Chapter Xxviii

533 To quote this book, use the following: Benedict, George Grenville. Vermont in the Civil War. Burlington VT: Free Press Association, 1888 (Note chapters 1-20 are in volume 1, chapters 21-32 in volume 2. Page numbers are true to the original.) CHAPTER XXVIII THE FIRST CAVALRY REGIMENT Organization—Departure for Washington—At Annapolis—Under Banks in the Valley—Death of Colonel Holliday—Skirmishes at Mount Jackson and McGaheysville—Colonel Tompkins assumes command—Banks's retreat—Middletown and Winchester—Campaign under Pope—Orange Court House—Second Bull Run—Resignation of Colonel Tompkins— Major Sawyer promoted Colonel—Ashby's Gap—Outpost duty and troubles with Mosby—The Gettysburg Campaign—Hanover— Gettysburg—Hagerstown and Boonsboro—Return to Virginia—Fighting Stuart at Culpeper, Brandy Station and Buckland Mills—Kilpatrick's Raid— Lieut. Colonel Preston appointed Colonel—The Wilderness Campaign— Craig's Church and Spottsylvania—Sheridan's Raid—Yellow Tavern—At the door of Richmond—Back to the Army—Ashland—Hawes's Shop and death of Colonel Preston—Major Wells appointed Colonel—Wilson's Raid—Stony Creek and Ream's Station—In the Shenandoah Valley—The Opequon—Columbia Furnace—Tom's Brook—Cedar Creek—Expiration of Three Years' term—Skirmishes in Shenandoah Valley—Spring campaign of 1865—Waynesboro—Five Forks—Appomattox—Ordered to North Carolina—Back to Washington—Return home and muster out—The Frontier Cavalry—Final statement. Vermont sent one regiment of cavalry to the war. It was the first full regiment of mounted men raised in New England, and was the largest regiment but one sent from Vermont, comprising from first to last 2,297 officers and men. It has a notable history. All previous Vermont regiments had been recruited by the State authorities. The cavalry regiment was raised under the direct authority of the United States. A proposal to raise such a regiment was made to Governor Fairbanks in the summer of 1861 by Lemuel B. Platt, of Colchester; but as no State law authorized the recruiting of cavalry, the Governor declined the offer and Mr. Platt turned to the National Government. Accompanied by Senator Foot, he laid the matter before the Secretary of War. Mr. Cameron had heard of Vermont 534 horses—whose fame had crossed the Atlantic and brought orders to the Green Mountains from Louis Napoleon for animals for the imperial stables—as well as of Vermont troops, and he promptly commissioned Mr. Platt as a colonel, with authority to raise and equip a cavalry regiment. Colonel Platt was that time a well-to-do farmer, 50 years old, of tall and powerful frame, of marked energy, and of considerable prominence in local politics. He was wholly without military training, and frankly told the Secretary, when he inquired concerning his military experience, that it consisted of three days spent at a militia muster when he was a young man, two of which he passed in the guard-house. But he could raise a regiment, though he did not consider himself qualified to drill and command it; and he would undertake to do it in forty days. In forty-two days from that date the regiment was in camp, the uniforms provided, and the horses on the ground. The recruiting officers were as follows: George B. Kellogg, Brattleboro; John D. Bartlett, Montpelier; George P. Conger, St. Albans; Frank A. Platt, Burlington; George T. Roberts, Rutland; James B. Wood, Dorset; Franklin Moore, Shoreham; Reed Bascom, Windsor; Edward B. Sawyer, Hyde Park; Salmon B. Hebard, Chelsea. The companies organized at the several recruiting stations between the 4th and 15th of October, and rendezvoused at Burlington, and by the 16th all were in camp on the fair ground, designated as ―Camp Ethan Allen,‖ in honor of the revolutionary hero whose grave was near the spot. The men were quartered for three weeks in the wooden buildings of the Chittenden County Agricultural Society, till the tents, of the conical ―Sibley‖ pattern, arrived, when they were transferred to these, six tents covering a company, with about fifteen men in each tent. The horses arrived as soon as the men; were inspected on the ground; were purchased (at an average price of $110) by 535 Quartermaster G. S. Blodgett; and were branded with the familiar ―U.S.‖ on the fore-foot and fore-shoulder. They were between 15 and 16 hands high, as required by the government standard, and between five and nine years old, sound, well knit and serviceable, though as untrained as the men. They were originally assorted by colors, each company having horses of one color; but the vicissitudes of the service soon disturbed this arrangement, and the attempt to maintain any uniformity of colors was abandoned. The men were almost wholly native Vermonters. In the words of Surgeon Edson, ―they had enlisted in companies by counties; and had, by election, generously given into the hands of men entirely their equals in lack of military training and in many cases in no way superiors in courage, patriotism or intelligence, the superior positions, honor and pay of company officers. These officers they recognized and obeyed by a tacit compact, springing from the same good nature that elected them, and from a recognition of the necessity for organization and subordination. But in doing so they by no means surrendered their right of independent judgment and the consequent expression of their opinions. 