Exerpt from "Liberty!" The American Revolution by Thomas Fleming, Pengquin, 1997 p.239 "Unlucky Major General Arthur St. Clair, surrendered Fort Ticonderoga to save his Continentals from capture - "He toyed with the possibility of replicating Bunker Hill in the northern woods etc." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The principal characters involved in this military drama on the American side were Colonel Seth Warner, commander of the entire rear guard at Hubbardton as well as his own Green Mountain Boy Continental regiment and some Vermont militia; Colonel Ebenezer Francis, commander of the rear guard during its march from Mount Independence to Hubbardton, as well as his own 11th Massachusetts Continental regiment; and Colonel Nathan Hale, commander of the 2nd New Hampshire Continental regiment, who was also in command of a large group of invalids, walking sick, and stragglers. The total number of rear guard troops is estimated to have been nearly 1200. http://www.cet.middlebury.edu/mcgill/battle/intro.html Subject: Seth Warner, Colonel in the American Army Source: Source: American Military Biography of the Officers of the Revolution, pub. 1823 COLONEL SETH WARNER p.183 Among the persons who have performed important services to the State of Vermont, Colonel Seth Warner deserves to be remembered with respect. He was born at Woodbury, in the colony of Connecticut about the year 1744, of honest and respectable parents. Without any other advantages for an education than what were to be found in the common schools of the town, he was early distinguished by the solidity and extent of his understanding. About the year 1763, his parents purchased a tract of land in Bennington, and soon after re- moved to that town with their family. In the uncultivated state of the country, in the fish, with which the rivers and ponds were furnished and in the game, with which the woods abounded, young Warner found a variety of objects suited to his favorite inclinations and pursuits; and he soon became distinguished as a fortunate and indefatigable hunter. His father, Captain Benjamin Warner, had a strong inclination to medicinal inquiries and pursuits; and agreebly to the state of things in new settlements, had to look for many of his medicines in the natural virtues of the plants and roots, that were indigenous to the country. His son Seth frequently attended him in these botanical excursions, contracted something of his father's taste for the business, and acquired more information of the nature and properties of the indigenous plants and vegetables, than any other man in the country. By this kind of knowledge he became useful to the families in the new settlements, and ad- ministered relief in many cases, where no other medical assistance could at that time be procured. By such visits and practice, he became known to most of the families of the west side of the Green Mountains; and was generally esteemed by them a man highly useful, both on account of his information and humanity. p.184 About the year 1763, a scene began to open, which gave a new turn to his active and enter- prising spirit. The lands on which the settlements were made had been granted by the gov- ernors of New Hampshire. The government of New York claimed jurisdiction to the eastward as far as the Connecticut River; and announced to the inhabitants that they were within the territory of New York, and had no legal title to the lands on which they had settled. The controversy became very serious between the two governments and after some years spent in altercation, New York procured a decision of King George, in their favor. This order was dated July 20, 1764 and declared that "the western banks of the river Connecticut, from where it enters the province of Massachusetts Bay, as far north as the 45th degree of north- ern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two provinces of New Hampshire and New York." No soon was this decree procured, than the governor of New York proceeded to make new grants of lands, which the settlers had before fairly bought of the crown, and which had been chartered to them in the king's name and authority by the royal governor of New Hampshire. All became a scene of disorder and danger. The new patentees under New York, brought actions of ejection against the settlers. The decisions of the courts at Albany were always in favor of the New York patentees; and nothing remained for the inhabitants but to buy their lands over again, or to give up the labors and earnings of their whole lives to the new claimers under the titles from New York. In this scene of oppression and distress, the settlers discovered the firm and vigorous spirit of manhood. All that was left to them, was either to yield up their whole property to a set of unfeeling land jobbers, or to defend themselves and property by force. They wisely and virtuously chose the latter; and by a kind of common consent, Ethan Allen and Seth Warner became their leaders. No man's abilities and talents could have been better suited to this business than Warner's. When the authority of New York proceeded with an armed force to attempt to execute their laws, Warner met them with a body of Green Mountain Boys, properly armed, full of resolution and so formidable in numbers and courage, that the governor of New York was obliged to give up this method of proceeding. When the sheriff came to extend his executions, and eject the settlers from their farms, Warner would not suffer him to proceed. Spies were employed to procure intelligence and promote division among the people; when any of them were taken, Warner caused them to be tried by some of the most discreet of the people; and if declared guilty, to be tied to a tree and whipped. An office came to take Warner by force; he considered it as an affair of open hostility and engaged, wounded and disarmed the officer, but with the honor and spirit of a soldier, spared the life of the enemy he had subdued. These services appeared in a very different light to the settlers and to the government of New York - the first considered him as an eminent patriot and to the other he appeared as the first of villains and rebels. To put an end to all further exertions and to bring him to an exemplary punishment, the government of New York, on March 9th 1774, passed an act of outlawry against him and a proclamation was issued by W. Tryon, governor of New York offering a reward of