State of Vermont Monument (Gettysburg)

State of Vermont Monument

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©Michael Kendra, April 2002.
:us34stars:

MONUMENT PROFILE
  • Battlefield: Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania
  • Location: Hancock Avenue, just North of the Pennsylvania Monument
  • Map Coordinates: +39° 48' 33.98", -77° 14' 10.93"
  • Men Engaged at Gettysburg from Vermont: 4,360
  • Gettysburg Casualties from Vermont: 415 or 10%

MONUMENT DETAILS
  • Artist:
    • Sculptor: Karl Gerhardt
    • Fabricator: Frederick & Field
  • Dedicated: October 9, 1889
  • Dimensions: Overall: H. 66 ft.
    • Base: W. 17 ft. 5 in. x D. 17 ft. 5 in.
    • Statue H. 11 ft.
  • Cost: $11,750.00 in 1889
  • Description:
At the top of a tall granite column is a bronze sculpture depicting Brig. Gen. George Stannard holding a sword in his proper left hand. At the foot of the column is a square base which rests on a three granite steps. The front or west side of the Vermont State Monument contains a bas relief carving of the state’s coat of arms.​
  • Remarks:
The statue depicts Stannard missing his right arm. Although he was wounded by an explosion of an artillery shell at Gettysburg on July 3rd, he did not lose his arm here. He lost his arm on September 29, 1864 in the Battle of Fort Harrison, near Petersburg, Virginia.​

MONUMENT TEXT
Front Side (Facing WEST)
VERMONT
IN HONOR OF HER SONS
WHO FOUGHT ON THIS FIELD.​

Right Side (Facing SOUTH)
FIRST VERMONT BRIGADE:
SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH
AND SIXTH REGIMENTS;

BRIG. GEN. L. A. GRANT COMMANDING;
SECOND BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION, SIXTH CORPS.
—-
THE BRIGADE REACHED THE FIELD
NEAR LITTLE ROUND TOP IN THE AFTERNOON
OF JULY 2, 1863, BY A FORCED MARCH OF
THIRTY-TWO MILES, AND SOON AFTER
WAS ASSIGNED TO THE LEFT UNION FLANK,
WHERE IT HELD A LINE FROM THE SUMMIT OF
ROUND TOP TO THE TANEYTOWN ROAD
UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE BATTLE.​

Rear (Facing EAST)
SECOND VERMONT BRIGADE:
TWELFTH, THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH,
FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH REGIMENTS

BRIG. GEN. GEORGE STANNARD COMMANDING
THIRD BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, FIRST CORPS.
—-
THE BRIGADE ARRIVED ON CEMETERY HILL JULY 1, 1863.
THE TWELFTH AND FIFTEENTH REGIMENTS WERE DETACHED
TO GUARD THE CORPS TRAINS. ABOUT SUNSET, JULY 2,
THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND SIXTEENTH MOVED TO
THIS PART OF THE FIELD, RETOOK BATTERY C, FIFTH U.S.
AND RE-ESTABLISHED THE UNION LINE.
—-
JULY 3, THESE REGIMENTS HELD THE FRONT LINE IN
ADVANCE OF THIS SPOT. IN THE CRISIS OF THE DAY, THE
THIRTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CHANGED FRONT, AND ADVANCING
200 YARDS TO THE RIGHT, ASSAULTED THE FLANK OF PICKETT’S
DIVISION. THE SIXTEENTH THEN MOVED BACK 400 YARDS TO
THE LEFT AND CHARGED THE FLANK OF WILCOX’S AND PERRY’S
BRIGADES. THE FOURTEENTH SUPPORTED THESE CHARGES.
THE BRIGADE CAPTURED THREE FLAGS AND MANY PRISONERS.​

Left Side (Facing NORTH)
FIRST VERMONT CAVALRY
FIRST BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS.
—-
THIS REGIMENT FOUGHT STUART’S CAVALRY AT
HANOVER, JUNE 30, 1863, OPPOSED HAMPTON’S CAVALRY
AT HUNTERSTOWN, JULY 2, AND CHARGED THROUGH THE
FIRST TEXAS INFANTRY AND UPON THE LINE OF LAW’S
BRIGADE AT THE FOOT OF ROUND TOP, JULY 3.
—-
VERMONT SHARPSHOOTERS:
CO. F. FIRST U.S.S. CO’S E AND H, SECOND U.S.S.;
SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, THIRD CORPS.

