AN

OR A.TIO ]sr

BEFORE THE

RE-UNION SOCIETY

VERMONT OFFICERS,

Kepresentatives' Hall, Moxtpeliee, Yt.,

minhev 22a, 1868;

By QEN. p. T. WASHBURN,

WOODSTOCK, YT.

MONTPELIER :
J. & J. M. POLAND, PRINTERS.

1869.

SMITHSONIAN DICPOSIT.

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\

AN

O E^T I O 3S^

BEFORE THE

RE-UmON SOCIET

YERMONT OFFICERS

IN ;rHE

Representatives' Hall, Moi^tpeliee, Yt.^

^ ©ctaljBr 22tl, 1868, : . !

By OEN. p. T. AVASHBURN.

avoodstock, vt.

MONTPELIER :
J. & J. M. POLAND, PRINTERS.

1869.

JOIxVT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE PRINTING
OF THE ADDRESS OF GENERAL P. T. WASHBURN
BEFORE THE RE-UNION SOCIETY OF VERMONT
OFFICERS.

Whereas, The Address delivered before the Re-uuion Society of
Vermout Officers, during the present session, by General P. T.
Wasiiburx, was a brief yet comprehensive review of the part
taken by Vermont in the late war, and contains many facts impor-
tant to a complete military history of our State, Therefore :

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives^ That the
Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate be directed to pro-
cure the printing of one thousand copies of said Address for the
use of the General Assembly.

GEORGE W. GRANDEY,

Speaker of the House.
STEPHEN THOMAS,

President of the Senate.

STATE OF VERMONT,

Office of Secretary of State.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of a Joint Reso-
lution passed at the iVnnual Session of 1868, as appears from the
files of this office.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name, and affix the
seal of this office, at Montpelier, this twenty-first day of
\ L. s. [ 'November, hi the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.

GEORGE W. WING,

Deputy Secretary of State.

OEATION.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Vermont Offi-
cers' Ee-Union Society : — The notice for your meeting
has announced your purposes, and has, perhaps unintention-
ally, but most significantly and beautifully, prescribed a
programme for your Address. In addition to the renewal,
"through social intercourse, of the ties of friendship formed
in the field," you desire to keep " green and sacred in your
hearts the memories of the five thousand, who gave their
lives for the cause " of freedom and the Union, and " to
draw a renewed inspiration and renewed courage for the
work yet before you from the ' touch of a comrade's elbow '
and the sight of the shot-rent standards, under which you
fought and so many of your heroes fell." To direct your
attention to the prominent circumstances, which connected
you, and your deceased comrades, and the thousands of
enlisted men who served with you, with the State which you
represented in the field, and, from a consideration of the
sacrifices made and the results achieved at home and abroad,
to arrive at some appreciation, imperfect though it may be,
of the work yet remaining to be accomplished, is the task
which you have thus imposed upon me. Trusting to your
forbearance, your kind consideration, your hearty apprecia-
tion of good intentions, however crudely accomplished, with
which heretofore, through the years of war, you have cheered

8

and encouraged me in the performance of the duties and
responsibilities which devolved upon me, I proceed, as I
1)6 st may, to its accomplishment.

The history of Vermont in the war for the preservation of
the Union remains to be written. Its minutest details, yet
fresh in your memories, are preserved of record in the offi-
cial archives of the State, their most sacred deposite, for the
use of the future historian, when memory fading into tradi-
tion shall require their reproduction in the enduring form
which literature gives to facts, and time shall furnish a
stand point, free from partisan prejudice and personal par-
tiality, from which the past may be viewed in connected
panorama. But in the mean time it cannot be inappro-
priate, that we should devote the hour allotted to us to a
brief review of its prominent features, and a slight tribute
to the memory of those of our fellow citizens, who, with
more than 275.000 of their comrades, have made upon the
altar of their country the highest and holiest sacrifice, that
man can ever make, — the offering of their lives, — a burnt
offering upon fields of fire, rendered necessary by the Nation's
sins and rewarded by the Nation's purification.

When, after one encroachment had followed another, and
the struggle between the earnest advocates and exponents of
absolute freedom and its opponents had become year by year
more bitter and intensified, and slavery yet demanded broader
territory for its unskilled agriculture, — after Missouri had
been surrendered to its grasp, — Texas had been enveloped
in its dark folds, — Kansas had become a free State only
through a purification by blood, — and still it was insisted,
that all the Ijroad territories of the nation should be surren-
dered to its demands, — the Judiciary obeyed its behests, —
the chiefs of the government forgot the fundamental idea oi'
the government and the source of its prosperity, treason was
plotted, conspirators found favored audience in the Execu-