fifty pounds to any person who should apprehend Warner. These pro- ceedings of New York were beheld by him with contempt; and they had no effect upon the settlers, than to unite them more firmly in their opposition to that government and in their attachment to their own patriotic leader thus wantonly proscribed. In services of so dangerous and important a nature, Warner was engaged from the year 1765 to 1775. That year a scene of the highest magnitude and consequence opened upon the world. On the 19th of April, the American war was begun by the British troops at Lexington. Happily for the country, it was commenced with such circumstances of insolence and cruelty as left no room for the people of America to doubt what was the course which they ought to pursue. The time was come in which total subjection, or the horrors of war must take place. All America preferred the latter; and the people of the New Hampshire Grants immediately undertook to secure the British forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Ethan Allen and Seth Warner engaged in the business. Allen took the command and Warner raised a body of excellent troops in the vicinity of Bennington and both marched against Ticonderoga. They surprised and took that fortress on the morning of the tenth of May; and Warner was sent the same day with a detachment of the troops to secure Crown Point. He effected the business, and secured the garrison, with all the war-like stores, for the use of the continent. The same year Warner received a commission from congress to raise a regiment, to assist in the reduction of Canada. He engaged in the business with his usual spirit of activity; raised his regiment chiefly among his old acquaintance and friends, the Green Mountain Boys and joined the army under the command of General Montgomery. The Honorable Samuel Safford of Bennington was his lieutenant colonel. Their regiment conducted with great spirit and acquired high applause in the action at Longuiel, in which the troops designed for the relief of St. Johns were totally defeated and dispersed, chiefly by the troops under the command of Colonel Warner. The campaign ended about the 20th of November in the course of which Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Chamblee, St. Johns, Montreal and a fleet of eleven sail of vessels had been captured by the American arms. No man in this campaign had acted with more spirit and enterprise than Colonel Warner. The weather was now become severe and Warner's men were too miserably clothed to bear a winter's campaign in the severe climate of Canada. p.186 They were accordingly now discharged by Montgomery, with particular marks of his respect, and the most affectionate thanks for their meritorious services. Warner returned with his men to the New Hampshire Grants, but his mind was more than ever engaged in the cause of his country. Montgomery with a part of his army, pressed on to Quebec, and on December 31st was slain in an attempt to carry the city by storm. This event gave an alarm to all the northern part of the colonies; and it became necessary to raise a re-enforcement to march to Quebec in the midst of winter. The difficulty of the business suited the genius and ardor of Warner's mind. He was at Woodbury in Connecticut when he heard the news of Montgomery's defeat and death; he instantly repaired to Bennington, raised a body of men and marched in the midst of the winter to join the American troops at Quebec. The campaign during the winter proved ex- tremely distressing to the Americans: in want of confortable clothing, barracks and provi- sions, most of them were taken by the smallpox and several died. At the opening of the spring in May 1776, a large body of British troops arrived at Quebec to relieve the garrison. The American troops were forced to abandon the blockade, with circumstances of great distress and confusion. Warner chose the most difficult part of the business, remaining always with the rear, picking up the lame and diseased, assisting and encouraging those who were the most unable to take care of themselves, and generally kept but a few miles in advance of the British, who were rapidly pursuing the retreating Americans from post to post. By steadily pur- suing this conduct, he brought off most of the invalids; and with this corps of the infirm and diseased, he arrived at Ticonderoga, a few days after the body of the army had taken possession of that post. p.186 cont'd Highly approving his extra-ordinary exertions, the American Congress on July 5, 1776, the day after they had declared independence, resolved to raise a regiment out of the troops which had served with reputation in Canada. Warner was appointed colonel, Safford, as a lieutenant colonel of this regiment; and most of the other officers were persons who had been distinguished by their opposition to the claims and proceedings of New York. By this appointment he was again placed in a situation perfectly agreeable to his inclination and genius; and in conformity to his orders he repaired to Ticonderoga, where he remained till the close of the campaign. On January 16, 1777, the convention of the New Hampshire Grants declared the whole district to be a sovereign and independent state, to be known and distinguished ever after by the name of Vermont. The committee of safety in New York were then sitting and on January 20th they announced the transaction to congress, complaining in high terms of the conduct of Vermont, censuring it as a dangerous revolt and opposition to lawful authority; and at the same time remonstrating against the proceedings of congress in appointing Warner to the p.187 command of a regiment independent of the legislature, and within the bounds of that state; "especially, said they, as this Colonel Warner hath been constantly and invariably opposed to the legislature of this state, and hath been, on that account, proclaimed an outlaw by the late government thereof. It is absolutely necessary to recall the commissions given to Colonel Warner and the officers under him, as othing else will do us justice." No measures were taken by congress at that time, either to interfere in the civil contest between the two states or to remove the colonel from his command. Anxious to effect this purpose, the convention of New York wrote further on the subject, on March 1st, and among other things declared, "that there was not the least probability that Colonel Warner could