John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) General Stark was a true warrior of his time; hardened by the harsh reality of growing up in the wilderness, cast into a deadly caldron as a young lieutenant of Rogers’ Ranger’s savage troops, and in the American Revolution, commanding a rag-tag rabble of steely farmers and hunters to stand toe to toe against the finest soldiers England could field.  His incredible ability as a leader of men in battle was matched only by his stiff ‘New England’ stubbornness for independence. No one, not the Commander-in Chief nor Congress itself, could tell John Stark what he should do and when he should do it.  His face, with its strong nose, high cheekbones and thin, set lips, was typical New England Yankee. But the Irish in New Hampshire honored his ancestry by rallying to him.[1]  From Bunker Hill to the Battle of Bennington, with a wilderness spirit and the hardened men of New Hampshire’s wilds behind him, when Stark decided a cause was worth fighting, he would give it his all, and let no man or nation stand in his way. Just as he did on August 16, 1777, when he turned to his men and proclaimed, “There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night, Molly Stark sleeps a window!” And with a fervent howl, his men threw themselves on the German breastworks and swarmed over the defenses. “The bayonet, the butt of the rifle, the saber, the pike were in full play as men fell, as they rarely fall in modern war, under the direct blows of their enemies.[2]

Parents Emigrate from Ireland

Stark was born in 1728 into a profitable farm family in Londonderry, New Hampshire. His father, Archibald Stark (1697-1758)^[3] aged 61 at death, was born at Glasgow, Scotland to parents who emigrated from Wiltshire, England. At an early age, Archibald married Elizabeth Nichols (1697- 1768) and in 1720, emigrated from Londonderry, Ireland, to America. Because of an outbreak of Small Pox, the ship was refused to land at Boston, and was forced further up the coast to Sheepscot, Maine. The following year, Archibald and Elizabeth moved to Nutfield, New Hampshire, presently Londonderry, NH. According to Caleb Stark’s publication of his father John Stark’s Memoir, John’s parents had children prior to arriving in America; however, they died during the passage from Ireland. “Several sons and daughters were born to him [Archibald] after his arrival in America to whom, at his fireside, he gave the best education his own acquirements and the circumstances of the times would permit.”^[4]  There would be six additional children born to Archibald and Elizabeth in America; Anne (1722-1805), William (1724-1782), Isabel (1726-1797), John (1728-1822), Archibald (1730-1819), and Samuel (1736-1809).

Hunter and Trapper

The family home in Londonderry was destroyed by fire in 1736 when John Stark was eight. That year, his father joined other local farmers who settled upon a tract of land along the Merrimack River called Harrytown, a short distance above the Falls of Amoskeag. Additional settlers joined them afterwards and the new location became Derryfield, later renamed Manchester, New Hampshire[5].  John and his brothers grew up on the wilderness frontier. As such, they became active hunters and trappers, often spending long periods in the wilderness at hunting camps, acquiring handsome returns for each season’s large number of skins and pelts. As such, “they were accustomed to dwell in forest camps, at great distances from home, and thus became inured to hardships, and were early taught lessons of self-dependence. They were often, in the pursuit of their vocation, brought in contact with the native savages, from whom they obtained a knowledge of their language and customs, and became excellent marksmen.”[6]

Captured by Abenakis and Adopted into Tribe

John resided with his parents until 1752 when he was captured by an Abenakis hunting and raiding party. On April 28, 1752, while on a hunting expedition along Baker’s River in the township of Rumney (then heavily forested and today Concord, NH) with his older brother William and two associates, David Stinson and Amos Eastman, they were ambushed by Abenakis warriors. Stinson was killed and William escaped. John and Eastman were taken to the principal Abnaki village of St. Francis, Canada. Five weeks later, in July, John was sold for $103 to Mr. Wheelwright of Boston, employed to purchase white captives of Native Americas, while Eastman was sold to ‘a Frenchman, for $60.[7]  Stark was treated well by the Abnaki who adopted him into the tribe, admiring his ‘spunk’ and ‘warrior’s defiance’.  John would comment in later years that he “had experienced more genuine kindness from the savages of St. Francis than he ever knew prisoners of war to receive from more civilized nations.”[8]

Active in Survey and Government Activities

In 1753, Stark joined a surveying company that explored the upper regions of the Connecticut River.  The following year, New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth (1696-1770), uncle of later Royal Governor Sir John Wentworth, received a report that the French were erecting a fort at the Upper Coos (Connecticut River). Captain Powers was dispatched along with thirty men, including Stark, under a flag of truce to demand France’s authority for doing so. The party discovered that there was no such fort under construction and before returning, explored northern New Hampshire and particularly the area of present-day Haverhill.

French & Indian War

By 1755, Stark had handled himself well enough during these incursions to the northern wilderness that when hostilities lead to the ‘Seven Years War’ (French and Indian War in America), Stark was commissioned by Governor Benning Wentworth[9] (Governor 1741-1766) as a second lieutenant in the newly formed Rangers under Captain Robert Rogers[10].  The company of rangers was attached to Colonel Joseph Blanchard’s New Hampshire regiment. His older brother of four years, William would serve beside John, later in the war as first lieutenant. John would participate in the Battle of Lake George and Bloody Pond, Battle of Halfway Creek, the 1757 Siege of Fort William Henry, the Battle of Snow Shoes, the 1758 Battle of Fort Carillion (Fort Ticonderoga), and the 1759 campaign in which Fort Carillion was abandoned. John would not participate in Captain Rogers’ October 4, 1759 raid against the Abenakis at St. Francis, claiming respect for his former foster parents who had adopted him into the tribe during his captivity at St. Francis in 1752. He remained at Crown Point until later that fall, whereupon he returned home and retired from the service.

It is worth noting some aspects of his service with the Rogers Rangers since Stark acquired both battle experience under fire and leadership skills, having been promoted from lieutenant to Captain by the end of the war. In August of 1755, Stark, along with the company of Rangers, joined Blanchard’s regiment at Lake George. On September 8, 1755, the Battle of Lake George resulted in a French loss. Towards evening of the day, the Rangers fought alongside Sir Blanchard’s New Hampshire regiment as they ambushed a large contingency of French and Native Americans resulting in what has been called Bloody Pond; whereas over 200 bodies of the enemy were later tossed into a local pond that now bears its name. After the battle, Rogers’ Rangers were disbanded and Stark returned home.

