History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260

USA > Vermont > Windsor County > History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10

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Such became the situation of affairs in this county, and in others, when Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791. Disagreements and dis- putes were alike compromised and dropped as the result of that consum - mation, and an interest in the general welfare of the whole people took the place of petty strifes and contention among individuals. 14

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

With the end attained, the people of the several towns of the county entered upon an era of prosperity not before enjoyed in the history of the Commonwealth. And the people of the region were fully able to appreciate the advantages and blessings of peace and quiet, as for forty years prior to that event those who had lived in the State and upon the grants had seen nothing but a succession of combats and misfortunes and strifes and dissensions, and to them in particular was the peace that followed the year 1791 a double blessing.

But for only one short score of years were the people to be thus fa- vored, when America found herself on the verge of another war with Great Britain; and again' was the farmer to leave the field, the woods- man the forest, and the mechanic his shop, and with sword and musket again join the ranks in the defense of that independence he had so lately fought to gain. During the five years next preceding 1812 the whole country was in a state of nominal peace; but throughout these years there was gathering in the political horizon that dark cloud which was destined to plunge the nation into another foreign war. In 1775, and the years following, America fought for independence, and achieved a recognition among the powers of the earth. In 1812 she again engaged against the mother country to maintain that independence which in years past had been forcibly acquired.

The events which led to the second war with England were numerous. The United States had scrupulously observed the provisions of the peace treaty made with Great Britain at the close of the Revolution. There had been maintained, too, a strict neutrality during the progress of the Napoleonic war with the British kingdom, when perhaps every consideration of gratitude should have induced a participation in it as against the mother country. For several years the aggressive acts of the British had been a subject of anxiety and regret, and feelings of ani mosity increased on this side of the Atlantic. The embargo laid by Congress on the shipping in America ports was found so injurious to commercial interests that it was repealed, and the non-intercourse act passed in its stead. In April, 1809, the English ambassador in Wash - ington opened negotiations for the amicable adjustment of existing diffi- culties, and consented to a withdrawal of the obnoxious " orders in coun - cil," so far as they affected the United States, on condition that the

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WAR OF 1812.

non-intercourse act with Great Britain be repealed. This was agreed upon, and the President issued a proclamation announcing that, on the Ioth day of June, trade with Great Britain might be resumed; but the English government refused to ratify the proceedings and recalled their minister, whereupon the President revoked his proclamation and the non-intercourse act again became operative.

Besides the odious acts of the British Parliament, injurious and insult- ing in their character, the English officers claimed the right to search American vessels, seize all who were suspected of being subjects of the king, and force them into their service. Under cover of this claim the greatest outrages were perpetrated, and by it many true and loyal per- sons were pressed into the service of Great Britain, both against their inclination and the well established proof of their identity.

On the 12th of June, 1812, President James Madison sent a confiden- tial communication to Congress, in which he recapitulated the long list of British aggressions, and declared it the duty of Congress to consider whether the American people should longer passively submit to the ac- cummulated wrongs and insults perpetrated by the British, and at the same time he cautioned the House to avoid entanglements in the con- tests and views of other powers.

War was formally declared on the 19th day of June, 1812, but the measure was not universally sustained throughout all parts of the Middle and New England States. The opposing element was embraced in the Federal party, its chief ground of opposition being that the country was not prepared for war. The Federalists constituted a large and influen- tial minority of the political element of Congress, and had a considerable following in the several States not in active politics. They asked for further negotiations, and met the denunciations made by the ruling party (that is, the Democratic and Republican, for it went by both names) upon the English government with savage and bitter attacks upon Na- poleon, whom they accused the majority with favoring.

To say that there was an entire unanimity of sentiment, regarding the war measures, in Windsor county would be indeed an error. Both par- ties had their advocates, the Federalists being in the minority in the county, and generally in the towns. The subject of the war formed the uppermost topic of conversation at the usual places of resort, and fac-

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

tional feeling ran high, especially just preceding the fall elections. But the battles were fought mainly at the polls, although personal collisions were not unknown. Party nominations were made with regard to the factional sentiments, those of Federalistic tendencies calling theirs the Peace Party, and denominating their opponents as Screaming War Hawks. The Democrats and Republicans, on the other hand, were in favor of the war, and were content to be called the War Party, while for their opponents they entertained feelings of supreme contempt, charging them with cowardice and being afraid of going to war.

