During the afternoon hours of August 16, 1777, the skies finally cleared after two days of heavy rain over the small town of Hoosick, N.Y., just ten miles west of Bennington, Vermont. Eyeing one another across an interval of a few hundred yards, Hessian elements of the British Army under Lt. Colonel Friedrich Baum and a contingent of New Hampshire militia commanded by General John Stark checked their powder, loaded their muskets, and prepared for battle. Stark, addressing his troops while pointing directly at the Redcoats across the way, is reputed to have inspired his men by shouting, “They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!” Within moments of Stark’s declaration, the Americans advanced, initiating one of the more violent and impactful engagements of the American Revolution.
The battle at Hoosick (forever after known as The Battle of Bennington) had its origin in the British high command’s decision to reevaluate their original strategic approach. The war – now two years old – was not going as the British had anticipated, thus a new strategy to subdue the colonies appeared in order. The decision was to sever New England from the other colonies by utilizing a three-pronged assault. One of the prongs would move up the Hudson River from New York City under General William Howe. A second prong would march east from Lake Ontario under the command of General Barry St. Leger. Finally, the third movement was to proceed south from Montreal under General John Burgoyne, ultimately to meet the other two forces on the Hudson River, somewhere near Albany, N. Y., effectively cutting-off New England from the other warring colonies.
However, the plan collapsed in confusion when on August 22, St. Leger, laying siege to Fort Stanwix (today’s Rome, N.Y.) – with a force of Loyalists, Hessians, and Canadians numbering 1,600 – was forced to withdraw under threat of imminent American reinforcements. Then Howe unilaterally decided to move on Philadelphia, the American capital, by shifting his army south by sea to the Chesapeake Bay, leaving only Burgoyne – and unbeknownst to him – to complete the original plan. Burgoyne’s force, numbering 7,000 – comprised of British regulars, Hessians, and screened by a composite of Native American warriors – initiated his portion of the campaign on June 14, with a movement down Lake Champlain, but still with no knowledge of the whereabouts or intentions of the other commands. His initial objective was Fort Ticonderoga, at the junction of Lake Champlain and Lake George. Moving by water, Burgoyne’s force swiftly gained the southern portion of the lake, and on July 6, Ticonderoga fell.
Unfortunately for Burgoyne (other than his Native American scouts), his expedition was woefully unprepared for campaigning in the North American wilderness. From this point forward, his engineers and sappers were forced to hack a new road through the woods where no road existed. Short on wagons and horses – while simultaneously trying to muscle 130 pieces of artillery along with an immense train of supplies through the dense woods – his columns crawled forward at a glacial pace toward Fort Edward at the southern end of Lake George.
It was there on August 3 that a courier from Howe finally got through to Burgoyne, advising “Gentleman Johnny” that General Howe had changed his mind and would not be marching north up the Hudson to cooperate. Utterly stunned by the news, Burgoyne kept the information the dispatch contained from his staff, fearing the bewilderment it might cause throughout his army.
However, unknown to Burgoyne or Baum, the American force at Bennington was considerably larger than their intelligence suggested. The citizens in the area between New York and the Vermont Republic (modern Vermont), then referred to as The New Hampshire Grants, were rattled by Ticonderoga's fall and turned to the authorities in New Hampshire for help. A militia force of 1,500 was immediately raised in response and placed under the command of John Stark, a general of New Hampshire militia.
Stark had been a commanding presence at the Battle of Bunker Hill and was with Washington during his stunning attacks at Trenton and Princeton in 1776 and early 1777. A tough, no-nonsense backwoodsman, as a young man, he had been captured by the Abenaki tribe and hauled-off to their camp in Canada. Later made to “run-the-gauntlet,” Stark grabbed the weapon from the first Indian he faced, attacked him, then fought the entire line with such ferocity that the startled chief stopped the fighting and, impressed with Stark’s courage, adopted him into the tribe. Later, during the French and Indian War, Stark and his brother served in the famed Roger’s Rangers, where he experienced combat and learned Roger’s unique style of backwoods guerrilla warfare. Taking firm command of the New Hampshire militia, Stark immediately crossed over into the Grants, arriving in Bennington in early August.
Now deep in the wilderness, his extended supply-line already failing miserably, and with no hope of cooperation or reinforcement from the other planned British forces, Burgoyne accepted a suggestion from General Baron Riedesel, the leader of his Hessian troops. The Baron had noticed that the surrounding country supported numerous substantial farms which suggested vast resources of horses, food, and sundry supplies for the army. Burgoyne at once ordered Lt. Colonel Friedrich Baum to march eastward with a force of 800 dismounted Hessian dragoons, loyalists, and some few Native Americans to seize an American supply depot reportedly at Bennington, thought to be lightly guarded. Baum departed for Bennington on August 11.
On August 15, as Baum felt his way east in search of forage and booty, his Hessians stumbled headfirst into a small scouting party sent out by Stark. Muskets cracked, and Baum pressed forward, confident of his force’s superiority. Substantially outnumbered, the Americans fell-back but promptly advised Stark of the Hessian’s approach. At once, the American general responded first, sending a request for reinforcements, then marching his entire force west to confront Baum. Near the small village of Hoosick, he laid out a defensive line and waited for the Hessian’s approach.
