storytellers

GeneralArnold77

-I know that this is a bit long for what we're supposed to be posting, however this is the last piece of the story. Hope you enjoyed it. It's my fifth try writing a short story about this battle so I hope it's good.

Chapter 3

Monument Hill
Hubbardton, Hampshire Grants
July 7th, 1777
07:54am

Over an hour had gone by since Sheridan had caught sight of the enemy. In that time the Americans had fought off a British attack and pushed them back over the top of the hill. Now the Continental officers had a chance to regroup and reorganize their men. The soldiers had a chance to get a drink and fix any problems they may have had with their muskets. The officers kept an eye out. They knew that the British were not beaten, just doing what they were, reorganizing and preparing for their next attack.

Just as suddenly as it had started, over an hour earlier, it started again. British troops advanced up the hill. This time their advance came faster. Fewer musket shots were fired as they British moved quicky to the top of the hill. Officers raced to put some fire onto them as they moved. Sheridan shouted to his men, ordering them to load as quickly as possible. Other commanders did the same. Time was everything now. The less time it took the Americans to load, the more fire they would be able to put on them.

“Come on lads, load quickly now!” Sheridan shouted, “First section make ready!” the first secton pulled the hammers back on their muskets, and prepared to fire them once again, “Present!” they leveled their muskets at the British light infantry where were moving against them, “Fire!”

Several men in the light infantry fell as the first section of Coupon Company began to reload. The light infantry began to move faster, picking up more ground before the second section could fire. The King’s Rangers, who had been attacking the extream right of the American lines had moved some and were now concentrated towards some of the other sections of the 2nd New Hampshire. The Grenadier companies which were moving against Colonel Warner’s Green Mountain Regiment, kept their advance pressing hard, as did the rest of the British forces moving in on them.

Once again as the red coated juggernaught hurrled it’s self against the American Lines, the Americans began to feel uneasy. Lines began to break down, giving the British their chance to push the Americans off the hill. They began to move in faster giving the Americans less time to repell them. Soon the Americans had no choice as the British rushed their lines. Order fell apart as men began to run down the hill. Sergeants and officers began pushing their men back into line as the British shouted and rushed towards them.

“Sergeants get these men back into ranks!” Sheridan shouted, pushing a young lad back into line, “Get into line damn you! Reform!”

All over the American lines officers faced the same problems Sheridan did. This time the British advance had knocked the Americans nearly forty yards back from the top of the hill. Soon order began to kick back in and the Americans found themselves in dichevled ranks preparing to fight again. Slowly vollies began to pour out of the American lines. The British, too began firing at the Americans, every once in a while inflicting a casualty on them. Drum beats carried orders from regimental commanders to company commanders and from the company commanders to their men. The only thing that could be heard over the screaming of the wounded and the chaos of the battle were the drums.

Coupon Company was one of the first of 2nd New Hampshire to get organized. Sheridan quickly got them loaded and fired his first volley at the British who had just pushed him from his position. He turned to his right to see a company of Butler’s Rangers, a loyalist unit, forming to his right, in an attempt to out flank him. “Rear rank,” Sheridan shouted, “Right face, to the front, quick march.” The second rank, numbering somewhere around fourty five, marched forward extending his line. Finally when the last man had passed the first rank Sheridan gave the order to halt, “Fix this line. Dress to the center!” Men looked in on the center of the line to get their alignment. Muskets continued to fire in the distance as Sheridan ordered his men to reload.

The British light infantry formed two ranks, the first rank knelt while the other stood behind them. They leveled their muskets and fired a double ranked volley into the ranks of the Americans. A few bodies fell, some of which grabbed various limbs which had been struck by the lead musket balls. The American’s fired back, their volley much more ragged as it blasted toward’s it’s enemy. Several red coated soldiers fell to the ground. This is how the action went for a good fifteen minutes, each waiting for the oportunaty to press an advantage.

Finally the Crown Forces readjusted their lines, moving a company back into line with the rest of the troops. This was most likely in preparation to move forward and drive the Americans further off the hill, however the Americans jumped first and began to push up the hill closing the distance between them and their British adversaries. The British fired into the ranks of the advancing Americans, but couldn’t stop the momentum they’d built. They turned around, and began marching over the back of the hill, keeping their order as well as they ever had.

