Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/103

 STARK PLACE, DUNBARTON. S3

the first to come into action on the 19th of September. He was wounded in the left arm, October 7th, in a sharp engagement. The wound was not a severe one, and did not prevent him from accompanying his father, after Burgoyne's surrender, on a visit to Gen. Gates's head-quarters, where he was introduced in turn to all the British officers of rank, who were assembled there as the guests of the American general-in-chief of the northern army. Adjutant Stark after- wards said that Burgoyne was, in personal apj)earance, one of the best propor- tioned and handsomest men he had ever seen. The British general was at this time nearly fifty-five years of age. He had considerable skill as a tacticiai;, was personally brave, and his abilities and acquirements were of a high order. He stood six feet in height, and had a lotty carriage. Stark was five feet ■ nine inches, Gates five feet ten. Gen. Arnold was the only American of note whose presence was as majestic as that of the haughty Briton. It may not be gener- ally known that Burgoyne was an author of no little ability. He wrote several plays and poems, which were collected and published in two volumes after his death. His comedy, "The Heiress," is still occasionally performed on the boards. At Saratoga, Burgoyne held a long conversation with Gen. Stark, apart from the other company, on the subject of the French VVar, of which the former then stated that he intended to write a history. But he never wrote it. He regained all his honors after he returned to England, and tlied in London in 1792. He left a natural son who was prominent in English history.*

After the capitulation of Burgoyne, John Stark received from Congress the commission which had long been due him, that of brigadier-general ; Caleb Stark now became his father's aid-de-canip. During the years i 77S, i 779, i 780, and 17S1, Gen. Stark was commander-in-chief of the northern department, and his son remained with him, discharging the duties oi aid-de-camp, brigade ma- jor, and adjutant-general. All the general's official correspondence jxassed through his hands. He served his father at the battle of Springfield, in Rhode Island, in 1780, and several times was sent on important missions to Washing ton. Though only about twenty-two years of age when the war closed, Major Stark had earned the reputation of a brave and accomplished officer. At the conclusion of peace he immediately left the service.

Gen. Stark ever retained his residence at Manchester, but Caleb, owner of vast estates by inheritance in Dunbarton, relics of the Stark and Page patrimo- nies, became a citizen of that town. In 1784, in a very pleasant spot, in the midst of his estate, and facing the broad highway leading from Dunbarton to Weare, he began the erection of a mansion worthy of the style of the great landholder that he was. It was finislied the next year. In 17S7, Major Stark was elected town treasurer of Dunbarton, and the same year he was married. The bride of his choice was Miss Sarah McKinstry, daughter of Dr. William McKinstry, formerly of Taunton, Mass. She was a beautiful, cultivated wom- an, and was twenty years of age when she became the proud and happy mis- tress of Stark Place.

A portrait of the noble lady on the walls of the mansion, shows her to have been of the blonde type of beauty. The splendid coils of her hair are lustrous, like gold. The complexion is very pure and fair, the lips sweet and handsome, and the dark hazel eyes look out from the frame with the charm and dignity of a Saint Cecilia. Her costume is singularly appropriate and becoming. Azure silk, with great puffs of lace around the white arms and queenly throat, is a fitting covering for that lovely form. The waist girdled under the arm pits, and the long wristed mits stamps the date 1815-20.

Peerage he is mentioued as tlie sou of Sir John Burgoyne, of Sutton Park, Bedfordshire.
 * Gen. Bui-Koyne has been coninionly represented as a natural son of Lord Hin;,dey, but in Burke's

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