In the year 1777 the Revolutionary War had been going on for 2 years, General John Burgoyne was in command of 7,500 soldiers that were part of a three-pronged attack by the British. The British, after little success beating down the obstinate New England colonies had decided to switch tactics. Their new plan was to launch three large forces in order to divide the colonies; the main goal being to separate the New English colonies from what they believed to be the more loyal southern colonies. They planned to do this via a three-pronged pincher movement, three large forces would thrust forward and converge on Albany. The western force led by Barry St. Leger moved eastward towards Albany, but they never arrived after a decisive loss when attempting to besiege Fort Stanwix failed. They were forced to retreat. The southern force, which was supposed to move up the Hudson valley from New York City never even left, instead its leader General William Howe abandoned the plan seeking instead to take Philadelphia. That left only John Burgoyne and his northern force; he decided to continue with the plan and swept southward hoping to take Albany.

As he moved south General John Burgoyne continued to mount British victories at Fort Ticonderoga, Hubbardton, and Fort Anne. If he could capture Albany he would gain control of the Hudson River Valley where at any point in time the other two forces could meet and complete the pincher movement, effectively splitting the colonies in two. But as he progressed General John Burgoyne and his men began to run out of supplies. They needed both food, and horses in order to complete their mission. In order to solve the problem John Burgoyne sent Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum along with 800 German dragoons to collect supplies and horses from the Connecticut River Valley.

But right before leaving he switched the plan, ordering Friedrich Baum to instead go to the nearby supply depot at Bennington, which was thought to be guarded by the remains of Seth Warner’s soldiers, whom Burgoyne had previously defeated in the battle of Hubbardton. All in all, they suspected 400 soldiers guarding the depot. Along the way Baum’s force grew as he was joined by several loyalists, a couple Canadians, about 100 Native Americans, and a company of British sharpshooters.

Little did Burgoyne know the people of New Hampshire Grants territory (now Vermont) had asked for help from neighboring New Hampshire and Massachusetts following the British capture of Ticonderoga. On July 18th New Hampshire responded by authorizing John Stark to raise a militia for “the defense of the people or the annoyance of the enemy”. John Stark raised 1,500 militiamen (more than ten percent New Hampshire’s whole male population over the age of 16) in just 6 days.

They moved quickly, crossing the Connecticut river border and stopping at Manchester where John Stark met with Seth Warner. At that point General Benjamin Lincoln arrived, previously both Stark and Lincoln had been in the Continental Army but when Lincoln was promoted instead of Stark, Stark signed his resignation. Now Lincoln attempted to assert his high military authority over John Stark and his men, Stark in turn firmly refused stating that he answered only to the New Hampshire authorities.

John Stark and his men then went to Bennington with Seth Warner as a guide; they chose to leave Warner’s men at Manchester.

In the meantime, Lincoln returned to the American camp at Stillwater where along with General Philip Schuyler he plotted to take 500 men to join with Stark and Warner in order to harass Burgoyne, though after the movements of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum these plans changed dramatically.

Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum and his force of Germans began marching towards Bennington on August 11. Along the way several skirmishes broke out, intel was gathered from captives and thus learned that a much larger force was at Bennington than had been suspected. On the 14th of August a detachment of Stark’s soldiers who had been sent out to investigate Native American sightings ran into Baum’s force. The smaller detachment from Stark’s army quickly retreated, destroying a bridge in order to slow their enemies’ progress.

When Stark heard of Baum’s advance he called for reinforcements from Manchester, then he and his force left Bennington and headed straight for Baum’s force and set up a defensive line. Baum sent General John Burgoyne a message indicating that the American force was larger than expected but that they would likely retreat before his advance. He then marched the last few miles nearing Stark’s position. Upon seeing the size of the enemy force he quickly sent a second message informing Burgoyne that only the first part of his previous message was true, and requesting reinforcements.

For the next day and a half it rained hard preventing the inevitable battle to take place. In the meantime, Baum and his men constructed a small fort atop the crest of a nearby hill. Their hope was that the heavy rains would keep up until reinforcements arrived. John Stark sent out a small group of skirmishers to probe the enemy, despite the difficulty of keeping their gun powder dry these men still managed to kill 30 Native Americans. Reinforcements from both sides marched forth on the 15th, Burgoyne sent 550 men, while Warner’s force of 350 Green Mountain Boys came south from Manchester. Throughout the 15th and the 16th unexpected reinforcements arrived, a group of Massachusetts militiamen arrived to reinforce Stark and soon after a band of Stockbridge Indians also arrived. On the other side Baum was reinforced by a group of almost 100 local loyalists.

246 years ago, on August 16th 1777 the weather cleared and John Stark ordered his men to attack. Stark and his men retreated into the woods where he split his army up. This enabled him to use large numbers of soldiers to flank Baum’s widely distributed positions. A ruse by Stark enabled his men to get very close without being discovered. Most of the German dragoons didn’t speak English and had been told that any Americans with a piece of white paper in their hats were Loyalists. Stark had also learned of this and as a result most of his men had pieces of white paper in their hats.