The Americans stopped once they once again reached the stone wall. Sheridan imediately fired a full company volley into the backs of their retreating enemy. At the close range the buck and ball that raced towards the enemy caused a large amount of casualties in comparison with the few that had been hit durring the distance fighting. Coupon Company reloaded as the rest of the regiment arrived to their left and and fired their own vollies.

This time the British didn’t withdraw as far as they had the first time, only half way down the backside of the hill. They stopped and turned around in their lines, before some of their units fired back up at the Americans. Men continued to fall on both sides as the fighting continued. Sheridan kept the order, but the Second New Hampshire was taking a lot of casualties. Coupon Company, who had started the day with just under one-hundred men, was now down to less than seventy five. New Market Company, who had started the battle with sixty-five men were down to under thirty.

Titcomb continued to moniter the situation, as did most of the unit commanders. One of the things that bothered him was that he had a perfectly good company of Light Infantry Company, but unfortunately he couldn’t do anything with them. The line companies had taken such heavy casualties that Titcomb was forced to keep the Light Infantry in line formation. He knew, as all the American Commanders did, that it would not be long before the British pushed up the hill again.

British Grenadiers had already pushed Warner’s unit back in almost an “L” formation with the 11th Mass. Out of all the units, 2nd New Hampshire seemed to be doing the best in terms of keeping the enemy at bay, but they were also paying for it with a lot more casualties than their fellow regiments. Sheridan walked up and down his line, which continued firing at their red coated enemy. Drum beats, which were usually the main form of communication between commanders and their troops durring battle, were almost drown out by the sounds of battle.

The British fired a volley at the American line before moving back up the hill. Their red-coated lines, not quite as formal as they were when they started. Gaps were wider between men, holes weren’t getting filled as quickly as they had been. Officers did not look as formal as they did when they started. The Americans were definately wearing down their enemy. Their mission was beginning to look like a success.

“Right about face!” Sheridan shouted, “To the front, quick, march!”
Coupon Company began moving down the hill slowly. They were followed by New Market Company, who formed to Coupon Company’s left. Coupon Company seemed to be hugging the right end of the entire American line, keeping any attempted flanking manuvers in check. That’s also why Coupon Company had taken some of the highest casualty rates of any of the American units thus far.

“Company,” Sheridan shouted, “Halt. Right about face. Prime and load!” The company began loading, putting their powder down the barrel, and then ramming the paper and ball down together. The muskets were beginning to foul heavially, and flints were beginning to dull and become useless. To add to the problems of the already unreliable weapon, as the hour grew later the humidity began to rise, which caused the powder in the pan to become mud.

“Sir.” The Sergeant shouted, stepping out of rank to talk to Sheridan quietly, “Sir. The muskets are beginning to foul badly and many of the lads’ flints are nothing but pebbles.”

Sheridan nodded taking in all the information, “I’ll talk to the Major see if we can get pulled from the line for a moment to fix our problems.” The Sergeant nodded and went back to his spot as Sheridan moved over to where Titcomb was standing directing the Light Infantry company to withdraw, “Sir, a moment.”

“What is it Captain, I’m a little busy?” Titcomb replied.

“Sir, it’s the lads’ muskets. They are beginning to foul and we’re having problems with dull flints.” Sheridan explained, “I’d like to request permission to pull our company from the line for a moment to take care of these problems.”

Titcomb looked at Sheridan with a hint of anger in his eyes, “Are you mad?! Does this look like the time to come ask if you can pull your entire company out of line to do some pathetic maitenence? Get back to your company, Captain. I’ll attempt to forget this outrage.” Titcomb went back to focusing on the Light Infantry while Sheridan went back to Coupon Company fuming at the insult he’d just been issued.

“Sergeant!” Sheridan shouted, “Pull section one out of the line.” He turned an angered look towards Titcomb, who was so wrapped up with Cherry’s Light Infantry that he had almost forgotten about the rest of the Regiment it seemed, “That bastard won’t let us take care of ourselves, I will.” He turned back to his men, “Section two, extend to double arms interval! Right Face, To the Front, march!” The second section, which was comprised of about twenty five men, extended to the right, covering the hole that was left by first section who was behind the line correcting their musket problems as best they could, “Take care, halt!” Sheridan shouted, “Left Face.” The company was back to facing the enemy, who had now come over the top of the hill and down a bit before taking a knee.

