Previous to the second battle of Stillwater, which took place on the7th of October, General Gates, anticipating a retreat of Burgoyne's army, sent General fellows, with a detachment of fourteen hundred men, to occupy the high grounds east of the Hudson, opposite to Saratoga ford. After the action, he sent his other detachment to occupy ground higher up, near fort Miller, and ordered a selected corps of two thousand men, under General Stark, to push forward, and occupy the heights beyond Saratoga, in the direction of Lake George. In this way was the retreat of Burgoyne cut off. The detachment under General Stark effectually prevented all communication between the british army and Canada, which could only be made by way of Lake George. Their encampment was situated on the heights beyond Saratoga, and partly concealed in a wood. The detachment consisted almost entirely of the New Hampshire militia, raised principally by General Stark himself. That general was very popular among the inhabitants of his native region, and he could call a larger body of men to serve under him, than any other commander. What was called the New Hampshire militia, in those days, included not only the militia of the country that forms the present State of New Hampshire, but also those raised in the country that now forms the State of Vermont. At that time, this ortion of territory was called "The New Hampshire Grant."

It was two days before the surrender of the haughty Britonsl, at Saratoga. The detachment of General Stark had received the intelligence that Burgoyne and his officers had decided upon a surrender of their army; and, though that event had been expected, the troops were much elated at the idea of capturing such a proud and well-appointed force. The evening was setting in, gray and dusk; and as the nights of October are chilly in that high region, the camp-fires were blazing in the wood, and near the verge of the hill, on a short clearing. Each tent had its usual party around the fire in front of it, laughing heartily at the slightest joke, as men will do when anything occurs to put them in a very good humor; or listening to the narrative of some ruling spirit, recounting the details of some event which the speaker had seen, or in which he had participated.

Before a tent in the wood, was a group of five men, whom we shall particularly notice. The tent was the one deepest in the wood, at some distance from the rest. Either there were not seats enough for the whole party, or two of them did not seem anxious to sit down. Two of the men were seated on large stones, brought near the fire; one, with his hat off, was enjoying the luxury of a pipe, and the other was evidently talking to the group about something full of interest. A young-looking individual was leaning his back against a tree, as he stood, with folded arms, at the right hand of the man with the pipe in his mouth. Within a few feet of the young man, stood another soldier, with a very good-humored Irish countenance; he was leaning on the bend of the bayonet of his musket, and also had a pipe. On the ground, between the two men sitting on the stones, was another individual, in a half-sitting, half-lying posture, with his right arm leaning upon the seat of the one who was smoking. They were dressed more uniformly than was usual among the militia. The "bagonet-hat" was there, and in the case of the Irishman, it was cocked in a very rollicking manner over the left eye. Then there was the coat commonly worn by the continental troops, made of blue, and trimmed with buff. Short epaulettes were on the shoulders of them all.

"You have no idea of the affair, if I can judge from what you say," remarked the man sitting on the stone next to the soldier who was smoking. "I tell you, it was one of the most glorious day's work, for our side, we've done since the commencement o the war."

"Oh, Hadley, don't put it on so thick!" said the one lying on the ground. "You want to magnify a skirmish into a battle; don't you?"

"A skirmish!" returned Hadley; "why if that was a skirmish, the war had been nothng but skirmishes! Do you know anything about the battle?"

"Yes, I know that there was a few Hessians sent to Bennington, to capture the stores there, and that General Stark, who commands us now, got some Green Mountain boys together, and drove the enemy away; and that's all of it," replied Seth, as the speaker was called.

"Pshaw!" ejaculated Looney, the Irishman. "I know there was more of it. Let's hear all about it, from a man that was on the spot. Go on wid ye!"

"Yes," said Ephraim, the other gentleman with a pipe, "tell us the particulars, Hadley."

"Anything that has General Stark mixed in with it, must be worth hearing," remarked Josiah, the young man leaning against the tree.

"I've no objection to put you in the way of hearing the right account of what Seth, here, calls 'the skirmish at Bennington," replied Hadley. "I say it was a real hard-fought battle; and I'll tell you all the particulars that I'm acquainted with, and you may judge whether it deserved the contempt of being called a skirmish. In my humble opinion, it did as much to bring about the capture of Burgoyne's army, as any other single event."

"Well, I'm anxious to hear the account," said Ephraim.

"Go on, and let us have it," said Looney.