During the winter of 1756, Rogers Rangers was re-established and once more Stark would be commissioned a second lieutenant. His brother William became first lieutenant. There were no major battles during that year; however, the rangers were constantly on patrol resulting in frequent skirmishes with the enemy around Fort Carillion and Crown Point, New York. On January 21, 1757, John Stark would gain notoriety among his colleagues for his superb performance under fire during the Battle of Snowshoes. Stark had commanded a detachment of rangers who captured several French sleds of supplies bound for Fort Carillion (Ticonderoga). While the Rangers were returning to the British Fort William Henry, they were ambushed by a large number of French regulars, French Canadians, and Native Americans. Stark brought up the rear and effectively organized a rear guard that covered the rest of the Ranger column. The fight in deep snow lasted six hours until dark in which the Rangers made good their escape. Later, Stark and two other men raced ahead to Fort William Henry[11] to procure sleds to bring back the wounded that included the commander, Robert Rogers. For his actions, Stark was promoted to captain to replace Ranger Captain Spikeman who had been killed.

Stark played a significant role in March, 1757 during the first Siege of Fort William Henry that resulted in a French defeat. He was not present during the second siege, later in August, which lasted nine days, and ended with the British loss of the fort which was torched. During the winter months of 1757-1758, he was struck with Small Pox and resided at Fort Edward. He was well enough in March, 1758, to join his outfit at Albany where they were preparing to join British General James Abercrombie’s ill-fated attack on Fort Carilion (Ticonderoga), July 6 – 8, 1758.  Stark was to befriend Brigadier General George Howe (brother to future General William Howe who commanded British forces during the early stages of the American Revolution) who was considered among the finest officers in the British Army. Howe would die during the failed attack on the fort. Captain Stark would lead his company to successfully secure an assigned bridge between Lake George and the fort. After the battle, Stark and the rangers acted as rear guard for the army’s retreat back to Albany.

Return Home, Marriage, and One More Year of War

After the British defeat at Fort Carillion, Stark returned home on furlough and married Elizabeth ‘Molly’ Page (1737-1814), daughter of Militia Captain Caleb Page, on August 20, 1758.  It is reported that John gave Elizabeth the nick name Molly. The two would have eleven children. Stark returned to duty in the spring of 1759 and was present during General Sir Jeffery Amherst’s capture of Fort Carillion and Crown Point. Stark, along with 200 rangers were to construct a wilderness road from Crown Point to the Number Four Fort on the Connecticut River. Stark continued to conduct scouting parties against the French and Indians throughout the summer into the fall. When Rogers Rangers boarded a dozen bateau to row up Lake Champlain to attack the Abenakis along the St. Lawrence River at St. Francis, Stark remained at Crown Point, deciding not to participate in a raid against his former adopted tribesmen. In late fall, Stark returned home to Starkstown, named in 1748 for Stark’s father Archibald, which in turn would be renamed Dunbarton in 1765, after Archibald’s former home in Dunbarton, Scotland.

Years Leading up to Revolution

For Stark, the war was over as he retired his commission as Captain of Rangers and Provincial Forces. His family was financially well established in the region and he resumed farming his land that included a profitable saw mill ideally positioned for the growing community. Stark would assume an influential role among the community, along with his father, brother William, and father-in-law Caleb Page. Stark’s son Caleb (named for his father-in-law) wrote that “From the time he (John Stark) left the army, until 1774, he uniformly espoused the cause of his countrymen; and from his military services and respectable standing, was a person around whom could rally the people of his vicinity, and exchange ideas upon the then critical situation of the provinces.”[12]  With the promise of hostilities brewing between radical patriots and England, Committees of Correspondence emerged throughout the colonies to maintain communication. The military arm of these organizations, Committees of Safety, whose goal was to prepare for armed conflict, sought experienced men like John Stark to head their local groups. In this role Stark renewed his vigor as military commander. It is reported that Stark was at his saw mill when word of the April 19, 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord reached him. Stark accordingly immediately went home, gathered his belongings, and within ten minutes was on the road towards Medford, Massachusetts, just over sixty miles distant.

American Revolution

Within six hours he enlisted half his regiment, such was the magnetism of his name

Thomas J. Fleming; author, historian

March to Boston

Along the way to Massachusetts, Stark gathered several militia units already in arms, including former colleagues who fought alongside Stark in the French and Indian War. Once at Medford, just outside Boston, the New Hampshire men gathered to elect the leader of the newly formed 1^st New Hampshire Regiment. Colonel John Stark was selected along with Isaac Wyman as Lieutenant Colonel of the oversized regiment of eight hundred men which was quickly organized into thirteen full companies. That done, Stark returned home to spend a few days setting his affairs in order before returning to what had become the Boston Siege of British troops bottled up in the city.  Outside a brief skirmish at Noodle Island, Stark’s men, remained in camp along the northern sector of the American line just outside Medford. Another regiment of New Hampshire men, the 3^rd New Hampshire Regiment, four companies strong, led by Colonel James Reed, another veteran of the French and Indian War, were camped closer to the Charlestown Peninsula. On June 12^th, Commanding General Artemas Ward, in preparation for actions at Charlestown, ordered Reed’s regiment to camp closer to Charlestown Peninsula with Stark’s regiment encamped a mile to the west.  