9

tive Chamber, the armament of the nation was so dispersed
as to be unavailable for its protection, and the loyal States
were awakened by the first overt act of Secession, as by the
sudden convulsion of an earthquake, to the knowledge that
the integrity of the Nation was in- dire hazard, that the Rep-
resentative Federal Union, which our Fathers had transmit-
ted to our care, was upon tlie brink of disruption, and that
we were strong only in the immutable principles of right, in
our reliance upon the overruling power of a just God, and
in our own untrained, unskilled numbers — the State of Ver-
mont, in common with most of the loyal States, was poorly
prepared for the emergency, though in Ijetter condition than
some. The universal burst of popular indignation and of
fierce determination to save the Government at all hazards
was the same in all ; but Massachusetts and New York, by
means of their organized militia, were enabled to render,
with the utmost promptness, the assistance which was
required for the preservation of the Capital of the Nation ;
while in Vermont, the militia, which had existed and flour-
ished from the commencement of the State Government, fos-
tered by the recollections of two wars, had been destroyed
as an organized body by the statute of 1844 so effectually,
that in the year 1855 there was not in the State, and had
not been for years, even the semblance of a military organ-
ization, and it had become the received opinion throughout
the State, incited by years of peace and favored by a false
economy, that no emergency could arise which would ren-
der it of any importance that the men of arms-bearing age
should be organized, drilled, disciplined, or even armed.

Fortunately, as the result proved, in 1856 the legislature
enacted a statute permitting the formation of volunteer com-
panies, the provisions of which were sufficient to stimulate
the organization of a few companies in 1857 and 1858 ; and
when, in April, 1861, the proclamation of the President was-

10

issued, calling for 75.000 militia to serve for three months,
there were upon the Roster in the office of the Adjutant <t
Inspector General the names of twenty-two companies, —
several of them, however, unprovided with arms, and all
deficient in numbers. The enrolment of the militia, required
by statute, had been defectively performed ; from many towns
no returns had been made, and neither records nor files
•existed, from which the number of able-bodied men in the
State, liable to perform military duty, could be determined
with even an approximation to correctness.

Alarmed by the ominous gloom of the thickening political
horizon, the Governor of the State, in January, 1861, had
issued his order directing each commander of a company to
assemble his men at once and ascertain and report without
delay, whether they would volunteer to enter into the service
of the United States, in case it should be found necessary to
resort to arms. The order was obeyed and was responded
to by the several companies. But even this measure failed
to induce a realizing belief, that any thing serious was
impending. The deficiencies in the ranks remained unfilled ;
and the people were apathetic, regarding the events, which
were crowding thickly upon them, more as matters of curi-
osity and interesting items of daily news, than as real facts,
prophetic of the future, which were to influence their lives,
the history of the Government, the safety of the Nation, and
all that they held most dear in person, family and property.

In this condition of the militia and of the militia law, the
officers of the State were required to raise, organize, arm
and send out, for immediate active service in the field in the
army of the United States, the quota of troops required from
Vermont.

To the partial, incomplete and extremely deficient militia
organization, then existing, and the fiery impulse of the peo-
ple, which enabled its officers to fill its scanty ranks without

11

delay, Vermont is indebted for her ability to respond to this
first requisition for men, made when delay, even for a week,
might involve the destruction of the Nation, or prolong the
contest, until endurance could no longer be borne ; and to
Governor Fairbanks, whose indomitable energy would allow
no check, and to his efficient staff officers, enduring gratitude
is due for the promptness with which the necessary equip-
ment for war was provided.

Of this First Regiment of Vermont Volunteers I must be
allowed to speak with pride. They were first to volunteer
from the State ; the order for their organization was issued
on the twenty-third of April ; they were in camp on tne sec-
ond of May, left the State on the ninth, bore proudly through
the streets of New York the little sprig of evergreen, which
designated each man as one of the noble race of Green
Mountain Boys, whose fathers had fought and won at Ben-
nington, and whose sons had maintained the integrity of their
sires, until they had gained for their State the proud title of
"The Star that never sets"; they were in Fortress Monroe
on the thirteenth, — too late to save Norfolk, with its
immense armament, which treachery had surrendered to
treason only a few days preceding their arrival, but season-
ably to preserve the Fortress from capture by the rebel
bands which then swarmed under its very walls and effectu-
ally blockaded every approach by land ; they served faith-
fully their term ; the name of the first battle of the war is
inscribed upon their record ; and when they returned to be
disbanded, it was but to tender service again in other organ-
izations, again to maintain the honor of the State and the
integrity of the Nation in field and camp. The history of
every subsequent organization, the history of Vermont in the
war, is in part their history.