—-
JULY 2, COMPANY F AIDED IN CHECKING THE ADVANCE
OF WILCOX’S BRIGADE WEST OF SEMINARY RIDGE.
COMPANIES E AND H RESISTED LAW’S BRIGADE
WEST OF DEVIL’S DEN AND UPON THE ROUND TOPS.
JULY 3, THE THREE COMPANIES TOOK PART
IN THE REPULSE OF PICKETT’S CHARGE.​


ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

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Albumen silver print by William H. Tipton taken about 1889, Image courtesy of Getty's Open Content Program.

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The front or west side of the Vermont State Monument contains a bas relief carving of the state’s coat of arms.
Photo
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GettysburgDaily, September 6, 2008


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Detail of Bronze Statue, After Monument cleaned and waxed.
NPS Photo, July 18, 2018


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Detail of Bronze Statue, After Monument cleaned and waxed.
NPS Photo, July 18, 2018


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A 120-foot lift is used to access the top of the 60-foot monument. NPS Photo, July 18, 2018

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Stannard’s left hand holds a sword; this photo shows a number of small details not visible from the ground.
NPS Photo, July 18, 2018

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From up close, the eagles on Stannard’s belt and buttons are visible.
NPS Photo, July 18, 2018


REPORT FROM THE VERMONT COMMISSIONERS
ON MONUMENTS AT GETTYSBURG


THE STATE MONUMENT AND STANNARD STATUE.

In pursuance of this new legislation, the Commissioners invited the submission of designs and proposals for a bronze statue of Gen-
eral Stannard. Five artists, in different parts of the country, presented designs for this statue, or specimens of their work, and proposals were received from several bronze founders for the casting.

The Commissioners became favorably impressed with the work of Mr. Karl Gerhardt, of Hartford, Conn., whose equestrian statue of Gen. Israel Putnam, at Brooklyn, Conn., and statues of Josiah Bartlett at Amesbury, Mass., and of Gen. Warren, on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, had successfully passed the ordeal of high criticism and secured for the young sculptor valuable orders from other cities and states ; and as he also made the most satisfactory proposal for the model and bronze casting, a contract was closed with him on the 31st day of January, 1889. To make a heroic portrait statue for a monument 55 feet in height was a difficult task, and the difficulty was increased by the fact that no good profile photograph of the deceased General could be found. Members of the Commission inspected the work several times during the progress of modeling the statue, and finally a plaster cast of the head was taken by the artist to Burlington and shown to Mrs. Stannard and her daughters, who pronounced it an excellent portrait.

It is well known that General Stannard did not lose his right arm until some time after the battle of Gettysburg ; * but as this statue was designed to commemorate valor and typify sacrifice in the war as a whole, it was thought proper that the figure should be represented with an empty sleeve, as the hero appeared at the close of the war.

The statue was cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company, of New York, and was inspected at their works and accepted after they had placed it upon the monument.

As was anticipated, it adds finish and impressiveness to a beautiful structure, and the monument, as a whole, is the most classic, stately and commanding object on that portion of the field, if not upon the entire field. The Commissioners congratulate the State upon the good fortune which attended their contracts, through which the work was well executed at a cost far below the estimates of many good judges of such work, who have viewed the finished structure.

*Gen. Stannard lost his right arm at Fort Harrison, Va.

RELATED LINKS

citation information The following information is provided for citations.
Article Title:
State of Vermont Monument (Gettysburg)
Article Subject:
Civil War Monuments, Structures, & Other Points of Interest
Author:
Mike Kendra, @CivilWarTalk
Website Name:
CivilWarTalk.com
URL:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/state-of-vermont-monument-gettysburg.165460/
Publisher:
CivilWarTalk, LLC
Original Published Date:
November 25, 2019

