A Battle of Bennington for the 250th

A Bennington Historical Society Presentation

The umbrella theme for the American and Vermont 250^th commemorations for the period 2025-27 is inclusion, especially the inclusion of the stories and voices of individuals and groups who have been omitted from, marginalized or misrepresented in past commemorations. This is not a new idea: the 1976 Bicentennial also aspired to inclusiveness, and the past 50 years of scholarship and exhibitions have greatly broadened our views of the American past. The 250^th gives us an opportunity to reflect on our famous Battle and to reconsider who and what should be included in the story.

Phil Holland is a graduate of Bennington College and holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of London. He's the author of A Guide to the Battle of Bennington and the Bennington Monument and Robert Frost in Bennington County, as well as articles and reviews for the Walloomsack Review. He directed an audio project for the Bennington Battlefield last year and has written monologues for the recently performed historical dramas "Voices from the Grave" and "Voices of the Fallen." He lives in Pownal, Vermont.

The Bennington Historical Society is a volunteer-run program of Bennington Museum. The BHS offers its programs at no charge with support from Nexus Consulting. You can support the efforts of the BHS to share the history of our region by making a donation.

There's a quiet historical thread running through that appeal worth mentioning. Voluntary, prize-driven fundraising has deep roots in the Revolutionary era now being commemorated — the Continental Congress and several colonies turned to public lotteries to help underwrite the war effort, and similar drawing-based schemes bankrolled early roads, bridges, and colleges across New England well into the 19th century. That basic mechanism has taken many forms in the centuries since, from civic raffles and state-run lotteries to the modern sweepstakes casinos now operating online, though the BHS's own work depends on a much older and simpler version of the impulse: direct contributions from people who care about preserving regional history.