Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-09-18

From tie OrdtiOR Of Rec. Charles Seymour
Robinson Of Troy, ". y, at the Slst Annirersa-
'y ofHe Battle Of bennington, delircred Au-
aust 10TH 1851
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS
Eighty-one years ago, to-day, was fought the
Battle of Bennington, and on this recurring an
niversary, we are all here met for its honorable
commemoration. To stranger it may per-
haps, seem a matter of invidious notice for us
to single out one from the many acts of the Rev
olutionary drama, and exalt into such para
mount Importance as this. But we to whom
this day has been handed down. like parents
legacy we, into whose childish ears a genera
ton now almost gone has whispered so many
thrilling "reminiscences of the past; we, who
from our earliest years have been wont to be re-
minded of this day and its glory, until even the
words "Sixteenth of August" have kind of
martial ring to us, and bear in their cadence
somewhat of the drum, fife and cannon we
surely can find no harm in perpetuating with
peculiar honor day so loved by our fathers and
so hallowed to ourselves by dear old memories
of friends, childhood andhome. Our sires were
in this battle, and its fame belongs to the sons
of Bennington, forever. The weary band who
fought it were glad, of course, when the Declar-
alton was read in the ears of the world for they
were patriots and loved their whole country
But pardon their self-gratulation when YOU are
told they were gladder still the night when they
brought the Hessian prisoners into town. and
| shut them up for safe keeping in the old church
on the hill.
Nor is there reason for complaint, no matter
what be the single event which in particular is
chosen. American independence was not the
result of one, but of many battles battles not
all of which were fought with bayonet and can
non. 1t makes but little difference where YOU
take up the record-it is all linked together
One incident suggests the rest. There is one
childish fable, the story Of young girl who
stopped to pick up jewel lying in the sand.
She thought it was there, alone-but she found
another was strung to it by slender thread OF
gold, and yet another. She kept drawing them
in, winding the beautiful chain about her arms
and over her neck, until she shone like a radi-
ant Princess. Nor unlike these precious stones
III the sand lie the events the revolution time
They are all one and in one. The patriot stu
dent may seize each or any at his will, and il
Will draw the Others aftCri it. The Battle of Ben
nlngton leads us at once to the whole contest
/ for freedom; the 10th of August is blood cous-
in to the 4th of July. And then comes Trenton
and Princeton, and then Bunker Hill and Lex
ington, and so all that our country honors, and
all that this grateful people has everywhere
! cherlshed ana loved. You may thus fling any
circlet of beauty you find lying in the historic
record around the forehead ofits chief hero, and
there will be still enough left gtterng behind
to grace the brows of even the unrecorded sub
alterns, and show how rich is the wealth of a
history like ours.
Nor, among the many in that protracted Sc
fies of incidents which resulted in the ultimate
establishment of our countrys independence
was the one we celebrate so insignificant after
all. The opinion of Gen. Stark is worth much
here. He was no raw recruit, just beginning
his experience of war. Yet he said in his Off
cial dispatches action represented one
continued clap of thunder; it was the hottest
ever saw in my life" Now, bear in mind that
In the former war this veteran had led COM
pany OF rangers on the plains of Abraham he
had learned his early lessons of conflict around
Fort William Henry and Bloody Pond on his
way to Bunker Hill, even in the midst of the
cannon shot that sweeps Charlestown Neck, he
had hidden his battalions wait their fire until
they could see the enemy's CATERS at Trenton
he had rallied his troops to the charge amid q
tempest of hailed iron and lead vet after all
this he could say, alt was the hottest action
ever saw in my life "a great event chronicled
by its own hero.
And yet more: what gave this event its chiei
Importance, was the exigency of the time il
which it occurred. There were other battles il
which more men were engaged, and which were