links to state and national monuments, and nearby landmarks Located at Gettysburg National Military Park, in Adams County, Pennsylvania (rev.6/1/21)
National Monuments
Eternal Light Peace Memorial Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial High Water Mark
Lincoln Speech Memorial Soldiers' National Monument
U.S. State Monuments
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CT DE IL IN ME MD MA MI MN
NH NJ NY OH PA RI VT WV WI U.S. Regulars
Individual &
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Monuments
Equestrian Monuments: Hancock Howard Lee Longstreet Meade Reynolds Sedgwick Slocum
Standing Bronze Statues:
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Greene Hays Humphreys Robinson Wadsworth Warren Webb
Wells
Other Individual Monuments:
Armistead Chapman Collis Cushing Fuller Rev. Howell Humiston Merwin
Nicholson Sickles Taylor Vincent Ward Weed & Hazlett Willard Woolson Zook
Landmarks
Black Horse Tavern Cashtown Inn Dobbin House Evergreen Cemetery Jennie Wade House Lutheran Theological Seminary
McAllister's Mill Railroad Station Sachs Covered Bridge
Thompson House David Wills House
Farms: Codori Bliss Brian
Daniel Schaefer Hummelbaugh Klingle Lady Leister McLean McPherson
Rogers Rose Rummel Sherfy Slyder Snyder Taney Trostle George Weikert Wentz
Points of Interest
New Museum & Visitor Center Benner's Hill Cemetery Hill Copse of Trees Culp's Hill
Devil's Den Peach Orchard Little Round Top
Big Round Top Sachs Covered Bridge
Spangler's Spring East Cavalry Field Soldiers' National Cemetery National Cemetery Annex

Gone But Not Forgotten: Old Museum, Visitor Center, & Electric Map Old Cyclorama National Tower
 
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THE DEDICATION OF THE VERMONT STATE MONUMENTS
OCTOBER 9, 1889


A stand suitably decorated with the national colors had been erected near the State Monument, upon Hancock avenue. The die of the monument, which lifted its tall and graceful shaft high into the air above, bore on its front wreaths of laurel, ivy and roses, the gift of the Vermont Veterans' Association of Boston. Upon the arrival of the procession, the stand was occupied by Governor Dillingham, Secretary of War Redfield Proctor, Senator Edmunds, Ex-Governors Ormsbee and Barstow, Judge W. G. Yeazey of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Lieut. Governor U. A. Woodbury, State Treasurer W. H. Dubois, Secretary of State C. W. Porter, State Auditor E. H. Powell, Adjutant General T. S..Peck, Quartermaster General W. H. Gilmore, Hon. J. G. McCullough, Gen. W. Y. W Ripley, Gen. E. H. Ripley, Prof. J. W. Churchill, two of the daughters of Gen. Stannard — Mrs. W. L. Stone and Miss Katharine Stannard, Col. John B. Bachelder, President H. W. McKnight of Pennsylvania College, Lieutenants G. W. Hooker and G. G. Benedict of Gen. Stannard's Staff, and other prominent citizens. The wives of many of the gentlemen named were also seated upon the stand. The audience, of Vermonters and citizens of other States, were grouped in front.

THE PUBLIC EXERCISES.

President Ormsbee called the assemblage to order and the Exercises of the occasion opened with an appropriate prayer by the
Chaplain of the day, Rev. Dr. Smart.

The monuments was then presented to the Battlefield Memorial Association, by Gov. Dillingham.

GOVERNOR DILLINGHAM'S ADDRESS.

Gentlemen of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association :​
As we assemble here to-day, and in the afterlight of a quarter century consider the character of the late conflict between opposing sections of our beloved country, and remember that upon this field the greatest battle of the war was fought, in the result of which more than any other, interests were involved affecting not only the integrity of our Union but the maintenance of free institutions the world over, we are awed by a sense of its importance as an incident in the world's history, and are filled with devout thanksgiving that in the time of greatest need our country had defenders who, appreciating the value of their heritage, were invincible in their purpose to preserve the liberties bequeathed to them by their fathers.​
The contest here waged was between the spirit of freedom and the spirit of oppression, and the success of a century of effort in the cause of human rights depended in a large measure upon its results. In it the sons of Vermont had a conspicuous part and contributed in a signal degree to the glorious result. Inheriting the courage of those who fought with Allen and Warner, possessing the intense love of liberty that has been the heritage of our people, representing a State that in its birth was dedicated to freedom and whose history was an inspiration to high purposes and heroic deeds, and believing that the strength and safety of our free institutions rested in the maintenance of a union between all the States, they were found where the battle was the hottest, striking blows for liberty, and they saw the opposing host surge back defeated never again to approach so near the goal of their misguided ambition.​
In grateful recognition of their services, Vermont has raised this monument to commemorate the valor of all her sons who served upon this field, and has erected others to indicate the spots where they were engaged.​
May the memories they arouse be a hallowed influence in the lives of all who shall in future years visit this spot, inspiring sentiments of intense loyalty to country and devotion to constitutional liberty.​
Gentlemen: The pleasant duty is mine, in behalf of the State of Vermont, to commit these monuments to the care of the patriotic organization which you so worthily represent.​