In the mean time, upon the call of the Executive, the peo-
ple of the State, by their elected representatives, met in coun-

12

cil to devise ways and means for performing worthily and
promptly their part in the great strnggie, which they had
scarcely l)egan to realize. So little were the extent of the
exigency and the resources of the State understood and
appreciated, that, beside making some slight provision for
calling out the previously neglected and scanty organized
militia, they authorized the raising of two regiments immedi-
ately, for two years' service, and four more regiments if
■necessary ; — and even with this as the extent of the provis-
ion made, there were men, whose intelligence and patriotism
could not be doubted, who argued with earnest sincerity,
that the provision made was greatly in excess of the neces-
sity, — and army officers of large experience, and even think-
ing and well informed men resident in the State, insisted,
that to raise three regiments and keep their ranks filled would
test the capacity of the State to the utmost. What would
have been the thoughts of those men and what the action of
that legislature, could the veil of futurity have been for a
moment raised, and they could have known, that before that
rebellion should end, before the terms offered by humanity and
justice to wrong and oppression should be accepted at Aj^po-
niattox, Vermont would raise eighteen regiments, three batter-
ies and three detached companies, requiring for their original
organizing and the replenishing of their constantly depleting
ranks more thah thirty-four thousand men, at a cost of more
than nine millions of dollars, happily we are not required to
speculate. The error of those days was that each side under-
rated the other. Had the magnitude of the approaching
contest been appreciated, compromise might for a time have
prevented its occurrence, and the Nation have been left to
struggle for a few years longer with the ulcer, which was
gnawing at her vitals, — but which yet would have ultimately
been required to be removed, not by the soothing appliances
of scheming and compromising politicians, but only by the

13

harsh operation of actual excision. In the wise providence
of God, the contest has been fought and won ; and if it has
taxed our resources and our faith beyond the possibility of
anticipation, it has nevertheless enabled us to transmit to
those who shall succeed us a more priceless legacy, than our
fathers bequeathed to us, — a Constitution freed from com-
promises,— a government realizing in fact, what previously
was but a splendid theory, that " all men are born free
and equal."

But two acts of that legislature must ever be regarded as
eminent illustrations of their wise and patriotic forethought.
They deemed it unjust that the gathering volunteers from
Yermont should make all the sacrifice, and those who
remained within the State enjoy the result without cost, —
and they provided, that every enlisted man, serving in a Ver-
mont organization, should receive from the treasury of the
State seven dollars per month in addition to his pay from the
United States. And they held, that it would be a disgrace
to the commonwealth, if the families of its brave defenders,
who had given to the service of the State their sole depend-
ence for the necessaries of life, should ever be deemed, or
treated, or even assisted, as town paupers, — and they pro-
vided, that those families should be treated as the beneficia-
ries of the State and be furnished by an agent of the State
with all the assistance they required. From that time the
patriot, having a family, or relatives, dependent upon him,
however poor in worldly goods, could enter and remain in
the service with the undoubting certainty, that their necessi-
ties would be relieved and their comfort be provided for by
the State, which had assumed their guardianship. How
much of alleviation this may have brought to the death beds
of soldiers dying from disease, or wounds, how much it may
have rendered more endurable the hardships of the cam-
paign and of the battlefield, we may never know. But these

14

two wise and spirited enactments, originating in the brain of
some far-seeing man, to whom, for the conception, the people
of the State should be ever grateful, were the foundation of
the promptness with which every subsequent call for men
was met, and of the consequent position which the State was
enabled to attain.

The action of the people of the State during the succeed-
iuff four vears of war is too recent and too familiar to need
more than mention. Everywhere from our rugged mountain
slopes and our beautiful valleys, from the field, the workshop,
the counting-room and the scenes of professional life, the
young and the brave, abandoning the pursuits of peace, with
which alone they were familiar, abandoning wives, children,
and parents, the delights of home and the comforts of home
life, with a readiness and a unanimity, which evinced, more
than words can describe, how dear to the people was the
cause which was involved, assumed the garb and weapons of
the soldier and put themselves in training for their new pro-
fession. The State furnished means with lavish hand. To
her executive officers enlarged and extraordinary powers,
the necessity of war, were freely conceded. The towns
assumed cheerfully the quotas that were assigned to them,
and vied with each other in friendly contest to avoid a draft.
Every selectman became a recruiting officer, — every hamlet
and every farm was diligently canvassed for recruits. As
time progressed, and the supply of men became more lim-
ited, and the first enthusiasm, which had induced the belief
that the contest was to be terminated in some very brief
period of time, gradually gave way to the stern realities of
protracted war, the towns increased the inducements offered
to volunteers, until, under the call of July, 1864, in the
midst of the campaign from the Rapidan to the James, when
the Army of the Potomac, under the immediate eye of Grant,
were engaged in daily conflict, and the long rolls of casual-

15

ties from the Wilderness, ripottsylvaiiia and Cold Harbor,
and the hospital returns from one hundred and twenty-five
General Hospitals told to the citizens of the State, that
recruits then obtained were needed for and would be at once
placed in the front rank of actual battle, bounties attained
their highest point, and the towns cheerfully paid five hun-
dred dollars, and in many cases a thousand dollars, to each
volunteer ; and the required quota was filled without a single
drafted man.

