Norwich Vermont in the Civil War

During the four years of war for the suppression of the Rebellion, Norwich furnished 178 different men for the armies of the Union. There were seven re-enlistments, making the whole number of soldiers credited to the town 185. By the census of 1860, the number of inhabitants was 1759. It appears, therefore, that the town sent to the seat of war rather more than one in ten of its entire population, during the four years’ continuance of hostilities. About the same proportion holds good for the state at large, Vermont contributing, out of an aggregate population of 315,116, soldiers to the number of 34,555 for the defense of the Union. Of the 178 men enlisting from Norwich, twenty-seven laid down their young lives in the service of the country. The soil of every southern state, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, was moistened by the blood or supplied a grave to one or more of these. The town paid the larger part of these men liberal bounties, amounting to about $32,000, in addition to their state and government pay. All calls for men upon the town by the national authorities were promptly and fully met.

The patriotic response of our people to the expenses and sacrifices of the war was, in general, hearty and emphatic; and yet candor and the truth of history compels us to confess that there were here, as in most other towns throughout the north, a few disloyal spirits who sympathized with the Slaveholders’ rebellion, who denounced the war from beginning to end, and who scarcely concealed their satisfaction when news came of rebel victories and union defeats. The lapse of twenty-five years has stilled the passions of those eventful times, and charity impels us to spare these misguided men the obloquy and disgrace such as an earlier generation visited upon the Tories of the Revolution. It is the easier to do this, since on each recurring Memorial Day we see some of those individuals who, in the dark days of the war, reproached the soldiers of the Union as “Lincoln’s hirelings” and invoked for them “hospitable graves” in the south, now conspicuous in assisting to decorate the graves of those who fell, and in rendering honor to those veterans who still survive. Not to have given a helping hand when one’s country was convulsed by a mighty struggle for existence, not to have contributed their mite in aid of the grand result in which the new birth of the nation was achieved, surely the memory of this were punishment enough for any who may have lived till now to witness (what we all behold) the spectacle of a great people, reunited, prosperous, and altogether free.

Norwich Soldiers in the Civil War, 1861-1865

Volunteers for Three Years

Volunteers for One Year – Army

Volunteers for One Year – Navy

1. Clough, Thomas S.
2. Clough, William W.
3. Colburn, Myron S.
4. Davis, Frank A.
5. Gordon, Charles F.
6. Powers, Chandler W.
7. Sproat, James S., (Two enlistments)
8. Waterman, John

Volunteers for Nine Months – Army

Furnished Under the Draft of 1863

Entered Service

1. Shattuck, Samuel W. 22. Adjutant 8th Vt. Vols. Oct. 20, 1863. Pro. Capt. Co. H Nov. 24, 1864. Wounded at Cedar Qreek, Oct. 19, 1864. Mustered out June 28, 1865.

Procured Substitutes

1. Neal, James L.
2. Pattrell, Oscar L.
3. Walker, Daniel A.

Paid Commutation

1. Bartlett, Edson
2. Johnsen, Albert R.
3. Turner, N. G., Jr.
4. Burton, Henry C.
5. Sargent, William
6. Waterman, William T.
7. Currier, Ambrose B.
8. Strong, Calvin

Enrolled Men Who Furnished Substitutes

1. Blanchard, Asa
2. Bradley, Edwin
3. Bradley, Hial
4. Slack, George W.
5. Lyman, Augustus P.