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Aware of the advancing British troops moving east
toward Bennington, Stark decided to head them off
rather than defend the supply depot at the Bennington
site. Therefore, it was approximately five miles northwest
of Bennington, near Walloomsac Heights in New York
State, that the actual battle took place.
Hampered by heavy rains, the British had halted their
advance and were encamped on the south slope parallel
to the Walloomsac River. General Stark, assessing the
British position, sent detachments under Colonel Moses
Nichols to circle Baum’s left, under Colonel Samuel
Herrick to circle the right, and under Colonels David
Hobart and Thomas Stickney to the south. Stark, with
the remaining men, made the principal frontal attack.
The fighting began at three o’clock on the afternoon of August 16th. Folklore has Stark uttering the immortal words, “There are the Red Coats; they will be ours or tonight Molly Stark sleeps a widow.” The first shot was fired by Nichols’ battalion; and by five o’clock that evening, the British troops were retreating in disorder. Baum received a mortal wound at this stage of the battle and his demoralized troops surrendered. General Stark later described this engagement as “one continuous clap of thunder.”
As General Stark was taking the captured and wounded enemy soldiers back to Bennington, Colonel Breymann appeared with a second unit of Burgoyne’s army, surprising Stark and his men. The Americans fought back; but exhausted and hungry, they slowly gave ground.
Then suddenly, arriving overland from Manchester,
Colonel Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys came
to their aid. With this additional help and reinforcement,
the scales were tipped in the Americans’ favor and
Breymann’s ranks gave way. By dusk they were fleeing,
with the Americans in hot pursuit.
The Battle of Bennington was of no small consequence. The mostly untrained Yankees had overwhelmingly defeated some of Europe’s best trained, disciplined and equipped troops. A large percentage of Burgoyne’s army had been killed, wounded or captured and much of their already short supply of needed military stores had been captured by the American forces. The Americans’ valuable stock of stores and supplies had been saved, and Burgoyne’s ambitious plan for a quick march to Albany had been halted.
Due in large part to the lack of the much needed supplies, Burgoyne, on October
17, 1777, surrendered with his entire command of some
8,000 British, Hessian and Brunswick troops at Stillwater,
New York, following the Battle of Saratoga, a major
turning point for the American Revolution.
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