PRESENTATION OF THE STATUES OF JOHN STARK 
 AND DANIEL WEBSTER TO CONGRESS 
 FOR STATUARY HALL. 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 OF 
 
 WM. W. GROUT, OF VT., 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 Thursday, December 20,1894. 
 
 Vermont congratulates New Hampshire, and welcomes these her sons in com¬ 
 memorative marble to the companionship of tlie great in marble and bronze from 
 other States. The hero of Ticonderoga from Vermont welcomes the hero of Ben¬ 
 nington from Now Hampshire. There let them stand, typical soldiers of typical 
 States, contemporaries in life and in the sculptured' renown of death.' The 
 eminent lawyer, jurist, and statesman, Jacob Collamer, who came nearer making 
 good the place of Webster in tho Senate than any other man of his time, now 
 welcomes that great lawyer, orator, and statesman to that silent, illustrious 
 assemblage. 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 1894 . ' 
 
HON. W. W. GROUT. 
 
 On the receiving of the statues of Stark and Webster. 
 
 Mr. GROUT said: 
 
 Mr. Speaker: I wish in behalf of Vermont to acknowledge the 
 courtesy of the invitation extended by New Hampshire to say a 
 word in these memorial exercises about Gen. John Stark. 
 
 This invitation is accepted with pleasure, because the early his¬ 
 tory of the two States runs so much together, and especially that 
 part which relates to the great event in the life of General Stark, 
 that Vermont feels almost an equal interest in this occasion with 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 That event really touches Vermont history at one of its most 
 heroic periods. 
 
 It not only carries us back to the battle of Bennington, where 
 Vermont men stood side by side with the men of New Hampshire, 
 but it opens the whole chapter of the independent career of Ver¬ 
 mont as a State, as well as her long struggle for admission into 
 the Union, of all of which the hero of Bennington was neither an 
 indifferent nor a silent spectator. General Stark’s victory at 
 Bennington was so surprising at the time, and still stands so prom¬ 
 inently among the events of that day, that we naturally want to 
 know something of the men who stood in the ranks. Let me for 
 a moment tell you about those from Vermont and the fitting school 
 they had for the work done on that occasion. 
 
 FITTING SCHOOL FOB. BENNINGTON. 
 
 The reader of history knows that the settlers on the New Hamp¬ 
 shire Grants received their lands from the royal governor of the 
 Colony of New Hampshire, paying therefor the stipulated price; 
 and that later title to these same lands was claimed by the royal 
 governor of New York to be his by virtue of the royal grant to the 
 Duke of York in 1764; and the settlers were called upon to pay a 
 second time. This was thought to be once too often, and was re¬ 
 sisted with spirit by those hardy pioneers, who were struggling for 
 existence against the difficulties and dangers of the wilderness, in 
 which prowled alike the wild beast and the lurking savage. 
 
 The New York claimants easily obtained writs of possession 
 from the New York courts for the lands, but in no instance did 
 the settlers on the Grants allow one of their number to be per¬ 
 manently ejected. This, of course, called for organization, and 
 as the result, the “ Green Mountain boys,” as they called them¬ 
 selves, under Allen, Warner, and Baker had, for more than seven 
 me 3 
 
4 
 
 years before Stark was at Bennington, been in a kind of border 
 war in resistance to the attempted jurisdiction over them by the 
 King’s governor of the Colony of New York. If he sent surveying 
 parties upon the Grants, as he did, the settlers drove them off. If 
 he commissioned justices and other civil officers they soon found 
 official life at once a burden and a peril, and resigned or moved 
 away. If officers went from Albany to serve process or make ar¬ 
 rests in land matters, they were, to use the language of an old re¬ 
 port. “seized by the people and severely chastised with twigs of 
 the wilderness.” In these forays the sheriff always came off 
 second best: and at onetime, with a posse of 750 New York militia¬ 
 men, went back to Albany empty handed. 
 
 If by hook or by crook a New York grantee succeeded in dis¬ 
 placing a settler, as was done by Colonel Reid and his tenants at 
 the far away mouth of Otter Creek, of Pangbom, who had been 
 in possession with a paid-up title for twelve years, Allen and his 
 men hastened to expel the intruder, which was done twice in this 
 case, and the last time with notice not again to return, “on pain 
 of suffering the displeasure of the Green Mountain Boys. ” At this 
 juncture the governor of New York appealed to General Haldi- 
 man, commander-in-chief of the King’s troops in America—this 
 was in 1778—for help in enforcing his authority on the Grants, 
 complaining that the militia could not be relied upon. This, how¬ 
 ever, the commanding general declined to do, expressing doubt as 
 to the propriety of using regular troops for that purpose. 
 
