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The Yankee Tea-party - Or, Boston in 1773 by Henry C. Watson
page 63 of 158 (39%)
would assemble there. I found the men were coming in from all
directions, and all were in high spirits. Stark sent us off to
Manchester, twenty miles from Bennington, to join Colonel Warner's
regiment. You know after that skrimmage at Hubbardton, Warner could
scarcely muster more than two hundred men, and we who were sent from
Charlestown were to fill out his regiment. I found most of the men had
been in service since the war began, and knew what fighting was; and I
thought they were a match for twice their number; but I had some near
neighbours in the regiment of Colonel Nichols at Bennington: I went and
joined him. As our regiment was filling up, General Stark arrived at
Manchester, where he met General Lincoln, who had come to conduct the
militia across the Hudson to General Schuyler; but Stark told him that
the men were called together to protect their homes in New Hampshire,
and could not be taken out of that part of the country. I heard
afterwards that General Lincoln informed Congress of the state of
things in our neighbourhood, and that Congress censured General Stark;
but he didn't care for that. He knew he was right in staying in New
Hampshire, and that the men who censured him knew nothing about the
state of things there. Well, we were called upon to meet the enemy
sooner than we expected, for it appeared that Baum, with his Germans and
Indians, was on his march towards Bennington. Soon after, I arrived at
Manchester. About four hundred men had collected at Bennington, when
General Stark arrived there, and more were coming in constantly. I guess
it was on the 13th of August when we received information that some of
Baum's Indians had been seen near Cambridge--that's about twelve miles
from Bennington. Then there was a stir among the men, and all sorts of
preparation for a desperate battle. We all knew that we were going to
fight for our homes, and that made us eager to meet the enemy. All the
men of Bennington who could bear arms joined us, and the old men and
women and boys did all they could to get us information, and to supply
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