George P. Foster

:"For the U.S. Representative from Illinois, see George Peter Foster."Infobox Military Person
name= George Perkins Foster
born=birth date |1835|10|3
died=death date and age |1879|3|19|1835|3|10
placeofbirth= Walden, Vermont
placeofdeath= Burlington, Vermont
nickname= Fighting Colonel
allegiance= United States of America
branch= United States Army
serviceyears= 1861-1865
rank=
commands= 1st Vermont Brigade 4th Vermont Infantry
battles= American Civil War
*Battle of Lee's Mills
*Battle of Williamsburg
*Battle of Antietam
*Battle of Fredericksburg
*Battle of Gettysburg
*Battle of the Wilderness
*Battle of Opequon
*Battle of Fisher's Hill
*Battle of Cedar Creek
*Richmond-Petersburg Campaign
*Appomattox Campaign
laterwork= US Marshal

George Perkins Foster (October 3, 1835 – March 19, 1879) was a school teacher, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and then a United States Marshal.

Early life and career

Foster was born in Walden, Vermont, the son of Ephraim and Emily (Perkins) Foster. Of his early life little is known except that he was a teacher in his hometown school district. [Child, Hamilton, "Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, VT.; 1764-1887," May 1887, pp. 355-368, http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/CaledoniaWalden.html; G. G. Benedict, "Vermont in the Civil War. A History of the part taken by the Vermont Soldiers And Sailors in the War For The Union, 1861-5." Burlington, VT.: The Free Press Association, 1888, i:168.]

Civil War

He was commissioned captain of Company G, 4th Vermont Infantry, on September 21, 1861, promoted major on July 18, 1862, lieutenant colonel November 5, 1862 and colonel on February 3, 1864, replacing Charles B. Stoughton, who had resigned.

According to Vermont's military historian, George Benedict, Foster was "of stalwart proportions, and handsome face and figure, he was one of the finest looking officers in the brigade. He was a favorite with his men, distinguished himself as emphatically a fighting colonel." [Benedict, i:168]

He was present in every action of the Vermont Brigade until he was severely wounded in the thigh on the first day of the Battle of the Wilderness, on May 5, 1864. While home recuperating from his wounds, he married Sarah Salome Hubbell (1840-1891), of Burlington, on July 5, 1864, in Wolcott, Vermont.

At the Battle at Lee's Mills, April 16, 1862, he led a company of skirmishers early in the engagement. On December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Lieutenant Colonel Foster led the 4th Vermont Infantry on the skirmish line in front of Howe's division of the VI Corps. At the battle of Winchester, Colonel Foster had command of the Vermont Brigade.

He was nominated to receive the brevet rank of brigadier general by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious service before Richmond and in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia," to date from August 1, 1864. The Senate approved. [Senate Executive Journal, Monday, February 6, 1865, [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej01427)) online] ; Internet.]

He mustered out of Federal service with his regiment on July 13, 1865.

Postwar career

President Ulysses S. Grant nominated Foster to be U.S. Marshal for the district of Vermont, on January 10, 1870. He was appointed January 24, and served in that position until his death. [Senate Executive Journal, Monday, January 10, 1870, [http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej01947)) online] ; "History of Marshals for the District of Vermont," http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/vt/general/history.htm]

His tenure was highlighted "by his bold arrest of the Fenian commander, General O'Neill, in the midst of his army, during the Fenian invasion of Canada, in 1870." [Benedict, i:168fn]

He died in Burlington, Vermont, and is buried in Lakeview cemetery there.

ee also

References

* Benedict, G. G., "Vermont in the Civil War. A History of the part taken by the Vermont Soldiers And Sailors in the War For The Union, 1861-5." Burlington, VT.: The Free Press Association, 1888, i:162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 174, 176, 216, 414, 425, 485, 526, 545, 566, 572, 612.

* "History of Marshals for the District of Vermont," United States Marshals Service, http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/vt/general/history.htm

* Peck, Theodore S., compiler, "Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers and lists of Vermonters Who Served in the Army and Navy of the United States During the War of the Rebellion, 1861-66. Montpelier, VT.: Press of the Watchman Publishing Co., 1892, p. 751

Further reading

* Coffin, Howard, "Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War." Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 1995.

* -----. "The Battered Stars: One State's Civil War Ordeal during Grant's Overland Campaign." Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 2002.

* U.S. War Department, "The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies", 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.

Notes

External links

*findagrave|22662 Retrieved on 2008-02-12
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mruddy/GreeenFlag1.htm The Fenians and the American Civil War]