 But I must not prolong this story, full of local interest as it 
 is and showing, as it does when fully told, the heroic struggle of 
 the hardy settlers on the New Hampshire Grants in defense of their 
 homes and their lives, which culminated in 1774 in a proclama¬ 
 tion by the governor of New York and a counter proclamation 
 by Allen and his men, from which an armed collision could not 
 have been far away. But just then another war cloud loomed 
 upon the horizon, obscuring and absorbing for the time all minor 
 controversies. 
 
 LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 
 
 The cry of blood from Lexington and Concord on the 19th day 
 of April, 1775, rung like a tocsin in every home; and instantly 
 every hamlet was astir with preparations for war and every pa¬ 
 triot breast on fire for action. The brave men on the New 
 Hampshire Grants were no exception; but, on the contrary, were 
 conspicuous for activity and valor. They forgot, for the time, 
 their differences with New York, and, promptly changing front, 
 gave battle to the common enemy. 
 
 TICONDEUOGA AND CROWN POINT. 
 
 Not waiting for the Continental Congress or any other authority, 
 except their own council of safety, on the 10th day of May (only 
 twenty-one days after the affair at Lexington) Allen, at the head 
 of these intrepid men, captured the fortress at Ticonderoga, and 
 upon a formula that has made his name immortal. On the same 
 day these men also captured the garrisons at Crown Point and 
 Skeensboro. And later we find Allen in unequal conflict with 
 General Carleton at St. Johns, where he was unfortunately taken 
 prisoner. And later still the same year we find Warner with his 
 “ Green Mountain Boys ” repulsing Carleton at Montreal and send¬ 
 ing him by night, with muffled oars, down the St. Lawrence to 
 me 
 
5 
 
 Quebec. And these (except Allen, who was still a prisoner of war 
 in London) and others like them from the State of Vermont were 
 the men whom Stark had to help him at Bennington. 
 
 I said the State of Vermont. I should have said the independ¬ 
 ent State of Vermont, for such the New Hampshire Grants had 
 become at the time of the battle of Bennington. 
 
 INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGNTY OF VERMONT. 
 
 The settlers on the Grants, finding themselves in the midst of a 
 great war and on the very frontier between the contending forces, 
 and without organization or allegiance, except as claimed by New 
 York, to which they could never accede, just twenty days after 
 the Declaration of Independence, to wit, on the 24th day of July, 
 1776, met in convention at Dorset, and at an adjourned meeting, 
 the following January, declared their territory “to be forever 
 thereafter a free and independent jurisdiction or State under the 
 name of Vermont;” thus cutting loose from every other power or 
 authority on the footstool, and acknowledging allegiance only to 
 the Supreme Ruler of the universe; and this little independent 
 State so maintained herself for the period of fourteen years, and 
 until her admission into the Union in 1791, all the time standing 
 out as an independent power among the powers of the eartli, with a 
 sovereignty of her own, a currency of her own,including coinage, 
 with postal and excise laws—in fact, laws of every kind of her 
 own. and withal with a national policy of her own, which, firmly 
 adhered to. at last secured for her an equal place in the Union of 
 the States. 
 
 FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION OF 81 ,AVERY IN ALL nTSTORY. 
 
 The new State, of course, had a constitution. And that you 
 may more fully understand the character of the men from Ver¬ 
 mont who supported Stark at Bennington, let me read two brief 
 sections from their constitution. 
 
 In the very first section is found this language: 
 
 No male person born in this country or brought from over sea shall be 
 holden by law to serve any person as a servant, slave, or apprentice after he 
 arrives at the age of 21 years; nor female in like manner after she arrives at 
 the age of 18 years, unless they are bound by their own consent after they 
 arrive at such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, 
 fines, costs, or the like. 
 
 This constitution was adopted July 8, 1777, ten years before the 
 Federal Constitution and six months before the old Articles of Con¬ 
 federation, early, as you will see, in the era of written constitu¬ 
 tions; and yet, with slight alterations, it is the constitution of 
 Vermont to-day, and a model of its land, providing for every func¬ 
 tion of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—even to 
 authority for the establishment of a court of chancery, a branch 
 of jurisprudence then in the infancy of its modern jurisdiction. 
 But more notable than all this is the fact that it contained this pro¬ 
 hibition of slavery, while every one of the colonies tolerated the 
 institution. And"more notable still is the fact that it is the first 
 constitutional prohibition of slavery ever put forth by any people 
 anywhere, at any time, in the whole history of man. Yes; let it 
 be written in letters of gold that the “ Green Mountain boys ” were 
 the first in all the earth to write in their organic law an absolute 
 interdiction of an institution which had run with the history of 
 the race, and which all the more enlightened nations have since 
 copied, and at last, though in blood, has been written in the Con¬ 
 stitution of our common country. 
 