The British Light Infantry was beginning to look worn. They were just as tired as the Americans were, the difference was that they were well enough trained that it was harder to tell by their ill drill movements and sloppy formations. When the Crown Forces had come over the hill for the first time that morning they were in perfect rank and file, in perfect order. Now they were beginning to show the wear and tear of the battle that the Americans had given them. Three Regiments had held the entire British Advance Guard, for nearly two and a half hours now. General Fraser, commanding the British Troops, was beginning to worry whether they would actually be able to defeat this enemy or not. So far on this campaign the British were undefeated, taking what were thought to be the two largest obsticals without a shot being fired. This was the first real opposition to the British Invasion down Lake Champlain since Benedict Arnold’s fight around Valcore Island in October of the previous year, and what an opposition these three rear-guard regiments were putting up.

The company of Buttler’s Rangers moved in skirmish order in an attempt to get around what they thought would be the weakened flank of Coupon Company. To their surprise they were met by a volley of fire from first section who had moved back into position. As quickly as they had moved down there, Buttler’s Rangers withdrew to the end of the British Line and reported what had happened to a Light Infantry Major, who ordered them to take up a holding position at the end of the line.

Second section had moved back and began tinkering with their weapons, first and third sections moved in to cover the hole. Second section moved quickly, knowing that every moment they were back there, was a moment their line was weaker. Soon second section was back and before third section could go to do their maitenence.

“Hold! Get your ranks!” Hale shouted as his men fell back in disorder in the face of the red coated grenaders.

The poorly attired men of the detatchment of 2nd New Hampshire turned and formed a ragged line to cover the withdrawl of one of the companies of the Green Mountain Boys. The muskets had been raging on the American left flank as hard as they had on the right by Coupon Company and the rest of the regiment. The British line had been pressing hard, and causing the American units to fall back so that the American line was almost a long “L” formation. The Green Mountain Boys and Hale’s detatchment of 2nd New Hampshire had formed a right angle with the rest of the line, going down the hill.

The British paused in their attacks. They wanted to get organized and make sure they had a solid foothold on the ground they had just taken. General Fraser also had another plan. He sent orders to one of his Grenadir Battalions to make for the Castletown road and block it so that the Americans would not be able to escape and join up with the rest of the army.

The Americans used the break in British action to fire several mass volleys into the ranks of the British. The muskets roared out the smoke making an almost impenatrable wall between the British and the American lines.

“Fix Bayonets!” Sheridan shouted as Coupon Company.

The men of Coupon Company fixed the fourteen inches of steal to the ends of their muskets before reciving the order to bring their muskets back up to the shoulder. Several companies in the American line did the same thing and were ready to push their enemy off the field. They figured if the Crown Forces weren’t advancing any further that something must be wrong or they couldn’t afford to push any further forward.

“Take care to charge bayonets!” Sheridan shouted, echoed by the two Sergeants that were still alive in his line, “Poise your firelocks!” The soldiers brought their muskets up infront of their shoulders pointing straight up, “Charge your..” The soldiers waited for the next order that would put them into the position that they would use to advance up the hill and send their enemy on their way, “Bayonets!”

On that order the Americans leveled their muskets so that they were perpendicular to their waist with their bayonet points towards their enemy, “Huzzah!” They screamed their vicious war-cry at their enemy hoping to indimidate them, but many of them knew that the rag-tag American force wouldn’t be able to do much in the way of indimidating the best army in the world.

“To the front!” Sheridan shouted, stepping to the side of his line with his sword in his right hand, “March!” With that order, which was given by almost all the company and regimental commanders simultaniously, the Americans took their first step towards the enemy. Their lines began to move forward slowly. The British frantically began to load their muskets to prepare to repel the attack of the enemy forces. The distance between the two lines closed as the Americans advanced.

“Quick march!” The American officers commanded.

