John Stark

General John Stark

John Stark (born August 28, 1728 in Londonderry , New Hampshire Colony , today USA ; † May 8, 1822 in Manchester (New Hampshire) ) was a general who served in the American Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

When John Stark was eight, he and his family moved from Londonderry to Derryfield (now part of Manchester ), where he lived for the rest of his life.

French and Indian War

Stark was enlisted as a lieutenant under Major Robert Rogers during the French and Indian Wars. As part of the Rogers' Rangers , Stark gained valuable combat experience and knowledge in the northern border area of ​​the American colonies. In 1758 he led one of the four ranger companies during the siege of Louisburg. At the end of the war, Stark left the army as a captain and returned to Derryfield.

American War of Independence

The Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 15, 1775 signaled the start of the American Revolutionary War and Stark returned to military service. On April 23, 1775, Stark accepted a post as colonel with the New Hampshire Militia . He was given command of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment. As soon as he had signed on his men, he went south by boat and on foot to assist the rebels in the siege of Boston .

Battle of Bunker Hill

→ Main article : Battle of Bunker Hill

On June 16, the rebels, fearing a preemptive strike on their positions in Cambridge and Roxbury , decided to take and hold the heights above the city, including Dorchester Heights, Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill. These elevated positions would have enabled the rebels to prevent any British landing (at the time Boston was actually an island and the British soldiers stationed would have always had to take the sea route to attack surrounding cities). The positions could also have been used to station cannons that would have threatened the British ships blocking the port (although the rebels did not have any cannons available at the time).

When the British woke up on June 17, they saw the hastily built fortifications on Breeds Hill. The British General Thomas Gage knew that he would have to drive the rebels from their positions before the fortifications were completed. He ordered HMS Lively , a 38-gun frigate, to bombard the rebel positions immediately and instructed Major General William Howe to prepare his troops for landing. So began the Battle of Bunker Hill - which should actually be called the Battle of Breed's Hill . American Colonel William Prescott held the hill despite the intense initial bombardment with only a few hundred untrained American militiamen. Prescott knew he was significantly worse armed and outnumbered. He sent a desperate request for reinforcements.

Stark and his New Hampshire militia arrived shortly after Prescott's request. The HMS Lively had started with targeted continuous bombardment of the Charlestowner isthmus (Charlestown Neck), the narrow strip of land that connected Charlestown with the positions of the rebels. On the Charlestown side, several companies of American regiments had dispersed for fear of falling into artillery fire. Stark ordered the men to stand aside and marched with his men to Prescott's positions without suffering any losses.

When the New Hampshire Militia arrived, the grateful Colonel Prescott allowed Stark to post his men wherever he pleased. Stark studied the battlefield and saw immediately that the British would probably try to flank the rebels by landing on the banks of the Mystic River below and to the left of Breeds Hill. He led his men into the valley between Mystic River and Breeds Hill and ordered them to "fasten" a double fence by tucking straw and grass between the two fences. They also extended the fence by means of a hastily piled stone wall. After the fortifications were hastily erected, Stark placed his men in a row of three behind the wall.

A large force of the British, led by the Royal Welch Fusiliers , moved toward the fortifications. The militiamen crouched down and waited until the advancing British had almost reached them, then stood up and all shot at the same time. They sent a violent and unexpected hail of bullets straight into the ranks of the fusiliers , killing 90 of them and stopping their advance. The fusiliers fled in panic. A unit of British infantry followed, which had to climb over their dead comrades to reach Stark's front line. This was also decimated by volleys of rifles from the militiamen. A third unit was repulsed in the same way, again with great losses to the British. The British officers wisely withdrew their men from this landing point and decided to land elsewhere with the assistance of their artillery.

Later in that battle, the rebels were driven off the hill. Stark ordered the New Hampshire Regiment to protect Colonel Prescott's retreating troops from fire.

Although the British finally took the hill that day, their losses were so great (especially among the officers) that they could not hold the positions. This allowed the American General George Washington , who arrived in Boston two weeks after the battle, to station his cannons on Bunker Hill and the Dorchester Heights. This position threatened the British fleet in Boston harbor and caused the British General Gage to withdraw all his forces from the Boston garrison and sail south.

