Vermont in the American Civil War
Union states in the American Civil War |
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Dual governments |
Territories and D.C. |
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During the
By the spring of 1865 Vermont was devastated, having sent one tenth of its entire population to war, with a loss of over 5,000 lives to battle, wounds, and disease. The state had dedicated nearly $10 million to support the conflict, half of that amount offered up by towns with no expectation of recompense.
Background
The second article in Vermont's constitution, originally written in 1777, abolished
In the closing days of 1860, in response to a pro-Southern resolution by Representative Albert Rust of Arkansas, Vermont Representative Justin S. Morrill offered an amendment, "Resolved, That in the opinion of this committee, the existing discontent among the Southern people and the growing hostility to the Federal Government, are greatly to be regretted, and that any reasonable, proper and constitutional remedy necessary to preserve the peace of the country, and the perpetuity of the Union, should be promptly and cheerfully grant." His amendment was rejected by a large majority, and Congress and the Union continued its downward spiral toward disunion.[4]
Lawyer
During the war, three men served as
Military enrollment
The state sent more than 34,000 to serve, out of a total population of about 350,000 citizens.[6] More than 28,100 Vermonters served in Vermont volunteer units. Vermont fielded 17 infantry regiments, 1 cavalry regiment, 3 light artillery batteries, 1
Nearly 5,000 others served in other states' units, in the
Vermonters suffered a total of 1,832 men killed or mortally wounded in battle; another 3,362 died of disease, in prison or from other causes, for a total loss of 5,194. More than 2,200 Vermonters were taken prisoner during the war, and 615 of them died in or as a result of their imprisonment.
Historian Howard Coffin claimed that the state's most important contribution to the war was at the
General Winfield Scott, learning that a regiment of Green Mountain Boys (the 1st Vermont Infantry) was awaiting orders, said "I want your Vermont regiments, all of them. I have not forgotten the Vermont men on the Niagara frontier... I remember the Vermont men in the War of 1812."[7]
A significant number of generals hailed from Vermont. Several led Vermont units, including
One native Vermonter,
Service
The first military action seen by Vermonters was at the
The
The
The
The
At Gettysburg on the first day of battle, July 1, 1863, General
At the Battle of the Wilderness, Vermont experienced its worst day of the war; 1,000 men were killed or wounded from the 1st Vermont Brigade alone. One in eight of the casualties resulting in the battle was by this brigade, which was one of 32 brigades on the Union side.[9]
Vermont fielded three companies of
The
After the
Sixty-four Vermonters received the Medal of Honor, including Willie Johnston, the youngest person ever to receive the award.
Notable Civil War leaders from Vermont
- George Dewey
- Erastus Fairbanks
- Lewis A. Grant
- Frederick Holbrook
- John Lonergan
- Redfield Proctor
- J. Gregory Smith
- William Farrar Smith
- George J. Stannard
- William Wells
Civil War sites in Vermont
St. Albans, Vermont, is the site of the northernmost land action in the Civil War, the St. Albans Raid. On October 19, 1864, Confederate raiders, under the command of Lieutenant Bennett H. Young, robbed three banks, escaped to Canada, were captured, and put on trial. The Canadian courts decided they were acting under military orders and they could not be extradited back to the United States without Canada violating her neutrality.
Most Vermont towns have a monument in memory of the soldiers who participated in the Civil War. Decades after the war, the upland hillsides of the state were littered with the cellar holes of long-gone farmhouses from farms that had been abandoned because all the family's sons had been killed in the Civil War.
There are several facilities in the state that have significant collections of manuscripts and archives of the war, including the Vermont State House, the Vermont Historical Society, University of Vermont Howe Library, the Bennington Museum, the Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, the Vermont Veterans Militia Museum and Library, Norwich University Sullivan Museum and special collections, and the State of Vermont Public Records Division.
See also
References
- Benedict, G. G., Vermont in the Civil War. A History of the part taken by the Vermont Soldiers And Sailors in the War For The Union, 1861-5. Burlington, VT.: The Free Press Association, 1888.
- Crockett, Walter Hill, Vermont The Green Mountain State, New York: The Century History Company, Inc., 1921.
- Fox, William F., Regimental Losses In The American Civil War 1861–1865. Albany: Albany Publishing Company. 1889.
- Lane, E. H., The soldiers' record of Jericho, Vermont. Burlington, VT.: R.S. Styles, 1868.
- Peck, Theodore S., compiler, Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers and lists of Vermonters Who Served in the Army and Navy of the United States During the War of the Rebellion, 1861–66. Montpelier, VT.: Press of the Watchman Publishing Co., 1892.
