Everlasting Glory: Vermont Soldiers Who Were Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Service During the Civil War 1861-1865
Compiled and edited by Phil S. Rogers
(December 2008 Civil War News)

Illustrated, footnotes, appendix, index, 78 pp, 2007, The Vermont Civil War Hemlocks. Order from Blue Hill Observatory, Box 256, Randolph Center, VT 05061, $17.45 ppd.

Reviewer: Kathryn Jorgensen
Kathryn Jorgensen is editor of Civil War News, which is published in Vermont, in one of the many small towns with a Civil War monument and many veterans in its cemeteries.

Review:
Everlasting Glory honors 48 recipients of the Medal of Honor — men who served in Vermont regiments or were Vermont natives serving in the Regular Army. They included two U.S. Colored Troops captains, a boatswain’s mate and two members of the 1st Regiment, U.S. Sharpshooters.

Compiler and editor Phil S. Rogers is a member of the Vermont Civil War Hemlocks, members of which assisted with the project. The Hemlocks are a nonprofit educational organization founded during the Civil War Centennial that fields the 3rd Vermont, Co. A, and 1st Vermont Battery.

In his Introduction, Rogers explains how he learned there was no list of the state’s medal recipients when he tried to find their names to publish them the Hemlocks’ newsletter. From a government list of Medal of Honor recipients he found the Vermonters and dates of action for which they were honored, but little else.

As many researchers would appreciate, one thing led to another and several years later Rogers has this publication about the men whose “heroism brought fame and honor to the state and regiment for which they fought….”

Rogers does not try to tell the entire story of a campaign or battle, but focuses instead on the action related to the medal award. He provides documentation, a bibliography and index.

Ten introductory pages include a brief history of the Medal of Honor, a list of the 48 medal recipients by regiment and a table of contents that lists the units, actions and recipients.

A five-page appendix gives the documentation for the medal awarded to Pvt. Lewis J. Ingalls of Co. K, 8th Vermont Infantry Volunteers, who was cited for gallantry at Boutte Station, Louisiana, on Sept. 4, 1862.

Vermonters saw a lot of action. They received the Medal of Honor for heroics on battlefields in six states, including Cedar Creek, Fort Blakely, Fort Fisher, Gettysburg, Malvern Hill, Monocacy, Petersburg, South Mountain, Spotsylvania Court House, Trevilian Station and the Wilderness.

Rogers begins each man’s section with biographical information such as birthplace, residence, service record, date of death, burial and the action for which he was honored. Descriptions of varying length about the action for which the man was honored follow. Many include photos of the men or other illustrations.

Not all of the Vermonter medal recipients were natives or Americans. They came from three other New England states and New York. John Lonergan, captain of co. A, 13th Vermont, who was honored for gallantry on July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, was one of two born in Ireland. Another three were Canadians. Three of the men are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Drummer Julian Scott, who was 16 when he acted heroically at Lee’s Mill, Virginia, on April 16, 1862, was the first Vermonter to receive the Medal of Honor. His paintings “The Battle of Cedar Creek” and “The Rearguard at White Oak Swamp” hang in the Vermont State House.

Thirteen-year-old Willie Johnston, the 3rd Vermont’s drummer, was the division’s only drummer who kept his drum during the Seven Days Retreat from Richmond, June 26-July 2, 1862.

Maj. William Wells of the 1st Vermont Cavalry was brevetted major general in March 1865. His statue stands atop the monument to his unit at Gettysburg. Lewis A. Grant, colonel of the 5th Vermont, was commissioned a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers and brevetted major general in October 1864.

None of the 48 medals were awarded posthumously. Many of the recipients lived into old age, some likely suffering from the wounds many of them received on distant battlefields.