The original cache that was here was archived shortly after I found it on 4/5/23. After finding the original container still snugly in its spot a week later, I decided I couldn't let such a great family friendly/educational cache go to waste. Take the time when you're here to walk the informational trail, enjoy the views and visit the museum if it's open (May-October).
The original cache was placed on 4/11/2012 and the FTF honors went to MisplacedMusicians on 4/13/12. A new RITR logsheet has been added to replace the scrap notebook piece that was here.
The Facts:
The Hubbardton Battle monument was erected in 1859 by Hubbardton and vicinity citizens. It was restored by the State of Vermont in 1991.
Location. 43° 41.705′ N, 73° 8.319′ W. Marker is in Hubbardton, Vermont, in Rutland County. Marker is on Monument Hill Road, on the left when traveling north.Under the cover of darkness, General Arthur St. Clair evacuated his troops from Fort Ticonderoga. As with any nighttime withdrawal, when thousands of men are involved, there is confusion and some disgruntlement. “Such a retreat was never heard of since the creation of the world,” wrote one soldier named Cogan, a member of Colonel Cilley’s Ist New Hampshire Regiment, to General Stark a few days later. “Such order surprised both officers and soldiers . . . they left all the continental cloathing there; in short every article that belonged to the army….” Not realizing the odds against them or the relative strength of the forces on each side, some of St. Clair’s men were belligerent, complaining because they had not stood and fought. Nevertheless, the last of American troops moved out of the south gate of Mount Independence at about 4 a.m. on July 6.
The supply train, the baggage, and the genuinely sick, supported by one regiment under the exceptionally competent Colonel Pierce Long, moved south up the Lake to Skenesborough (now Whitehall, New York). After crossing the floating bridge the remainder of the garrison assembled at Mount Independence. After the last of St. Clair’s troops moved out of the south gate, they marched on the military road, a crude cart track not suitable for hauling artillery, southeast across the hills and through the forests, toward Hubbardton, Castleton, and Skenesborough. St. Clair planned to reunite his forces, baggage, supplies, and sick at Skenesborough. Later he would join General Philip Schuyler’s forces south of Fort Edward, where it was expected that another stand against the enemy would be made.
The stout boom across Lake Champlain would, St. Clair undoubtedly believed, delay the British naval flotilla from pursuing him at once by water. A cannon, manned by a small detachment on the Mount Independence side, was to sweep the bridge and delay any enemy crossing in pursuit of his troops.
The Hubbardton military road, which had been cut through the woods only the year before, skirted small settlements and occasional clearings. From Orwell, the location of Mount Independence, it extended generally southeastward, avoiding the swampy northern end of Lake Bomoseen, then through the hills to Hubbardton (now East Hubbardton) to join the older Castleton road leading south.
Colonel Ebenezer Francis and his 11th Massachusett'sContinental Regiment encamped along this hilltop on the night of July 6th. To the left, down the hill toward the Selleck cabin, were Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys; to the right was the rest of Colonel Nathan Hale’s 2nd New Hampshire regiment.
On the morning of July 7th British troops, in hot pursuit of the American forces, climbed this steep slope to the crest of Monument Hill. Hampered by brush and fallen trees, the British, in their bright red coats, made excellent targets for the Americans positioned near a stone wall along the crest. As the British continued their assault up the hill, the Americans eventually were forced back across the road behind you.
The Cache:
You're looking for a film canister type container with bison tube inside. BYOP! If you've been here before, nothing has changed.
Congrats to V 2.0 FTF BellyRot on 4/22/23!