New Jersey

As Washington prepared to return south to fight the British there, he knew he badly needed experienced men like John Stark to command regiments in the Continental Army . Washington immediately offered Stark a command post in the Continental Army. Stark and his New Hampshire Regiment agreed to join the Continental Army temporarily. Stark and his men traveled to the New Jersey colony with Washington and fought valiantly in the battles of Princeton and Trenton .

resignation

After Trenton, Washington asked Stark to return to New Hampshire and recruit more men for the Continental Army. Stark consented, but after returning home he learned that while he was fighting in New Jersey, a New Hampshire colonel he knew named Enoch Poor had been appointed brigadier general in the Continental Army. To the best of Stark's knowledge, Enoch Poor had refused to take his militia regiment to Bunker Hill to take part in the battle, and instead left his regiment at home. Stark, a seasoned combat commander was passed over for someone who had no combat experience or even the will to fight. On March 23, 1777, Stark indignantly gave up his command, but promised to help New Hampshire if he was needed.

Battle of Bennington

Four months later, Stark was offered a position as brigadier general in the New Hampshire Militia. He accepted on the strict condition that he should not be subject to the authority of the Continental Army. Shortly after he accepted the position, Brigadier General Philip Schuyler ordered him to leave Charlestown , New Hampshire, to relieve the Continental Army in Saratoga , New York . Stark refused and instead led his men into battle against the British at the Battle of Bennington . Before attacking the British and Brunswick troops, Stark prepared his men to fight to the death by exclaiming, “They are your enemies, the redcoats and the Tories . They belong to us or Molly Stark is sleeping as a widow tonight! "

Stark's men, with the help of the Vermont Militia , stopped British forces and prevented British General John Burgoyne from delivering supplies. Stark's actions contributed directly to the surrender of Burgoyne's Northern Army at the Battle of Saratoga a few months later. This battle is seen as the turning point in the War of Independence because it marked the first major defeat by a British general and it convinced the French that the Americans were worthy of their military support.

Stark became widely known as the "Hero of Bennington". After doing excellent service until the end of the war, Stark returned to his farm in Derryfield. It is said that of all the Revolutionary generals he was the only true Cincinnatus because he really retired from public life after the war ended. In 1809 a group of Bennington veterans wanted to commemorate the battle. General Stark, who was already 81 years old, was not healthy enough to travel, but he sent a letter to his comrades that concluded with the words, “Live free or die. Death is not the worst of all. ” Live Free or Die became the New Hampshire state motto in 1945.

Many places in the United States are named after John Stark and his wife Molly. These are:

• Fort Stark, New Hampshire
• John Stark Regional High School (New Hampshire)
• Stark County, Illinois
• Stark County (Ohio)
• Strong County (Indiana)
• Starkville, Mississippi
• Strong (New York)
• Molly Stark State Park (Vermont)

Individual evidence

• 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. Published by Luther Roby, Concord NH 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 Historical Society, Freedom NH 1988. OCLC ocm18143265 . A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library .
• Roland Rowell: Gen. John Stark's home farm: a paper read before the Manchester Historic Association October 7, 1903 . A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library .
• Leon W. Anderson: Major General John Stark, hero of Bunker Hill and Bennington, 1728-1822 . [np] Evans Print. Co., 1972. OCLC ocm00709356 . A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library .
• Caleb Stark: 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, 1804–1864. Gregg Press, Boston 1972 [1860].
• Robert P. Richmond: John Stark, Freedom Fighter . Dale Books, Waterbury CT 1976. (Juvenile literature). A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library .
• AJ Langguth: Patriots: the men who started the American Revolution . Simon & Schuster, New York 1988, ISBN 0-671-67562-1 .
• Page Smith: A New Age Now Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution . Vols I and II of VIII. (Note: vol. II contains the index for both vol. I and vol. II). ISBN 0-07-059097-4
• Strong, John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 25 : Shuválov - Subliminal Self . London 1911, p. 798 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

This article is based on a translation of the article John Stark from the English language Wikipedia in the version dated February 14, 2005 .