TO THE SURVIVING OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT OF VERMONT VOLUNTEERS (VETERANS) THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, WITH A COMRADE'S KINDLY REMEMBRANCE. Copyrighted by WM. C HOLBROOK, 1992. INTRODUCTION. HE history of the Seventh Vermont Regiment during the late war has never been written, and to this day the services which that gallant regiment rendered, and the severe experiences through which it passed, are not, I am persuaded, fully understood or appreciated by those not connected with it. It was, unfortunately, the fate of the regiment, during its entire service, to operate in fields far distant from Vermont, and, except for a brief period, shortly after its departure from the State, to be isolated from all other Vermont regiments, and for the most part from all other Eastern troops. Its history, therefore, is separate and distinct. Most, if not all, of the other Vermont regiments, at one time or another, were brigaded or attached to the same armies, and have, to a large extent, a common history. The duties performed by the Seventh from the early part of 1863 to the fall of 1864 were of such a nature that the more prominent features of its career are made up entirely of the individual achievements of its officers or detached portions of the regiment. After the return of the Seventh to New Orleans in the Autumn of 1864, it served continuously as a regiment until it was disbanded in April, 1866. At the request of Hon. G. G. Benedict, State Military Historian, and at the solicitation of several members of the regiment, I have been induced to prepare the following narrative, in the hope that I may thereby set forth more clearly 367313 than has heretofore been done some of the important events which occurred in its long term of service, and at the same time contribute my testimony to the conspicuous fortitude and patriotism of the brave officers and men who composed the Seventh. I have been very much aided in this undertaking by material and data furnished me by Colonels Peck and Porter, Surgeon Blanchard, Captains Morse, Kilburn, Clark, Stowell, Woodman, Moseley and Stearns, and Lieutenants Gates and Murdick, and Messrs. Royce, Brooks and Cook, all of the Seventh, and by a sketch of the late Capt. Young, kindly obtained and sent me by Col. Samuel E. Pingree, formerly of the 3d Vermont Regiment. I have also derived valuable information from letters written from the regiment cotemporaneously with the events which they chronicle, and published in the Rutland Herald. Among these are important communications from Lieut.-Col. Fullam, Captains Dutton, Hitchcock and others. So much of my statement as relates to the battle of Baton Rouge, and the atrocious treatment which the regiment received at the hands of Gen. Butler, is made up from the official reports of the commanding officers of the respective regiments and batteries that were stationed at that place at the time of the action, and from the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, and from my own recollections of personal interviews with Gen. Butler, and from public proceedings at the time, and from other sources. I have also availed myself of the excellent annual reports of the late Gen. Peter T. Washburn, the lamented and efficient Adjutant and Inspector-General of the State from which I have obtained statistics that have greatly aided me. The Campaign of Mobile, by Brevet |