The Bennington daily banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1877-1877, 1877-08-17


torn. The crowd eered the ladies into
state Of mental embarra- sment, and secrstar
EyArs so,zed tue opportunity to inlroduc
Mrs. Hayss, who gracefully bowed and smile
her Acknowledgements OF the cheers tina
greeted her. MeCrary whom the Presiden
introduced as the able representative Of "th
Vermont Of the Norlb, spoke briefly in tn
same vein as his Rssoci4 =, and an adjourn
meut was taken 10 the Pavilion. where tie
literary exercises OF the day were celebrated.
Arriving at the pavilion, the splendid ora
tiou Of DR.. Bartlett was pronounced Below
Is the production entire
From the top of Mount Anthony the eye
| looks out ON a panorama nf singular extent
/ and beauty. Westward the AdirODdacks. DIN
with;thedistance Ota hundred miles or more
the Helderbergs aud the CatsiQlle to the
sontbl Greylock, sRddle and bald, the lOni
/ Green Mountain wall on the east, aud the
| Killington Peak sixty miles away to the
north, outline vast amphithcatre of hill
and vale. of fertile tieldsand graceful forests
dotted with thrifty villages and happy
homes. The steam putfs up IN sight from
half n dozen railway lines and there are
rlimpses of the HoOsIok and Walloomsack
bordcTed with manufactures. Nestled in-
yis;biv AWAY are schools and banks and
printing presses, here vane and there col
lego. AS the day declines, silver streamlets
course glintmg forth with reflected sunbeams
from the broad expanse rich OF farming
lands n near fountain spreads its lofty spray
upon the air, and at length theresettles down
over the whole landscape, that mellow, low
and dreamy hue which makes 1t seem OF
some other world. But this fsno dream-land
viainn These things all lie On the soil of
their sovereign States, and they are the sub
stautial tokens of industry, culture, peace
ana prosperity. the ripest fruits of Republi-
can liberty.
ON q bright morning, over one hundred
wears ago to-day. German otnceH on an
sminence over five miles from here, looked
forth adlnirlngly on a part of this same land
scone then ripe ho SAID, with pastoral
heautyn-'a q wide sweep Of stately forests
interruptcd at remote intervals Dy green
mrudoWg and fertile cOrDhelds, with here
five edi6ce.n and Bennington was Z" a clus-
fer of Door cottages in wild country"
Around him was a well appointed military
band glittering with arms, some OF the men
in brass helmets, some III RED COATS some III
citizens garb, and dusky forms IN War-palnt
1ung upon the outskirts Two miles this
side of him. hidden from his sight lay anO-
ther band, ill-armed and miscellaneously
clad largely in cloth of tow or linen, dyed
with buttonwOod or maple and too deeply
absorbed in their daybreak preparations to
spend one thought upon, the glory OF the
larth or sky Between these two bodies OF
trnons and in good measure on that days
struggle. hung pending the question wheth-
III tie pastoral beauty Of that time should
nufold into The civic freedom and blessing OF
this.
fore is, The Place of the Battle OF Bennlng-
ton in the History of our Country.
The early days of August, l177, were n cul-
minatinR time of gloom and alarm. For
more than a twelYe-month the tide OF our
prospects h ad steadily ebbed until the shoals
and reefs were plainly IN slgnt. IN the open
arms had carried all before It. The British
army and its favOrite generals, Gage, Howe,
Clinton, aud BurgOyne, we're prlsQned up III
Boston with bitter memories OF Lexington
and Concord, then driven forth to lind
shelter in Halifax. Lord punmore was
expeIled from Norfolk, and took refuge ON
his fleet, TlcoAdeTOga, Crown Point, 81;
Johns. and Montreal had been taken in rapid
succession and Quebec alone had escaped.
