Part 4 (1/2)
”It was a great pity,” said Colson, ”that Putnam was not a younger man when the revolutionary war broke out. He had spent his best years in fighting for the old country, against the French and Indians.”
”Perhaps it was better as it was,” said Davenport. ”I think there were brave men enough in our army.” It was clear that Davenport was disposed to argue the respective merits of the generals of the revolution. Hand thought argument might check the flow of good-feeling, and therefore suggested that they should have more drum and fife music. Brown and Hanson agreed, and upon request struck up the ”White c.o.c.kade.” This was spirit-stirring, and called forth much applause. Another song was called for, and one of the young men sang the following song, written for the occasion, but which his modesty had hitherto held back. The music was that of ”Rule, Brittania!”
When our great sires this land explored, A shelter from tyrannic wrong!
Led on by heaven's Almighty Lord, They sung--and acted well the song, Rise united! dare be freed!
Our sons shall vindicate the deed.
In vain the region they would gain Was distant, dreary, undisclosed; In vain the Atlantic roar'd between; And hosts of savages opposed; They rush'd undaunted, Heaven decreed Their sons should vindicate the deed.
'Twas Freedom led the veterans forth, And manly fort.i.tude to bear; They toil'd, they vanquished I such high worth Is always Heaven's peculiar care.
Their great example still inspires, Nor dare we act beneath our sires.
'Tis ours undaunted to defend The dear-bought, rich inheritance; And spite of each invading hand, We'll fight, bleed, die, in its defence!
Pursue our fathers' paths of fame, And emulate their glorious flame.
As the proud oak inglorious stands, Till storms and thunder root it fast, So stood our new unpractised bands, Till Britain roar'd her stormy blast; Then, see, they vanquish'd! fierce led on By Freedom and great Was.h.i.+ngton.
The song had very little poetry and less music in it; but patriotism applauded its spirit. Mr. Hand again directed the conversation in such a manner as to glean as much information from the veteran patriots as possible, and enquired if any of them had seen the hero of Bennington--General John Stark.
”Oh! yes,” replied Timothy Ransom, ”There was very few of the right-side-up men in Vermont, that I didn't see and know too. See General Stark! I guess I did; and seen a leetle of him at Bennington, too.”
”I thought General Stark belonged to New Hamps.h.i.+re,” said Hand.
”So he did,” replied Ransom. ”The country that now makes the states of Varmount and New Hamps.h.i.+re was then called the New Hamps.h.i.+re Grants, and was governed by one a.s.sembly and one council.”
”What sort of a looking man was Stark?” enquired Pitts.
”Well, he weren't much to look at,” said Ransom. ”He was about the middle height, and strongly built. He had a firm look about the face, and you might have been sure of his doing what he said he would do, just from hearing him talk. Blunt and downright, he was--and didn't stop to pick words. He had seen a tougher life than any of his neighbours--fighting as a ranger and regular soldier--and you might suppose there was no nice affectation in his dress and manners like you find in some of our generals. He was a man made for service.”
”That's the man exactly as I saw him at Saratoga,” said Kinnison.
”Did you say you was with General Stark, at Bennington?” enquired Hand.
”Ay, and did my share of that day's work,” replied Ransom. ”That _was_ a battle, my boys. If you had seen the way that the militia walked up to the enemy's cannon, and fought with regulars, you'd have said at once, there was no use of Great Britain trying to subdue such men.”
”Not having had the pleasure of seeing it,” replied Hand, ”I should like to hear what you saw of it. Tell us about the affair, and how you won such a victory.”
THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.
”You shall hear about the battle of Bennington,” said Ransom. ”At the time Burgoyne was advancing towards the Hudson, the people of Ma.s.sachusetts and the New Hamps.h.i.+re Grants were alarmed, and feared that Burgoyne would march towards Boston. The whole frontier was uncovered.
