Narrative
State Motto. The words "Live Free or Die," written by General John Stark, July 31, 1809, shall be the official motto of the state.
It was the 1945 Legislature that gave New Hampshire its official motto and emblem, as World War II approached a successful end.
The motto became "Live Free Or Die," as once voiced by General John Stark, the state's most distinguished hero of the Revolutionary War, and t he world famous Old Man of the Mountain was voted the official state emblem.
The motto was part of a volunteer toast which General Stark sent to his wartime comrades, in which he declined an invitation to head up a 32nd anniversary reunion of the 1777 Battle of Bennington in Vermont, because of poor health. The toast said in full: "Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst of Evils." The following year, a similar invitation (also declined) said: "The toast, sir, which you sent us in 1809 will continue to vibrate with unceasing pleasure in our ears," Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst Of Evils."
Born in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Although he was a farmer like his father, it has often been said that his career was unequaled in American military history.
He saw service with Rogers' Rangers in the last of the French and Indian Wars; as a colonel led a force of largely untrained men at Bunker Hill and further distinguished himself at Trenton and Princeton.
He had resigned his commission in protest of the Continental Congress promoting men of less experience over him and had returned to his farm in New Hampshire when Vermont, unable to get help from the same Congress, sounded the alarm over Burgoyne's march down the Hudson valley. He gathered what troops he could, joining up with Seth Warner and the Vermont Militia just before the Hessians and British moved into the Bennington area.
Stark is reputed to have encouraged his men by saying of the British just before the Battle of Bennington, "There are the Red Coats, and they are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow", an indication of his willingness to fight to the death.
It was raining when Thomas Allen ("The Fighting Parson" from Berkshire, Massachusetts) and his men arrived at General Stark's campground before the fight at Bennington, and the General proposed they wait for the rain to stop before they engaged the British. The Reverend Allen protested the delay, saying that he and his men had been called out many times but had never been allowed to fight the British. General Stark is quoted as saying "If the Lord should once more give us sunshine and I do not give you enough fighting, I will never ask you to come out again." The sun did break through and the British were soundly beaten by the assembled farmers from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
A tardily grateful Continental Congress raised Stark's rank to Brigadier General two months after Bennington. He retired in 1783 with the rank of Major General. Thirty-two years after the battle, he was asked to speak at an anniversary celebration and was unable to attend, so he wrote this sentiment to be read: "Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils." The first four words of his message were later adopted as New Hampshire's official motto.
He was a member of the court martial which condemned John André (the British soldier who negotiated with Benedict Arnold the betrayal of West Point).
NEW HAMPSHIRE'S most famous soldier, Gen. John Stark, the hero of Bunker Hill and Bennington, was the right man in the right place at the right time. His early training with his father in heavy farm work and lumbering operations, his later practice in hunting and trapping, his capture by the Indians and his study of their language and customs, all led to his success as a member of Rogers' Rangers in the French and Indian Wars. This in turn fostered the soldierly quality of leadership that he showed so strongly in the Revolution. He developed an ability to foresee what the enemy would do and to forestall him, thus gaining distinction among Revolutionary officers. Stark's life encompassed the whole revolutionary period, and he was i nstrumental in the cataclysmic events that produced a free and independent nation.
Joh n Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, August 28, 1728. When he was eight years old he moved with his family to Derryfield (Manchester), his home for the remainder of his long life.
