John Stark

John Stark 1728-1822, American Revolutionary soldier, b. Londonderry, N.H. He fought in the French and Indian Wars . At the start of the Revolution he distinguished himself at Bunker Hill, and he served in the Quebec campaign and with George Washington at Princeton and Trenton (1776-77). He went home in 1777, disgruntled over some promotions, but later in the year took the field as a commander of the New Hampshire militia in the Saratoga campaign. When General Burgoyne sent a detachment to take the colonial stores at Bennington (now in Vermont), Stark met and repulsed it. The battle of Bennington contributed to Burgoyne's discomfiture at Saratoga. For this service Stark received appointment as brigadier general from the Congress.

Bibliography: See biography by H. P. Moore (1949).

Stark, John (1728–1822) Revolutionary War army officer, born in New Hampshire. Stark served in the French and Indian War (1754–63), using guerrilla tactics against France's Indian allies. After the fighting at Concord in 1775, Stark became colonel of a New Hampshire regiment that fought at Bunker Hill and, as a colonel, at New York (1776). Stark led Gen. George Washington's advance force at Trenton (1776) and fought at Princeton (1777). Angry at not receiving a promotion, he resigned his commission but formed a brigade to defend the supply depot at Bennington, Vermont, where he won a major victory that indirectly helped the Continentals defeat the British at Saratoga two months later. In 1780 he served on the board that presided at the trial for treason of John André.