'Fraternity, equality, liberty' Americanized indeed, expressed the mental and moral relations toward the officers they had themselves created. The true relation of officer and soldier they had not in the slightest degree comprehended; nor did they, for a long time, nearly attain any condition of discipline that would not have driven a regular officer to madness. The company officers were but counterparts of the men, bred in the same school. It was one of their functions to participate in company caucuses, and to hold mass meetings with brother officers of the line. Such were the units of the organization. The field and staff officers were but privates raised through the company grades, alike inexperienced and ignorant of their duties, except those appertaining to the regimental town meeting that seemed to be always in session.‖ 536 The field and staff officers were commissioned by the governor upon the recommendation of the colonel—the selection of the chaplain, however, being determined by an informal ballot, taken by the line officers. The lieutenant colonel was George B. Kellogg, a lawyer of Brattleboro, 36 years old, of a well-known family high in social standing, a son of Hon. Daniel Kellogg, for many years judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont. Lieut. Colonel Kellogg was a man of education, genial temperament and convivial habits. He had held the State office of adjutant and inspector general. He recruited the Windham county company, was elected as its captain and then was at once appointed lieutenant colonel. The senior major, William D. Collins of Bennington, was an Englishman, and the only officer in the regiment who had seen any mounted service. He had been a sergeant in a battery of light artillery in the British army. This experience, magnified by common report into command of a light battery in her majesty's service, together with his showy appearance on horse-back, gave him great distinction, and he was for a time the recognized military authority in the regiment. The junior major was John D. Bartlett of Montpelier, a tall and fine looking young Vermonter, who had recruited the Washington County company, had been elected its captain, and was then promoted to the majority. The adjutant, Edgar Pitkin of Burlington, had seen three months' service as a sergeant in company H of the First Vermont regiment. He was young, enthusiastic and brave, and he gave his life to the national cause before the war ended. The quartermaster, Archibald S. Dewey, was a Burlington merchant, a man of 50 years, of superior intelligence, of strong patriotism, and of a dry humor which made him as entertaining companion. The surgeon, Dr. George S. 537 Gale of Bridport, was a well-known, thoroughly educated and successful physician of Addison county. He was one of the older officers, being now nearly 50, a man of marked character, earnest and blunt of speech, and devoted to the regiment. The assistant surgeon, Dr. P. O'M. Edson of Chester, was a young physician of high promise and professional ability, a graduate of both the academical and medical departments of the University of Vermont, patriotic, high-minded and always deservedly a favorite in the command. The chaplain, Rev. John H. Woodward of Westford, was a Congregational clergyman of marked earnestness and devotion, of intense patriotism and of a personal courage which took him often to the front and gave him the name of ―the fighting chaplain.‖ He was a State senator when appointed, and left his seat in the Senate Chamber to enter upon his duties as chaplain. The first organization of the regiment was as follows: Colonel—Lemuel B. Platt. Majors—William D. Collins and John D. Bartlett Adjutant—Edgar Pitkin. Quartermaster—A. S. Dewey. Surgeon—George S. Gale Assistant Surgeon—P. O'M. Edson. Chaplain—John H. Woodward. Sergeant Major—A. H. Danforth. Q. M. Sergeant—C. V. H. Sabin. Hospital Steward—J. H. Fiske. Commissary Sergeant—Mark H. Wooster. Chief Buglers—Cyrus Green and F. A. Prouty. Veterinary Surgeon—Hosea Stone. Company A, Chittenden County—Captain, Frank A. Platt; first lieutenant, Joel B. Erhardt; second lieutenant, Ellis B. Edwards; orderly sergeant, Warren Gibbs. Company B, Franklin County—Captain, George P. Conger; first lieutenant, William B. Beman; second lieutenant, Jed P. Clark; orderly sergeant, John Sawyer, Jr.

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