But the people began to feel the necessity of taking measures to check the advance of the enemy. General Stark was then at home, angry with Congress on account of his rank not being equal to his services. He had resigned his commission in the regular army. I was then at my farm, having gone home after serving with Colonel Allen. I expected to be called into service again, but didn't intend to fight under any other orders than those of John Stark; because I knew the man had been badly treated, and I and most of the militia felt for him. The New Hamps.h.i.+re a.s.sembly met, and began to adopt measures for the defence of the country. The militia was formed into two brigades. General Whipple was appointed to command the first, and General Stark the second. Stark refused to accept the appointment. But finding that his name was a host, he was induced to yield his private griefs for the public good. He said he would a.s.sume the command of the troops, if he was not desired to join the main army, and was made accountable to no authority but that of New Hamps.h.i.+re. His conditions were accepted, and he went to Charlestown to meet the Committee of Safety. As soon as I heard that General Stark was in the field, I hurried off to Charlestown to join the militia, I knew would a.s.semble there. I found the men were coming in from all directions, and all were in high spirits. Stark sent us off to Manchester, twenty miles from Bennington, to join Colonel Warner's regiment. You know after that skrimmage at Hubbardton, Warner could scarcely muster more than two hundred men, and we who were sent from Charlestown were to fill out his regiment. I found most of the men had been in service since the war began, and knew what fighting was; and I thought they were a match for twice their number; but I had some near neighbours in the regiment of Colonel Nichols at Bennington: I went and joined him. As our regiment was filling up, General Stark arrived at Manchester, where he met General Lincoln, who had come to conduct the militia across the Hudson to General Schuyler; but Stark told him that the men were called together to protect their homes in New Hamps.h.i.+re, and could not be taken out of that part of the country. I heard afterwards that General Lincoln informed Congress of the state of things in our neighbourhood, and that Congress censured General Stark; but he didn't care for that. He knew he was right in staying in New Hamps.h.i.+re, and that the men who censured him knew nothing about the state of things there. Well, we were called upon to meet the enemy sooner than we expected, for it appeared that Baum, with his Germans and Indians, was on his march towards Bennington. Soon after, I arrived at Manchester. About four hundred men had collected at Bennington, when General Stark arrived there, and more were coming in constantly. I guess it was on the 13th of August when we received information that some of Baum's Indians had been seen near Cambridge--that's about twelve miles from Bennington. Then there was a stir among the men, and all sorts of preparation for a desperate battle. We all knew that we were going to fight for our homes, and that made us eager to meet the enemy. All the men of Bennington who could bear arms joined us, and the old men and women and boys did all they could to get us information, and to supply our wants. General Stark sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg, with two hundred men, to check the enemy. In the course of the night we were informed that the Indians were supported by a large body of regulars, with a train of artillery; and that the whole force of the enemy were in full march for Bennington. General Stark immediately called out all the militia, and sent word to Colonel Warner to bring his regiment from Manchester. Before daylight on the morning of the 14th of August, General Stark had about eight hundred men under his command, including Colonel Gregg's detachment. We then moved forward to support Gregg.
About four or five miles from Bennington, we met our detachment in full retreat, and the enemy within a mile of it. Stark ordered us to halt, and we were then drawn up in order of battle. Baum saw we were prepared to make fight, and halted, instead of coming up to the work like a man.
A small party of our men were forced to abandon Van Shaick's mill, where they had been posted, but not before they had killed a few of the enemy.
Stark found that the enemy were busy entrenching themselves, and he tried to draw them from their position by sending out small parties to skirmish; but it was of no use, they wouldn't come out and fight; so Stark fell back a mile, leaving a part of our regiment to skirmish. Now you know that's a kind of fighting in which the Green Mountain Boys were always first best. Before we fell back to the main body, we had killed and wounded more than thirty of the enemy, including two Indian chiefs, without losing a man.”
”The battle should have been all skirmishes,” said Kinnison. ”You might have cut the enemy up piece-meal.”
”We tried it next day,” said Ransom. ”It was rainy, and Stark thought it best not to attempt anything more than skirmis.h.i.+ng. Our light parties appeared in the woods on every side of the enemy, and picked off the men so fast that the Indians became disheartened, and began to desert Baum.