Brown, Milton S.
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 18, credited to Eden, VT Unit(s): 1st VT CAV Service: enl 1/4/64, m/i 1/12/64, Pvt, Co. F, 1st VT CAV, d/dis, 12/24/64, Sloan U.S.G.H. Montpelier (Chronic diarrhoea) See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 07/08/1846, Vershire, VT Death: 12/24/1864 Burial: Common Cemetery, Craftsbury, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone photographer: Denis & Karen Jaquish Findagrave Memorial #: 82219247 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, mother Sarah C, 9/9/1872 Portrait?: Unknown College?: Not Found Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: None DESCENDANTS Great Granduncle of Jeannie Luther, (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice  Craftsbury Common Cemetery, Craftsbury, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Milton S. Brown
Milton Brown was my great-grandfather's older brother, and the information I am about to share with you was told to me by my grandmother and my great-aunt.
Milton was born in Eden Vermont to Jonathan and Sarah Brown. Sarah did not want her son to go to war and she had the money to pay for someone else to fill his commitment, but women were not allowed at the train station so she could not go down to the area to take him home. She wanted Jonathan to go to the train station to get Milton, but he refused. Jonathan was said to be worried about his son, but he felt that Milton was a grown man who should be allowed to make his own decisions. Jonathan paid for a very good horse and a very sharp sword, and left the rest to God.
I have a plate depicting a training camp in, or near, Baltimore that Milton sent to his mother before his unit as sent to Virginia. Sarah was never happy that Milton enlisted in the union army, but she did well with his decision until his death. The Brown family received word that Milton died of pneumonia on Christmas Eve 1864; and Sarah nearly lost her mind. She blamed her husband for Milton's death because he supported Milton's decision to enlist. Sarah moved out of Jonathan's bedroom on the day that the family received word of Milton's death and she refused to speak to him again. Jonathan died of a heart attack within two years.
I do not have any of the letters that Milton wrote to his mother, but I want to contact my Dad's cousin Donna to ask if Aunt Sarah kept the letters. Not that I expect Milton's letters will show him to be the dedicated abolitionist that I had once imagined him to be. My grandmother and great-aunt describe Milton as a bored young man who enlisted in the army because he wanted to get away from home and experience adventure.
Sarah Brown spent the rest of her life telling people that Milton died for the greed and ambition of northern politicians. She told anyone who would listen that the economy of the Southern States, and how they chose to operate was the real basis of the war. She told my great-aunt that the Southerners had every right to run their states the way that they wanted, that it was "none of our business whether or not they kept slaves", and that "all those boys died for nothing." Sarah cut Milton's uniform into strips and made it into a braided rug that she kept in the mudroom. In that way she ensured that, everyone who came to the house would tread upon the union forces.
I do not think that Sarah Brown was a bad person, but she could not bear the loss of her son. She just did not have a sense of America's industrial future, or the importance of the abolitionist movement.
(According to a pension record index card, Sarah C. Brown applied for Milton's pension benefits on 9 September 1872. - webmaster)
Jeannie Luther