John Stark
John Stark | |
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Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Battle of Bennington in 1777.
Early life
John Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire[1] (at a site that is now in Derry) in 1728. His father, Archibald Stark (1693–1758)[2] was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to parents who were from Wiltshire, England;[3] Stark's father met his future wife when he moved to Londonderry in Ireland.[4] When Stark was eight years old, his family moved to Derryfield (now Manchester, New Hampshire), where he lived for the rest of his life. Stark married Elizabeth "Molly" Page, with whom he had 11 children including his eldest son Caleb Stark.
On April 28, 1752, while on a hunting and trapping trip along the
The following spring a government agent sent from the Province of Massachusetts Bay 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 safely.
French and Indian War
Stark served as a
General
At the end of the war, Stark retired as a
American Revolution
Bunker Hill
The
On June 16, the rebels, fearing a preemptive
As dawn approached, lookouts on
Stark and Reed with the New Hampshire minutemen arrived at the scene soon after Prescott's request. The Lively had begun a rain of accurate artillery fire directed at Charlestown Neck, the narrow strip of land connecting
When the New Hampshire militia arrived, the grateful Colonel Prescott allowed Stark to deploy his men where he saw fit. Stark surveyed the ground and immediately saw that the British would probably try to flank the rebels by landing on the beach of the Mystic River, below and to the left of Bunker Hill. Stark led his men to the low ground between Mystic Beach and the hill and ordered them to "fortify" a two-rail fence by stuffing straw and grass between the rails. Stark also noticed an additional gap in the defense line and ordered Lieutenant Nathaniel Hutchins from his brother William's company and others to follow him down a 9-foot-high (2.7 m) bank to the edge of the Mystic River. They piled rocks across the 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) beach to form a crude defense line. After this fortification was hastily constructed, Stark deployed his men three-deep behind the wall. A large contingent of British with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the lead advanced towards the fortifications. The Minutemen crouched and waited until the advancing British were almost on top of them, and then stood up and fired as one. They unleashed a fierce and unexpected volley directly into the faces of the fusiliers, killing 90 in the blink of an eye and breaking their advance. The fusiliers retreated in panic. A charge of British infantry was next, climbing over their dead comrades to test Stark's line. This charge too was decimated by a withering fusillade by the Minutemen. A third charge was repulsed in a similar fashion, again with heavy losses to the British. The British officers wisely withdrew their men from that landing point and decided to land elsewhere, with the support of artillery.
Later in the battle, as the rebels were forced from the hill, Stark directed the New Hampshire regiment's fire to provide cover for Colonel Prescott's retreating troops. The day's New Hampshire dead were later buried in the Salem Street Burying Ground, Medford, Massachusetts.
While the British did eventually take the hill that day, their losses were formidable, especially among the officers. After the arrival of General
Among the notable men who served under Stark was Captain Henry Dearborn, who later became Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. Dearborn arrived with 60 militia men from New Hampshire.[7]
Trenton and Princeton
As Washington prepared to go to New York in anticipation of a British attack there, he knew that he desperately needed experienced men like John Stark to command regiments in the
After Trenton, Washington asked Stark to return to New Hampshire to recruit more men for the Continental Army. Stark agreed, but upon returning home, learned that while he had been fighting in New Jersey, a fellow New Hampshire Colonel named Enoch Poor had been promoted to Brigadier General in the Continental Army. In Stark's opinion, Poor had refused to march his militia regiment to Bunker Hill to join the battle, instead choosing to keep his regiment at home. Stark, an experienced woodsman and fighting commander, had been passed over for someone with no combat experience and apparently no will to fight. On March 23, 1777, Stark resigned his commission in disgust, although he pledged his future aid to New Hampshire if it should be needed.
