Among the rugged hills of northern New England no other man had such a personal following as had John Stark--a man of dauntless courage, rough simplicity, and real Yankee shrewdness. In appearance Stark was a man of medium size, well proportioned, and of great strength and endurance. It is remarkable that in all his years of hard service in the French and Indian wars, and in the many severe battles of the Revolution, he had never received a wound. He lived to be ninety-four years of age. He survived all the high officers that had taken part in the Revolution except Sumter, the famous southern general. Messengers rode on fast horses over the hills with orders for the men to rally at once. Each man packed his knapsack, grasped his rifle, left the women to get in the crops, and started for Charlestown on the Connecticut River, where Stark had raised his standard. Old men of seventy and even boys of fifteen turned out. Some of the farmers brought clock weights, some their pewter spoons and porringers, to be melted into bullets. The metal was kept running into the bullet moulds night and day. An old rusty cannon was found; it was mounted on a pair of cart wheels and dragged over the Green Mountains. The story is told of one mother whose boy of only fifteen was ready to start, but had no coat. The patriot mother took a meal bag, made a hole for the head, two more for the arms, cut off the feet of a pair of her long stockings which she sewed on for sleeves,--and hurried him away to Stark's camp! =193. How John Stark whipped the British at Bennington.=--Stark was now ready to march against Baum. On August 14 he was within a mile of the British camp. The next day it rained heavily. Fighting in such pouring torrents was out of the question. The Hessians worked hard on the entrenchments all day, and Stark sheltered his men in brush huts and under the lee of fences. One hundred men from the Berkshire Hills arrived in the night. A minister who could fight as well as preach came with them in a sulky. "General Stark," said he, "we have never had a chance to fight, and if you don't give us a chance now, we shall never turn out again." "Do you want to fight now in the rain and at night?" said Stark. "No," said the good man. "Well, then," said Stark, "if the Lord gives us sunshine once more, and I don't give you fighting enough, you needn't turn out again." Old soldiers who had fought behind the rail fence at Bunker Hill with Stark, and who had been in the front ranks with him at Trenton, knew that there would be no boy's play in the coming battle. The next morning, which was Saturday, August 16, broke clear and hot. [Illustration: STARK ADDRESSING HIS MEN BEFORE THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.]