With a grand list, as the basis of taxation in 1861, of
$970,690 09, a population of 315.116, and an enrolled mili-
tia, as near as could be ascertained, of 36.680, the State
furnished for the war 34.238 men, at an expense of $9,087.-
353 40, — of which sum 15.215.787 70 was expended by the
several towns, in their municipal capacity, without expecta-^
tion of repayment, — an average for the State of more thau
nine hundred cents upon each dollar of the Grand List. I
do not mention this boastfully; but it is an item in the his-
tory of the State, of Avhich her citizens have a right to be
proud. If the emergency was attended with lavish expense,
it also justified it ; and no complaint has ever been made of"
the amount.

The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Regiments of
Infantry, the First Regiment of Cavalry and the three com-
panies of Sharp Shooters followed each other in rapid suc-
cession in 1861 ; the Seventh and Eighth Regiments went
into camp in the midst of the severity of a Vermont winter ;
and the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Four-
teenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Regiments of Infantry and;
two Batteries of Light Artillery followed them from the State
in 1862. In that single year 11.952 of our bravest and best,
men volunteered their services to the nation, without draft,
and with a very slight bounty in a few cases, — a very large
proportion with none. To the men who volunteered for

16

tliree years, I am not aware that any bounty was paid, unless
as subsequent appreciation of patriotic service, until after
1862. Under subsequent and often repeated calls for troops
the Seventeenth Regiment and the Third Battery were raised
and sent forward ; and the ranks of the old regiments,
depleted by death, disease, and the casualties of the service,
were filled by recruits, taking their places by the side of the
scarred, war-worn veterans who remained, and carrying to
them that encouragement, which those only who have expe-
rienced it can appreciate, that their State had not forgotten
them, — until, when the long contest culminated in victory,
and the vanquished but stubborn rebellion had collapsed,
10.437 men had been sent for this purpose, — more than
thirty-four thousand in all, — from the comparatively small
but glorious old Green Mountain State.

Our Fathers, with Avise appreciation of the present, and
perhaps with prophetic anticipation of the future, inscribed
upon the banner of the State of Vermont the motto " Free-
dom and Unity," — freedom for all men of every race, —
freedom for self-government, — freedom for the equal rights
of all, — the Unity of the States, the confederated exponents
and defenders of the rights of man. When the martyr Lin-
coln proclaimed liberty to the enslaved, the motto of the
State became the battle-cry of the Nation. Time and again
have the stalwart men of the State flaunted the banner bear-
ing that motto in the face of defiant rebels ; — never once has
it been left in their possession.

But in alluding to the patriotic deeds of patriot men, let
us not forget the mothers in the State, those tender, loving,
shrinking mothers, called upon to give consent to the enlist-
ment of their sons into a service, of which they knew nothing,
but that it was beset with danger and death, — impelled on
the one hand by the stern demand of patriotism, and keenly,
most keenly, tortured on the other by the thought of surren-

17

dering to privation, exposure and the chance of sudden
death the children whom they had borne, and nursed and
watched from birth with all a mother's love and all a moth-
er's care. Nearly, if not quite, one-third of the soldiers from
the State required the consent of parents to their enlistment
into the service of the country. To give that consent must
have involved a conflict as keen, a forgetfulness of self as
complete, a devotion to country as perfect, as was ever
required from the soldier in the sterner conflicts of actual
war. And the wives, the sisters, the daughters, and the
betrothed, — let them never be forgotten, when the sacrifices
and exertions of Vermont are remembered. Each and all
surrendered all that they loved most dear on earth at the
call of the State, — they gave infinitely more than treasure,
for they gave that, for which each would gladly have given
life itself. Most nobly have they contributed to the record
of Honor which the State has earned.

But to find the full page of that record, we must follow
those patriot soldiers to the field. And here I falter, — for
I cannot do justice to their bravery, their endurance, their
gallant bearing in every time of trial and of danger. The
battle flags displayed in these legislative halls, and in yonder
vestibule, torn and pierced by shot and shell, shreds, only,
of the beautiful banners they once were, with the tablets,
upon which are inscribed the battles through which they
were borne, though silent, more eloquently speak of the
deeds of the brave men who fought and died under their
folds, than the most finished eloquence of the most
gifted orator.

