Henry Houghton
Character: Unforgettable People of Woodstock > Henry Houghton
“Civil War Soldier”
(1843-1926)
Henry Houghton was a Civil War soldier who wrote keen recollections of his time in the service. His memoir begins with the words “I was born in Woodstock, Vermont, June 16, 1843, and lived in that place until 19 years of age. August 15, 1862, I enlisted in the service of the United States for three years, or during the War of the Rebellion.”
On December 20, 1862, he was formally mustered in and served in Company K of the 3rd Vermont Regiment until 1865. The following are but a few poignant anecdotes that shed light on the experiences of a small-town farm boy who was thrust into a war of incredible deprivation and savagery, and yet, as one of the anecdotes reveals, was able to maintain his dry Vermont sense of humor and, more importantly, his humanity.
After returning home, Henry married Clarissa Washburn in 1866. He and Clarissa raised their family on a farm in South Woodstock. Henry Houghton passed away in 1926.
“The regiment marched into the Wilderness with 600 effective men and one third of them fell in the battles of the 5th and 6th. We marched in on the left of the Orange Plank Road with scrub oak so thick that we could not keep any formation and the first we knew of the enemy we received a volley from a line of battle within a stones throw. One man on my left fell dead, and a bullet went so near the face of the man in my rear that it took an eye out. Two bullets went through my haversack and one through my canteen; another passed so near my neck that it burned the skin then entered my blanket and when I unrolled it I found nineteen holes in it. ”
“On the night of the 28th my regiment laid in line of battle near Mine Run. It was so cold that the ground froze considerable. We were so near the enemy that we werenot allowed any fires or even to strike a match, we suffered greatly with the cold and several men had frost-bitten hands and feet, and in the 2nd Regiment men were frozen to death on the pickets. ”
“We went into camp a short distance from the river. The next morning as soon as we started our fires to get our breakfast, the smoke revealed our whereabouts and the Rebs began to send their compliments in the shape of shell. We soon concluded it was not quite breakfast time, and fell back out of range. During these engagements Co. K had none killed and but three wounded, but if it had not been for the watchfulness and bravery of our Colonel T.O. Seaver we should have fared much worse.”
Henry Houghton toward the end of the war.
The Spotsylvania Stump, referred to by Henry Houghton in a passage below, was a 22-inch oak tree. It is now part of the Smithsonian’s collection.
Col. Thomas O. Seaver received the Medal of Honor for his service. Seaver is buried in the River Street Cemetery in Woodstock, Vermont.
“On the morning of the 7th we started for Spotsylvania [in Virginia] arriving there the 9th… On the 10th... Our troops took the works and would have held them if they had been properly supported. When ordered to withdraw, some of the Vermonters failed to get the order. Col. Upton rode back to order them away but their answer was “we don’t want to go, send us ammunition and rations and we will stay six months.” They did stay two hours after the rest of the column had gone back and then under positive orders from Gen. Russell they were withdrawn.”
“The 12th was the most important day of the twelve spent at Spotsylvania... It was a terrible battle, probably the fiercest and most deadly of the war; in this way the Vermont Brigade was engaged for about eight hours. Very soon it became so that we could not stir without treading upon the dead and wounded men, and the brush was literally riddled with bullets. A tree twenty two inches in diameter was cut down by the constant scaling of the bullets and when it fell it injured several of the enemy’s men.”
“The winter was passed in hard picket and fatigue duty. When we were on picket we were very close to the Rebs’ pickets so that we talked back and forth and there was a good deal of blackguarding [means abusing or disparaging someone]. Wood being very scarce only between the lines, one day I went out after some. I met a reb and we cut down a tree together, he chopping one side and I the other. After it fell I chopped down one side of the log and he the other, then we split it and he had one half and I the other. Then we swapped hats and went back to camp and I am quite sure I wore that hat until just before the last review in Washington.
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“I arrived in the village of Woodstock about one o’clock in the night, shouldered my house and clothing, took “old trusty” and started for my father’s home about three miles out; after some loitering on the way, I reached there about three o’clock.
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Henry Houghton and family on their farm in South Woodstock
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