page_title: Seth Warner
section_title: Battle of Bennington
hierarchical_section_title: Seth Warner / American Revolution / Burgoyne's invasion, 1777 / Battle of Bennington
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a map depicting the positions of the opposing forces at the 1777 Battle of Bennington, which actually took place in Walloomsac. This image has been cropped to remove borders.
context_page_description: Seth Warner was a Revolutionary War officer from Vermont who rose to rank of Continental colonel and was often given the duties of a brigade commander. He is best known for his leadership in the capture of Fort Crown Point, the Battle of Longueuil, the siege of Quebec, the retreat from Canada, and the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington.
  Before the war, he was a captain in the Green Mountain Boys. He was outlawed by New York but never captured.
  In the final years of the war, he remained loyal to the United States while the independent state of Vermont negotiated separately with the British.
context_section_description: Following the Battle of Hubbardton, Warner and his regiment guarded the frontier north of Manchester, Vermont, with orders from Schuyler to seize cattle and carriages and to arrest "Tories" (Loyalists).
  By early August, Continental Major General Benjamin Lincoln and New Hampshire Brigadier General John Stark were in Manchester. Although at odds, they agreed to attack Burgoyne's rear, marching from Bennington through Cambridge, N.Y. By Schuyler's orders, Warner was to command Vermont and Massachusetts militia, Vermont ranger companies, and his own regiment, which remained on the frontier under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Safford. The American army in Vermont was still growing and would exceed 2000.
  The expedition gathered in Bennington. On August 13 Stark learned that an enemy force was marching towards them. (Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum had more than 800 men under his command, including Brunswickers, Loyalists, Canadians, and Indians.) The two armies skirmished on August 14; it rained August 15.
  Although Stark had overall command, Warner, who lived a few miles from the battlefield, helped plan the American attack. On the afternoon of August 16, Vermont militia and ranger companies swung around the Germans and attacked a hilltop fortification from the west. Meanwhile, Warner commanded the left wing which attacked the Tory or Loyalist Redoubt on the east side of the Walloomsac River.
  The American victory seemed to be complete and the exhausted militia had turned to celebration when more than 600 German reinforcements under Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich Breymann advanced from the west. Warner took command during this engagement. His own regiment reached the battlefield in time to play a decisive role. Stark wrote, "We pursued them till dark; but had day light lasted one hour longer, we should have taken the whole body of them."
  In all, German and Loyalist casualties totaled 207 dead and 700 taken prisoner. American casualty figures are less exact, but about 30 killed and 50 wounded.
  Stark reported to General Gates, “Colonel Warner’s superior skill in the action was of extraordinary service to me; I would be glad if he and his men could be recommended to Congress.”
caption: A map of the first engagement published in 1780.
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