This Thursday, August 16^th, marks the 235^th anniversary of the Battle of Bennington, a significant conflict in the American Revolutionary War. The battle actually took place nearby in New York, but was named for the site where weapons and supplies were stored, the very supplies that were being fought over in the battle. The British, led by General John Burgoyne, were reduced in number and deprived of supplies that later forced them to surrender at Saratoga.

Nearly a hundred years after the battle, a group of historians and history enthusiasts wished to commemorate the battle with a monument at the military supply storage site in Bennington. The group began their plans in 1875 and by 1876 an official Bennington Battle Monument Association had been established to develop plans for the monument. The Bennington Battle Monument is the tallest structure in Vermont, and the engineering that it took to build it was nothing short of impressive.

The clipping below shows the importance of the monument not only to Vermont’s history, but to the Northeast and America as a whole. This article from February of 1878 informs us that the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire were invited to the discussions of the association as well as Vermont’s own governor.

The importance and significance of the monument can be seen in the next clipping’s declaration, that, “in the end, a monument will be erected of which every Vermonter and every citizen of the United States will have reason to be proud”.

The previous clipping and the next both discuss the issues with financing such a large project.

The following clippings outline the design of the monument, as well as illustrate the opinions and disagreements of those in the position to hold design approval.

Finally, we begin to see the monument in its final stages, and the preparations for its dedication that coincided with Vermont’s centennial celebration.

But not all citizens of Bennington were pleased with the outcome. Below is an editorial from one of them who seeks to remind fellow townspeople of the true motivations behind such projects.

To read more about the monument or for visitor information, look here, here, or here. Also, be sure to check back later at Chronicling America for upcoming digitized issues of the Bennington Banner, which will be sure to have its own perspective on the history of the monument.

– Sally Blanchard

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Good news: the VTDNP received a two year grant from the NEH to continue digitization work. This Phase II grant will fund the digitization of an additional 100,000 historic Vermont newspaper pages. With nearly 130,000 pages produced under the Phase I grant, we will add a number of historically important Vermont titles in this second round. You can read the NEH press release to learn about participant states’ NDNP grants, as well as the variety of excellent NEH grants here.
– Tom McMurdo

We are pleased to currently have a promotional VTDNP display on the main floor of the Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont. If you are able, come in to the library to see the display yourself, and pick up our new bookmark and brochure. If you can’t make it, check out the photos below:

For the past decade we have heard a lot about the demise of newspapers. Part of this discussion laments the loss of professional, unbiased journalism, as internet sites have taken readers away from newspapers. Often these sites have pronounced political leanings and present slanted news coverage.

What may surprise some readers is that such openly declared bias in news reporting is not at all new. Before the rise of professional journalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, newspapers openly declared their party allegiance and reported stories from that point of view. Often this allegiance was right on the masthead, proudly proclaimed in the title of the newspaper:

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(Check out those groovy letters on the People’s Press from 1837 that look like they are straight out of 1967!)

These historical newspapers existed in a much different context than today. Even relatively small towns often had two or three competing newspapers, each affiliated with a different political party or viewpoint. Many Vermont locales had a Whig and a Democratic newspaper in the early part of the 19th century, and a Republican and Democratic newspaper in the latter part of the century.

It is also important to understand that the “news” was just part of the function and appeal of nineteenth century newspapers. For some subscribers, the newspaper was the only printed material in the house besides the Bible. More affluent households might have more books to read, but the serialized stories that appeared in newspapers–on the front page, no less–brought current literature into readers’ hands.

News was the province of pages 2 and 3 in four-page 19th century newspapers. Page 1 featured stories, sermons, speeches, advertisements, and morality tales. The news didn’t start creeping on to the front page until the Civil War. There is something sad about seeing the stories move off the front page, displaced by news. The great, tragic war impinged on the leisure time reading of our forebears, just as it did their lives.

Of course not all news in these papers came flavored by the opinions of the editor, but the editor was certainly present in a way that we might think was unethical or unseemly today. But, at a nineteenth century weekly newspaper, the editor was the paper. A youth or child might help set the type and do chores around the printing office (see my blog entry from earlier this year about printer’s devils), but the editor was generally the only person running the show. As such, these newspapers were an extension of that editor, and the content reflected that.

– Tom McMurdo

As we head into the Independence Day holiday, it is fitting that we remember a momentous event 150 years ago this week: on July 2, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862 into law. The Act provided each state with 30,000 acres of land per US Representative for the purposes of establishing colleges. Colleges were established on portions of these grants, financed by the sale of additional acres. The 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act and the Morrill Act of 1890 created many of the state universities in the US. Cornell, the Universities of Vermont, California, Illinois, Kentucky, and dozens of others were either created by or greatly enhanced by the Morrill Acts.

This 150th anniversary is particularly meaningful for Vermont. Native Vermonter Justin Morrill, the sponsor of the bills, served as a US Representative and  US Senator from the 1855 to 1898. Morrill is not only one of the greatest Vermonters, he is also one of the most important figures in US history.

The Morrill Acts changed the fabric of the United States. It is difficult to imagine the US without the universities established and greatly aided by the Morrill Act of 1862. This gift to all of the generations that followed is evident virtually everywhere in our culture. But, beyond this incredible legacy, consider the timing of the bill: by the Summer of 1862, both sides knew very well that they were in for a long, horrific conflict with no clear path to victory. George McClellan’s army was in the midst of the Seven Days Battles, retreating back from the outskirts of Richmond nearly to Washington while fleeing Lee’s advancing army. Just weeks earlier, McClellan blundered his advantage and failed to take Richmond, which would have greatly shortened the war. Now the tide turned radically, and hopes of a quick Union victory were dashed.

It is remarkable, then, that in the midst of the disheartening news from the battlefield this utterly optimistic and hopeful bill would pass. From the deepest darkness came a glimmer of light.

The news in summer 1862 was dominated by the war, and the Morrill Land Grant Act scarcely made a ripple in the pages of Vermont’s newspapers, but it is fascinating to see the context of the moment when the bill passed. The VTDNP digitized several titles that have issues for this period, including the Vermont Phoenix (Brattleboro), Burlington Free Press, and the Vermont Watchman and State Journal (Montpelier). More titles from 1862 are forthcoming.

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For a list of Land Grant Universities, click here. To read more about the Land Grant Acts, click here. Read more about Justin Smith Morrill here.

Let’s all remember and celebrate this great American this July fourth.

Tom McMurdo