Urban A. Woodbury

Infobox Governor
name= Urban Andrain Woodbury


caption=Official Vermont State House portrait
order=45^th
office= Governor of Vermont
term_start= 1894
term_end= 1896
lieutenant= Zophar M. Mansur
predecessor= Levi K. Fuller
successor=Josiah Grout
birth_date= birth date|1838|7|11|mf=y
birth_place= Acworth, New Hampshire
death_date= death date and age|1915|04|15|1838|07|11
death_place= Burlington, Vermont
spouse= Paulina L. Darling
profession= entrepreneur / politician
party= Republican

Urban Andrain Woodbury (July 11, 1838 - April 15, 1915) was an American Civil War veteran, an entrepreneur and a U.S. politician of the Republican Party.

Prewar life

Woodbury was born in Acworth, New Hampshire, the son of Albert M. and Lucy L. (Wadleigh) Woodbury, natives of Cavendish, Vermont. He was educated in the public schools of Morristown and Morrisville, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont in 1859, but his career as a doctor was short-lived due to the advent of the Civil War. Woodbury married, on February 12, 1860, Paulina L. Darling, daughter of Ira and Sarah Darling, of Elmore, Vermont.

Civil War

Woodbury enlisted May 25, 1861, and mustered in as 1st Sergeant, Company H, 2nd Vermont Infantry, on June 20. He was taken prisoner on July 21 at the First Battle of Bull Run, where he had the misfortune of losing his right arm, thus becoming Vermont's "First Empty Sleeve". After nearly three months in prison in Richmond, Virginia, he was paroled October 5, 1861, and discharged on account of wounds on October 18.

"Undaunted by his trying experience, he again sought to defend his country's flag," and accepted a commission as Captain of Company D, 11th Vermont Infantry. He transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on June 17, 1863, and resigned from the service March 27, 1865. [Ullery, Jacob G., compiler, "Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont," Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, part 2, p. 438.]

Postwar life

After returning from the war, Woodbury settled in Burlington and engaged in the lumber and hotel businesses. For 19 years, he was manager of the Booth Lumber Company of Burlington, and for 35 years owner and proprietor of the Van Ness House, a hotel.

As a Republican, he was elected alderman in Burlington's 2nd Ward in 1881 and 1882, being president of the board the second year. From 1884 to 1886, he served as colonel on the staff of Governor John L. Barstow. He was Mayor of Burlington in 1885 and 1886, and Lieutenant Governor in 1888, under Governor William P. Dillingham, and served as governor from 1894 to 1896. In 1898, he was appointed by President William McKinley to a commission led by General Grenville Dodge, investigating the conduct of the War Department in the Spanish-American War.

Woodbury's fraternal associations included Freemasonry, IOOF, Grand Army of the Republic, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Sons of the American Revolution, and Knights of Pythias.

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

At the time of his death he was President of the Mead Manufacturing Company, the Crystal Confectionery Company, and Queen City Cotton Company, all Burlington enterprises.

ee also

Vermont in the Civil War

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:77, 83; ii:343.

* "Ex-Gov. U. A. Woodbury Prominently Identified With Business Interests of Burlington," "Bennington (VT) Banner," April 17, 1915

* "LAST HONORS PAID, Funeral of the Late Governor Woodbury Held Sunday," "Bennington (VT) Banner," April 20, 1915

* 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, pp. 56, 424, 733.

* Ullery, Jacob G., compiler, "Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont," Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, part 2, p. 438.

Notes