Beschreibung:

STARK, JOHN, 1728-1822, General . Document signed ("John Stark") as Colonel, "Camp on Winter Hill," 18 October 1775. 1 page, an oblong, 160 x 182mm. (6 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.), one word smudged, portion of left margin defective and repaired (catching a few letters). VERY RARE. JOHN STARK, THE HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON, ONE OF THE MOST VIVID MILTARY FIGURES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION A rare example of this legandary soldier's signature, on a military document headed "A Return of Vacancies in Col. Starks Regt." It reads: "In Capt[ain] Reed's Company, [a] Lieutenancy [is] vacant. Ensign James Anderson [is] recommended to said Vacancy and Robert Bartlett for an Ensign, in said Company. Ensignsy vacant in Capt[ain] Shimman's Company [and]...Bradford recommended to said Vacancy. Ensignsy vacant in Capt[ain] Abbott's Company. [Ga]briel Chandler recommended to commission...as Ensign in said Company..." Upon hearing the news of Lexington and Concord, John Stark organized a New Hampshire regiment. In the Battle of Bunker Hill, he and his regiment held the rail fence on the left of the American lines and played a key role in repulsing the first two British assaults. Stark also played an important part in the victories at Trenton and Princeton, but in a dispute over rank, he resigned his commission in March 1777. When General Burgoyne's army began moving south from Quebec along Lake Champlain in July 1777, Vermont appealed to Massachusetts and New Hampshire for assistance. Stark, who insisted his command be independent of Congress, raised and equipped a brigade of 1500 men in only twenty days. On 16 August, Stark met a detachment of Burgoyne's army at Bennington, Vermont and soundly defeated the better-equipped British and hessians, a crucial prelude to Burgoyne's final defeat at Saratoga in October 1777 (see notes to lots & ).