Stark’s Regiment

Noted Historian Thomas J. Fleming wrote of Stark’s New Hampshire 1^st Regiment in Now We Are Enemies:

“The uniformless soldiers Stark led were, man for man, the best troops in the amorphous American army. For the other New England colonies, the frontier was relatively remote and there was little or no excuse to use a gun, especially in self-defense. Even hunting was difficult, since the woods were already thinned and powder was scarce and expensive. In New Hampshire, the frontier began at the end of the yard and the woods were still full of game. Stark’s men were much more used to handling guns than the majority of the Grand American army. They were also considerably tougher. One company of sixty New Hampshire men from Nottingham marched the moment they heard the news of Lexington, on the afternoon of April 20, and made the distance to Haverhill, 27 miles by dusk, “having run rather than marched” and were in Cambridge, 55 miles away, within 20 hours.”[13]

Ordered to Bunker Hill

On the night of June 16, 1775, General Ward and the Committee of Safety led by doctor and newly commissioned General Joseph Warren, sent a party of one thousand men across Charlestown Neck and south to a pair of hills; Bunker and Breeds. After a heated discussion between Colonels Israel Putnam and William Prescott, both of Massachusetts, at around midnight, it was decided to construct a redout on Breed’s Hill, the smaller of the two hills and further south.  By first light the next day, June 17^th, the British could not believe that the Americans had constructed a fort in one night. HMS Lively immediately started to shell the men still at work on the redoubt while the British batteries on Copps Hill joined in.  The British generals were soon formalizing a plan to assault the works.  Colonel William Prescott commanded the redoubt on Breeds Hill. After repeated appeals for reinforcements, at around 11 AM, General Ward finally agreed to send 200 New Hampshire men.  Colonel Stark received the order at Medford, but instead of racing off the men, he began to prepare his entire regiment for a fight and sent word to Reed to do the same.  It is difficult to believe, but Stark and Reed were low on shot and ball. The New Hampshire legislature was short on cash to purchase the necessary ammunition. Also, many men left for Massachusetts in such a hurry that they did not take the time to gather the necessary shot and powder. Stark used this time to send back to Cambridge for the necessary ammunition. When the order came at 1:30 to send the whole 1^st and 3^rd New Hampshire regiments to Charlestown, Reed and Stark were ready.  Ward’s decision to send in the rugged frontiersmen would be a decision to which the British would pay dearly.

March to the Sound of Guns

Dearborn, one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued ones

Colonel John Stark. Spoken to Captain Dearborn while slowly advancing his regiment through a British bombardment

By 2 PM, Stark’s regiment met Reeds at Charlestown Neck. Two Massachusetts Regiments were hesitating to cross the thirty-yard width of land that led to Bunker Hill. A pair of British floating batteries with 24-pound cannon, and the 18-gun Symmetry, were raking the neck, creating a no-man’s land of shot and shell. Without missing a step, Stark passed the reluctant colonials from Massachusetts and in a slow, but determined step, led the two New Hampshire regiments out onto the small slip of land. As shells burst among the men, a jittery Captain Henry Dearborn asked Stark if they should quicken their march. Years later Dearborn wrote that “With a look peculiar to himself, he fixed his eyes upon me and observed with great composure: ‘Dearborn, one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued ones’ and continued to advance in the same cool and collected manner. Once mounting the summit of Bunker Hill, Stark saw that Putnam was busy constructing another defense. He looked down at Breed’s Hill – saw the redoubt and Captain Thomas Knowlton’s men thinly stretched out about forty yards behind and to the left of the redoubt, towards the Mystic River. He gazed at the British who had landed at the tip of the peninsula and were now assembling on Morton’s Hill directly, south of the American line, and instantly knew the key to the redoubt’s defense.

Positions Men Prior to British Attack

An experienced eye knew that the British professional soldiers could see the strength in the redoubt. They could also see the weakness of the American left and flank. Stark concurred with Reed and the two colonels decided where to post their men. Stark gave a rousing speech, crying out that they could see the British before them. For months these arrogant redcoats had been calling Americans cowards. Now was a chance to show them just how wrong they were.[14] The New Hampshire men responded with a tremendous cheer and poured down the hill behind Stark and Reed to fill in the gap along the American left. Colonel Thomas Knowlton of Massachusetts held the line from the redoubt’s entrenchments behind rail fencing. Along the next 150 yards to the shore of the Mystic River, Reed came next along the rail fence, stuffing sod and grass between the rails to help deflect shot.  Stark continued the line down toward the water.  It is here that Stark’s keen eye for military tactics paid off, developed over the long months and years stalking the enemy in the wilderness of northern New Hampshire and New York.

The rail fence extended to the edge of a bluff that was between eight and nine feet high. Just below was the beach of the Mystic River. At high tide it was barely fifteen feet wide, which would be enough for a British light infantry column. “It was,” Stark said later, “a way so clear that the enemy could not miss it.” Stark quickly ordered 200 of his best men to break up some stone walls nearby and build a breastwork on the beach, to the water’s edge. He laid his men down behind the crude barrier in three ranks, each would in turn stand and volley, and he himself took personal command of the position.[15] Stark would adhere to his old mentor, Captain Robert Rogers’ treatise on Ranger Military tactics. In the passage devoted to repelling a frontal assault, Rogers emphasized the importance of maintaining a continuous fire: ‘This was to be achieved by having the front fire whilst the rear reserves theirs till the front has discharged.’[16] This was not new to the British, the reserve of Cumberland’s army at the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, had decimated the charge of Scottish Highland clans, however it had not been adopted by the English army as a whole.

General William Howe, in command of the British assault, planned to do exactly as Stark realized. He would feint an attack on the redoubt and focus his best troops against the fence. The Americans were expected to fire one wild volley, maybe two, before the demoralized farmers, facing a ferocious bayonet charge, would throw down their arms and run before British steel. Meanwhile, he would order the light infantry to move in a flying column down the beach and along the water to flank the Americans and get behind the fort. Once done, the Americans along the fence would be caught in a pincer movement while the fort would be assaulted from the front and from behind. The light infantry needed but to brush aside a few farmers on a narrow beach behind an inconspicuous wall. The plan, though sound, would prove to be Howe’s undoing.   

For behind the make-shift stone wall along the beach were three layers of Stark’s finest wilderness fighters; hunters and marksmen all. But most important, was the fact they were commanded by John Stark himself. Robert Rogers’ most trusted captain, Stark was a leader hardened by the rigors of savage warfare. As the British steadily made their way up from their landing, Stark had hammered a stake into the sand forty yards in front of the stone wall then raced back and ordered no man was to fire until the first regular passed that stake. He also cried out, “Watch their gaiters. When you can see their gaiters clear, that’s when to shoot.” He shrewdly persuaded his marksmen to aim low, so that the recoil of the musket, which inevitably threw the gun up, would send the bullets into the groin or chest. With his men three deep, he planned to pour a murderous and accurate fire by volley every five seconds onto a killing field that promised to leave no man standing.