 1716 
 
G 
 
 COMPLETE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 The other section in that remarkable constitution which I wish 
 to read is as follows: 
 
 No man ought to, or of right can, be compelled to attend any religions wor¬ 
 ship or erect or support anv place of worship, or maintain any minister con¬ 
 trary to the dictates of his conscience; nor can any man be justly deprived 
 or abridged of any civil right as a citizen on account of his religious senti¬ 
 ments or peculiar mode of religious worship; and that no authority can, or 
 ought to be, vested in or assumed by any power whatever that shall in auy 
 case interfere with or in any manner control the rights of conscience in a free 
 religious worship. 
 
 Now, here was a clean departure by New England men from 
 New England laws, customs, and traditions. Here was a decla¬ 
 ration for a complete separation of church and state, while at 
 that time throughout New England, except Rhode Island alone, 
 the church and state were so united that it was difficult to distin¬ 
 guish between the two. All were taxed by law for the support of 
 the established worship, and all were compelled to wait on its 
 ministrations. 
 
 In those early New England days no one could vote unless he 
 belonged to the church, and one’s influence in public life was al¬ 
 ways measured by his observance of its rites and ceremonies. In 
 that day this was a universal condition; no power on the face of 
 the globe existed without a state religion. And to this late day 
 it remains, though in modified form, a disturbing question in 
 English politics, the great Gladstone having closed one of the 
 most brilliant careers in English history and left to his successors 
 in office the difficult and delicate work of disestablishing the 
 church. 
 
 But the men on the New Hampshire Grants took the centuries 
 by the forelock. When they flung in the face of all the world the 
 flag of their free State, they said it shall be free indeed; shall 
 forever be the dwelling place of complete civil and religious liberty. 
 They said the cliurcb shall not be supported on compulsion of law, 
 but by voluntary contribution, as it is to-day throughout all this 
 broad land. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, let it not be thought that this was the declaration 
 of a wild, wayward set of fellows with more courage than con¬ 
 science. The last clause of this free religions section shows that 
 they were not only liberty-loving but God-fearing men. 
 
 It is as follows: 
 
 Nevertheless, every sector denomination of Christians ought to observe 
 the Sabbath or Lord's day and keep up some sort of religious worship, which 
 to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God. 
 
 And the first legislature under this constitution, till special 
 statutes could be adopted, declared the laws "as they stand in the 
 Connecticut law book and in defect of such Laws the plain word 
 of God as contained in the Holy Scripture to be the law of the 
 land;” and in further proof that* these were not irreverent men, 
 the second legislature passed a law punishing blasphemy with 
 death and profane swearing, cursing, lying, and drunkenness 
 with sitting in the stocks. 
 
 CONVENTION LEARNS OF BDRGOVNE’S ADVANCE. 
 
 But enough. This constitution was adopted at Windsor, July 
 8, 1777, only thirty-nine days before the battle of Bennington; 
 and as it was being read, paragraph by paragraph, for the last 
 1716 
 
7 
 
 time, a courier arrived in hot haste from the west side with infor¬ 
 mation of the fall of Ticonderoga and that Burgoyne was advanc¬ 
 ing in heavy force along both sides of Lake Champlain. 
 
 To quote from myself on another occassion: “Here was in¬ 
 deed an awful crisis; one beyond the control of constitutions or 
 conventions and for which the only cure was bayonets and bullets, 
 which certain and effective remedy every man in that convention 
 felt that he knew how to administer; and some were for instant 
 adjournment and immediate work on Burgoyne’s flank. Allen in 
 his history says they would have adjourned only for a terrific thun¬ 
 der storm, which detained them in the building. But they did 
 not adjourn, and there, amid salvos of heavens artillery, these 
 men completed their work, laying broad and deep the foundations 
 of civil and religions liberty, and marking, as by a milestone, an 
 era in constitutional government. They appointed a committee of 
 safety, called on New Hampshire and Massachusetts for help, and 
 adjourned and hurried over the mountain to pay their respects 
 to General Burgoyne.” 
 
 CHARACTER OF NEW HAMPSHIRE MEN AT BENNINGTON. 
 
 And these are the men, these constitution makers, and such as 
 these, from the new, independent State of Vermont, who were at 
 Bennington on the memorable 16th of August with Stark, who 
 had brought over the mountains from New Hampshire brave 
 men of equal character; for among the number, and probably a 
 fair sample of the lot, was Capt. Ebenezer Webster, father of the 
 god-like Daniel, the great Constitution expounder, whose statue 
 stands alongside that of Stark in yonder Hall, and whose name 
 is writ with his high on the scroll of fame. 
 
