Programs

Vermonters At The Battle Of The Wilderness

Vermont Public | By Patti Daniels,

Published April 24, 2014 at 2:49 PM EDT

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Gene LaPerle of the Rock of Ages Corporation stands near a monument to the Vermont Brigade's actions in the Civil War Battle of the Wilderness, on temporary display in Barre Town in Oct. 2005. The monument was later placed in Spotsylvania, Va.

Toby Talbot / AP

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In this photo provided by the Library of Congress, Union soldiers are prepared for burial at Fredericksburg, Va., circa May 19 or 20, 1864, following the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War.

AP/Library of Congress

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This photograph shows a view of Belle Plain on the Pamunkey River in Va. in 1864. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac began their advance into the Virginia wilderness from this site to the Battle of Wilderness during the American Civil War.

Mathew B. Brady / AP

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In this photo provided by the Library of Congress, wounded soldiers from the Battle in the "Wilderness" at Fredericksburg, Va., May 20, 1864.

James Gardner / AP/Library of Congress

The first week of May in 1864 saw a brigade of Vermont soldiers engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness in northern Virginia. Twelve-hundred Vermonters were killed or wounded in two days of fighting for the Union. On the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness, we talk with Vermont Civil War historian Howard Coffin about how the battle was fought, why he says it was Vermont’s most important contribution to the war, and what consequences it had for both the North and South.

During this interview, Coffin recommended a few books, including Team of Rivals:The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and two of his own books, Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont and The Battered Stars: One State’s Civil War Ordeal During Grant’s Overland Campaign.

Also in the program, a look at the governor’s approval ratings. Gov. Peter Shumlin has a 49 percent approval rating, according to data from the Castleton Polling Institute and VTDigger. Political analyst Eric Davis explains what the numbers mean to the 2014 governor’s race.

And we listen back to some of the voices in this week’s news.

Broadcast live on Fri., April 25, 2014 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.