We could not follow—weak and worn We stood upon the field that morn; Never was triumph so forlorn. For of our band who fought that day One half or dead or wounded lay, When closed that fierce and fearful fray. And on that field, ere daylight’s close, We buried our dead, but mourned not those We laid to rest beside our foes. Revenge, not grief, our souls possest— We heaped the earth upon each breast, And left our brothers to their rest. _BAUM’S EXPEDITION._ [Illustration: Map] When Burgoyne was making the descent from Canada which ended in his capture, he began to fall short of provisions. Having learned that the colonists had a store of cattle, he despatched Lieutenant-colonel Baum, with a force of Hessians, loyalists, and savages, to capture the stock and drive it into camp. There were other ostensible objects, such as feeling the opinion of the country and recruiting the corps of loyalists; but the main object was the capture of the cattle. Baum received a sort of roving commission. He was ordered “to scour the country from Rockingham to Otter Creek,” to go down the Connecticut to Brattleborough, return by the Albany road, and rejoin Burgoyne, and to impress people with the belief that his force was the advance guard of Burgoyne’s army on its way to Boston. He was to arrest all officers or men of the enemy who were found to live off the country, and to impress all the horses in the way, “with as many saddles and bridles as can be found.” There were to be thirteen hundred horses, at least, taken, tied in tens for convenience. In short, Baum was to plunder. The command marched, and on the next day, the 14th of August, 1777, they arrived at the mill on Walloomscoick, after a little skirmish with some Americans who were guarding cattle at Cambridge. Here Baum began to find that his march would not be a holiday parade. [Illustration: VAN SCHAIK’S MILL.]