On July 5 and 6, 1777, American forces withdrew from Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga as the British pursued along the military road built in the fall of 1776 to connect Mount Independence with sites on the Connecticut River, passing through the gap in Sargent Hill and crossing Sucker Brook. On July 7, at about 5:00 a.m., American pickets in the Sargent Hill gap spotted British scouts and fired the first shots of the battle, while other soldiers hurried from breakfast to prepare for the enemy. Heavy fighting began by 7:00 a.m. as British Major Robert Grant and a light infantry advance force attacked Americans encamped near Sucker Brook, where early American action killed Grant and 21 others. Some American soldiers who had gone into the valley to assist fellow soldiers returned to the top of the hill, while an American rear guard under Colonel Seth Warner had stopped at Hubbardton after preparing defenses of large felled trees there on July 6.

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Hubbardton, Vermont · USA