Cassius Peck

Cassius Peck (3 March 1842 – 12 July 1913) was a Medal of Honor recipient and member of the Vermont legislature who served in the American Civil War.

Early life
Peck was born on 3 March 1842 to Reuben Peck and Hannah G. Peck. He had a brother, Marshall Reuben Peck, born 4 years later in 1846. He was educated at the Montpelier seminary and West Randolph Academy.

Civil War
Peck entered Company F of the 1st USS in Brookfield, Vermont as a private, on 12 September 1861. He was honorably discharged on 12 September 1864.

Medal of Honor
He was awarded the Medal of Honor on 12 October 1892 for his actions on 19 September 1862. He was a corporal then, leading a small group of sharpshooters which he used to drive away a much larger of Confederate infantry, capturing two artillery pieces. "The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Cassius Peck, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 19 September 1862, while serving with Company F, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters, in action at Blackburn's Ford, Virginia. Private Peck took command of such soldiers as he could get and attacked and captured a Confederate battery of four guns. Also, while on a reconnaissance, he overtook and captured a Confederate soldier."

Later life
In 1867, he married Luna Arnold Sprague. He served as a member of both the House and Senate of the Vermont legislature. He was elected to the House to represent Brookfield in 1882 and 1886, and participated as the chairman of the committee on highways, bridges, and ferries. Peck was elected as a Senator from Orange County in 1896, and chairman of the Senate Committee on Military affairs. Selling his three farms, totaling 271 acres, Peck moved himself and his family to Burlington. He was a trustee of the University of Vermont as well as the Vermont Soldiers' Home, and maintained a farm up until his death. His wife died in 1901 in Burlington. Peck's son, Cassius R. Peck, was born on 1 July 1880, and would go on to serve as a Major during the First World War. Peck had ten other children, five of which died before 1912.

Peck was a Freemason, and acted as the Treasurer, and for a time the Master, of the Brookfield freemasonry, also known as Mustic Star Lodge No. 97. He worked in the Grand Army of the Republic, the Order of the Eastern Star, and was appointed by the Governor of Vermont to select and place the state monument that would be displayed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.