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United States Regiments & Batteries > Vermont

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The 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment enlisted 38 officers and 743 enlisted men. It lost 2 enlisted man killed or mortally wounded, 1 died in an accident, and 4 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. Four men were discharged for disability and two deserted.

1861
May 2	Organized at Camp Fairbanks at Rutland under Colonel John Phelps of Brattleboro, a West Point graduate (USMA1836) and Lieutenant Colonel Peter T. Washburn of Woodstock.
May 8	Mustered in for three months Federal Service
May 9	Left State for New York City
May 10	Arrived in New York
May 10	Left for Fortress Monroe on steamship Alabama
May 13	Arrived Fortress Monroe, Va. and assigned to the Department of Virginia under Major General Butler. Camp at Hygea Hotel.
May 20	Demonstration on Hampton
May 23	Reconnoissance of six miles to Hampton.
May 27	Embarked on steamships Cataline and Monticello for Newport News and occupied the town.
June 9	Advance on Big Bethel Five companies of the 1st Vermont and five companies of the 4th Massachusetts under the command of the 1st Vermont’s Lieutenant Colonel Washburn joined the Union attack.
June 10	Battle of Big Bethel The overly complex attack was badly bungled, with a friendly fire incident giving away the element of surprise. The 1st Vermont lost 2 men killed, 3 wounded, and 1 man missing. The relatively minor skirmish was one of the first serious fights of the war and was viewed at the time with exaggerated importance.
August 4-7	Sailed on steamships Ben de Ford and R. Spaulding to New Haven, Connecticut, then moved by train to Brattleboro, Vt.
August 15	Mustered out. Over 600 members of the regiment reenlisted and around 250 became officers in various Northern units during the war.