Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/161

 Rh force should make an expedition into the Connecticut Valley in search of horses and draught cattle. The Duke of Brunswick's regiment of dragoons was thus to be mounted at the expense of the Americans, and the British army was to be provided with pack-horses. To understand the pressing need of beasts of burden we must remember that the army was then eating bread made of English flour, and beef salted in England, and that these provisions had to be brought from Lake Champlain, or Lake George, to the Hudson on men's backs. The plan was, however, changed before the column had passed Fort Miller, and instead of marching on Manchester, the expedition was sent to Bennington, where the Americans were supposed to have a large supply of stores. Riedesel took the liberty of remonstrating against this change of destination, but Burgoyne held to it on the following grounds: First, it would be of the greatest benefit to the army to live for ten or twelve days on the stores they might capture at Bennington. Second, he (Burgoyne) meant to advance on Stillwater with the main army, so that Arnold would not be able to send a strong detachment to oppose Baum. Third, he had heard that St. Leger was besieging Fort Stanwix, on the upper waters of the Mohawk River, and it was important to prevent Arnold from detaching a strong corps for the relief of that place. So Lieutenant-colonel Baum started off on the 11th of August, 1777, on his march towards Bennington, in command of about five hundred and fifty white men, of whom three hundred and seventy-four were Germans. About one hundred and fifty Indians accompanied the expedition. This did