Marching in from the west, Baum’s scouts discovered Stark’s position directly ahead, and Baum’s confidence quickly evaporated. Understanding now that Stark substantially outnumbered them, Baum sent off a courier to Burgoyne requesting immediate reinforcements, then began work on a defensive line of his own, a small redoubt dominating its center. Then clouds tumbled-in, the heavens opened, and for the next day and a half, both sides hunkered-down, waiting for the downpours to pass.
As the rains fell, 100 Loyalists marched into Baum’s camp. At the same time, Burgoyne responded by sending 550 additional Hessians under Henrich von Breyman – but the Hessians, despite hard marching, would not arrive until late afternoon, August 16. During the rain delay, Stark welcomed in reinforcements of 350 Green Mountain Boys, increasing his force to about 2,000. In the mid-afternoon, August 16, the rain stopped, the skies cleared, and the New Hampshire militiamen began loading their muskets.
Utilizing his overwhelming numbers, Stark decided to attack immediately. However, before launching his attack, he is reputed to have encouraged his troops by pointing toward Baum’s position and imploring his men: “There are your enemies, the Redcoats, and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!” Using the invaluable lessons Stark had learned while a member of Rogers Rangers, he quietly led his militiamen into the woods where, taking advantage of their hunting skills, silently, with great stealth, they felt for both flanks of Baum’s line.
Once Stark's men had successfully enveloped Baum's Redcoats, Stark gave the order, and his militiamen struck like a thunderclap. An explosion of musketry at close range sent Baum's Loyalists hightailing, while the Hessians gathered in a tight circle atop their small hill as the Americans closed from all sides. The fighting was loud, long, and furious. The Hessian dragoons, surrounded and grasping the dire situation they faced, finally responded by launching a desperate, ill-fated saber charge.
Hoping to break through Stark’s line to safety, the frantic charge of the dismounted cavalrymen failed almost before it had begun. Shot to pieces by Stark’s crack-shooting backwoodsmen, the ground below the hilltop soon lay blanketed with the dead and dying. Baum lay mortally wounded, and what remained of his command was forced to surrender.
It wasn’t over, however. Moments later, as the victorious Americans searched for useful booty amongst the Hessian’s wagons, Breyman and his reinforcements finally arrived and promptly formed for battle. Storming ahead, they caught Stark’s men by surprise, forcing them back to their original position, where they quickly reformed. Breyman attacked again, but a furious blast of musketry stopped the Hessians in their tracks. Both sides then settled into musket exchanges at close range until the sun finally set, bringing an end to the day’s combat.
That night, having lost over a quarter of his command, Breyman slipped away into the darkness, leaving the field to Stark and his New Hampshire militiamen. The rising sun confirmed just how deadly the American musketry had been. The Hessians suffered 207 dead, while Stark's militiamen captured another 700 soldiers. The Americans, by comparison, had suffered only 16 deaths and 40 wounded. It was a stunning American victory.
The Battle of Bennington, by any standard, had been a minor sideshow, but a sideshow that nevertheless had dramatic strategic consequences. The American victory provided an enormous boost to American morale in the immediate area, for instance, while simultaneously giving Burgoyne pressing cause for concern. To begin with, he had lost a thousand veteran soldiers. Moreover, they had failed in their mission to secure horses, transport, and supplies. Most of his Native American guides and scouts quit the British campaign as a consequence, significantly limiting his intelligence-gathering and knowledge of the surrounding terrain, of which he was entirely ignorant. These factors would weigh heavily on Burgoyne's forward movements and ultimately play a critical role in his defeat at Freeman's Farm and subsequent surrender at Saratoga two months later. That defeat stunned Europe and brought France into the war on the side of the Americans. For his success at Bennington, John Stark was promoted Brigadier General in the Continental Army and later elevated to command of the Army's Northern Department. After the war, he retired to his farm in Derryfield, N.H. (modern Manchester), one of the war's true Patriot heroes.
Stark’s remarkable victory at Bennington had two lasting effects on the American Revolution. First was his cunning demonstration of how successful frontier militias could be when allowed to fight within their limited capabilities. The Hessians, trained in European battlefield techniques, were known to be ferocious, professional fighters. Still, in the woods at Bennington, they proved no match against American crack-shot militiamen, accustomed to fighting tree-to-tree in the stealthy, Indian-style.
Secondly, as historian Richard M. Ketchum writes of all the early Revolutionary engagements: “They demonstrated that the new American nation had a fighting chance to win what it had set out to achieve if people would only stick at it long enough, with the determination it would require.” John Stark proved that American militiamen could beat Hessian professionals in a straight-up fight when properly handled. That simple message resonated powerfully across a country still very much in need of evidence that its ambitions did not exceed its abilities to achieve them.
Jim Stempel is a speaker and author of nine books and numerous articles on American history, spirituality, and warfare. His newest book regarding the American Revolution – Valley Forge to Monmouth: Six Transformative Months of the American Revolution – will be released in December and is currently available for pre-order on virtually all online sites. This serves as a follow-up to his critically acclaimed book American Hannibal, an examination American General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens. For a full preview, pricing, and pre-publication reviews of Valley Forge to Monmouth, visit Amazon here ). Or, visit Jim Stempel's website for all his books, reviews, articles, biography, and interviews.
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