by Wilmer J. Miller
John Stark, my great great great great grandfather in New Hampshire, was a member of Roger’s Rangers prior to our Revolutionary War. In 1752 he was captured by the Indians along with 2 or 3 other prisoners. The other prisoners were forced to hoe corn and do other women’s work. But stubborn John refused, and was forced to run the gauntlet between warriors and women doing their best to trip, hit, beat, and injure the victim.
John survived this torture and later was ransomed back home. When the Revolutionary War started John Stark commanded his regiment as a colonel at the battle of Bunker Hill,--- really Breed’s hill. After General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware, Colonel Stark led one of the 3 prongs of attack at the Capture of Trenton.
When General Burgoyne began the invasion from Canada, Stark accepted generalship of the state troops. He refused direct orders by other generals to join them, since he believed the enemy would first try to capture the stores at Bennington, Vermont.
Sure enough! Large British detachments, including Hessian soldiers, did come to attack Bennington. By the rebel’s hit and run tactics, the British were forced to entrench atop a hill. They dug in, placed cannon, and otherwise fortified the hill.
The next morning General Stark addressed his men before the battle. His most famous statement was in the history books for the next century.
"TODAY THE BRITISH ARE OURS ...OR ...MOLLY STARK’S A WIDOW!"
On August 16, 1777 Stark’s army won the "glorious Battle of Bennington". They made military history. It was the first time untrained soldiers, poorly armed, beat an enemy well trained and armed, and entrenched on the top of a hill and with cannon.
John Stark’s penchant for stubbornness evidently had always been that-- when he was sure that he was right, he wouldn’t budge from what he considered the correct belief or action. Disobeying other generals turned out to be a great aid in winning the American Revolution! ---a Virtue???
2 ½ minutes (reading time)