One of the greatest embarrassments of the Northern army throughout the war was the lack of permanence in its organization.

Immense armies were demanded, and were produced. Their efficient organization clearly required stability. The Division should have been the smallest permanent unit, to be solidified and preserved. Upon the usual basis, this would have furnished a body of ten thousand men constantly present for duty -- a military unit easily handled in the camp, on the march, or in action and always ready to fuse and throb with mutual sympathy and self-reliant pride. As the years went on, more was heard of this or that Division; the reputation of many of our most successful generals was made while holding such a command. It is difficult to conceive what would have been the result if a given number of Divisions had been organized in 1861, and their ranks kept full to the end. But nothing o the kind was attempted.

There were, however, a few Brigades in different portions of the army, the integrity of which was to some extent preserved. One of these was the organization known as the "Old Vermont Brigade." The adjective "old" was at first used to distinguish this particular brigade from a second Vermont brigade of nine months troops, whose only battle was Gettysburg. At the last, the word involved the secondary idea of respect and affection, as when employed by the soldiers in speaking of "Old Grant," "Old Sherman," or "Old Sedgwick."

The first, or "Old Vermont Brigade," was organized in October, 1861, upon the soil of Virginia, a few miles south of Washington. After nearly four years of constantly active service, it was disbanded in June, 1865, at almost precisely the same spot. Its formation was suggested to General McClellan by Colonel William F. Smith of the 3rd Vermont, a distinguished engineer of the regular army, who was its first brigade commander. The command of General Smith soon took on the proportions of a Division; he afterwards became commander of an army corps, and was known familiarly as "Baldy Smith."

The original components of the Old Vermont Brigade were the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth Vermont infantry regiments; all of which were enlisted in the summer of 1861 for three years' service. These organizations were represented in its ranks to the close of the war, by re-inlistments, though their ranks were not kept full, and at the last their numbers were greatly reduced. The 11th Vermont, after eighteen months service as heavy artillery in the fortifications on the North of Washington, joined the Brigade May 12, 1864. It had but two regularly assigned Brigadier Generals; there were many occasions, of course, when a senior Colonel was in command. Its first Brigadier was General W. H. F. Brooks, who afterwards commanded the 10th Army Corps. His rule was firm and efficient, and his regular army education and experience were of great value. After his promotion, the command presently fell to Colonel Lewis A. Grant, of the 5th Vermont, then the senior officer of the Brigade. He was subsequently made a Brigadier General, and led the Brigade to the end. Gen. Grant was afterwards Assistant Secretary of War when the Secretary of War was Redfield Proctor, who was at one time Major of the same regiment and is now a United States Senator. Gen. Stannard entered the army in the Old Vermont Brigade, and subsequently commanded the Second Vermont Brigade at Gettysburg.

A body of men like this, when subject to the stringent demands of active campaign service, soon becomes self-reliant and coherent. The touch of elbow which gives united action is felt throughout the organization. A sense of solidarity is developed, bringing the assurance that the fractions are not merely individual regiments, but are parts of a greater whole; and a continuing consciousness exists that support and assistance will not be wanting, if required. The Old Vermont Brigade received no factitious support from war correspondents. Metropolitan newspapers seldom found space to advertise its deeds; illustrated weeklies published no alleged pictures of its charges; but in the Army of the Potomac there was abundant appreciation of its merits. Its chief characteristic was not dash or display, but steadiness. There was no elaboration in its drill. The skirmish-line was its delight. the secret of its acknowledge preeminence on the battle-field was its extraordinary tenacity. Although its active service embraced more important engagements than almost any other similar command in the Northern Army, it was seldom if ever driven from its position by assault. It was famed for a certain quality of steady, quiet, intelligent courage, comparison with which was high honor.

At Sheridan's famous battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, Getty's Division, known as the Second Division of the 6th Army Corps, was the furthest from the point of Early's fierce attack at daybreak. Getty's second brigade was the Old Vermont Brigade, which held the center of the Division through the day. Getty's was the last division to come into the fight. It was moved by the left flank a mile across the field, and fronted to the right, thus forming its line in the face of the entire rebel army, which by that time had passed over the camps of the 8th and 19th Corps in Early's successful charge. Three of the Vermont regiments were at once ordered out as skirmishers into the dismal fog which enveloped the entire attacking line, and amid the tumult and dismay which covered the field with disaster. They deployed through a broad cornfield, diverging and gradually taking proper distances, then across a little watercourse, through a pasture, aligning instinctively and almost without a word of command, forward into the scattering grove even then occupied by the advance of the enemy, and on its furthest margin, where the rolling ground sloped away. There, with an open view to the front, five or six hundred skirmishers arranged themselves for battle, prepared to cover for a time the defensive position which Getty with the remainder of the Division was endeavoring to find and assume. It is believed to have been the first moment on that disastrous morning when the rush of the surprise was confronted by a skirmish-line well out in front of a line of battle; and by eight A.M. there was no other organization which could be seen or heard holding ground against the enemy.

