John Stark
BIRTH
Aug 28, 1728
Londonderry, New Hampshire
DEATH
May 8, 1822
Manchester, New Hampshire
FAMILY
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Stark, John
(1728-1822)
Major-General John Stark 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.
5
WIFE
Molly Stark
(1737-1814)
Caleb Stark
(1759-1838)
Places | Image | Address | GPS | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bunker Hill Monument | 43 Monument Sq, Charlestown, MA 02129 | PARK | ||
Isaac Royall House | 15 George St, Medford, MA 02155 | MUSEUM | ||
Battle of Chelsea Creek Marker | Broadway, Revere, Massachusetts, 02150, USA | MARKER | ||
Battle of Bennington Monument | 15 Monument Cir, Bennington, VT 05201 | MARKER | ||
Bellingham-Cary House | 34 Parker St, Chelsea, MA 02150 | MARKER |
DIED:
Manchester, New Hampshire
May 8, 1822
On April 28, 1752, while on a hunting and trapping trip along the Baker River, a tributary of the Pemigewasset River, he was captured by Abenaki warriors and brought back to Canada but not before warning his brother William to paddle away in his canoe, though neighbor David Stinson was killed. While a prisoner of the Abenaki, he and his fellow prisoner Amos Eastman were made to run a gauntlet of warriors armed with sticks. Stark grabbed the stick from the first warrior's hands and proceeded to attack him, taking the rest of the warriors by surprise. The chief was so impressed by this heroic act that Stark was adopted into the tribe, where he spent the winter.
Stark served as a second lieutenant under Major Robert Rogersduring the French and Indian War. His brother William Starkserved beside him. As a member of the daring Rogers' Rangers, Stark gained valuable combat experience and a detailed knowledge of the northern frontier of the American colonies.
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. 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 French that the Americans were worthy of military aid. After the Battle of Freeman's Farm Gen. Stark's brigade moved into a position at Stark's Knob cutting off Burgoyne's retreat to Lake George and Lake Champlain.
John Stark sat as a judge in the court martial that in September 1780 found British Major John André guilty of spying and in helping in the conspiracy of Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to the British. He was the commander of the Northern Department three times between 1778 and 1781 along with commanding a brigade at the Battle of Springfield in June 1780.