 How little these men could have thought that this sublime portion 
 awaited them, when Daniel, a young lawyer at Portsmouth, on 
 his way to the courts in Concord, and Stark, living in the retire¬ 
 ment of his farm, met at the old hotel in Hookset, and the hero of 
 Bennington spoke of the sale of himself at one time for £40, and 
 was ready to believe Daniel was the son of Captain Webster be¬ 
 cause of the same deep, swarthy color of his face, only “blacker.” 
 
 But let us for a moment see how Stark happened to be at Ben¬ 
 nington. We left the courier at Windsor on July 8, with informa¬ 
 tion of Burgoyne’s advance, which was, of course, forwarded to 
 the New Hampshire Council of Safety, and must have been re¬ 
 ceived not later than the 11th or 12th. 
 
 ACTION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 The Vermont council of safety had learned from the affair at 
 Hubbardton that without assistance they were powerless against 
 Burgoyne’s ten thousand, flanked by merciless savages who 
 thought only of scalps, and on July 18, from Manchester, addressed 
 a formal appeal to the New Hampshire council, asking for help, 
 and reminding them that when Vermont was subjugated New 
 Hampshire herself would be on the frontier. This appeal was ad¬ 
 dressed to New Hampshire because there was no time in which to 
 reach Congress or the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental 
 Army; and the policy of Schuyler, commanding in that quarter, 
 was to draw everything from Vermont and concentrate at Still¬ 
 water, in which the independent State of Vermont did not believe. 
 
 The patriotic spirit of New Hampshire was at fever heat. Her 
 general court was in session, and she responded nobly and 
 1710 
 
8 
 
 promptly. On July 19 the president of her council notified the 
 Vermont council that orders were then issuing for three battalions 
 under General Stark to go to their assistance; and that they 
 should depend upon the people of Vermont to pro-vision them; 
 and also asking to have some proper person meet General Stark 
 at Number Four (Charlestown) to explain the situation and conduct 
 him over the mountains. 
 
 On July 30 Stark was in Charlestown, calling on the New 
 Hampshire council for kettles and bullet molds, saying there was 
 but one pair in the place. 
 
 Think of it! One pair of bullet molds for an army! 
 
 On August 2 he again wrote from Charlestown: 
 
 Brigade not yet complete. * * * Would have sent account of strength, 
 but troops arrive in small parties and are sent forward in small divisions. 
 Shall leave one company here and two on height ot land between this place 
 and Otter Creek to protect the inhabitants. 
 
 On August 6 he was at Peru, on the mountain top; on August 
 7 at Manchester, and on August 9 at Bennington. Only twenty- 
 days from the time he received orders he had recruited and 
 equipped his little army and had it on the ground. Napoleon never 
 moved with greater promptitude nor greater celerity. And he, 
 you will remember, when asked why it was that he always 
 whipped the Austrians, replied: “Because they do not under¬ 
 stand the value of five minutes of time.” It should be remem¬ 
 bered that these men from New Hampshire were not in the serv¬ 
 ice, but came up straight from their homes on call of the council. 
 But why did Stark stop at Bennington? Why did he not join 
 Schuyler at Stillwater, as at Manchester he received orders from 
 that general to do? 
 
 SCHUYLER’S ORDER TO STARK TO JOIN HIM. 
 
 Some have criticised General Stark for not obeying Schuyler’s 
 order, and others have claimed he did obey. But it should be re¬ 
 membered that Stark did not receive his authority from Congress, 
 but from the council of safety of New Hampshire, and upon ex¬ 
 press condition that he was not, unless he chose, to report to or 
 obey any Continental officer or the Continental Congress, from 
 whose service he had just resigned; that he was, in short, to cooper¬ 
 ate with the troops in Vermont or elsewhere, as he thought best for 
 the protection of the people and the annoyance of the enemy; and 
 when General Lincoln presented Schuyler’s order at Manchester, 
 he undoubtedly explained the independent nature of his command 
 and declined to be ordered by him. This is quite clear from the 
 fact that on Lincoln’s report to Schuyler and his to Washington, 
 Congress proceeded on the 19th, three days after the battle, to cen¬ 
 sure the New Hampshire council for sending Stark out in that 
 irregular way. And yet, in a letter to the Hartford Courant of 
 August 18, two days after the battle, speaking of this order, Stark 
 says: 
 
 In obedience thereto I marched with my brigade to Bennington on my way 
 to join him, leaving that part of the country (about Manchester) almost naked 
 to the ravage of the enemy. 
 
 Now, from this it would seem that while Stark had signified to 
 Lincoln that he could not be ordered by Schuyler or any other au¬ 
 thority except the New Hampshire council of safety, yet he had 
 gone to Bennington in the direction of Schuyler, not being fully 
 decided but that he might join him in case he thought it best for 
 the cause, as after the battle he in fact did. 
 
 1716 
 
9 
 
 •WHY DID STARK STOP AT BENNINGTON? 
 
