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“Turns and Twists”

By Thad Matheny
Text Box: General Burgoyne was making his way south from Ticonderoga with plans to meet General Howe’s British forces coming up from New York. The plan was to cut the colonies in two, and disable the forces of the rebels above and below that line more readily. General Howe, the British commander in charge of garrisons in New York, was involved in personal matters and did not keep his end of the deal. It is said that “he had his favorite women” and did not wish to leave them. Burgoyne was running out of provisions for his troops. He realized his predicament as he approached the American General Gates and his forces, made stronger by the presence of John Morgan and Benedict Arnold. Morgan was from the southern division; he and his long-rifle sharpshooters were veterans of Cowpens in South Carolina. Benedict Arnold was an impetuous leader, not yet mesmerized to defect to the British. Burgoyne heard that there were substantial stores of wheat and other provisions over toward Bennington. He knew that General Starke, the maverick Continental General, was in the area foraging for supplies for his men. General Burgoyne knew he had to have these provisions. This would make it possible for his army to face the Continental Army, under General Gates of Saratoga, and to be able to proceed farther south to Albany. Burgoyne dispatched a party commanded by Colonel Baum, a Hessian officer who could not speak English, and who required an interpreter. Baum’s force was made up of eight hundred British Regulars, a group of Indians, and Hessians to reconnoiter the area east of Stillwater on the Hudson. Job Green was a miller at the Sancoix Grist Mill with a large store of wheat which provided four for the Colonial forces in New England and for local consumption. This mill was on the Wallomsac River about twenty miles east of the Hudson. The embargo by the British made it difficult to transfer supplies, so this was a very important source for Colonial troops, as well as the population in and around Boston. Burgoyne’s information that General Stark was in the area was correction. He had a force of over two thousand Continentals and the Green Mountain Boys. They were in the Bennington area collecting supplies. Baum’s sortie toward Bennington took him through Job Green’s property. At the start, Job was seized by a group of Indians who were in the process of scalping him. “As it was, they passed the scalping knife across his forehead, leaving a frightful gash. But for the timely interference of a British officer, Job Green would have been scalped and killed.” Two of Job’s children were watching the whole thing, hidden behind a log at the edge of the clearing. They were petrified! The British officer had Job’s wounds bound up. Job and his workers were then put back to work, speeding up the operation of the mill. The British troops were rough, shoving the workers around and yelling obscenities. Job didn’t like the shouting, foul language, or the treatment of his help. The Indians were of little help to the British. There were about a hundred of them. They had been instructed to go to the pastures and drive any cattle that they could find back to Stillwater, where they would be slaughtered to provide meat for Burgoyne’s troops near Saratoga. The Indians were so fascinated by the cow bells that they go out of hand. They slaughtered a number of the herd right there and took the bells. The British, with only eight hundred troops, were spread thin and could not control the Indians very well. Job was looking for a way to escape to join Captain Elijah Dewey’s company, a unit under General Starke’s forces. A Green family record states, “A team of mules brought a load of wheat to the mill; when the wheat was unloaded, the team startled suddenly, ran away, out of control. The driver and Job gave chase down the road. It, at once, dawned on the mind of Job, that his opportunity for escape had arrived. He started in a hurry, but had gone only a short distance when he encountered a Hessian picket. He grabbed Green and asked him if he was after the runaway team. Porter declared that he was, whereupon, the sentry directed him to run hard over a hill to head-off the runaway team. The injunction to run hard was obeyed to the letter. The team was never caught by Job Green, but he made good his escape.” Job Green joined his unit under Captain Dewey and General Starke’s command. He made it in time to participate in the Battle of Bennington a few days later on August 17, 1777. The battle was in sight of Job’s property in a curve of the Wallomsac River. When fighting started, the Indians left the field hurriedly. You could hear the cow bells tinkling and fading away, as they fled the field without taking any beef with them. Burgoyne’s troops would have no beef that night. The British were defeated trying to take a hill occupied by Starke’s forces. They retreated back west of the Hudson to Burgoyne’s position, without the provisions. Burgoyne was hard put to hold things together. His troops were tired and unfed and pessimism prevailed among the British forces prior to the Battle of Saratoga. The Continentals under General Gates, with the help of John Morgan and Ben Arnold, won the Battle of Saratoga handily. No matter how important the victory at Saratoga was, it did not eclipse the importance of the Battle of Bennington. This latter battle was said to be the turning point of the war, and the defeat of Burgoyne’s forces at Saratoga sealed the fate of the British in America. This showing by the Continentals led the French to come into the war, helping General Washington win final victory at Yorktown. ************************** If the British officer had not laid his hand on the scalping Indian’s shoulder, stopping the scalping of Job Green, I would not be here today. Job was one of the distant forbears of my lovely wife. She would not have been here, and I, consequently, would be elsewhere, seeking happiness, unaware of the turns and twists that change our lives.