Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-11-07
THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAlN
AS Related BY Benajah Phelps. the
Only Surviving Eye Witness Of the
battle of Eighty Seven Years
Arn in Gun, l,o, ri a ~ pox,
Ago, in Cumberland B


contains an exceedingly interesting n ticle
by j. L. futile. describing an interview
with the venerable Benajah Phelps, who
as Mr.. futile believes and as Is probable. Is
the only surviving eyewitness of the Bat
tie of Plattsburgh, The article is head d
by striking likeness of Mr. Phelps .akcn
on his last birthday, March a. 1901, when
he reached the age of 101 years still re-
tanning his hearing, his eyesight, and his
mental powers, He is, as we suppose,
a son of Benajah Phelps. who was one of
the early settlers on the island of Grand
Isle, and who died at the age of 81, having
raised a family OF is sons and daugh-
ters W no grew to be men and women and
good citizens He, the present BenaJdh.
IS residing in the state Of Colorado. 10
voted for President in the last nation al
election, and we hope will survive to vote
again. His account of the battle of sep
TENDER H. 1911, slightly condensed from
the columns of THE Outlook is as fol
! lows:
Remember the battle of Lake Cham
plain" We'll, ! guess / do! just the same
as if it was Yesterday. 1t was the ell, v'nlh
of Sept, 1914. You see, | was raised right
there. Yes, l was quite a boy then. ut
See-l was about thirteen or fourtt ~
Years old. y IS. yes that was good wh'lc
ago; but, somehow, it don seem so very
long ago. either. ] was born March q. 1900
on South Islard. That's one of the is
lands in Lake Champlain. Father was II
farmer. He had a farm of enc hundred
and sixty acres On South Island. 1t was
the old Jerry Green Sawyer plaCt.
Colonel Tim Allen was our next neis hbCr +,
Ia, Il,
a nice farm, too, slopin' from the hills TO
the water. We were all home on III"
farm that fall. OF course we knew thci G
was goin' to be a battle. Father WAS or
derby sergeant in the milishy, and j ufrG
to hear him taltn' 1t over with mother
Well, we knew the British was comm tn :
day, and, of course, father had to be
with his company He was stationed at
Plattsburgh, right across from South Is
land. | wanted to go with him the worst
kind when l knew there Was goin to he a
fight, but father wouldn't let me. He sad
| must stay at home and look after the
women folks and other things. There AS
. all the chores to do, and | was the only
one to do it. OF course there was Il lot
of cows and such. So | had to stay. H.
made me feel pretty bad, too. We knf W
The battle would be up in the bay beca.'sc
they wanted to take Plattsburgh You
know General Provost started from Moi
treal with $4,000 soldiers He calcu-
lated to go straight to Washington AID
burn every town and city he came TO-
That's what he was calc'latin; nut 80
here Mr.. Phelps INDUCED in d chuc>lc of
intense satiSfacton-"he didn't even Bit
through the first county! No sir. lie
didn't Lost five hundred men, too, and al
fis shippn.
We'll, we was watchn', and father had
gone, when. about sunrise, we saw the
n,asts of the British ships down AT the
I tail In "a
to git the team to the door, | had had The
horses all htched up long before sunrise
There wasn't any need for tho women 10
say. Hurry up, Benajah' | got mother
and NY two sist ers in the team and put 'or
Sawyer's Hill, two miles away. as last
as | could make the horses go. That was
right opposite Plattsburgh. and the fight
was in the BAY right close down OPPOSITE
the hill The hill was called after ne lie
Jerry Green Sawyer. When We got th'l"
= / nltched the horses to a tre' and we went
= where we could sec verifying. There vas
not much wind. and the British was COM
in uu very slowly. There was one big
= sailin' ship. Capn Downie was the cap i
of the British. Then they had two SloOps
more than one hundred feet long built in
St. Johns The Eagle and the Grower was
tho two sloops They had been Nankc
{ sloops. but they had been captured from
ue A while before. | guess 1t was about
year before. They looked very tinc com
in up the river. They had about a dozet
row. galleys with a cannon in each end
and twelve men to each, six on slue
They were town the ships which haG
the sails up because there was so littl,
wind. They didn't hurry any, for they Gale
lated the land army to reach Plattsburgf
> sbou: the time they got into the pay, dnf
. to begin the battle over the town at tn,
same time they begun the fight on the wa
. ter There was about one thousand Of ON
oil. nd
. vost thought 1t wouldn't be anything fol
. his big army to take EN-. That's where h
rlaGe pooty big mistake ! forgot to Su!
the British brought their boats up III,
. night before, opposite North Island, i'll ms
gut between North and South Island. 1t!
about half Il mile wide there and very
, deep water Our folks stepped aroun,
u rootv lively wher they see tn" iritiSl
comm. Our biggest ship was the SaratoE
= Capn McOOnOugh was the cap II. i''
= wasn't exactly cap'n though just thon
lie was a lcftcnant, a leftenant command
or. lie was promoted to capn after h
beat the British. The government gaV'
him a lot of land on what they call crn}
borland Head a slightly spot, where yo
can look right down on the place whcI
the battle was fought. All the America
, ships was anchored in Plattsburgh Bay
:, our folks were all ready. Every cant'ul
- was placed Just right and loaded, and al
n. the ammunition was put handy. | cuI!
- see everything from the hill The EritSl
kept comm on, but. the Yankee vessel
Gil net heave anchor. | guess 1t wa
about ten O'Clock in the forenoon who
The first gun was fired and it maze
e racket, tell ye. You see, our vessels wa
t placed so the British had to go right in be
tween en-. They took EN- both ways.
: Never heard such a noise in all my Dor
/ days! Why it, it was tremenjus! 1T bed
all. Seemed as If thunder wasn't any
thing / don't see how they stood it
:, Sometimes | thought one or two of IA
" .essels was on fire they fired so last
They seemed to be just covered Ftt
, flame one of our schocncrs was NAME
" by British sailors who had deserted frOr
! the British. | tell We, If they didn't ns!i
1t was life or death with 'em. | cortaiHl
thought she was on fire n number O.
times. | wasn't a mile from the ships. Th
s. way the cannon balls skipped on the wat
D. or was wonderful. The noise kept giltil
worse and worse all the time. 1t VA
N enough to deefen body. | didn't hno'
for a spell which would lick; but our fulh
too spry for the Rritishers. Cap
McDonou8h was very smart man. II
had anchored all our vessels on sprin
cables They could lire one broadside IN