By Sharon Lakey, Director of the Danville Historical Society
Exchange of information and gifts. Before the tour, the group had breakfast at the Choate-Sias headquarters in Danville. Paul Chouinard (who brought some of Bernadette’s muffins) Ross Hetrick, President of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, and Lois White are ready for the adventure.
Mary Prior was in the Diamond Hill Store, and a man walked in with a tee-shirt proclaiming he was a member of the Thaddeus Stevens Society. Mary, who had been tracking down what she called the “Thaddeus Stevens Trail” for the Danville Historical Society, introduced herself. They had a nice conversation about Danville being his birthplace.
She had already driven a reporter from Burlington’s Seven Days and Howard Coffin around the area, showing them where she thought his birthplace might be. Later, she directed an auto tour with several members of the Society to points of interest in Danville and Peacham to share what she had uncovered. So it was of interest to us last June when Ross Hetrick (the man wearing the tee-shirt) called and introduced himself as the President of the Thaddeus Stevens Society. He wanted to drive to Danville from his home in Pennsylvania with intentions of putting together a video of Thaddeus’s birthplace. With Mary’s preparation, we felt ready for the event. One fine morning we met at the Historical House, ready to follow the footsteps of our most illustrious native son.
By Gary Farrow, Member of the Danville Historical Society
Journalists, probably from the New York Herald, are on-site, reporting on the war through use of the telegraph.
Prior to the Civil War, revolutionary technology remade the newspaper business so that information could be delivered from faraway places faster and cheaper than ever before. The October ‘61 editions of the North Star brought home opinion from a Boston Journal correspondent, the sentiments of a Danville soldier at the Virginia front, and news of military activities on the Gulf Coast,
North Star October 5, 1861
The General who wouldn’t fight. A drawing of General McClellan and his staff. The General is standing on the left with his hand in his jacket.
Why McClellan Holds On
The Washington Correspondent of the Boston Journal writes… It has been two months since the advance of the Federal troops from Bull Run to Washington.…the people are anxious to have something done by the large army to blot out the disagreeable part of that affair…
…It was supposed that everything would be in readiness by the first of September and that by the present time we should have made a triumphant march towards the very heart of secession, but instead here we are throwing up entrenchments with rebels flaunting their hateful burning in our face with the great dome of the capital in full view of their work at Munson’s. It is provoking to the blood…
…But the beauty of his [McClellan’s] hanging on… He has, by remaining quiet completely frustrated the plans of the rebels. They intend to attack us, but found we are getting very strong… They have conquered all in vain… When he sees that the proper time has come to let go, I am confident that he will do it in a manner that will win admiration.
The historical marker on Danville Green has been Vermont’s only public acknowledgement of Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens was born in Danville and educated in Peacham.
By Paul Chouinard, President of the Danville Historical Society
On Sunday October 30, The Danville Historical Society and the Danville Chamber of Commerce will honor Thaddeus Stevens in a ceremony for the unveiling of an etching of his portrait that is being presented to the Vermont Statehouse. The ceremony will be held at the Danville Congregational Church and begin at 2:00 PM to be followed by a reception in the Church dining room.
January 10, 2010, Vermont Civil War Historian, Howard Coffin, addressed the Danville Historical Society at its Annual Meeting, focusing on Danville’s involvement in the Civil War. Following delivery of his address, Mr. Coffin suggested that he felt it would be a most appropriate sesquicentennial project for the Danville Historical Society to coordinate an effort to raise funds for commissioning a portrait of Thaddeus Stevens to be presented to the Statehouse for inclusion in its collection of portraits of prominent Vermonters.
It is ironic that in the 219 years since the birth of Thaddeus Stevens that the only memorial in Vermont to his legacy as one of America’s great civil rights advocates is a State Department of Historic Sites marker on Danville Green indicating Danville as the place of his birth. There has never been any public portrait or piece of sculpture honoring the enormous contributions he made on the national level to affect the emancipation of the slaves and to grant them civil rights.
Senator Jane Kitchel was quoted in the Caledonian-Record on July 1, 2011, at a meeting between the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Danville residents and business owners. “Maybe this project is a lot like having a baby. When we get done we’ll be pleased with what we have, hopefully.”
There’s no doubt about the pain. Anyone trying to make it through and around Danville this summer has experienced it. Frustration has sometimes been high, but lately it seems people, at least locally, are waiting for the baby with more stoicism. And while wel’re waiting, there is renewed interest in what the final product is going to look like. Over the past 20-plus years, the collective memory of how this project evolved has dimmed; perhaps a review of how we got here from there is useful. So, a little history…
A photo of a Civil War ambulance crew.
By Gary Farrow, Member of the Danville Historical Society
September of 1861, the Civil War was page two. It wasn’t all that unusual for the North Star to have no Civil War headlines on the front page.
There was one item with political repercussions nationally. A Union General had taken it upon himself to issue a proclamation about slavery. There was also a letter by a Vermont POW and a report about the Danville Company. That month, the reader could also learn about what volunteers were getting for pay.
