San Saba County news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1874-19??, 1893-10-06
MoNUMENr TO THE HesslANs.
Proposal to Erect Memorial In Ben.
nInEton Center. VT.

Proposal to Erect Memorial In Ben
nInEton Center. VT.
The story comes from Buffalo that
an imposing memorial is likely to be
erected in the old cemetery at Ben
nington Center. Vt to those HesSians
who fought and fell at the battle Of
Bennington IN l777. A considerable
number of the descendants of the
Heseians are scattered through the
Mohawk valley and also in Pennsyl-
vania, and, according to the Troy
Times, it is these persons, many OF
whom are well-to-do, that contem-
plate the erection of suitable mon
ument to their ancestors. At the
close of the battle the British loss
was 207, the great majority OF which
was Hessians, and the burial took
place on and near the field of action.
The prisoners numbered about zoo.
OF whom about two-thirds were Hes
SLAMS, and were marched TO Benning
ton, where they were kept under
guard several months. A consider
able number of the prisoners were
wounded and many died in a log hos
pital improvised for the occasion.
Those who died OF injuries or othe5
causes subsequent to the battle were
buried in a rude way, uncoffined
and without ceremony. in the church
yard at Bennington Center. How
many were buried there is not known.
but the number has generally been
stated to be thirty-three. though
some authorities have placed the
number at fifty. The whole matter
Is so lost in a mist of traditions that
much discrepancy exists among local
historians. A small space, still va
cant in the burying grounds, shows
where the Hessians were sepulchred
115 years ago.
On this spot, three or four rods
long and two or three wide, it is pro-
posed to build the monument All
around is sanctified ground. On
every hand rise messy slabs, land
marks of finished life-journeys of men
eminent in local, state or national his
tory. OF the two patriot companies
of local militia that helped to win
the victory at Bennington nearly
every soldier sleeps close to the Hes
SLAMS. To the south and partly
bounding one side of the cemetery
is the old First church. where long
generations have wOrshiped, and a
third of mile or more to the north.
with the American flag streaming as
from the huge main-royal masthead
of a mOnstrous ship. the battle monu-
ment rises grimly into cloudland
in cOmmemOration Of the signal de-
feat of the British army and of an
important event in American history.
In early times it would have been
considered a paradox that many OF
the dead Of both armies should be
buried side by side and both be hon
Ored with a mOnument-the one for
preserving American institutions and
the other for trying to pull them
down. The idea OF erecting d monu-
ment to the Hessians appears to have
originated with Adolphe Osdler of
Buffalo fifteen years ago or more.
The late Colonel jerome B. Parmeter
of Bennington not only held CORE
spondence but personally interviewed
a number of the residents OF the Mo
hawk valley who were interested in
the matter, and he became quite
familiar with the views of many of
the descendants of the Hes-ians.
ningtOn about the design of the pro-
posed monument. 1t was rumOred
some time ago that lofty and massive
granite pedestal, surmounted by a
bronze figure of heroic size of Ger
man grenadier in full uniform. was
favored by the promoters Of the en-
terprise. Just what the figure is in
tended to symbolic or what the ms
cription, if any. will be is not known