At 3:00 pm the fighting broke out and the Germans found themselves completely surrounded. Stark described the nonstop surrounding gunfire as "the hottest engagement I have ever witnessed, resembling a continual clap of thunder."

The Loyalists and Native American positions were overrun and decimated. The German dragoons fought valiantly even after the destruction of their ammunition wagon; in a last chance maneuver they drew their sabers and charged forth attempting to draw the battle in close and thus push through the American line. This attack failed miserably and the German force was decimated, Baum was mortally wounded, and the remaining Germans surrendered.

While Stark and his men were busy disarming the prisoners and looting their supplies, the 550 reinforcements sent by Burgoyne and led by Heinrich von Breymann arrived. Seeing the complete disarray of the American force he quickly attacked in full force. Stark’s forces attempted to hold their ground but began steadily retreating before the new German force, but before the American line broke, the reinforcements from Manchester arrived and joined with Stark’s force.

A pitched battle continued until nightfall where the darkness forced both forces to cease fire. Breymann quickly retreated, he had lost one fourth of his men and all of his artillery. By the end of the battle the total German and British loses were 207 dead and 700 captured, on the other hand the Americans losses included 30 dead and 40 captured.

The affect of this battle was indeed significant for once the battle was finished the Native American chiefs decided to return home, thus removing Native American support for the British. A second key factor was that Burgoyne still didn’t have his supplies, the lack of supplies was one of the key factors that led to him surrendering at the battle of Saratoga, which was the ultimate cause that convinced France to join the war.

By Josiah Patrick

Plot Overview:

Lord Brocktree takes place in a world untouched by humans. Animals rule and for the most part they live peaceful lives, eating good food, laughing around a fire, wandering through the dense forests of Mossflower Wood, and in general enjoying life. But there are evil creatures too, generally called vermin. These fierce creatures delight in scaring the gentler inhabitants of the world. In general vermin come in small bunches, more like bands of raiders, or robbers than anything else. But across the sea deadly creatures roam, great hordes of beast’s wage war upon one another all seeking one thing…conquest.

But for as long as any beast can remember the shores have always been protected by the great Badger Lords. The Badger Lords live comfortably in their great home of Salamandstron, for almost as long as time itself the Badger Lords have sat atop the great mountain Salamandstron an impenetrable fortress on the coast, along with their trusty armies of hares who see it as their ancestral duty to serve the great Badger Lords in defense of the coast against all vermin.

Any time trouble arises for the good creatures the current Badger Lord will arise, as powerful as any ten beasts he will lead his great forces of hares and send the vermin fleeing before their wrath. But now something strange has happened, peace has lasted, for so long in fact that all the young hares have left Salamandstron, going far and wide in search of adventure. The only beasts left in Salamandstron are a couple hundred old doddering hares and the Lord Stonepaw. Feared greatly in his youth he is now so old and frail that he can hardly heft a stone, much less the great boulders he flung in the days long gone.

And now a new threat arises, Ungatt Trunn, a deadly wild cat from across the sea. He leads his blue hordes, vermin so vile and vicious they strike fear into all who see them. The blue hordes are aptly name for whether they be rat, fox, weasel, or stoat they all dye their coats a sickly blue. The blue hordes of Ungatt Trunn number more numerously than the stars in the sky. As they approach the mountain Salamandstron no sand can be seen so thickly are the vermin packed. Though they fight hard the old and weak hares are no match for the numberless hordes of Ungatt Trunn.

Now trapped and hidden in their own mountain the once great Lord Stonepaw cowers in the dark. The vermin amass, destroying and ravaging the land all about the mountain. There appears to be little hope for the simple animals who once lived in peace. But one great hero remains, a second Badger Lord, son of Lord Stonepaw, who went off to the outreaches of the lands and now returns, Lord Brocktree. He towers a head taller than the largest Otter, and three heads taller than any hare. He is greater than even his father was. He hefts a great broad sword that no beast save a Badger Lord could even dream of lifting.

Yet even he is no match for the numberless hordes of Ungatt Trunn. Now accompanied by the young maid Dotti, a spunky little hare, he has the task of raising an army out from the peaceful folk that live out their lives around him. The two unlikely companions set out to amass a force of not just hares, but squirrels, otters, shrews, hedgehogs, and one mute bird. This newly assembled army marches against the Blue Hordes, outnumbered almost ten to one and facing an impenetrable mountain. The great Lord Brocktree must rely on his wits, and his friends in order to rid the lands of Ungatt Trunn and his vile vermin once and for all.

