Major General John Stark, of Derryfield, New Hampshire, developed something of a fan base, back in 1777, after successfully leading a force of untrained farmers in the ‘Battle of Bennington’ against highly trained British and German soldiers, and utterly defeating the European regulars.
From historian Mark M. Boatner:
As a commander of New England militia, Stark had one rare and priceless quality: he knew the limitations of his men. They were innocent of military training, undisciplined, and unenthusiastic about getting shot. With these men, he killed over 200 of Europe’s vaunted regulars with a loss of 14 Americans killed.
At the start of the battle, he encouraged his men with some fearless words.
He may have said:
There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!
Or alternatively, he may have said:
We’ll beat them before night, or Molly Stark’s a widow.
In either case, the idea that Molly Stark might end up a widow, was part of the message.
She did not, in fact, sleep a widow that night. The American patriots were victorious at Bennington, and John Stark lived to witness the success of the American Revolution, the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, the election of George Washington, the admission of New Hampshire into the Union, the Louisiana Purchase, the Supreme Court decision in Marbury v. Madison, the invention of the steamboat, the American victory in the War of 1812, and the founding of Harvard Law School. Among other incidents and accidents.
In fact, he outlived his wife Molly by eight years, thus saving her from the stress of ever sleeping a widow.
I’m thinking about John Stark this morning, because yesterday, someone mentioned the phrase “Live Free or Die!” which happens to be the official motto of the State of New Hampshire. It’s embossed on the New Hampshire Quarter, released on August 7, 2000.
The coin also includes an image of ‘The Old Man of the Mountain’ — a peculiar rock formation which happens to be one of the few tourist attractions in New Hampshire.
But in this instance, the ‘Old Man’ also provides a curious contrast to the face portrayed on the other side of the same coin.
Be that as it may, we’re talking about the official motto, “Live Free or Die!” The phrase became New Hampshire’s state motto in 1945, adapted from a ‘toast’ written by General John Stark, New Hampshire’s most famous military leader. Poor health forced the General to decline an invitation to a 1809 anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington, but he sent his toast by letter:
Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.
Easy for him to say. He was still alive.
It’s not clear whether the idea encapsulated in this toast was original to General Stark.
Following the success of the Americans in the Revolutionary War, the French — who had greatly assisted the American patriots, both financially and militarily — undertook their own revolution, which lasted from 1789 until 1799 and turned out rather badly, by most accounts. But my point is, that the French rallying cry was ‘Vivre Libre ou Mourir’ which translates as ‘Live Free or Die’.
The French were not the first to embrace this concept.
During the Siege of Barcelona (1713 – 1714) the defenders used black flags with the motto “Live free or die”; in Catalan “Viurem lliures o morirem”.
Freedom, of course, comes in various shades.
In 1970, the New Hampshire state legislature mandated that the phrase “LIVE FREE OR DIE” appear on all non-commercial license plates, replacing the word “Scenic”. Apparently, the legislators no longer believed New Hampshire to be scenic.
This legislation was somewhat inopportune, because the Vietnam War was still in progress, and some folks objected to the government forcing them to ‘endorse’ a message that involved dying for political reasons.
As the War wound down, the issue faded somewhat, but erupted again in 1974 when New Hampshire resident George Maynard covered up “OR DIE” on his license plate. Most accounts note that George and his wife Maxine were Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian sect that doesn’t celebrate Christmas for whatever reason. But the same reason might explain their dislike of the ‘LIVE FREE OR DIE!’ motto.
A New Hampshire statute made it a misdemeanor “knowingly [to obscure] … the figures or letters on any number plate.” The term “letters” in this section had been interpreted by the New Hampshire Supreme Court to include the State motto.
George Maynard and his wife Maxine viewed the motto as repugnant, and for this reason, they covered up the motto on the license plates of their jointly owned family automobiles. On November 27, 1974, Maynard was issued a citation for violating state law. He appeared in court and was found guilty and fined $25, with the fine suspended during “good behavior”.
His behavior was not “good”.
He was cited again in December, and once more in January, and spent 15 days in jail.
In March, he and his wife sued in U.S. District Court, claiming a violation of their constitutional right to freedom of speech — which of course includes freedom from being compelled to endorse dying for political purposes. Following a hearing on the merits, the federal court entered an order enjoining the State of New Hampshire “from arresting and prosecuting [the Maynards] at any time in the future for covering over that portion of their license plates that contains the motto ‘Live Free or Die'”.
The Governor of New Hampshire chose to appeal to the United States Supreme Court, and it accepted the case.
In a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court held that New Hampshire could not constitutionally require citizens to display the state motto upon their vehicle license plates. Chief Justice Burger, writing for the Court, found that the statute in question effectively required individuals to “use their private property as a ‘mobile billboard’ for the State’s ideological message”.
The moral being: You don’t always have to die to retain your rights. But you better have a good lawyer.
Like I said, freedom comes in various shades. I suspect General Stark would agree. But we can’t know for sure.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.