Navy Profiles
At least twenty-one Vermonters served in the Marine Corps during the war, including Daniel Barry of Plymouth, James E. Caswell of Milton, John Clark of Woodstock, John W. Griffin of Hartland, Patrick J. Hasson of Chester, Robert E. Hitchcock of Shoreham, James J. Howlin of Peru, Charles H. Humphrey, John Kelley of Sharon, John Kennedy of Hardwick, Andrew Lovejoy of Sharon, Horatio B. Lowry of Burlington, James Martin of Manchester, John Martin of Burlington, Michael O'Brien of Chester, Eugene Allen Smalley of Burlington, William Smith of Woodstock, William J. Spencer of Woodstock, Patrick Tobin of Randolph, Patrick Vaughan of Plymouth, and John A. Young of Chester.1
Robert E. Hitchcock, of Shoreham, graduated from Norwich University in 1859. When the war broke out, he used family connections to get a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, instead of going into the Union army as a private. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on June 12, 1861, and was assigned to the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. He was killed July 21, 1861, at the First Battle of Bull Run, along with 8 privates. Major Jonathan G. Reynolds, in his report on the battle to Colonel John Harris, Commandant Marine Corps, stated "in the death of Lieutenant Hitchcock the corps has been deprived of a valuable acquisition. On the field he was ever present and zealous. He sought and won the approbation of his commanding and brother officers."2
(to be continued ...)
Notes:
1. Peck, 699ff.
2. David M. Sullivan, "One Marine's Brief Battle," Civil War Times Illustrated, March/April 1992, pp. 16-8; Major Reynolds to Colonel Harris, July 24, 1861, ORN, 4:580-1.
See Researching and writing about Vermont Blue-Jackets in the Civil War for explanations of references.
