A VERMONT MILITARY HISTORY SITE

Preparing to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Vermont's participation in the War of Rebellion.

Random tidbit:

He was a Prisoner of War for four days, but the Revised Roster doesn't show it. Read about Lewis A. Brastow, St. Johnsbury, Chaplain of the Twelfth Vermont Infantry

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Soldiers who died on this date in the 1860s

Recently registered descendants

"The Road To Gettysburg," a full-length film on the 2nd Brigade, is now available!

Can you Help? $3,300 needed to purchase the James Wilson Civil War Letters for the Vermont Historical Society!

"Until this rebellion shall be put down, ...

I have no friends to reward and no enemies to punish, and I trust that the whole strength and power of Vermont, both of men and money, will be put into the field to sustain the government." - Stephen Thomas, Representative, West Fairlee, April 1861.

They prepared, they fought, and they made a significant impact on the war. And later, their story was told and retold around campfires in thousands of reunions across the state and the country, long after the war. These veterans commemorated their reunions with badges and ribbons like the one shown here from the John Gibson Collection.

VermontCivilWar.org is a grassroots effort attempting to document the story of Vermonters who served in the War of Rebellion, not only with official rosters and published books, but also previously unpublished diaries, letters, and journals. We won't get it all online, but hopefully, if it exists, we can tell you where you can get it. Our goal is to have the project completed by the 150th Anniversary of the start of the conflict, in April 2011 so we can provide a free copy to every library and school in Vermont. Won't you join us? Contribute to the Descendants and Cemetery Database projects, letters, photographs or articles!

Tom Ledoux, Green Mountain Boy, Webmaster

Unit of the Month for December 2008

Samuel Pingree wrote for the 1892 Revised Roster that "the history of the Third Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, is so completely interwoven with the history of the The Vermont Brigade--the long and honorable service of each of the five regiments of that brigade being the common fame of all--that the story of one is the substantial counterpart to the story of all the others. There was scarcely a fight in the whole service in which all were not under fire where any were, and no man could say that the glory which shed such an army-wide lustre on our arms and gave the great name to the valor of the Vermont troops was not the equal property of each of those five regiments, and the Eleventh which joined later."

But Third Vermont soldiers received more Medals of Honor than any of the other regiments in the brigade: Alexander Mitchell Beattie (1828-1907), Gardner C. Hawkins, (1846-1913), Willie Johnston, (1850-?), Samuel E. Pingree (1832-1922), Julian A. Scott (1846-1901) and Thomas Orvilla Seaver (1833-1912).

(If you'd like to nominate a unit for January, please send the webmaster an email by 25 December.)

What Happened Today, January 5th, in the Civil War?

1861: Steamer Star of the West, Captain John McGowan, USRM, departed New York with an Army detachment for the relief of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Vermonter Jacob H. Putnam was onboard. (ORN)

1863: J. C. Williams, 14th Regiment, wrote in his journal (more)

1863: William H. Flint, 2nd Battery, wrote in his diary (more)

1863: Oliver A. Browne, 15th Infantry, wrote in his diary (more)

1864: Three hundred twenty-one members of the 8th Regiment 'made a second claim of being patriots by re-enlisting for three years more of service.' (Peck)

more . . . . .

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