Join us Thursday, May, 10, 7:00 p.m. at the Arlington Central Library.  The meeting will open with the election of the AHS Board Officers & Directors.  It will be followed by our public program, “The Sleeping Sentinel of Chain Bridge” presented by George Dodge.  The program is free, but please RSVP here.

The Sleeping Sentinel of Chain Bridge was William Scott of Company K of the Third Vermont Infantry.  He fell asleep at his post on Chain Bridge and at his court martial he was sentenced to be executed.  A firing squad was selected and just before the firing a pardon was granted by General George McClellan at the request of President Abraham Lincoln.   In April 1862 he was mortally wounded at the battle of Lee’s Mills, Virginia (near Yorktown.)   A poet wrote a largely fictional account of his army life; the poem was read in Congress and he became a legend.  In the portrayal George Dodge will attempt to separate fiction from the truth about William Scott.