Kittredge, Charles A.
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 27, credited to Walden, VT Unit(s): 4th VT INF, 3rd VT LARTY Service: enl 3/19/62, m/i 4/12/62, Pvt, Co. D, 4th VT INF, dis/dsb 10/22/62; enl 9/29/63, m/i 1/1/64, PVT, 3rd VT LARTY BTRY, m/o 6/15/65 See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 1836, Walden, VT Death: 1907 Burial: Noyesville Cemetery, Walden, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone photographer: Denis & Karen Jaquish Findagrave Memorial #: 47405642 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, 8/26/1873; widow Clarissa L., 19/19/1907, VT 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 (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice   Noyesville Cemetery, Walden, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Obituary
WALDEN
Death of Well-Known and Respected Citizen. Charles A. KittredgeCharles A. Kittredge died at his home in Walden at 7:10 a. m. on Friday the 28th of last month. Although for several years his health had been failing short of even its low standard, his condition prior to February was not supposed to be such as to warrant alarm. Early in that month, however, a careful medical examination revealed the serious nature of his illness. Mr. Kittredge suffered greatly for many weeks, but the end was painless and peaceful. Naturally expected at no distant date, it nevertheless came as a sudden shock to family and friends.
Following a brief service of prayer at the home, the funeral was held at the church at 1 o'clock on Monday July 1st, the Rev. Mr. Thurston officiating. There was a large and sorrowful attendance. The remains were interred in the local cemetery. The pall-bearers, fittingly chosen from among the veteran comrades of the deceased, were Messrs. Frank Taylor, George Haseltine, D. W. Barnett and Amos A. Scott.
Charles Alanson Kittredge, a son of Benjamin F. and Sophia R. Kittredge, was born in Walden on March 25, 1837. His boyhood and youth were spent n the farm. The meagre education that he obtained was acquired in the district schools of Walden and Danville; and to secure even the rudimentary training that they afforded, he was obliged to endure many hardships and deprivations, doing all sorts of "chores" at morning and night – often chopping wood by moonlight – to pay for his board and lodging. But nature has her compensations – she had them even in the rural Vermont of sixty odd years ago – and if this "Green Mountain Boy" did reach maturity without a suspicion of the classics, he possessed a clear head, a good heart, and he had developed a physical prowess that would now strike despair to the soul of the average athlete devotee of "Old Eli."
Mr. Kittredge was married on January 1, 1860; he then being twenty-three years of age, to Miss Clarissa L. Capron of Walden. To them three sons and two daughters were born, as follows: Fred G., Bertha E., (Mrs. Frank H. Jones), Orrie E., Vira F., (Mrs. Fred D. Harrington), and Herman E., all of whom except the first and oldest, with their mother, survive the deceased.
A firm believer in "Union and Liberty," Mr. Kittredge enlisted on March 19, 1862, at West Danville, and was mustered into service on March 27, 1862, as a private of Company D, Fourth Vermont Infantry Volunteers, to serve three years, but was honorably discharged on October 22, 1862, by reason of disability. He again enlisted (for three years) on September 20, 1863, at Walden, and was mustered into service on January 1, 1864, as a private of the Third Vermont Battery, Light Artillery Volunteers, in which he served until after the fall of the Confederacy, being honorably discharged on June 15, 1865, y reason of the mustering out of his battery. During his two enlistments he participated in many historical engagements, including the Battles of Malvern Hill, Antietam, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and the final assault on Petersburg, at daybreak on the 2d of April, 1865, which resulted in Lee's surrender, seven days later. It was the attestation of his comrades in the ranks that a truer, braver soldier than Private Kittredge never wore the blur. And one of his commanding officers, the late Captain H. H. Start, once wrote of him: "This soldier always performed his duty in a gentlemanly and soldier-like manner. He never shrank from duty nor danger." But nature charges heavily for such words as these, even though they be earned in the sacred cause of human liberty; and Mr. Kittredge returned to his home a physical wreck.
In his example of patriotic devotion alone, with its long train of physical suffering, Mr. Kittredge has left a rich legacy to his loved ones. Smaller and smaller, with Time's irreverent tread, grows the wavering remnant of the valiant boat that bore "Old Glory" through Secession's hideous din to victorious Appomattox. Thinner and thinner grow the ranks of the Vanishing Army. Wider and wider grows the silent bivouac on the northern hills. And proud indeed may the children be whose loving lot is to mark, each Maytime, with our symbol of Union, this glorious increase.
Endowed with the requisites of the successful legal practitioner, Mr. Kittredge turned his attention to 1880, to the prosecution of pension claims, which he continued as a vocation, with unprecedented success. Few other men have in this way brought food and raiment to a greater number of dependent widows and children. In addition to his practice before the Pension office, Mr. Kittredge served for many years as Justice of the peace, and his advice was highly valued and eagerly sought in various legal matters. For although, as previously indicted, he had enjoyed fewer advantages than most other individuals engaged in his line of effort, he possessed a keen intellect and an abundance of that rarest of qualities, common sense. Many a man with native endowments inferior to his, but born and reared in favorable environment, has stood high in the affairs of state and nation.
Mr. Kittredge was an ardent patriot, a good citizen, a kind neighbor, and a true friend. His heart was touched by the misfortune of others, and he gave beyond his means. The community is better because he lived and wrought, and in his passing it rightly deplores a serious loss.
Source: St. Johnsbury Republican, July 10, 1907.
Courtesy of Tom Boudreau.