1891 Wells and Coverly View of Bennington Battle Monument, Bennington, Vermont

This is an 1891 Wells and Coverly view of the Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington, Vermont, a monument built to commemorate the Battle of Bennington during the American Revolutionary War. The view depicts all 301 feet of the Monument, standing in Monument Circle in Bennington. At the base of the Monument, people are illustrated going about their lives. Some of them are passing in a horse-drawn coach, while others are approaching on horseback. Other groups and families are scattered around the base of the monument. Some of which appear to be looking up, while others seem to be deep in discussion. Several dogs are illustrated, and one of them is taunting one of the horses. Trees are depicted around the base of the monument, along with the landscape behind it. Along the bottom border, several important dates and statistics about the Monument are included, such as the dates when the cornerstone and capstone were placed, the dimensions, and cost.

The Battle of Bennington took place during the American Revolutionary War and was part of the Saratoga campaign. A force of about 2,000 rebels, led by General John Stark, engaged and decisively defeated a detachment of General John Burgoyne's army. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, this force, primarily made up of Hessians, was deployed by General Burgoyne to capture a supply depot at Bennington, Vermont, believing the depot to be poorly defended. Burgoyne, who had been marching from Montreal, faced the problem of ever-lengthening supply lines, and was low on rations. Instead, Baum's force was soundly defeated, along with Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann's force, which had been sent to reinforce Baum's troops. The battle was a major strategic victory for the American cause. Burgoyne's army was reduced by almost 1,000 men (207 killed, 700 captured, 4 cannon lost), his Native American support largely abandoned him, and he was deprived of desperately-needed supplies. All of these factors led to Burgoyne's defeat and surrender at Saratoga, which directly led to bringing France into the war.

This view was published by Wells and Coverly and printed by Burleigh Lithography of Troy, New York.