North Star September 7, 1861
The Vermont Prisoners at Richmond
Letter from Captain Drew
Richmond, VA Aug 19, 1861
Editors of the Free Press:
I am permitted by General Winders, the humane and obliging commander of this post to write you, giving a list of Vt boys confined here, and some information as to our capture. For several days before the battle, I had been sick and on “Sunday the 21st” [A reference to the Battle of Bull Run and its date July 21] was hardly able to move.
At Danville Fair, Patty Conly and I encouraged Danvillites to send in class photos. Look at this gem from 1945, sent to us by Joan (and Ted) Sargeant. I recognize…
To see a photo album of the Old Home Day service in July, click here. Photos by Paul Chouinard. August 28—LAMPLIGHT SERVICE AND HYMN SING Host Church: 1st Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury…
Vermont Associate and archivist at the Danville VT Historical Society
Preston in full dress uniform
How many times do we wish history would come alive for us? The sweat of bodies and horses, the ting, clink and clang of accouterments , the deep glow and scent of burnished leather, shining brass buttons, the glint of bullion gold braid on sleeves and shoulders in the bright sunlight, passing through a natural archway of fragrant lilac. Walt Whitman put observations like this into verse:
…the head of my cavalry parading on spirited horses,
With sabres drawn and glistening, and carbines by their thighs, (ah, my brave horsemen!
My handsome tan-faced horsemen! what life, what joy and pride,
With all the perils were yours.)
This was undoubtedly the spirit that then Captain Addison Webster Preston of Danville conveyed to starry-eyed new enlistees as he recruited them into Company D of the 1st Vermont Cavalry in 1862. Here at the Danville Historical Society we have Addison Preston’s blue wool dress uniform, his dress pants, his boots, cartridge box, horse’s halter, flask and McClellan saddle.
More importantly, I think, we have a photograph of him at around the age of 33 that conveys his image—his thinning hair is swept back, his mustache is fierce, his eyes are fiery and he grasps his sabre’s hilt as if ready to draw it and smite the enemy.
He was promoted to Lt. Colonel by 1863 and commanded the entire 1st Vermont Cavalry. Quoting from Joseph D. Collea, Jr’s book The First Vermont Cavalry in the Civil War, upon his death the Vermont Record wrote, “Colonel Preston was characterized by quickness of perception, thought and action which made him what he was as a soldier and an officer. He never found exactly his right place til he went into the army…Col. Preston might not have achieved so signal a success as he did in war. He was a born soldier, and found that out when the country sounded the call to arms.”
But this does not mean he failed to attend to the needs of his men or their families. The record is replete with letters written by him to widows and the Government Pension Board detailing a trooper’s last illness or his heroism in battle. His after-battle reports are succinct in contrast to the dramatic accounts he sent back to the papers in Vermont.
His personal letters to his younger brother, William Henry Preston (future Principal- 1867–1870- of Danville Academy), shows he also continued to be attentive to matters at home. In letters housed at the Kitchel Center, Fairbanks Museum, and transcribed by Lynn Bonfield, the reader witnesses his direct and commanding style.
“Henry
“I have written to B. N Davis to day and I wish you to keep your eye out for Col Sawyer and also one Sgt Mitchel of Co D when he took home with him. Say to Esq Davis to look sharp for the Col. I fear he will try to injure me in Vt if you hear of it let me know. Are you going to teach this winter or study a profession?
“How much did you make last fall…
“Remember Energy is what can grow. I will write you often on this subject…
One of the most famous of the Saint-Gaudens’ sculptures is of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a white commander, leading the all-black 54th Massachusetts regiment.By Paul Chouinard, President of the Danville Historical SocietyOn Sunday, July 12th, Bernadette and I, along with friends, ventured south along the Connecticut River to Windsor, VT where we crossed the Connecticut over VT’s longest covered bridge. Our destination was the Saint-Gaudens estate, Aspet. This National Historic Site is located in Cornish, N.H. on Route 12A. Our plan was to enjoy a picnic on the lawn of the estate, located on a hill, high above the Connecticut River, overlooking Mount Ascutney in the distance. We enjoyed our picnic while listening to a chamber concert by Rogers & Millican performing the music of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The magnificent perennial gardens and the sounds of nature provided a perfect atmosphere.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sometimes known as the American Michelangelo, was among the foremost sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He arrived in Cornish in 1885. He rented an old inn for the summer and over time he adapted the house to his needs and converted the barn into a studio. He ultimately purchased the property and continued to summer there until 1892, when it became his year-round home. Over the years he transformed the property into a center for artists and intellectuals of the period, who formed what has become known as the “Cornish Colony.” The Colony included: painters Maxfield Parrish, Thomas Dewing, George de Forest Bush, Lucia Fuller, and Kenyon Cox; dramatist Percy Mac-Kaye; American novelist Winston Churchill; architect Charles Platt; and sculptors Paul Manship, Herbert Adams, and Louis Saint- Gaudens, brother of Augustus. They created a dynamic social environment, centered around Saint-Gaudens.
