Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-08-07
THE EVACUATION OF TICoNDE-
ROGA IN l777.

toricol Society at Brattleboro, I'm day
ofJaiy, 1862.
OF all the disasters that befel the Amer
lean arms during the Revolutionary war,
perhaps none produced more immediate
CONSERVATION throughout America or more
triumphant eXultation in England than
the evacuation of the Forts of Ticondero-
ga and Mount Independence by the
American army under st, Clair, and
their occupation by the British army I'M
der Burgoyne, the 9th July, l777.
Washington wrote "The affair is so
mysterious that it battles even conjecture"
John Adams wrote ave shall ne Ter be
able to defend post till we shoot Gen
eral." In England the war was believed
to be virtually over.
With the history of Tcondaroga the
fame OF the Green Mountain Boys is min
gled forever. But our State pride in its
quick capture by Ethan Allen and his SO
Vermonters, in the gray dawn of a May
morning, 1875, before its sleepy British
commander had even learned the birth of a
new nation on this continent, was follow
ed by deep national humiliation at its as
tonishing loss, two years later, The loss
of Ii, the retreat through Rutland and
Bennington counties OF most of the Amer
lean army, the battle at Hubbardton, and
the virtual military occupation of Rut-
land county by the British, until redeem
ed 40 days later by the Battle of Ben
nington-all give to us an interest in
that summers history scarcely equalled
by any since our State was settled-yet,
on the pages of history the events are
mentioned so briefly, SO vaguely and with
so many contradictory accounts, that their
very name has flushed our brows with
conflicting pride and modification.
In the early part of this century it was
proposed TO raise a monument to COM
memorate the stubborn valor of Francis,
Warner, and others, at Hubbardton-but
the proposition eliciting some ridicule as
to the propriety OF memortzing a defeat,
the project was abandoned until the citi-
zens in the immediate vicinity, in 1859,
erected neat bile obelisk on site, it
is believed, actually little north of the
battle ground.
As an instance illustrating our States
unfamiliarity with its own history, we no
tice that the two laws chartering '.The
Hubbardton Battle Monument Associa.
tion"-laws passed through two Houses
and two Senates, and signed by one Gov
ernor of the State-describe the battle as
having occurred the I'd, instead ofthe 9Th
of July-a very trivial mistake Of only five
days, which will not materially disturb
the repose, or mar the renown OF the
dead-but as we exchange copies of oul
Legislative doings with American and Eu
ropean States, it is mildly suggestive Of
remarks and smiles not excessively com
plimentary to the land of school houses.
John Burgoyne, the natural son Of
Lord Bingley, in 1852 commander of the
British forces in Portugal, in ITS, g
British General in Boston, in l777 g
conqueror at III and prisoner at Sarato
gain Parliament, obtaining only par.
tial trial, and uttering a fervid speech in
favor OF Lord Hollands bill legalizing the
intermarriage of mobiles and commoners-
snubbed by the ministry for his unsucces.
published an elaborate defence of his
American campaign-was the author OF
three comedies, s'The Maid of the Oaks
bon Ton" and ''The Heiress." He was
possessed of fair capacity-brave, cour.
teous, morbidly proud and sensitive as tc
his birth-of a restless ambition and ex
cessive vanity.
Arthur St. Clair, born at Endinburgh
Scotland, in 1884, came to this country
when 2[ years of age-in 1775 having {
family and an ample fortune, he enter
the army-becomes Colonel, Brigadier and
Major General-he wins only laurels il
Canada-at Princeton and Brandywine
is by the side of Washington, whose con.
fidence he never ioses--in 1777, subject
ed to the grossest suspicious upon hi
courage, capacity and honor,-in 1887 Pres
ident Of Congress-in 1888 Governor Of
the Territory Norwest of the Ohio River
in 1871 terribly and ingloriously de
feated by the Indians-he died in. 1915
at Philadelphia aged 81 his last year.
years of poverty and restitution he al
unsuccessful petitioner to COMPRESSION the
repayment of the money which he had
so opportunity and generously expended
for his adopted country. We admire ant
sympathize with the brave, capable
scholarly and upright Scotchman, whc
perhaps lacked high military tact. II,
not only shared the fortune of al
good men in being buffetted by detractior
in his life-but, as in the East, the buried
dead are mutilated by the hyena, so sine,
his death his fame has been mangel b,
that weak, fippant, falsifer of history, j
I, Headley. sa au To
Seth Warner-born in Woodbury., CT.
in l743 at the aua of 90 came with hi.