The New Student's Reference Work/Stark, John

Stark, John, an American soldier, was born at Londonderry, N. H., Aug. 28, 1728.  He served in the French-and-Indian wars and at Ticonderoga in 1758.  At Bunker Hill he was colonel of a regiment which he had enlisted; and was at the front in the attack on Trenton and in the battle of Princeton.  He raised a new regiment in 1777, and was given command of the New Hampshire troops sent against the British troops from Canada.  On Aug. 16, 1777, he fought the battle of Bennington (known in New York as Walloomsac), receiving for it the thanks of Congress and the rank of general.  With a new force recruited by him in New Hampshire he cut off Burgoyne’s retreat from Saratoga, and after serving in Rhode Island and New Jersey had charge in 1781 of the northern department, with headquarters at Saratoga.  He died on May 8, 1822, the last but one of the generals of the Revolutionary army.  See New Hampshire Soldiers in the War by Hammond and Life of John Stark, by Edward Everett, in Sparks’ “American Biography.”