Few men contributed as much to the American victory in the Revolutionary War but have been as little recognized as a New Hampshire farmer and lumberman by the name of John Stark. But although his life is not well known, a few words he wrote live on: Live Free or Die. He served as a captain of rangers with Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War and fought in many of the legendary battles along Lake George and Lake Champlain, including the Battle of Ticonderoga and the First Battle on Snowshoes. Stark's ranger experience taught him tactics he would use effectively in the Revolution as he rose through the ranks to brigadier general, fighting at Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton, Springfield, Bennington, and Saratoga (Stark's Knob). He crossed the Delaware with Washington, covered the retreat of the army from Canada, defended Fort Ticonderoga, and sat on the Board of General Officers that convicted Major John André, Benedict Arnold's British contact. But his greatest achievement was at Hoosick, N.Y., in what became known as the Battle of Bennington. At Bennington John Stark commanded a force of militia and Green Mountain Boys, everyday men from Vermont and New Hampshire facing professional European soldiers. In a daring and complicated attack, Stark routed an entrenched enemy and almost entirely destroyed it. It was the beginning of the end of the British invasion from Canada, until then a juggernaut that could not be stopped.