The morning came—there stood the foe,
Stark eyed them as they stood—
Few words he spake—'twas not a time
For moralizing mood.
"See there the enemy, my boys!
Now strong in valor's might,
Beat them, or Molly Stark will sleep
In widowhood to-night."
Each soldier there had left at home
A sweetheart, wife, or mother,
A blooming sister, or, perchance,
A fair-hair'd, blue-eyed brother.
Each from a fireside came, and thoughts
Those simple words awoke
That nerved up every warrior's arm
And guided every stroke.
Fireside and woman—mighty words!
How wondrous is the spell
They work upon the manly heart,
Who knoweth not full well?
And then the women of this land,
That never land hath known
A truer, prouder hearted race,
Each Yankee boy must own.
Brief eloquence was Stark's—nor vain—
Scarce utter'd he the words,
When burst the musket's rattling peal
Out-leap'd the flashing swords;
And when brave Stark in after time
Told the proud tale of wonder,
He said the battle din was one
"Continual clap of thunder."
Two hours they strove—then victory crown'd
The gallant Yankee boys.
Nought but the memory of the dead
Bedimm'd their glorious joys;
Ay—there's the rub—the hour of strife,
Though follow years of fame,
Is still in mournful memory link'd
With some death-hallow'd name.
The cypress with the laurel twines—
The pæan sounds a knell,
The trophied column marks the spot
Where friends and brothers fell.
Fame's mantle a funereal pall
Seems to the grief-dimm'd eye,
For ever where the bravest fall
The best beloved die.
Thomas P. Rodman.
Just at this moment, when the Americans, thinking the battle over, began to scatter to the plunder of the German camp, a relieving force of five hundred men, sent by Burgoyne, came upon the scene. Luckily, Seth Warner also arrived with fresh men at this juncture, charged furiously upon the British, and by nightfall had killed or captured the entire column, with the exception of six men, who succeeded in reaching the British camp.
BENNINGTON
[August 16, 1777]