Judge Wheelock G. Veasey, on behalf of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, of which he is a member, accepted the monuments, in the following words :

VEAZEY'S ADDRESS

When the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association invited Vermont, in common with other states, to erect monuments on this field in honor of her sons who fought here, it implicitly pledged itself to become the guardian of such monuments. In pursuance of that implied pledge this Association now cheerfully renews the same in express terms, and accepts the trust, in full appreciation of the responsibility which it incurs.​
Having myself been one of the Vermont commissioners who acted for the State in the work of selecting and deciding upon designs, preparing inscriptions, contracting for the execution, and settling the question of location of the five monuments which Vermont this day dedicates, it would be unbecoming in me to speak in any personal sense of the quality or appropriateness of these structures, or of the honorable and important service which the men performed on the different parts of this great field, in memory of whom and of their deeds these structures are erected. But the directors of this Association have selected me from their number to speak officially for them today,, and have directed me to say in their behalf that they have noted from first to last the patient acquiescence of the Vermont Commission in those restrictive rules and regulations, especially as to material, location and inscriptions, which the Association had adopted for general application, though the necessity and wisdom of them would not be easily apparent to persons not familiar with the causes that made such rules a necessity. The directors desire to express their appreciation and gratitude for the intelligent consideration which the Commission from Vermont has always exhibited in all correspondence and negotiations between them.​
The directors further advise me to say that, in accepting this trust, they recognize the high quality of the service which was performed by the various Vermont organizations at vital points of the battle, and the excellence and appropriateness of the structures erected to commemorate that service and the men who performed it. They recognize that a State whose military force was so nearly wholly engaged in this battle, as was that of Vermont, should have a monument here not limited to single organizations, but dedicated to the honor of all.​
Within a short radius from one spot on this extended battlefield, many things occurred of the greatest historic interest and importance. It was here that the battle culminated at the close of three days of fierce and desperate conflict. It was here that history has recorded that the rebellion touched its high water mark, and in the sense intended by the statement it is a true record. It was here that Hancock and Stannard stood on the extreme front of the Union lines, until they received the ugly wounds that nearly cost them their lives; and even then refused to be taken from the field until the shouts of victory rang from Cemetery Hill to Round Top. It was here that the Second Vermont brigade stood in what turned out to be the pivotal point of the battle, several rods to the front of the general battle line, and in the gap between Pickett and Wilcox, and swung first to the right and charged into the flank of Pickett's division, and then swung back to the left and charged into the flank of Wilcox. It was in this last movement by the sturdy sons of Vermont that the final desperate onset of the enemy in this momentous battle was crushed.​
The directors of the Association concurred with the Commission that this was the one spot where Vermont's monument should stand. Copied as it was after a model which Grecian genius produced two thousand years ago, and which has stood the test of the centuries since as the most perfect model of monumental architecture; built of solid granite, taken from the same Green Mountains that bristled with thinking bayonets when rebellion threatened the nation's life; surmounted by the figure in bronze of Vermont's great volunteer soldier, overlooking the field of his most brilliant achievement, with the same calm, but determined expression that was on his face when he saw the great charging column steadily moving down upon his little command, and when he seized, as with the inspiration of genius, the advantage which his position afforded ; the directors recognize that this structure fittingly and nobly commemorates the men in whose honor it is erected, and appreciate the high duty resting upon the Association to preserve it in its beauty and glory.​
The directors also desire me to say that in like degree do they recognize their duty as to the other monuments which Vermont has erected in especial honor and commemoration of the several organizations of the State respectively, on other parts of this memorable field.​
From the summit of Round Top to the Taneytown Pike, guarding the left flank of the army, and at the same time within ready call of any other portion of the line, as a reserve, was the position of the First Vermont brigade, whose history is commensurate with that of the Potomac army, and whose fame is unsurpassed in military annals. On that line, on the avenue bearing the name of the II corps commander, the great Sedgwick, is the lion in granite, a fitting type of the courage and quality of the brigade, aroused by the noise of the battle, and ready to spring on the prey that should venture to cross its path.​
In front of Round Top the First Vermont cavalry followed the heroic Farnsworth in that reckless, but most gallant, charge upon the lines of Law's infantry brigade; a charge as certainly into the jaws of death as that of the cavalry at Balaklava, but most important, and perhaps absolutely essential, as a flank movement to relieve the pressure on the left centre, upon which Pickett's and the other divisions of Longstreet's corps were making their renowned charges. This is the well selected location for a monument to the brave riders in eighty-six battles and engagements of the war in which they participated.​
Away to the front, beyond Seminary Ridge, from which the enemy made his famous assaults on the second and third days of the battle, a Vermont company in the First regiment of United States Sharpshooters, discovered and developed the movement of Longstreet to gain the Round Tops and turn the Union left flank, on the second day of the battle, and, with their comrades of that regiment, delayed the movement by skillful and hard fighting, until dispositions were made by Gen. Sickles to meet it. On that extreme front fittingly stands an elegant marble column to tell the story to generations to come of the gallant and important service of these brave riflemen.​
Between that and the cavalry monument, near the Slyder House, another historic point of this field, two other companies of Vermont Sharpshooters, in the Second regiment of that famous command, first received the advance of Longstreet's corps, as it swept like a tornado from the crest of Seminary Ridge into the ravine between the Round Tops, which has been appropriately designated as the "Devil's Den" and there those skilled marksmen clung with such pertinacity and until so enveloped by the foe on front and flanks, as to have acquired for the place the sobriquet of the "hornet's nest." There, carved in granite, a hornet's nest, with appropriate inscriptions, silently but potently tells the story of heroic duty, for this little force of determined patriots.​
Speaking for the directors, whom I now represent, these brief allusions are made that the representatives of the Green Mountain State may know that the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association has not overlooked the fact that the descendants of Allen and Warner and the other heroes who held our mountain fastnesses in the stormy days of the revolution, made on this field one of the grandest pages of American history; and that it is in full appreciation of this fact that the Association accepts the sacred trust now reposed in it by the noble State that never failed in patriotic duty.​

