Audio Enhancements to the Bennington Battlefield
“QR Code-enabled Audio Enhancements to the Bennington Battlefield” was supported with funding from the New York State Park and Trail Partnership Grants and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The Park and Trail Partnership Grants are administered by Parks & Trails New York, in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Listen to first-hand accounts of the Battle!
Map of the Battlefield
Panels can be found at any of the lettered locations indicated on this map.
Panel 1
1.1 Washington Predicts Victory
1.2 Sarah Rudd Flees With Her Family
General Burgoyne: “The object of your expedition…”
Grandma Moses remembers
Panel 2
Thomas Mellen: Both Engagements
President Jefferson to General Stark, 1805
Panel 3
David Holbrook: Hand to hand combat
Sipp Ives: A Black Green Mountain Boy
J.F. Wasmus: A German doctor’s account
Panel 4
General Stark to General Gates
General Burgoyne: “the most rebellious race”
General Stark’s letter to the veterans, 1809
Panel 5
J.F. Wasmus: The cannon on the hilltop
Panel 6
Jesse Field: Assault on the dragoon redoubt
Panel 7
M. DeLorimier: “My Indians…”
Panel 8
General Stark: The armies face off
Levi Beardsley: A grandson remembers
Panel 9
Roger Lamb: Lt. Col. Baum is routed
Panel 10
Col. John Peters: “I was obliged to destroy him”
Ann Peters: “I have six sons left…”
John Orr: “We arose…”
Who’s Who in the Cast (Voice and Music)
Voices
Nick Cave (Black soldiers)
A fiber-optic network designer by day, Nick moonlights as an actor in local productions. He played the role of Dr. Richard Greene in the Bennington Community Theater’s “Voices from the Grave” and lives in Petersburg, N.Y.
Michael Chapman (Thomas Mellen)
Mike is a retired English teacher who projected his voice over tenth graders for three decades. As an actor, he has performed with The Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts as well as Bennington’s Oldcastle Theater Company. He recently appeared in the Bennington Community Theater’s “Voices from the Grave” and the Town of Arlington’s tribute to Remember Baker. With his wife, Phyllis, he has presented stories of women of American history for historical societies, colleges, libraries, and senior centers, providing audio, video, and sound support for Phyllis’s historical enactments.
Phyllis Chapman (Grandma Moses)
Phyllis Chapman is a historical interpreter and career educator. She has taught art in public and
private schools for students in pre-school through college. She has served as Director of Education for the Bennington Museum and as Curator of Fine Arts for Siena College. Since 2010, she has been a historic interpreter of notable American women through her business “Vintage Visitors.” She participates in community theater and dance performances — for fun!
Drew Davidson (General John Stark, Roger Lamb, John Orr)
Drew is a veteran stage actor recently active in plays staged by the Bennington Community Theater and the Dorset Theater Festival. He is the creator and narrator of a radio show and podcast on musical theater. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.
Steve Gillette (Thomas Jefferson)
Steve is a music industry and voice-over veteran who is active as a songwriter and performer. He and spouse Cindy Mangsen run a small record label, Compass Rose, as well as a music publishing company. Steve lives in North Bennington, Vermont.
Gary Hoffman (M. DeLorimier)
Gary is a veteran stage and film actor who lives in Niskayuna, New York.
Phil Holland (David Holbrook, introductions, Project Director)
Phil has combined a career as a teacher and writer with more than 20 years’ work as a voice actor in the U.S. and Greece. He’s the author of a book on the Battle of Bennington and lives in Pownal, Vermont. He serves on the Board of the Friends of the Bennington Battlefield
Kevin McGuire (George Washington, General Burgoyne)
Born in Cambridge, N.Y. and raised in Hoosick Falls, Kevin McGuire has played leading roles on Broadway and in national and international tours of major musicals and plays. He is also known locally as the founding artistic director of The Theatre Company at Cambridge’s Hubbard Hall.
Sue McIntosh (Ann Peters)
Sue has had lead roles in plays staged by the Bennington Community Theater. She is currently lector for the Shaftsbury Methodist Church sermon broadcasts on CAT-TV/YouTube. She lives in Bennington, Vermont.
Danny Silver (Levi Beardsley)
Danny is a veteran actor and director who has been active with the Dorset Theater Festival. He played the role of Elijah Dewey in the Bennington Community Theater’s “Voices from the Grave” in 2021. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.
Dan Slavin (Julius Wasmus, Col. John Peters)
A native of Glens Falls, New York, Dan is currently working as an entertainer at a five-star resort in West Virginia. He’s sung and acted in 55 musicals, done improv comedy and commercials, and voiced a character in a popular video game. His father’s side of the family hails from Walloomsac, New York, where the Battle was fought.
Jared West (Jesse Field)
Jared is a veteran stage actor and one of the owners of the Fort Salem Theater in Salem, New York. He lives in Hoosick, New York.
Rosie Wolf Williams (Sarah Rudd)
Rosie is an experienced voice actor and audiobook narrator who lives in Bennington, Vermont.
Music
Jacob Ali (trumpet)
Jacob is a multi-instrumentalist who studied trumpet performance and composition at the Crane School of Music. He combines performance and composition with recording and mixing skills, enabling him to play as many as five instruments on one song. Jacob is currently advancing his skills on guitar, violin, and mandolin, and can be heard performing locally with Maggie’s Clan, a Celtic rock band based in Clifton Park, N.Y.
Mark Beecher (drums)
Mark is a military drum historian, Adjunct Professor of Percussion and the director of the Percussion Ensemble at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He’s also a voting member for the Grammy Awards. Mark combines his skills as historian, percussionist, and recording artist on the album “Battle Cry of Freedom! Drum and Fife Music of the Union Army & Anti-Slavery,” available for streaming on Spotify along with more of his work.
JaMichael Frazier (flute)
JaMichael is a multi-genre flautist from New York who’s currently living in Los Angeles pursuing a career as an artist and session musician. JaMichael studied at Berklee College of Music and New York University focusing on composition, theory, and performance. JaMichael has worked with artists such as Desmond Child, Solange, and many more. He’s absorbed influences from classical Indian music, Robert Glasper, J-Dilla, and contemporary classical.
Darrell Holovach (composer, arranger)
Darrell grew up in Walloomsac next to the Bennington Battlefield. That inspired him as a teenager to begin composing music related to the Battle. He graduated from the Crane School of Music in 2020 and began a teaching career at Salem (N.Y.) Central School. In 2022-23 Darrell will be back at Crane to earn a Master’s Degree in Music Education. In the summer months he manages Hathaway’s Drive-In Theater, also in the neighborhood.