 But why did he stop at Bennington, where he won a brilliant 
 victory, which was the very first streak of light in the Continen¬ 
 tal struggle? He tells us why in this same letter. In the very 
 next sentence he says: 
 
 The honorable the council then sitting at'Bennington were much against * 
 my marching with my brigade, as it was raised on their request, they appre¬ 
 hending great danger of the enemy approaching to that place, which after¬ 
 wards we found truly to be the case. They also happily agreed to postpone 
 giving orders to the militia to march. 
 
 Of course they did. They never for a moment thought of send¬ 
 ing the Vermont militia to Schuyler till the storm had swept past 
 them; and they persuaded Stark that if he would but stop with 
 them there would soon be business for them all, as there was. 
 They knew, for they had dwelt upon it so long that with them it 
 was a verity, and Stark, with quick military intuition, instantly 
 saw that Burgoyne would not move on to Stillwater without 
 reaching out, as lie passed, for the valuable stores at Bennington, 
 which were so much needed by his army. 
 
 VERMONT COUNCIL OP SAFETY FORESAW A FIGHT AT BENNINGTON. 
 
 Why, the men of this council of safety, who Stark says in 
 this same letter were just from general State convention at Wind¬ 
 sor, could not only make constitutions, having just turned out one 
 that overlapped the progressive growth of public opinion for a 
 hundred years, but they could also plan campaigns. Their whole. 
 lifetime had been a continuous campaign in defense of their 
 homes, their lands, and their lives. They took nothing for granted, 
 but were ever on the alert; and as early as July 15, at Man¬ 
 chester, foresaw the battle of Bennington. In a circular to the 
 militia officers, among other things, they said (using the capitals 
 and spelling of the original): 
 
 The Continental Stores at Bennington seem to be their present aim. Yon 
 will be supplied with provisions here on your arrival. Pray send all the 
 Troops you can Possibly Raise; we can Repulse them if we have assistance. 
 
 And again, on the 13th of August at Bennington, they sent an 
 order to Colonel Marsh, saying: 
 
 There are therefore the most Positive terms to require you without a mo¬ 
 ments Loss of time to march one-half of the Regiment under your Command 
 to this Place. 
 
 ******* 
 
 There will Doubtless be an attack at or near this Place within twenty-four 
 howers. We have the assistance of General Stark with his Brigade. You 
 will hurry what Rangers forward are Recrued. Now is the Time, Sir. 
 
 And it turned out that it was the time. 
 
 BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLB. 
 
 But I must not dwell on the battle of Bennington. It was a small 
 affair in numbers, but out of all proportion thereto in results. 
 Stark had with him from New Hampshire 800 men, and from Ver¬ 
 mont, then sparsely populated, 600 men, and probably 150 from 
 the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts, near by; only fifteen or six¬ 
 teen hundred all told. But every man was there because he wanted 
 to be. He was there to strike for liberty, for independence, and 
 against the monarchical idea in government. And what chance 
 had the savages, the Tories, the Hessian hirelings, or the King’s 
 troops against such men. among whom was a pastor and his flock, 
 and all of whom were imbued with something of the spirit of those 
 of old, of whom it was said: “ Five of you shall chase a hundred, 
 and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.” 
 
10 
 
 Verily, these men, though few, were a host, and their leader was 
 every way worthy to command them. He was no novice in war. 
 He was a veteran of that seven years’ struggle between the French 
 and English for supremacy on this continent. He was in the suc¬ 
 cessful defense of Fort William Henry in 1757; was with Lord 
 Howe in his unsuccessful assault on Ticonderoga in 1758; was with 
 Amherst at its reduction in 1759; was on the left of the line at 
 Bunker Hill where the red coats were three times repulsed, and was 
 the last to retire; was with Washington at Trenton and Prince¬ 
 ton, and in all these encounters he was brave and capable. He 
 was every inch a soldier and he knew it, and now that he had an 
 independent command he proposed to show the Continental Con¬ 
 gress, whose favor he seems not to have gained, that he could fight 
 and win; that he knew— 
 
 When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway 
 Of battle; open when, and when to close 
 The ridges of grim war. 
 
 He chafed like a caged lion all day that rainy 15th while the 
 enemy was throwing up his intrencliments, but in the morning 
 made his dispositions for attack, and in such a way that when the 
 game came down he would bag it; for, though the enemy was be¬ 
 hind breastworks, with artillery, and he had none, he was confi¬ 
 dent of victory, and victory was his, though not without the 
 “hottest” fight this soldier of a dozen battles had ever seen, and 
 of which he said in his official report that “ had every man been 
 an Alexander or Charles of Sweden he could not have behaved 
 better.” 
 
 The poet has presented Stark at Bennington in the following lines: 
 When on that field his band the Hessians fought, 
 
 Briefly he spoke before the fight began: 
 
 “ Soldiers, those Gorman gentlemen were bought 
 For four pounds eight and sevenpence per man 
 By England's king; a bargain it is thought. 
 
