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Page 20
"That's the man exactly as I saw him at Saratoga," said Kinnison.
"Did you say you was with General Stark, at Bennington?" enquired Hand.
"Ay, and did my share of that day's work," replied Ransom. "That _was_ a
battle, my boys. If you had seen the way that the militia walked up to
the enemy's cannon, and fought with regulars, you'd have said at once,
there was no use of Great Britain trying to subdue such men."
"Not having had the pleasure of seeing it," replied Hand, "I should like
to hear what you saw of it. Tell us about the affair, and how you won
such a victory."
THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.
"You shall hear about the battle of Bennington," said Ransom. "At the
time Burgoyne was advancing towards the Hudson, the people of
Massachusetts and the New Hampshire Grants were alarmed, and feared that
Burgoyne would march towards Boston. The whole frontier was uncovered.
But the people began to feel the necessity of taking measures to check
the advance of the enemy. General Stark was then at home, angry with
Congress on account of his rank not being equal to his services. He had
resigned his commission in the regular army. I was then at my farm,
having gone home after serving with Colonel Allen. I expected to be
called into service again, but didn't intend to fight under any other
orders than those of John Stark; because I knew the man had been badly
treated, and I and most of the militia felt for him. The New Hampshire
Assembly met, and began to adopt measures for the defence of the
country. The militia was formed into two brigades. General Whipple was
appointed to command the first, and General Stark the second. Stark
refused to accept the appointment. But finding that his name was a host,
he was induced to yield his private griefs for the public good. He said
he would assume the command of the troops, if he was not desired to join
the main army, and was made accountable to no authority but that of New
Hampshire. His conditions were accepted, and he went to Charlestown to
meet the Committee of Safety. As soon as I heard that General Stark was
in the field, I hurried off to Charlestown to join the militia, I knew
would assemble there. I found the men were coming in from all
directions, and all were in high spirits. Stark sent us off to
Manchester, twenty miles from Bennington, to join Colonel Warner's
regiment. You know after that skrimmage at Hubbardton, Warner could
scarcely muster more than two hundred men, and we who were sent from
Charlestown were to fill out his regiment. I found most of the men had
been in service since the war began, and knew what fighting was; and I
thought they were a match for twice their number; but I had some near
neighbours in the regiment of Colonel Nichols at Bennington: I went and
joined him. As our regiment was filling up, General Stark arrived at
Manchester, where he met General Lincoln, who had come to conduct the
militia across the Hudson to General Schuyler; but Stark told him that
the men were called together to protect their homes in New Hampshire,
and could not be taken out of that part of the country. I heard
afterwards that General Lincoln informed Congress of the state of
things in our neighbourhood, and that Congress censured General Stark;
but he didn't care for that. He knew he was right in staying in New
Hampshire, and that the men who censured him knew nothing about the
state of things there. Well, we were called upon to meet the enemy
sooner than we expected, for it appeared that Baum, with his Germans and
Indians, was on his march towards Bennington. Soon after, I arrived at
Manchester. About four hundred men had collected at Bennington, when
General Stark arrived there, and more were coming in constantly. I guess
it was on the 13th of August when we received information that some of
Baum's Indians had been seen near Cambridge--that's about twelve miles
from Bennington. Then there was a stir among the men, and all sorts of
preparation for a desperate battle. We all knew that we were going to
fight for our homes, and that made us eager to meet the enemy. All the
men of Bennington who could bear arms joined us, and the old men and
women and boys did all they could to get us information, and to supply
our wants. General Stark sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg, with two hundred
men, to check the enemy. In the course of the night we were informed
that the Indians were supported by a large body of regulars, with a
train of artillery; and that the whole force of the enemy were in full
march for Bennington. General Stark immediately called out all the
militia, and sent word to Colonel Warner to bring his regiment from
Manchester. Before daylight on the morning of the 14th of August,
General Stark had about eight hundred men under his command, including
Colonel Gregg's detachment. We then moved forward to support Gregg.
About four or five miles from Bennington, we met our detachment in full
retreat, and the enemy within a mile of it. Stark ordered us to halt,
and we were then drawn up in order of battle. Baum saw we were prepared
to make fight, and halted, instead of coming up to the work like a man.
A small party of our men were forced to abandon Van Shaick's mill, where
they had been posted, but not before they had killed a few of the enemy.
Stark found that the enemy were busy entrenching themselves, and he
tried to draw them from their position by sending out small parties to
skirmish; but it was of no use, they wouldn't come out and fight; so
Stark fell back a mile, leaving a part of our regiment to skirmish. Now
you know that's a kind of fighting in which the Green Mountain Boys were
always first best. Before we fell back to the main body, we had killed
and wounded more than thirty of the enemy, including two Indian chiefs,
without losing a man."
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