2nd Vermont Brigade
2nd Vermont Brigade
Main page
1715024

2nd Vermont Brigade

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
2nd Vermont Brigade

The 2nd Vermont Brigade was an infantry brigade in the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War.

The brigade was composed of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Vermont Infantry regiments, all nine-month regiments raised as a result of President Lincoln's call on August 4, 1862, for additional troops due to the disastrous results of the Peninsula Campaign.

The brigade was organized on October 27, 1862, after the five regiments had arrived in Washington, D.C. The brigade's first commander was Colonel Asa P. Blunt, commander of the 12th regiment, who was the ranking colonel. Brigadier General Edwin H. Stoughton arrived on December 7, and assumed command of the brigade.

Stoughton was not popular with the officers and men of the brigade, so when he was captured by Confederate partisan John S. Mosby on March 9, 1863, few mourned his loss. Colonel Blunt assumed command of the brigade again, turning it over to the new brigade commander, Brigadier General George J. Stannard, on April 20, who led the brigade until the Battle of Gettysburg.

The brigade spent most of its short career in the defenses of Washington, in and around Fairfax, Virginia. From October 1862 until February 1863, it served as the 2nd Brigade, (Brigadier General John J.) Abercrombie's Division, Military District of Washington. In a reorganization in February 1863, the division came under command of Brigadier General Silas Casey and the military district was reorganized as the XXII Corps. In April, Abercrombie resumed command of the division.

The 13th, 14th and 15th regiments were stationed at Camp Chase, Arlington, Virginia until October 28, then joined the 12th and 16th at East Capital Hill by October 30, when the brigade moved to Munson's Hill, thence to Hunting Creek several days later, where it conducted picket duty on Occoquan Creek, until mid-December. On December 12, the brigade moved to Fairfax Court House, where it remained until late March 1863, when it moved to Wolf Run Shoals. Several of the regiments were camped independently or in pairs at Bristoe Station, Catlett's Station, Manassas, Warrenton Junction and Rappahannock Station until late June, when they were consolidated at Union Mills in mid- to late-June.

The only excitement to break the tedium of picket duty occurred on December 29, 1862, when Fairfax Court House was attacked by J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, and March 9, 1863, when Stoughton was captured. But all that was to change when Lee's Army of Northern Virginia started marching north in late June.

On June 25, the brigade was assigned as the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps, and ordered to follow the rest of the Army of the Potomac north. The 12th and 15th regiments were detached at Westminster, Maryland, on July 1, to guard supply trains, and the remaining regiments arrived on the battlefield late that evening, and camped to the rear of Cemetery Hill.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.