Bennington and beyond
Four months later, his home state offered Stark a commission as brigadier general of the New Hampshire Militia. He accepted on the strict condition that he would not be answerable to Continental Army authority. Soon after receiving his commission, Stark assembled 1,492 militiamen in civilian clothes with personal firearms. He traveled to Manchester, Vermont. At this place, he was ordered by Major General Benjamin Lincoln (of the Continental Army) to reinforce Philip Schuyler's Continental army on the Hudson River. Stark refused to obey Lincoln, who was another general whom he believed was unfairly promoted over his head. Lincoln was diplomatic enough to allow him to operate independently against the rear of General John Burgoyne's British army.[8]
Burgoyne sent an expedition under Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum to capture American supplies at Bennington, Vermont. Baum commanded 374 Brunswick infantry and dismounted dragoons, 300 Indians, loyalists, and Canadians, and two 3-pound cannons manned by 30 Hessians.[9] Stark heard about the raid and marched his force to Bennington. Meanwhile, Baum received intelligence that Bennington was held by 1,800 men. On August 14, Baum asked Burgoyne for reinforcements but assured his army commander that his opponents would not give him much trouble.[10] The Brunswick officer then fortified his position and waited for Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann's 642 soldiers and two 6-pound cannons to reach him. Colonel Seth Warner also set out with his 350 men to reinforce Stark.[11]
After waiting out a day of rain, at 3:00 PM on the 16th Stark sent 200 militia to the right, 300 men to the left, 200 troops against a position held by Tories, and 100 men on a feint against Baum's main redoubt. In the face of these attacks, the Indians, loyalists, and Canadians fled, leaving Baum stranded in his main position. As his envelopment took effect, Stark led his remaining 1,200 troops against Baum, saying, "We'll beat them before night or Molly Stark's a widow." After an ammunition wagon exploded, Baum's men tried to hack their way out of the trap with their dragoon sabers. Baum was fatally hit and his men gave up around 5:00 PM.[12] With Stark's men somewhat scattered by their victory, Breymann's column appeared on the scene. At this moment Colonel Seth Warner's 350 Green Mountain Boys arrived to confront Breymann's men. Between Stark and Warner, the Germans were stopped and then forced to withdraw. The New Hampshire and Vermont soldiers severely mauled Breymann's command but the German officer managed to get away with about two-thirds of his force.[13] Historian Mark M. Boatner wrote,
As a commander of New England militia Stark had one rare and priceless quality: he knew the limitations of his men. They were innocent of military training, undisciplined, and unenthusiastic about getting shot. With these men he killed over 200 of Europe's vaunted regulars with a loss of 14 Americans killed.[14]
Another version has Stark rallying his troops with the cry, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!"
Stark's action contributed to the surrender of Burgoyne's northern army after the Battles of Saratoga by raising American morale, by keeping the British from getting supplies, and by subtracting several hundred men from the enemy order of battle. Stark reported 14 killed and 42 wounded. Of Baum's 374 professional soldiers, only nine men escaped. For this feat Stark won his coveted promotion to brigadier general in the Continental Army on October 4, 1777.[15]
Saratoga is seen as the turning point in the Revolutionary War, as it was the first major defeat of a British general and it convinced the
John Stark sat as a judge in the
He was the commander of the
Later years
After serving with distinction throughout the rest of the war, Stark retired to his farm in Derryfield, renamed Manchester in 1810, where he died on May 8, 1822, at the age of 93.
It has been said[by whom?] that of all the Revolutionary War generals, Stark was the only true Cincinnatus because he truly retired from public life at the end of the war. In 1809, a group of Bennington veterans gathered to commemorate the battle. General Stark, then aged 81, was not well enough to travel, but he sent a letter to his comrades, which closed "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils." The motto Live Free or Die became the New Hampshire state motto in 1945. Stark and the Battle of Bennington were later commemorated with the 306-foot (93 m) tall Bennington Battle Monument and a statue of Stark in Bennington, Vermont.
Historic sites
There is a
In 1894 the state of New Hampshire donated a statue of General Stark for the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol.[18]
See also
- Isaac Royall House, Stark's headquarters in Medford, Massachusetts
- John Stark (Conrads)
- Fort at Number 4
Many places in the United States were named after John Stark and his wife Molly. Among them are:
- Fort Stark (New Hampshire)
- John Stark Regional High School (New Hampshire)
- Stark County, Illinois
- Stark County, Ohio
- Stark Mountain (Vermont, Home of Mad River Glen Historic Ski Area)
- Stark's Knob (New York)
- Stark, New Hampshire
- Stark, New York
- Starke County, Indiana
- Starksboro, Vermont
- Starkville, Colorado
- Starkville, Georgia[19]
- Starkville, Mississippi
- Starkville, Pennsylvania
- Starkville, New York
- General John Stark Memorial Bridge connecting Hinsdale, NH, and Brattleboro, VT
References
- ^ "John Stark". seacoastnh.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ "Stark Lines of Descent in North America".
