John Stark and his farmers at the Battle of Bennington by Matthew Kelly

In 458 BC, a tale of the Roman Republic was born when the Aequi tribe threatened the prosperity of their civilization. Lucius Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer, was approached by the Government of Rome to lead an army against the Aequi. He took up the responsibility and decisively pushed the Aequi fighters back and saved a group of Roman soldiers from complete destruction. After this triumph, Cincinnatus went back to his farm, leaving his military role in the past and creating a story for generations that honors those who leave their farms to serve their fellow countrymen. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), Colonists of the Thirteen American Colonies were likewise inspired to leave their farming life behind. They took up arms against the British Empire’s Militia after it had invaded their states in an effort to stomp the Colonists’ rebellious spirit. In 1777, American General John Stark, like Cincinnatus, was called upon to leave his farming occupation and take up a leadership role in New Hampshire to defend his countryside. Stark and the state’s militia would embark on a military mission that would showcase the preserving spirit of farmers who were not supplied by or attached to the Continental Militia. Surprising the Continental Militia Officers as well as the British, these farmers choose to head back to their families and take up their farming occupation once again after serving their country, proving themselves to be as good at shooting as they are sowing.

The British were coming, the crop fields were morphing into battlefields and American farmers were forced to either abandon their land or fight. The Campaign of 1777 appeared to be going as perfectly as the British had planned. Their long-term strategy was to cut off the New England Colonies from the Southern Colonies, creating extraordinary challenges for the logistics and coordination of the Continental Militia. Marching down from Canada into New York, British General John Burgoyne took over Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point, then after crossing into Vermont, took on the Continental Militia from multiple states. As this encroaching British army was marching south, it may have grown with confidence that their operations were going to bring the end of the Colonists rebellion. Unfortunately for Burgoyne, constant skirmishes with Colonists while enduring long marches in harsh and mysterious terrain depleted the stamina of his soldiers. To re-energize his men and keep everyone locked in during future battles, Burgoyne changed course and commanded his German Lieutenant Colonel Fredrich Baum, commander of his German (Hessian) soldiers, to go to the Vermont town of Bennington. In a letter to Baum, Burgoyne tasked him with gathering horses, food and to ultimately “try the affections of the country” as well as “disconcert the councils of the enemy” (Bennington Museum 3). Baum believed the operation in Bennington would be easy and swift after the British had been successful in recent campaigns. Since the news of George Washington's retreat from New York broke out, the soldiers were confident the Colonists would no longer be in high spirits for their rebellious cause. A report from British Colonel Phillip Skene even claimed that Bennington’s resistance was not going to be a significant challenge (Ketchum 233). Unbeknownst to Baum or Skene, former farmer General John Stark of New Hampshire would soon meet them in battle and demonstrate the Colonists’ affections for their country. When Vermont delivered the news of Burgoyne’s warpath to the New Hampshire government on July 17th, the letter was blunt on the reality of their situation: “New Hampshire will be the frontier state if we are driven out” (Coffin 254). After long speeches on raising funds and soldiers for the defense of the countryside, the New Hampshire legislators came to a consensus that General John Stark could “safely be entrusted with command” and “check Burgoyne” on the field of battle (Hunter 7). Already famous for his participation in the battles at Trenton, Princeton, and Bunker Hill while he was a part of the Continental Militia, the legislators believed Stark could convince hundreds of colonists to fight alongside him for the defense of their lands. Stark, who had retired from the Continental Militia after being passed up for a promotion he wanted, was cultivating his farm when he was informed of the legislators’ decision. Stark gave one condition for fighting the British again: he would lead his own army, without any interference from the Continental Militia Generals. The legislators accepted this term. The distinction between Stark’s Militia and the Continental Militia was illustrated when Stark encountered Continental General Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln, who was given the promotion within the Continental Militia that Stark wanted, assumed Stark would fall under his command, and ordered him to head to Albany, New York. Stark shared his commission from the New Hampshire legislators, revealing that he was specifically chosen to fight for his state and not the Continental Militia. Stark asserted he would not follow Lincoln and was quoted as saying he was “adequate to the command of his own men” (Ketchum 229). In order to appease Stark and keep good relations between the officers and soldiers, Lincoln was ordered by Continental Militia Commanders not to interfere with Stark’s campaign in Bennington, Vermont. Thus Stark, with hundreds of farmers at his side, whom historian Charles Coffin described as “knowing nothing of war” and were “destitute of bayonets, armed only with muskets and fowling-pieces,” marched towards Burgoyne to take on the elite militia of the British Empire (Coffin 260). Spreading across the state and spilling into other Colonies was Stark’s rally for the men of New Hampshire to take up arms and follow him to battle. One of the famous Continental Militia units, Col. Seth Warner’s Green Mountain Boys (Rangers) answered the call and marched towards Stark’s location. On August 16th, 1777, Stark learned that Baum was building a breastwork in Wallomsack, New York, just ten miles away from Bennington. Seizing the opportunity, Stark assaulted Baum’s position and a battle ensued. Warner and the Green Mountain Boys reinforced Stark’s Militia later in the day and supported them in pushing back the British, capturing enemy cannons, and overwhelming the defensive positions. By the end of the day, Baum had fallen in battle while the rest of his Hessian soldiers were taken prisoner. Overall, 15% of Burgoyne’s soldiers were defeated in the battle (Ketchum 252). Shockingly to a captured British soldier, Stark’s men had “no stockings–no powder horn, bullet bag, rum flask and musket” (Hunter 67). Stark, years later, would describe his militia at the Battle of Bennington as “men that had not learned the art of submission, nor had they been trained to the art of war” (Bennington Museum 40). The British Hessians were ultimately defeated in Bennington by farmers who rushed into a battlefield without any prior military training or professional militia gear. As shocking as their exemplary performance in battle was, the British and the Continental Militia would be surprised to learn that Stark’s soldiers now desired to quickly return home.

