The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-08-17


rebels have no men of military science"
King George rushed into the queens apart
ments, shouting, ~ have beaten them, l
have beaten all the Americans" and he
talked of red ribbon for his general.
But they were all mistaken. The rebels
had men of science. Sir John Trumbull
had proved on the spot year before that
this very thing could happen. Schuyler
and St. Clair were no traitors. They only
Numbered. 1t was grave error in Schuy.
Ter to accumulate such precious stores and
priceless arms for capture and destruction
in ill-provisioned and half-defended fort
resses 1t was 4 most lame and impotent
conclusion for ST. Clair to boast that elf
the enemy come hitler, be will go back
faster than he came" and within one week
he stole away by night. The news OF the
loss of Ticonderoga fell on this whole re-
gion like the bursting of n water-spout.
For miles along the lake and up the Otter
creek the settlers claimed British protec-
ton or fed from their homes. The inhabit-
ants OF Albany ran about their streets in
terror. Williamsport and Stockbridge
were crowded with fugitives. The New
Hampshire towns along the Connecticut
from Walpole TO Haverhill were sending off
messages of alarm. Beza Woodward wrote
from Hanover at midnight, "For Gods
sake come without delay" But George
had not beaten all the Americans, and Bur-
goyne did not earn the red ribbons. There
were on these New Hampshire Grants, in
the words of congress, "people called Green
Mountain boys" and they were not ready
to resign their homesteads after the strug
giles OF dozen years, and that song, though
unwritten then, was sung through their
hearts
Here we halt our march and pitch our tent,
on the ragged forest ground,
And light our fires with the branches rent
BY Winds from the borders round.
Wild storms have torn the ancient wood,
But wilder Is at hand,
With hail Of iron and rain Of blood
To sweep and desolate the land.
Down in Berkshire there was company
that had been disappointed of "a fight"
Over in New Hampshire there was gallant
body OF men, who had held their own at
Bunker Hill till the very last, had led the
van at Trenton, fought at Princeton, was
bound for Saltwater and Saratoga and
Monmouth and yorktown. There was a
man whose name was Seth Warner, clear
headed, resolute, unflinching, every inch a
soldier, and acquainted with every foot of
ground. There was also q man whose
name was John Stark, born and bred
warrior, a genuine military instinct and
genius, who could find his place and hold
it, too, ready, when he knew he was right,
to take all risks, whether it was the anger
of Schuyler, the censure of Congress, or
the widowhood of "Molly Stark" There
was noted tavern in town, land when
there were gathered there Ira Allen,
Thomas Chittenden, Jonas Fay and their
staunch comrades, thsre was one catamount
on the sign-post and 10 catamounts within. !"
There was another committee of safety at
Exeter, and while it contained such men as
Mesheck Weare, Nicholas Gilman, Josiah
Bartlett, the republic was not lost. I'VE
can repulse them," wrote Ira Miller, sit we
have assistance
In three days New Hampshire voted the
assistance of 25 companies of Stark's bri-
gade. II was then, when there was no
money in the treasury and no light ahead,
that uprose John Langdon in his place
rendering his money, his merchandise and
his plate" IF we gain our Independence
shall be repaid; if not what matters my
property" The Legislature adjourned
on Saturday night. All that night and the
next day an American was riding from
Exeter to Concord. Sunday afternoon he
dsmounted at church door and walked
up the aisle. The minister stopped and
said "Capt. Hutchins, are you the bearer
of messageY" ayes, Burgoyne is on his
march TO Albany. Stark will command
the New Hampshire men, and if we all turn
out, we can cut him off" my hearers"
said the old Timothy Walker, ''you who
are ready to go better leave at once" All
the men left the house but Phineas Virgir,
who had no shoes. "You shall have pair, )"
said Samuel Thompson the shoemaker,
"before tomorrow morning"
While Warner was sending his messen-
tp Ill tho militia and
alarm the Inhabitants of Vermont, and Her
rick was raising his rangers, all New
Hampshire was in a whirl-officers hasten
ing to Charlestown to halt returning troops,
soldiers just home retraciug their steps,
new enlistment, the minute-men ever on
the alert lest summoned to be ready. hold
in my hands venerable paper dated East
Kingston, Aug. 4, 1777," and reading thus;
"We the subscribers, do severally enlist
ourselves or engage to stand in readiness at
a moments warning, equipped according to
law, with six days provisions, ready to
march wherever called for in the New Eng
land states, to which we promised obedience
to our officers. We engage to stand ready
till the Gath of September next. Enocb
Chase" and 10 others. Stark's name was
a tower of strength in New Hampshire,
and his officers and men were in great
measure select citizens, owners of the soil,
good men and true. Brigade Chaplain
Hubbard was q graduate of the second class
of Dartmouth college, a future governor
and chief justice of the state. jeremiah
Smith had his gun-stock broken and face
grazed by musket ball at Bennington.
The members of several companies were
neighbors, friends and relatives from the
little town of Salisbury, N. Ii. With only
100 ratable polls, 90 were in the conflict.
Their captain was the father OF Daniel
Webster. Among them were schoolmaster,
Edward Evans, Dea Benjamin Huntoon,
Representative Mathew Pettengill, Select
men Ardent Pettengill ana others of the
same quality. Thir one family of Petten-
gill sent to the battle three brothers and
sisters husband. My great-grandfather, one
of them, died of his wounds. So in Yer
mont five sons Of Jonas Fay were there,
one of them slain. Massachusetts cent
lawyers, physicians, a judge and fightipg
parson. 1t was the best blood of these
states.
While this commotion was formenting in
the states. Burgoyne was happy aud easy.
He ordered feu-de-joie in honor of his
victory on the very day on which Schuyler
was declining to furnish a soldier or
musket to defepd Vermont. Instead of
pushing on by Lake George and the old
road he halted at Whitehall, while his
troops cut their way through the dense
forest, made 40 bridges in the is miles and
two miles of log. work over one morass. 1t
may have been, as he claimed, his best
course, but his need of supplies became
early apparent. and, about the lat Of Aug,
the troops were all.designated for Baum's
expedition. They did not march until the
18th. Those ten or twelve days of delay