I visited here in 2013 and the actual battle site in New York was closed. It was a Monday unfortunately and the park is closed on Mondays and there was a gate along the road so I could not authorize myself. There was also a site in Vermont with a monument and that was what I visited.
The British were trying to divide up the colonies in three different movements. One wing was defeated at Fort Stanwix. One was to capture New York but the commander decided to capture Philadelphia instead. The remaining column under John Burgoyne, with the goal of capturing Albany, was more successful. Burgoyne won several small battles and was trying to take control of the Hudson River with the plan of meeting the other wings near Albany. If successful the Colonies would be divided in two.
Burgoyne’s supplies began to run low. He also learned that the wing charged with capturing New York had gone onto Philadelphia. Buygoyne, ordered the nearby Prussian commander Frederich Baum to forage the countryside. His target was a Colonial supply depot at Bennington which was guarded by supposedly 400 militiamen that were ready to run.
John Stark led about 2,000 miltiamen from New Hampshire and Massachusetts and were reinforced by Vermonters under Seth Warren. Baum found out that he would not be facing a small, demoralized force but instead a much larger force. Baum requested reinforcements and dug in to wait out a rain storm.
On the morning of August 16 the weather cleared and Stark ordered an attack. He sent flanking parties around both flanks and was able to get close into the center. The Hessian troops held their fire as Stark’s men had white paper tagged to their hats and did not fire as they had been told that local Loyalists would have such headgear. This proved costly when fighting began at 3 PM.
The Loyalists and their Indian allies were quickly overrun and the Hessian and British troops became trapped on a hill. Their ammunition ran low and an attempt to break out failed. Baum was mortally wounded and his men surrendered soon after. Prussian reinforcements arrived soon after and pushed Stark back and the battle continued on until dark when the Prussians retreated.
Colonial casualties came to about 70. British losses were over 900. Burgoyne had been marching to the Prussian ‘s relief but stopped when retreating troops reached them. Many of his Indian allies deserted him, severely hampering his intelligence gathering efforts. Most of Stark’s men went home but soon returned to help Colonial victory at Saratoga.
The battlefield is preserved as a part of the Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site in New York and the Bennington Battle Monument in Vermont.