In my travels, I don’t always hit the path most trodden, whether it be on vacations, work or just living life, but I find these unexpected ‘jewels’ that weave a new thread of color throughout my own story. So, on a cold 12 degree Vermont morning my travels up Sherborne Drive parallel to Lake Champlain, have brought to me another chapter of my history
I just happened to find myself driving down through Lake View Cemetery searching for images of the frozen lake when I came across a monument standing out of the ice packed ground, standing 15 feet tall with a bronze/blue oxidized statue of a soldier with one arm, looking over the water… and to me, looking at the past; looking for someone or something he lost. As I stood there I realized this wasn’t just a ‘soldier’ but someone who stood and faced down the hell of battle more than once to preserve and create these United States. I had to drive over a 4 foot hill of ice to find him, but I finally made it to his last resting place. As I read the inscription that his beloved country wrote about him, the words ‘truth, honor, and integrity’ stood out. Could he really be someone who I would have to respect as a worthy enemy, an honorable man, even though he fought on what I considered the wrong side of what we call down in the South “the most recently unpleasantries”? Standing there I am taken back…
It’s the afternoon of July 3rd, 1863. The fog, which had snaked its way onto the battlefield in the dark of the morning, burned off like a dying spirit hours before. The work of warriors was taking place and now smoke from cannon and musket fire was drifting with the wind and kept visibility down to mere feet. General Pickett’s Virginians crossed the Emmitsburg road and wheeled partially to their left to face northeast. The two lines marched in unison and were prepared for battle… a battle that would lead to to the end of all battles in the Civil War.
Gettysburg….
The air was full of desperation and the sound of clanking clasps, boots, and buttons filled the air as both sides positioned for one last stand… for one last push to victory. The wool of the uniforms were hot to the skin, as the Pennsylvania sun seared down on the men that were setting the stage for our future, the future of a ‘United States.’
The muskets were heavy to carry and load, as men on both sides literally poured out their lives like water from a bucket, for what they believed in. As General George Pickett’s division wheeled to the left, its right flank was exposed to the guns of the Union divisions on Cemetery Ridge.
Heroes were made and died in a matter of minutes on this day, and the stories of losses and heroics on both sides lived to inspire us for years. There, on Cemetery Ridge, the mighty Confederates, the proud honorable men of the south met a man… a man who in his own right, stood courageous and strong with little mention in history but none-the-less helped carry the day to a Union Victory. Brigadier General George Stannard’s Vermont Brigade marched forward, faced north, and delivered withering fire into the Confederate brigade, essentially ending the day.
Who was this man who led his men in one of the most mentioned and studied actions of war?
William Stannard was born October 20, 1820 in Georgia, Vermont. Stannard worked as a farmer, teacher, and foundry operator in St. Albans. Stannard also served as a noncommissioned officer during the Vermont militia’s activation for the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1838. Just before the American Civil War, he served as Colonel of the 4th Vermont Militia Regiment.
Stannard drilled his new brigade strenuously and his “quiet but effective” command style made him well respected by the men, and significantly improved morale in the Brigade.
The brigade’s greatest fight, however, was on July 3, where he was one of the principal defenders against Pickett’s Charge. Stannard left the battle to recover which he did but again was on the front lines months later where he was again wounded holding the captured fort against a Confederate counterattack, requiring the amputation of his right arm. He received a brevet promotion to major general for his actions during the assault on Fort Harrison.
After the war Stannard was then assigned to light duty in Vermont for the remainder of the war. In 1866, he served briefly as assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in Maryland. He resigned from the Army in June 1866 and worked as a customs official in Vermont. From 1881 until his death, he served as Doorkeeper of the United States House of Representatives.)
He died in Washington, D.C on June 1st 1886, and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont.
I’d never heard of this man before, and I’d never heard of his part at Gettysburg.
It’s 12 degrees where I stand now, and there is a icy wind blowing off Lake Champlain that cuts to your bone. The wind feel as if it is on a mission of it’s own directing me to listen to my heart as I read. My eyes are riveted to his monument standing on the bluff, overlooking the lake as the wind calls me…’look here…’. It’s here where I met this man; a man that had we met in life, I would have called him ‘enemy’ and also possibly called him a friend …, someone I would admire. He’s been long gone from this mortal world, and stood for and fought against my South yet as I stand listening to the wind wrap around his statue, I must say, my life would have been enriched to know this man better.
As the wind was blowing and the chill was was beating its way past my lined leather jacket, I lost track of time reading of this beloved leader; the man that not only stood, but led his men time after time, into the breach. This wasn’t ‘arm chair quarterbacking’. He was a real American hero and here I was, standing facing a man’s man… a teacher, a farmer and a leader of men. It’s been 147 years since his spirit blew its last through this side of the veil, but standing here, reading, seeing what he was, brought me to say…
“I remember the day I met General Stannon, he is a fine man and someone I would call ‘friend’.
My your life be enriched every day you take on this journey.
Safe Travels this week.