When Col. Veazey had finished, the band played the Star Spangled Banner, after which Senator Edmunds delivered the oration of the day.

SENATOR EDMUNDS' ORATION.

Fellow Citizens:​
To-day, on a battle-field in the great State founded by William Penn,the foremost man of peace, we dedicate the monument our small and distant State, the child of war, erects to the memory of her soldiers, who shared somewhat conspicuously in the great and decisive battle that in 1863, very near the anniversary of the founding of the republic, was fought to victory for liberty and law along the now sunny and silent vales and hillsides where it stands, among many similar memorials, pars inter pares.​
In the great drama of the world's progress, scenes and characters change rapidly. The time is not far past — a mere span in the history of civilization, when the fair landscapes we now behold filled with homes of an intelligent, free and prosperous people, were part of a vast wilderness of forests, desolate in everything save the untouched exuberance of nature and the presence of the savage and nomadic Indian. A little later the Anglo-Saxon came and the forests and the Indian gave way to the slow advance of farms and shops, of churches and of schools. A little later these young societies were engaged in a mortal struggle of arms to relieve themselves from tyranny and oppression, and to establish for themselves and their posterity forever a government in which the security of private property, personal liberty, and freedom of thought and speech should be the corner-stones — a commonwealth of equal rights in union with other commonwealths, and a union of the people of all in a nation. All these transitions were, though rapid when seen in the perspective of history, slow, painful and costly in detail ; the hardships of immigration and pioneer life, the dangers and disasters from hostile savages, the jealousies and feuds of personal ambition and discontent, touched somewhere almost daily, the life of the colonial period ; — the struggles of inexperienced, ill-clothed, and ill-fed and poorly armed soldiers, made still more difficult by the want of real unity and confidence between the new-born States of the Confederation, characterized the war period of the Revolution ; and the re-formation of the government, when independence of the British crown had been achieved, into a government of the people as well as of the States, with the adjustment of boundaries, debts and taxation, marked the period of the early years of our established republic as one of the most critical that had yet appeared in the history of the continent. At last the hopes of patriots began to be realized, and the several States of the perfected union entered upon a career of development and prosperity in the proportion — and no other — to the fundamental principles and practice upon which the State governments were founded and carried on.​
The States in which equal laws were equally administered for the preservation of the just liberties and equal rights of all the people far outstripped those in which slavery was a feature of the social and political system, in every element and step of civilized progress.​
The inevitable culmination of these politically connected but hostile social systems came in the rebellion of 1861. It lasted long enough, under the Providence of God, to enable the friends of liberty for all the human race to eradicate by just and lawful means the crime and curse of slavery from its place — secure before — in the governmental systems of all the States that still continued it, and to put all the people of all the States upon the common footing of equal civil and political rights. Thenceforth, there must be in law, and might and ought to be in practice, one people, and a union of States whose laws in respect of intrinsic human rights, which our declaration of independence asserted, were everywhere alike.​
The immediate origin of the rebellion is familiar to us all. The slave-holding States repudiated the confessedly fair and constitutional election of a president who believed in liberty for all, and who, it was certain, would not promote the interests of a slave system, or defend them beyond such clear line of duty as the constitution imposed upon him. On this ground and this alone the rebellion — under the false name of secession — which President Jackson had obliterated 30 years before, was inaugurated and carried on. It was unique. I believe such a rebellion was without a precedent or parallel in any country at any time. In the abundance of struggles against the constituted authority of states and kings, I am sure none can be found in which the effort was to overthrow a government devoted to lawful liberty and to build one whose chief corner stone and whose sole reason to be, was the preservation and maintenance of human bondage.​
