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    Tag: John Stark

    • Bunker Hill

      The walk up Pleasant Street gives you a sense of what the British were up against, and why the American militia chose this spot. Beginning at The Warren Tavern, the climb is gradual at first, but very steep as you approach the crest. Waking up to a locked and loaded enemy staring down that hill would have been unacceptable, and action would be required. Just the sight of the British regulars lined up and marching towards you must have been terrifying, and the British knew that and counted on the effect it would have. But on this day terror wouldn’t budge the bold easily.

      Events of that day are well-documented. Heroic figures rose up, died or survived to fight another day. William Prescott commanded the Americans, uttering some of the most famous words of the war (in a war full of famous words) when he shouted to his nervous militia “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” to conserve ammunition. Israel Putnam and John Stark were heroes that day as well, using their experience in the French and Indian War to offer critical tactical insight. The British side features famous names as well; Thomas Gage, William Howe, Henry Clinton, James Abercrombie and John Pitcairne. For the latter two Bunker Hill would be their last battle.

      The Bunker Hill Monument stands on Breed’s Hill, which is where the bulk of the fighting took place on June 17, 1775. I’ve driven by the monument thousands of times, but only remember climbing up the stairs inside once. Not in the cards on the day I visited either, as my walk up from the tavern around the perimeter and a bit of time to re-marinate myself in my local history chewed up all of the allocated time. But I was pleased with the site, which offers appropriate reflection.

      I’d started by walk up the hill at The Warren Tavern, founded five years after the battle and named for Joseph Warren, the 2nd President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who would become a martyr that day. Warren refused the safety his position offered him and choosing instead to be where the fighting would be worst. He died from a musket ball to the head, and then had his body brutalized by the British, whose heavy losses taking the hill likely inspired vengeance. Warren’s close friend Paul Revere helped exhume his body for burial elsewhere, a sign of the great respect Warren had earned in his life.

      That the bulk of the battle happened on Breed’s Hill is mostly known, but people still think the monument is on Bunker Hill. Sometimes the details get mixed up in the story telling. I love a good story and there were many on that hill on June 15, 1775. I’d say I’m better than many in knowing those who came before, but as with everything you learn as much about what you don’t know, and I appreciate a good refresher course. I’ll dance with the ghosts longer next time. There’s so much more to learn from them.

    • Where it all Happened

      When I was a child I thought of Boston, Lexington and Concord as the place where the bulk of the Revolutionary War was fought. Of course, that’s not accurate at all; it’s the place where it started. Or rather, where the underlying tensions felt across the thirteen colonies erupted into open rebellion and eventually violent conflict. Names like Yorktown, Valley Forge, Princeton, Trenton and Saratoga are just place names unless you’ve been there and felt the lay of the land. Having grown up there I’d done that in Boston but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I started visiting these other places.

      Monday I drove from an appointment in Castleton, Vermont to Clifton Park, where I would have meetings the next morning. Before the drive I did my usual survey to see what was on or near the route. I was already very close to Hubbardton, which I’d visited on my last trip up this way. But there was another significant side trip not far from my route…. Saratoga.

      As with any battlefield the action took place across a wide area over a period of time. The Saratoga Campaign took about a month, with other related skirmishes contributing to the overall result. I didn’t have time and wasn’t dressed for an extended tourist campaign myself, so I chose the visually stunning Saratoga Battle Monument as a priority, and let serendipity take over from there. It didn’t take long as I passed two historical markers of consequence next to each other. First was a sign marking the location of Starks Knob, named after John Stark, who held the high ground on this “basaltic pillow lava formation” which blocked the retreat to the north of General Burgoyne’s British and Hessian troops. Second was a monument to the Knox Trail, marking this ground as significant on a few occasions during the war.

      With Stark blocking retreat to the north, and Colonel Daniel Morgan‘s troops blocking retreat to the west, and the Hudson River blocked retreat to the east, options were running out for Burgoyne. He was cut off with nowhere to go. So on the morning of October 17, 1777 General Burgoyne and his 6000 soldiers surrendered. The Saratoga Battlefield Monument commemorates this event.

      Time or the necessary footwear to visit the battlefield itself weren’t available Monday… Another time perhaps. But seeing this magnificent monument, and seeing Starks Knob to know the lay of the land were worth the detour. History books only tell part of the story. Saratoga was a massively important global event that changed that history. Walking and driving around these places helps me understand what these names on the page were facing.

      I didn’t hear the whispers of ghosts when I visited the monument, but I did have my breath taken away as I drove around the bend from the site Morgan held and saw the monument rise up before me. And I had a shot of adrenaline when I saw the sign for Starks Knob. These places, where these things happened, matter to me, and I continue to seek them out in my travels.

    • General John Stark

      If New Hampshire has a favorite son, it’s John Stark.  The State Motto is a truncated quote from Stark, “Live Free or Die” and of course the people of New Hampshire have a certain Stark independent streak that lives on to this day.  As a transplant from Massachusetts who lives 7 miles from where Stark was born, I’ve come to appreciate the New Hampshire way of thinking more each year.  This is my 25th year in the Granite State and it’s high time I focus on New Hampshire’s Revolutionary War hero.

