Protecting The Northern Border

Major Johiah Grout Jr

The Union Frontier Cavalry was organized by the authority of the War Department, and it’s first unit was organized on January 4^th 1865 to patrol New England’s northern border.

The Frontier Cavalry organized under the special authority of the Union War Department in December 1864.  It was a volunteer regiment and was placed under Union General John A Dix’s Department of the East.  It was organized as a response to the raid by Confederates on October 19^th 1864 in St Albans, VT.  At the beginning it was made up of returned veterans, militia and in Vermont by cadets from Norwich Military Academy.

The cavalry regiment was known as the 26^th New York Cavalry, and was made up of 7 companies from New York, 2 from Massachusetts, and 2 from Vermont.  The Vermont companies which were raised by General Order #6 were stationed in St Albans, VT; the other companies were stationed in New York along the Canadian border.  The first Vermont unit was recruited in Rutland, VT and filled out January 4^th 1865.  The commander of the regiment was Union Major Josiah Grout Jr who had served in the 1^st Vermont Cavalry.

The Vermont companies mustered out of service June 27^th 1865.

The Phantom General

Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom a civil engineer and Union General in the Union army died October 29th 1864.


Thomas Edwin Greenfield Ransom was born November 29th 1831 in Norwich Vermont the son of Colonel Truman B Ransom. Ransom’s father was killed in action at the Battle of Chapultepec when he was fourteen. In 1848 Ransom entered Norwich University or Norwich Military Academy, following three years in school he moved to Illinois. He lived with an uncle in Peru Illinois and become known as the “Boy Surveyor” and he joined in business with fellow Norwich graduate Grenville M Dodge.

Ranson was working for the Illinois Central Railroad when the Civil War started. He raised troops for what would become Company “E” of the 11th Illinois. By November 9th 1862 Ransom was commissioned Brigadier General and was in command of a brigade in the Sixth Division of the XVII Corps. He was wounded four times in the fighting, at Fort Donelson, during a skirmish near Charleston Missouri, the Battle of Shiloh, and at the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads. This last time his wound were bad enough that he was sent to Chicago for treatment. He was assumed to have been killed so many time that he became known as the “Phantom General”. Returning the command in Georgia he was struck with typhoid, which weakened him and led to his death. Just before Ransom died he said, "I am not afraid to die, I have met death too often to be afraid of it now." He died near Rome Georgia October 29th 1864 and is buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago Illinois.

He Was Honored By His Men

At the Battle of Gaines’ Mills on June 27th 1862 Colonel Jesse Augustus Gove was killed.

Jesse A Gove was born December 5th 1824 in Ware New Hampshire. Wishing to persue a career in the military, Gove attended the Norwich Military Academy than located in Norwich Vermont. He served with the 9th US Infantry during the Mexican-American War. He than study law and became a Deputy Secertary for the State of New Hampshire from 1850 to 1855. In 1855 he found that he missed the army. He was given a commission of Captain and was doing duty with Company I of the 10th Infantry in Utah when the Civil War began.

At the start of the war Gove was recalled to Washington DC, to succeeded Colonel Henry Wilson as the commander of the 22nd MA Volunteer Infantry. He was the only regular Army officer to command the 22nd and depite this was much loved by the men. Gove was killed in action on June 27th 1862 at the Battle of Gaines Mill in Virginia. After the Civil War the veterans of the 22nd MA chose the date of their reunion to honor Col Gove’s death.

For more reading
Colonel Jesse A. Gove, U.S.A.