American Colonel Ebenezer Francis, his 11th Massachusetts Regiment, and selected units from other regiments encamped along this hilltop on the night of July 6, while Colonel Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys camped to the left down the hill toward the Selleck cabin and part of Colonel Nathan Hale's 2nd New Hampshire Regiment camped to the right. On the morning of July 7, British troops pursuing the American forces climbed the steep western slope to the top of Monument Hill as the Americans, formed in a long column along the road and ready to move south to Castleton, quickly turned and scrambled up the hill to meet the British Advance Corps led by Brigadier General Simon Fraser. British Lieutenant William Digby wrote that the British found the enemy strongly posted on the top of a high hill, with breastworks before them and great trees cut across to prevent the approach, and he recalled that the British mounted the hill amidst showers of balls mixed with buckshot. American Captain Moses Greenleaf wrote that his men faced to the right when the firing began and that it lasted until 3/4 past eight a.m. without cessation. The Americans tenaciously held the crest of Monument Hill for a time before finally withdrawing to another rise somewhat downslope, and Fraser noted that the light infantry beat the enemy from the first hill and drove them to a hill of less eminence, which was their original post. The action on Monument Hill was pivotal in the battle because the American rear guard fought to stall the British advance and allow the main American army more time to continue withdrawing southward.

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Hubbardton, Vermont · USA