Vermont Civil War, Lest We Forget

Allen, Heman Woods

MILITARY SERVICE

Age: 18, credited to Westford, VT
Unit(s): 13th VT INF
Service: enl 8/23/62, m/i 10/10/62, Pvt, Co. A, 13th VT INF, m/o 7/21/63 [College: ECC 64]

See Legend for expansion of abbreviations

VITALS

Birth: 04/03/1844, Westford, VT
Death: 06/06/1915

Burial: Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, VT
Marker/Plot: 40
Gravestone photographer: Kathy Valloch
Findagrave Memorial #: 33159983

MORE INFORMATION

Alias?: None noted
Pension?: Yes, 4/12/1906, VT
Portrait?: 13th History
College?: ECC 64
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: Restored gravestone photo courtesy of Deborah Hardy and Jim Woodman.

DESCENDANTS

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BURIAL:

Copyright notice

Tombstone

Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, VT

Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there.

ROUND TOP, GETTYSBURG, PA.

"The Self Appointed Committee of Three"

Carmi L. Marsh, Henry O. Clark, Heman W. Allen

(Sturtevant's Pictorial History Thirteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers War of 1861-1865)

Biography

HEMAN W. ALLEN was born in the town of Westford, Chittenden County, Vermont, 1844. Enlisted 1862; joined Company A, Captain John Lonergan, 13th Vermont Regiment; served as Company Clerk, discharged at Brattleboro with the Regiment. At time of enlistment was clerk in a country store at Westford. Fall of 1863 entered Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsle, New York. After graduation was employed as a teacher In that Institution for a few months. Returned to Vermont spring of 1864; entered the employ of Edward Lyman, a dry goods merchant, at Burlington. Formed a co-partnership in 1869, the firm being Lyman & Allen, continuing until 1890, when, upon the death of Mr. Lyman, the firm became H. W. Allen & Co., so remaining until the present time. Married In 1881 to Miss Juliette Keeler. One son, Edward Lyman Allen, named after an old friend and business partner; is 16 years old and a member of the Class of 1904, St. Paul's School, Garden City, N. Y. Edward Lyman Allen, assisted Miss Lois K. Clark, daughter of Colonel Henry O. Clark In unveiling the monument of the 13th Vermont Regiment at Gettysburg.

MILITARY RECORD.

Eighteen hundred and sixty-two and eighteen hundred and sixty-three, private Company A, 13th Vermont Regiment. 1865-1868, First Lieutenant Company I, 1st Regiment Vermont State Militia, Colonel William D. Munson. 1894, Inspector Rifle Practice Vermont National Guard, with rank of Colonel on the Staff of Governor U. A. Woodbury; elected Delegate to National Encampment Grand Army of the Republic 1899; again elected Delegate in 1901. 1899, appointed Aide-de-camp on the Staff of Wm. C. Johnson, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic; was elected Treasurer of the 13th Vermont Regiment Association at its organization. Is the only officer of the Association who has held same office since its formation; served as President of the Association June 1890 to June, 1901. 1902 chief of Staff Commander R. E. Hathern, Department of Vermont G.A.R. 1903, reappointed by Department Commander Frank Kenfield to same office.

FINANCIAL

Eighteen hundred and ninty, elected a Director of Merchants' National Bank of Burlington, Vt., 1902, chosen Vice-President of same, probably the strongesst Financial Institution in the State.

The foregoing Is Comrade Heman W. Allen's contribution to this History. He has held important political positions. The most exclusive doors of society are open to him. His business methods and achievements are the admiration of his friends. He has never turned a deaf ear to the demands of charity. His character Is good and worthy of emulation. He devoted some of the best portion of his life to the service of his country. His personality has impressed Itself upon his State. He was Treasurer of the Sub-Committee on the Gettysburg Monument of the 13th Vermont Regiment. His prudent counsel and generous benevolence helped to make that Monument possible.

The writer, therefore, believed that his comrades had the right to a more extended biography: But, knowing that modesty is not his least prominent characteristic, wrote Colonel Allen for permission to amplify the foregoing record. The following is his reply in part: "I assure you I appreciate your kind Interest and will be very glad to have you smoothe out the rough places in the statement I submitted. Don't make it too broad: If I have lived honestly and soberly among my fellow-men, and can continue to do so until the end, leaving a good name as an inheritance, with a record of some good and little mischief, I ought to be satisfied."

