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Walbridge, Ebenezer.–Prominent as both a military man and civilian, and one of the few, after the original eight, admitted to the secret of the Haldimand correspondence, was born at Norwich, Conn., Jan. 1, 1738, came to Bennington about ’65, and died there October, 1819.
The family was a brave and brainy one, tracing back to Sir William de Walbridge of Suffolk county, Eng., who distinguished himself in the Fourth Crusade, under Richard Cœur de Lion. One of General Walbridge’s grandsons, Hiram Walbridge, was a member of Congress from New York in 1853-’55, a granddaughter was the wife of Gov. Washington Hunt of New York, and David S. Walbridge, congressman from Michigan, 1854-’59, born in Bennington in 1802, was probably a relative.
Ebenezer Walbridge was a lieutenant in the regiment of Green Mountain Boys before Quebec in 1775, and was adjutant of the regiment, and he fought at Bennington where his brother Henry was killed.
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He was in this campaign sent by General Lincoln with five hundred troops to Skeensborough, Fort Ann and Fort Edward to alarm and divide the British forces, and this diversion had an important bearing on the campaign and was another important factor in the ruin of Burgoyne. He was lieutenant-colonel in 1778, and in 1780 succeeded Herrick in command of the Bennington regiment, and he also commanded a regiment of militia in that vicinity in 1781, and in October of that year was at Castleton to meet a threatened invasion by St. Leger. In December of that year when New York was threatening to make war on the state, he was in command of the troops before which the New York militia fled. He was subsequently elected brigadier-general. He twice represented his town and was a member of the Governor’s council 1780-’88. He was an enterprising business man, and in 1784 built and operated at Bennington the first paper mill in Vermont. Personally he is described as a man of most kindly and winning qualities.
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Vermont History and Genealogy 