Historian Charles Coffin, summarizing the overview of the battle said: “The rally to the defense of the country was wholly independent of Congress. It was a state affair. The men who fought the battle of Bennington were citizens” who “declined to put themselves under Continental authority” (Coffin 266). Most of the farmers who fought under Stark would ultimately refuse to continue soldiering alongside the Continental Militia because their main occupation and identity was in their farms. A few weeks after the battle, Stark’s Militia was camping alongside Continental Militia troops and revealed their loss of appetite for the war effort. Captain Peter Kimball, a soldier under Stark’s command, recounted that Continental Generals came into their camp and pleaded with them to stay with the Continental Militia for a reward of 10 dollars. Kimball wrote in his diary that “the men seemed not inclined to stay on that consideration” (Coffin 263). Coffin states that after John Burgoyne’s surrender in October, Stark’s militia “wished to leave for home” (Coffin 266). Even after the Battle of Bennington, Burgoyne himself noticed Starks Milita’s hesitation to continue fighting when he wrote back to Lord Germain in London, noting how they “bring with them their substance, and, the alarm over, return to their farms” (Bennington Museum 4). Stark and his militia fought to protect their land and their right to cultivate it freely, and in doing so, immediately left the military behind to live out that right. Comparable with the Legend of Cinnatus in Rome, Stark and his Militia of farmers kept their homes at peace by heading off to war. John Stark, in his service to New Hampshire along with his brilliant military victory at Bennington, illuminated the independent spirit of the Colonialist when he marched towards Burgoyne without Continental Militia supervision. The New Hampshire farmers at the Battle of Bennington would ultimately come to surprise the British with their skill in battle as well as their ability to transition quickly from farmers to soldiers and back to farmers. Instead of marching through the heat of battle again and again like other Continental Soldiers, one definitive victory sent Stark’s Militia marching back home to take care of the families and land they had fought to protect.