I do not need to tell you of the glorious record of the
"Old Brigade," — the "best brigade in the Army of the
Potomac," — distinguished alike for fearless courage in
fight, patient endurance in camp, and unwearied diligence
upon the march. I need not tell you how at Lee's Mills
5

18

they forded the Warwick in the face of the enemy's fire, car-
ried the rebel entrenchments and held them against repeated
attacks by thrice their number for hours, until they were
ordered to retire, — how they endured the seven days, from
Savage Station to Harrison's Landing, when every day was
spent in continuous fighting and every night in marching, —
how they fought at the first Fredericksburgh, — of the gal-
lant charge at Marye's Height, crossing at the double quick
the open plain of a mile in width and storming successfully
the enemy's works, — how at Bank's Ford they held at bay
the victorious rebels and saved the Sixth Corps, — how at
South Mountain they charged and drove the enemy from a
position which appeared impregnable, — of their exploit at
Funkstown, unexampled in history, where in extended skir-
mish line of three miles and without support they repelled
three several attacks of rebels in line of battle, and retained
their position, — of that stubborn, fearful fight at the Wilder-
ness, where, holding'^the key of the position, a line, the pierc-
ing of which would have exposed the reserve artillery and
the wagon train of the army to immediate capture and would
have effectually severed Hancock's Corps from the main body
and driven him back upon Fredericksburgh, with but 2800
muskets they resisted the repeated impetuous charge of a
division of 10.000 rebels and held their line, though at the
fearful cost of three out of every five, — more than 1700 in
all, killed, or wounded, — of their gallant behavior at Spott-
sylvania, where, having charged and carried the enemy's works
far in the advance, they refused to retire, when ordered, and
declared that they would hold them six months, if furnished
with rations and ammunition, — of the deadly conflict on
the twelfth of May, 1864, when only a breastwork of logs
and earth separated the combatants and almost hand to hand
the fight was maintained at scarce a musket's length apart, —
of Cold Harbor, the march to Petersburgh, the fight at the

19

Weldoii Kailroad, never to l^e forgotten by those whose
friends and relatives were there captured and consigned to
the tender mercies of Andersonville, — of Opequan, Charles-
ton, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, — of the tedious winter
in front of Petersburgh, and the magnificent charge of the
second of April, which drove the rebels from their last strong-
hold and compelled them to that final disastrous flight, which
resulted in tlie annihilation of the rebel strength. Through
all this that brigade of men of iron marched and fought,
until their record has added its brightest pages to the history
of the State, and the name of the "■ Vermont Brigade " has
become as widely known as that of the State itself.

Shall we ever forget the services rendered and hardships
endured by the regiments and batteries stationed in the
Department of the Gulf, and subjected to the severity of an
unhealthy climate so unlike their own ? — the Seventh Regi-
ment, depleted to a skeleton by disease before they had had
time to fire a musket in active service, but who noJjly vindi-
cated at Spanish Fort the honor of the State, and compelled,
by their fearless bravery, the recognition of their claim to
have lieen ever brave and true, and of their right, denied by
Butler, but ordered by the gallant Sheridan, to inscribe upon
their colors the name of Baton Rouge ; — the Eighth Regi-
ment,— can we forget the almost incredible labor performed
by them in opening the railroad to Lafourche, — the marcli
from Brashear City to Alexandria, with the Ijatties fought
and won, — their dashing bravery at Vicksburgli, where, in
the first attack, they marched through and over two ])rigades
in front and from the third became t]ie first line of attack,
holding their position with dogged obstinacy until the for-
tress fell, — or their gallant enduring- courage at Cedar
Creek, where, attacked in front, flank and rear, they main-
tained their ground, until, of sixteen officers and one hun-
dred and forty men engaged, thirteen officers and one

20

hundred and nine men had been killed, wounded, or cap-
tured ; — the First Battery, who at Pleasant Hill, with
double canister and at half distance poured into the breasts
of the charging column of rebels such a resistless storm as
enabled them to save the guns which they had been ordered
to spike and abandon ; — and the Second Battery, who at
Plains' Store and Port Hudson made their record for

history ?

Let me also, in this brief retrospect, do full justice to the
Ninth Regmient, who effaced at Chapin's Farm the memory
of their misfortune, not their fault, at Harper's Ferry, — who
won the palm in the eighteenth corps for soldierly drill and
discipline, and were the first of the Union Army to enter
Richmond;— to the Tenth Regiment, who, after long and
wearying delay upon the banks of the Upper Potomac, nobly
earned at Orange Grove, in every battle from the Rapidan to
the James, in the final assault on the second of April, and at
Sailor's Creek, the right to be recognized as true sons of
Vermont ; — and to the Eleventh Regiment, who, in the con-
struction of the defences at Washington, left an enduring
monument of their toil, whose active service commenced at
Spottsylvania, and whose subsequent history is that of the
" Old Brigade."

