Journey back to the Spring of 1775, when Bennington County, Vermont, was no more than the wild frontier of the northern territory. It was from here that the first victory of the American Revolution was won, when Patriot Ethan Allen led the famed Green Mountain Boys to raid and capture towering Fort Ticonderoga from the British. Two years later, the British were again defeated at the Battle of Bennington, suffering two hundred casualties and the staggering capture of more than seven hundred soldiers by another Patriot, John Stark. Dick Smith takes readers through the famed covered bridges, historic taverns and quaint villages of Bennington County that in another life played a vital role in leading our country toward independence.
On August 16, 1777, a motley militia won a resounding victory near Bennington, Vermont, against combined German, British and Loyalist forces. This laid the foundation for the American victory at Saratoga two months later. Historian Michael P. Gabriel has collected over fifty firsthand accounts from the people who experienced this engagement, including veterans from both sides and civilians--women and children who witnessed the horrors of the battle. Gabriel also details a virtually unknown skirmish between Americans and Loyalists. These accounts, along with Gabriel's overviews of the battle, bring to life the terror, fear and uncertainty that caused thousands to see the British army as loved ones departed to fight for the fledgling United States.
The author of Vermont Firsts and Other Claims to Fame examines the pivotal American Revolutionary War skirmish and the men behind it. In April 1775, a small band of men set out from Hartford and traveled swiftly north toward the shore of Lake Champlain, recruiting men to their expedition along the way. Within only a few days, this loyal group of volunteers arrived in Vermont and, joining forces with Ethan Allen and his legendary Green Mountain Boys, launched a daring attack to capture more than one hundred cannons stored at Fort Ticonderoga. In this comprehensive look at “America's First Victory,” Richard Smith traces the Patriots’ route from Connecticut, through the towns of western Massachusetts and the Berkshire hills and north to Bennington, Vermont, and Lake Champlain. He chronicles the rival expedition led by Benedict Arnold, his confrontation with Allen, and the surprise attack that changed the course of the American Revolution.
This book offers an account of the pivotal Battle of Bennington in the context of the Revolutionary War and Burgoyne's 1777 invasion from Canada, which ended in his defeat at Saratoga. The book also treats the design and construction of the 306-foot-tall Bennington Monument.
The people of Bennington often refer to the American Revolution as "our war," as it was the site of the decisive Battle of Bennington. Yet more than one thousand Bennington boys fought in the Civil War, and residents on the homefront played their parts to support the United States, too. All the machinery used to produce gunpowder and nearly all the horseshoes for the United States Army were manufactured in Bennington, and a Bennington native was instrumental in the building of the USS "Monitor. "Mrs. Jefferson Davis visited friends in Bennington shortly after the war, and two Medal of Honor winners lived here as well. In this book, historian Bill Morgan unveils the important ways that Bennington helped preserve the United States during the Civil War.
Muster lists, correspondence, diaries/journals, pension application information and requests for assistance relating to the Revolutionary War and particularly the Battle of Bennington. Battle of Bennington material includes an original report of the Baum-Hessian regiment found on the battlefield; Joseph J. Rudd's original letter to his father (Joseph Rudd) regarding the battle; list of Hessian prisoners; eye witness accounts collected by Hiland Hall; and map of the battlefield, copied by Hall. Correspondence includes a copy of a letter from Thomas Chittenden to an unknown American general (possibly Brig. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln) regarding the movement of Burgoyne's army toward Albany and Stillwater, N.Y., in Sept., 1777; a 1777 letter from Jonas Fay on behalf of the Council of Safety to Major General Lincoln relaying intelligence on the British forces at their headquarters and on Benedict Arnold's capture of prisoners and canon; letter from Samuel Adams to Mr. Lovell regarding a prisoner exchange for Ethan Allen; and an affidavit by Lemuel Roberts about his time as a British prisoner. Also includes a contemporary journal kept by Joseph Bates of Watertown, Mass., while he served in a Massachusetts regiment that marched to Bennington and then Stillwater and Saratoga for the defeat of Burgoyne. An 1806 letter from Jonas Fay to Orsamus C. Merrill discussing the Haldimand negotiations between the British and Vermont. Jonas Fay states that Washington was fully aware of the subterfuge against the British and the negotiations with General Haldimand, and the purpose was to secure a Northern Frontier that kept British troops in Quebec during the Revolutionary War. Also includes file of veterans relating to their pension applications.
