USS Vermont

Detroit Publishing Company, USS Vermont, group of Chicago Naval Reserves, 1898. The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

On January 30, 1884, Lieutenant Aaron Ward of the U.S. Navy donated a piece of oak from the USS Vermont ship to Henry Sheldon(1). During the time of the donation, the ship was docked at the New York Navy Yard. The USS Vermont was authorized on April 29, 1816, and finished in 1825 at the Boston Navy Yard. The ship, commissioned by the United States Congress, was one of nine 74-gun warships. The USS Vermont was classified under the Delaware-class, being the number six-ship in the class.(2) Additionally, since the first commissioned ship of the Delaware-class became the USS North Carolina, the group also came to be known as the North Carolina-class.(3) Despite being finished in 1825, the ship stayed at the Boston Navy Yard until September 15, 1848, when it left the docks to make way for new boats (and due to the ship’s fire safety hazards).(4)

The USS Vermont was commissioned in accordance with the U.S. Navy’s effort to work overseas in an effort to secure American shipping. The USS Vermont was designed by famous naval engineer William Doughty, who was responsible for the Delaware class warships.(5) During the construction of the ship, progress was extremely slow due to funding issues. The ship lay unfinished for approximately thirty years due to the scarcity of Navy funds but was launched on September 15th, 1848 in an incomplete state. While the specificity of its incomplete status is unknown, photographs demonstrate that the ship turned out to appear very different than the typical sleek naval warship.

Detroit Publishing Company, USS Vermont, Brooklyn Navy Yard, ca. 1898. The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

While the ship was completed in 1825, the ship was not utilized until the 1861 Civil War, by which point it was already extremely outdated.(6) Nonetheless, the spacious hull of the vessel was used for transportation and storage, and it was docked in South Carolina. On December 9, 1861, the Trenton State Gazette reported the order for the outdated USS Vermont to aid in the coastal war, in an effort of a new phase of the naval war mustering all warships.(7) On December 13, 1861, The Burlington Free Press reported the USS Vermont had been sent to Charlestown Yard to rig the ship as a transport ship. Noting how the ship was previously dormant in the ship stocks for almost 30 years, the Navy planned to rig the ship with only twenty-four guns (originally, the Vermont was intended to have 84 guns)(8).

During February of 1862, the USS Vermont encountered a severe storm. The ship was heavily damaged and was reassigned to New York waters. In 1864, the USS Vermont was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and utilized for public service, continuing to serve for storage and receiving ships, mostly being used for war supplies and medical service during peacetime. On July 1st, 1884, after being relatively inactive, the ship was reauthorized for active duty and re-commissioned in the Brooklyn Navy Yard again. The U.S. Navy condemned the USS Vermont in 1901, and it was sold in 1902.(9) The USS Vermont and crews received two major awards from the United States government for services rendered – the Civil War Campaign Medal and the Spanish Campaign Medal.(10)

While the USS Vermont didn’t have the illustrious history or participate in any infamous battles like some of the other naval ships included in the chair, one can assume it was included in the Sheldon chair due to the ship being named after the state which the chair was constructed in.

– Ryan Rudolph ’18

Works Cited:

1 Acquisition Ledger-Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.

2,4,6,7 Staff Writer. “USS Vermont (1848).” Military Weapons, 15 Apr. 2016, www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=uss-vermont-1848

3,5,8,9,10 Michelle Young, “Vintage Photos: The Transformation of the USS Vermont at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.” Untapped Cities, 1 June 2016, untappedcities.com/2016/06/01/vintage-photos-the-transformation-of-the-uss-vermont-at-the-brooklyn-navy-yard/.

See also https://vermontcivilwar.org/units/navy/v-ussvt.php.

For more images of the USS Vermont (exterior and interior), see the collection at the Library of Congress.

Samuel Sheldon’s Barn

 

Henry Sheldon, Son of Samuel Sheldon- collections of the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.

Samuel Sheldon was born in 1786 in Salisbury, Connecticut. In 1810, he moved from Salisbury, Connecticut to Salisbury, Vermont. According to his descendants, once in Salisbury, Vermont, Sheldon “acquired 100 acres and spent the rest of his life carrying on the farm by manual labor, without a single labor-saving machine or implement.”(1) Farming was a typical lifestyle of many Vermonters during that time. Samuel Sheldon married Sarah Weeks (1785-1870) shortly after moving to Vermont, in 1813. Ultimately, Samuel Sheldon died in 1866.

While Samuel Sheldon did not partake in public or political affairs, he was informed on the important issues and affairs of the time.(2) Samuel was a “hard-working industrious man, and but for a severe loss by fire” would have been rewarded financially from the success of his farming.(3)

Excerpt from Henry Sheldon’s account of woods used in the Memorial Chair (vol. 19 of HL Sheldon papers).

Henry Sheldon removed a piece of wood from his father’s barn for this spindle. The family’s house, located in Salisbury, Vermont, was built in 1811. In 1836, the house burned down, but the barn was not affected. As of 1884, the barn was still standing.

While the barn might not hold as much national significance as Old Ironsides or link to America’s past, Henry Sheldon used this spindle for another purpose. This piece of wood gives meaning and legacy to the greater Salisbury, Vermont area. More importantly, it provides a medium to establish his family as important and relevant, cementing the Sheldon family’s value to the community.

-Ryan Rudolph ’18

Footnotes

1. Henry Luther Sheldon, Family Record Book (volume 2, Sheldon personal papers), quoted in “Background: Manuscript Collection Inventory of the Papers of Henry L. Sheldon (1821-1907),” Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

1. ,3“Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History -Middlebury, Vermont.” Manuscript Collection Inventory Inventory of the Papers of Henry L. Sheldon (1821-1907), Range 2B-D 70 linear feet (188 volumes, 37 boxes).

1Staff. “Henry Sheldon and His Museum.” Henry Sheldon Museum · Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont, 1 May 2013, henrysheldonmuseum.org/about/henry-sheldon/.