Americans from attacking before reinforcements arrived. Stark sent out skirmishers to probe the German lines, and managed to kill thirty Indians in spite of the difficulties of keeping their gunpowder dry. Reinforcements for both sides marched out on the 15th; travel was quite difficult due to the heavy rains. Burgoyne sent 550 men under Heinrich von Breymann, while Warner's company of about 350 Green Mountain Boys came south from Manchester under Lieutenant Samuel Safford's command. Late on the night of August 15, Stark was awakened by the arrival of Parson Thomas Allen and a band of Massachusetts militiamen from nearby Berkshire County who insisted on joining his force. In response to the minister's fiery threat that his men would never come out again if they were not allowed to participate, Stark is reported to have said, "Would you go now on this dark and rainy night? Go back to your people and tell them to get some rest if they can, and if the Lord gives us sunshine to-morrow and I do not give you fighting enough, I will never call on you to come again." Stark's forces again swelled the next day with the arrival of some Stockbridge Indians, bringing his force (excluding Warner's men) to nearly 2,000 men. Stark was not the only beneficiary of unexpected reinforcements. Baum's force grew by almost 100 when a group of local Loyalists arrived in his camp on the morning of August 16. Battle On the afternoon of August 16, the weather cleared, and Stark ordered his men to be ready to attack. Stark is reputed to have rallied his troops by saying they were here to fight for their "natural born rights as Englishmen" and he added "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow." Upon hearing that the militia had melted away into the woods, Baum assumed that the Americans were retreating or redeploying. However, Stark had decided to capitalize on weaknesses in the German's widely distributed position, and had sent sizable flanking parties to either side of his lines. These movements were assisted by a ruse employed by Stark's men that enabled them to get closer safely without alarming the opposing forces. The Germans, most of whom spoke no English, had been told that soldiers with bits of white paper in their hats were Loyalists, and