Notes
- ^ Rachel Cree Sherman, "St. Johnsbury Puts the Civil War to Rest." Vermont History 76.1 (2008) p. 64.
- ^ "1860 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
- ^ Walter Hill Crockett, Vermont The Green Mountain State, (The Century History Company, Inc., New York, 1921), iii:491.
- ^ Walter Hill Crockett, Vermont The Green Mountain State, (The Century History Company, Inc., New York, 1921), iii:496
- ^ Nancy E. Boone and Michael Sherman, "Designed to Cure: Civil War Hospitals in Vermont," Vermont History, Winter 2001, 69:174
- ^ a b Gresser, Joseph (September 21, 2011). "The Vermonters fire forced the South's retreat". the Chronicle. Barton, Vermont. p. 13.
- ^ Benedict, G. G., Vermont in the Civil War. A History of the part taken by the Vermont Soldiers And Sailors in the War For The Union, 1861-5, Burlington, VT.: The Free Press Association, 1888, i:33-34
- ^ "TIOH - Heraldry - 172d Cavalry Regiment". Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
- ^ Starr, Tena (May 7, 2014). "Two who died at Wilderness battle honored". The Chronicle. Barton, Vermont. pp. 16A, 17A.
Further reading
- Benedict, G. G. Vermont in the Civil War: a history of the part taken by the Vermont soldiers and sailors in the war for the Union, 1861–5. Burlington, Vt. : Free Press Association, 1886.
- Volume 1 at the Internet Archive
- Volume 2 at the Internet Archive
- Coffin, Howard, Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War. Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 1995;
- Coffin, Howard, Nine Months to Gettysburg. The Vermonters Who Broke Pickett's Charge. Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 1997;
- Coffin, Howard, The Battered Stars: One State's Civil War Ordeal during Grant's Overland Campaign. Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 2002.
- Collea Jr, Joseph D. The First Vermont Cavalry in the Civil War: A History (McFarland, 2010).
- Cox, Christopher. History of Vermont Civil War Regiments: Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry (2013) online
- Fuller, James. Men of Color, to Arms!: Vermont African-Americans in the Civil War (2001). extracts
- Link, Kenneth. "Potomac Fever: The Hazards of Camp Life," Vermont History (1983) 51#2, pp 69–88
- McClaughry, John. "John Wolcott Phelps: The Civil War General Who Became A Forgotten Presidential Candidate In 1880." Vermont History 38 (1970): 264-285 online.
- Poirier, Robert G., By the Blood of our Alumni: Norwich University Citizen-Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. (Mason City, IA: Savas Publishing Co., 1999).
- Sherman, Rachel Cree. "St. Johnsbury Puts the Civil War to Rest." Vermont History 76.1 (2008) pp 63-66. online.
- Smith, John David. "The Health of Vermont's Civil War Recruits." The Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society 43.3 (1975): 185-192.
- Wickman, Don. "We Are Coming Father Abra'am," The History of the 9th Vermont Volunteer Infantry 1862–1865. (Lynchburg, VA: Schroeder Publications, 2005).
- Winks, Robin W. The Civil War Years: Canada and the United States (McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP, 1998); Confederates raided Vermont from Canada. online
- Zeller, Paul G. The Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 1861–1865. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2002.
- Zeller, Paul G. Williamstown, Vermont in the Civil War (2011) excerpt
Historiography and memory
- Miller, Richard F. ed. States at War, Volume 1: A Reference Guide for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the Civil War (2013) excerpt
Primary sources
- Abbott, Lemuel Abijah. Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864 (Createspace Independent Pub, 1908) online.
- Dornbusch, C. E., Regimental Publications & Personal Narratives of the Civil War., Vol I Northern States, Part 2 New England: The New York Public Library, 1962.
- Dyer, Frederick Henry, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1908. 3 vol.
- George, Charles, Herbert George, and Jere George. "Bully for the Band!": The Civil War Letters and Diary of Four Brothers in the 10th Vermont Infantry Band (McFarland, 2012).
- Davis, James A. "More Work Than Play: Insights from the Letters of J. Herbert George, Civil War Musician." Journal of American Culture 26.4 (2003): 464+; from 10th Vermont regiment. online
- Marshall, Jeffrey D. A war of the people: Vermont Civil War letters (UPNE, 1999).
- Ripley, Edward Hastings. Vermont General: The Unusual War Experiences of Edward Hastings Ripley (1862-1865) (1960)
- Rosenblatt, Emil & Ruth. 1992. Hard Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk 1861–1865. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0529-0
- Waite, Otis F. R. "Vermont in the Great Rebellion: containing historical and biographical sketches, etc." Claremont, N.H. : Tracy, Chase and Co., 1869) at the Internet Archive