The complaint filed by former Gov. James Douglas attached to “A chapel, 2 ex-governors and a lawsuit over ‘cancel culture,'” in allegation no. 43 on page 17, asserts that former Gov. “John Mead enlisted during the American Civil War in Company K, Twelfth Infantry Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, serving from 1862-1863. He participated in several skirmishes and important battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg.”
The only member of the 12th Vermont who actually participated in the Gettysburg battle was Lt. George Benedict, who was promoted to aide-de-camp on the staff of Brig. Gen. George Stannard commanding the Second Vermont Brigade, of which the 12th Vermont was a part.
In Benedict’s “Army Life in Virginia” (1895), consisting of his letters to the Burlington Free Press, his July 4, 1863, letter notes that “The three regiments of our brigade — the Twelfth having been held back … to guard the ammunition trains in the rear….”
Later, Benedict, in his two-volume work “Vermont in the Civil War,” commissioned by the Legislature, positioned the ammunition trains near Emmitsburg, Maryland, on July 1. The ammunition trains were later moved north to a location 2.5 miles south of the battlefield. However, some of the trains were later moved back to Westminster, Maryland, 22 miles from the battlefield, to avoid capture, leaving a portion of the trains next to the battlefield to provide ammunition to the defenders of Pickett’s Charge on July 3.
Benedict identified the two companies of the 12th Vermont that remained with the portion of the trains that did not return to Maryland — companies B and G. Company K and Mead never got on the field of battle to participate in the actual fighting.
Charles S. Martin
Montpelier
