Civil War Soldiers' Monument

The Civil War Soldiers’ Monument on the Brattleboro Common has two elements:  the original monument (1887) and a separate corrective and interpretive plaque (2022). The separate plaque is corrective because it provides recognition for soldiers who were excluded from the original monument: soldiers of color and “substitute” soldiers who served in place of wealthier residents who were allowed to pay money to avoid military service. The plaque is interpretive because it provides history and context to help people understand how the original omissions happened and how the corrections came to be.  At the bottom of the corrective and interpretive plaque, there is an invitation to seek additional information by visiting this webpage. Here is additional information provided by Joe Rivers, who is a Social Studies teacher at Brattleboro Area Middle School, a leader of the Brattleboro Historical Society, and the person who conducted and coordinated the research that ultimately led to the creation of the corrective and interpretive plaque.

Information on monument plaque:

"THIS MONUMENT COMMEMORATES THE LOYALTY AND PATRIOTISM OF THE MEN OF BRATTLEBORO WHO FOUGHT FOR LIBERTY AND THE UNION IN THE GREAT REBELLION OF 1861-1865 ENLISTED 385 DIED IN SERVICE 31".

We believe a truer representation would be "ENLISTED 450 DIED IN SERVICE 56".

In 1887 the town erected a statue on the Common which stated 31 men serving Brattleboro had died in the Civil War while 385 had served... our students have looked through vermontcivilwar.org, Vermont’s Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, Cabot’s Annals of Brattleboro, Fuller’s Men of Color, To Arms!, Burnham’s Brattleboro: Early History, and Civil War-era digital newspapers to attempt to get a more accurate number.

The original count seemed to have been an incomplete community effort. At the dedication of the monument those mentioned in the ceremony were from prominent or long term local families. The original count missed substitutes, (both White and Black), working class laborers who were living in Brattleboro at the time of their enlistment, and some of those who joined the Navy. 

The Revised Roster of 1892 lists almost 500 men credited to Brattleboro. We have combed through that list and found approximately 425 Civil War soldiers and sailors born here, living here, or substituting for men from here. Others on the list were credited to Brattleboro because they died in the Brattleboro military hospital or moved here after the war. We have established that 56 died as a result of serving during the war. 

The number of substitutes has been problematic. While we have been able to locate 38 substitutes who took the place of Brattleboro men, Henry Burhnham’s Brattleboro: Early History, states that there were 55 substitutes. In our research, we have found substitutes written about in contemporaneous newspaper articles but the substitutes are not named while the Brattleboro men who paid for the substitutes are identified. This has caused us to suggest that an approximate number of 450 be established for those serving during the war.

The criteria we used to compile the list:

• Credited to Brattleboro by vermontcivilwar.org or Men of Color, To Arms!
• Credited to Brattleboro by the Revised Roster and born in Brattleboro .
• Born somewhere else but credited to Brattleboro and verified by contemporaneous newspapers as living in Brattleboro.
• Substitutes for Brattleboro men recorded by vermontcivilwar.org or the Revised Roster.
• Sailors credited to Brattleboro by Revised Roster, but credited to Vermont by vermontcivilwar.org and located in contemporaneous newspapers.

We removed those who were credited to Brattleboro because they moved here after the war.

We also removed those from other places who died at the Brattleboro military hospital, were buried here, and credited to Brattleboro even though they were not from the area.

We believe our list, (while more comprehensive), should also be considered incomplete. As the war continued into late 1863, towns and states were in competition with one another to meet enlistment and draft quotas. This competition led some recruiters to incorrectly identify the hometowns of some of their recruits. Many draftees chose to pay the government or procure substitutes so they would not need to serve. The recording of these transactions were not always preserved.

The approximately 450 soldiers and sailors identified as serving Brattleboro, and the 56 who died as a result of that service, should be considered a minimum number. There may be others who will never be known. As more research is done these numbers will undoubtedly be adjusted.

This research was conducted by Brattleboro Area Middle School students and the Brattleboro Historical Society.

What follows is a list of the soldiers and sailors we have identified using the above criteria.

• Visit the Vermont African American Heritage Trail website.
• Find a complete list of names.