The men started walking faster, giving the British less time to load their weapons. The British managed to fire their first ragged volley into the American lines, which took several casualties. The shorter range gave the British an increased accuracy, which caused more casualties than their normal voley’s had. The Americans began to close the distance between themselves and their enemy quicker. The British began to lose their well honed dicipline as they frantically started loading their muskets to beat off the American attack before they had a chance to reach their lines. Another ragged British volley poured into the American lines, before they increased their pace to a light jog.

“Charge!” Sheridan shouted as he lunged towards his enemy batting one of their muskets aside and slamming the tip of it through the man’s throat.

The rest of the Company slamed their bayonets into their enemy. Some of them fell from sparatic enemy shots. Others thrust their bayonets into their enemy. Throughout the American lines it was much the same. The Americans broke into hand to hand combat with their enemy. There was no real skill to it, it was just kill the enemy before they killed them. Musket shots were heard here and there, but the major sounds were the sounds of metal clanging together and the sounds of men screaming and shouting. The bayonets thrust into the flesh of their enemy before moving onto the next. American and British bodies mixed together as they hand to hand combat continued.

It was only for a few minutes, but it felt like a lot longer as the Americans mixed with the British. Sheridan killed another member of Butler’s Rangers with their own hatchet before he noticed a group of King’s Rangers falling back to reform. As soon as they were in ranks they began to load.

“Coupon company, reform!” Sheridan shouted, trying to organize his men so that they wouldn’t be sent into a disorganized mob at the shock of the incoming volley, “Reform damn you!” His eyes kept on the King’s rangers who were coming closer to completig the loading process. He also began to notice that more and more Crown Forces units were beginning to fall back over the top of the hill to reform and pour volleys into the ranks of the Americans. Officers tried to reorganize their men in an attempt to reduce the shock of the incoming fire.

The British brought up their muskets in the ready position awaiting the orders that would send their musket balls flying into the disorganized mob of enemy soldiers who had been holding them all day. They recived their first order, and the hammers of their muskets were pulled back. Then their muskets were leveled at their enemy before they were discharged in a wall of smoke and flame.

Musket balls tore through the Americans. Blood spattered on Sheridan’s uniform as a Corporal was shot in the chest. He pushed and pulled his men back into ranks, the spattered blood on his uniform not even phasing him as he pulled his company back together. A loud shot got his attention as the British began advancing up the hill with thier bayonets fixed. They picked up speed. The American officers knew that there was no hope of getting their men loaded before the British attacked. Many called for their companies to fall back, but not Sheridan.

Sheridan held his men in perfect order with their bayonets leveled at their enemy ready to repel them. The King’s Rangers and Buttler’s Rangers charged up the hill and straight into the ranks of the Second New Hampshire, who stood well. Sheridan had picked up a musket and bayonet by this point and thrust the weapon into the flesh of an advancing member of Buttler’s Rangers. He brought the weapon up into his shoulder and shot their Leftenent in the throat.

“Fall back! Second New Hampshire, Fall back!” Titcomb shouted, looking up and down his line.

Sheridan ignored the order, pretending he hadn’t heard it. His men were holding and destroying their enemy. Sheridan swung the end of the musket and beat a man in the head with the brass clad butt of the musket. The man fell to the ground his skull partially caved in.

“Fall back!” The order was echoed up and down the American lines as the American units began to run down the hill. They couldn’t stand any longer. The frightful image of the British Bayonet Charge had shocked them worse than the musket vollies could have. The American’s were in complete disaray. There was no order to them at all. Their officers and NCO’s screamed and shouted at their men to get them back into their ranks to continue the fight. They still had a chance to defeat their enemy. The British weren’t taking advantage of the American disorganization like they normally would have. This must have meant that they couldn’t afford another advance against them.

Sheridan and Coupon Company slowly withdrew down the hill, before they could be outflanked and surrounded. Sheridan held the musket in his hand, as he bent down and picked up a cartridge box off a dead soldier, “Prime and load!” he shouted as his men who were maintaining their lines extreamly well.

“Captain Sheridan! Fall back!” Titcomb shouted to him.

Sheridan ignored it again. He wasn’t about to let Titcomb let the British win this battle, “Make ready! Quickly!” His men put their muskets into the ready position, “Present!” He shouted. They leveled their muskets at their enemy, “FIRE!” The muskets roared out into the depleted ranks of the British left flank, causing even more casualties. Sheridan paused for a moment before saying anything else, “Shoulder your firelocks, Right about face!” His men brought their muskets up to their shoulders and turned around, “To the front quick march!” Coupon Company continued their withdrawl down the hill.