"You must know, then," began Hadley, "when I heard that the army of burgoyne was moving down into New York, from Canada, and that General Stark was commissioned to raise a force of militia to protect the frontiers, I at once resolved to join him --- our family being in danger, as well as any of the rest. I went to Charlestown, on the Connecticut; from there, most of the men were sent to join Colonel Warren's regiment, which had taken post at Manchester, twenty miles above Bennington; but I went to Bennington, and joined Colonel Nichols, because I knew him better. There Stark soon joined us. General Lincoln had been sent from Stillwater, by General Schuyler, who then had command of the northern department of the army, to conduct the militia to the west bank of the Hudson; but General Stark, you may have heard, was acting under orders from the Assembly of New Hampshire, and not from the General Government; and he declined complying with Schuyler's request. In spite of some resolutions adopted by Congress, with the object of drawing us away from the protection of our own homes, General Stark kept his ground. On the 13th of August, news reached Bennington, that a party of Indians belonging to Baum's force, had been perceived at Cambridge, about twelve miles northwest of Bennington. General Stark immediately sent out Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg, with two hundred men, to check the march of the party. In the course of the night, an express arrived, with the intelligence that a large body of the enemy, with a train of artillery, were in the rear of the Indians, on their march to Bennington. We were all summoned to get ready at once, for the enemy would soon be upon us. Colonel Warner was ordered to march his regiment down to Bennington, and a call was made on all the neighboring militia. Early on the morning of the 14th, all the force that had collected at Bennington moved forward, under General stark, to support Colonel Gregg. Colonel Warner's regiment had not arrived, of course, but the colonel himself was with us; his regiment, at Manchester, being under the command of Major Safford. When we were about four miles from Bennington, we met Colonel Gregg's party, in full retreat, and heard that theenemy was within a mile of him. We halted and were drawn up in order of battle."

"How many was in your whole army?" enquired Seth.

"About a thousand, I think," replied Hadley. "I'm pretty sure there wasn't more than that number engaged in the battle of the 16th. Well, we were within sight of the enemy; and they, seeing that we had taken a stand, halted in a very favorable position, and there entrenched themselves. We found that we couldn't draw the Dutchmen out, and we fell back about a mile, leaving a small party to skirmish with the enemy. Our party made out well in that skirmish, too; for they killed and wounded thirty of the enemy, with two Indian chiefs, and lost none at all themselves. That was all that was done that day. The next, the 15th was rainy, and we could do nothing but skirmish.\\"didn't I tell you it was only a skirmish?" interrupted seteh.

"Hold on awhile, Seth, till we hear it all," said Ephraim.

"Yes, hold on till I get through, and then pass your opinion upon it," continued Hadley. "we did nothing on the 15th, but skirmish; but that skirmishing had some effect. The Indians said the woods were filled with Yankees, and began to desert Baum. The delay gave the enemy some advantages, however. It enabled them to complete their breastworks, and to send to Burgoyne for a reinforcement. On the morning o the 16th, we received a small reinforcement of militia, under Colonel Symonds, and then General Stark made preparations for an attack. The Dutch were posted, with their battery, on a rising ground at a bend in the Wollansac, a small stream that runs into the Hoosac River. Their position was on its north bank. The ground fell off to thenorth and west; a circumstance that Stark noted, and of which he made good use. On the other side of the stream, a body of tories was entrenched. The ground they occupied was lower, and nearly in front of the German battery. The stream was fordable in all places. We were encamped on the same side of it as the Germans; but it was so winding and snake-like, that we had to cross it twice on our way to our position. The post of the enemy was carefully reconnoitred, at a mile's distance, and the plan of attack was arranged. I'll tell you how it was to be. Colonel Nichols, with two hundred men, (of which I was one,) was detached to attack the rear of the enemy's left, and Colonel Herrick, with three hundred men, to fall upon the rear of their right, with orders to form a junction before they made the assault. Colonels Hubbard and Stickney were also ordered to advance, with two hundred men, on their right, and one hundred in front, to divert their attention from the real point of attack. Everything being arranged, the battle commenced about three o'clock, in the afternoon, by our party, (that is, Nichols') falling on the rear of the enemy's left. We went up to our work as men should do. No regular troops could have done it better. We marched through their fire steadily, and the rest of our forces followed the example. The Indians, seeing they were about to be enclosed between the parties of Herrick and Nichols, broke away almost as soon as we began to move. They don't know anything about that sort of fighting. As soon as General Stark hear our firing, --- one of his men told me this, after the battle, --- he said, as he pointed to the enemy, he 'would gain the victory over them, or Molly Stark should be a widow that night;' and then he rushed upon the tories. From the time the battle commenced, till it was over, the fire was kept up continually. One constant roar, for two hours, was almost all that could be heard. I confess, I felt rather strange. I had never seen anything of the kind before. But I didn't think of running. I always had a good share of courage; and nothing would have cut me deeper than having it said I was a coward. I pressed on fearlessly with the men at my side. I don't know what you call 'skirmishing,' Seth; but if you had seen us raw militia walk up to the cannon's mouth, and fight over the breastwork, with the veterans of Germany, I don't think you would have called it by such a name as 'skirmishing.'"

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