John Stark (28 August 1728 – 8 May 1822) was a Major-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and Stark is best known for his victory at the battle of Bennington in Vermont in 1777 during the Saratoga Campaign.
Biography[]
John Stark was born on 28 August 1728 in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and he served as a Lieutenant in Rogers' Rangers under Robert Rogers during the French and Indian War. In 1775, Stark took part in the siege of Boston, and he was one of the militia commanders at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Stark would command the New Hampshire Line in the campaign in Canada in the winter of 1775, and upon the return of the Continental Army's northern army from Canada in the summer of 1776, Stark joined George Washington's army in New Jersey and fought at the battle of Trenton and the battle of Princeton. In 1777, he resigned his command after Enoch Poor passed over him in promotion, but he was given the rank of Brigadier-General in the New Hampshire militia. Stark and Seth Warner defeated the Hessians at the battle of Bennington during the Saratoga Campaign of late 1777, and his victory raised the Continentals' morale. From 1778 to 1781 he held command of the Northern Department three times, and he retired to his farm in Derryfield, where he died in 1822 at the age of 93.