Today marks the 248th anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle of Hubbardton, a claimed battlefield win for the British but a strategic steppingstone to the upcoming patriot victories at Bennington and Saratoga, Vermont State Historic Sites reports.
About 5 AM on July 7, 1777 American pickets in the Sargent Hill gap spotted British scouts and fired the first shots of the battle. Heavy fighting began by 7:00 a.m. British troops pursuing the American forces climbed the steep west slope to the top of Monument Hill.
British Lt. William Digby recorded they found “the enemy strongly posted on the top of a high hill, with breast works before them, and great trees cut across to prevent our approach.”
American fifer Ebenezer Fletcher recalled, “Every man was trying to secure himself behind girdled trees, which were standing on the place of action.” British Maj. Robert Grant and a Light Infantry advance force attacked the Americans encamped near Sucker Brook, where early American action killed Grant and 21 others.
The battle wore on. The Americans took up a position behind the high log and stone fence across Castleton Road to the east, being forced there by the British. After heavy fighting, remnants of the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment moved back across the road, flanking the British to the north. British Brig. Gen. Simon Fraser, his left flank under attack, sent word to his rear guard to advance quickly. As the Americans were nearly winning the battle, part of Maj. Gen. Baron Friedrich von Riedesel’s German Brunswicker force arrived.
“[T]hey advanced upon the enemy with fixed bayonets and to the sound of music,” he recorded, disrupting the American flanking attempt. Col. Ebenezer Francis was killed by a British volley near the end of the battle. Von Reidesel, impressed by the bravery and gallantry of Francis and Seth Warner, ensured Francis received a Christian burial on the battlefield with full military honors.
The American soldiers scattered to the east over Pittsford Ridge, the hill you see across the road. Many later regrouped in Rutland or elsewhere and moved on to Manchester, Vermont.
Around 10 AM the battle ended with a running fight along the top of Pittsford Ridge. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The British and Germans claimed victory because they held the field. The American rear guard accomplished its mission, engaging the enemy in a fierce battle that stopped pursuit of the main American army.
“Thank the troops in my name, for behaving so well as they did at Hubbardton–.” Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, American Northern Department commander. The Battle of Hubbardton will be commemorated the weekend of July 12 and 13, 2025 with the annual living history weekend.