Another British volley poured into the American lines, which sent the hardly organized companies of the Second New Hampshire and 11th Mass into another disorganized mob. The officers again tried to get control.

If one were to listen durring this critical time in the battle one would have heard the music of a brass band marching down the road. Soldiers wearing blue uniforms were well within hearing of the battle that was roaring just a short distance away. They marched in perfect order, they were well trained and even more importantly they were fresh. They weren’t as tired as the men who had been fighting all day. More troops were coming that would turn the tide of battle from one side to the other.

“Quickly reform!” Colonel Francis shouted as he tried to organize the mixed men of the 11th Mass and the 2nd New Hampshire. Somehow he’d ended up on the right flank where Second New Hampshire had been all day, and his men and their were completely intermixed, “Quickly form!” Francis continued to shout.

“Get your order damn you!” Sheridan shouted as he combine the remnants of New Market Company and Coupon Company into one unit, “Prime and Load!” Sheridan shouted his orders.

“Reform now!” Francis shouted seeing an opportunaty in the ragged left end of the British Line.

The soldiers slowly began to fall into line, getting some sort of order over themeselves. Officers began to get their men loaded, following Coupon Company’s lead. Titcomb had gotten lost in the fray somewhere and had ended up down by Hale’s detatchment, this left Sheridan in command of the entire regiment, the problem was the regiment was spread all over the place, so there was no Second New Hampshire to speak of.

“Make ready!” Sheridan shouted to his mixed company, not yet realizing that he was in over all command of the regiment, or whatever was left of it, “Present!” The men leveled their muskets, “Fire!”

The muskets roared out in an awesome hail of musket balls, flame and smoke. They quickly repeated the process and fired again before Francis took over all command of the right flank and prepared them for their advance. This was the one move that could save the battle for them. The British left flank was completely in the air which gave the Americans a chance to outflank them and route the British advance.

“To the front, quick, march!” Francis shouted, “Quickly.”

As the Americans advanced towards the British flank the blue uniformed soldiers advanced onto the field and got organized quickly. They leveled their muskets and fired, right into the backs of the American troops. A musket ball struck Colonel Francis in the back of the head. The Colonel fell forward, the front of his head destroyed by the damage of the musket ball. The American ranks disintagrated and turned into another mob once again. Officers lost almost all control over their men.

“Colonel Francis is dead, fall back!” An officer shouted.

“Damn it.” Sheridan sword, knowing that shouting that information would cause the American’s to completely retreat. “Second New Hampshire!” he shouted, backing up to get a bigger picture of the entire regiment, “Second New Hampshire! Fall back!”

The Regiment tried to stay as organized as it could be given the situation. Portions of the 11th Mass fell back across the Castletown road and formed up behind a farmer’s fence. The Green Moutain Boys and the section of 2nd New Hampshire held as a rear guard.

“Make ready!” Sheridan shouted, “Present, Fire!” he shouted. The 2nd New Hampshire fired their muskets towards the newly arrived troops.

Several of the enemy troops fell, but the well diciplined ranks of blue coated soldiers stepped forward. Their tall brass helmets shined brightly in the morning sun as they advanced towards their enemy. Their moustaches curled and their long cues hung down their backs. These were the terrifying soldiers of the German Princes who had been sent over to fight for the British. They were soldiers from Hess, from Brunswick and from Hanover. They took the field and instantly struck fear into the hearts of the Americans.

“Right about face!” Sheridan shouted, “Front, quick march!” Sheridan quickly turned around and made his escape down to the farmer’s fence where the rest of the force was gathering. They paused a moment to get organized. The British pressed on, taking their advantage and not allowing the American’s hardly any time to get organized.

“Quickly! Retreat to the fence!” Hale shouted, “Quickly men!”

As the straggling group of 2nd New Hampshire refugees fled across the Castletown road towards the farmer’s fence a company of British Grenedirs moved in on them quickly. Hale had no choice but to surrender his men. The group was too small and too slow moving to make an effective defence against the Grenedirs and there was no one near by to help them. For Hale and the twenty or so men of the Second New Hampshire Regiment, the battle and even more importantly, the war was over.