British Attack

Howe divided his army into two brigades. One was to assault the town and redoubt to be led by General Sir Robert Pigot. This brigade’s assault was mainly a feint for the other brigade’s attack on the American left along the rail fence and water line. This brigade would be led by Howe himself consisting of the Flank Companies of Light Infantry and Grenadiers including The King’s Own 4^th Regiment Grenadiers and Howe’s Welch Fusiliers in the lead.  It was 3 PM and the attack began with an assault on the town of Charlestown. As troops advanced toward the redoubt and rail fence, the light infantry broke off and raced to the far right of Howe’s advancing troops to begin their attack on Stark’s men along the beach. The British would assault Stark’s men along the beach in three waves with the Welsch Fusiliers leading, followed by the King’s Own grenadiers and light infantry, with the men of the tenth regiment, the same snarling regulars who had decimated the minute men at Lexington, bringing up the rear. The Fusiliers raced steadily down the beach at a five mile an hour clip. They were under orders not to fire a shot, but to sweep the Americans aside. As historian Fleming wrote, “for thirty years British bayonets had sent the best troops in Europe fleeing for their lives. Certainly, it was logical to suppose the same tactics would work against a rabble of farmers.”[17]

On they came and the American position came into view. It was but an insignificant pile of stones barely knee-high. They could see the Americans crouched behind their little wall with a tall farmer standing behind them, dressed in brown, dirty-looking homespun. Not even an officer was in uniform. At a barked command, the light infantry companies opened out as far as the beach would permit – about fifteen men to a rank. Their bayonets went down into the charge position and with a roar, the 350 picked troops, the best men in General Howe’s army, surged forward, past the stake which John Stark had driven into the sand.[18] And in a blink of an eye, all hell broke loose, and in another blink, eternal darkness engulphed all those in the first two ranks.

Stark’s Men Open Fire

The American front exploded in a simultaneous crash of muskets, louder than the roar of cannon. The British front ranks were turned back as if a giant leaden fist had struck them, flinging two-thirds of the Fusiliers into the sand. The remnant tried to go forward, only to meet another blast of fire which left but a half dozen dazed and bewildered men on their feet. Right on their heels came the tradition-proud King’s Own. As coolly as if on parade, they stepped over and moved through the dead and dying Fusiliers. The howled in their charge, to take revenge for their colleagues cut down by the unexpected accurate American fire. This was the moment when professional troops proved their superior over the provincial throng. Behind the smoke, the farmers would be frantically trying to reload, in the ten torturous motions in which British bayonets would find their throats. But the second wave was barely fifteen yards beyond the fusiliers when they too were struck by a deadly blast of the same lethal hammer. Cries of the dying and wounded echoed across the empty waters of the Mystic, leaving those still standing, like the Fusiliers, stricken and bewildered.

And yet, just behind came the third line of the toughen regulars of the tenth. They charged knowing the Americans had fired the expected one volley, had gotten off a second volley, and even though both volleys were deadly accurate, there was no time to reload before the tenth was upon them. And then the impossible. Just as the regiment cried their ferocious charge, a massive explosion cut them down in a sheet of leaden death which had laid waste to the Fusiliers and King’s own. Remarkedly, those who still survived tried to continue the charge, but could not do so in a solid line. Now, all of Stark’s men were firing as fast as they could reload. On the narrow stretch of beach, all they had to do was fire low and straight and a bullet was sure to find a target among the tangled mass of men before them.[19] And so too, many were firing ‘buck and ball’, four pieces of buckshot to every bullet, making each shot even that more terribly effective. As the Fifty-second regiment came on, it became too much as ghastly holes were carved through their lines even before they reached the shattered remains of their colleagues. It finally became too much to ask these men to continue their march into what had become a furnace of death. The front ranks broke and piled in upon those still advancing. The rout was complete as the survivors fled down the beach out of the terrible fire. Ninety-six were left dead along the sand before Stark’s stone wall. Stark would later grimly state “I never saw sheep lie as thick in a fold.”[20]

So too, the rest of Stark’s regiment and Reed’s New Hampshire men along the rail fence took a heavy toll on the attacking columns before them. When Howe learned that his plan to flank the Americans along the water had ended in dismal failure, he had no alternative but to press on the main attack against the rail fence and redoubt. The result was similar to that of the Light Infantry. Howe had no choice but to draw his forces back. But only five minutes elapsed before he brought his men forward for another try in a second assault. Pointing his sword toward the American line, Howe cried out to his men, “Once more men, once more. Show them what English soldiers can do.”[21] The remnants of those companies shattered during the first assault lined behind the defiant general and once more surged towards the leaden hell. The American muskets blazed and men dropped. The line wavered, stopped and a shudder ran through it as if a living organism. It became too much.[22] The survivors turned and in the face of certain death, fled for their lives.

Redoubt Taken and Stark’s Men Cover the Retreat

Howe was not about to admit defeat. He reorganized his troops. Discarded the heavy haversacks and extra woolen coats. He knew the Americans’ ammunition must be running out. With the help of Pigot’s men who had not been mauled as badly as his own, they would offer a faint against the rail fence that had proven so devastating, and surge up and over the redoubt in a massive bayonet charge. As expected, all along the American line, shot and powder was in little supply. As the third and final assault was launched, the massive volley’s that proved so devastating previously was thin or non-existent. With a victorious cheer, the British legions poured over the redoubt. Most of the 450 American casualties would occur at the redoubt these last minutes of the battle. Faced with the redoubt taken, Reed and Stark’s men had no choice but to retreat, however they did so slowly, laying down a steady fire that kept the British at bay. Once past Bunker Hill, they quickly moved out over the neck and behind American defenses to the west. The British went no further than Bunker Hill. Reed’s and Stark’s casualties were minimal compared to those regiments defending the redoubt. Reed returned the number of his losses as five killed and twenty-seven wounded. Stark reported that he had fifteen killed, among that number were three officers) or missing, with forty-five wounded for a total of sixty casualties. He remarked that his men had inflicted over three times the number of British casualties than they suffered.[23] As for the British, the Welsh fusiliers had 700 in arms prior to the battle, and the morning after the battle could only muster 68 fit for duty. Nearly half of all of Howe’s forces were killed or wounded.

