St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-07-27

green west and in front of the present
Congregational church, the Catamount
tavern was to the north, as has been
indicated, and still further north, on
the west side of the street, and about
opposite the present residence of Law
yer Huling, was the continental store
house; a part of the present WallOOmsac
house was then standing and kept by
Capt. Elijah Dewey as public house.
The exact site of the store-house has
been somewhat disputed, but Mr.. Daniel
Robinson, to whom the fact has come
down from relatives who distinguished
themselves in the fight, tells me that it
was located a little back from the pres
ent street on land now owned by him,
l believe. 1t was 40 by $50 feet, and
three barns were afterward made of it.
The town was largely primeval forest,
Mt. Anthony, whose summit is $500 feet
above the level of the sea, five or six
miles southwest of the village, being
wooded down to near the meeting
house, but the land to the north and
west was largely cleared and as re-
markably productive as it is to-day. 1t
is not generally known that the battle
field, half a dozen miles northwest of
the Westinghouse, is in the town of
HoOsac, N. Y.,-thus making the Hub
bardton fight the only battle of the
Revolution fought in Vermont.
Meantime, Col. Baum had set off with
his force of probably 800-400 Bruins
wick dismounted dragons, a detach-
ment of artillerists with two field d-pieces,
British, Canadian and tory marksmen
and 100 Misunderstanding Cambridge,
l6 miles from Stark, on the 18th. The
next morning he pushed on to what is
now North HoOsac, where some Ameri-
cans abandoned a mill, and thence to
where the battle was afterward fought,
a thickly wooded hill on the west bank
of the WalloOmsac, where he encamped.
Gen. Stark and the council of safety had
been busy the while. On the morning
of the 14th he had rallied his brigade,
sent to Manchester for Col. Warmers
men and to Berkshire for recruits, and
with Coils. Warner, Williams, Herrick
and Brush marched out toward the enc
my. That night the council decided
with Stark and his officers in the old
, Catamount hotel a plan of attack which
, would have been carried out the next
morning but for a pouring rain. Sc
was Berkshire saved her share in the
| NiSooiJs 1AOi bCNOihC bhOl
oughly aroused to the crisis, and Col.
Benjamin Simonds of Williamstown,
Parson Thomas Allen of Pittsfield and
Lieut. Col. David ROssiter of Richmond
, led her militia, who had kept theil
! powder dry through their long wet
, march, into Bennington on the night OF
the 18th. Gen. Stalk had fallen back
: little and encamped two miles from
, | Ra1ra in tho MT nf
town, on the hill farm now occupied by
| Lewis NorthOuse, a heavily wooded hill
hiding the hostile camps. Baum had
intrenched himself on the hill selected
for his main defense, which rises some
5 400 feet to the southeast but slopes
, away to the rear, and whose base i.
/ washed by the Walloomsac river, run.
ming very nearly south here. At the
r southern base of the hill the road from
. Cambridge, n. Y, crosses the river
| and the bridge was defended by breast
1 works and minor Notifications, while
: southeast and on rising ground, less
e than a quarter of mile away, weIt
considerable tory breastwOrks.
S Saturday, the 10th, was a rarely per
g feet day, with nature fresh washed ant
e dewily fragrant. Gen. Stark got hi
e perhaps 1000 men-the New Hampshire
| militia, Green mountain boys and Berk
g shire farmers all fresh from the hay
q field-early in motion, but the attach
= was not begun until P. NJ. This wa
= the plan of battle: Col. Moses Nichols
D physician commanding the 9th New
;, Hampshire regiment. and Col. Herricl
/ of Vermont with 300 men each, wer,
e sent out to Out-hank the British in
. tranahmantS and attach thnn in th.
I rear, while to divert attention Coils
0 David Hobart of the 18th New Hamp
:, shire regiment and Thomas Stickney O
n the l1th were to get before the advanc,
: tory breastwOrks, and 100 men were t,
n make a feint toward Baum's front. TIL,
:, Berkshire men formed the main bod,
= of Stark's 300 reserve men who were t.
# sharply join in the general attack oil
h hearing firing in the rear of the British
!, Rev. Mr.. Allen of Pittsfield, the origi
: nal ''fghting parson," of whom l shal
n have much to say in another letter, hat
e begun the day by prayer of inspira
: ton, asking the God of battles to .steacl
a their hands to war and their fingers t.
# fight )" and Gen. Stark probably ad
dressed to the Berkshire boys his famOu
: "There are the red-coats, and they az
e ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps
If widow" standing on some fence bar
n and not from his horse, insists MI
e George w. Robinson. That Stark
= wife was named Elizabeth has throw
II doubts upon this tradition, but it i
IS well authenticated that "Molly" wa
il the pet name which he always use,
e when addressing Elizabeth, and the fac
r, of the lacOnic speech is established her
e beyond Il doubt. Stark's plans proceed
g ed to picturesque success. The mill
It tia men went stealing behind Baum i
/, their shirt-sleeves, mistaken by him
e tits said, for the loyalists of the region
e seeking the protection of his lines
d Stark was nearing the tory hill on tn
:. front ready to open fire, when slender
1t youthful Parson Allen stepped to tn
a front to exhort his tory neighbors in til
t. name of the Lord to desist from givin
l. battle to the American forces. Tha
1t they replied with bullets so justly in
l. censed the man of God that he borrow
e ed the gun of his brother, Lieut.. Josep
e Allen, and fired the first return shot {
)f the battle. The attack of the America
% forces in the rear of Baum's camp quick
e ly followed, and Gen. Stark officiall
l. says: 81 pushed forward the remainde
d with all speed our people behave
r with the greatest spirit and courag
n. imaginable. Had they been Alexander
s or Charleses of Sweden they could nc
y have behaved better" The Yanke
le farmers, stripped for the fight, and Ell
J. countering their tory neighbOrs, 500
;" made the intrenchments too hot for tn
r, loyalists, and the poor wretches, at
III tempting to scale the steep and slipper