3rd Vermont Infantry The 3rd Regiment , Vermont Volunteer Infantry ( or 3rd VVI ) was a three - years infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War . It served in the eastern theater , predominantly in the VI Corps , Army of the Potomac , from July 1861 to July 1865 . It was a member of the Vermont Brigade . History . In July 1861 , the United States Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln to call out 500 , 000 men , to serve for three years unless sooner discharged . The 3rd Vermont Infantry was the second of the three years regiments from the state placed in the field as a result of this call . It was organized from militia companies from Springfield , Coventry , Newbury ( Wells River ) , Charleston , Johnson , Hartford , St . Johnsbury , St . Albans , Guidhall , and East Montpelier and Calais . Governor Erastus Fairbanks ' first choices to command the regiment were Colonel John W . Phelps , soon to relinquish his command of the 1st Vermont Infantry , Captain Truman Seymour , 4th U . S . Artillery , a native Vermonter who had been present at the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter , and Captain A . V . Colburn , U . S . Army , who later became Assistant Adjutant General of the Army of the Potomac under General George B . McClellan . Phelps , however , was serving as commandant of the post at Newport News , Virginia , and the offers to Seymour and Colburn were declined . The regiment rendezvoused at St . Johnsbury , on the ground of the Caledonia County Agricultural Society at " Camp Baxter , " named in honor of Adjutant and Inspector General H . Henry Baxter . The regiment mustered into United States service on July 16 , 1861 , and departed for Washington , D . C . on July 24 , under the temporary command of Lieutenant Colonel Breed N . Hyde . At Hartford , Connecticut , the regiment ' s commander , Colonel William Farrar Smith , joined them . The regiment arrived in Washington , D . C . on July 25 , 1861 , and on July 27 , marched up the Potomac to the Chain Bridge , where they built " Camp Lyon . " They joined at that site the 6th Maine Infantry , Mott ' s Battery and a company of cavalry . By August 12 , the 2nd Vermont Infantry and the 33rd New York Infantry had joined them . Major Walter W . Cochran , of Bellows Falls , resigned his commission on August 6 due to a severe attack of fever and ague . Captain Wheelock G . Veazey , of Company A , replaced him . On August 13 , Colonel Smith was appointed brigadier general of volunteers , and Hyde replaced him , now as a full colonel . Veazey was promoted to lieutenant colonel , and Captain Thomas O . Seaver , of Company F , was promoted to major . It was also here that Private William Scott , known to history as the Sleeping Sentinel , was found asleep at his post on August 31 , court - martialed , and sentenced to be executed . President Lincoln heard about the case , pardoned Scott , and returned him to his unit . William Scott was actually standing before a firing squad when the death sentence and pardon were both read , however no one had told him that he had been pardoned prior to being sent to the firing squad . Scott later was killed in action at the Battle of Lee ' s Mills . On September 3 , the units crossed the Chain Bridge , and occupied " Camp Advance , " in advance of the bridge . On September 9 , Private Scott was scheduled to be executed , but during the proceedings , after the death sentence had been read , a pardon was read , sparing his life . In 1997 , the original court - martial and pardon papers were discovered , and authenticated , bringing to an end the controversy over whether President Lincoln had personally signed the pardon , which it turned out he did . Scott served faithfully with his regiment until the Battle at Lee ' s Mills , where he was mortally wounded , and was buried in the national cemetery at Yorktown . On September 11 , the regiment participated in a reconnaissance to and beyond Lewinsville , Virginia , where it engaged Confederate skirmishers . Returning to the camp , the regiment came under fire from Rosser ' s battery . A shell fell within the ranks of Company C , killing Private Amos Meserve , mortally wounding William H . Colburn , and injuring five others . On September 25 , the regiment participated in another reconnaissance to Lewinsville , but suffered no casualties . Quartermaster Redfield Proctor resigned from the regiment on this date to accept appointment as Major of the 5th Vermont Infantry . During the next two weeks , the 4th and 5th Vermont regiments joined Smith ' s division . On October 9 , the Vermont regiments moved to Camp Griffin , about four miles from Chain Bridge . Here , on October 24 , the 6th Vermont Infantry arrived , completing the initial organization of the " Old Vermont Brigade . " The history of the regiment from this point on is essentially that of the Vermont Brigade . The original members of the regiment , who did not reenlist , were mustered out of the service on July 27 , 1864 . Veterans and recruits were consolidated into six companies , July 25 , 1864 . One year recruits and others whose term of service was due to expire prior to October 1 , 1865 , were mustered out on June 19 , 1865 . The remaining officers and men mustered out of service on July 11 . Medal of Honor . Six members of the regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor . See also . Vermont in the Civil War