"The Battle Of Bennington - August 16, 1777" (1990) - Rev War Re-enacting Retro

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in the late summer of 1777 British troops under the command of General John bergo were heading south from Canada along the Champlain Valley their objective Albany New York the original Plan called for a three-prong offensive by the British with General booy to move South Lieutenant Colonel Barry St ledger to move East from Fort asigo and General William how to move north from New York City unfortunately for the British St Ledger only got As far as Fort Stanwick when his combined troops of 17700 regulars Tories and Indians were defeated by The Defenders of the fort who refused to surrender in general how's case his previous orders called for him to take Philadelphia and he was already on the move this left weo alone to proceed to alvany after a skirmish at hton Vermont he was desperately low on supplies on August 11th the Detachment whose mission was to obtain supplies food Forge and horses for bagoy's Army began its March they headed toward Bennington where booy had been informed a large cach of stores were on hand and guarded by a small militia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich bomb the forces has numbered 650 men composed of dismounted drons grenadiers and light infantry plus percentage of Tories Canadians Indians and the usual camp followers General bgy was unaware that General John Stark from New Hampshire was mustering colonial troops in Bennington called out a voluntary retirement Stark would accept a commission only if he would be independent of the Continental Army and given the authority to act as an independent command on the 13th of August having received information that beroy had dispatched troops toward Bennington Stark sent Colonel William Greg out on a reconnaissance mission along the bom saac at sanco Mill bomb had his first contact with organized Colonial troops with Greg looking on early in the morning of the 14th the Skirmish broke out between the two opposing forces General Stark writes I sent Colonel Greg of my Brigade to stop them in the night I was informed by Express that there was a large body of the enemy on the March I rallied all my Brigade and what militia was at Bennington I likewise sent to Manchester to Colonel Seth Warner's regiment that was stationed there I also sent expresses for the militia to come from other places with all speed to our assistance I then marched in company with all the men that were present [Music] [Applause] about five miles from Bennington I met Colonel Greg on his Retreat and the enemy in Pursuit after him bombs larger and more organized forces were obviously more than Greg was prepared to handle when Bob Scouts brought information of a much larger Force ahead he's sent to beroy for reinforcements while Bal and his men continued their move toward Bennington bergo dispatch Colonel Heinrich Von bremond to Aid him not realizing the extent of the buildup of colonial forces now going on in the Bennington area V bremond did not see the need to move at full speed on his second day out ran into inclement weather and bad roads his lack of haste would prove to be a fatal Mistake by noon bomb was arriving at his first main position for the upcoming battle aware of the advancing forces General Stark conferred with his officers and decided to meet the uncoming Army before they had a chance to get any closer to Bennington bomb's Indian Scouts traveling far in advance of his troops had caused him trouble from the very beginning of his March instead of rounding up cattle for food for the Army they slaughtered the animals just for the cowbells stories of these and other atrocities by his Indians terrified area residents and helped swell the ranks of militia men under Stark Stark found bomb and his men entrenched in their routs along the bom sack go or G Stark began encircling bomb's positions sending Colonel Benjamin Nichols to the north with his men from New Hampshire and Colonels David Hobart and Thomas Stickney to capture Tory positions south of the bridge that crossed the bom sack Colonel Sam herin as Vermont Rangers and Bennington militia swept south of the Tor outpost on a wide Arc largely hidden by woods and recrossed the river a couple of miles west of bomb's position they were able to come up at bomb's rear completely unobserved Stark was to attack from the front at 3: in the afternoon of August 16th everyone was in place herck Nichol Stark Hobart and Stickney and unknown to everyone Colonel Seth Warner with his Green Mountain Boys were moving down from Manchester as the two opposing forces face one another Stark brought his men up to the main front position the British were waiting for the attack how' you get never Nichols Battalion fired the first shots next some of herrick's men started firing the British returned the fire as they tried to determine what the colonial's battle strategy would be Stark now moved his men around into [Applause] position the British