The rag-tag group of American’s fired from the fence, towards the crown forces who approached thier position. They had no escape route. The British Grenedirs had cut off the Castletown road and the German troops had cut off any hopes of going back the way they came. They were stuck. Officers began to prepare themselves for the worst, either they woudl suffer the same fate as Hale’s men, or they would die to the last man. Time was growing short to make a decision.

Sheridan stood behind the fence firing company vollies into the ranks of the approacthing enemy. The American’s were beginning to run into another problem, lack of ammunition. They had been fighting for just over three hours, and it was very intense fighting. Most of them were down to just a few shots a man. To make the situation worse yet, the maitenence that Sheridan’s men had done earlier that morning was beginning to wear off and the muskets were beginning to foul again.

A runner came to Sheridan and passed the message that Colonel Warner wanted to see all the company and regimental commanders. Sheridan left his Sergeant in charge of the company and walked over to a small area behind the main line. He looked around, spotting Titcomb, who had somehow gotten mixed up with the 11th Mass durring the retreat across the road to the fence. Sheridan did not see Colonel Hale, which concerned him. He looked around to see that most of the other company commanders from the 2nd New Hampshire had survived.

“Listen up, Gentlemen.” Warner began, “If we stay here we’re going to either be forced to surrender or killed. Frankly I’d like to make it through this battle if at all possible.”

“We’ve done what we came here to do, let’s get the hell out of here.” Captain Carr, one of the company commanders of 2nd New Hampshire, said.

“We don’t have a way out.” Titcomb replied, “They Grenadiers have cut off the Castletown road and the Germans have our Right flank pinned. There’s no way out.”

“There is one way.” Warner corrected, “It’s steep, but we don’t have much option.”

“Which way?” Captain Cherry asked.

“Right up there.” Warner said pointing to the hill behind him, “If we can get over Pitsford Ridge we’ll be ok, but it’s a damn steep climb.”

“As you said, sir we don’t have much choice.” Sheridan said.

A great commotion disrupted their meeting and destroyed any chance of an orderly withdrawl. A mass volley from the British and German troops sent the American’s into a frenzy of disaray and panic. Officers rushed to get control of their men before the British could take advantage of the confusion. Almost as if the soldiers had heard what their superiors were talking about they began withdrawing, almost retreating up the steep climb that was Pitsford Ridge. Several British light infantry and grenadier companies gave chase.

The Battle of Hubbardton was over. Only a few pot-shots remained to be fired between the warring British Forces and the American forces. All in all the American’s had beaten the British so badly that they could be considered the victors, but 18th century rules of warfare stated that the army left holding the field of battle at the end of the day was the victor. So the British are considred the victors of the Battle of Hubbardton. Out of the 1,030 Crown soldiers who fough at the Battle of Hubbardton, sixty were killed, while 148 were wounded. Propotionally speaking it has been said that the British lost more men at the Battle of Hubbardton than they did durring the Battle of Waterloo against Napolean in 1815.

The American’s job as rear-guard for St. Clair’s Army worked. British General John Burgoyne was unable to continue any pursute of the American’s until much later in the year. Many of the soldiers on both sides who fought at Hubbardton would go on to fight at the Battle of Bennington, and then later at the Battles of Saratoga, which would turn the tide of the American War for Independence, but it all started at Hubbardton. A small grassy field where three worn out American Regiments held against the British Advance Guard for over three hours.

Colonel Hale would be put on a prison ship and taken back to England with the intention of being put on trial for treason. The Captain of the ship, however refused him bread and water for the duration of the trip, which caused him to die of dehydration before he reached England.

Colonel Warner would go on to fight at Bennington and then be part of the force that would block Burgoyone’s escape route from Saratoga.
The Second New Hampshire Regiment as a whole would be folded into the First New Hampshire Regiment, until it was reorganized in mid 1778 where it would fight in the south until it was once again demolished at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina.

Though Hubbardton is a considered a victory for the Crown Forces, it is very likely that without the sacrifices made that day, that the American Revolution could not have been won. It all happened on a small grassy hill in what is now Vermont, on July 7th 1777.

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“Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity.” ~General George S Patton Jr.