The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-10-09
"a NEW BENNINGTON BATTLE

J
touched, but the Battle of Bennington,
according to Locke, is a myth"
This startling announcement put me
upon investigation; and 1 found in the
Troy Daily Times of Sept. 10, an article
contributed by s. D. Locke, whose head,
ing is reproduced above, the burden of
which seems to be that New York fur.
nished the battle ffeld and the refrain
that Vermont did not furnish the store
house. Nay, it is alleged that false his
tory has been written about the Baume
expedition. Again, it quite plainly in
sinuates that the name of the battle
should have been Walloomsac. Why soF
l have the impression that, at the time
of the battle, that name did not exist.
SO long ago as 1882 the territory on
which, subsequently, the battle was
fought, was called "Wallumschack," :"
doubtless a phonetic spelling of the In
dian pronunciation-nine years later it
was written "Wallumschaak" In 1749 it
was called "Melloomscott." In 1777,
Lieut.. Durnford, Baume's engineer, wrote
it "Walmscock. Later on, in 1912,
Thompson's Vermont has it "Wallum-
schaik, "and "Walloomscoik, "and for the
last forty years, more or less, it has been
-barbarized into "Walloomsac."
Had the bestowal of the name depend
ed upon caprice, mellihuous Bennington
would have been selected rather than
jaw-cracking Wdll,mSchdck.
But what's in name? The Battle of
Bunker Hill was not fought upon that
hill but on Breeds Hill. A rose by an
other name would smell as sweet. The
gist of Mr. LOcke's charge is falsiica-
ton of history, wherein q simulated
store house upon Ethan Aliens "Holy
Hilr' is made the objective point of
Baumes expedition. And to sustain the
charge he refers to Gen. Burgoyne's in
structions for Lieut.-Col Baume.
Among the officers in Gen. Burgoyne's S
army were two subalterns, Lieut.. James
NJ. Hadden, Royal Artillery, and Lieut..
William Digby, 53rd Reg't. of Foot.
Each of them kept a journal; and the
former kept corrected copies of the
General Orders issued by the general
in command.
The Instructions referred to by Mr..
Locke appear in Hadden's Journal and
in plain English, authorized maraud-
ing expedition to Arlington, Manchester,
Otter Creek, Rockingham, Brattle-
borough, and thence "by the quickest
march to return by the great road to AL
bany," in order ''to try the affection of
the Country; to disconcert the councils
of the Enemy, to mount ,Reidesels Dra-
goops, TO compleat Peters Corps and
obtain large supplies of Cattle, Horses
and Carriages" together with so
many SdddleS and brides as can be
found.'
1t is ttue that no store house, or other
depot is mentioned in these instructions; !;
but that the definite object of the expe-
blblOil woo tbil " BOll oNbACb 10 HulbC ObNl-
GUS. Hadden, under date Of Saturday,
Aug. 9th," says: "And a Detachment
from the Army, consisting of Reidesels S
Dragons, $50 Provincials, 100 Savages
and a part of Capt. Frazer's Rangers, in
all 500, with 2-3 Founders, were Detached
toward Bennington under the Command
of Lt.-Col. Baume of Reidesirs Dra-
goons."
Digby, under date of august 11th,"
says: "a large detachment of German
troops consisting of Gen. Reidezels dra-
goons who came dismounted from Ger
many, body of Rangers, Indians and
volunteers, with pieces of cannon, went
from our Camp on a secret expedition;
their route was not publicly known, but
supposed for to take large store of pro-
visions belonging to the enemy at Ben
and also horses to mount the
Dragons.
To these citations may be added ref
erence to Lieut.. Clicks Narrative men
toned in Jennings Memorials of Cen
tury page 1G7, from which itwould seem
that Baume's place of destination was
Bennington store house. Click was a
lieutenant under Baume and headed a
small party who cut their way through
their adversaries and escaped. He after
wards wrote an account of the expedi-
ton.
The writing of the three subalterns,
two before the battle and one afterwards,
in connection with the instructions to
Baume, shows beyond all cavil,
that the stores at Bennington were the
prime object of Baume's expe-
dition. 1t was wholly for for
aging and kindred purposes; and meet
ing the enemy, in ahostile manner-save
to overcome an insufficient force be-
tween his own and the coveted stores
was not any part of his purpose.
The Times of September 2Gth, contains
two articles, one by b. II. Hall, the other
by A. II. Graves, in the nltuIe of replies
to Mr. Locke's contribution. And l de-
sire to say, in passing, that all three arti-
cles are very well worth the considerate
of all who take an interest in
the subject of Baume's expedition.
In reply to Mr.. Locke's charge of
"false history in regard to the Benning-
ton store house and Gen. Burgoyne's de-
signs upon it, l will quote from Mr.. Hall:
There can be no doubt that Baume, on