No unimportant part of the record of the history of Ver-
mont in the war has been won by the fearless riders, the
gallant, dashing troopers, of the First Vermont Cavalry
whose colors are inscribed all over with the names of sev-
enty-tliree battles, and who were always ready to follow
where any man would lead, or to lead Avhere any man would
follow. They rode, as though it were pastime, from the
Rapidan to the defences of Richmond, around Lee's flank
and rear, — from Ream's Station through South Eastern Vir-
ginia back to the lines before Petersburgh, — from Winches-
ter to Waynesboro, and thence to the Chesapeake, fightmg

21

as often as the enemy were seen and dealing destruction to
his supplies and his communications. Who can read, with-
out a thrill of admiration, the record of that final charge at
Cedar Creek, where, after a whole day of desperate fighting,
of retreat and advance and varying fortune, the enemy were
driven, routed, demoralized and disheartened, from the field,
and the ready carbine, the sabre and the revolver, in the
hands of men goaded to the utmost limit of excitement by
the evidences of brutal Imrbarity to the Union wounded and
dead, which they had witnessed as they traversed the l^attle-
field, took ample revenge in the carnage of blood, and
twenty-three captured guns were parked as their trophies
of victory.

The Sharp Shooters, always placed in the front, ever sent
to explore the most dangerous places, accustomed to direct
with unerring aim the deadly rifle, and upon the skirmish lino
to make and receive the first attack, though they were com-
paratively few in number and so connected with organiza-
tions from other States as to prevent the full record of their
daring deeds from being generally known and appreciated,
have yet earned ample meed of praise. Of the campaign
from the Rapidan to Petersburgh their official report says, —
" Since the first gun in the Wilderness there has been no
cessation of artillery and musketry and no resting-place in
the whole campaign." The record of their engagements and
the ratio of their loss conclusively prove how deservedly they
won the confidence of their commanders.

The bloody record of the Seventeenth, the youngest of
Yermont's regiments, deserves more than to be merely men-
tioned. Within eighteen days after they left the State they
were placed in the front rank of battle. Without drill,
and scarce knowing an order, save that which directed them
to advance, they fought their way with reckless bravery from
the Wilderness to the lines of Petersburgh, their tattered

22

colors, ever advanced as far as the foremost, now the prop-
erty and the sacred charge of the State, attesting with silent
but impressive eloquence their right to demand rank by the
side of Vermont's bravest sons. I would that I could
describe to you the fearful scene at the explosion of the
Mine, where every commissioned officer was left, killed, or
captured, and the colors, grasped by one as they fell from
the hands of another of their brave defenders, were yet
borne from off the field of battle, with scarce fifty men left
to rally around theni. The record of the regiment, with its
fifteen engagements, is one of honor, and yet one of blood
throughout.

The chances of the campaign and their comparatively brief
term of service gave to the Third Battery but few opportuni-
ties to achieve distinction ; but those were gallantly improved
and their record is honorable to themselves and to the State.
Few of them, while living, will forget their service in " Fort
Hell," or the close and decisive artillery fire of the second
of April.

But liere another glorious scene, the culminating point of
the rebellion, that of the memorable third of July, 1863, made
a bright and dazzling page in the history of Vermont by the
gallantry of her sons, demands attention. The State had
sent out, upon l)rief notice and for short term of service, a
brigade of men, — the Second Vermont Brigade. They left
with high Iiopes of achieving distinction, ambitious of testing
their right to challenge position by the side of the " Old
Brigade." They lay inactive upon the banks of the Occoquan
through the tedious vv^inter until their term of enlistment had
well nigh expired, and their anticipation of active service had
yielded to the longing desire for home, which at such times
protracts the lingering days. But picket duty and the protec-
tion of an interior line were not to be the extent of their
experience in the field. Lee, flushed with victory at Chan-

23

cellorsville, had led his legions across the Potomac and
transferred the seat of ^yar to the free soil of the North.
His fancied opportunity for final siiccess was before him, and
he hastened to improve it. On the twenty-fifth of June the
order was received, directing the Second Brigade to report
at Gettysburgh. They toiled for seven days through rain and
mud and exhausting heat, and arrived upon the field, weary
and exhausted, just at the conclusion of the disastrous fight
of the first of July. On the evening of the second day the
Union ranks had been pierced and ])roken by a desperate
charge, and the chance of war placed the untried troops of
Vermont in the front line, — the exigency of the moment not
allowing delay for bringing up more distant but veteran
troops. That line they held, — giving, that evening, by a gal-
lant dash in front, a specimen of their spirit. The next day,
when every other part of the line had been unsuccessfully
attempted, Lee, informed that the left centre was held by
untried militia, directed upon it for two fearful hours the
terrific fire of more than one hundred pieces of artillery.
The men of Vermont lay unprotected, while shot and shell
ploughed the ground in front and rear and filled the air with
demoniac sound. The tornado ceased, and the veteran divi-
sion of Pickett was hurled upon them. Met by a courage as
determined, by a fire as furious, as their own, and unable to
advance against the pitiless storm of death, the charging col-
umn changed their direction, hoping to find a weaker point.
Then was the time for the Second Brigade. Changing front
upon the battle-field with the precision of parade, they assailed
the rebel column in flank and it disappeared before their
impetuous charge. And while in the very flush of victory,
with captured battle flags and unnumbered prisoners falling
into their hands as the trophies of their triumph, when men,
if ever, would lose their formation in the excitement of the
moment, another change of front was made, another rebel