But this was not all that was done in Windsor county during the short but decisive struggle that followed. When the governor and the State Legislature called for troops from the counties of Vermont, no locality responded more promptly than the men of Windsor county, and all the various militia organizations were at once prepared for active operations. The events of the war need not be retold here. Men from this county were engaged in the battle at Plattsburgh, and other operations in the re- gion of Lake Champlain, while still others joined the regular army and fought in the battles in the Middle, Southern and Western States. Many went with the army who never returned to their homes.

The results of the war are written in the conflicts on Lake Erie, the repulse of the invaders on the Delaware, the distressing scenes on the Chesapeake, the invasion of New York and the attempt to control the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The battle at Plattsburgh, the capture of Niagara and Oswego, the burning of Newark, the battles at Black Rock and Lundy's Lane and New Orleans, together with the naval engagements in American waters, were the chief events of the war, and were followed by the withdrawal and surrender of the British forces, and the final treaty of peace, which was ratified February 17, 1815. The Americans had fought their last battle with a European foe.

After the close of the second war with England the people entered another epoch of peace, an era of unexampled prosperity in the history of the State, during which the latent and hitherto undeveloped resources of every county were brought to light and utilized to their fullest ex- tent. During these years greater progress marked the history of Wind- sor, and other counties, than had all others combined. Enterprise followed enterprise, manufacture followed manufacture, agricultural

Ryland Fletcher

ALITTLE

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POPULATION.

pursuits increased several fold, and all the arts of peace prospered be- yond expectation. The population of the several towns increased with the constantly growing wealth and progress of their people, the maximum of inhabitants of the county being reached in the year 1830, as indicated by the Federal census of that year. About this time the vast extent of western country was being opened and prepared for civ- ilized settlement, cultivation and improvement. Western Ohio, Indi- ana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and other territorial lands, were inviting fields for labor and speculation, and drew largely and constantly from the ambitious people of this county and State; in fact from all New England, and from New York, New Jersey and Penn- sylvania as well.

Let us look for a moment and observe the fluctuations of the aggre- gate population of the towns of Windsor county. In 1771, six years before Vermont declared her independence, while the district was known as the New Hampshire Grants, the province of New York caused to be made an enumeration of the inhabitants of the several towns that after- ward became a part of Windsor county ; and the gross population as shown by that census, ten towns being included by it, was 1,205. Twenty years later, in 1791, the first Federal census was taken, and the county was shown to have a population of 15,740, since which time the enumeration made at the beginning of each decade of years has shown as follows : In 1800, 26,944; 1810, 34,877 ; 1820, 38,233; 1830, 40,- 625 ; 1840, 40,356 ; 1850, 38,320 ; 1860, 37,193 ; 1870, 36,063 ; and in 1880, 35,196.

Vermont is noted for her high and attractive mountains, of which all her counties are possessed to a greater or less extent, Windsor forming no exception to the rule ; and while these grand hills afford a beautiful view to delight the eye of the observer, they have not a specially invit- ing aspect to attract the agriculturist. The lands in the valleys and on the foot- hills are, or might be with little effort, very fertile, but the higher elevations are either unfit for cultivation, or if fit are so difficult of access as to make tillage unprofitable. But in the western country an altogether different condition of affairs exists. There mechanical devices have largely taken the place of "hand " labor, and a more than reasonably good return is generally assured the husbandman with a but

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

comparatively small expenditure of means or muscle. Hence the emi- gration to other States which has told so seriously against the popula- tion and prospects of this region. Other causes than those mentioned may also have helped to contribute to the reduction of the population. It is claimed by some authorities that certain legislative restrictions have been factors in bringing about this state of things, but however that may be, is a subject for discussion not to be debated here.

CHAPTER X.

WINDSOR COUNTY DURING THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

W T HEN on that eventful morning of April, 1861, Fort Moultrie's

guns spelled upon the political sky of our country, in letters red as blood, the words "Civil War," the loyal sons of Windsor county, and of Vermont, breathing a spirit of patriotism as pure as the air of the grand hills around them, rushed to the Nation's Capital to uphold the honor of the flag, and preserve intact the republic. It was not with them a question what battles were to be fought, what graves filled, or what altars shivered ; but donning the blue vowed, no matter what the cost, that the serpent of secession should find an eternal grave, and gasp its last amid shrieking shell and hissing bullet.

