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July 7, 1777
[H2]Battle of Hubbardton[/H2] On this day in 1777, British and Patriot forces in the Saratoga campaign engage in the only battle fought in Vermont territory during the War for Independence, at Hubbardton, near Ticonderoga. Hessians and British under the command of German General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel, Freiherr zu Eisenbach, and British Brigadier General Simon Fraser surprised the Americans, from Major General Arthur St. Clair's command, in retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, in New York. St. Clair had left behind Colonel Seth Warner's Green Mountain Boys, Colonel Ebenezer Francis' 11th Massachusetts Regiment and Colonel Nathan Hale's 2nd New Hampshire Regiment in Hubbardton to cover the rest of his army's retreat to the southeast. On the morning of July 7, the British launched a surprise attack on the Patriot rear guard at Hubbardton led by Simon Fraser's Advance Corps. The Patriots managed to hold their position at nearby Monument Hill for over an hour until Baron Riedesel led his hymn-singing Brunswick Grenadiers into the fray. The disciplined German force gained the field, and Colonel Francis lost his life to wounds inflicted during the conflict. Nonetheless, the rear guard succeeded in its goal of covering St. Clair's retreat to Castleton, Vermont, and successfully joined the retreat themselves, despite heavy losses: 41 killed, 96 wounded and 234 captured. Simon Fraser died exactly three months later at the Battle of Bemis Heights, where Riedesel's wife nursed his wounds. After British General John Burgoyne's formal surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, the Patriots captured both Riedesels. Later, Luise Charlotte Riedesel's memoirs of her experiences during the War for Independence were published in German and English.
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"Forty years after a battle it is easy for a non-combatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it."
-Herman Melville
Arthur St. Clair must have made a career of being surprised.
Besides this engagement (thank you Schwer for posting it), he lost big to Michikiniqua (little Turtle) of the Miami Confederacy of Ohio. A win so big that it was celebrated as "The Battle of the Thousand Slain".
When Anthony Wayne brought his trained Legion to fight the Ohios, Little Turtle showed his wisdom by advising that this general was too dangerous.
Naturally, he was ignored and the tribes lost really big.
"When I must choose an officer to perform an act that requires a good brain, everything else being equal, I choose the one with the biggest nose." - Napoleon
"If you'll believe that, you'll believe anything." - the Duke of Wellington
Originally Posted By Gusington
Thanks Schwerpunkt.
Originally Posted By KevlarSocks
Good concise review. Could we interest you in writing some longer historical reviews for the site?
Thanks guys. Well...I have to give credit where credit is due. I get these reviews from the HistoryChannel website. I would be interested in writing longer summaries--especially for major battles that happened 'this day in history'. But due to time constraints, I go to HistoryChannel's website and retrieve their summaries.
"Forty years after a battle it is easy for a non-combatant to reason about how it ought to have been fought. It is another thing personally and under fire to direct the fighting while involved in the obscuring smoke of it."
-Herman Melville