. 24

column, met by the Fourteenth Regiment with furious fire,
was assailed in flank by the Sixteenth and annihilated ; — and
Gettysburgh was won. Hearty were the cheers, with which,
that night, the " Old Brigade" received their younger breth-
ren into full communion, and recognized their right, earned
by a baptism of blood, to rank by the side of Vermont's proud-
est sons upon the roll of History.

And thus the records show the people of Vermont entitled
to the proud remembrance, that every organization sent from
the State returned to the State the Colors with which it was
entrusted, — that the record of every regiment is a record of
honor, — and that the gallant soldiers of Vermont, in earning
for themselves that record, have added new and increased
lustre to the honor of their State, and have obtained for it a
name which shall be imperishable in history. But at what
fearful cost has this been done ! — 5,124 men lost by death, —
5,022 men discharged and sent home, wrecks, only, of the
physical vigor with which they entered the service, — a total
loss, in all the various forms of casualty, of 13,724 officers
and men. The proportionate ratio of the loss in battle of
Vermont is second in the loyal States of the Union, —
exceeded only by Kansas, long accustomed to ferocious fight-
ing. In proportionate loss by disease Vermont stands third
among the loyal States, — exceeded only by Iowa and Kansas.
And in the proportionate number honorably discharged for
disability she stands the fourth of the loyal States, — exceeded
only by Maine, Michigan and West Virginia. If Vermont
has earned a reputation in the war, of which her sons have a
right to be proud, she has paid for it a price proportioned to
its value.

The names of your deceased comrades, whose memories
are to be kept "green and sacred" in your hearts, yet fresh
in your recollection, are known and honored throughout the
State. Fifty-four commissioned ofl&cers, your brethren in

25

arms, endeared to you by many a hardship shared in commoir,.
whose example and whose social qualities alike incited your
emulation and won your affection, — among them, earning higb-
place upon the Roll of Honor, the gallant Stone, Tyler, Bar-
ney, Roberts, Preston, Dudley, Cliamberlin, Cummings, Eaton^
Crandall, Dwinnell, the self-sacrificing Jarvis, the young and
ardent Dillingham, Buxton, and the brave Reynolds, — fell by
your side at the head of their men in the front of battle, and
by their death sealed the devotion of their lives to loyalty.
May they never be forgotten. Patriotic towns have erected,
monuments to the patriot dead ; and in every grave yard
throughout the State are grassy mounds, whose marble head-
stones mark the resting place of the soldier, where he awaits
the final reveille. Let these monuments stand, while time
shall endure, not merely as the votive offerings of a grateful
people to commemorate brave deeds and men, but perpetual
remembrances of the great principle of the universal equal-
ity of man, illustrated by its defenders in their lives, but
rendered sacred by their sacrifice, — so that, when your chil-
dren's children, to the remotest generation, shall gaze rever-
ently upon them, when your name and deeds shall have faded
even from tradition, they shall say, each to the other, — these
men died that we might be free.

The war has closed, rebellion has been suppressed, the right
of secession has been tried by the final arbitrament of the
sword and has failed, the officers and men composing the
organizations from Vermont have laid aside their arms, have
assumed again the garb of citizens, have quietly resumed their
places in the communities from whence they emerged and
returned to their original peaceful employments, and there;
are no indications left of the terrible events which so severely
taxed the energies and resources of the State, except the rec-
ord of their gallant deeds of bravery, the maimed veterans,
whose appearance among us makes constant appeal to our

26

sympathies and our respect, and tlie vacant places in many a
household, eloquent of the remembrance of the gallant men
whose lives have been surrendered in defence of the great
principles of freedom, unity and equality before the law.

But has the contest closed ? — or has it only assumed a new
form and been transferred to a different sphere ? The close
of war brings with it duties as imperious as those of war
itself. It was due to posterity, it was due to humanity, that
the fruits of the victory should be preserved, — that those men,
who had deserted, and had sought by force to divide the Gov-
ernment, who had traitorously violated the most solemn oaths,
who had desolated the homes of the North and had burdened
the Nation with deljt, should be required, before again par-
ticipating in the councils of the nation, or assisting in its
legislation, to give the most l)inding security that they would
thereafter, in the most perfect good faith, live as true and
loyal citizens. Criminals of the deepest dye, pronounced
guilty by the God of Battles on appeal of treason, they have
no right to complain, if bound over under heaviest bonds to
keep the peace. They were offered terms more liberal than
they deserved, or had reason to expect, — terms so liberal,
that, though freely offered and for a time adhered to, pru-
dent and sagacious statesmen deemed them not free from
hazard in the future. These terms were rejected, except by
a single State, and were withdrawn ; — and, like the Sybil of
old, the loyal people of the North offered others in their stead,
made more onerous, and thereby more complete and perfect.
These have been in form accepted by seven of the revolted
♦States, — three have thus far refused to accede to them.