raise such a number of men as would be an object of public concern." Congress still declined to dismiss so valuable an officer from their service. On June 23rd congress was obliged to take up the controversy between New York and Vermont; but instead of proceeding to disband Colonel Warner's regiment, on June 30th, they resolved: "that the reason which induced congress to form that corps, was, that many officers of the different states who had served in Canada and alledged that they could soon raise a regiment, but were then unprovided for, might be reinstated in the service of the United States." Nothing can give us a more just idea of the sentiments which the American congress entertained of the patriotic and military virtues of Colonel Warner, than their refusing to give him up to the repeated solicitations and demand of so respectable and powerful a state as that of New York. The American army stationed at Ticonderoga were forced to abandon that fortress, on July 6, 1777, in a very precipitate and irregular manner. Colonel Warner with his regiment re- treated along the western part of Vermont, through the towns of Orwell, Sudbury and Hubbardton. At the last of these towns, the advanced corps of the British army overtook the rear of the American troops on the morning of July 7th. The American army, all but part of three regiments, were gone forward; these were part of Hale's, Francis' and Warner's regiments. The enemy attacked them with superior numbers and the highest prospect of success. Warner and Francis opposed them with great spirit and vigor; and no officers or troops could have discovered more courage and firmness than they displayed through the whole action. Large re-enforcements of the enemy arriving, it became impossible to make any effectual opposition. Francis fell in a most honorable discharge of his duty. Hale surrendered with his regiment. Surrounded on every side by the enemy, but calm and undaunted, Colonel Warner fought his way through all opposition, brought off the troops that refused to capitulate along with Hale, checked the enemy in their pursuit, and contrary to all expectation, arrived safe with his troops at Manchester. p. 158 To the northward of that town the whole country was deserted. The colonel determined to make a stand at that place; encouraged by his example and firmness, a body of the militia joined him; and he was once more, in a situation to protect the inhabitants, harrass the enemy and break up the advanced parties. On the 16th of August the vicinity of Bennington became the seat of a memorable battle. Colonel Baum had been despatched by General Burgoyne to attack the American Troops and destroy the magazines at Bennington. General Stark who commanded at that place, had intelligence of the approach of the enemy; and sent orders on the morning of the 16th to Colonel Warner at Manchester, to march immediately to his assistance. In the mean time Stark with the troops which were assembled at Bennington, had attacked the enemy under Col. Baum, and after a severe action had captured the whole body. Just as the action was finished, intelligence was received that a large re-enforcement of the enemy had arrived. Fatigued and exhausted by so long and severe an action, Stark was doubtful whether it was possible for his troops to enter immediately upon another battle with a fresh body of the enemy. At that critical moment, Warner arrived with his troops from Manchester. Mortified that he had not been in the action he urged Stark immediately to commence another action. Stark consented and the colonel instantly led on his men to battle. The Americans rallied from every part of the field, and the second action became as fierce and decisive as the first. The enemy gave way in every direction; great numbers of them were slain, and the rest saved themselves altogether by the darkness of the night. Stark ascribed the last victory mery much to Colonels Warner and Herrick; and spoke in the highest terms of their superior information and activity, as that to which he principally owed his success. The success at Bennington gave a decisive turn to the affairs of that campaign. Stark, Warner and the other officers, with their troops, joined the army under Gen. Gates. Victory everywhere followed the attempts of the northern army; and the campaign terminated in the surrender of Burgoyne and his whole army, at Saratoga, on October 17, 1777. The contest in the northern department being in a great measure decided by the capture of Burgoyne, Warner had no further opportunity to discover his prowess of defence of his beloved state; but served occasionally at different places on Hudson's River, as the circumstances of the war required. Depairing of success in the northern parts, the enemy carried the war into the southern states; and neither New York or Vermont any longer re- mained the places of distinguished enterprise. But such had been the fatigues and exertions of the colonel, that when he returned to his family in Bennington, his constitution, naturally firm and vigorous, appeared to be worn down; and nature declined under a complication of disorders, occasioned by excessive labors and sufferings he had passed through. Most of the men who have been engaged with uncommon ardor in the cause of their country, have been so swallowed up with the patriotic passion, as to neglect that attention to their private interests which other men pursue as the ruling passion. Thus it proved with Colonel Warner; intent at first upon saving the state, and afterwards upon saving a country, his mind was so entirely engaged in those pursuits, that he had not made that provision for his family, which to most of the politicians and land-jobbers was the ultimate end of all their measures and exertions. With a view the better to support his family he removed to Wood- bury; where in the year 1785 he ended an active and useful life, in high estimation among his friends and countrymen. His family had derived little or no estate from his services. After his death they applied to the general assembly of Vermont for a grant of land. The assembly, with a spirit of justice and generosity, remembered the services of Colonerl Warner, took up the petition and granted a valuable tract of land to his widow and family. A measure highly honorable to the memory of Colonel Warner and of that assembly (see also Williams' Vermont.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth