DERBY, Vt. (AP) - Musket fire echoed across the quiet grounds of Derby’s monument park Saturday afternoon during the dedication of a new Civil War-era monument for the nation’s youngest Medal of Honor recipient.
Dozens of veterans, military leaders, community members and re-enactors gathered despite downpours at Derby’s monument park to learn about the steadfastness and bravery of young Willie Johnston of Salem, which became part of the town of Derby.
Re-enactor historian William Minsinger of the Vermont Civil War Hemlocks said that Johnston, at age 13, was the living example of why the Union Army liked to put Vermonters first on the march.
Johnston was the only drummer in his division of Company D of the 3rd Vermont Infantry to keep his drum during the infamous “Seven Days Retreat” in the Peninsula Campaign. They fought during the day and retreated at night, leaving behind a field of mules buried in mud, abandoned wagons, discarded arms, and the sick and the dead, Minsinger said.
The three-foot-tall monument of gray granite includes engravings of Johnston with his drum, a depiction of the Medal of Honor, which he received in 1861 after the battle was over from Secretary of War Stanton, and a description of his service. Another plaque honoring Johnston is at the Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, thanks to the Hemlocks.
The new monument stands in the foreground of the town’s Civil War monument, an obelisk in white granite that is believed to be the first monument erected after the war.
It reflected Vermonters’ passionate involvement in the war. One in 10 Vermonters participated in the Civil War.
The monument is the brainchild of Colin Carter of Derby, a veteran who worked with Ernie Emerson of Holland and Derby Selectmen, plus many donors and military groups, to raise the funds for the monument made by Heritage Memorials in Newport.
That one drummer still had a drum to play during the retreat was invaluable to his division, Minsinger said, as drums were the way leaders communicated with their troops, to mobilize, to deal with emergencies.
Dave Hare, a member of the Hemlocks, played on his own historic drum to show the drum rolls that Johnston would have played for his division. A Civil War-era drum like Johnston’s is on display at the Old Stone House Museum in Brownington.
The story goes that Johnston at the age of 11 followed his father to war, leaving their farm in Salem. After the war, he lived for a time in the St. Johnsbury area. He played drum in a parade in St. Johnsbury, and drumsticks from that time are in the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury.
He may have joined the merchant mariners. His family scattered, and he died without a known grave site. His homestead is now lost in the town forest.
Gordon Lesperance, Chief Master Sergeant of the Vermont Air National Guard, said Johnston has a legacy that Vermonters serving even today can aspire to.
“Think of Willie serving in battle, determined to do the job and leave there with drum in hand,” he said.
He said there was a motto in the country: Put the Vermonters ahead because they are fast and long of stride.
Pastor Mike Haddad prayed that Johnston’s story will inspire others.
Zach Boutin, a freshman and history buff from Lake Region Union High School, asked those gathered for a moment of silence for those lives lost in the Civil War.
The rain stopped, appropriately, for the musket fire and unveiling, as women re-enactors put flowers on the monument.
Jeannette Eckert of Dover, a member of the re-enactors the Champlain Rifles, representing the 123rd New York and the 14th Vermont, said the women re-enactors wore black and somber colors because they considered this the graveside service for Johnston.
The monument reads:
“Willie Johnston was the youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor at age 13. At age 11, he enlisted as a drummer boy for Company D of the 3rd Vermont Infantry. He was the only drummer in his division to come away with his drum during the Seven Days Retreat in the Peninsula Campaign. The Johnston family lived in Salem, Vt., which was chartered on August 18, 1781 and later annexed to Derby in 1881.”
Online: https://bit.ly/2nTGxH6
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Information from: The Caledonian-Record, http://www.caledonianrecord.com
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