Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/686

652 of Ohio tendered the home-truards of the state to the country for a hundred days. Starbuck left his business and went into the field.

STARIX, John Henry, steamboat-proprietor, b. in Sammonsville, Fulton co.. X. V.. 27 Aug., 1827. He received a good education, intending t<> study a liberal profession, but began business as a .hn-u'ist in Fultonville, N. Y., in 1845. He was postmaster of the place under President Folk's administration. Afterward he began to hire canal- boats to carry freight in the waters about New Yi'i-k city. Succeeding in this enterprise, he was soon able to buy boats, and he next invested in steamboats. Having purchased for his summer residence a group of islands in Long Island sound, nearly opposite New Rochelle. he opened a sum- mer resort for excursionists there, and it has be- come very popular. He founded the Starin city, river, and harbor transportation company, of which he is the president. In 1877 he was elected to con- gress, and served one term.

STARK, Andrew, clergyman, b. in the county of Stirling, Scotland, in 1790: d. in Denny-loan- head, Scotland. 18 Sept., 1849. He was graduated at the University of Glasgow in 1811, studied the- ology at the University of Edinburgh, taught in London, and was licensed to preach in 1817 by the Associate presbytery of Edinburgh. He was pastor of the congregation of South Shields in 1818-'19, and in 1820 came to New York, where in 1822 he was installed pastor of the Grand street associate church. In 1849, owing to impaired health, he visited Scotland, where he died. His remains were brought to this country. The University of Lon- don gave him the degree of LL. D. about 1844. He published several sermons, and wrote a "His- tory of the Secession " in a series of papers printed in the "Religious Monitor," and afterward in the 'Associate Presbyterian Magazine," to which he was a frequent contributor.

STARK, Benjamin, senator, b. in New Orleans, 2li .Inne. 1820; d. in New London, Conn., 10 Nov., IS'.is. He was educated at an academy, entered a counting-house in New York, and became a mer- chant. In 1845 he removed to Oregon, and en- gaged in trade with the Sandwich islands, but studied law in 1850, was admitted to the bar of Oregon, and began practice in Portland, of which city he was a founder. He was a member in 185:> of "the territorial house of representatives, and in 1860 of the state house of representatives, and was appointed a U. S. senator from Oregon as a Demo- crat, in place of Edward D. Baker, serving from Feb., till 1 Dec., 1862. He was a delegate from Oregon to the National Democratic convention at Chicago in 1864, and from Connecticut to the one in New York in 1868. . Since 1867 he had been a member of the board of education of New London, Ci.nn.. a director of the New London Northern railroad company, and since 1871 a deputy to the "iiv.-ntions of the Protestant Episcopal church.

STARK, John, soldier, b. in Londonderry, N. H., 28 Aug., 1728; d. in Manchester, N. H., 8 May, 1822. His father emigrated from the north of Ire- land and settled on the extreme frontier of New Hampshire in near neighborhood to the Indians, owned extensive tracts of land about Amoskeag falls, and was an original proprietor of Dunbarton (then called Starkstown). Here the son grew up with few advantages of book education, but with abundant training in hunting and all athletic em- ployments. He made frequent hunting-excursions into the forest, and on one of these occasions, in 1752, was taken prisoner by the savages, and re- tained in captivity till he T, f as ransomed by the colony of Massachusetts. The bold and defiant bra ring of Stark excited the admiration of his savau'r raptors, and after the initiatory ceremony of running the gantlet, in which he took the un- expected part of using his club on the Indians, he was released from the drudgery usu- ally imposed on captives, and was called by them the young chief." The knowledge he thus gained of for- est life and of the topography of the border was of great service in subse- quent conflicts with the Indians. In 1755 he was ap- pointed a lieuten- ant in Maj. Robert Rogers's famous corps of rangers, and served with it, soon rising to the rank of captain, through all the campaigns around Lake George and Lake Champlain, where traditions still exist of his sagacity and bravery. At the close of the war he retired from the army and engaged in farming at Derryfield (now Manchester, N. H.), and so continued till tidings reached him of the battle of Lexington. Promptly he then mounted his horse, and, at the head of several hundred of his neighbors, set out to join the army at Cambridge. Being there appointed colonel, 'he in one day organized a regiment of eight hundred hardy backwoodsmen. On 17 June, 1775, he was stationed about three miles north of Boston, in a position from which he had a full view of Bunker's and Breed's hills. Seeing that a battle was inevitable, he waited for no orders, but set out at once for the ground, which he reached just before the conflict began. He led his men into the fight, saying: "Boys, aim at their waistbands " an order" that has become historical. His ammunition giving out, he was forced to retreat, which he did with much deliberation, leading his men under a hot fire, but in good order, across Charlestown neck to Merlin hill. After the evacuation of Boston he marched with his regiment to New York. He was subsequently ordered to Canada, and then rejoining Washington, was with him at Trenton and Princeton. Having been slighted, as he thought, in the promotions, he resigned his commission and retired to his farm. When information arrived that Gen. Arthur St. Clair had retreated and Ticonderoga had been taken. New Hampshire flew to arms, and called for Stark to command her troops. He consented on condition that he should not be subject to any orders but his own ; and to this the council of state agreed, because the men would not march without him. Setting out with a small force for Bennington, he there learned that Burgoyne had despatched Col. Frederick Baum with 500 men to seize the -torrcollected at that place. Sending out express to call in the militia of the neighborhood. Stark marched out to meet him, hearing of which. Baura intrenched himself in a strong position about six miles from Bennington, and sent to Burgoyne for re-enforcements. Before they could arrive. Stark attacked him mi Hi Aug.. 1777. Tradition says that he called to his men as he led them to the assault : "There they are, boys. We beat them to-