Jackson G. Sargent

  Congressional Medal Of Honor Recipient Company D, 5th Vermont Volunteers

Left: Jackson Sargent, This Photograph was taken in December 1863 while Sargent was home in Vermont on veteran furlough.

Right: Sargent in 1913. This photograph was taken April 2, Forty-eight years to the day after his actions at Petersburg earned him the Medal of Honor

John Sargent current Eighteenth Vermont trustee, and one of it's founding members became interested in Vermont's Civil War history primarily because of his Great Grandfather Jackson Sargent. Several years ago fellow Eighteenth Vermont founder Brad Limoge and the Vermont Civil War Hemlocks were instrumental in getting a stone marker in honor of his medal of honor placed at Jackson Sargent's grave.

It was first suggested that the Eighteenth Vermont help raise funds to preserve the Vermont Battle flags by John Sargent. Like his ancestor John is helping to preserve the colors.

Eighteen year old Jackson Sargent of Stowe Vermont joined the ranks of company D of the 5th Vermont volunteers on August 17, 1861. On September 16 he was mustered into service. Sargent fought with the 5th VT as it earned it's hard fighting reputation at battles such as Savages Station, Antietam, Fredricksburg, and Salem Church. In December of 1863, Sargent re-enlisted for the term of the war and returned to Vermont for his veteran furlough.

In the spring of 1864, the 5th VT and the Old Vermont Brigade, met its biggest trial. At the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5 & 6 1864, the Vermont Brigade left 1240 of her sons dead and wounded in the horrible forest. For Sargent it was " by far his worst memory".  In a conversation with his Grandson Walter in 1918, he recalled the smoke and the confusion and the fires. Sargent’s best friend Samuel Marshall of Stowe was shot and killed directly beside him. Sargent stated "that he never forgot the sound the impact of the bullet made or that moment in the Wilderness."*

After the Wilderness, the Vermont Brigade fought valiantly at Spotsylvania. Jackson Sargent received his first of at least two war time wounds at that battle on May 12, 1864. His second known wound was to occur at Petersburg. By the fall of 1864 Sargent had been promoted to Corporal and then to Sergeant. 

Jackson Sargent's best known war time achievement occurred at Petersburg on April 2, 1865. After months of stalemate and trench warfare, the Union Sixth Corp. broke the Confederate lines near Petersburg. Leading the historic assault was the 5th Vt. Sargent had the honor of carrying the State colors into the charge.

The words of Ronald A. Kennedy Lt. Colonel of 5^th Vermont  and the Regimental commander during the assault, provide us with a first person account of Sargent's deeds on April 2, 1865. This letter was written as a recommendation for promotion, and on May 10, 1865, Sargent received a commission to 1^st lieutenant  in co K of the 5th Vermont.

"I have the honor of submitting the following statement relative to the part taken by Sergeant Jackson Sargent of Company "D", and bearer of the state colors of this command, during the engagement of Sunday April 2, 1865, before Petersburgh.

From the moment the order was given to advance, he bore the colors aloft to the extreme front, and running to the main work of the enemy planted them firmly upon the parapet while the fort was still working its guns, and full as soon as any of our men had scaled the works. From that time until we halted for the night he was even ahead of the line, and no man could help seeing the flag, as it was borne in a manner to let those who had strayed from the companies during the confusion attending the charge, see them, in order to rejoin their commands. He was slightly wounded in the left arm, but did not leave the field. Whenever opportunity offered, or possibility allowed, the state and national colors of the 5^th were the first to elicit the cheers of the advancing lines, as they appeared planted firmly upon the works of the enemy, never were taken down. All that could be expected of a color bearer and even more. His past record, as a soldier, since 1861, is spotless, and his bravery and heroism is exceeded by none. His soldierly bearing in every sense is example by, and for his deeds, in the past and present, and judging from them for the future, I heartily commend him to your honorable consideration."

(Click on Flag for Larger Image)

5th VT Regimental Colors believed to have been carried by Sargent at Petersburg. Photo Courtesy of Don Wickman

Jackson Sargent mustered out of the army on June 29, 1865 and returned to his home in Stowe Vt.  On October 28, 1891 he was issued the Congressional Medal of Honor for being "First to scale the enemy's works and plant the colors thereon" on April 2, 1865. Jackson did attend the  reunion of the 50th Anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg in 1913. Jackson Sargent died on October 2, 1921 at age seventy-eight. He is buried in River View Cemetery in Stowe Vermont.

The inscription on the back of the medal reads: "The Congress, To Jackson Sargent, the Color-Bearer, Company D, 5^th Vermont Volunteers, For Distinguished Conduct in Action At Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865"

Memorial Marker at Sargent's grave at River View Cemetery in Stowe VT. This marker was placed at his grave in 1994 thru the efforts of 18th Vermont Regiment trustee Brad Limoge and the Vermont Civil War Hemlocks

* Walter Sargent recalled his conversation with his grandfather as told to Susan Limoge in an article that appeared in The Transcript, a northern Vermont newspaper, on May 24, 1999