- ^ Landmarks of the American Revolution: a guide to locating and knowing what happened at the sites of independence by Mark Mayo Boatner – Hawthorn Books, 1975 pp. 158–159
- ^ Ferling p. 36
- ^ Caleb Stark, John Stark, Memoir and Official Correspondence of Gen. John Stark: With Notices of Several Other Officers of the Revolution. Also, a Biography of Capt. Phinehas Stevens and of Col. Robert Rogers, with an Account of His Services in America During the "Seven Years' War." G.P. Lyon, 1860
- ^ Reports, Community News (2015-01-25). "New Biography Of John Stark: Roberts' First Ranger -". The Adirondack Almanack. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
- ^ Dearborn, Henry; Peckham, Howard (ed.). Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn, 1775–1783. 2009. p. 5
- ^ Boatner, 69
- ^ Boatner, 68
- ^ Boatner, 70
- ^ Boatner, 72
- ^ Boatner, 73
- ^ Boatner, 74
- ^ Boatner, 75–76
- ^ Boatner, 76. Boatner also listed 700 captured.
- ^ "List of Markers by Marker Number" (PDF). nh.gov. New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. November 2, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
- ^ "Fort Stark in New Castle in active use from 1746 until WWII - Abandoned Spaces". Abandoned Spaces. 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
- ^ "John Stark Statue". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ^ "Lee County". GeorgiaInfo. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
Further reading
Primary sources
Detailed information on John Stark is not easy to find. Please add references and primary resources to this section, noting where the resources can be found.
- Reminiscences of the French War; containing Rogers' Expeditions with the New-England Rangers under his command, as published in London in 1765; with notes and illustrations. To which is added an account of the life and military services of Maj. Gen. John Stark; with notices and anecdotes of other officers distinguished in the French and Revolutionary wars. Concord, N.H.: Published by Luther Roby, 1831. A copy can be found in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
- Reminiscences of the French War with Robert Rogers' journal and a memoir of General Stark. Freedom, N.H.: Freedom Historical Society, 1988. OCLC number: ocm18143265. A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
- Memoir and official correspondence of Gen. John Stark, with notices of several other officers of the Revolution. Also a biography of Capt. Phine[h]as Stevens and of Col. Robert Rogers, with an account of his services in America during the "Seven Years' War." With a new introd. and pref. by George Athan Billias; by Stark, Caleb, 1804–1864. pub. Boston, Gregg Press, 1972 [c1860].
- The Papers of John Stark, New Hampshire Historical Society, 30 Park Street, Concord, New Hampshire. An unpublished guide to the collection is available at the Society's library.
Secondary references
- Gen. John Stark's home farm: a paper read before the Manchester Historic Association October 7, 1903; by Roland Rowell. A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
- Major General John Stark, hero of Bunker Hill and Bennington, 1728–1822; by Leon W. Anderson. [n.p.] Evans Print. Co., c1972. OCLC 00709356. A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
- Polhemus, Richard V.; Polhemus, John F. (2014). Stark: The Life and Wars of John Stark, French and Indian War Ranger, Revolutionary War General. Black Dome Press. ISBN 978-1883789749.
- Boatner, Mark M. III (1994). Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1.
- Ferling, John. Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- John Stark, Freedom Fighter; by Robert P. Richmond. Waterbury, Conn.: Dale Books, 1976. (Juvenile literature). A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
- Patriots: the men who started the American Revolution; by A.J. Langguth. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1988. ISBN 0-671-67562-1.
- A New Age Now Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution; by Page Smith. Vols I and II of VIII. (Note: vol. II contains the index for both vol. I and vol. II). ISBN 0-07-059097-4.
- The ranger service in the upper valley of the Connecticut, and the most northerly regiment of the New Hampshire militia in the period of the revolution : an address delivered before the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the American Revolution at Concord, N.H., April 26, 1900
- State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire. State Builders Publishing Manchester, NH 1903
External links
- Statue of John Stark at the U.S. Capitol
- The Adventures of Brigadier General John Stark, an historical humor web comic by Eric Burns, told from the point of view of a similar statue at the Bennington Battle Monument
- Statue of John Stark at New Hampshire State House Complex