Today marks
the 150th anniversary of the death of William Scott, the Groton farm boy-turned-soldier who was sentenced to death
for falling asleep while on guard duty outside Washington.
Civil War historian Howard Coffin relates the story of the Sleeping Sentinel, an update on the Vermont Legislature and we listen back to the voices in the news this week.
One-hundred and fifty years ago, a thousand men of the Fourth Vermont Infantry were among the earliest Vermonters to be dispatched for service in the Civil War. They
mustered out of a military camp that stood where the Brattleboro Union High
School and
Middle School now stand.
In 1861, more than 1,000 militiamen from across Vermont enlisted to serve in the Civil War. This weekend, costumed re-enactors in Rutland will honor them.
The first shots of the civil war rang out 150
years ago this month. More than 32,000 Vermonters served in the war and 5,200 died. Brattleboro photographer George Houghton traveled with several Vermont regiments and captured striking images of Vermont soldiers. A Rutland writer and historian
has gathered over 100 of Houghton’s photographs in a new book.
Congressman
Peter Welch and a colleague from Texas are praising a decision by Wal-Mart to scrap plans
for a new store in Virginia on the site of a bloody Civil War battle.
The
panel is planning an ambitious five year effort to highlight Vermont’s participation in the war effort and to discuss how
the Civil War still shapes who we are as a state, and a country.