Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/526

494 Germans and English continued to labor at their entrenchments, upon which they had mounted two pieces of artillery. The following day was bright and sunny, and early in the morning Stark sent forward two columns to storm the entrenchments at different points, and when the firing had commenced, threw himself on horseback and advanced with the rest of his troops. As soon as the enemy's columns were seen forming on the hillside, he exclaimed, "See, men! there are the red-coats; we must beat to-day, or Molly Stark's a widow." The militia replied to this appeal by a tremendous shout, and the battle which ensued, as Stark states in his official report, "lasted two hours, and was the hottest I ever saw. It was like one continual clap of thunder." The Indians ran off at the beginning of the battle; the tories were driven across the river; and although the Germans fought bravely, they were compelled to abandon the entrenchments, and fled, leaving their artillery and baggage on the field.

As Breyman and his corps approached, they heard the firing, and hurried forward to the aid of their countrymen. An hour or two earlier, and they might have given a different turn to the affair, but the heavy rain had delayed their progress. They met and rallied the fugitives, and returned to the field of battle. Stark's troops, who were engaged in plunder, were taken in great measure by surprise, and the victory might after all have been wrested from their grasp, but for the opportune arrival of Warner's regiment at the critical moment. The battle continued until sunset, when the Germans, overwhelmed with numbers, at length abandoned their baggage and fled. Colonel Baum, their brave commander, was killed, and the British loss amounted to some eight or nine hundred effective troops, in killed and prisoners. Their loss of the Americans was thirty killed and forty wounded. Stark's horse was killed in the action.

Too much praise, as Mr. Everett well remarks, cannot be bestowed on the conduct of those who gained the battle of Bennington, officers and men. It is perhaps the most conspicuous example of the performance by militia of all that is expected of regular, veteran troops. The fortitude and resolution, with which the lines at Bunker Hill were maintained, by recent recruits, against the assault of a powerful army of experienced soldiers, have always been regarded with admiration. But at Bernington, the hardy yeomen of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, many of them fresh from the plough and unused to the camp, "advanced," as General Stark expresses it in his official letter, " through fire and smoke, and mounted breastworks, that were well fortified and defended with cannon."

Fortunately for the success of the battle, Stark was most ably seconded by the officers under him; every