Frederic Williams Hopkins

[2][3] Active in the militia during a period between wars when interest was on the wane, he served as Vermont's Adjutant and Inspector General from 1837 to 1852.

[4] In the 1830s and 1840s Hopkins was part of a group of individuals interested in reorganizing and revitalizing the state militias, which had become increasingly dormant in the years following the War of 1812.

Ransom, held seminars to discuss tactics, strategy and recruiting, and carry out maneuvers and drills in an effort to improve unit readiness.

Ransom, the President of Norwich University and a militia officer who was killed in the Mexican–American War while leading his regiment at Chapultepec in 1848.

[10][11] Hopkins was praised when he left his sick bed during an extended illness to supervise the removal of records from the Rutland County Court House during a fire on April 3, 1868.