BRISTOL — Howard Coffin, a seventh-generation Vermonter and author of four books on the Civil War with a focus on Vermont and the Champlain corridor, will be the latest guest of the The Bristol Historical Society. Coffin will give a talk on “Vermont’s Remarkable Sharpshooters and Gettysburg,” on Thursday, June 21, at Howden Hall on West Street at 7 p.m.
In the talk, Coffin will describe how Vermont sent far more sharpshooters to the Union armies than any other state on a per capita basis. By the hundreds, Vermont marksmen passed the rigorous marksmanship test to join one of three Vermont companies. And sharpshooters from this state played a little-known, but major role at Gettysburg, the great Union victory that changed the Civil War’s course.
Coffin will discuss his recent research into this little recognized group and consider the reasons why Vermont may have been so well represented in this elite group of marksmen. Coffin has spoken at the Bristol Historical Society in the past and impressed his audiences with his passion, knowledge and ability to convey the life and times of Vermonters in America’s Civil War.