The Pawlett Historical Society and Rupert Historical Society will co-host a talk,
‘The Great Bennington Battle and Vermont,’ with acclaimed historian Howard Coffin, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, at the Pawlet Town Hall, 122 School Street,
Pawlet.
The surrender at Saratoga of a British army under John Burgoyne, now almost 250
years ago, has long been called the decisive battle of the American Revolution.
But perhaps Burgoyne was doomed after the Battle of Bennington, a bloody day
of fighting along the Vermont border that happened two months before
Saratoga?
Coffin will discuss the history-changing Burgoyne campaign, focusing on the
dramatic battle of Great Bennington—a Vermont battle as well as a New York
one. He will also review heroes John Stark and Seth Warner and the Vermont
Constitution, itself about to turn 250 years old.
A seventh-generation Vermonter, Howard Coffin is the author of four books on
the Civil War: Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s
Vermont; Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War; Nine Months to Gettysburg;
and The Battered Stars, as well as Guns Over the Champlain Valley, a book on
military sites along the Champlain Corridor.
This free event starts at 12 noon with a display of the first coinage minted in the
United States, and works by noted photographers Neil Rappaport and John Pelton
from our towns’ Bicentennial events in 1976. Be sure to mingle after Coffin’s
presentation for an ice cream social with Stewart’s Ice Cream. This event is
accessible to all, and made possible by the Vermont Humanities Speakers Bureau.
For details on the event, contact Rose Smith at 802-645-0306 or
roseksmith1925@gmail.com. For information on Vermont Humanities, visit
vermonthumanities.org.