Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-09-23
John Nilburn's Fight.
A Current Tradition Corrected by His
toric Fncts--Sources of Information.

tOric Fncts--Sources Of Information.
The storyIof John Kilburn's gallant fight
against the Indians, Aug. II, 1853, mas
| been told byimany writers with varying de
/ grees of accuracy. The very interesting
and entertaining account Of that famous
| battle as printed in the Evening Phoenix,
| July %, contains varying circumstance
| to which we beg leave to call attention. 1t
| reads as follows: Having thus cornered
| Kilburn and his party consisting of four
men and two! women, the Indians turned
their attention to Col. Benz. Bellows and
his men, numbering about 30, who were at
work in a flour mill situated on what. is now
| known as Blanchard's brook The men
were returning home, each carrying a sack
| of -four, and on discovery of the red men,
all dropped their loads, advanced to the
! rise of land in front, spTang to their feet,
! gave a whoop, and dropped back again in
to the ferns. This had the desired effect.
for instantly the Indians arose in a semi
/ circle around the path which Bellows was
to follow. This gave the men a splendid
| opportunity, and the volley which greeted
them so Disconnected them, that they fell
back at once, and Col Bellows and his men
| returned to the fort without further mis-
/ hap
]
| history of Col Bellows and the Bellows
family; also, being quite familiar with all
the places named in the account Of the
battle, from the circumstance Of having
/ lived in that locality for six wears, we af-
/ firm that Col Bellows and his men did not
see or shoot at any Indians on the day that
kllburn aud his party fought the famous
/ battle. Gen. Shirley had notified the set
/ tiers two or three months before that 500
/ Indians were collecting in Canada. whose
/ purpose 1t was to wipe out 10y wholesale
/ slaughter the entire sdvanced settlements
/ on the Connecticut river. If Col. Bellows
had 30 men with him at the fort, they were
there for the purpose of helping to protect
the settlers, as there were only six or seven
families in town in l1jj, and Col. Bellows
did not at that time require more than half
dozen men 10 manage his farming inter
ests.
Again, he would not have returned to
the fort under the circumstances named.
but would have followed up the advantage
! gained over the Indians near the flour mill,
in order to prevent the hostile savages
from wiping out neighbor Kilburn and his
family, whose cabin home on the plain be
low was less than 100 rods distant from
the place where the voley was said to have
been fired in the ferns. Supposing that he
| returned TO the fort as stated, he and his
| company of men would not have remained
| there while a fierce battle was raging from
noon until sunset, less than a mile away to
! the north, when the war whoops and dis
charges of musketry could be plainly heard
! from the lookout place in the large, wide
| spreading elm standing close to the north
end of the fort.
Furthermore, Thomas Bellows, who
! died in 1890, at the age of SO years, and
who was born and always lived on the old
homestead of his grandfather, Col BENZ
Bellows, was good authority on all matters
concerning his grandfather's experience
! with the Indians. For several years while
/ in his employ as a workman, we assisted
in washing sheep in the Blanchard brook
near the site of the old flour mill, or grst
mill, as he called it, He said there was no
truth in the story that his grandfather
| fought with the Indians near the mill as
! tradition claims He related the circum-
stance that Colonel Bellows and his men
were returning from the mill on one oc-
casion at the close of dav with bags of
! grist on the backs of horses Just as thev
came round turn in the road a few rods
! from the mill, Indians were seen to cross
over not far ahead. They retreated a
short distance, dismounted, empted the
meal in pile on the ground and escaped
in safety to the fort. In the morning they
returned and secured the meal which the
Indians had not carried away for want of
| bags.
On another occasion his grandfather
was returning from the mill alone and saw
an Indian in ambush near the path
! Wheeling his horse about, he motioned
with his hand, calling, Come on men,
! come on as though his men were follow