Monument To 3rd Vermont
To Be Previewed May 16th
(April 2009 Civil War News)

BARRE, Vt. — The Eighteenth Vermont Regiment Inc. historic preservation organization will host a May 16 viewing of a memorial honoring the 3rd Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment’s action at the Battle of Dam No. 1, Newport News, Va., on April 16, 1862.

The official viewing and presentation will be held at 1 p.m. at the Rock of Ages Craftsman Center in Graniteville, Vt. The Eighteenth Vermont commissioned the Barre Gray granite monument, which will be formally presented to the people of Vermont prior to being shipped to the battle site.

It will be installed in Newport News City Park at the end of a long walkway across the river. The dedication ceremony will be held Oct. 10. The city will put in the foundation, install the monument and care for it.
Funds for the nearly $18,000 monument were raised through the contributions at the Eighteenth Vermont Regiment’s annual Civil War Expo.

It was at the Battle of Dam #1, also known as the Battle of Lee’s Mills, that the Vermont troops made their first courageous assault upon Confederate earthworks.

Included on one side of the nearly seven-foot-tall monument are the names of two soldiers who received Medals of Honor for their bravery, Capt. Samuel Pingree and Julian Scott.

Assigned to lead the assault, Captain Pingree led the men of the 3rd Vermont across the swampy Warwick River and succeeded in driving the defenders from their advanced rifle pits. The outnumbered regiment came under a heavy Confederate counterattack.

With no reinforcements coming to help, and in spite of being severely wounded, Pingree brought his men back across the river amid a hail of bullets to their initial position. 

Throughout the fight drummer boy Julian Scott crossed the river numerous times at the risk of his life to rescue the wounded. One story goes that he rescued his cousin, William Scott, who was mortally wounded in the attack.

William Scott, known as the “sleeping sentinel,” was the first man during the Civil War to be sentenced to be shot for falling asleep while on guard duty and was pardoned by President Lincoln. 

Years later Pingree was elected governor of Vermont. Scott became a well-known artist. Four of his paintings, including the Battle of Cedar Creek, hang in the Vermont State House.