The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-07-17
nIsronIoAL soClErH MArrEns.
The Inscriptions to Be Plasod on the Cat,
Amount PEDESTAL : The cAtamOunt Tav.
orn. etc.

n The Inscriptions 10 be Piased on the O.
!. amount Pedestal : The oAtam0unt Ia
orn, etc.
n The meeting of the Bennington Hi
torical Society, Monday, resulted in ii
adoption Of the inscription submitted b
the committee, Henry A. Hartman an
Prof. Perry, printed by us recent,
8 amended 10 read rs follows: TN endul
ing honor of that love Of liberty and {
a their homes displayed by the pioneers Q
3, this commonwealth. Forty-five feet cas-
OF this spot stood the Catamount Tavern
y erected about A. ID. 1850, destroyed b
FIRE March 30, 1878. Within its wall
: convened the Council Of Safety A. d
7 17I2I76."
al A committee consisting of DR.. II. e
} Day, ]. I. Shurtleff and Alfred Robin
son was appointed TO place tempOrar,
, tablet on the stone standing in front o
the residence Of John S. Merrill, Ben
nington Centre, it being the opinion o
those present that the permanent inscrip
ton could not be cut on the CatamOun
monument in time for Aug. 10th. Hon
Thos. White was appointed to ascertain
the probability Of securing the engraving
Of the stone PRIOR to said date, and thu
society adjourned until Wednesday
morning at o o'clock.
A large attendance of members Wed
nesday increased the enthusiasm. II
was determined to procure the polishing
of all four sides of the pedestal and u
engrave the inscription reported, upon
the west end, and to have the whole com.
pleted II possible by August 10th. II
impossible, then to do SO as soon as II
can be done. Hon. II. G. Root, DIR. ii.
c. Day and J. I. Shurtleff were appoint
ed such committee, and the society adj
jOurned to meet July 9th, at 0 o'clock,
a. m. This committee have already be-
gun operations and it is now fairly prob
able that the stone, which weighs 8 tons,
will be shipped away to be polished, and
returned in time for the engraving to go
on before the great celebration; The In
scription elready agreed upon. lis looked
at in the same light as the title page Of a
book, Introductory to long chapter OF
history to DO cut upon the, monument.
The monument, which was erected in
1876, is six feet two inches high, four
feet four inches wide and two feet nine
inches thick. The old building which IL
was designed to commemorate was
erected by Captain Stephen Fay. 1t was
a wooden structure, about 44xS4 feet,
two stories high and having two lofty
chimneys with high fire-places in each
story. On top of the high sign-post was
placed the stuffed skin Of a catamOunt,
from which came the name of the house,
though in early days it was, in accord
ance with the custom OF the time, more
frequently spoken of as Landlord
Fay's." 1t was known at first, however,
as the Green Mountain House, and one
of the incidents of early history connect
ed Herewith appears on our outside
pages to-day.
The story of the monument to mark
the site of the famous "Catamount Tav-
ern' was interestingly told the BANNER
this week by Mr.. Chas. NJ. Bliss, who
was one of the prominent early movers
In the matter.
1.-THE object Of the Historical Society,""
said he, 'is to mark the historical sites
of the town. The Society was formed in
tho years 1875 and 1915. Their first mis-
sion was to mark the 'Catamount Tav-
erD,' as one of the most noteworthy
spots in the town. Mr.. II. Bartlett, the
sculptor, a native Of Dorset, VT, then in
Boston and now OF Paris, made a prOpo-
sition, of his own accord, to furnish a
statue of catamount If the Society
would provide a pedestal. As the So
ciety indicated willingness to accept,
this proposition was closed. That he
afterward failed to carry out his part,
was, let me say. no fault of his. The
was made in perfect good
faith, but when our part was completed,
reverses had Overtalxen him and he was
unable to furnish the figure. But the
went to work at once and soon
had large subscription. with the money
all paid in. One subscriber was Samuel
b. Sanford Of Troy, who gave 500; an
other was Z. 2. Walton, who gave $40.
A block of Barre granite was secured
and cut to a proper shape according to
Mr.. Bartlett's design, except that the
lines cut on the corners called by archi-
tects 'aTrises' were not in his plan, as It
would give the monument a mechanical
1t was done by the stone
cutters, who meant well, however.
Through the kindness of CT Gov. J.
Gregory Smith, the block was brought
here free of charge over the Central Yer
mont Railroad, which then ran into
town. This freight charge would other
wise have amounted 10 $43.
"We had two celebrations in connec-
ton with this monument. One was at
breaking ground on July 4, 1876, the
other at placing the pedestal, Aug. 10th,
1915. The reason for these two dates is
obvious. President Grant ordered that
the whole country should celebrate July
4th, that year, and Sd we celebrated in
this very appropriate way. Then, Of
course, Bennington always observes the |
10th. The programme was properly car
ried out ON both occasions under the d. |
rection of ex Governor Hall, president
Of the Society, who also acted as presi- |
dent of the day. Gen. Theo. S. Peck
was president among other visitors and |
all were well pleased. j. II. White wrote |
a poem, which Arthur J. Dewey de-
and Henry Squires sang the |
''Star Spangled Banner" The Rev. Isaac |
Jenning was the orator of the day.
1.-THE object Of these two celebrations
was also to spread the knowledge of the |
Battle of bennington. That there had
existed lamentable want of knowledge
of this historical occasion, an extract |
from the Rev. Mr.. Jennings's Grafton |
will show. Said he, When we bought
4 new Sunday school library. recently,
was inspecting it, and incidentally picked |
up United States history. / looked to |
see what it said about the battle Of Ben |
and no mention was made Of it.
Mr.. Jennings's manner and words are
very distinct in my memory" said Mr.. |
Bliss, 'for he remarked very pointedly |
in closing this anecdote, I sent the book |
back This celebration accomplished |
its purpose. 1t disseminated the l1nowl- |
edge quite broadly and was successful
affair.
"It was not the intention of Mr.. Bart |
lett that the inscriptions should be cut
in the stone. He planned to have sec
Ond block, made of bronze, above the |
granite pedestal, and on this bronze to |
place the inscriptions and story Of the |
tavern. But this the committee found |
TO expensive. As further proof Of Mr.. |
Bartletts sincerity in his offer, he went
30 far as to make model of the cata-
mount, 'grinning defiance at the York
ers,' that was Landlord Fay's sign. As
generation after generation of Vermont |
ers have lived in peace and quietude with |
their New York neighbors, their former
enemies, the catamount of Bartlett has /
subsidized into very quiet and
1Ocile cat. His mouth Is closed.
1.-THE committee had S77 dollars left
after the celebration, which Is on deposit
Mt this time"
DR.. H. C. Day contributes the follow
ing historical sketch, which we copy
from the Troy Times rs folldWs:a
This was one Of the famous houses Of
New England II was the rendezvous Of
The Green Mountain Boys'i during the
trouble with New York before the war
Df the Revolution. In 1t met the "COun-
Ill Of Safety" composed Of such men as
Colonel Ethan Allen, Colonel Seth War
ner, Remember Baker, Gov. Moses Rob
nson, DIR. Jonas Fay and Gov. Isaac
richenor. IL was the headquarters of
General Stark and his brother officers at
he time Of the battle Of Bennington, and