fired into his ranks one of Stark's men was down the first of many dead and wounded that would occur on this historic day the battle continued with both armies firing back and forth neither giving any ground bomb still held on to his position in the redout the Colonials stood fast in front of [Applause] them off to bomb's Left Flank he had one of his C moved into position the firing between the Colonials and the British continued at a furious Pace but slowly the Colonials were moving closer to bomb's position then suddenly some of Stark's men tried to overrun the cannon but were [Music] repulsed bomb's redout was now under heavy fire and his men started to retreat his slow firing cannons were no match for the determined Colonials who would not give up an inch of hard one ground with bomb wounded and his positions practically surrounded his troops were now in full route and the colonial forces moved in [Music] we Cate our Victory they celebrated their well-earned victory [Applause] but as what remained of bomb's men headed back West into the security of General bagoy's army colonel Von breman's reinforcements were now arriving on the scene unfortunately too late to save Colonel bomb the Colonials not knowing yet about the reinforcements thought they had one won the day again General Stark right I then gave orders to Rally again in order to secure the victory but in a few minutes was informed that there was a large reinforcement sent by General John beroy on the March within 2 miles lucky for us that moment Colonel Seth Warner's regiment came up fresh marched on and began the attack I pushed forward as many of the men as I could to their assistance the battle continued obstinate on both sides till [Music] sunset and so what was now this second Battle of the day raged on Colonel Von bramman was to comment later I was completely unaware of bomb's defeat when we approached the battle area area I did not hear a single shot fired either from Small Arms or Cannon the timely arrival of Warner's fresh troops slowed on breman's Advance who now commanded a High Ridge those star and Warner had the much larger Force Bon breman's position gave him the advantage but slowly he was losing this Advantage as his casualties mounted and ammunition ran low as the colonial started to surround Von Breman he had no choice but to order a withdrawal his men started moving off the ridge with her camp followers and the walking wounded Bon bremond looked on as darkark slowly Advanced toward his position thinking he may still be able to hold on some of his men continued the fight when suddenly Warner's Green Mountain Boys appeared at the top of the Ridge and forced them down the [Applause] hill [Music] they continued their Retreat and disappeared into the brush the Battle of Bennington was [Music] over [Music] as the dead and wounded lay scattered about the battlefield the wives and mistresses who followed the troops also served as nurses when the battle ended mortally wounded both Colonel bomb and col Francis Fister commander of the Tor Brigade were taken to David Matthew's house where they died that night as the colonial troops started their triumphant March back to Bennington General Stark wrote had day lasted an hour longer we should have taken the whole body of them we took about 700 prisoners 207 dead on the spot that part of the enemy that made their escape marched marched all night and we returned to our camp our loss was inconsiderable about 40 wounded and 30 killed the Battle of Bennington was of no small Consequence the mostly untrained Colonial forces had overwhelmingly defeated some of Europe's best trained disciplined and equipped troops the going and bomb had fatally underestimated the strength of their enemy Americans valuable stock of stores and supplies had been saved and burgoyne's ambitious plan for a quick march to Albany had been halted 2 months later he would surrender his entire command of 8,000 troops following the Battle of Saratoga which resulted in a major turning point for the American Revolution [Applause] sues yall when the British wounded were returned to Bennington the enlisted men were housed in the old first church the original having burned down it was rebuilt in 1805 and still stands [Music] today the adjoining cemetery is now the final resting place for many of the participants of the battle both a British and [Music] [Music] [Music] American [Music] the Catamount Tavern was on this site and used for the wounded British officers the objective of the battle was the storehouse that stood on this site and also is remembered to this day by the Bennington Battle Monument a stone monolith 300 6 ft tall on the same site the colonel Seth Warner statue remains a tribute to the hero of the battle who brought in his Green Mountain Boys and saved the [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] oh [Music] la thanks for watching if you'd like to help us produce more compelling historical content like this please 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