Vermont's Nine Months Soldiers

During the month of May, I have been busy with some family issues, and with a course I have had to take for my job. The course is finally over as of today, (I got an A) and I am psyched to be researching Upper Valley history again. These stories never cease to amaze me.

When I finally had to leave the Curriers of Canaan, New Hampshire, I realized that I hadn't written anything about the Civil War. The Civil War started in 1861 and ended in 1865. 2011 was the 150^th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. The Southern states seceded from the Union during the winter of 1861. The Southerners decided they wanted to take control of Fort Sumpter, an American fort in the Harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The war was started when Fort Sumpter was attacked, in April of 1861.

I googled “Vermont in the Civil War” and found a site that listed all of the towns that had companies in the army during the Civil War. I chose Barnard because it was the first Upper Valley town I saw, which makes sense since it was first in the alphabet. The first name I came to was Charles Aikens. And so I began a journey back in time.

The first Union offensive against the Confederate States was the Peninsula Campaign, with George McClellan commanding. The campaign started with Union troops winning a few unsubstantial battles against Confederate General Joseph Johnston, but when Robert E. Lee replaced Johnson as Confederate commander, Lee delivered defeat after defeat to the more cautious McClellan.

As 1861 ended and 1862 began, it became clear to President Lincoln that he would need more soldiers to fight a more aggressive war. He decided to call for another 300,000 troops. These troops would serve for only nine months. Each state had a quota of troops to fill. Vermont's Governor Holbrook, of Brattleboro, called on town officers to enlist men and form companies to fill Vermont's quota of 4,898 men. Each town wanted to fill its company totally by volunteers, thus avoiding the embarrassment of having to draft men to fight. Wealthy citizens offered a bounty of 50 dollars to men who would join. Committees went from farm to farm, trying to convince prospective recruits to join up for nine months. In the end, Vermont met its quota. Around 50 men were drafted, but they officially signed up as volunteers, to avoid giving the impression that their towns were full of men who shirked their duty to their country.

These people enlisted in the army not to free the slaves, but to “put down the rebellion”. They were willing to put their lives on the line to force the recalcitrant southern states to rejoin the union. It wasn't about protecting the homeland, it was about preserving the power and prestige of their nation, which had been disrespected by a bunch of renegade southerners who had decided they would separate from the United States and form their own country. By 1862, 10,000 Vermonters had already left their farms and towns to go down South and reunite the country by force, but the fight was proving more difficult than had been predicted. By the time the leaves had begun to turn and the apples were in the cider presses, almost 5,000 more were getting ready to leave.

Not every town had a company. Larger towns were responsible for recruiting and organizing companies, and hosted drill sessions for the new recruits. During the country's early years, the militia was active and citizen soldiers drill ed every month to keep their military skills sharp. By the mid 1800's, this practice had been discontinued and the new six month recruits didn't know the first thing about military maneuvers.

Each company was made up of approximately 100 men. 10 companies made a regiment of 1000 men. Vermont had five nine month regiments: the 12^th, 13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th. Three of these regiments held companies from the Upper Valley. The 12^th Vermont had companies from West Windsor, Woodstock, Tunbridge, and Bradford. Colonel Asa Blunt, from St Johnsbury was the commander, with Roswell Farnum from Bradford as Lieutenant Colonel. West Fairlee had a company in the 15^th Vermont, commanded by Colonel Redfield Proctor of Cavendish. The company from Barnard was in the 16^th Vermont, commanded by Colonel Wheelock Veazey of Springfield.

Charles Aikens was born in Royalton in 1833. He had two brothers and one sister. He married Jane Paddock in 1857, which means he had only been married for four years when he enlisted from Barnard in August of 1862, at age 29.