Battle of Bennington, NY

Memorial: The Battle of Bennington State Battlefield Site, NY. 

Located: West of Hoosick, NY

Year Erected: 1927

At the end of fall 2025, as the final leaves were falling, I was lucky enough to travel to Upstate New York for the first time. I really enjoyed my time out there, everyone at the bar was friendly, the people were all upset at the airport, it was a great experience. I knew nothing about the Battle of Bennington, but I saw that it was halfway between the airport and Glens Falls where I was headed. The State Battlefield site is well taken care of by the State of New York, and it has a nicely paved drive up to the top of Hessian Hill where all of these Monuments are. I learned after the fact that there is a major monument in the City of Bennington, VT. I wish I had stopped there, but I will do that next time.... So it goes...

At the top of Hessian hill there is a bronze map of the battlefield that is very detailed which is nice except for the fact that the detail of the trees makes it very difficult to see any of the forces/markings without very close examination.

There is multiple monuments to the various units that fought in this battle, namely, Vermonters, and New Hampshire Regiments. Below is the monument for New Hampshire Regiments and the leader for American forces on the day of battle, John Stark.

A Memorial

COMMEMORATING THE RECORD

OF THE

NEW HAMPSHIRE TROOPS

UNDER THE COMMAND

OF

JOHN STARK

IN

THIS IMPORTANT

AND

DECICIVE ENGAGEMENT

AUGUST 16, 1777

ERECTED BY THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Below is the monument for the militia men from Massachusetts that fought in the battle. It depicts the Militia marching forward towards the hill.

Below is the monument honoring the Militia of Vermont that fought in this battle. In the State of Vermont, August 16th is a celebrated Holiday. Bennington Battle Day.

IN GRATEFUL MEMORY

OF THE

PATRIOTS OF VERMONT

AND OF THEIR FELLOW PATRIOTS FROM

THE NEIGHBORING STATES

WHO WER FOUGHT FOR AMERICAN

INDEPENDENCE UNDER THE COMMAND

OF

GENERAL JOHN STARK

AND

COLONEL SETH WARNER

AUGUST 16, 1777

The Battle of Bennington, 1777

In 1777, the American revolution was in full effect with the British expecting a swift defeat of the colonial forces as the swept down upon them.  The basic plan to crush the rebellion was to first crush New England, with multiple Generals coming down from Canada as well as General Howes forces heading north from New York City to converge on Albany, NY before heading east to Boston. 

One of the generals leading the way from Canada was General Burgoyne from Lake Champlain and as he was heading south, took fort Ticonderoga and headed through New York and present day Vermont.  His force was made up of Local Native Americans (Iroquois and other allies), German dragoons (Prince Ludwigs Dragoon Regiment from the Duchy of Brunswick), Canadian Irregulars, Loyalist Militia and British regulars.

The American Rebels in the area made it a slow process for Burgoyne by destroying much of the infrastructure in the area, destroying bridges and felling timbers along the road. Due to the slow down, the British army was running low on supplies, horses, and food and Burgoyne heard about a colonial supply in the vicinity of Bennington, NY.  This is when he sent a detachment of forces to seize theses supplies to replenish their own.

This force was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Friedrich Baum along with the dismounted German dragoons, Canadian Irregulars, Native American Forces as scouting units and the Loyalist Militia. The started south in front of the main army towards Bennington before running into rebel forces. During this brief firefight, they realized that they were up against determined forces and found a better defensive position about a mile away from their supply objective on top of now called ‘Hessian Hill’.

The dismounted German Dragoons, along with 2 small cannons from Pausch's artillery company were placed on top of the hill. The Canadian and Iroquois forces were placed on the road in a defensive position at the south east portion of the hill.  Loyalist Militia, primarily the Queens Royal Rangers (McAlpin's Corps) were placed in a defensive position south of the Canadian and Iroquois position known as the ‘Loyalist Redoubt’.  While the British forces began setting up defensive positions, they sent a dispatch to Burgoyne requesting reinforcements.

The Colonial American forces in the area were groups of militia from New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (Vermont was not yet a state and land was disputed between New York and New Hampshire). Notably Hobart’s Regiment of Militia, Nichols’ Regiment of Militia, and Stickney’s Regiment of Militia, as well as Langdon’s Company of Light Horse all from New Hampshire.  General John Stark, a veteran of the French and Indian War, was a fanatical patriot and mustered the local Milita. He was a skilled leader and tactician. From New Hampshire (Now Vermont), Seth Warner was racing west with 350 Colonial Regulars to support them.  Warner himself raced ahead and worked with Stark to plan the initial assault.  In Total they had about 2,000 men, including a group of Stockbridge Native Americans the morning of the assault. 