But the form of acceptance has not carried with it the
spirit of loyalty. The obligations which it imposes are
regarded as lightly as the criminal regards the bonds which
bind him for appearance at court, — to be evaded, if possible,
or forfeited, with the hope that full payment will not l)e

27

enforced. Defiant and arrogant as ever, aided by the counte-
nance and counsels of a Chief Magistrate of the Nation, who
has deserted alike principle and party, and of their former
allies in the North, political leaders, who are ready to sur-
render for power and place all that the sacrifices of the war
secured, they announce to us by their acts as unmistakably
as by their words, that the rebellion, though suppressed, is
not yet dead.

They demand the violation of the [)ul)lic faith, pledged by
Abraham Lincoln, with the full concurrence of the loyal
States, to the only loyal class in the rebel States, that they
and their posterity should thenceforth enjoy the equal rights
of manhood ; to which the grateful response of the race is
testified by the Muster Rolls of more than 186,000 volunteers
in colored regiments, by the roll of 54,000 casualties in the ser-
vice, by the records of Wagner, Port Hudson, Helena and Mo-
bile. They demand the right to regulate suff"rage ; and tliey
are regulating it every day with the rope, the rifle and the
revolver. They demand the repudiation of the puljlic debt, or
the recognition of their own. Their chiefs openly and boldly
proclaim, that the "lost cause" is not yet lost, — that the
fourth of March, if they and their allies are successful, shall
inaugurate a reign of terror, which shall drive from the
Southern States every loyal man, white, or colored, or over-
whelm them in one common destruction. They demand, in
short, that the victors shall accept terms from the vanquished
under penalty of a renewal of the war. And their candidate
for the second place in the Government was selected solely
for the reason, that he placed himself beyond the possibility
of misunderstanding upon a platform, which, though its planks
are rotten and crumbling beneath his weight, declared, that
every thing thus far accomplished at the South should be
undone, that the reconstructed State Governments should be
dispersed by force, and that the white people alone should be

28

allowed to re-organize their governments, and elect Senators
and Representatives.

Are these the principles for which you fought ? Is this the
victory which you fancied had been won by the loyal North ?
Shall we submit to the insolent terms thus imposed ? Better
death, privation, poverty, the repetition an hundred fold of the
sacrifices we have made, than such tame, cowardly submission.
Faith to the loyal dead, faith to their widows and their
orphans, faith to the outraged living, demand adherence to
the principles for which the war was fought, and in defence
of which our heroes died.

What duty, then, remains for us ? What sin of omission,
or of commission, yet remains unrepented and unpardoned,
which thus protracts the punishment meted to us for the sin
of slavery ?

The National faith and the National honor, to be preserved
at all hazards, demand, not only that slavery, but that every
incident and result of slavery, shall cease to exist ; that the
loyal colored men of the South shall retain inalienably the
right to maintain by the ballot the privileges for which they
were willing and were deemed worthy to contend with the
])ayonet and the bullet ; that the public debt should be paid
according to the letter and the spirit of the laws under which
it was contracted, and the public credit be preserved without
stain ; that treason " should be made odious" and traitors,
whether at the North or at the South, be repressed and
punished.

The great captain of the age, whose genius devised and
whose orders directed the movements of the loyal armies to
iinal victory in the field, under whose eye you fought and
your brave comrades died, whose name and fame are as dear
to us as our own, and who is now the selected standard bearer
of liberty and loyalty, has said, " Let us have peace." If
we are true to ourselves, to our manhood, to our avowed

29

principles, to our plighted faith, peace, with its blessings,
will prevail from the Atlantic to the Golden Gates of the
Pacific, from the Dominion of Canada to the borders of the
Gulf, — prosperity, exceeding all that we have ever yet
known, will place us foremost among the nations of the
earth, and a victory will be won by Grant in November,
which shall perfect the fruits and secure the full results of
the victory which he achieved at Appomattox.

In whatever yet remains to be done for the securing of the
full fruition of these glorious results, whether of action, or of
further sacrifice, may that higher and Supreme Power, that
rules the nations and controls the action of States, announce
and enforce Sedgwick's famous order, — " Put the Yermont'
ers ahead and keep the column closed up."

W(

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