His father was Peter Vredenburgh, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

[1] When President Lincoln called for volunteers to help preserve the Union Vredenburgh joined the 14th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Camp Vredenburgh, Freehold, New Jersey, and was commissioned major.

The 14th New Jersey Infantry was attached to the Army of the Potomac and served in the Eastern Campaigns.

Vredenburgh served in various staff appointments until after the Battle of Monocacy when he requested and was granted permission to return to his regiment.

His letters[2] to family and friends remain a significant source of documentation of the lives and struggles of Civil War soldiers and their opinions of the Army and the conduct of the war.