight and we'll
soon give them a drubbing'' on the
other, but ere long it was discovered
that it was Greek against Creek
and the tug of war was destined to
be long and bloody for each host had
met foremen of his steel.
Well Kissed Before Leaving
Life at Camp Baxter was to the
writer one of the most enjoyable
events of his life, the only sad in
cident connected with it being the
parting of the soldier boys with their
| loved ones when the regiment took
| its departure for the seat of war
Being a stranger in strange land,
with so far as | knew no relatives
within several hundred miles of ST.
Johnsbury, 1 did not expect to share
in the sad farewell scene further
than as a silent sympathizing spec
tator, yet for some reason to me I'M
known Though 1 am frank TO say
the experience was none the less
agreeable) / came in for my full
share of the kissing as we'll as the
embraces and hand shaking. l sup
posed 1 was either the victim of
mistaken identity due to the excite
ment of the occasion, or perhaps
the fair osculators, knowing my
lone and forlorn situation, were
Ii w he Oh
ones. Be that as it may, I offered
no resistance and submitted good
naturally to the ordeal, although
the proxies out-numbered my absent
ones in the proportion of a score
to one and although it has never
been my pleasure to meet any of the
Flair ones since, the recollection of
them and their kind kisses and wish
es will linger in my memory until
pass over the dark river" Truly:
you cannot buy with gold
The old associations"
Twas on or about July 23rd, 1861
that the Third VT. regiment babe
farewell to Camp Baxter and friends
for the seat of war via railroad to
New Haven, thence by steamer to
New York and by rail from New
York to Washington, where we ar
rived three days later.
Field and Staff Officers
The field and staff officers of the
regiment were: Colonel w. F.
Smith, who subsequently rose to the
rank of major-general, and was
known Familiarity as "Old Badly"
Smith, and who served with dis
tinction both in the Army of the
Potomac" and with the Army of
Sherman at Chattanooga, where he
rendered the most valuable service
by opening up communication with
Florence, Ada, and thereby getting
supplies to our starving army in
Chattanooga.
Breed N. Hyde was Lieut.. Col
and Cochran was Major. Both of
these last named, as we'll as many
of the company or line officers with
in a few months disappeared from
the theatre of war, though their
disappearance was not due directly |
at least to the fortunes of war as
the regiment up to the time of their
disappearance had never met the |
enemy and had consequently not |
smelled powder.
The fact that one of the number |
at the battle of Fredericksburg dem
onstrated that he was not of the |
breed that heroes are made off,
caused the loss of the Regimental !
Hi(y) de which fact might have been
attended with disastrous results had
it not been for the prompt and eff
cient action of Maj. Seaver, who had
been watching with mingled feelings
of wrath and disgust for the OPP
portunity to save the regiment from
disaster and disgrace which he was
not slow to do and the regiment not
only escaped those calamities by the
skin of its teeth, but repulsed with
heavy loss the approaching enemy.
I may add that the unanimous YER
dict of officers and soldiers was that
the loss of our Hi(y)de at that time
was our gain as it left us IN much
better fighting trim.
1t is not my purpose in this paper
to write history of the war, yet a
detailed history of one regiment
from Bull Run to Appomattox would
IN fact be a complete history of the
war so far as the army to which
said regiment was attached was
In this paper l have en-
1eavored to chronicle only incidents
and events in connection with the
muster and equipment
Of the regiment, together with it's
departure for Washington and it's
final Incorporation in the Grand
Army of the Potomac.
Delay in Reaching Washington
On our way to Washington our
progress was greatly retarded by
rain loads of the debris of battle, Z
oldiers whose retreat ended when
hey reached their homes. Each
nd every one of these men, accord i
ng to the tales they unfolded to
is raw recruits, was a veritable hero r
Who had single-handed slain at least I,
score and many of them had single T
landed annihilated an entire regi- 2
1ent of the enemy. This naturally +
our enthusiasm as we I
bought there would be no fighting f
or us. A delusion by the way that F
vas destined to be soon dissipated n
S we found Johnnies in plenty who F
we're willing to accommodate us c
vifh all of that article we desired =