The Battle of Bennington

Battles Important People Important Places Historical Viewpoints Historical Events Historic Documents Timeline Recommended Readings Message Board Chat Home Online Degrees	Date: August 16th, 1777 Location: Bennington, New York Weather: ~80F Cloudy, Rain and Thunderstorms American Casualties: ~70 British Casualties: 326 American Leaders: Stark / Warner British Leaders: Baum

Overview:
    By the end of July 1777, General John Burgoyne's invasion of New York had progressed as far south as Fort Edward (immediately east of Glens Falls). The plan was to capture Albany and join with other British forces advancing from New York City and the Mohawk Valley. The state would again be under British control and the rebellious colonies would be divided.
    However, Burgoyne's supply lines from Canada were growing longer and less secure. His German mercenaries, mostly Brunswickers (the Americans tended to call all such mercenaries "Hessians") had no cavalry horses and his army was short of beef, wagons, and draft animals. With little regard for the rebels' military skills, he proposed that Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum lead an expedition into Vermont and New Hampshire to forage for supplies. Hearing that the American storehouses at Bennington, Vermont were poorly defended, Burgoyne ordered instead that Baum capture them. Half of Baum's troops were Brunswickers, the remainder were Canadians, British sharpshooters, Tories and Indians.
    The intelligence Burgoyne had received was inaccurate. Vermont's Council of Safety, aware of his approach, had sent out a call for help. New Hampshire had responded by sending 1500 troops under John Stark. Stark's men and a smaller force of Vermont militia under Seth Warner were near Bennington as Baum's expedition was preparing to attack.
    Baum set out on the forty-mile trek to Bennington on August 11, but the unmounted cavalrymen in their cumbersome uniforms (plus Baum's strict adherence to European military formalities) slowed the march. One of his officers later wrote that "one prodigious forest, bottomed in swamps and morasses, covered the whole face of the country."
    The raiders met and drove off a rebel scouting party at Sancoicks Mills on August 14. After dispatching a request for reinforcements, Baum advanced four miles to a hill overlooking the Walloomsac River. Only five miles from Bennington, Baum's men entrenched on and around this hill, awaiting further American resistance.

Synopsis:
    After a day of rain, Stark decided on August 16 to send two columns of his troops against Baum's flanks and rear while the remainder assaulted the front. The attack began at 3:00 pm. Many Indians, Canadians and Tories fled or surrendered after the first musket volleys, but the unmounted cavalrymen held position, fighting off the attackers with sabers. Baum himself died in the battle, which Stark would later describe as "one continuous clap of thunder," which lasted two hours before the hill was finally taken.
    Stark's men had barely cheered the victory when news arrived that Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann was approaching with the requested reinforcements. Fortunately, Warner's Vermont militia arrived in time to meet this advance. The Vermonters pushed back the Brunswickers and pursued them until sundown. "But had daylight lasted one hour longer," Stark reported later, "we should have taken the whole body of them."  

Conclusion:
    Burgoyne and Baum had severely underestimated the strength of their enemy. Baum and over two hundred of his men were dead, and most of the remainder (some 700) were taken prisoner. By contrast, only 40 Americans had been killed, 30 wounded. Burgoyne had failed to obtain his needed supplies. His army was thus weaker against the Continental forces at Saratoga and after two unsuccessful battles, the British General surrendered on October 17, 1777.

Recommended readings: (Click on link to purchase)

	Title: Bennington || Author: Bennington Historical Society || ISDN: 0-738-51027-0 || Released: September 2002 pb
	Distributed by the Bennington Historical Society.  This is a book with several details regarding the history of Bennington.  While I was studying this battle, I had trouble understanding some of the details regarding the terrain and the layout of the land.  This book was a tremendous help to me.

Title: War over Walloomscoick : Land Use and Settlement Pattern on the Bennington Battlefield - 1777 || Author: Philip L. Lord || ISDN: 1-555-57186-7 || Released: December 1989

Readers interested in general information about rural 18th century life and agricultural patterns should not be diverted by the title of this work, or the fact that it focuses on a battlefield of the Revolutionary War. The study leading to this publication linked the modern battlefield terrain, a British map of the battlefield, and eyewitness accounts of the battle to recreate the civilian land use patterns and practices in evidence there in 1777. To elaborate on these findings, primary documents, illustrations, and photographs are presented in what many historians, outdoor museum staff, and teachers would find as a valuable resource for understanding and interpreting 18th century life in the northeastern United States. This is not just about military history, but it used military data to get at the facts of civilian life on the frontier.

**Notes
Vermont celebrates August 16th as the only official state holiday. Although the battle did not take place within it's boundaries, Vermont believes correctly that there inhabitants played a paramount role in the victory.

**Battle Map