Individual Record
Dudley, Charles P.
MILITARY SERVICE
Age: 24, credited to Manchester, VTVITALS Birth: 05/24/1835, Manchester, VTADDITIONAL INFORMATION Alias?: None notedDESCENDANTS
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BURIAL: Copyright notice   Dellwood Cemetery, Manchester, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Identification Disk
(Bill Jenkins Collection)
Obituary
MAJOR CHARLES P. DUDLEYRutland Weekly Herald, May 26, 1864
EDITOR, RUTLAND HERALD: --- The death of Maj. Dudley which was announced this morning seems to me a fitting occasion to place on record a few incidents of his honorable and patriotic life.
Mr. Dudley was the son of Peter Dudley Esq, of Manchester, who has resided for many years in our town, and who is well and favorably known to our citizens. Mr. Dudley has given all his sons but one to wipe out the infernal traitors engaged in this war, and they have made no mean record to stand in history of this rebellion.
When the First Vermont Regiment was being organized, Mr. Dudley was in the quiet pursuit of the legal profession with his uncle, James M. Dudley, of Johnstown, N.Y. He heard the bugle towns from our ever green hills calling the sons of Vermont to marshal for strife. Taking the very first train for Vermont, he arrived here to obtain the place of a private in the Rutland Light Guards. He was informed that the company was full, and at once hired a horse and wagon post haste to me to see if I could devise any way by which he could secure the place of a private. He told me that he had already offered to buy of one of the new members of the company his uniform, and give him ten dollars if he would let him take his place. Suffice it to say that he obtained a place.
He sought not the honors of commission---he asked only, the privilege of being in as a private in an organized fight. He served with credit in the ranks of the First Regiment, and came home at the expiration of his time. But he felt that his work had just begun.
In the organization of the Fifth Vermont he participated, organizing a full company at his residence in Manchester. And entering the service as a Captain. I need not speak of the record the Fifth had made, but may say that in all its achievements he has borne a manly, heroic and patriotic part. In the campaign under McClellan on the Peninsula, he won the first public distinction as one of the BRAVES of this war. I think it was at Lee's Mills or at Savage Station, his company was ordered to cross an open field in the face of the enemy, and hold a certain piece of woods. He proceeded in the work, marching the men with a steadiness of a dress parade, closing up the ranks as one after another of his brave men killed or wounded from the missiles of a murderous foe. Out of sixty-nine, sixteen only remained to tell the story of that terrible ordeal. History will tell us that his difficult and gallant exploit he was publicly thanked at the head of the brigade and regiment.
Often the most difficult and dangerous work to be done in the regiment was assigned to the brave and unfaltering Capt. Dudley, and his Manchester boys. With such a record it was to be expected that a place of promotion would seek him, and he made Major of his regiment
We have not the particulars of his wounds that have proved fatal -- who or where, or when they were received. It is said by those that knew him well that Major Dudley was a perfect stranger to fear, and we have a right to say that he met his fate in the thickest of the fight, adding n death fresh laurels to a youthful brow, already crowned with enduring honors, that belong to the patriot soldiers of the war. It is known that his promotion from the ranks was due to no fortunate combination of circumstances. He earned all the distinction that sought him out, and he wore the insignia of his rank and station as became the true soldier.
How many hearts are made sad, how many hearths desolate. But when we drop in our tears at the grave of the loved and fallen, we remember that they could die in no holier cause; and that our noble sons have made their name illustrious, and placed upon the pages of history, and enshrined in the hearts of people, the record that can never die.
S.M.D., Rutland May 24, 1864.
Courtesy of Deanna French