One of the most consequential battles of the Revolutionary War occurred on August 16, 1777. The Battle of Bennington was part of the Saratoga Campaign. British Gen. John Burgoyne was marching south from Canada to try to cut off New York from New England. The advance did not go as planned. The roads were poor and colonists had blocked them with felled trees. He was way behind schedule and running out of supplies. He learned there were supplies to be taken in the town of Bennington in Vermont. He sent an 800 man detachment of British dragoons, Hessians, loyalists, and Indians under the command of Lt. Col. Friedrich Baum. Upon nearing the objective, Baum ran into “uncouth militia” and a lot of them. Gen. John Stark happened to be in Bennington with a force of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts militia. Stark was a hero of the Battles of Bunker Hill and Trenton. He had about 2,000 men.
When Baum realized he was facing a much larger colonial force, he dug entrenchments on a hill. Some patriots infiltrated the position pretending to be tories. Stark had learned the enemy was putting white paper on their hats to indicate they were loyalists, so his scouts did the same. They reported back to Stark. He then ordered an assault. He famously declared: “There are your enemies, the Redcoats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow.” The attack enveloped the enemy lines and most of the tories and Indians fled. Baum’s Hessians put up a good fight, but the Americans were determined to destroy the enemy. In desperation, Baum led a mounted charge by the dragoons. He was mortally wounded and the dragoons were decimated. Soon after, the battle ended. However, at this point reinforcements sent for by Baum arrived and attacked the Americans who were milling around. Stark had to organize a line and was forced to pull back, but at this time a new force of militia arrived to firm up the American defense and the British were forced to retreat after heavy casualties. Overall, the British lost 200 casualties and 700 missing or captured. Stark had 70 casualties.
Bennington was one of the sweetest victories in the Revolutionary War. It had important results that led to the victory at Saratoga. Burgoyne lost about 1,000 men, he did not get vital supplies, and most of his Indian allies were discouraged and bugged out. Two months later, the British army surrendered at Saratoga.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/bennington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bennington
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