Vermont AHGP
Part of the American History and
Genealogy Project
Notes on Other Wars
Minute Men, 1794
A special town meeting July 21 1794 voted that this town will
ensure to the Minute Men now enlisted from this town the wages
while in actual service that the Governor and Council of this
State have promised to recommend the Legislature to ensure them;
provided that Congress nor said Legislature do not do it.
War of 1812-16.
The military history of Vermont at this period is singularly
deficient "our foreign relations and defensive operations being
exclusively committed to the management of the general
government" without intervention by the State authorities such
as from 1861 to 1865 when the admirable system of
Adjutant-General Washburn preserved an accurate record of the
Vermont officers and soldiers who served in the War of the
Rebellion. There is therefore no State record of the services of
Vermonters in the War of 1812 excepting only an imperfect record
of the Plattsburgh volunteers gathered many years after the
battle. Two modes were adopted by the General Government in
raising armies to wit: by drafts from the militia of the several
states called "detached militia" and by enlistments into the
United States army. In both cases the men were under the command
of United States officers and hence no complete rosters can be
found anywhere short of the records of the War Department at
Washington. A roster of officers only has been published in the
American State Papers and with the aid of this the following
list is made:
Larned Lamb of Montpelier appointed Captain previous to 1808. He commanded a company of U. S. troops stationed at Montpelier in 1808 but left the army before the roster alluded to was published. Mr. Lamb died at St. Louis about 1828.
Sylvester Day of Montpelier was commissioned as surgeon March 13, 1813. He remained in the army until his death which occurred at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania about 1864.
Gustavus Loomis was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant March 1, 1811 and was placed on the retired list March 13 1865 with the rank of brevet Brigadier General. He was probably a resident of Thetford at the time of his appointment but for many years his home when on leave of absence was at Montpelier and here his family for a time resided. He died in 1871.
Sylvester Churchill was commissioned as Lieutenant in 1812 and as Captain in the 3rd Artillery August 15, 1813.
During the War of the Rebellion he was Inspector General of the U. S. army with the rank of brevet Brigadier General. He died at Washington near the close of that war. He resided in Montpelier for a few years previous to 1809 when he removed to Windsor and became one of the proprietors of the Vermont Republican newspaper. In 1813 Congress authorized the enlistment and organization of 46 regiments to serve one year. Of these four were assigned to Vermont. The headquarters of one were at Rutland and Bennington; of one at Woodstock; and of two at Burlington.
The roster of the officers of the 31st regiment of infantry Daniel Dana Colonel contains the names of the following persons from Montpelier and its immediate vicinity;
Cyrus Johnson captain
Presbury West, 1st Lieutenant
John Putnam, 2nd Lieutenant
Jonathan Eddy 3rd Lieutenant
Undoubtedly there were several Montpelier men in this regiment and probably in the two regiments enlisted at Burlington but their names cannot be given.
The list of Montpelier men in the regular army or naval service may as well be completed here as follows:
Hannibal Day son of Dr. Sylvester Day commissioned as 2nd Lieut. July 1 1823 and breveted Brigadier General March 13, 1865. He is still living and is on the retired list.
Asa Richardson commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant at a little later date; after serving several years he left the army; but how the writer is uncertain perhaps he resigned or was placed on the retired list as a disabled officer. Disabled he certainly was.
Charles C. Upham now deceased was paymaster in the navy for about 20 years and attained the rank of Captain and was high on the list when retired.
George Dewey Midshipman September 23, 1854 Commander from April 13th 1872.
Charles E. Clark Midshipman September 29, 1860 Lieut. Commander from March 12 1868 appointed from Bradford. R. Julius Richardson was paymaster during the Civil War. Theodore G. Dewey Midshipman June 19, 1875.
The War of the Rebellion
The full record of Adjutant General Washburn precludes the necessity of any details or any assertion that Montpelier performed fully its part in that ever memorable war. The total number of men required from Montpelier to fill all quotas was 189 and the town furnished 236 being 47 more than her quota.
The principal field and staff officers were:
Colonel Nathan Lord Jr. 6th
Colonel Francis V. Randall 13th
Lieutenant Colonel Edward M. Brown 8th
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew C. Brown 13th
Majors James S. Peck 17th
John D. Bartlett 1st cavalry
Adjutants James S. Peck 13th
Adjutants J. Monroe Poland 15th.
Capt. and Assistant Quarter Masters Perley P. Pitkin 2nd
Capt. and Assistant Quarter Masters John W. Clark 6th
Capt. and Assistant Quarter Masters Fred. E. Smith
Capt. and Assistant Quarter Masters Edward Dewey 8th.
Capt. and Com. of Subsistence Albert L. Carleton 11th.
Quarter Master Nelson A. Taylor 13th.
Surgeon Charles M. Chandler 6th.
Most of the Montpelier men were in the 2nd and 13th regiments the 2nd being in the Sixth Corps which had the highest reputation of any in the army of the Potomac for fighting and the 13th was in Gen. Stannard's famous flank movement at Gettysburgh on the 3rd of July 1863 of which Major Gen. Doubleday in his report said "that it is to Gen. Stannard and Col. Gates that the country is mainly indebted for the repulse of the enemy's charge and the final victory of the 3rd of July."
The present military organization in Montpelier is one company of infantry under Capt. Ely Ely-Goddard.
Source: History of Washington County Vermont, Collated and Published by Abby Maria Hemenway, 1882.
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