        In each phase of John Starks adult life he had extraordinary moments that would on their own be the highlight of someone else’s story.  As a 24 year-old young man he was captured by the Abenaki while hunting near the Baker River/Mount Moosilauke area.  In captivity he was forced to run the gauntlet but grabbed the stick from the first warrior in the line and attacked him instead!  This endeared him to the Abenaki and they adopted him into the tribe.  He was eventually ransomed back to freedom but this time with the Abenaki would remain a part of him.
      Five years later, with the French and Indian War making New Hampshire a war zone, Stark joined Robert Rogers as a Second Lieutenant and later Captain in Roger’s Rangers.  He participated in many of the legendary battles of the Rangers, including Battle on Snowshoes and other skirmishes around Lake George, New York.  Stark learned a lot from the tactics of Rogers, who in turn had adopted the tactics from the Native American warriors they were fighting against.  This would prove handy in the war to come.
      One event that Stark chose to sit out was the raid on St. Francis, an Abenaki village just over the present-day border of Canada.  Stark opting out was a sign of respect for those who he lived with five years before during his captivity.  It’s a great indicator of his character.
      After the war, Stark returned to his home in Nutfield (Londonderry) to work his farm.  Stark was married to Molly Page Stark, a legend in her own right, and had 11 children.  The Starks were clearly productive on the home front when they weren’t fighting wars.  Molly was a champion for smallpox vaccination, which involved deliberately infecting yourself with a small bit of smallpox, which, if it didn’t kill you, would make you immune to a worse case of it.  Smallpox was a major threat to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
      During the Revolutionary War, John Stark became a legend.  He was one of the first to answer the call to arms, and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where his experience in the Rangers paid dividends.  Stark’s saw immediately what the vulnerabilities were on the northern flank in the defense of Breeds Hill and built a breastwork from old stone walls to defend the Americans from a possible beach landing on the Mystic River.  This proved to be salient as that’s exactly what the British did.
      In a brilliantly orchestrated defense, the first line of New Hampshire militia fired on the attacking British and ducked down to reload.  The British kept advancing with fixed bayonets but were mowed down by a second line.  And then a third line mowed down the advancing British.  By then the first line had reloaded and mowed down the still advancing British and they finally retreated, abandoning the flanking strategy for a full frontal assault elsewhere.
      Stark would later serve George Washington at Princeton and Trenton, but unlike Benedict Arnold, he chose to tell the Continental Congress to take a hike when they passed him over for politically motivated promotions to General.  He returned to New Hampshire but left the door open for further action if needed.  And he was absolutely needed.
      In August 1777, the British Army was moving down from Canada, taking Fort Ticonderoga and working towards Albany.  The goal was to meet with the British forces coming up the Hudson River from the New York and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.  This would effectively end the war as the British would control the flow of people and supplies.  British General John Burgoyne led an expedition to Bennington to raid supplies stored there.  That’s where he ran into the combined forces of Vermont and New Hampshire, led by 49 year-old John Stark.

      As Stark rallied his troops to attack the British, he shouted the second-most famous sentence he ever produced; “There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!”  The first half of that statement is contested.  What seems to have consensus is the “Molly Stark sleeps a widow” part.  Hell of a rallying cry for sure.  During the battle, Stark showed his strategic mind once again by flanking the combined forces of the  British, Loyalists, Indians and Canadians in a double envelopment, creating panic in the ranks of the enemy.  Many of them fled, leaving the British to face a full frontal assault from the majority of Stark’s New Hampshire men, which routed the British and set the stage for victory at Saratoga.

      John Stark, like General Sherman after the Civil War, chose to retire from the spotlight and move back to his farm in New Hampshire.  He lived out his life on his farm in Derryfield (now Manchester).  At the age of 82 he declined an invitation to participate in events commemorating the Battle of Bennington as his health was declining.  Instead, he sent a note with a toast to his old soldiers participating in the events.  It contains his most famous words, familiar to most everyone even if they don’t recall the source; “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

    • Live Free or Die

      New Hampshire has a strong bond with Quebec, even if most people who live in the state aren’t always aware of it.  There’s an independent streak in Quebec that strongly mirrors the independent streak in neighboring New Hampshire.  There’s an obviously population blending as many French Canadians moved to the jobs the Industrial Revolution offered in America.  One clue of the bond is the highway signs, which welcome French Canadians in both English and French.  Welcome and Bienvenue are prominently displayed, along with the state motto “Live Free or Die”.  If New Hampshire is famous for anything, it’s Live Free or Die.

      The expression is more meaningful if you reflect on the entire phrase written by General John Stark to commemorate the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Bennington;  “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”  John Stark is a fascinating, bad-ass kind of guy who I’m going to write about more in a separate post tomorrow, but suffice it to say, he lived the words.

      The expression isn’t entirely an American concept.  Around the time that Stark wrote these words, the French were saying the same thing in the French Revolution; Vivre Libre ou Mourir, which literally means Live Free or Die.  So perhaps changing the highway signs to reflect both the English and French words would be appropriate.  It would be a nice way to bookend the sentiment: Welcome, Live Free or Die/Bienvenue, Vivre Libre ou Mourir.  I think our neighbors in Quebec would appreciate that.