Historic marker placed in Battery Park to remember revolutionary war soldiers

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Community members gathered in the heat Saturday to unveil a new marker in Burlington’s Battery Park.

Remembering Vermont soldiers that might not be easily found in a graveyard.

“For me, it’s about bringing history forward,” said Karen Brigham.

Brigham is a member with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Green Mountain Chapter, helping to reveal the new plaque.

Brigham says she has three people in her family that are on the new marker. She says she may not have ever met them but she feels it is her responsibility to keep their memory alive.

“If we don’t commemorate and recognize 1776 today in 2024, it’s only getting further away. The memory, and the paper trail will just get smaller and fade away,” said Brigham.

For the last four years the organization has been working to place the marker in the park. Members wanted a way to remember revolutionary war patriots in unmarked graves across Chittenden County and ended up finding over three hundred twenty soldiers without a stone. They couldn’t mark all the graves so they thought the marker was a perfect way to spread the word about those who have been forgotten.

“Parents with children may be walking through the park, be able to stop and take a look. Maybe there is a name on there. Someone they might know their last name. People will say, hey maybe I am related to a revolutionary war patriot,” said Betty Ann Andrews, also a member of the Green Mountain Chapter, DAR.

And veterans that stopped by the ceremony say they are glad organizers placed the marker in the park.

“I think it is wonderful that we are acknowledging and honoring their sacrifice. Our revolutionary war heroes that really put everything on the line. Family, farms, occupations, everything,” said John Moore of Burlington.

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