within the boundaries of the State of New York. The news of the advance
of Burgoyne had already roused the people of New York and New Hampshire,
and the legislature of the latter State had ordered General Stark with
a brigade of militia to stop the progress of the enemy on the western
frontier. Stark raised his standard at Charlestown on the Connecticut
River, and the militia poured into his camp. Disregarding Schuyler's
orders to join the main American army, which was falling back before
Burgoyne, Stark, as soon as he heard of the expedition against
Bennington, marched at once to meet Baum. He was within a mile of the
British camp on August 14, and vainly endeavored to draw Baum into
action. On the 15th it rained heavily, and the British forces occupied
the time in intrenching themselves strongly upon the hill which they
held. Baum meantime had already sent to Burgoyne for reinforcements,
and Burgoyne had detached Colonel Breymann with over six hundred regular
troops to go to Baum's assistance. On the 16th the weather cleared, and
Stark, who had been reinforced by militia from western Massachusetts,
determined to attack.

Early in the day he sent men, under Nichols and Herrick, to get into the
rear of Baum's position. The German officer, ignorant of the country
and of the nature of the warfare in which he was engaged, noticed small
bodies of men in their shirtsleeves, and carrying guns without bayonets,
making their way to the rear of his intrenchments. With singular
stupidity he concluded that they were Tory inhabitants of the country
who were coming to his assistance, and made no attempt to stop them. In
this way Stark was enabled to mass about five hundred men in the rear
of the enemy's position. Distracting the attention of the British by a
feint, Stark also moved about two hundred men to the right, and having
thus brought his forces into position he ordered a general assault,
and the Americans proceeded to storm the British intrenchments on every
side. The fight was a very hot one, and lasted some two hours. The
Indians, at the beginning of the action, slipped away between the
American detachments, but the British and German regulars stubbornly
stood their ground. It is difficult to get at the exact numbers of the
American troops, but Stark seems to have had between fifteen hundred and
two thousand militia. He thus outnumbered his enemy nearly three to
one, but his men were merely country militia, farmers of the