Positive Elements:

Throughout the book positive elements are showcased frequently. As in every action-packed book the protagonists display bravery quite often. Another one that pops up is loyalty. The older hares are ridiculously loyal to their Badger Lord and would be willing to follow him anywhere. The younger hares as mentioned above left in search of adventure but young Dotti models loyalty to Lord Brocktree and soon all the other hares follow her lead. The other animals are loyal to their respective leaders who for various reasons assist in aiding Lord Brocktree. The squirrel leader in particular has pretty poor motives for doing the right thing, first she attacks vermin just to loot their gear and she eventually joins in taking on Ungatt Trunn because of a rude insult (see Language section below). But by the end of the book she comes around and ends up making the ultimate sacrifice to help others. Speaking of sacrifice, many characters sacrifice themselves for the greater good:

Spoiler: First is Lord Stonepaw who dies helping his loyal hares escape.

Spoiler: Fleetscut, loyal to his Badger Lord to the very last ran himself to near death in search of aid, he eventually collapsed after days of nonstop running and was just barely saved by the squirrels.

Spoiler: Both Jukka and Fleetscut end up dying together in a last stand in order to ensure that their friends aren’t discovered.

Other positive elements include, friendship, duty, family, protecting the weak, and perseverance.

Spiritual Elements:

There appears to be no magic in the book, and certainly no God. But throughout the book dreams play a large part, both Lord Brocktree and Ungatt Trunn dream of one another frequently.

Language:

Throughout the book insults of almost every kind abound. While in truth there is no cursing the characters speak rudely to one another quite often. It should be noted that most of the insults are in jest and usually taken in good spirit, but there are times when people take offense and fights break out. The villains in particular use their words to purposely hurt one another. And although very few of the insults can be easily used in today’s culture (longears, fluffy tail, fangtooth) others can.

Romance:

Two young hare twins are ridiculously smitten with Dotti and follow her around wherever she goes.

Violence and Gore:

In this tale there is plenty of violence to go around. Fights ranging from large to small abound. These battles while fierce are not usually described in much detail. Only one dual takes place and lasts for several paragraphs, but other than that the violence is rather brief. That being said there are some rather deadly scenes as characters are stabbed, struck, pinned down, threatened, pounded by sling stones, riddled with arrows, slashed by claws, smacked with whips, and (in the case of Lord Brocktree) flung hail mail through the air, and crushed like small nuts.

We hear of a character who saw his whole family murdered, and then was brutally beaten unconcious. Several beasts are executed by being drowned, flung from windows, or just stabbed. Ungatt Trunn frequently threatens to kill people in long painful ways, but he never carries out these threats.

Spoiler: Two villains, after failing their master, are staked to the ground and beaten severely. Afterwards they are left out in the sun starving for the rest of the day.

Spoiler: Lord Stonepaw makes a last stand to help his friends escape. He batters and smashes hundreds of weasels and rats, using first a javelin, then just his paws. He brings great numbers of them down. Eventually he is surrounded in a cave with a deep underwater fissure in the center. In order to escape one of Ungatt Trunn’s “long painful deaths” he seizes as many enemies as he can, and jumps into the pool committing suicide.

Darkness:

Ungatt Trunn is a cruel and evil beast. He is said to have the power to shake the earth and make the stars fall from the heavens. He is cruel, fierce, and at times, just plain crazy. He fills his room with spiders and webs calling them his “pets”. At the beginning of the book he has a magician who walks about sprinkling incense into the fires and prophesying about the future.

Other Negative Elements:

Throughout the book a great deal of time is spent describing food and feasts. It’s quite interesting to hear what appears to be a mix of human food, and normal things you could find near the forest floor. But throughout all of the feasting and partying close to fifty drinks are mentioned, some of these are pretty innocent like cider, mint tea, and cocoa, but others are quite clearly alcoholic, wine and ale. Two characters actually take some form of drug which puts them to sleep, and gives them visions. At another point a character gets drunk to the point where he collapses and falls asleep.

For the most part the heroes of the story show mercy to their enemies, but on three occasions this is not the case which I will mention below:

At one point a small force that has been surrounded by the enemies uses some prisoners as human shields in order to aid their escape. This wouldn’t be too bad if it was the villains, but it’s the heroes who do it, and their action is shown in the light of strategic genius rather than harsh cruelty.

At one point the protagonist, Lord Brocktree has an extremely evil villain in his clutches. The villain begs for mercy but Brocktree instead crushes the villain’s back and spine with his great strength.

Spoiler: There is a character who as a young lad watched his whole family be slain before his eyes by a cruel fox. After he was whipped until he lay unconscious and was left for dead (see the violence section above.) Later as an adult he still has the scars. He has vowed to make the fox pay. He sets out with Lord Broktree because he has learned that the same fox now works for Ungatt Trunn. Once he catches the fox, in a fit of rage he raises his sword and strikes the fox hard on the back with the flat of his blade. (Although we don’t see it it’s implied that he went on, beating the fox to death.)

By Josiah Patrick

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

I already did this verse but recently I saw it different. Now I think it's clear it's saying love is perfect. So, if it is, then we need to look at my last devotional. There is this beautiful connection that God is love, and we need love, so we need God. So I just thought how amazing could God be to make such perfect writing. I mean this connection is not like the connections in mystery novels, those befuddle the mind. This is so perfect it just makes you want to fall on your knees and worship our awesome and holy, amazing God.

By Seth Patrick.