It modesty is the measure of merit, the foregoing record and this characteristic reply are suggestive. In the life of every man with strong predilections for a certain vocation, there are found early indications of a preference for that work, and these instinctive expressions may sometimes be traced through an entire life. During Napoleon's banishment to Elba and St. Helena he was planning fortifications and laying out harbors safe in storms, and that could be easily defended from assault. The ruling passion could not be suppressed.

There are facts in the lite of Comrade Allen that furnished evidence that those who have distinguished themselves as soldiers and poets are not the only men who were born to their avocations. The record shows that he was clerk in a country store at 18, when he enlisted. During his term of service he was Company Clerk. His Intimate relations with his officers would naturally have given him the preference, had he desired a non-commissioned appointment, and there were vacancies; but he accepted none and cared for none of these. He Icept his gun clean and his powder dry, and in the days of battle he took his place In the ranks and stood shoulder to shoulder and fought side by side with the bravest. At all other times during his military life he was simply the business man of his Company. After he was mustered out, he graduated at East- man's Business College, and was employed there as a teacher for a few months. The better to prepare him for his calling, he then became a clerk in the store of Edward Lyman, at Burlington, Vt., next a co-partner in that store, and is now the proprietor of a business establishment in Burlington second to none in Vermont, or in New England outside of Boston. In every period of his life his record discloses his business instincts. He is a born merchant, but his present position was not bestowed as a gift. Its primacy is the result of years of labor and struggle.

Statistics show that 90 percent, of all the merchants in the United States have failed. Causes for this are various. During hard times a merchant is sometimes compelled to extend the credit of his customers who are unable to pay promptly. This may compel him to borrow money and give his notes. If these notes are held for a short time by the hand of forbearance, the maker may return solvent, and become prosperous. These wreckers are financial highwaymen who lie in wait to seize the unwary merchant, and destroy him. All that he can do is to protect and defend himself against them. It Is said that "Eternal Vigilance is the price of Liberty." It is certainly the price of commercial success. And there are times when the exercise of the utmost vigilance scarcely suffices to apprise a merchant of approaching danger. Financial panics in 1873 and 1893 shook the business world from center to circumference and swept it as with the besom of destruction. But Heman W. Allen did not fail! In the great crisis of life, character is often the determining factor. The man who can conduct a large business successfully through financial cyclones like these, must be endowed with great characteristics. In such times of wide spread bankruptcy and desolation, a command of credit might constitute the only hope of success. Amid such scenes capital becomes extremely sensitive. A mere business, however great, is less valuable in obtaining credit than the character of the man who conducts it. Fortunate, then, is that merchant whose character is founded on virtues that render his integrity unassailable. A constant state of preparedness is the best assurance of business success. He that succeeds must be alert and cautious, giving "every man his ear but few his voice", anticipating all possible dangers as well as all possible opportunities of his business, studying, as a player at chess, all the possible combinations that might imperil success. He must unite the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of a dove. He must have the power of mental concentration and thorough knowledge and mastery of himself. His keen intelligence must enable him to view matters in their true proportions. His mental equipoise must not permit him to give an "unproportioned thought its act." If there is a factor of possible disturbance he must eliminate that factor - the budding discord must be nipped before its blossoming. He must have the prescience of a seer'.

