The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-04-27

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exercise. saying that to remain still
was death. He died the third day
Peeler recovered. He had wonder
full body and he gained strength rap
idly but pretended to be very weak
and i'll. BY the time he was m al
most perfect physical condition again
he was admitting that he was strong
enough to do light work and the sur
geon of the regiment gave him a bog
hoe and told him TO go into the
swamp near and dig some roots LOT
the medicine chest. Peeler went, lett
his hoe in the swamp, travelled and
hid until dark, and then swan across
an arm of the sea, think 1t was BIOS.
ton Neck, a most amazing feat Oh
strength and endurance, and landed
near the American camp. That night
Breeds Hill had been silently fortified
The morning found the British and
Hessian troops moving in solid mass
es on the new entertainments, anu
Colonel Warren, who was soon to ole
for the cause he loved, commanding
his men and making famous the name
of Bunker Hill.
Peeler was late, he was unarmed,
but he went as fast as he could. When
he came to the American troops the
foreign forces had just retired.
wounded Englishman, perhaps man
of some rank. for his arms were OF
extra good quality, sat under tree,
his leg broken Peeler ran to him,
the Englishman begged for his life
and Peeler told him not to fear He
got full powder horn and bullet
pouch and a good gun and Joined the
American forces, fighting through the
war. 1t is probable that he enlisted
with one of the regiments engaged at
Bunker Hill The powder horn he
gave DR.. Washburn. The bullet
pouch was in existence somewhere IN
Vernon when | was boy and his
gun also.
After the war Peeler settled in
Walpole. n. H., and there, or preyi-
ously. he married In 1887 his daugh-
ter, Polly, was born there. She mar
/ ried Deacon John Lee of Vernon VINO
was for 20 years or more a swift
waterman, helping boats over swift
water on the Connecticut river to
Brattleboro and beyond He resided
on what was, in my boyhood, known
as the George w Lee place, in Yer
non. Here began very. large fam
/ ily of Lees. whose descendants show
{ ing TO some extent the characteristics
/ of their fighting ancestor, are OF
many places and of many families.
From Walpole Peeler moved to
| Greenfield where he stayed but brief
| w. and then came to Vernon. He
had not resided there long when,
through some comrade or acquain-
| lance he had news of John Hare.
This man had stayed in this country
after the war and was living in New
/ York state That section was will
derness in those days and 1t may be
! that Hare had obtained land. Peeler
according to the tradition in my
! family, prepared again as for a war
/ campaign. He moulded his bullets,
( supplied himself with powder, put his
gun in order, packed his old KNAPP
sack and had woman of the neigh
! borhood prepare his clothing. (Peel-
er's wife had died before he came to
Vernon, probably at Walpole) He
then marched away and was gone
three months. What happened when
4 the man who had suffered more than
crucihxion that Hare might gain S25
/ met his betrayer, has never been
I told
one day Peeler came back to the
/ house of the neighbor's where the
: woman had helped him prepare to
go set his gun in a corner, remark
ed. Il have put John Hare where the
I Devil won't find him." and asked for
/ food He settled quietly down again
and il is significant that no one ask
I ed him for any particulars as to his
Journey. He died in 1915, and after
. his death this woman told my grand
father. and later my father what he
had gone out to accomplish and what
3 he said when he returned. Doubtless
the wrath of man should not cause
one to kill his enemy, but If ever a
killing was justified II was such a
one. My father was four and half
years old when Peeler died but he
saw his back, perhaps when DR..
Washburn visited him in his last H.
ness. and so years after told me, with
the horror of IL still fresh in his mind
that the whole back was so SCARED
that he did not like to remember it,
Peeler was nearly 20 years old
when he died and had for many years
enjoyed the admring respect of his
neighbors. He had daily association
with others formerly of the Revolu.
tionary army and was highly esteem
ed by them as well as by the commu
nifty. No man in all that war suffer
ed more for the American cause, for
the advancement OF humanity, than
d he Alien and stranger. he yet
faced and suffered more than death
that he might add something to the
strength of the forces that strove for
freedom. The name Of Hessian has
4 been term of reproach for genera.
/ tons. That some Hessians were
grossly cruel there can be no doubt,
but that the majority of them either
loved TO harm the American people
or failed to admire the American
cause. ! doubt. Great numbers des
erted and they were never eager to
i strike at the American army. At
| Trenton, for example. where Wash.
/ ington crossed the Delaware. the Hes
SLAMS had ample opportunity for eff
fective work in the offensive, but they
preferred to keep Christmas than