Remains in Boston then Commands Two Regiments in New York City

After Bunker Hill, Stark would remain with the Continental Army outside Boston, now under the supreme command of General George Washington.  On March 17, 1776, the British evacuated Boston, sailing to Halifax, Canada. Colonel Stark was placed in overall command of two regiments, the 5^th Continental (newly numbered and formerly the New Hampshire 1^st) and the 25^th Continental (newly formed Massachusetts Regiment under Colonel William Bond). He proceeded to New York City and assisted in arranging the defenses of the city. He remained in New York until May, 1776, when his regiment, along with five others, were ordered to march by way of Albany and join General John Sullivan in Canada.

Reinforces the Faltering Invasion of Canada  

Stark joined the army at St. John’s, a former French and British fort along the Richelieu River that drains Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence River. He immediately advanced further north to Sorel, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the Richelieu River. He had no sooner arrived than commanding General John Thomas died of smallpox on June 2, 1776. General Sullivan had been sent north when Thomas became ill and took over command of what had become a hasty retreat from Canada due to British reinforcements. Sullivan hoped to reverse the American retreat. With recently arrived reinforcements, he tried to stave the British advance along the St. Lawrence at what became known as the Battle of Three Rivers, fought on June 8^th. The Americans became mired in the local swamps leading to a resounding defeat that furthered the American exit from Canada.

Retreat from Canada

Stark, though present in Canada, did not take part in the Battle of Three Rivers. The defeat destroyed any hope the American army had of continuing the campaign in Canada. The only hope was to get as many men and equipment back down the Richelieu to Lake Champlain. Stark was instrumental in establishing an organized retreat while keeping the pursuing British at bay. So too, smallpox became rampant in the Continental army which only hastened the total abandonment of Canada. Colonel James Reed, leading the New Hampshire 3^rd and fellow defender of the rail fence at Bunker Hill, contracted smallpox with ultimately led to his blindness. As the British force neared St. John’s, troops set fire to all the public buildings and barracks before embarking in boats for the Isle aux Noix; Stark and his staff were reported to the last boats that left the shore.

On June 18^th, the army encamped upon the Isle aux Noix, which had become basically a large hospital for the over one thousand cases of smallpox, had loaded the last troops and sailed for Crown Point, thereby ending the Canadian invasion. Stark’s regiment landed at Crown Point and were quartered across the lake along the eastern shore at Chimney Point, directly opposite of Crown Point. This was familiar ground for Stark who as a Rogers’ Ranger, set out on countless raiding and scouting parties against the French and their Native American allies.  He remained there until ordered further south, his regiment arriving on the 6^th and 7^th of July at Fort Ticonderoga.  General Horatio Gates soon assumed command of the northern army and assigned Colonel Stark to command a brigade that was ordered to fortify Mount Independence, at the time a wilderness.  Sir Guy Carlton, British commander, continued his pursuit of the Americans, taking time to construct the ships necessary to sail down Lake Champlain. General Benedict Arnold also constructed a navy of gunboats and met the British at the Battle of Valcour Island on October 11, 1776. Though Arnold was beaten back and his ships destroyed, his action did enough damage to the British to cause them to give up the offensive and return to Canada. With the threat of invasion over, Stark and his regiment were ordered to join Washington and the main army. While the throes of winter, Stark marched his men two hundred miles south, joining Washington at Newtown, Pennsylvania just days before the Battle of Trenton.

Battle of Trenton and Princeton

When Stark arrived in Pennsylvania, the enlistment of much of his two regiments, halved by disease and sickness, were soon to expire. He implored upon his men to sign up for six more weeks and was successful. The attack against the Hessian outpost at Trenton on December 26, 1776, was split into two divisions, Major General Greene, along with Washington, leading the further eastern division, which would attack the town from the north, and Sullivan leading the other column, that followed along the river before entering the town from the west. Stark was to command Sullivan’s advance guard. When the attack commenced, Stark’s men drove in the pickets and were positioned to assure no Hessians escaped Washington’s main force driving them back from the north. Afterwards, Stark’s forces returned across the Delaware with their Hessian captives. Stark was with Washington when he recrossed the Delaware and was part of the American forces that met the British at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. He would remain with Washington until winter quarters were established on the heights of Morristown. The term of his men’s enlistment having expired, he returned to New Hampshire to recruit a new regiment.

Resigns his Commission and Returns to New Hampshire

Stark was successful in recruiting a new 1^st New Hampshire Regiment and in March, 1777, arrived at Exeter, New Hampshire, to receive instructions for the future campaign. While there, he learned of a new list of promotions by Congress that did not include his name; noting several junior officers had been promoted to Brigadier General over him, particularly fellow New Hampshire man, Enoch Poor, who with little or no military experience, had been commissioned General. Stark complained that while he had marched his men to Bunker Hill, Poor had chosen to remain in New Hampshire. Seems politics played a heavy hand in Congress’ selection. Stark would have none of it. He waited upon Generals Sullivan and Poor to wish them all possible success in the coming campaign, and resigned his commission. Though Sullivan tried to talk Stark out of resigning, Stark made it clear that the British in Canada were not through. That a new threat would be coming from that direction and if true, he would be ready to face it from New Hampshire to which he pledged his future allegiance.

The Many Faces of Major General John Stark

General Stark Commanded Brigade of State Militia Not Under the Continental Army’s Command

After his resignation in March, Stark spent the next months quietly at home along the Merrimack River seeing to his lands and estate. In May, General John Burgoyne arrived from England to assume command of a new British and German Mercenary invasion by way of Lake Champlain, with Albany the object of his campaign. As Burgoyne’s forces advanced up the St. Lawrence River and south into Lake Champlain, the citizens of newly formed Vermont and New Hampshire were alarmed. The legislatures quickly began recruiting additional state militia to guard against enemy intrusions in their states. On July 6^th, Fort Ticonderoga was evacuated by the Americans. Colonel Seth Warner, of the Green Mountain Boys, along with elements of the garrison, fought the pursuing British, led by General Simon Frasier, at the Battle of Hubbardton on July 7^th. This action only hastened the Vermont and New Hampshire legislatures in seeking their own state regiment and the only man capable of leading them; John Stark.

