Camp Baxter and the Third Regimental Band (Or Something Good from the Government Furlough)

My son Tom is a Park Ranger with the Independence Hall site and we all know what happened to Government employees this fall. However, we at History & Heritage were the recipients of something good from the unasked for vacation! Tom often searches for historic pictures and artifacts from St. Johnsbury, and he came up with a “find” regarding the Third Regimental Band and Camp Baxter.

Camp Baxter

The Third Vermont Regiment trained at Camp Baxter where the fairground was in town. If you leave St. J heading south on Rte. 5, just before the Comfort Inn (same side of the road) you will see a flag and a stone monument to that site. Camp Baxter was named for H. Henry Baxter, the Adjutant General of Vermont. The Third Vermont Infantry trained there and left for the war on July 24^th, 1861. The “find” was a picture of the Regimental Band in front of the building at Camp Baxter; the most widely known photo is of recruits in front of the building of which we have included as well. Unlike the rest of the regiment, the members of the band were quartered at the Passumpsic House which stood where the New Avenue House is today (corner of Railroad & Eastern Avenue), for convenience of rehearsing and organization.

One member of the Third Regimental Band was William Henry Herrick of Cabot. Herrick was employed by the Fairbanks Scale Works and was foreman of the sealing of the weights. He not only was a member of the band but also a member of the choir at the North Congregational Church. In addition, he kept a diary of his time in the war as well as his life in St. Johnsbury. The diary of his time in the war was transcribed by son Tom, and I will turn the “rest of the story” over to him!  

The Find! The Third Regimental Band at Camp Baxter

In the photograph, which is in a private collection and was believed to be unpublished before it appeared in a 2023 edition of Military Images Magazine, the members of the Regimental Band can be seen standing in formation with instruments at the ready.  They are also in uniform, which tells us that this photo was likely taken shortly before the regiment departed St. Johnsbury, as the men received their uniforms not long before that time (note that the previously known photo of Camp Baxter shows neither weapons or uniforms). A sharp eye will notice that the uniforms appear gray, which is because when the Third Vermont left for the war the men were clothed in the uniform of the Vermont State Militia which at the time was gray (this was not uncommon; some Confederate units initially wore blue early in the war).  Herrick’s diary recounts that the men received their blue uniforms several weeks after arriving in Washington, DC.

Now, precisely where Herrick is located in the photo is not possible to tell, but we know he’s there because of his diary.  On July 23, he wrote,

“Tomorrow I start for the war, and will improve a few moments leasure by beginning a journal, in which to record my experiences of a soldiers’ life.-  what those experiences may be,- what scenes and incidents the journal may record, who shall tell?  a soldier “takes his life in his hand” and I do not forget that when I leave dear old Vermont, there is no certainty, hardly a probability that I shall ever see its green hills again.-  still I do not shrink from the path I have taken, and if I fall, by the hand of the enemy or by sickness, why not my life as well as anothers, and in what nobler or worthier cause could a life be given. . .”

Herrick’s journey with the Third Vermont took him from the rolling hills of St. Johnsbury to the battlefields of Virginia. The pages of his diary tell of the marvels of Washington, DC, the miseries of camp life, the horrors of war (band members were utilized as stretcher-bearers during battle), and even close encounters with President Abraham Lincoln:

“I climbed up onto a fallen tree that extended out over the brook by the road and waited to see them come back;- did not have to have to wait long.  Gen. McClellan rode a splendid horse, and Gen Smith with him came first.-  the soldiers cheered heartily as he passed, and he waved his cap in acknowledgment- I hollered with all my might, and he looked up to where I was sitting- perhaps he saw me- the President and Mrs Lincoln were in a fine carriage- the soldiers cheered again as they passed, and ‘old abe’ very deliberately took off his hat. . .”

In August of 1862, Herrick returned to St. Johnsbury when the US Army deemed that regimental bands were no longer necessary and discharged the men from service.  He returned to his work at the Fairbanks Scale Works and went on to lead the St. Johnsbury Town Band.  He died in 1894 and is buried with his family members in Cabot.