The Battle of Bennington and The Bennington Battle Monument, Design & Construction - The Bennington Battle Monument Story exhibit recounts the events and honors the heroes of the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac Heights, New York, in 1777. It explains the development of the commemorative monument at the site of the Bennington storehouse that sparked the military engagement. Key to this story of the monument are the multiple attempts to memorialize the battle with anniversaries, presidential visits, a national design competition, and the 1891 dedication ceremony. The exhibit, installed in 2016, was prepared by the Division for Historic Preservation and designed by GVH Studio Incorporated.
Monument Grounds
The circular grounds surrounding the Bennington Battle Monument have statues and commemorative markers remembering those who fought for Vermont and American Independence.
Statue of Colonel Seth Warner was crafted from granite and donated in 1911 by Colonel Olin Scott to the Bennington Battle Monument and Historical Association, which operated the property from 1891 until it was sold to the State of Vermont in 1953.
Bronze statue of General John Stark was donated in 2000 by John Threlfall, the 5th great nephew of the general, to the State of Vermont. The statue was cast from a plaster model executed in 1889 by American sculptor John Rogers. A large granite boulder with a bronze tablet also honors General Stark and the 1,400 New Hampshire men involved in the Battle of Bennington. The memorial was donated in 1977 by the citizens of New Hampshire.
The granite marker denoting the location of the Continental Storehouse in Bennington is located directly in front of the monument gift shop. The storehouse, filled with much needed supplies, was the intended goal of the British troops under the direction of Major General John Burgoyne. The British believe Bennington to be only lightly defended by Seth Warner’s 400 colonials and intended to raid the town for horses, draft animals, provisions, and other supplies. The rebel forces however had reach 2,000 men lead by General John Stark with Warner’s Green Mountain Boys reinforcing. They were able to decisively defeat a detachment of Burgoyne’s army in Walloomsac, New York, about 5 miles from the intended Bennington supply depot now commemorated by this granite marker and the battle monument.
The cut granite marker honoring Anthony Haswell was gifted to the Bennington Battle Monument and Historical Association in 1943 by the national professional journalistic fraternity of Sigma Delta Chi. The marker recalled Haswell was “uncompromising in defense of freedom of the press; imprisoned in 1800 for opposition to Alien and Sedition laws as threats to the newborn democracy.”