This was
precisely Baum's present situation. He therefore lost no time in sending
a courier to headquarters.

On his part, Stark did not wish to fight till Warner could come up, or
delay fighting long enough for the enemy to be reenforced. Baum's
evident desire to avoid an action made Stark all the more anxious to
attack him, and he resolved to do so not later than the next morning, by
which time he confidently reckoned on having Warner's regiment with him.
Though small, it had fought bravely at Hubbardton, and Stark felt that
his raw militia would be greatly strengthened by the presence of such
veterans among them.

[Sidenote: Aug. 15.]

Rain frustrated Stark's plan for attacking the next day, so there was
only a little skirmishing, in which the Americans had the advantage.
Baum improved the delay by throwing up a redoubt of logs and earth on a
rather high, flat-topped hill, rising behind the little Walloomsac
River. In this he placed his two field-pieces. His Canadians and
loyalists took up a position across and lower down the stream, in his
front, the better to cover the road by which his reenforcements must
come, or the Americans attempt to cut off his retreat. These
dispositions were all that time, the size of his force, and the nature
of the ground, would permit.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.

August 16, 1777.]

Rain also kept back the reenforcements that each side was so impatiently
expecting. Stark chafed at the delay, Baum grew more hopeful of holding
out until help could reach him. Burgoyne had, indeed, despatched Breyman
to Baum's assistance at eight o'clock in the morning, with eight hundred
and fifty men and two guns. This corps was toiling on, through mud and
rain, at the rate of only a mile an hour, when an hour, more or less,
was to decide the fate of the expedition itself. The fatigue was so
great, that when urged on to the relief of their comrades, the weary
Germans would grumble out, "Oh, let us give them time to get warm!"

Warner's regiment could not leave Manchester till the morning of the
fifteenth, but by marching till midnight, it was near Bennington on the
morning of the sixteenth. Breyman put so little energy into his
movements that he was nowhere near Baum at that hour. Stark, however,
was strengthened by the arrival of several hundred militia from
Massachusetts, who came full of fight, and demanding to be led against
the enemy without delay. Stark's reply was characteristic