It was to defend and maintain the national government against such an assault that our citizen soldiers, — as well as the brave and patriotic of other States — left their avocations of peace in farm and shop and store, in school and office and pulpit, and came to this and many other fields of conflict, and gave their lives to a cause that can never become unworthy or obsolete, and won a wreath of honor that can never fade.​
But even now, after a quarter of a century, it is apparent that the full and final benefit and beneficence of the great sacrifice is not yet reached. In many of the old slave-holding commonwealths there has existed, and continues to be methodically practiced, a systematized repression of the liberated race and of those white citizens who defend its rights of free speech and lawful voting, and which not only robs the citizens of all other States of the full weight of their just and lawful influence in the legislation of the country, but which, in its various forms of fraud, tyranny, violence and cruelty, sets at naught those essential principles of social order and morality, without the practice of which no free and Christian society can exist. These things affect the welfare and the true life of every part of the republic ; and it is the duty of every citizen of whatever race, creed or party, to exert himself to bring them to an end. Until secure and peaceful freedom and equality, both political and civil, come to every citizen of every State, these monuments will not have shown their full and true significance.​
I am not reviving what flippant and wily politicians are so fond of calling " the bitterness and hatreds of the war." There never have been any such sentiments in the hearts of the citizens who stood for the unity of their country, other or further than an intense dislike of a rebellion prosecuted for the perpetuation of human slavery, and the hatred, then and now, of cruelty, tyranny and oppression. I pray that such sentiments may continue earnest and active in the hearts and minds of men, for they are inseparable from the love of truth and justice and liberty. It was the inspiration of such sentiments that led the Vermonters and the patriots of other States to this great battlefield, and our memorial to them will not be complete until such sentiments are realized in the fullest sense in every part of the republic.​
To the memory of those of our own citizens who fell here in the critical battle of the war, of those who fell on the other fields, of those who perished in the line of duty anywhere, and to the honor of those who still survive the great contest, our sturdy and steadfast State erects this shaft, formed from the granite of her own Green Mountains and surmounted by the bronze image of one of her heroic sons who commanded her troops on this field. Long may it stand secure, with its associated monuments, not only as a memorial of heroic deeds for liberty and justice and true republican government, but as an inspiration to us and to all who shall come after us in future time, to devote themselves, against whatever temptations and in spite of whatever peril or adversity, to the defense and extension of liberty, justice and equal rights among men. Thus there will be always for our country — and we may hope in the not far future for every other — a career whose ways are ways of pleasantness and all whose paths are peace.​

The speakers were listened to with marked attention and they were frequently interrupted by applause.
 
I haven't had a chance to read all the text yet, but I'm interested while looking at this again to see both the cavalry and sharpshooters memorialized here as well ... all on the one monument. I don't know if this is unusual, but it strikes me as being 'different'.

It just makes the Vermonter's sound like a real collective of men, regardless of their role in the army. None went unrecognized.

Thanks again for all your hard work in putting this one together, Mike.
 
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