Stark met with the New Hampshire legislature and informed them that he had no confidence in the superior officers of the Continental Northern Army. If the New Hampshire and Vermont legislatures would organize a brigade of state militia, including the Green Mountain Boys, and commission General Stark to command them with full authority to direct their operations according to his own judgment, then he would once more take the field. The legislatures quickly accepted Stark’s terms and immediately sent out recruiting officers to ‘beat up for volunteers.’ “His [Stark’s] popularity, military reputation and previous successes…. Were strong inducements with the yeomanry of New Hampshire to volunteer under his command. More men than his orders called for were soon engaged, and marched to Charlestown on the Connecticut River, as a place of general rendezvous.”[24]  From there Stark marched his new command to Vermont to team up with that state’s militia and Green Mountain boys. While in route, Stark learned that the enemy had left Castleton, Vermont, and were progressing south towards Saratoga and Albany.

Positioning of Troops Prior to Battle of Bennington

By August 9^th, Stark was in Manchester, Vermont and in command of a brigade of state troops positioned along the left flank of Burgoyne’s army. General Gates communicated to Stark that he expected him to adhere to the same rules as all other militias and be subordinate to the Continental Army. He ordered Stark to deliver his regiment as reinforcements to Gate’s command north of Albany, New York.  Stark in turn informed General Schuyler that he had no intention of doing so. That as General of New Hampshire’s State Militia who answered solely to his state’s council, he was not compelled to follow orders from anyone else. In other words, he told Gates to go to hell. Major General Philip Schuyler, who still technically commanded the northern army, opened a correspondence with Stark. The crafty New Englander informed Schuyler that he intended to intercept and cut off the enemy’s supplies while removing beyond his reach all the cattle and stores of the country. Stark also sought to harass the British army’s rear and attack any of his detachments should the opportunity arrive. Schuyler approved and British General Burgoyne soon after furnished the desired opportunity for Stark to strike a decisive blow.  Stark met with Colonel Warner, commanding the Green Mountain Boys, at Manchester. Warner would remain in Manchester to guard enemy approach from the north and northwest while Stark’s main command headed twenty-six miles south to Bennington. The stage was set for an important link to what scholars believe would change the course of the entire war; later labeled The Battle of Bennington.

British General ‘Johnny’ Burgoyne’s Army is in Trouble

General Burgoyne’s forces were in trouble. Since initially effecting a rapid descent south along Lake Champlain to capture Fort Ticonderoga, his army’s progress had been reduced to a snail’s pace. Poor roads as well as trees and other obstacles General Schuyler ordered strewn along the route ate up precious time. Food supplies, including horses and oxen to draw baggage and artillery, were already stretched thin by these delays. So too, they had to be replenished by way of Canada, which only exasperated the situation. If Burgoyne was to be successful in his bid to capture Albany, he had to restock his food and necessary stores from the local population.  On July 22^nd, Baron Fredrick Adolf Riedesel, commanding German forces, first proposed that a large German foraging party be sent to the Connecticut River to collect food, livestock, and horses to replace those worn down from dragging artillery and heavy carriages of baggage. By early August, Burgoyne’s army had marched south along the Hudson River to Fort Edward and later onto Fort Miller, fourteen miles south of Fort Edward and thirty-six miles north of Albany.

German Brunswick Troops Detached East to Forge for Supplies and Scatter Rebel Resistance

Burgoyne decided to make good on Riedesel’s suggestion to detach a strong force of German soldiers east into the New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) to forage for food and horses. His intent was not at first Bennington, Vermont, but further east to the Connecticut River. Interestingly, the force he chose to spearhead this incursion into the countryside were dismounted German Brunswicker Dragoons of the Prinz Ludwig regiment. They were, upon securing an ample supply of horses, to continue scouring the region on their new mounts. Here is a portion of Burgoyne’s orders to Lt. Colonel Fredrick Baum,[25] commander of dragoons and leader of the expedition.

“The object of your expedition is to try the affections of the country, to disconcert the councils of the enemy, to mount Riedesel’s dragoons, to complete Peters’ corps [Queen’s Loyal Rangers with whom many were former Rogers’ Rangers, Canadians, and Vermont residents], and to obtain large supplies of cattle, horses, and carriages…troops are to take no tents…You are to proceed by the route from Battenkill [River] to Arlington [Vermont, just north of Bennington], and take post there, so to secure the pass to Manchester [north of Arlington]. You are to remain there until the detachment of provincials, under Capt. Sherwood [leading a company of Loyal Rangers] shall join you from the southward. You are then to proceed to Manchester, where you will take post so as to secure the pass of the mountains, on the road from Manchester to Rockingham [forty miles east on the Connecticut River]. This will be the most distant point of the expedition.”

The total distance from Fort Miller to Rockingham was seventy-eight miles. This would be quite an undertaking since it had taken Burgoyne several weeks to inch his way south towards Albany, basically just a day’s ride south from his present position. It is obvious by these orders that Burgoyne expected little or no resistance from the local militia. In his orders he seemed more concerned with the detachment’s retreat and perhaps, in a moment of farsightedness, informed Baum that his force was more valuable than the expedition. He wrote:

“It is highly probable that the corps under Mr. Warner [Colonel Seth Warner leading the Green Mountain Boys][26] now supposed to be at Manchester, will retreat before you; but should they, contrary to expectation, be able to collect in great force, and post themselves advantageously, it is left to your discretion to attack them or not, always bearing in mind that your corps is too valuable to let any considerable loos be hazarded on this occasion.”

Lt. Colonel Baum was to remain at Rockingham on the Connecticut River while his Native Americans and light infantry ranged the countryside, returning with food, livestock, and cattle. Once Baum believed he had procured the required number of horses and food supplies, he was “to descend by the Connecticut River to Brattleborough; and from that place, by the quickest march, you are to return by the great road to Albany.”[27] Burgoyne may have realized he was sending the foraging party on a mission that was ‘a bone too large for them to chew.’ On the eve of Baum’s departure from Fort Edward, August 8^th, it is reported that Burgoyne verbally changed the expedition’s goal from Rockingham on the Connecticut River, to Bennington, Vermont, where a large cache of supplies and armaments were reported stored at a military depot, as well as the countryside supposedly rich in cattle and horses.

