Eri Woodbury, Cheshire’s First Medal of Honor Recipient

Known as “The Professor” and, later, “The Grand Old Man of Cheshire,” Eri Woodbury was the first of two Medal of Honor recipients to live in Cheshire.

Eri Davidson Woodbury was born in Francistown, New Hampshire, in 1837. Following graduation from Dartmouth College in 1863, he became Principal of the Academy at Derby, Vermont. Shortly thereafter, he enlisted for three years as a Private in Company E of the 1st Vermont Cavalry.

Woodbury was soon promoted to Sergeant of Company B. On October 19, 1864, his regiment participated in the Battle of Cedar Creek, which was the largest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. While the enemy was retreating, Sgt. Woodbury encountered four Confederate infantrymen. He drew his saber and ordered them to surrender. When they turned over their rifles, he noticed that one of the soldiers hung back, and was holding his weapon in an unusual manner.

Upon closer inspection, Sgt. Woodbury discovered that he was not holding a weapon, but the 12th North Carolina regimental flag. After delivering the prisoners and the flag to brigade headquarters, he was sent to Washington, DC, with the captured Confederate battle flag, where he was presented the Medal of Honor. He was wounded the night before Lee’s surrender, losing a finger as a result.

After he was mustered out as Brevet Captain in June 1865, Eri Woodbury came to Cheshire to teach Latin and Greek at the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut (now, Cheshire Academy). He later became Headmaster, and then Principal, retiring to his farm in town in 1903. To the boys at the Academy, he was always known as “The Professor.”

Eri Woodbury died in 1928, at age 91, and the Associated Press obituary described him at that time as “The Grand Old Man of Cheshire”. He was, in fact, the Town’s last surviving Civil War veteran. He is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, and Woodbury Court is named in his honor.