Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-11-10
BATTLE OF HUBBARDToN.
Marked an Epoch in Vermont History
Says Edward Everett Hale.

The following is what Chaplain Ed
ward Everett Hale says on the battle
of Hubbardton:
Fort Ticonderoga was surrendered to
General Burgoyne by the American Gen
eral lie Clair, on July 6, 1777. AS the
Americans, numbering 1000 retreated to
the southwest across the hills, they
were pursued by the British army num-
boring several thousands. The militia
were overtaken and made very stub
born resistance, at Hubbardton on July
Z, where a sanguinary battle was
fought. Brigadier General Simon Fraz-
er, Lieut.. Col. of oath foot, commanded
the British.
Seth Warner commanded the Green
Mountain Boys. Colonel Nathan Hale,
then "a years old, cousin of the mar.
tyr, who was hanged, and who was a
great uncle of Chaplain Hale, command
ed n Massachusetts regiment and was
taken prisoner by the British. Col.
Francis and upwards of two hundred
patriots were killed. six hundred were
wounded. The Americans lost also one
colonel, seven captains and two hundred
and twenty other prisoners. The out
numbered American soldiers were, in
Bunker Hill, but only after a most gal
liant struggle.
Chaplain Hale justly thinks it really
pathetic that as well fought battle as
that of Hubbardton should appear in
the popular notion of that time as
disgraceful retreat The disgrace of
it, if any. was in the previous failure
of st. Clair to anticipate the British III
occupying Mount Defiance.
The British loss was one hundred
and fifty men. Gen. Stark, who after
ward commanded at Bennington
brought up the New Hampshire militia.
The full effect on subsequent events of
this gallant and stubborn action of the
American militia at Hubbardton can
never be exactly estimated. Like the
resolute action at Bunker Hill it must
have stimulated the boldness and cour-
age, which, forty days later, on August
16, triumphed at Bennington; and on
September 10, at Saratoga; and led to
the surrender of Burgoyne on October
II, 1777.
1t is well known that the battle of
Bennington was not really fought on
the soil of Vermont, but across the line
in the state of New York so that Hub
bardton is the only strenuous and i'm
portant battle ever fought by white
men in the state
Colonel Greasy enumerates the battle
of Saratoga of which that at Hubbard
ton was really a preliminary part. as
one of the fifteen decisive battles of
the world.
The British government was, of
course, greatly disappointed at the sur
render of Burgoyne and made it the
subject of military Investigation. The
Earl of Bacarras, and General Burg0yne
in their testimony before the House of
Lords, "spoke with admiration of the
gallant behavior of these men at Hub
bardton.'
Chaplain Hale says: "There is not
bit of revolutionary reading more in
teresting than Burgoyne s statement as
to the spirit with which these men en-
gagged. He says they were not mex
pcrenced peasants, but showed spirit
and courage
1t is believed that neither Rutland
county, the state, or the country at
large, have fully appreciated the battle
or Hubbardton as ii was reported, more
favorably perhaps. than was the battle
of Bunker Hill by the British com
manders.