Baum’s force consisted primarily of dismounted Brunswick Army dragoons of the Prinz Ludwig regiment, approximately five hundred strong, who brought along two three pounder field pieces. So too a company of light infantry from General Simon Fraser’s Advance Guard were to join him, a company of Lt. Colonel John Peter’s Queen’s Loyal Rangers[28] commanded by Captain Justus Sherwood, fifty German riflemen chasseurs or Jaegers, and around one hundred Native Americans. They numbered approximately seven hundred in total. Also, to accompany Baum was British Colonel Philip Skene, Scotsman and veteran of Culloden and the French and Indian War, who was granted a large 50,000-acre estate in the Lake George region labeled Skenesboro, later Whitehall. He was considered a brave officer and one knowledgeable of the countryside. He would escape capture after the Battle of Bennington and return to Burgoyne’s main army.  

Prelude and the Eve of Battle

On August 13^th, after two days march, Baum’s forces covered sixteen miles to Cambridge, New York, ten miles north of Hoosic Falls and site of battle. There were minor skirmishes along the way between loyalists supported by Native Americans and Stark’s skirmishers. Baum wrote to Burgoyne on the 13^th, expressing that the number of militia before him was considerably larger than expected, placing the rebel opposition at 1,800 men.[29] The next day, Aug. 14^th, Stark received word that Native Americans were spotted in the region and sent out a detachment to investigate. The militiamen encountered Baum’s advance guard at the Sancoick Mill at Hoosic Falls, New York, about nine miles northwest from Bennington. A heated skirmish resulted and the Americans quickly retreated, destroying a bridge to delay the enemy. Baum was cognizant that he was up against a large force and spent that day and the next tearing down nearby homes and felling trees to construct several defensive redoubts.

At 9 PM on Aug. 14^th, Baum wrote to Burgoyne. He still numbered his enemy before him at 1,800 but confidently added that they should retreat as he drew near. He also requested reinforcements. Meantime, Stark received word from his detachment that a large enemy force was drawing near. He immediately marched his men towards the Germans at Hoosic Falls, ten miles distant, and so too sent for reinforcements.

On August 15^th, reinforcements for both Baum and Stark were on the move. From the northwest marched approximately six hundred Brunswick Grenadiers with two six pounders, all under the command of Lt. Colonel Heinrich Breymann. At Manchester, Warner’s Green Mountain Boys, approximately three hundred and fifty strong, marched to join Stark’s brigade with Colonel Samuel Safford commanding the advance guard. The 15th proved to be a miserable day with constant, heavy rain all day and throughout the night and into the next morning. In such weather, eighteenth century warfare was impossible for black powder could not be kept dry enough to ignite. Meanwhile, the German’s continued to strengthen their positions on the rise. Early the next morning, Parson Thomas Allen arrived at Stark’s camp to offer his Massachusetts militia. At this stage Baum’s original estimate of 1,800 rebels before him was accurate. His six hundred men were outnumbered three to one. The rain continued to come down in buckets throughout the morning of the 16th, but at 1 PM, it stopped and a brilliant sun shined.    

Battle of Bennington

There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow.

General Stark prior to Battle of Bennington

Once the rain ended, it is said Stark roused his men with a classic Henry the V’s ‘Band of Brothers’ oration. He cried out that they were here to fight as “natural born Englishmen” and added “There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow.”[30]  Stark then set in motion a brilliant three prong attack on Baum’s defensive position along both flanks and the German center. The stern New Englander’s battle plan was perfectly executed as all three aspects of his assault were simultaneously in position and ready to attack at the same moment. The American movement was so well disguised that Baum at first thought that they were retreating.

The Brunswick troops and light infantry were on the rise behind their redoubt of layered planking and logs. Before them in gullies and ditches lay the loyalist and the Native American allies. At 3 PM the attacked immediately raged on both flanks and center which served to quickly surround the German position. Stark would later describe it as “the hottest engagement I have ever witnessed, resembling a continual clap of thunder.” The New Hampshire and Vermonters reportedly threw themselves upon the German and loyalist defenses like wild animals. The loyalists and Native Americans were quickly overwhelmed causing them to flee or surrender. The Americans than focused on the Brunswick dragoons trapped alone on the high ground.

t was reported that the Germans fought valiantly, but so too the Americans as they continually pressed forward under immense and accurate fire. Just at a critical moment, a wagon containing black powder and cartridges in the center of the redoubt exploded. According to eyewitnesses, “you would have thought that explosion to have been an order given for every American to charge…for the redoubt was instantly stormed and carried on every side.”[31] At about the same time, Baum led a counter charge down the hill into the midst of the rebel force that failed completely. Baum was mortally wounded and his men were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. With the redoubt overrun, the few remaining defenders threw down their arms and surrendered.

Just as Stark’s men were disarming the remaining Germans and loyalists, while helping themselves to the ‘rights of combat’ by looting their enemy’s person and supplies, drums and trumpets of Lt. Colonel Breymann’s Brunswick Grenadiers were head in the distance. But then so too the Green Mountain Boy’s drums beat their arrival. As if taken from the pages of a Hollywood movie script, Stark’s men immediately turned and raced towards their new foe. Seeing the Americans in disarray, with rebel officers trying to regroup their men, Breymann attacked. He instantly forced Stark’s troops back. However, Warner had divided his men and like sledge hammers, pounded Breymann’s flanks repeatedly, giving Stark time to rally his men and come on like a tidal wave. Fighting continued until dark and Breymann was able to disengage to make a hasty retreat. However, a quarter of his Grenadiers had been lost including all his six-pounder field cannon.

Battle Casualties and Aiding Burgoyne’s Surrender

For British General Burgoyne, the battle was a devastating defeat. Not only was he deprived the much-needed supplies and horses, but he had lost a thousand men, more than half among his best regiments within the German command. Of Lt. Col. Baum’s force, two hundred and seven had been killed with another seven hundred captive (one hundred and fifty-two were loyalists). Of Stark’s battalion, thirty Americans lost their lives with forty wounded.