 Are we worth more? Let’s prove it while we can; 
 
 For wo must beat them, boys, ere set of sun, 
 
 Or my wife sleeps a widow/’—It was done. 
 
 Yes, “ it was done.” The day was ours, with four brass cannon, 
 two of which now guard the State capitol of Vermont, and the 
 other two ought to guard that of New Hampshire; 1,000 stand of 
 arms, 44 officers, and 750 prisoners, with 207 of the enemy, as 
 Stark reported. “ killed on the spot.” 
 
 THE DAY SAVED BY THE “ GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS.” 
 
 Yes, “ it was done.” But at one time the fate of the day hung 
 trembling in the balance. It was after the patriots had finished 
 Baum, aharging over his breastworks and capturing his cannon, 
 with hardly a bayonet, with only fowling-pieces, and after they 
 supposed and Stark supposed the battle was won, and after the 
 troops had scattered; some pursuing and gathering up and others 
 guarding prisoners, some seeking refreshments and others col¬ 
 lecting the spoils of victory, when of a sudden Breyman’s bugles 
 sounded his approach with a thousand fresh men and two field 
 pieces. This officer in his report says: “ The cannon were posted 
 on a road where there was a log house. This we fired into, as it 
 was occupied by rebels.” And later he says, “We then repulsed 
 them on all sides.” 
 
 It was a critical moment. Was it possible for Stark to rally his 
 scattered men, weary with the work of one battle, and fight an- 
 1718 
 
11 
 
 other? In his report he says: “ Luckily for us, Colonel Warner’s 
 regiment came tip, which put a stop to their career. We soon 
 rallied, and in a few minutes the action became very warm and 
 desperate, which lasted until night.” Not more timely nor more 
 decisive of the day was the arrival of Dessaix at Marengo or of 
 Blucher at Waterloo than was the coming of those 150 fresh 
 men of Warner’s regiment, who had marched from Manchester, 
 under Major Safford, after the battle was set at Bennington, 
 Warner himself having been all day with Stark in the fight. 
 
 Who will say what the result of that day’s business might have 
 been only for the arrival, in the very nick of time, of those “ Green 
 Mountain boys,” who with impetuous zeal went immediately into 
 action, and, as Stark himself says, “put an end to their career”? 
 Who will say what the entry by the muse of history against the 
 name of John Stark might have been, had not those fresh men 
 “put a stop to their career ” and enabled Stark to say: “We soon 
 rallied,” etc.? Probably no one can appreciate the significance of 
 this question more completely than did the old hero himself, for 
 in his letter to General Gates he says: “ Colonel Warner’s supe¬ 
 rior skill in the action was of extraordinary service to me. I 
 would be glad if he and his men could be remembered by Con¬ 
 gress.” And from that day forth General Stark always held the 
 warmest friendship toward the people of Vermont. 
 
 DISMAL STATE OF THE CONTINENTAL CAUSE. 
 
 But the battle was won, and Stark’s name and fame are now 
 the common heritage of the American people, challenging always 
 their applause and gratitude. The results of this victory were 
 indeed far reaching, and its effect upon the Colonial cause, loaded 
 down with two years of disaster and discouragement, was al¬ 
 most magical. Since the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown 
 Point by Allen in 1775 no substantial victory had crowned the 
 Continental arms in any quarter. And now Burgoyne, with a 
 splendidly equipped army, was to march from Canada to New 
 York by way of Albany and the Hudson, thereby impressing the 
 people with the invincibility of the King’s troops and the great 
 advantage of the King’s protection. Men will not long stand up 
 for a government that can not protect them. 
 
 Ticonderoga, long considered “the key to North America,”had 
 fallen before Burgoyne’s triumphal march, of which Schuyler 
 wrote: 
 
 An event so alarming has not yet happened since the contest began. 
 
 In some places it was the occasion of fasting and prayer. 
 The Tory everywhere raised his head, and the Whig was filled 
 with fear. Meanwhile Burgoyne was moving toward the Hud¬ 
 son, all the time holding in each hand tho King’s ready pardon 
 and protection for his loving subjects, and his army was all 
 the time increasing by Tory recruits, while the desertions from 
 St. Clair's army as it fell back from Ticonderoga were fearful to 
 contemplate. On July 14 General Schuyler wrote Washington 
 from Fort Edward: 
 
 I am informed a very great proportion of the inhabitants are taking pro¬ 
 tection from General Burgoyne, as most of those in this quarter are willing 
 to do. Desertions prevail and disease gains ground, nor is it to be wondered, 
 for we have neither tents, houses, barns, boards, or shelter, except a little 
 brush. Every rain that falls, and we have it in great abundance almost every 
 1716 
 
12 
 
 day, wets the men to the skin. We are, besides, in great want of every kind 
 of necessary, provision excepted. We have camp kettles so few that we can 
 not afford one to twenty men. 
 
