Day of Battle

New York: Ives Washburn, Inc, 1958. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good/Fair. viii, 365, [3] pages. Signed by the author on the fep. Includes RARE associated bookmark, approximately 4 inches by 7.5 inches, printed on one side only, made for the book with "Map showing the scene of action" depicted on it. DJ has wear, tears, soiling and chips. Frederic Franklyn Van de Water (1890-1968) was an American journalist and writer. He was an honorary sergeant in the New York State Troopers. In 1924, he traveled in the West Indies investigated and reported about rum pirates and Chinese smugglers. He wrote for Harper's Magazine. He wrote short stories for magazines such as Collier's. In the 1949 historical novel The Green Cockade (also published as Catch a Falling Star) Van de Water described the complicated history of Vermont during the American War of Independence - with Ethan Allen waging in effect a double war of independence, both sharing in the common struggle against the British but also struggling to keep Vermont independent against the annexation efforts of New York State. The author wrote that 'This is the fourth and final novel in a cycle designed to present early Vermont's desperate struggle for self-ownership." Day of Battle covers Vermont's heroic effort, following the fall of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777, to equip an army to resist the British. A most devoted recruit to this cause was handsome, young Lieutenant Jeremy Shaw, homeward bound to New York State from his term of service with the army. Caught up by the rugged Vermonters' spirit when he reached Bennington, he decided there was still something worth fighting for and a chance for ultimate victory. He was not nearly so sure of Cynthia, ward of a wealthy Tory, with whom he had a fateful meeting during his journey southward. Jeremy played a significant part in the work of the council of determined Vermonters, including Thomas Chittenden and Ira Allen, which succeeded in raising a militia, enlisting the aid of New Hampshire and General John Stark, and routing a far better equipped British force at Bennington. The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, part of the Saratoga campaign, that took place on August 16, 1777, on a farm in Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles from its namesake, Bennington, Vermont. A rebel force of 2,000 men, primarily New Hampshire and Massachusetts militiamen, led by General John Stark, and reinforced by Vermont militiamen led by Colonel Seth Warner and members of the Green Mountain Boys, decisively defeated a detachment of General John Burgoyne's army led by Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, and supported by additional men under Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann. Baum's detachment was a mixed force of 700, composed primarily of dismounted Brunswick dragoons, Canadians, Loyalists and Indians. He was sent by Burgoyne to raid Bennington in the disputed New Hampshire Grants area for horses, draft animals, provisions, and other supplies. Believing the town to be only lightly defended, Burgoyne and Baum were unaware that Stark and 1,500 militiamen were stationed there. After a rain-caused standoff, Stark's men enveloped Baum's position, taking many prisoners, and killing Baum. Reinforcements for both sides arrived as Stark and his men were mopping up, and the battle restarted, with Warner and Stark driving away Breymann's reinforcements with heavy casualties. The battle was a major strategic success for the American cause and is considered part of the turning point of the Revolutionary War; it reduced Burgoyne's army in size by almost 1,000 men, led his Native American supporters to largely abandon him, and deprived him of much-needed supplies, such as mounts for his cavalry regiments, draft animals and provisions, all factors that contributed to Burgoyne's eventual defeat at Saratoga. The victory galvanized colonial support for the independence movement, and played a key role in bringing France into the war on the rebel side. The battle's anniversary is celebrated in the state of Vermont as Bennington Battle Day.