The " mystic chord of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave " brings before us, in meteoric brilliancy, the important part performed by Windsor county's soldiery in that great struggle. Loyal citizens only knew that they were needed, and they hastened to respond. They exchanged the rippling music of the mountain stream for the thunder of the deep-mouthed cannon and the deafening musketry volley ; they went forth from the roof-tree of home to camp on South- ern soil, and stand guard in the pitiless night beneath the sorrowing stars; they went out to be shot to death, if need be; to be fired at by a concealed and merciless foe; to struggle in delirium in hospitals, or

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THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

shiver and starve in loathsome pens, with stones for pillows and vermin for companions, that the flag might be preserved unsullied. This was the spirit that animated the volunteers of Windsor as they sprung into the arena where Titans struggled.

Remembering the beautiful sentiment expressed by Colonel Stuart Taylor, it may well be asked: Fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of Windsor county, can you look up to see the morning furrow all the orient into gold without thinking what sacred graves it gilds ? Or can you watch the slow declining day without wishing it could be always sunlight on the silent mounds of Windsor's patriot dead ? Do you ever see the spring-time daisy, or the purple violet, but that you think of the darling dust which feeds the wild flowers of the Wilderness, of Antietam, of Gettysburg, of Spottsylvania, of Petersburg, and other fields where loved and lost are sleeping ?

But the martial spirit of Windsor county was not born with the out- break of the Rebellion; it was in being in the days when the sturdy pio- neer woodsman first felled the forest, that prosperous towns might spring up, agricultural interests be enlarged, and the mechanical arts add to the wealth of the progressive inhabitants; it was in existence when the New York authorities sought to dispossess the struggling settlers from the lands which they had purchased, and to which they were justly entitled under the New Hampshire charters ; it existed when Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, and other brave patriots and their followers organized themselves into the famous band of Green Mountain Boys, for the protection of homes as well as rights ; it existed during the dark days of the Revolution, when the inhabitants and loyal people of the State and county found themselves deserted by their sister States, and were compelled, almost single-handed, to combat the com- mon enemy in a battle for self preservation ; it certainly existed when, on the 16th of August, 1777, the British arms received their first decisive defeat on the bloody battlefield of Bennington. That martial spirit ex- isted during the period of uncertainty, after the Revolution had passed, when Vermont was seeking admission to the Union, and, being practi cally denied by Congress, was compelled to substantially defy the power of the Federal government, in order to achieve that much desired inde- pendence and statehood for which her people were asking. Had it not

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

byen for that determined martial spirit, Vermont as a State would never have been known.

That same determined spirit was inherited by a later generation of sons of Vermont, and became patent when, in 1812 and the years follow- ing, the government of Great Britain again sought to wrest the control of America from the people who held it; for, despite the opposition of the Federalists, and their obstructive measures, the loyal men of the county again marched in the defense of their country, and performed well their part in driving the invaders from the land, thus preserving in- tact our federal institutions.

Following the second war with England that spirit slept, and the only manifestation of its being was shown on the grand old days of " general training," when the farmer, the mechanic and the woodsman abandoned toil, and hied away to the " muster " for a season of jollification, to eat Yankee gingerbread and drink new cider, and boast of the prowess of the American eagle.

But the record made by the volunteers of Windsor county from the first blaze of hostile cannon until secession was buried at Appomattox by the surrender of General Lee's sword, forms one of the most brilliant of the many grand chapters of its history. To faintly picture their serv- ices it will be necessary to refer to the regiments to which they be- longed, which forms an unbroken chain of testimony to demonstrate the patriotism of the county's soldiery.

It is not to keep alive sectional animosity that the historian recites the acts of a victorious host. Would the Athenians meeting in the Angora listen to a proposition that no man speak of Marathon ? Would Romans teach nothing but philosophy, and withhold from a rising generation all knowledge of the victory of Scipio over Hannibal, or how Horatius held the bridge? It was not Marathon, but the memory of Marathon, which fixed the home of civilization in Europe instead of in Asia. It was not the surrender at Appomattox that binds in iron bands the States of this Union, but it is the memory of its cost, kept alive in the hearts of the people which gave to civilization its grandest onward step, and which some future Guizot, in tracing the pathway of human advancement, shall declare to the world the fullest enlargement of human liberty. And as other generations shall know the record of the services of the sons of

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THE FIRST VERMONT REGIMENT.

Windsor county, from 1861 to 1865, it will inspire them to preserve sacred the patriotic sentiment of " country first, the citizen afterward."

