Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-12-25
Webster and Stark.

Webster and Stark.
The statues of Daniel Webster and
Gen. Stark were presented to Congress
last Thursday by the State of New
Hampshire and were unveiled. Speech
es were delivered by Representatives
Baker, Curtis and Powers, and by Sena-
tor Morrill,. The latter referred chiefly
to Webster We give a summary of
Judge Powers's address, who devoted
his address principally to Gen. Stark as
a hero of Vermont as we'll as New Hamp-
shire
Mr.. Powers said Vermont rightfully
claims audience on any occasion when
honor is proposed to the memory of Gen.
John Stark.
The military achievement which gave
him enduring fame was planned on her
soil and carried into successful execution
by the aid of Vermont valor.
Down to the summer of 1777 nothing
had occurred in the war for independ-
ence that threatened such dire disaster
to the American army as the invasion Of
Gen. BurgOyne. That such an invasion
on his line of march was possible had
been early foreseen, and when the news
of Lexington reached the settlers of Ver-
mont, brave old Ethan Allen anticipated
this danger, and in heroic way and as
the self-appointed representative of the
great Jehovah and the Continental Con
gress-two authorities then held in little
respect by the commandant of Fort III
cOnderOga-seized the fortress which
commanded the southern entrance to
Lake Champlain.
The British cabinet had discovered
that the great waterway by Lake Cham
plain and the Hudson river from Mon
treal to New York, was natural line of
dissection which would cut off New Eng
land from her sister colonies. In Indian
warfare and in the French wars this line
had been traversed by warning armies,
and its natural advantages with its natu-
raj environment were well understood in
British counsels.
Accordingly it was determined that
well equipped army under a trusty COM
mander should march by this line to AL
bany, where it was expected 1t would
meet cooperating force coming north
from New York City, and thereby the
confederate colonies would be cut in
twain. This was the first great I2arch
to the sea ever organized on the Ameri-
can continent.
The plan was bold in design and preg
nant with hope. The British cabinet
and the British people saw in the expe-
dtiona speedy close of the war. Bur-
goyne and his generals entered upon it
as if upon holiday excursion. Some of
the officers were accompanied by, their
wives, who were for the first time to wit
ness the wild novelties of American
scenery and the humiliation of American
rebels.
The army lacked nothing in equip
ment nothing in numbers, nothing in ex-
pectations. But it lacked all apprecia-
ton of the mettIe of New England farm
ers.
In marked contrast with this elevated
spirit of the invaders was the consterna-
ton that seized upon the settlers in New
England, especially in Vermont, New
Hampshire and Massachusetts. Yer
mont, close by Burgoyne's line of march,
would naturally expect forays from his
army, so certain to need provisions and
supplies. An urgent call was made up
on the New Hampshire authorities for
aid, and this gave Stark the opportunity
of his lifetime
Stark, by common consent, was placed
in command of the hastily recruited MI
litia that gathered on the Vermont
border.
Washington was too much engaged
south of New York to spare large de-
tachments to meet this invasion. Gen.
Schuyler, however, was expected to check
the advance near Albany, but in the light
of subsequent events it is altogether
probable that he would have failed had
not Burgoyne's march been crippled on
its way south of Ticonderoga. The
country through which he passed was
sparsely previsioned. His army could
not long be sustained by foraging par.
ties.
Stark saw that Burgoyne, so far from