Stark and his men returned home after the battle, however two months later, Stark would reappear at the head of his corps along the Hudson River at a critical moment. Burgoyne had experienced two devastating losses at the Battles of Freeman Farm and Bemis Heights. He was hastily attempting to gather his remaining forces to retreat back to Canada. On October 13^th, Stark’s troops completed the encirclement of Burgoyne’s army, helping to force the flamboyant general to give up the ghost and offer his sword in surrender.

Commissioned General in the Continental Army and Served to the End of the War

As to Stark’s reward, besides laurels as the ‘Hero of the Battle of Bennington’, he received a letter from John Hancock, president of Congress. Seems with just one negative vote from the delegate from Maryland, Stark was commissioned a Brigadier General in the Continental Army. Stark would continue to serve alongside Washington and later command of divisions in the north when the army marched south to Yorktown. By the end of the war, he would be commissioned a Major General, returning home in 1783.

Of all the American Revolution generals, it seems Stark was the truest of the Cincinnatus. At war’s end, he remained absent from public life, content to spend the next thirty-nine years quietly working his farm in Derryfield, New Hampshire. His last legacy occurred in 1809 at age 81. He was too ill of health to travel to Bennington to gather with fellow veterans to commemorate the battle. He did however, send a letter to his former comrades. It closed with the words “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” Live Free or Die became the New Hampshire state motto in 1945. And in Bennington, Vermont, sits a 306 ft. Battle Monument, dedicated in 1891 by then President Benjamin Harrison, along with a statue featuring Stark, as he had done in two wars spanning twenty-eight years, pointing the way as he led his men to battle.

If You Would Like to Read More about General Stark or the Battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington, Check out these Free Previews of Books on Amazon

Of Further Interest in Revolutionary War Journal

RESOURCE

“Account of the Battle of Bennington by Glinch, a German Officer Under Colonel Baum.” Vermont Historical Society Collection I., Nov. 5, 1896, pp 211-223.

American Battlefield Trust.  “John Stark”.  Non-profit historical on-line site, Washington, DC. 

Fleming, Thomas J. Now We Are Enemies The Story of Bunker Hill. 1960: St. Martin Press, New York, NY.

Foster, Herbert Darling and Thomas Winthrop Streeter.  Stark’s Independent Command at Bennington. 1918: Standard Book Company, Manchester, NH.

Koster, John.  “General John Stark: A Patriot Who Rose Above Rank” Historynet.  December 27, 2019.   

Rogers, Robert and Caleb Stark.  Reminiscences of the French war; containing Roger’s 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… 1831: Luther Robert Publisher, Concord, NH.

Schenawolf, Harry.  “Colonel James Reed: Tailor Who Held the Line at Bunker Hill”.  Revolutionary War Journal.

Stark, Caleb and John Stark. Memoir and Official Correspondence of General John Stark…  1860: G. Parker Lyon Publisher, Concord, MA.

FOOTNOTES

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[1] Fleming, Now We Are Enemies, pg. 209

[2] Vt. Historical Society, Glinch (or Glinck) – German officer’s account who was present during the Battle of Bennington. However, either due to fabrication or misspelling of the officer’s name, Glinch (or Glinck) does not appear among the register of German Brunswick soldiers in General John Burgoyne’s army.

[3] Discrepancies exist regarding Archibald’s birth and death. When Archibald Stark died in 1758, his age was stated on his gravestone to be sixty-one, which would make his year of birth 1697, and that year is the one usually given. However, another record gives the names and years of birth of John Stark’s nine children, and states that Archibald was born in 1693. This is further complicated by the dates on Archibald’s gravestone: 1689 – 1750.

[4] Stark, pg. 10

[5] One of America’s first textile mills was later built there in 1805 by Benjamin Prichard. The community was apparently renamed Manchester (1810) at the suggestion of Samuel Blodget, who had seen the barge canals at Manchester, England, and who constructed (1794–1807) the first canal around the falls.

[6] Stark, pg. 11.

[7] Ibid., pg. 14

[8] Ibid., pg. 15Vt

[9] Bennington, Vermont is named in his honor. Benning Wentworth lost his land grants with New York in what become mainly Vermont and quietly retired from government soon afterward – dying in 1770.

[10] A common mistake found in Wiki and other internet articles list Rogers as a Major. He commanded a company of rangers throughout the French and Indian War and as such, obtained the company rank of captain.

[11] Of the novel “Last Mohegan” fame. The fort was burned to the ground by the French resulting in a massacre of British defenders by the French Naïve American allies. Today a replica of the fort stands in the same place and is a popular historical and tourist attraction.

[12] Stark, pg. 28.

[13] Fleming, pg. 209.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid., pg. 220.

[16] Ibid., pg. 248.

[17] Ibid., pg. 246.

[18] Ibid., pg. 247.

[19] Ibid., pg. 240.

[20] Ibid., pg. 249.

[21] Ibid., pg. 268.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Stark, pg. 112.

[24] Ibid. pg. 48.

[25]Ibid. pg. 51.

[26] The former Green Mountain Boys’ leader, Colonel Ethan Allen, was voted out as commander just before the hotheaded obstinate farmer got himself captured at Montreal the previous year. Allen would spend over a year in captivity in England. Upon exchange, he basically shrank away from any contribution to the war effort. After the war, his legend as a fearless leader far outdistanced reality of the ‘rough’ frontiersmen bumbling attempts at leading his men. Warner proved to be a far better choice as commander of the Green Mountain Boys, skillfully leading his men at both the Battles of Hubbardton and Bennington.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Lt. Colonel John Peters, a Vermont loyalist, raised over three hundred loyalists called the Queen’s Loyal Rangers. They accompanied Burgoyne on the invasion south to Albany. By October and the Battle of Saratoga, over 600 loyalists would participate in this unit with only sixty surviving the hardships and capture to return to Canada. Captain Sherwood, who Burgoyne mentioned in his orders to Braum, eluded capture at both the Battle of Bennington and Saratoga. He would continue leading a company of Queen’s Loyal Rangers on raiding parties throughout New England for the duration of the war.

[29] Stark, pg. 56.

[30] Ibid. pg. 60.

[31] Ibid. pg. 62.