The first considerable contribution of Windsor county volunteers for service was made in response to the call of President Lincoln for seventy- five thousand men, in April, 1861 ; but it was not until the 2d of May that the regiment, the First Vermont, was mustered into the United States service. To this command the county furnished two companies, B and E, known, respectively, as the Woodstock Light Infantry, and the Caven- dish Light Infantry, by which names it will be seen that the greater part of each was from the town for which it was named, although other towns were represented as the company rosters will show. The other towns from which the regiment was made up were Brandon, Middlebury, Rut- land, Northfield, Bradford, Burlington, St. Albans and Swanton.

The First Vermont was under the command of Colonel J. Wolcott Phelps, of Brattleboro; Lieutenant-Colonel Peter T. Washburn, of Woodstock; Major Harry N. Worthen, of Bradford; Adjutant Hiram Stevens, of Enosburg, and others in the several positions, among them Drum-Major Thomas R. Clarke, of Chester.

The regiment left Rutland on the morning of May 9, 1861, under or- ders to proceed to Fortress Monroe, Va., at which place it arrived on the 13th of the same month. For nearly a month after their arrival at this place the First was engaged in camp and reconnoissance duty, and it was not until the 10th of June that the men were actually under fire. This was the battle at Great Bethel, the only one with which the command stands credited, and that was not a specially severe nor sanguinary en- gagement, the fatigue of hard marches and constant exposure having a more telling effect upon the men than the battle itself. After the affair at Bethel the men of the First were kept at garrison duty and marching on scouting expeditions, until the 4th of August, when, the term of en- listment having expired, they embarked on steamers and voyaged to New Haven, arriving at that city two days later, and thence, after hav- ing been paid off and mustered out, proceeded to their several homes. Of the seven hundred and eighty-two officers and men of the First Ver- mont Regiment that went to Virginia, all but five returned to the State ; and of those five only one, Dana H. Whitney, of Company B, was the Windsor county soldier that was killed, and he between Newport News and Hampton, on July 22, 1861.

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HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

Inasmuch as the succeeding pages will make no further account of the three months' men, but will furnish the names, by townships, of the vol- unteers of the county in subsequent regiments, equal justice seems to demand that at least a roll of the members of companies B and E be given. Therefore the following list shows the name of each man and the town of which he was a resident at the time of enlistment.

ROSTER COMPANY B, FIRST REGIMENT.

William W. Pelton, captain, Woodstock ; Andrew J. Dike and Solo- mon E. Woodward, first lieutenants, and William E. Sweet, George Dim- ick and Royal Darby, sergeants, of Woodstock; Harvey N. Bruce, ser- geant, of Pomfret ; Charles O. Thompson, Edwin C. Emmons, Crayton A. Woodbury, Norman M. Hoisington, corporals, and George H. Mur- dock, musician, of Woodstock.

Privates from Woodstock .- Edwin R. Carroll, Sylvanus Chamberlain. Nathan C. Chaflin, George W. Cobb, Homer Darling, Irving J. Faunce, Frederick Fay, Henry H. French, John Gilman, Jesse W. Leonard, Mar- tin A. Lucas, Lewis L. Marsh, Oliver H. Mckenzie, jr., Chauncey L. Murdock, Reuben M. Parker, Edwin R. Payne, George W. Paul, George C. Randall, Chauncey E. Raymond, George L. Raymond, Clifton Rich- mond, Edward L Richmond, Franklin B. Rice, Charles J. Taft, Henry B. Thompson, Dana H. Whitney, Henry Williamson, Seth J. Winslow. From Hartford .- Joseph P. Aiken, Henry P. Hyde, Sumner H. Lincoln, Mahlon M. Young. Barnard .- Milton J. Aiken, Henry F. Buckman, Orlando C. Smith. Plymouth .- Michael H. Barker, James Brown, Daniel P. Cilley, Orville M. Hudson, Luther F. Moore. Mount Holley.1-Henry H. Bishop. Ludlow .- Henry P. Bixby, John M. Buckley, Henry C. Cleveland, George Levey, John B. Pollard. Hartland .- Horace Brad- ley. Fairfield, Mc.1-Selden Conner. Bridgewater .- Myron M. Dim ick, John Y. Raistrick, W. Wallace Southgate, Edwin Weeden. Pomfret. -Henry H. Harding, Edwin B. Maxham, Ora Paul jr., Richard A. Seaver. Stockbridge -Albert B. Kimball, Hiram A. Kimball. Roch- ester .- Edgar B. Leonard. Acton, Mass.1-George W. Mason. Bethel. -George W. Packard. Reading .- Edwin Spear. Sherburne.1-Wil- ton G. Wood.

