John Stark: Maverick General (review)

John Stark, who gave New Hampshire its "Live free, or die" (p. 155) motto, was a man who thought otherwise. New Hampshire-born to immigrant Scotch-Irish parents, he grew up on the northern frontier and experienced its hardships and perils, including Indian captivity, from which he was redeemed for a pony. He served in the French and Indian War as a captain in one of the most storied units in American military history, Rogers' Rangers, which the author mistakenly identifies as a "paramilitary group." (p.23). His harrowing adventures in that war prepared him for the next, and an incident on the march to the Battle of Bunker Hill revealed the experienced commander. As Colonel Stark's command, 1st New Hampshire, came under cross fire from naval guns while crossing the Neck between Cambridge and Charlestown, Captain Henry Dearborn suggested they pick up the pace, but Stark would have none of that. "With a look peculiar to himself, he fixed his eyes upon me and observed with great composure - 'Dearborn - one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued men,' and continued to advance in the same cool and collected manner." (Dearborn, Account . . . of Bunker Hill, pp. 6-7) Upon arriving at Breed's Hill, Stark's unerring sense of terrain prevented a Rebel disaster when he deployed part of his regiment to reinforce other militia at the fence line, and the rest beyond the fence along the unguarded beach on the Mystic River. On blood-soaked field and beach, Stark and his men stopped in its tracks the attempt by the light infantry of Royal Welch Fusiliers and King's Own to outflank and roll up the American left. But I must take issue with Mr. Rose's insistence here and elsewhere in his book on arming New England militia with rifles instead of muskets. The rifle was barely known in New England prior to the arrival of rifle-armed frontiersmen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia at Cambridge, Massachusetts, some seven weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill. As Dearborn makes clear, 1st New Hampshire was armed with muskets. (Dearborn, Account, pp. 6, 11)

Following service in northern New York State, Stark's next major action was the Christmas crossing of the Delaware and the attack on the Hessians at Trenton, where he again showed outstanding capacity for command. Aside from family tradition, which Mr. Rose is fond of relying upon, there is no evidence that Stark spoke up at the Christmas Eve council of war to advise Washington how the war should be fought. (p. 95) Nor did he lead "the vanguard" (pp. xii, 107) at Trenton, but when contact was made he wheeled his New Hampshiremen into line and attacked with the bayonet.

Prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill, Stark had quarreled with New Hampshire legislators over command, and after Trenton there followed more difficulty with another legislature, this time Congress, which refused to promote Stark to brigadier general. He resigned his commission and returned to his farm to sulk. Yet when Burgoyne invaded from Canada and it seemed that northern New England was in danger, the fighting farmer again answered the call to duty. But on his own terms. Commissioned by New Hampshire, he refused to take orders from Major General Benjamin Lincoln, who had been sent by Washington to take command of the New England militia and join the American army that was preparing for battle with Burgoyne. Lincoln wisely avoided a confrontation with Stark, whose gross insubordination earned him censure from Congress. By sheer luck, however, Stark stood in the way of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum's march to Bennington. A few miles inside the New York State line Stark scored one of the war's important victories when he destroyed Baum's command and, in concert with Seth Warner of Vermont, inflicted a severe defeat on Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich Breymann's relief column. Yet Stark drew the wrong lesson from...