The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-09-21
The Centennial Battle of bennington.

ne ttntcnuIbt bNItiP OIL bcnninStOns
Mr.. and Mrs. Tolboy went away
from home the other dav to spend q
week, leaving George and Charlie Tol-
boy at home in care ofth housekeeper.
The boys were having lots of fun play
ing "hare and hounds" with the other
boys of the neighborhood, and did not
want to go with their pa and ma, and
their pa and ma were willing they
should stay.
The boys played "hare and hounds"
several days-and nights, too, until
they became tired of it, and began TO
think UP something else to amusc them
selves with. None of them could think
of ANYTHING until George Tolboy said:
"Tll tell you; let's play battle of
Bennington
Half of the boys said, "All right e.
and the other half said, "What sort of
game is that?'
Now Mr.. Tolboy is a reader. and he
had been telling his boys all about
the battle of Bennington, the one-hun-
dredth anniversary of which was celc-
brated the other day. So George was
surprised to hear the BOYS ask "what
sort of game" the battle of Benning-
ton was, and replied:
"Why, don't you know about the
light oncet between the Britshers and
llessians and Iniuns and Yankees and
General Stark who said he'd put the
American flag on the top of a hill or
Molic Stark wouldn't have no husband,
and lost his horse in the fightY'
90, yes" cried three or four boys.
"Let's play itr' cried three or four
others.
"All right cried they all, and they
bounded up from the knoll in the front
yard where they had been holding
council, and ran round into the back
yard, which all silently agreed should
be the battle ground. Here were two
or three acres of garden-a patch of po-
tatoes and a patch Of tomatoes on the
low ground, on the brow of little hill
beyond, cucumber patch, and beyond
that a corn field we'll sprinklcd with
pumkins.p
George seeming to be the only one
that knew much about the battle of
Bennington, the choice of positions and
disposition of forces fell upon him.
He said there must be fort OH the
brow of the hill, and that the low
ground must be given to the Yankees.
The ammunition for the fort should be
pumpkins, cucumbers and corn; that
of the YANKEES should be tomatoes.
AS there were twelve boys in The party,
seven were called British, and five
Yankees. Jimmie Green was General
Baum, and Johnnie Brown wa General
Pfster, of the British forces. Georgia
Tolboy was General Stark, and Char
lie Tolboy was General Warner, of the
Yankee forces. Two ofGencral Baum 5
soldiers wore feathers in their hats, to
show they were Indians; two ofGeneral
Stark men wore corn-husks in their
hats. A fort was made on the hill by
sticking bean poles in the ground and
putting corn stalks between them.
Then the fort was ammunitioned with
corn, pumpkins and cucumbers. The
Yankees filled their pockets and arms
with tomatoes, ripe and green, and
commenced operations. A force OF
one boy marched around on the right
flank of the British, and another force
of one boy marched around on their
left flank; and General Stark, with q
force of two, advanced directly to-
wards the cannon's mouth. A series
of pumpkins rolled from the fort to-
wards the Generals legs; vollcys OF
tomatoes poured over the corn-stalk
defenccs from the field below. Sud-
denly there was cry in the fort, as a
shower of tomatoes fell upon the occu-
pants from the Yankees in the rear.
who had joined forces.
For half an hour the air was filled
with tomatoes, cucumbers, corn cars,
pieces of pumpkins, yells of triumph
and cries Of pain. Every linen jacket
in the fort had at least three prints of a
mashed tomato, and every Yankee s
face was spcckled with pumpkin seeds
Gradually the British became disabled
and the corn-stalks battered down
Baum and Pfister fell, and the rest OF
the force-five boys-eithcr gave them
selves up or ran away and hid in the
corn field.
Mr.. and Mrs. Tolbov talked about
the corn they would dry, the cucum-
bers they would pickle, and the toma-
toes they would can, as they TO lie home
ward that afternoon of the battle OF
Bennington, and as soon as they arriv-
ell home they walked out into the gar
den to look ut the vegetables.
They found Baum and Piistcr diving
in the barn, five or six other soldiers
bnsily engaged in getting tomato seeds
ont of their eyes, and General Stark
waving the American flag over the
corn-stalk fort. When Mr. Tolboy saw
how his vegetables were mixed, he
was very angry, and made Baum and
Pfister come TO life and "leavc the
premises, "sand engaged to meet Stark
and Warnerin the wood-housc that al,
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