Stark decided to split up his forces and attack all three of the British defensive positions at the same time. A coordinated assault which would end in victory for the American forces. 

In the Afternoon of August 16^th, 1777, Stark began the attack on all three sides.  After little fighting, the Loyalists in their redoubt, and Canadian and Iroquois forces on the road were overrun by Warner’s led militia, forcing them to surrender and flee. This was done in under an hour and allowed for more troops to begin climbing the hill.  Eventually from three sides at once.

Storming the artillery and German positions at the top of Hessian Hill, led by John Stark he is quoted “There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow”.  His primarily New Hampshire militia charged up the hill and began a fierce fight where they fired volley after volley against the professional German dragoons. Of course, they were dismounted so I’m sure they were not in the most comfortable position they would prefer to fight.

Link

Baum refusing to surrender after almost 2 hours, wanted to defend the honor of the German troops following the disaster at the battle of Trenton when Washington crossed the Delaware River.  This led to many casualties among the Germans as they were outnumbered, 3 to 1 at the top of the hill.  Eventually leading to a suicidal charge to attempt a breakout towards Starks men resulting in Lt.-Col Baum’s death.  As the colonial forces were mopping up the German troops and accepting some of their surrender, another British detachment appeared from the west.  This was Lieutenant Colonel Breymann's relief column.

Breymann had about 600 fresh troops with him and began down the road towards ‘Hessian Hill’.  The Colonial militia were forced to reform on the road to meet them but were already exhausted from the days fighting and almost immediately gave ground.  Stark steadied the lines, but still continued giving ground eastward along the road.

This is when I picture the moment in Lord of the Rings when Rohan appears over the hill to attack the forces at the Battle of Pelennor Fields in front of Minas Tirith.  All looks lost and out of nowhere, fresh reserves come in.   In this context, that would be the 350 Colonial Regulars the ‘Green Mountain Boys’ led by Seth Warner.

As soon as they arrived on the scene, Warner took control of his men and took center stage.  The colonial forces retreated to Warner’s Regulars and were posted on the flanks.  With Warner’s troops in the center, they attacked Breymann’s forces standing their ground.  Eventually the British had many casualties and were forced to retreat with the American forces harassing them down the road towards Hoosick, NY.

This resulted in a major American victory and a convincing talking point to bringing the French in on the side of the Americans. This also resulted in a loss of confidence in the British by the native forces in the area who for the most part stopped working with Burgoyne on his march south. Spirits were high across the New England. 

I got a lot of information from History Distilled on youtube about this battle, he does a really good job!

Order of Battle: Battle of Bennington - Wikipedia

American Units:

Leader: John Stark

                Hobart’s Regiment of Militia from NH (150)

                Nichols’ Regiment of Militia from NH (550)

                Sickney’s Regiment of Militia from NH (150)

                Langson’s Company of Light Horse Volunteers

                Herricks Regiment of Militia from VT (300)

                Simond’s Regiment of Militia from MA

Other NH Militia (1,000)

Other VT Militia (200)

Seth Warner’s Green Mountain Boys (Continental Regulars) (350)

British Units:

Leader: Lt. Col. Baum

                Prince Ludwig’s Dragoon Regiment (Dismounted) (205)

                Von Breyman’s Granadier Battalion (24)

                Von Barner’s Light Infantry Battalion (57)

                Riedesel’s, Specht’s and Von Rhetz’s Musketeer Regiments (37)

                Pausch’s Company of Artillery (13) (Using 6lb Smooth Bore Muzzle Loading Cannon)

                Queens Loyal Rangers (150+)

                Loyalist Irregulars (150+)

                Canadian Irregulars (56)

                Iroquois Warriors (100+)

Leader: Lt. Col Breymann

                Von Breymann’s Grenadier Battalion (353)

                Von Barner’s Light Infantry Battalion (277)

                Pausch’s Company of Artillery (20)

I continue to dive deeper into the battles behind these monuments and find myself really enjoying it. Mainly looking at the order of battle and seeing the actual troops that fought in the battle. Many people lose track of the stories of the individuals who fought in these battles and I hope to bring more unit names into the minds of people at home. My writing and blog layout will hopefully continue to improve.

Hope you enjoyed,

PW