[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1377-E1378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  GRAVESITE OF UNKNOWN REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERAN TO HONOR ALL UNKNOWN 
                            VERMONT SOLDIERS

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                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 30, 1995
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker in 1935 in Plymouth, VT, the grave of an 
unknown soldier in the American Revolutionary War was discovered. It 
was found on land owned by a nature conservancy. That year the 
Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker and a flag at the 
grave.
  Today, it is my honor to introduce legislation to authorize the 
President to award the Medal of Honor to the Unknown Vermonter who gave 
his life while serving in the Continental Army in the American War of 
Independence. This tribute is especially fitting now that the Vermont 
legislature has approved legislation designating this unknown soldier's 
gravesite as an official site to honor Vermont soldiers of all wars who 
never returned home and whose ultimate fate is unknown.
  I also ask that two recent articles from Vermont newspapers be 
reprinted in the Congressional Record to underscore the merit and 
significance of continuing to recognize the profound sacrifice made by 
all American veterans to secure and preserve our freedom.
             [From the Burlington Free Press, Apr. 8, 1995]

                   Revolutionary War Soldier Honored

       Montpelier.--An unnamed soldier buried in Plymouth after 
     the Revolutionary War has been selected Vermont's official 
     unknown soldier following approval of a resolution this week 
     by the Vermont Senate.
       The soldier, buried on land owned by a nature conservancy, 
     is believed to have died as he was returning from the 
     Revolutionary War.
       According to oral history, the soldier died at a stream a 
     few hundred yards from the wooded knoll where he is buried. 
     The grave was exhumed in 1935, and a body was found. That 
     year the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker 
     and a flag at the grave.
       The designation honors Vermont soldiers of all wars who did 
     not return home, said Rep. John Murphy, D-Ludlow, who 
     introduced the resolution in the House, where it 

[[Page E1378]]
     was approved in February. A July 4 ceremony is planned at the gravesite 
     near the historic Crown Point Military Road in Plymouth.
                                                                    ____

             [From the Burlington Free Press, Mar. 1, 1995]

    Vermont Unknown Soldier May Serve Again--Legislature Considers 
                         Designation for Grave

                            (By Molly Walsh)

       Plymouth.--A nameless Revolutionary War soldier who was 
     buried in a remote, wooded grave roughly 220 years ago may 
     finally find an identity.
       The soldier, believed to have died a few hundred yards from 
     Vermont's historic Crown Point Military Road as he returned 
     home from battle, will be designated Vermont's official 
     unknown soldier if a resolution introduced Tuesday in the 
     Legislature is approved.
       The designation would honor Vermont soldiers of all wars 
     who never returned home and whose ultimate fate is unknown, 
     said Rep. John Murphy, D-Ludlow, who expects the resolution 
     to be discussed in the House today. It would also give the 
     forgotten soldier, who is buried atop a secluded knoll 
     overlooking the stream where he may have taken his last 
     drink, a place in history, even if he lacks a name.
       ``History reflects those people that have given their 
     utmost support and their lives in some cases, and I think the 
     young people of the country should understand history on the 
     national level and the state level,'' Murphy said.
       The grave is located off Vermont 103, about one-half mile 
     northeast of Lake Ninevah and just north of the Mount Holly-
     Plymouth line. The land where it sits is owned by The 
     Wilderness Corporation, a Vermont conservation group that 
     owns 3,000 acres in the area, which it opens to hiking, 
     skiing and other recreational uses.
       The grave itself is one-third of a mile from a branch of 
     the historic Crown Point Military Road, today a patchwork of 
     paths, town roads and overgrown woods that is frequently 
     hiked by history buffs.
       But during the French and Indian Wars, as well as the 
     Revolutionary War, the 77-mile road was traveled by soldiers 
     heading to strategic positions at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown 
     Point, N.Y.
       The road, built from 1759 to 1760, stretches from the 
     Connecticut River on the east side of the state to Lake 
     Champlain on the west. There are several graves of 
     Revolutionary War soldiers along and around the road and its 
     many branches.
       The grave that was chosen for the designation was selected 
     for its peaceful setting and because the oral history 
     surrounding the soldier's death is compelling.
       That history, passed down for generations, holds that the 
     soldier was returning home from battle and stopped to drink 
     at a stream with a comrade. He reportedly died on the spot 
     and was buried on the knoll overlooking the stream.
       A local landowner told the story to the Rev. William Ballou 
     of Chester. Ballou, who was also a Boy Scout master, 
     investigated the site and confirmed the grave's location on 
     Oct. 19, 1935. A month later the Chester Boy Scouts cleared 
     brush from the site and placed a wooden marker on the old 
     road that goes by the grave. That year the Daughters of the 
     American Revolution also placed a marker and a flag at the 
     head of the grave. Whether the oral history is true, no one 
     can be sure. But that does not matter to the Rev. Charles 
     Purinton Jr., chaplain and family services coordinator for 
     the Vermont National Guard, who launched the designation 
     effort.
       ``Nobody really does know what happened,'' Purinton said. 
     But he believes one thing is certain about the soldier: ``He 
     was doing his duty like Vermonters ever since.''
       If the House and Senate approve the resolution, a July 4th 
     ceremony is planned at the knoll where the soldier is buried 
     and a simple plaque will be erected. It would be the first 
     recognition of this kind in Vermont.
       Maj. Gen. Donald Edwards, the state adjutant general, said 
     that if the designation is made, no great influx of visitors 
     to the site is anticipated. Other than the plaque, he does 
     not expect any changes.
       ``We think it's classic Vermont, why change it?'' he said. 
     ``We are not going to build any great big monuments or 
     anything.'' However, the site's remote beauty could be its 
     downfall. The path from the dirt road to the grave is uphill, 
     rocky and overgrown. It would be difficult for handicapped 
     people to navigate.
       That's a major drawback, said John Bergeron, vice president 
     of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter One in Rutland. 
     ``A lot of veterans are getting up there in age,'' he said. 
     ``Certainly access to the place will be a problem.''
       But the solitude hanging in the air over the grave covered 
     by field stones and snow inspires contemplation of what put 
     him there. And that makes the site special, said Scott McGee, 
     president of the Wilderness Corporation.
       ``It is touching to go there and to contemplate what may 
     have occurred and to think about who may lie there and what 
     he may have done,'' McGee said. ``There is a sense of history 
     that starts to surround you when you go to the site.''
     

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