Although the position was practically chosen by the men themselves, in the center of confusion and dismay, it was maintained in perfect steadiness, and with an entire understanding of a skirmisher's duty. The grove was held, with some loss, for an hour or more, until artillery was brought up by the enemy, and two lines of rebel infantry were distinctly seen advancing to drive back the Vermonters' skirmish-line. Then, receiving the order to retire, and assembling as they went, the three regiments took position with the rest of the brigade, in the center of Getty's Division, -- the only Union troops then in line of battle with their front to the foe. A determined stand was here made; a terrible artillery fire was silently submitted to; three successive line-of-battle charges were repulsed; and, after a desperate conflict, the Division eventually received and obeyed an order to retire, when two rebel divisions had executed a flank movement around its right. Moving back once more, this time in line of battle and with well-dressed ranks, Getty's Division presently faced about again, a mile north of the village of Middletown, and took up a new defensive position, with every regiment in perfect order. A new skirmish-line went to the front, and once more the true battle formation was presented. This was perhaps ten or eleven o'clock A.M. The fog had lifted and the day was bright. Cavalry formed on either flank. Two or three batteries of artillery rallied in the rear. Then the unexpected happened. General Sheridan, whose absence was known and deployed, was seen dashing down the pike, in hot eagerness to find the front line of his scattered army. The first infantry troops before which he halted were those whose movements have been hastily described. "What troops are these?" were his first words; and "The Vermont Brigade" was the first answer, amid cheers and hells that filled th air. Colonel Tracy of the 2nd Vermont, then commanding the Brigade, rode up to salute, and said, "We're glad to see you, General Sheridan." "Well, by God, I'm glad to get here! We'll have our camps by night!"

How vividly a scene like that burns itself into one's memory! Words cannot describe it. The artist's brush cannot paint it. But it stands distinct in the chambers of the mind; and, when its vision is awakened, the eyes fill, and the throat swells, and the soul thrills in quick response.

I have no hesitancy in saying that Sheridan's greatest victory was very largely, if not chiefly, due to the cool and dogged steadiness of the Vermont Brigade during those house before he arrived upon the field. It is generally conceded that Getty's Division remained in the fight of that morning at least two hours after every other organization had been successively defeated. When at last it retired, a position was deliberately selected where the fight could be resumed. It thus became the nucleus on which the army formed. The Vermont Brigade was the center of Getty's Division during all that day. The 1st Brigade, on the right of the Division, was commanded by one of the Vermont Colonels, permanently assigned, General James M. Warner, a member of this Commandery. it was composed of the 62d New York and four Pennsylvania regiments. General Bidwell, of Buffalo, commanding the third Brigade, upon the left, was killed about nine A.M., while repulsing one of the rebel charges made upon the semi-circular crest which the Division occupied; soon after this his men began to waver under the fierce attack, when the appeal was heard, "Don't run till the Vermonter do," and they stood steady to their work. This Brigade embraced the 43rd, 49th, 77th and 122d New York, together with the 7th Maine and the 61st Pennsylvania.

Sheridan, in his official report of the battle, makes the situation clear. He says: "On arriving at the front, I found Merritt's and Custer's divisions of cavalry and General Getty's division of the 6th corps opposing the enemy. I suggest to General Wright that we would fight on Getty's line, and that the remaining two divisions of the 6th corps, which were to the right and rear of Getty, about two miles, should be ordered up, and also that the 19th corps, which was on the right and rear of those divisions, should be hastened up before the enemy attacked Getty." And again, in the same report, he says: "Getty's division of the 6th corps confronted the enemy from the first attack of the morning until the battle was decided." In his Memoirs he writes as follows: "Getty's division, when I found it, was about a mile north of Middletown, posted on the reverse slope of some slightly raising ground, holding a barricade made of fence rails, and skirmishing slightly with the enemy's pickets. Jumping my horse over the line of rails, I rode to the crest of the elevation, and then, taking off my hat, the men rose up from behind the barricade with cheers of recognition. An officer of the Vermont Brigade, Colonel A. S. Tracy, rode up to the font, and, joining me, informed me that General Lewis A. Grant was in command there, the regular Division commander, General Getty, having taken charge of the 6th corps, in place of Ricketts, wounded early in the action." Sheridan proceeds with the story as follows: "I crossed the depression in the rear of Getty's line, and, dismounting on the opposite crest, established that point as my headquarters. Crook met me at this time, and strongly favored the idea of fighting, but said that most of his troops were gone. General Wright (of the 6th corps, who had been in command of the army) came up a little later, when I saw that he was wounded, a ball having grazed the point of his chin so as to draw blood plentifully. Wright gave me a hurried account of the day's events, and when told that we would fight the enemy upon the line which Getty and the cavalry were holding, and that he must go himself and send all his staff to bring up the troops, he zealously fell in with the scheme; and it was then that the 19th corps and two divisions of the 6th were ordered to the front." The subsequent advance of the army and the total rout of the enemy as the sun went down, are known to all.