1 Out of county.

Of. Tutte

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THE FIRST VERMONT REGIMENT.

ROSTER COMPANY E, FIRST REGIMENT.

Oscar S. Tuttle, captain, Asaph Clark, first lieutenant, Salmon Dut- ton, second lieutenant, of Cavendish. George B. French, Cavendish, William H. Thompson, Chester, Geo. M. R. Howard, Cavendish, Ben- oni B. Fullam, Ludlow, sergeants. Nathan G. B. Witherell, Cavendish, Charles Boutin, Windham, Henry C. Williams, Springfield, Lowell B. Payne, Cavendish, corporals. Isaac T. Chase, Andover, Geo. C. Max- field, Chester, musicians.

Privates from Cavendish .- Oliver H. Blanchard, William W. Carey, Fremont C. Conant, Nelson W. Emery, Samuel Fitch, Jason E. Free- man, William H. Ingleston, George S. Miller, Charles A. Shepard, Will- iam J. Sperry, George T. Spaulding, Edmund Stone, Alick Stearns, George D. Taylor, Isaac H. Weston, Jonathan B. Witherell. From Springfield .- James H. Allen, Albert W. Allen, William H. Blodgett, Albert S. Clapp, Ezra M. De Camp, Roswell W. Frost, Benjamin S. Kendrick, Luke Kendall, William H. Perkins, Charles Wheeler. Weathersfield .- Henry Allen, John Hart, Allen D. Russell. Chester .- Perry S. Bridges, Edward M. Carlisle, Martin Chapman, James F. Cor- lis, Riley Deming, Alphonso S. Field, Ira G. Hazelton, Charles A. Mar- shall, Jerold E. Marsdale, Gardner H. Porter, Ransom W. Rand, Henry E. Smith, George S. Spring, Benjamin M. Ware, John E. Willey. Lud- low .- Joseph Barber, Leonard P. Bingham, Charles W. Bishop, William H. H. Buckley, Enos M. Gould, Henry E. Lawrence, Orris Pier, Frank D. Sargent. Andover .- Ira E. Chase, James W. Larkin, Charles W. Larkin. From out of county .- Orrin S. Adams, Troy, N. H., Sewell Barker, Grafton, John Conlin, Rutland, Edward L. Hazelton, Hebron, N. H., George S. Orr, Moses E. Orr, Pawlet, William Scholar, Middle- ton, William F. Williams, Winchendon, Mass.

If the reader will but glance at the succeeding pages of the present chapter, especially at the roster of commissioned officers, it will at once be seen that there was scarcely a branch of the military service in which there were not some representatives from Windsor county. Most of the volunteers, enlisted in the companies and regiments subsequent to the First Vermont, were for three years' service, while not a few were among what was known as the nine months' men. Some, however, were en-

I16

HISTORY OF WINDSOR COUNTY.

listed for one year. Taking these subsequent commands in the order of organization, it is proposed to make a brief mention of each, showing their formation, the localities in which the companies in whole or in part were reunited, and the battles in which they participated.

THE SECOND REGIMENT.

There were comparatively few recruits from Windsor county in this command, it having been raised during the latter part of May and the early part of June, 1861, while the men of the First were away at the front. Those of the Second from this locality were scattered through three companies, C, E, and I, the second named having the strongest representation. None of the field and staff officers seem to have been from this county. The regiment was placed under command of Colonel Henry Whiting of St. Clair, Mich., but a native of New York State, and a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Upon the resigna- tion of Colonel Whiting, in 1863, James H. Walbridge, formerly captain of Company A, was promoted to the command of the regiment. The other original and leading field officers of the Second were Lieutenant- Colonel George J. Stannard, Major Charles H. Joyce, and Adjutant Guilford S. Ladd. The principal company officers from Windsor county were Captain Orville Bixby and Captain Charles C. Morey, both of Roy- alton, who successively commanded Company E; Captain Volney S. Fullam of Ludlow, and Captain Daniel S. White of Cavendish, of Com- pany I. Captain Charles C. Morey was formerly first lieutenant of Com- pany C.

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History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1260

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass. ed. cn; Holmes, Frank R
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1260