 Washington was almost discouraged. August 7, nine days be¬ 
 fore the battle of Bennington, he wrote Schuyler: 
 
 As matters are going on, General Burgoyne will find little difficulty in pen 
 etrating to Albany. 
 
 And again he wrote: 
 
 Could we be so happy as to cut off one of hi3 detachments, supposing it 
 should not exceed four, five, or six hundred men, it would inspire the people 
 and do away with much of the present anxiety. In such an event they 
 would lose sight of past misfortunes, fly to arms, and afford every aid in 
 their power. 
 
 FAR-REACHING EFFECTS OF THE VICTORY. 
 
 While Washington was praying Stark performed; this, only on a 
 larger scale, was just what he did at Bennington, and Washington’s 
 prediction was verified. It electrified the Colonies. Handbills 
 giving the news went out from Boston. Town-criers throughout 
 all New England proclaimed it. Bonfires were built, bells were 
 rung, and again the Colonies were aglow with a spirit of patriotism 
 and valor. 
 
 All had been darkness, but light was breaking. Burgoyne’s 
 army was no longer looked upon as invincible. Stark had revealed 
 the fact that it could be beaten, and badly beaten, too; that In¬ 
 dians, Tories, Hessians, Canadian volunteers, and British regulars 
 could all be overwhelmed together. 
 
 The wise now prudence from the wise acquire. 
 
 And one brave hero fans another’s fire. 
 
 Instead of desertions there were now enlistments. Not only this, 
 but no more Tories rallied to Burgoyne’s standard. They did not 
 contemplate with satisfaction the treatment of their brethren taken 
 prisoners at Bennington, who were tied two and two -with bed 
 cords, furnished by the Bennington housewives, and then fastened 
 to a horse and marched through the streets amid the jeers and gibes 
 and thrusts of the indignant crowd. The victory at Bennington 
 wrought a complete change in the atmosphere of the northern 
 department. The Indians?even took it in. Governor Clinton 
 wrote: 
 
 Since that affair not an Indian has been heard of; the scalping has ceased. 
 
 And later 250 Indians in a body left Burgoyne’s army and 
 joined the American forces. 
 
 When Washington heard the news from Bennington he said: 
 “ One more such stroke and we shall have no great cause of anxiety 
 as to the designs of Great Britain.” And in writing Putnam he 
 expressed the hope that New England would follow up the blow 
 struck by Stark and crush Burgoyne. And she did; October 17 
 told the story. 
 
 But he received his death blow the 16th of August. On the 18th, 
 two days after the battle, in a letter to Lord Germain, explaining 
 the difficulties that beset him, he said, among other things: 
 
 The Hampshire Grants in particular, a country unpeopled and almost un¬ 
 known in the last war. now abounds in the most warlike and rebellious race 
 of the continent, and hangs like a gathering storm on my left. 
 
 Burgoyne was both surprised and stupefied. The Baroness 
 Riedesel, then with her husband in the British camp, well ex¬ 
 plained the changed condition when she wrote: “This unfortu¬ 
 nate event paralyzed at once our operations.” 
 
 1716 
 
13 
 
 Could Bnrgoyne have foreseen the storm that was gathering for 
 him at Stillwater, set in motion by Stark’s inspiriting example at 
 Bennington, and have pushed forward without delay, he might 
 have connected with Sir Henry Clinton on the lower Hudson, or, 
 acting seasonably, he might have fallen back on Canada. 
 
 But after this unexpected blow at Bennington he seemed to drift 
 in a bewildered, aimless way, till Warner, with his “ Green Moun¬ 
 tain Boys,” had cut off all chance of retreat by capturing the 
 transports on the lakes, and at last the most powerful army that 
 ever entered America from Canada was surrendered and largely 
 absorbed into American citizenship. And Burgoyne, the pet of 
 the ministry, went home in disgrace and out of sight forever. 
 And John Stark was the man who dealt him the stunning blow 
 that ended his career. 
 
 STARK’8 FRIENDSHIP FOR VERMONT. 
 
 But enough. Stark never forgot how the Vermonters helped 
 him out on that greatest day of his life; and in that prolonged and 
 varying struggle of the people of Vermont for admission into the 
 Union, which lasted in all fourteen years, and was full of novel 
 situations and dangerous complications, Stark was all the time 
 their consistent and faithful mend. And when by a certain act 
 of Congress, in 1781, he supposed Vermont was to be admitted as 
 a State, in honor of the surrender of Cornwallis he fired a salute 
 of fourteen guns at Saratoga, where he was in command, one be¬ 
 ing for the new State of Vermont. 
 
