Vermont reenactors to mark pivotal 250-year-old skirmish against New York interlopers

BENNINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - When you think of Vermont Revolutionary War history, the Battle of Bennington may come to mind. But there’s a lesser-known skirmish that took place 250 years ago that is being remembered this Sunday.

“Decades before Vermonters and the Green Mountain Boys were fighting England and the king, they were fighting New Yorkers for their land,” said Callie Raspuzzi with the Bennington Museum.

In the early 1760s, she says a large group of settlers bought land in the Bennington area from New Hampshire, but New York claimed the land was theirs. King George of England ruled in favor of the New Yorkers. “New Hampshire grantees were obviously quite upset about this,” Raspuzzi said.

The Bennington homestead of James Breakenridge was caught in the dispute. In 1771, the Green Mountain Boys heard New York’s governor was sending a posse of 300 men to kick them off the land, so they rallied and used sticks to beat back the New Yorkers near the Henry Covered Bridge. “It’s really exciting because it’s sort of the birthplace of Vermont. This is when the Green Mountain Boys really come into their own,” Raspuzzi said. No one was killed in the standoff that took place 250 years ago this Sunday.

Read more: https://www.wcax.com/2021/07/16/vt-reenactors-mark-pivotal-250-year-old-skirmish-against-ny-interlopers/