Molly Stark

Who was Molly Stark?

Molly Stark, née Elizabeth Page, was the wife of American Revolutionary War general John Stark.

She was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, moved with her family to Dunbarton, New Hampshire, around 1755, and was the daughter of the first postmaster of New Hampshire, Caleb Page, and his wife Ruth. She married John Stark on August 20, 1758. Together they had 11 children, including their eldest son Caleb Stark. The Molly Stark house still stands in Dunbarton at Page's Corner.

Stark gained historical notoriety due to her husband's battle call of "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" before engaging with the British and Hessian army in the Battle of Bennington. Stark is also known for her success as a nurse to her husband's troops during a smallpox epidemic and for opening their home as a hospital during the war.

Stark is honored throughout New Hampshire and Vermont with many businesses, streets and schools that bear her name, as well as the Molly Stark State Park in Wilmington, Vermont and a statue of a gun-toting Molly which overlooks the Deerfield River. Also named for her is the Molly Stark Trail, a byway otherwise known as Route 9, which crosses southern Vermont and is thought to be the route used by General Stark on his victory march home from the Battle of Bennington. Molly Stark Mountain is one of the Green Mountain peaks on the Long Trail, just south of Camel's Hump and north of Route 17, and the adjacent peak is Baby Stark. Molly Stark Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, is named for her.