Urban A. Woodbury

Urban Andrain Woodbury (July 11, 1838 - April 15, 1915) was an American Civil War veteran, an entrepreneur and a U.S. politician of the Republican Party. Served as the 45th governor of Vermont.

Prewar life
Woodbury was born in Acworth, New Hampshire, the son of Albert M. and Lucy L. (Wadleigh) Woodbury, natives of Cavendish, Vermont. He was educated in the public schools of Morristown and Morrisville, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont in 1859, but his career as a doctor was short-lived due to the advent of the Civil War. Woodbury married, on February 12, 1860, Paulina L. Darling, daughter of Ira and Sarah Darling, of Elmore, Vermont.

Civil War
Woodbury enlisted May 25, 1861, and mustered in as 1st Sergeant, Company H, 2nd Vermont Infantry, on June 20. He was taken prisoner on July 21 at the First Battle of Bull Run, where he had the misfortune of losing his right arm, thus becoming Vermont's First Empty Sleeve. After nearly three months in prison in Richmond, Virginia, he was paroled October 5, 1861, and discharged on account of wounds on October 18.

"Undaunted by his trying experience, he again sought to defend his country's flag," and accepted a commission as Captain of Company D, 11th Vermont Infantry. He transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on June 17, 1863, and resigned from the service March 27, 1865.

Postwar life
After returning from the war, Woodbury settled in Burlington and engaged in the lumber and hotel businesses. For 19 years, he was manager of the Booth Lumber Company of Burlington, and for 35 years owner and proprietor of The Van Ness House, a hotel he enlarged twice to accommodate 400 guests.

As a Republican, he was elected alderman in Burlington's 2nd Ward in 1881 and 1882, being president of the board the second year. From 1884 to 1886, he served as colonel on the staff of Governor John L. Barstow. He was Mayor of Burlington in 1885 and 1886, and the 35th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont in 1888, under Governor William P. Dillingham, and served as governor from 1894 to 1896. In 1898, he was appointed by President William McKinley to a commission led by General Grenville Dodge, investigating the conduct of the War Department in the Spanish-American War.

Woodbury's fraternal associations included Freemasonry, IOOF, Grand Army of the Republic, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Sons of the American Revolution, and Knights of Pythias. Woodbury was also an early member of the Green Mountain Club which was established at a meeting in the Van Ness House in 1910. The club went on to create the Long Trail, America's first long distance hiking trail.

He died in Burlington, and is buried in Lakeview cemetery there.

At the time of his death he was President of the Mead Manufacturing Company, the Crystal Confectionery Company, and Queen City Cotton Company, all Burlington enterprises.