BRATTLEBORO-On Tuesday, May 13, from 4 to 6 p.m., ByWay Books & More, 399 Canal St., will host Alexandre Caillot, author of Late to the Fight. His book explores the experiences and contributions of Union soldiers from the 17th Vermont and 31st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiments, indiviuals who entered the Army of the Potomac in time to serve during the Overland Campaign during the Civil War.
"This event will be of particular interest to aficionados of the Civil War, military war, and regional history, as well as anyone who wants to learn about the Green Mountain State's final Civil War regiment which endured some of the most intense fighting in the conflict," organizers said in a news release.
Caillot will share his research and address the motivations, behavior, and combat performance of the men who filled the ranks left empty by veterans whose three-year terms had expired.
Stephen E. Sodergren, a Civil War expert who holds a doctorate in American and military history from the University of Kansas and is chair of the History and Political Science Department at Norwich University, speaks highly of Late to the Fight. He says that Caillot "explores the combat performance of the Union soldiers who filled newly raised regiments that fought through the Civil War's final year."
"Historians have typically regarded these late enlistees as substandard to those who signed on at the war's start," he continues. "Caillot shows that these forgotten boys in blue left behind a record of valor and sacrifice essential to achieving the destruction of the confederacy."
Caillot is from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and earned his doctorate in history from Temple University in 2023. He has previously taught at Norwich University and interned in the National Park Service, where he gave battlefield tours. Caillot has had articles published by the U.S. Military History Review and the West Point think tank, Modern War Institute. He has authored more than 20 scholarly book reviews in print and online.
There will be a discussion, and books will be available for signing. For more information, call 802-490-8014, email [email protected], or visit their website at bywaybooks.co.
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