From Canada to Virginia we had made
clear sweep. ,.1-,
deDce was declared, the last of our troops
were driven ont of Canada, in the strong
buu tIue language of the day, dlsgraced,
defeated, dispOntented, dlsplrlted, diseased
undisciplined' The day before that decla-
raf1On WAS TeNu 10 lut HllAy
Howe landed on Staten Island the, first de-
of twenty-siX thousanu troops,
Then followed the disastrous battle OF Long
Stand, the evacuation OF New oIk' it 't,l.t tilt
itsht OF White Plains, the surrender OF tOrt
~ and Vasbiugton tho chase of our army
hrough the Jerseys and the eapsdIro and oi
non the idol OF the army, just as ne was
lriting to Gates protane attack upon ms
hief. And, before our great &eheIS1 zen aSaipsI ps
" his leading officers, distrusted even py
ohn Adams for his Fabian Policy" cha1ed /
" the internal jealousies of his army and
,aflled of every plan by the incessant cnHpg ges
4 his troops then came, like some JOBS /
tidings from the North, that our |
ieet of fifteen sail, on Lake ChamplAin was
Grown Point burned and |
abandoned, and our Northern Army coOped
m in its last stronghold at Ticonderoga.
indeed kept merry Christmas
with the Hessians at Trenton. aud paid his |
New Years compliments to the British at |
Princeton, These tYOtlashes alone tllckered |
over the sOmbre scene.
The flush and ardor Of transient conflicts
had now given way to the tug ana
strain of pfotracted war. And what |
war! Often destitute of tents, blankets, |
good clothing and wholesome
food; short of arms and ammunition, without
money or credit l might almost say, lon
without an army: For by short enlistmen
our hopes continually melted away, some |
times in the pursuit of the foe. And short |
enlistments were growing difficult: for in |
these sparse, new, and poor settlements how
could the men be spared from their homes |
rhe camp, too, was as fatal as the battle |
field. 1t was invaded by camp fever and |
aud steaaily beleagured by the |
small pOX. At one time in '76 Schuyler in |
three months lost half of his ten thousand
men by death and desertiOn, and two-fifths |
of the remainder were on the sick list |
Each Northern State carried special bur |
nUNk wrou Va1 a,,N
and gallant strife for State rights and in |
dlvidual ownership of the soil. New York
was Oyerrun with loyalists, of whom num-
bers had been sent to the New England
States for safe keeping-twO hundred at
one time in the jails and houses of New
Hampshire. The State OF New Hampshire, |
so intensely patriotic that only one hundred |
and seventy-three out of her whole popula- |
tiOn had, whether from conscientious or |
political scruples, refused TO sign the pledge |
to resist the foe with arms, at the risque of |
our lives and fortunes" was yet distracted |
with the magnitude and multitude of her e- |
forts. ! may not weary you with the long |
recital. Enough that when State militia |
extended from the age of sixteen |
up to fifty and had alarm list" to sixty |
five; and when at length orders were given |
to draft One-half even OF that alarm list we /
may be sure that the strain has reached her |
vital forces.
The outlook, also in these earlier months
Of the year, was fOrbiddiug, A fearful fleet /
lay southwark at the centre Of the nation. |
ready TO strike at any part of our vast coast |
line. The way was well-nigh clear for early |
nyasIOns from the North. Canadian sympa-
thies were lost. The Indian tribes, that six
months before had refused to mingle in this
quarrel" as they phrased it, between two
lrUthers and one blood" were hastoning TO
ihe enemy. Franklin was waiting in vain
It the French Court for a recognition of our
country
And now the plot was deepening, Bur
yOyne in London laid before the King.
ieorge. in February, plan to close the war.
Howe had sent across the ocean u still larger
icheme Lord Howe proposed to open the
,ampaign of the Southern army, with $500
nen in three army corps; one to cover New
Jersey one to act on the side of Rhode lsl-
md with a view to isOlating Bosto n an
70 break down all resistance TO his IN ajes
US troops, Both agreed in this, that one
lImy should go up the Hudson, another de-
Icend from the north aud west at Albany.
rhey would thus cut the rebel serpent In
vain, and repeatedly erusfits New England
,ead and its Southern body.