I enjoy adding books like the one shown above to my Civil War library because they tell the personal stories of those involved in the war. Many times, their stories like this one are heart breaking. You don’t see much written about suicide and the war. This is a story of an officer from the 1st VT Cavalry so traumatized by the war and personal demons that he took his own life.

The 1st VT Cavalry was organized in Burlington, Vermont and headed south to New York City by rail on December 14, 1861. From there they marched and rode to Elizabethport, New Jersey, where they boarded trains to Washington. On the 25th they marched toward Annapolis where they wintered. Here at Camp Harris their original commander Colonel Lemuel Platt resigned and was replaced by 33 year old Jonas P. Holliday on February 22nd. Holliday was from Burns in Allegheny County, New York, and graduated from West Point in 1850. He subsequently served on the frontier in New Mexico, Texas and Utah before enlisting in the 1st VT. Colonel Holliday drilled his men until March 7th when they were ordered to replace part of General Banks’ Cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley.

On March 9th they left Annapolis for Washington and camped on East Capitol Hill. From there they marched through Rockville and Poolesville and camped three miles from Edwards Ferry until March 28th when they left to join Banks near Strasburg “with a cheerfulness not shared by its colonel, who was depressed both by personal troubles and personal responsibilities.” They journeyed past Harpers Ferry, Charlestown and the battlefield at Kernstown on April 1st on the way to Middleburg. At Kernstown and Winchester they saw buildings filled with the wounded, dead horses and newly dug graves. They arrived near Hupps Hill that day where they camped until the 5th.

What occurred next is described in the 1888 book Vermont in the Civil War quoted below.

“Colonel Holliday had been for weeks in an unsound condition of both mind and body. He brooded over the fact that his command was not in what he considered a proper condition to take the field, and his depression deepened as the days went on. On the morning of the 5th, when the regiment was passing Fisher’s Hill, Colonel Holliday left the column and went back to Strasburg on some business with the provost marshal. Returning, accompanied by his bugler and orderly, at the stone bridge across Tumbling Run he drew bridle, and sent the bugler forward to tell Adjutant Pitkin that he wished to see him. Five minutes later he sent the orderly after the bugler. A soldier in the rear saw him turn from the pike into a by-road leading to the Shenandoah River. The adjutant came, in obedience to the message, was directed by the soldier to the by-path, and following it came upon the colonel’s horse hitched to a bush upon the bank of the river. Close by, in the water, lay the body of Colonel Holliday. A pistol ball, fired by his own hand, had pierced the centre of his forehead, and his face and beard were dripping with blood. His body was borne to the camp near Woodstock, and a court of inquiry, consisting of Major Collins and Captains Perkins and Moore, with Lieutenant Erhardt as judge advocate, pronounced it a case of suicide. His body was sent, in charge of Captain Sawyer, to his home in Central New York. He had been but six weeks with the regiment; but long enough to win the respect and attachment of all.” While escorting the Colonel’s body back to Winchester, Thomas McCullough from Company A was stooping over when his pistol fell from his holster and accidentally discharged shooting him in the chest and killing him.

Other references from the time of the suicide provide some additional details.

From the diary of David Hunter Strother April 5, 1862

 Was informed that Colonel [Jonas P.] Holliday of the Vermont cavalry had committed suicide, the cause said to be disgust with the bad discipline of his regiment. Colonel Holliday was a regular officer of New York, a tall man with a huge beard and of a melancholy mien, talking rarely and in monosyllables. I was introduced to him three days ago and remarked his sad and speechless demeanor. He ordered his regiment to march and remaining behind lit his pipe and blew his brains out.”

From the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Chapter 24 page 52 letter from General Banks to General McClellan

I could find very little else written about the Colonel that sheds any further light on his personal life or what mental health issues he was dealing with or dealt with in his life. I couldn’t locate any pictures of him. Nor could I gain any insight as to how a man from Burns, NY, came to command a Vermont regiment. He is buried in his hometown of Burns, NY, in a family cemetery (42.434605, -77.737865) along with his father (Dr. Hiram Holliday), who was a physician, and his mother (Laura Hendree Holliday Wood). He had at least 4 full siblings (Homer, Charles, Daniel and Lorton).

Next- An Opportunity Lost

Sources other than those listed in the text

Full Duty Vermonters in the Civil War by Howard Coffin

Vermont in the Civil War by George Grenville Benedict