Frederick W. Hopkins’ Eulogy for Colonel Truman B. Ransom, delivered in Norwich, Vermont, on February 22, 1848, is a remarkable document. A soldier, a Democrat, and one-time president of Norwich University, Colonel Ransom favored a war and a presidential administration that most Vermonters opposed. Ransom paid for his allegiance with his life in the Battle of Chapultepec on September 13, 1847. Hopkins’ eulogy for Ransom invokes mid-nineteenth-century ideals of military valor and patriotism, and presents a useful counterpoint to the antiwar speeches by members of Vermont’s congressional delegation.

excerpt of speech