Service
The first military action seen by Vermonters was at the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861, where a battalion of the 1st Vermont Infantry was engaged.
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and later the 11th Vermont Infantry regiments served in the famous 1st Vermont Brigade, which saw action in nearly every major engagement in the Eastern Theater from the First Battle of Bull Run to Appomattox Court House.
The 7th Vermont Infantry, 8th Vermont Infantry, and two Vermont Light Artillery Batteries served in the Department of the Gulf under Benjamin F. Butler. The 8th Vermont later saw service in the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864.
The 9th Vermont Infantry suffered ignominious capture at the Battle of Harpers Ferry during the 1862 Maryland Campaign, but later fought well with the VII, XVIII and XXIV Corps in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, and was one of the first units to enter Richmond, Virginia in April 1865.
The 10th Vermont Infantry gained its niche in history at the Battle of Monocacy, an important but often overlooked battle that delayed a Confederate drive on Washington D.C..
At Gettysburg on the first day of battle, July 1, 1863, General John Sedgwick is quoted as saying, "Put the Vermonters ahead and keep the column well closed up." The 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Vermont Infantry regiments were banded together as the 2nd Vermont Brigade, which gained lasting credit for its actions in helping stop Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Vermont fielded three companies of sharpshooters, which served with Hiram Berdan in the two U.S. Sharpshooter regiments.
The 1st Vermont Cavalry regiment participated in more than 70 engagements.
After the St. Albans raid on October 19, 1864, Vermont fielded two companies of Frontier Cavalry, who spent six months on the Canadian border to prevent further incursions from Confederate raiders.
Sixty-four Vermonters received the Medal of Honor, including Willie Johnston, the youngest person ever to receive this award.
Read more about this topic: Vermont In The American Civil War
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“The man of large and conspicuous public service in civil life must be content without the Presidency. Still more, the availability of a popular man in a doubtful State will secure him the prize in a close contest against the first statesman of the country whose State is safe.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)