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…
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.
By Gary Farrow, Member of the Danville VT Historical Society
One hundred and fifty years ago this month saw the Union reeling from the first major battle of the Civil War; rioting over secessionists in New England; and a spate of activity in Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom devoted to marshaling the troops.
The outcome of Bull Run, fought Sunday July 21, shook everyone from their naive slumber. General McDowell’s 30,000 Union troops marched the 30 miles west of Washington DC to attack an equal number of Confederate troops. Some government dignitaries decided to make a day of it and go and see the battle for themselves.
By Sharon LakeyDirector, Danville Historical Society I always look forward to getting my hair cut once a month at Janet Carson’s Country Styles across the street from my house. We…
The Battle of Big Bethel was a failure for Federal troops. The Vermont Civil War Hemlocks have raised funds to raise a seven foot monument made of Barre granite at the battle site.
By Paul Chouinard, President of the Danville Historical Society
“Going to see the elephant” was an expression used by enlistees in the Union Army describing the experience of country boys going off to war where they would experience life in ways they could not have imagined.
At the outset of the Civil War the stated objective of the North was to maintain the Union. The Confederate States identified “states rights” as their major objective which would give them the right to function independently. Mainstream historians have commonly agreed that: “Everything stemmed from the slavery issue,” as stated by Professor James McPherson, whose book Battle Cry of Freedom is widely judged to be the authoritative one-volume history of the Civil War.
It was not until September 22, 1862, following the bloody Battle of Antietam that Lincoln issued a preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, which declared that all slaves in states or parts of states still fighting against the United States on January 1, 1863 would from that time on be forever emancipated. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation. However, it did not free slaves in states then in the Union, the Border States, nor certain parts of Virginia and Louisiana that were under Union control. The Emancipation Proclamation did have the effect of clearly identifying slavery as a vital issue of the war for both citizens of the United States and for its allies.
THENORTHSTAR
JUNE 8, 1861
From Fortress Monroe
Great activity is perceived at Fortress Monroe. Troops and ammunition are constantly arriving, the garrison now amounting to thirteen thousand men, and large bodies were moving into the interior, it was thought, with the intention of making for Norfolk by a circuitous route. Up to Thursday evening, slaves were still flocking to the fort. It was discovered that thirty of the slaves belonged to one man in Richmond. He obtained permission to visit the fort to confer with General Butler on the subject of getting his live property back. The General said they came there of their own accord, and could go back with him if they desired it. They were asked if they desired to return with their master. They quickly decided that they preferred to remain with the soldiers in the fort…
Harper’s Weekly image of the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861
By Paul Chouinard, President of the Danville Historical Society
April marks the beginning of the sesquicentennial observance of the outset of the Civil War with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, April 12, 1861. For the next four years the Danville Historical Society will reprint excerpts of articles published in the North Star from 1861 to 1865 focusing on Danville’s involvement in the Civil War.
“Going To See The Elephant” was an expression used by enlistees in the Union Army describing the experience of country boys going off to war where they would experience life in ways they could not have imagined.
Under the leadership of Governor Erastus Fairbanks, Vermont responded quickly to the call for men to join the Union forces. During the Civil War, Vermont contributed more per capita from its treasury and from its population of young men to the conflict than any other state in the Union. Danville’s financial commitment of approximately $36,000. to the war effort , as well as the number of its enlistments was extraordinary.
In 1861, Danville had a population of about 2,500 consisting of about 350 men between the ages of 18 and 45. Out of this pool of men, from 1861 to 1865 Danville furnished 245 enlistments consisting of 194 different men. The balance was accounted for by re-enlistments. By the end of the war, Danville had lost a total of 35 men. Twelve of those who lost their lives were killed in battle and the rest died from exposure, starvation, or sickness.
…or How a Vermonter Brought His Girlfriend to a Minstrel Show
Locks of love and ticket stubs By Mark R. Moore, Vermont Associate at Danville Historical HouseBeside the two ticket stubs that lie before me on the desk are two locks of hair. One is longer, thick and satiny with a slight curl. The other is wispy and of a rougher texture.
Like many things at Historical House, a glance at the surface of what one encounters does not reveal the facts. Instead, these items are more like a multi-faceted diamond, a kaleidoscope of thoughts and conclusions that change with the slightest turn. The facts must be evaluated against the partial evidence that we have before us as well as our knowledge of the past, placed in context of the present. Add to that the knowledge we gather from outside sources, and it will balance our first gut reactions.
By Sharon Lakey Mary Prior loved a party. She didn’t call it a party, though. It was a soiree. Personally, I had never heard the word used in everyday conversation…
We tend to think of people whose writings date from the early 1900s as “old” folks–ossified citizens of Danville who were “set in their ways” and as personable, humorous and emotional as a marble statue that we touched as a child. Frequently, in the course the course of classifying family documents for the Danville Historical Society, I come across one that offers insight that shows that they were not much different that teenagers are today. Had I read only Florence Johnson’s 1907 letters to Herbert Stanton (her husband only a year later) I would been confirmed in a straitlaced controlling stereotype of an all-knowing spouse-to-be. In the following letter, Herbert was confined to home with mumps.
