[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I will admit, I went out of my way to get to this. I was visiting here rain or shine. Why? I like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and during one of the episodes, Time Chasers, everyone was transported back to the Revolution during a battle. It was this battle. So, for all of the MSTies out there, Did you see the game last night? I mean Liberty!
For the record no crashed airplane was found after the battle, Bob Evil was not found crushed underneath it and there are no tales of a hockey-haired skinny jeans wearing guy saving the day for the Colonial side. Actually I’m not sure if Matthew Bruch’s character did that, he just wanted a horse I think to chase Bob Evil down. It was also very tempting on this trip to go to Castleton and see if I could find the t-shirt that Bruch wore too. But I knew that the college had stopped making them (why? MSTies can be a very powerful force with lots of disposable income) so I didn’t bother.[/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1575309872201-1ec52708-f8b8-8″][vc_column_text]And now onto more serious matters. This is the largest battle ever fought in Vermont and pretty much the only battle ever fought in Vermont. Bennington was fought in New York for the record. John Burgoyne had invaded New York with 8,000 men in 1777. Standing in his way was Arthur St. Clair’s men, stations at Fort Ticonderoga. Recovering the fort was an objective for Burgoyne and he managed to get his artillery on the hills overlooking the fort without incident.
This forced St. Clair to evacuate the fort, which he did on July 5 with his 2,000 men and march his men into Vermont. One of Burgoyne’s generals Simon Fraser set out in pursuit the following day with about 1,000 men. It had been a grueling march for St. Clair’s men and by the time they reached Hubbardton they needed rest and to wait for the rear guard to arrive.
Unfortunately the rear guard did not arrive and St. Clair continued on leaving only Seth Warner’s Green Mountain Boys and a New Hampshire regiment under Nathan Hale at Hubbardton to wait for them. Warner set his camp out on Monument Hill and deployed pickets on the road to Fort Ticonderoga.
Fraser’s men were only about 3 miles away with Baron Riedesel assuming command but his 1,500 men were not there yet. Fraser had planned on launching an attack the following morning and had his men on the march at 3 AM. The Colonial rearguard under Ebenezer Francis had finally caught up and were under orders to head to Rutland. As they were forming up to march Fraser’s men arrived.
Francis’ men quickly formed into a line and stopped the initial British assault. Fraser tried to flank Francis on the left but exposed his own left. Hale’s men began to press Fraser there. But now von Riedesel arrived with his men and hit the Colonial center. Some of the militia began to break.
By this point St. Clair was aware that fighting was going on and redirected the nearest units to Hubbardton to help. When they arrived they found many militiamen fleeing. The Colonials fell back to Monument Hill and managed to repulse several British assaults. It was only von Riedesel’s grenadiers that managed to break the Colonial position by turning the flanks. The Colonial troops fled to avoid envelopment. Francis was killed and Hale was captured.
Survivors fled to Castleton to regroup. von Riedesel left to continue his campaign leaving Fraser with hundreds of prisoners and few men to handle them. He eventually managed to get the prisoners to Fort Ticonderoga. The Colonists lost about 700-800 men while the British lost around 22o men. The battlefield today is preserved as the Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]