 It is true, however, when the twelve towns in New York and 
 the thirty-five in New Hampshire were so attracted by the con¬ 
 stitution” and government of Vermont that they left their alle¬ 
 giance to their respective States and asked to be annexed to the 
 new, independent State of Vermont, Stark, who was then in 
 command at Albany, was much troubled on account of his Ver¬ 
 mont friends. He could not consent to the dismemberment of his 
 own State, and his official position compelled him to disapprove 
 the encroachment upon New York. This somewhat strained 
 but did not break the friendly tie that bound him to Vermont. 
 
 When he supposed Vermont was admitted as a State he wrote 
 Governor Chittenden as follows: 
 
 Albany, August S7 , 1781. 
 
 My Dear Sir: I only waited the prudent and happy determination of Con¬ 
 gress to congratulate you upon tho interesting and important decision in your 
 favor. Be assured, sir, that no intervening circumstance on the grand politi¬ 
 cal system of America since the war began has given me more real pleasure 
 than to hear of your acceptance into the Union—a measure that I do now and 
 always did think was highly compatible with the real interest of thecountrv. 
 It is with difficulty I can determine in my own mind why it has been post¬ 
 poned to this late hour; but perhaps Congress had motives that we are 
 strangers to. The best and wisest mortals are liable to err. 
 
 I am very happy to acquaint you that the people in this city show very much 
 of the highest solicitude upon the matter, fully convinced that to be separate 
 will be more for the interest of both States than to be united. 
 
 ***** o * 
 
 To have been connected with New Hampshire is what many in the State 
 would have been very sorry for, as very inconvenient and expensive for both 
 bodies of people, and no real good resulting from such connection. There¬ 
 fore, I am of the opinion that every man who consulted the public interest 
 must lie an advocate for separation; for had they been connected there would 
 have ever been a jealousy between the two States which would have been 
 infallibly dangerous to both. But that jealousy, by the separation, must en¬ 
 tirely subside, and New Hampshire and Vermont live in perfect friendship as 
 sister States. 
 
 1716 
 
14 
 
 That Vermont In Its government may be happy and a stranger to internal 
 jars is the ardent wish, my dear sir, of your most obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN STARK. 
 
 To Governor Chittenden. 
 
 The action of Congress referred to by Stark was for the appoint¬ 
 ment of a commission, which Vermont had reasons for believing 
 would divide the State along the mountain range between New 
 York and New Hampshire, and she promptly rejected the Con¬ 
 gressional plan, refusing in a most spirited manner to accept 
 anvthing short of unconditional admission. 
 
 This was in 1781, and Stark wondered why admission “had been 
 postponed to that late hour.” Vermont was not admitted till 
 1791, ten years thereafter; ten years of struggling and waiting, of 
 diplomacy and war, of border raids and internal tumults, the 
 story of which would read more like romance than a plain recital 
 of actual facts. But this is aside. 
 
 New Hampshire is fortunate in the selection of characters for 
 Statuary Hall. Stark and Webster are great names in the Gran¬ 
 ite State, great throughout the country, and great with all Eng¬ 
 lish-speaking peoples. 
 
 VEHMONT CONGRATULATES NEW HAMPSHIRE AND WELCOMES HER HEROES. 
 
 Vermont congratulates New Hampshire, and welcomes these 
 her sons in commemorative marble to the companionship of the 
 great in marble and bronze from other States. The hero of Ticon- 
 deroga from Vermont welcomes the hero of Bennington from New 
 Hampshire. There let them stand, typical soldiers of typical States, 
 contemporaries in life and in the sculptured renown of death, 
 The eminent lawyer, jurist, and statesman, Jacob Collamer, who 
 came nearer making good the place of Webster in the Senate than 
 any other man of his time, now welcomes that great lawyer, 
 orator, and statesman to that silent, illustrious assemblage. 
 
 Vermont will always welcome these men; for Stark was with 
 her in war and Webster counseled her in peace, his words still 
 ringing throughout the State from the summit of the Green 
 Mountains, where, standing beside a log cabin in 1840, near the 
 place where Stark crossed on his way to Bennington, he spoke, 
 making clear then, as always, the points of a political faith in 
 which Vermont is as steadfast as her heavenly neighbor the North 
 Star, and her light equally constant. 
 
 Yes, Vermont, in common with all the States of this now “ glo¬ 
 rious Union,” welcomes the return of Daniel Webster to the Capi¬ 
 tol, and there in yonder hall let him forever stand amid the undy¬ 
 ing echoes of those weighty words which have not only made 
 his name immortal, but which have been burnt into the very 
 hearts of the American people by the fires of civil war, “ Liberty 
 and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” [Prolonged 
 applause.] 
 
 1718 
 
 O