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��yohn Stark.
��will be reserved for the use they were designed.
I remain, dear general,
With sentiments of esteem. Your most Obt. Svt.
Thomas Chittenden. Hon. Brigadier General Stark.
The legislature of Massachusetts also sent their acknowledgments in the following letter and resolve :
To General Stark.
Sir ; The general assembW of this State take the earliest opportuni- ty to acknowledge the receipt of your acceptable present — the tokens of vic- tory gained at the memorable battle of Bennington. The events of that day strongly mark the bravery of the men who, unskilled in war, forced from their iutrenchments a chosen number of veteran troops of boasted Britons, as well as the address and valor of the general who directed their movements, and led them on to conquest. This signal exploit opened the way to a rapid succession of ad- vantages, most important to Amer- ica.
These trophies shall be safely de- posited in the archives of the State, and there remind posterity of the irresistable power of the God of armies, and the honors due to the memory of the brave. Still attended with like success, may you long en- joy the just reward of your grateful country.
I have the honor to be.
Your obedient servant,
Jeremiah Powell, President of the Council.
In the House of Representatives.
Resolved, unanimously ; That the board of war of this State be, and are hereby directed, in the name of this Court, to present to the Hon. Briga- dier General Stark, a complete suit of clothes becoming his rank, together with a piece of linen, as a testimony of the high sense this Court has of
��the great and important services ren- dered by that brave officer, to the United States of America. Dec. 5 1777."
General Stark did not report to congress the result of the battle of Bennington, because his command was an independent one, and his com- mission was from the state of New Hampshire. His little army consist- ed wholly of state militia from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachu- setts.
The same parties, who had a few months previously withheld his pro- motion, were now busy in denouncing his independent action. ^
Philadelphia being in possession of the British, congress held its sessions at the more remote point of York:, in Pennsylvania. Communication was slow, letters being carried by cour- iers, on horseback, who were obliged to make long detours because of hos- tile intervening country.
Upon receipt of the news that Gen. Stark was acting independently of the regular Northern army, and being yet unaware of the victory that had been won by him five days before, a resolution was introduced in congress censuring him for not submitting to army regulations.
But on the next day an express courier arrived from Gen. Schuyler communicating the result of the Ben- nington battle ; and congress, raag- nanimousl}' forgetting the previous irritation, passed a resolve of thanks to General Stark, and appointed him a Brigadier in the army of the United States. This action of congress was communicated in the following let- ter :
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