Clearfield Republican

Miscellaneous.

From the Scottish American.

The Scots in America.

Stark.—In the personal qualities of a true soldier—wonderful physical powers, bravery, sagacity, adherence to the cause adopted, and unconquerable determination—John Stark had no superior in America, and to these also added qualities of a high order for attaching soldiers to his side, and handling them skilfully in strategy and battle. He was born in the Scottish Irish settlement of Londonderry, New Hampshire, August, 1728. His father was a native of Glasgow, who had first emigrated to Ulster, Ireland, and then sailed from old Londonderry to the new world with a most valuable cargo—some hundred of his countrymen and women, characterized by the sound morals, industrious habits, and warm affections of the children of old Caledon. In those days, Londonderry was something of a shipping port: it far exceeded Liverpool or Greenock, hence as vessels often left it for America, many Scottish emigrants had to go there to find agencies to reach the "Western land."

John Stark's father was an industrious farmer, possessed of no worldly wealth but that derived from his own sturdy toil, combined with that of his thrifty wife and willing children. John lived with his father until he was twenty-five years of age, and aided in the support of a pretty large family. He was a genuine type of the American borderer in those days of wild war, hunting and farming. His mind was quick, his eye keen, his arm strong, and limbs supple:

"A stark-moss trooping Scot was he
As e'er crouched border lance to knee."

At this age, in connection with his older brother, William, and two other young men of the neighborhood, they started on a distant hunting excursion, in the wilderness inhabited by unfriendly red men, when he and one of his companions were taken prisoners by the St. Francis Indians. Carried to their settlement, they were doomed to the ordeal of the gauntlet, by being subjected to the punishment of running between two long files of warriors armed with clubs, each intent to show his dexterity by giving a blow to the victim. The companion of Stark was nearly killed by the ordeal, but when he was let loose he bounded like a tiger on his prey, knocked down the first warrior, seized his club, and leaped forward, dealing his blows right and left so rapidly that he cleared his way unscathed of all his assailants; and the old warriors, admiring his prowess, shouted loud their approval, adopted him into their tribe, and made him a young chief. These rude sons of the forest afterwards treated him with great kindness. His personal qualities led them to admire and respect him, and he ever afterwards entertained warm feelings for them. He was redeemed in a few months afterwards from his Indian captors by the commissioners of Massachusetts, and he returned home to become the greatest hunter and explorer for several years in New England. When the French war broke out, in 1754, he obtained a commission in the corps of New Hampshire rangers raised by Major Robert Rogers.

In January, 1757, Major Rogers, with his band of seventy rangers, made a long and severe march on snow shoes to intercept a French convoy of provisions between Crown Point and Ticonderoga, but they were surprised themselves by a force double their number. At the first fire Rogers was severely wounded, and his lieutenant was killed: and the command now devolved on Stark. The day was cold, a heavy sleet was falling fast, and the combat was very unequal in point of numbers. A retreat was suggested, but our hero gave the stern answer to such a request, that he "would shoot down the first man that turned." "Here," he said, "we must fight till night:" and on they fought furiously. A shot having destroyed the lock of Stark's rifle, he dashed forward, slew the foremost of the foe, snatched the musket from his dying grasp, and cheered on his men to the strife. Night at last came, when, leaving their dead with the snow for their "winding sheet," they took their wounded and began a dreary retreat, after five hours hard fighting, to Fort William Henry—the nearest place for relief, forty miles distant. The snow was four feet deep on the ground, and the prospect, with a numerous foe behind, was desponding; but Stark was "the man for the hour." He gave strict orders to march on all night steady, keep cheerful, and he would soon bring them aid. With two others, he then started onward for the fort, and by next evening reached it. His tale was soon told: and with himself in front, a strong party was quickly on the way to afford relief.—That night saw them all safe. Without sleep, after a hard-fought battle, he walked forty miles on foot through the wilderness, and rode forty miles back—eighty miles—in two days. His heart was dauntless: his sinews steel. He was now made a captain—a richly deserved honor.

After this he was at the unfortunate attack upon Ticonderoga, where Lord Howe, who admired him greatly, was killed, and where the British army, double the number of the French, was shamefully defeated. The Rangers, however, covered themselves with honor, and Stark was first in the fight and last out of it.—Through all this French war he was in active service, and in almost every noted engagement; numerous were his personal encounters, "desperate his deeds of valor done," and he became the model hero of his Ranger band. When the power of France was broken at Quebec and the war was ended, the Rangers were disbanded, and John Stark once more returned to his plough and his family, for he had now been married for some years.

