Third Regiment. (Three Years.)
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THIRD REGIMENT. (THREE YEARS.) BY EX-GOVERNOR SAMUEL E. PINGREE, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. THE history of the Third Regiment, Vermont St. Johnsbury company "at home " and ready to re- Volunteer Infantry, is so completely inter- ceive them. Company A from Springfield joined woven with the history of the First Vermont Bri- the next day, and others followed. The school of gade—the long and honorable service of each of the the soldier, squad and company were soon organized, five regiments of that brigade being the common and the theoretical learning of the militia veterans fame of all—that the story of one is the substantial and the cadets from Norwich were improved, and in counterpart to the story of all the others. There a few weeks guard mounting and dress parades were was scarcely a fight in the whole service in which all indulged in. Arms and uniforms were distributed in were not under fire where any were, and no man due time. The former, the Enfield rifle, was dis- could say that the glory which shed such an army- carded for the Springfield rifle musket before the end wide lustre on our arms and gave the great name to of the first year's service, and the gray uniform, a the valor of the Vermont troops was not the equal Vermont manufacture, gave way the next spring to property of each of those five regiments, and the the inferior fabric, although standard dress, of the Eleventh which joined later. army blue. " The losses from disease in camp, and the casualties The life in Camp Baxter" was unmarked by im- of the campaign and battle were substantially the same. portant events. Men and officers labored together All owed largely (and each equally) to those rugged to fit themselves for the calling to which they had masters of the details of the soldiers' education and been voluntarily committed. Submissive to the slow guidance, Generals Smith and Brooks, for the dis- developments of the laws and regulations of camp ciplinary preparation for their brilliant achievements. life, charity for the little learning each had of the They camped, they marched, they fought upon and . new duties, and a spirit to study and comprehend over the same fields as one body, and under the same the new vocation they had assumed, characterized leaders. Their history, in most that makes up the the members of the regiment, and their labors were fame of either, is the common inheritance of those fruitful of good results. regiments alike. After a lapse of nearly thirty years, July 22, 1 86 1, news of a progressing battle at the it is difficult for even one "who went, and saw, and front was in the air, and in two days after the regi- conquered " with them, to write a brief sketch of ment was on its way to Washington. The hospit- either without being lost in the broader and deeper able and patriotic people of St. Johnsbury bade them achievements of all as the proper unit to write God speed, and acclaims of joy greeted them as the about, to tie to, and to let fond recollections rally 882 officers and men passed through the cities and around. large towns on their way thither. In April, i86t, the "shot of Sumter " was heard, Presented with a beautiful banneret at Hartford,, hurling defiance to the people of the North. Within Conn., by the sons of Vermont of that city, and thirty days after, : the young men of eastern Ver- joined there by Col. W. F. Smith, it marched on mont, from Springfield to Coventry, were enlisting board the " Elm City " at New Haven, partook of under their chosen leaders, and invoking the State the hospitalities of the good people of Philadelphia ' authorities to give them a place in the right forms the night of the 25th, arrived in Washington the of war." The work went bravely on, and June 7, next morning, and on the 27th marched up the Poto- 1861, company F of Hartford, was the first to arrive mac, laid out and occupied " Camp Lyon " for the in camp at St. Johnsbury from abroad, finding the protection of Chain Bridge (which was built of wood) (67) 68 THIRD RKGIMENT. and the waterworks and reservoir supplying the Cap- forward to the strongly fortified lines of the enemy regiment ital, six miles bdow. Here Colonel Smith assumed on the slopes of the Warwick. Here the command of the regiment, and introduced systematic furnished the first of its many details for the build- morasses methods of camp life with the drill, parade, picket ing of the corduroy roads through the vast duty and reconnoissance into Virginia, then held by of the Peninsula. But the army, stretching from the enemy stationed at Falls Church and "Vienna, the head of the Chesapeake across the Peninsula to within a few hours march of our camp. the James, was here confronted by the outer line of The Sixth Maine, Mott's Battery and a company the defenses of Richmond, manned by brave and of cavalry constituted the Union troops at this im- defiant Confederate soldiers, commanded by a gen- portant point for a season, but later the Thirty-third eral of large experience in the Mexican War. To New York, and the Second Vermont joined us, and break this line at a given point and open the way other commands were soon posted above and below for the Union army to make a lodgement on the our camp. Changes came in field and line by resig- right bank of the Warwick and turn the position nation and promotion. The first review of note was of the enemy, two companies of this regiment were held here by President Lincoln, attended by several selected to lead in the desperate assault, supported of his cabinet, together with Generals McClellan, by two others of the same regimenr. This was the Scott and others of rank and quality, who compli- substantial opening of the great Peninsula cam- mented the troops on their soldierly bearing, receiv- paign against Richmond under General McClellan. ing their applause in return. The attack was a success to the fullest extent of the On the dark night of Sept. 3, 1861, the regiment, orders given the storming column ; the enemy's lines with the rest of the command, moved silently across were broken and their forces scattered by less than the Potomac into Virginia, and named and occupied two hundred men, and, with a division of troops pre- " Camp Advance" and built Fort Ethan Allen. The disposed and thrown across after it, the permanent trial and death sentence of young Scott for sleeping lodgement of our forces on the west side of the at his sentry post near the old camp, the impressive stream was made possible. Once there to stay, the parade for his military execution and his pardon by enemy's line of defense was turned, and the advance the President as he was standing to receive the fatal of our army on Richmond would be no longer delayed volley, the first baptism of the regiment by fire at at Yorktown. No re-enforcements came, and after the Lewinsville skirmish, Sept. 11, in which two holding the position forty minutes, the four compa- men were killed and others wounded, the heavy de- nies were recalled through the stream, having lost tails from day to day for fatigue duty upon the de- nearly half their number in killed and wounded. fensive works in rear of our camp, with the picket- Providence had, apparently, intended that no great ing at the front and the daily drills, made up the results should come of such small beginnings, and variety of the service for the summer. so the army remained here till the enemy evacuated Early in October, the Fourth and Fifth regiments Yorktown the May following. arrived, and all soon advanced some four miles into The regiment was active in sustaining General the enemies country and occupied "Camp Griffin." Hancock in his masterly maneuver and battle at The acclimation period was most severe and serious YVilliamsburgh. In the month of road and bridge it was not till well nigh at this camp, and winter building, fatigue and picket duty, and in the seven that the sick list began to shrink and the bulk of the days of fighting before Richmond, the regiment again, and in regiment was on duty January but one was always in hard service, and at Savage's Station, the sick roll. few officers organ- in ten were on A June 29, suffered severe loss in battle. In the Mary- ized a school of stud)' of the tactics and regulations, land campaign of 1862, which followed, it bore its did the same. and some of the men The skirmish share of the glory of the fight at Burkettsville, South drill by the bugle calls and the bayonet drill became Mountain, Antietam and, the following December, order, and these days of preparation were in most at Fredericksburg. In the first year and a half of its profitable to all. service its field officers had thrice changed, and the camps were abandoned March 10, 1862, The and captains of the line had changed once or more in via Flint Hill the regiment moved to Alexandria, each company, and subaltern officers with propor- arriving there after a march in the most cold and tionate frequency. drenching rain storm it ever experienced. A fort- The allotment of limited space compels but brief night later it sailed down the Potomac and Chesa- reference to the memorable '• mud march " under the peake to Fortress Monroe, arriving near Newport right-hearted Burnside, the gallant rush and pursuit News on the 25th, and in the same week marched up the sides of Marye's Heights, the part so well THIRD REGIMENT.