The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-09-20
DersonaI Shettbfs.
MAJOR GENERAL STARK.


Major General John Stark was a
man of considerabl note in the Revolu-
tion. Upon authority we learn that be
was born in the town Of Londonderry,
New Hampshire, Aug. 28th, 1928. In
1887 the family removed to Derryfeld,
now Manchester, where he resided till
the close of his life. He served in tho
French war and on hearing of the bat
tie of Lexington, he repaired to Gam
bridge, and, receiving collonel's COM
mission, he enlisted the same day eight
hundred men. He fought in the bait e
of Breeds Hill, was engaged in the at
tack on Trenton, and was in the battle
of Princeton. On the invasion of Bur
goyne, in l777, he received the command
of the New Hampshire Militia to oppose
him and had the honor, by his skill and
intrepidity, of achieving the first step
towards the capture of that General, by
the. defeat Of Col. Baum in the battle of
Bennington. In September. he enlisted
a new and larger force, and joined Gates.
In 177S-9 he served In Rhode Island,
and in 1880 IN New ersey. In 1881
he had the. command of the Northern
department. of Saratoga, At the close
Of the war he bid adieu to public employ
ment. In 1918 Congress voted him a
pension Of sixty dollars month. He
died May 8, 1922, aged 80 years. The
late Justice Woodbury., of the Supreme
Court of the United States in reply to
the toast of" New-Hampshire,n spoke of
this General as follows Stark had
enjoyed mere experience than any other
officer : from New Hampshire, havin g
been engaged n.sthe: previous French
War, and in many Indian encounters
He was looked up to most for advice and
skill, but not for courage above the rest,
where all were brave, aud all true to the
spirit of the times which as tried men s
souls.,'' gf, zf.sg.z .,,s sf,siffs, sei
General Stark had been a hunter
and an Indian fighter; prisoner among
the French at Montreal, and rsIsomed
by New Hampshire's. sending public
agent for that purpose, whose, journal,
many years age, Tread with. great inter
est IN manuscript.s, The glory he after
wards acquired in winning the battle of
Benning gton, justified the high expeeta-
tiions formed about; him at Bunker Hill.
Only "a few years before his death, !. i
Travelled several miles to see, and con-
verse with HIM and know how q hero
looked. Picture to yourself a man under
the middle size, with whiteped locks,
bent shoulders, on the verge of.ninety,
with voice, however, still firm, and
with opinion very decisive and conver-
sation terse, and you can see all that
seas left of onekof the most daring chief
,tains of the day. The. heart and soul,
rather than the statue, constitute the es-
sence of such men. A controversy was
then going on as to who, was leader or
commander in the battle here His
memory was considered by his family as
notz@perfeet, especially about recent
events. But he replied, without hesita-
tion, when. asked that there was no
commander of all the, American troops
on this hard-fought day, and that most
of the officers who conducted men there,
all being moved by one common impulse,
and to one common end, fought the COM
mon enemy as much as they deemed. best,
each acting pretty much on his own hook.
The ashes of the noble venteran now
sleep under2a column of granite, erected
by flial4 gratitude, on his farm, on the
banks of the Merrimack, in sight of the
Falls of. Amoskeag, were he spreared
salmon in his youth, and near the beau
tiful Manaheseok lake or pond, where
he trapped beaver in maturer lifeo