Vermont: A Study of Independence

by Rowland Evans Robinson

BENNINGTON.

When the convention adjourned at Windsor, July 8, 1877, Ticonderoga had fallen; Burgoyne's splendid army was advancing along the western border of Vermont; Warner had made his brave but ineffectual stand at Hubbardton, and was now with the remnant of his regiment at Manchester.

Hither the Council of Safety at once proceeded, and, with Thomas Chittenden as its president, began its important labors. It issued a call to all officers of militia to send on all the men they could possibly raise, as they had learned that a "large Scout of the Enemy are disposed to take a Tour to this Post," and their aim seemed to be the Continental stores at Bennington. On the same day, Ira Allen, as secretary, sent the alarming news to General Schuyler, with an appeal for aid; but Schuyler, as a Continental officer, declined to "notice a fourteenth State unknown to the Confederacy," and could send no men but the militia under Colonel Simmonds, whom he had ordered to join Colonel Warner at Manchester.

Allen also wrote to the New Hampshire Council of Safety for assistance in making a stand against the enemy in Vermont, which might as well be made there as in New Hampshire; for, "notwithstanding its infancy, the State was as well supplied with provisions for victualling an army as any country on the continent." Meshech Weare, president of that State, replied that New Hampshire had already determined to send assistance, and one fourth of her militia was to be formed into three battalions, under command of Brigadier-General John Stark, and sent forthwith into Vermont. President Weare requested the Convention of Vermont to send some suitable person to Number Four, to confer with General Stark as to the route and disposition of the troops; and two trusty persons were accordingly sent by Colonel Warner. On the 19th, Stark received his orders to repair to Number Four, and take command of the force there mustering. Influenced by a miserable spirit of jealousy or favoritism, Congress had slighted this veteran of the late war, passing over him in the list of promotions. Resenting such injustice, he went home, but was now ready to unsheathe his sword in the service of his State, though he refused to act under Continental officers.

Ira Allen, the secretary and youngest member of the Vermont Council, strongly advocated the raising of a regiment for the defense of the State, while the majority could not see the way clear to raise more than two companies of sixty men each; nor could they, in the unorganized condition of the new State, a third of whose inhabitants were in the confusion of an exodus, see how more than this meagre force could be maintained, and the day was spent in fruitless discussion of the vexed question. At last a member moved that Allen be requested to devise means for paying the bounties and wages of his proposed regiment, and to report at sunrise on the morrow. The astute young secretary was equal to the occasion, and when the Council met next morning, at an hour that finds modern legislators in their first sleep, he was ready with his plan of support. This was, that Commissioners of Sequestration should be appointed, with authority to seize the goods and chattels of all persons who had joined or should join the common enemy; and that all property so seized should be sold at public vendue, and the proceeds be paid to the treasurer of the Council of Safety, for the purpose of paying the bounties and wages of a regiment forthwith to be raised for the defense of the State. "This was the first instance in America of seizing and selling the property of the enemies of American independence," says its originator, in his "History of Vermont."[72] These "turbulent sons of freedom," as Stark afterward termed them, were indeed foremost in many aggressive measures. The Council at once adopted the plan, and appointed a Commissioner of Sequestration. Samuel Herrick was appointed to the command of the regiment, his commission being signed on the 15th of July by Thomas Chittenden, president. The men were enlisted and their bounties paid within fifteen days. The colonels of the state militia were ordered to march half their regiments to Bennington, "without a moment's Loss of Time," and the fugitives, who since the invasion had been removing their families to the southward, were exhorted to return and assist in the defense of the State.[73]

Stark was collecting his men at Charlestown, and sending them forward to Warner at Manchester as rapidly as they could be supplied with kettles, rum, and bullets. There was great lack of all three of these essentials of a campaign, especially of the last, for there was but one pair of bullet-moulds in the town, and there were frequent and urgent calls for lead. When the lead was forthcoming, the one pair of moulds was kept hot and busy. But at last, on the 7th of August, Stark was at the mountain-walled hamlet of Manchester with 1,400 New Hampshire men and Green Mountain Boys, ready to follow wherever the brave old ranger should lead.

Schuyler was anxious to concentrate all the available troops in front of Burgoyne, to prevent his advance upon Albany, and urged Stark to join him with his mountaineers; but, considering the terms on which he had engaged, Stark felt under no obligations to put himself under the orders of a Continental officer, and had, moreover, opinions of his own as to the most effective method of retarding Burgoyne's advance, which he thought might best be done by falling upon his rear when an opportunity offered. Therefore he declined to comply with Schuyler's demands, though he assured him he would lay aside all personal resentment when it seemed opposed to the public good, and would join him when it was deemed a positive necessity. Schuyler's Dutch name, honored as it was by his own good deeds and those of his ancestors, had a smack of New York patroonism that was unpleasant to New England men, especially those of the Grants, and he was no favorite with any of them. They were jubilant when he was superseded in command of the Northern Department by the incompetent Gates, who accomplished nothing himself, but managed to repose serenely on the laurels that others had gathered. Schuyler complained to Congress of Stark's refusal, and that body censured him and the New Hampshire government under which he was acting.

General Lincoln was at Manchester, whither he had come on August 2d, to take command of the eastern militia. The force of the enemy, which for some time had remained at Castleton, menacing Manchester and all the country to the eastward, had marched to join Burgoyne on the Hudson; and Stark moved forward to Bennington with the purpose, now, of joining Schuyler. He was accompanied by Colonel Warner, who left his regiment at Manchester under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Safford.

At the earnest request of the Council, already at Bennington, who apprehended an attack on that place, Stark encamped his brigade there and awaited the movements of the enemy. The Council was established at Captain Fay's[74] famous "Catamount Tavern," and during these fateful days sat in the low-browed room above whose wide fireplace was carved the words "Council Chamber." Here these faithful guardians of the young commonwealth consulted with Stark and Warner, and sent forth orders to colonels of militia and appeals to the valiant men of Berkshire.

Provisions were becoming scant in the army of Burgoyne, and he determined to seize for his use the stores which the Americans had collected at Bennington. To accomplish this, he dispatched Colonel Baum, a German officer of tried valor, with 300 dismounted dragoons who had won reputation on European fields, and whom it was a part of the plan of operations to provide with horses. There were also a body of marksmen under Captain Frazer, Colonel Peters's corps of Tories, some Canadian volunteers, and 100 Indians,—in all amounting to nearly 800 men, with two light field-pieces. Colonel Skene accompanied the German colonel, by request of Burgoyne, to give him the benefit of his knowledge of the country, and to use his influence in drawing the supposedly numerous Loyalists to the support of the British. Lieutenant-Colonel Breyman was ready to support Baum, if occasion required, with a veteran force of Brunswickers, 620 strong, with two more field-pieces.