John Stark

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

John Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1728. When he was eight years old, he and his family moved to Derryfield (now part of Manchester), where he lived for the rest of his long life. Stark was married to Elizabeth "Molly" Page, with whom he had 11 children.

On April 28, 1752 while on a hunting and trapping trip along the Baker River a tributary of the Pemigewasset River where he was captured by Abenaki warriors and brought back to Quebec but not before warning his brother William Stark to paddle away in his canoe though David Stinson was killed. While a prisoner of the Abinaki he and his fellow prisoner Amos Eastman were made to run a gauntlet of warriors armed with sticks. Stark grabbed the stick from the first warrior's hands and proceeded to attack him, taking the rest of the warriors by surprise. The chief was so impressed by this heroic act that Stark was adopted into the tribe where he spent the winter. Then next spring a government agent sent from Massachusetts to work on the exchange of prisoners paid his ransom of $103 Spanish dollars and $60 for Amos Eastman. Stark and Eastman then returned to New Hampshire.

Stark enlisted as a second lieutenant under Major Robert Rogers during the French and Indian War. As part of the daring Rogers' Rangers, Stark gained valuable battle experience and knowledge of the Northern frontier of the American colonies. At the end of the war, Stark retired as a captain and returned to Derryfield.

Battle of Bunker Hill

On 23 April 1775 he became the Colonel of the 1st New Hampshire militia regiment, and he led his regiment in battle at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. At Bunker Hill, Stark exceeded his original instructions by bringing his entire regiment to battle and building the stone wall on the Mystic River shore. His personal command at the stone wall and use of the "reserve the rear" tactics learned under Robert Rogers, commander of Roger's Rangers, were instrumental in repulsing General Howe's first two light infantry attacks.

On 1 January 1776 he was appointed commander of the 5th New Hampshire Continental Regiment, only to be placed in command of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment again on 8 November 1776. After serving in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, Stark was passed over for promotion to Brigadier General and resigned on 23 March 1777. On July 17th of the same year, the legislature of New Hampshire persuaded him to return to service at the rank of Brigadier General.

The Battle of Bennington

He assembled a brigade of militia which he led to victory at the Battle of Bennington on 15 August 1777. However, his decision to move his brigade to Bennington was in violation of an order from General Schuyler to move to Saratoga and support the American defense. As it turned out, his insubordination denied resupply of the British expedition and also cut off British General Burgoyne's escape route from Saratoga. Before attacking Lieutenant Colonel Freiderich Baum's resupply expedition, Stark announced to his men, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow."

Stark had recognized that Baum's forces were spread thin and decided immediately to envelop them from two sides while simultaneously charging Baum's central redoubt head-on. Stark's plan succeeded, and after a brief battle on Baum's flanks, the Loyalists and Native Americans fled. This left Baum and his German dragoons trapped on the high ground without any horses. The Germans fought valiantly even after running low on powder. The dragoons led a saber charge and tried to break through the enveloping forces. However, after this final charge failed and Baum was mortally wounded, the Germans surrendered.

Shortly after this battle ended, while the New Hampshire militia was disarming the German troops, Baum's reinforcements arrived. The German reinforcements, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann, saw the Americans in disarray and pressed their attack immediately. After hastily regrouping, Stark's forces tried to hold their ground against the German onslaught. Fortunately for the New Hampshire militia, before their lines collapsed a group of several hundred Vermont militiamen arrived to reinforce Stark's troops. The Green Mountain Boys, commanded by Seth Warner, had just been defeated at the Battle of Hubbardton by British reinforcements and were eager to exact their revenge on the enemy. Together, the New Hampshire and Vermont militias repulsed and finally routed von Breymann's force.

Total British losses at Bennington were recorded at 200 dead and 700 captured; American losses included 40 Americans dead and 30 wounded. Stark's decision to intercept and destroy the raiding party before they could reach Bennington was a crucial factor in Burgoyne's eventual surrender, because it deprived his army of supplies.

After the Battle of Freeman's Farm Gen. Stark's Brigade moved into a position cutting off Gen. John Burgoyne's path back to Lake George and Lake Champlain.

His actions at Bennington led Congress to promote him to the rank of Brigadier General, as his current rank was recognized only by New Hampshire. He stayed on active duty for the remainder of the war, commanding the Northern Department on two occassions during that time. On 30 September 1783 he recived a commission as a Major General, only to retire on November 3rd of that same year.

Retirement

After leaving the New Hampshire Militia, he returned to his farm in Derryfield. In his retirement, Stark coined what later became the New Hampshire state motto, when he wrote a letter to a reunion of his officers, toasting them with the phrase, "Live Free or Die, Death is Not the Worst of Evils." Of all of the Revolutionary War Generals, Stark is widely considered to have most closely emulated the model of Cincinnatus, where others went on to become career militarists, bureaucrats, Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents.

There is a town in northern NH named after him, numerous statuary around the state, and his descendants today are found in various areas, some of which intermarried with the family of Ethan Allen.