The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-11-14
BATTLE OF 'HuBBARDToN
important Factor in Crushing Bur-
goyne's Campaign


The following is what Chaplain Ed
ward Everett Hale says on the battle
OF Hubbardton
Fort Ticonderoga was surrendered 10
General Burgoyne by the American
General lie Clair. on July 6. 1777. As
the Americans, numbering 1000 re-
treated to the southwest across the
hills, they were pursued by the British
army numbering several thousands.
The militia were oyertaken and made
a very stubborn resistance, at Hub
bardton on July Z, where a sanguinary
battle was fought, Brigadier General
Simon Frazer, Lietit Col of oath foot,
commanded the British.
Seth Warner commanded the Green
Mountain Boys. Colonel Nathan Hale
then "a years old, a cousin OF the mar
tyr. who was hanged, and who was a
great uncle of Chaplin Hale, command
ed a Massachusetts, regiment and was
taken a 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 outnumbered American soldiers
were, indeed, at last compelled to re-
treat, as at Bunker Hill, but only after
most gallant struggle.
Chaplin 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 a
disgracefuI retreat" The disgrace OF
1t. if any, was in the previous failure
of St. Clair to anticipate the British in
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 1t must
have stimulated the boldness and cour-
age. which forty days later, on August
IS. triumphed at Bennington; and on
September 1e, at Saratoga; and led tn
the surrender OF Bursoyne on October
II, 1777.
Ii is we'll known that the battle of
Bennington was not really fought on
me soil of Vermont but across the linz
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 Cressy ennmerates 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
surrender of Burgoyne and made ii the
subject of military investigation The
Earl of Bacarras. and General Bur
goyne in their testimony before the
house of lords. spoke with admiration
of the gallant behavior of these men at
Hubbardton."
Chaplin Hale says: There is not
bit of revolutionary reading more in
teresting than Burgoyne's statement
as to the spirit with which these men
engaged. He says they were not mex
perienced peasants but showed spirit
and courage"
II is believed that neither Rutland
county, the state, or the country at
large. have fully appreciated that bat.
tie of Hubbardton as it was reported,
more favorably perhaps, than was the
battle of Bunker Hin by the British
commanders.