When the contest commenced between the mother country and the Colonies, Stark espoused the cause of the latter, while his elder brother William took side with the former, and was made a Colonel in the British army. He was a brave man, had fought in many battles, and was with Wolfe at the victory on the Plains of Abraham, at Quebec. The Republicans esteemed him a sincere but mistaken man, honorable in his intentions but it was a sad sight to see brother fighting against brother, neighbor against neighbor.

Twelve hundred hardy men arrayed themselves in two regiments, under Stark, and marched to assist their Massachusetts brethren at Bunker Hill, and a good account they gave of themselves in that ever-memorable battle. They had perfect confidence in their leader, and General Gage, who knew him well, declared to his fellow English officers, on the eve before the battle, that "if John Stark was among the provincials, he would give them fighting to-morrow." In the midst of that struggle, word was brought to Stark that his son, a lad of sixteen years, was killed.—With the spirit of an old Roman patriot, he said: "This is no time for private grief, with the foe in our face; do your duty, my men."

In 1777 he joined the regular army under Washington, and commanded the right wing of the advance guard at the famous fight at Trenton, and at the battle of Princeton he took a prominent part. But even after these American victories, the army under Washington was threatened with dissolution, as the term for a great number of the soldiers' enlistment was expiring, and their sufferings were great. The enthusiasm of Stark's regiment for him made them re-enlist to a man, for six weeks, at his request, and then he went home to New Hampshire, to rouse up his old companions in arms and friends, to engage in the cause. His success was complete, and they flocked once more to fight under him. But just at this time, when this veteran of so many battles had placed himself in the midst of his willing followers, he found himself deeply injured by Congress, his juniors in years and in service having been promoted above him. He at once repaired to the Council, and protested against the insult and injustice of the act, but this was of no avail, and he threw up his commission in disgust, and retired to his farm. But he then armed every retainer of size and strength, and his four sons, and sent them forth to fight their country's battles. Gen. Schuyler, who subsequently suffered a like injustice, urged him to remain in service, but he said, "An officer who cannot maintain his own rank and assert his own rights cannot be trusted to vindicate those of his country." While on his farm, he was not a disinterested observer of the operations of the enemy, and he was soon called forth again from his retirement, to perform one of the most brilliant achievements in the annals of the Revolution.

When Burgoyne was marching from Canada, laying waste all around him, the Assembly of New Hampshire raised a small force, and solicited Stark to command it, and check the progress of the British general in Vermont. He accepted the command with the stipulation that he should be independent, acting only for New Hampshire. The militia, when informed who was to be their leader, joyfully and without delay marched under him to Bennington. Here he was met with orders to place himself under Gen. Schuyler, and conduct his troops to the west bank of the Hudson river. Stark refused to obey such orders; said he was under the direction of the Assembly of New Hampshire, and no other: and that he was bound to defend Vermont. This act was regarded at the time as one of military insubordination, and he was censured by Congress for it, but he soon convinced those who had done him injustice, that he was a man above their comprehension. Burgoyne, having dispatched a large division of his army to attack Bennington, and obtain a supply of provisions stored there, Stark prepared his men for action as best he could, although they were poorly armed, and had no artillery. On the morning of the 16th August, he marshaled his soldiers for the desperate onslaught, and in a brief, but touching speech, he concluded with the memorable words, "We must conquer, boys, or Molly Stark is a widow to-night." He knew how to inspire his followers with enthusiasm, and in they steadily dashed upon the enemy, and fought with the fury of men determined to "do or die." The action was very severe and lasted two hours. He obtained a complete victory, took seven hundred prisoners, four brass cannon, and several hundred stand of arms. If Napoleon's standard is correct, that the greatness of a victory is measured by the number of prisoners taken, then the battle of Bennington was certainly, for the number of troops engaged, a very great victory.—It broke the power of Burgoyne, and was the incipient cause of his complete and final overthrow. This able and gallant achievement placed Stark in the front rank of American military leaders, and made Congress feel the obligations due to the man who had been deeply injured. A vote of thanks was immediately granted him, and he was reinstated in the regular army as Brigadier-General. During the rest of the war he was very active, and in battle and out of it he was always doing brave service for his country.

He was the veteran of two protracted wars, and fifteen of his years were spent in active campaign, full of hardships and perils. He was renowned as a patriot, idolized as a leader, and loved by his relatives and neighbors: yet this hero of so many fights, the foremost in danger, who never turned his back to a foe, and who had numerous personal encounters, could count no scar: he never was wounded: he passed unscathed through showers of shot and shell, and lived till he was sixty-four years of age. We have seen it stated that he spoke with a strong Scottish accent as did most of the New Hampshire people in that day. He sleeps on the banks of the Merrimack river. His monument is an obelisk of granite; the inscription on it—

"MAJ. GEN. STARK."