It was in the man to win by leadership - the initiative - the power of bringing things to pass. He inherited manly strength, genius, and an imagination dominated by intellectual force that has rendered his discernment prophetic. Decision of character is an essential element in all great achievements. He has shown a steadfastness of purpose that has overcome all obstacles. Nor has he neglected his civic or social duties. His record shows that he has held various public positions of honor and trust. But, he is a merchant. He has concentrated his psysic powers upon his enterprises. Results illustrate the force of those powers. His success is only limited by the possibilities of his field of endeavor. He has conquered his world! Those who knew him in his young manhood did not realize that beneath his quiet unimpressive exterior a strong will was being forged and an alert intelligence was being trained for future need, that he was developing that peculiar faculty of which the wisest have boasted - that enables man to learn something of every body. Perhaps the very power of veiling from the common gaze the abysmal deeps of personality is one of the traits that gives him so strong a hold on human hearts. A divinity whose nature we could explore we could not worship. There was gladness in his youth and young manhood, but the undercurrent flowed in a deep set channel of serious and direct endeavor. The power of self restraint, the genuine modesty of intellect are here revealed - the outer man has become the reflection of inward grace and refinement. In his store, it is evident that the place, the hour and the man have met. We are in the presence of one of the fortunate conjunctions of the business world. This automatic, frictionless, perfect working establishment was not created where you see it, but was coined from the brain of its master amid the solitudes of his study. It is the realization of the dream of a boyhood that saw everything, forgot nothing, thought much, and talked little. Business types and ideals are higher and finer to-day than ever before in history. But there are no higher or finer types than in this busy mart of commerce. Business is here shown to be the blending of self-interest with moral ideas. No employee is asked to stifle his conscience, or com- promise his sense of self-respect. Truth applied to human affairs is justice. Colonel Allen's business has not been shaped more for a desire for gain, than by an exalted sense of truth and duty, the doing of which has been and is a pleasure. Omniscient scrutiny would fail to find any silver here that is stained with blood or rusted with tears. His methods are impersonal; they concern his business; he impresses that view upon his clerks with whom his relation is ideal. To a casual observer of the place the relation of employer and employee seems to have been eliminated. Bach appears to be a valued friend and co-worker. Strikes are not bred in such an atmosphere. When the proprietor enters, there is an expression on each face, as if to say: "My brother has come." Friendship, truth and love so permeate .its atmosphere that its charm is grateful Colonel Allen's influence over all the young men and women who have been and are his co-workers will exert a beneficient force for generations to come by furnishing just standards for limitations of gain, and high ideals of duty.

The "Rogers House" between the opposing lines of battle at Gettysburg, was filled with confederate sharpshooters. Our Colonel devolved upon the Captain of Company A and his brave men the duty of dislodging them. They promptly performed that duty, taking from that house many prisoners. Comrade Allen and his gallant associates won tor their Captain a medal of honor, well merited and worthily worn. During the entire battle of Gettysburg Heman W. Allen, the Company Clerk, was as fearless a fighter as any other member of his fighting regiment. He takes no thought of the fact that dauntless courage, patient endurance and sublime self-sacrifice have been illustrated in his character and life; it is for the men of this generation to recognize and applaud them; but it is for the men of every generation to seek to emulate his noble qualities never belittled by vascilation, his lofty patriotism without a suggestion of selfishness, and his broad manhood, never degraded by vice.

LIEUT. STEPHEN F. BROWN OF CO. K.

Obituary

COL. ALLEN KILLED
Prominent Bennington man Stepped In Front of An Auto.
Burlington, June 6 - Col. Heman W. Allen, one of Burlington's most prominent business men, retired for several years, died at his home here this morning from injuries received last night when he was struck by an automobile in front of his residence on Main street.
The machine was driven by Prof. Henry F. Perkins of the University of Vermont and coasting down the hill.
At the point where the accident occurred is a dark spot and Prof. Perkins was unaware of anybody being in the highway until the car struck Col. Allen. The car passed over Col. Allen, inflicting seven distinct fractures of bones.
He was barely conscious when picked up and never regained his senses. His son, Edward L. Allen, was nearly killed in an automobile accident in this city just two weeks ago.
Col. Allen was born in Westford April 4, 1844. He was a member for many years of the well-known dry goods firm of Lyman and Allen, later H.W. Allen & Co. He was a veteran of the Civil war and attained the rank of colonel as a member of the late Gov. U. A. Woodbury's staff.
He was a senator from Burlington in 1896 and delegate to the national Republican convention in 1904. He was a member of the G.A.R., Sons of the Revolution and Society of Colonial Wars.

Source: Bennington Banner
Tues, June 8, 1915
Courtesy of Tom Boudreau.

In Memoriam, Heman Woods Allen, Died June 6, 1915