Posted on 05/10/2007 7:13:23 PM PDT by Pharmboy
CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawmakers approved a state song Thursday based on the New Hampshire motto: "Live free or die."
The song "Live Free or Die" was written in 2005 by Barry Palmer. It tells the story of Revolutionary War hero Gen. John Stark, who wrote the phrase in a letter.
"It's the first time someone put it to music," Sen. Robert Letourneau said. "That's why it's great. It's the state motto."
Stark wrote the line when he declined an invitation to an anniversary reunion for the Battle of Bennington because of poor health in 1809. He sent along his toast for the reunion -- "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils."
John Stark was a fierce fighter and a great Patriot.
I believe they are one of the states bucking REAL ID as well - Montana was the first, but NH is working on it.
The Washington Family Coat of Arms
(the original family name was D'Wessington. This is where the logo on the Washington, DC license plate comes from)
RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list (FreepMail me if you want to be placed on or taken off the list)
Awesome.
what a great slogan:
Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.
I wish more of our politicians believed that...
While Vermont adopts, “Roll over and Die”.
Ironic that that motto on their license plates are embossed by a machine in their state pen .......
By the end of July 1777, General John Burgoyne's invasion of New York had progressed as far south as Fort Edward (immediately east of Glens Falls). The plan was to capture Albany and join with other British forces advancing from New York City and the Mohawk Valley. New York would again be under British control and the rebellious colonies would be divided.
However, Burgoyne's supply lines from Canada were growing longer and less secure. His German mercenaries, mostly Brunswickers (the Americans tended to call all such mercenaries "Hessians") had no cavalry horses and his army was short of beef, wagons, and draft animals. With little regard for the rebels' military skills, he proposed that Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum lead an expedition into Vermont and New Hampshire to forage for supplies. Hearing that the American storehouses at Bennington, Vermont were poorly defended, Burgoyne ordered instead that Baum capture them. Half of Baum's troops were Brunswickers; the remainder were Canadians, British sharpshooters, Tories and Indians.
The monument in Bennington, with Seth Warner on guard in front, stands on the site of the armory Baum had been sent to capture.
The intelligence Burgoyne had received was inaccurate. Vermont's Council of Safety, aware of his approach, had sent out a call for help. New Hampshire had responded by sending 1500 troops under John Stark. Stark's men and a smaller force of Vermont militia under Seth Warner were near Bennington as Baum's expedition was preparing to attack.
Baum set out on the forty-mile trek to Bennington on August 11, but the unmounted cavalrymen in their cumbersome uniforms (plus Baum's strict adherence to European military formalities) slowed the march. One of his officers later wrote that "one prodigious forest, bottomed in swamps and morasses, covered the whole face of the country."
The raiders met and drove off a rebel scouting party at Sancoicks Mills on August 14. After dispatching a request for reinforcements, Baum advanced four miles to a hill overlooking the Walloomsac River. Only five miles from Bennington, Baum's men entrenched on and around this hill, awaiting further American resistance.
After a day of rain, Stark decided on August 16 to send two columns of his troops against Baum's flanks and rear while the remainder assaulted the front. The attack began at 3:00 pm. Many Indians, Canadians and Tories fled or surrendered after the first musket volleys, but the unmounted cavalrymen held position, fighting off the attackers with sabres. Baum himself died in the battle, which Stark would later describe as "one continuous clap of thunder," which lasted two hours before the hill was finally taken.
Stark's men had barely cheered the victory when news arrived that Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann was approaching with the requested reinforcements. Fortunately, Warner's Vermont militia arrived in time to meet this advance. The Vermonters pushed back the Brunswickers and pursued them until sundown. "But had daylight lasted one hour longer," Stark reported later, "we should have taken the whole body of them."
Burgoyne and Baum had severely underestimated the strength of their enemy. Baum and over two hundred of his men were dead, and most of the remainder (some 700) were taken prisoner. By contrast, only 40 Americans had been killed, 30 wounded. Burgoyne had failed to obtain his needed supplies. His army was thus weaker against the Continental forces at Saratoga and after two unsuccessful battles, the British General surrendered on October 17, 1777.
Vermont could thus be the only State in the Union which, in its one and only official state holiday (government offices are closed and metered parking is free) commemorates an event which did not even take place within the state's boundaries. Bennington Battle Day is observed each August 16.
Present-day Charlestown, New Hampshire was once known simply as Village Number 4. The restored "Fort at No. 4" at Charlestown is the fort from which Stark and his troops departed for Bennington.
From here
As long as one doesn't have to die to live free. ; )
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seven
AN ACT adding the song “Live Free or Die” as an official state song.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; State Song Added. Amend RSA 3:7 by inserting after paragraph IX the following new paragraph:
X. “Live Fee or Die” with words and music by Barry Palmer.
2 “Live Free or Die;” Lyrics. The words to “Live Free or Die” by Barry Palmer are:
The old General answered the invitation/ From soldiers under his command./ I can’t make the reunion boys,/ I hope you’ll understand// I’m now into my 80s/ The ride is too much for me,/ But I’ll be there in spirit boys/ You know I’ll always be.// You fought with courage and valor/ As Americans always do,/ Though I’m not there,/ I’d like to share These few words with you// Live free or die, live free or die/ Fight the fight with every breath/ There are things worse than death/ Live free or die// The Revolution was finally over/ Many had passed away,/ But the note he sent his soldiers/ Still lives on today.// Live free or die, live free or die/ Fight the fight with every breath/ There are things worse than death/ Live free or die/ Live free or die.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
As a granite stater, i have to say NH is anything but its slogan. We like to sound tough, but Vermont, Maine, and MA have corrupted our politics. The slogan is a joke, and now too is the State. time for me to move...
Wow,, how is this possible?! I would think the only kind of songs that could become state songs in todays world would have titles like “Diversity is Beautiful” “We Need to Hold Hands to Free the Poor” “Our State is a Rainbow State” and “There is No god Like Ourselves”
I have dear friends in Laconia and Nashua (and the Nashua people are NOT recent MA immigrants). They say similar things, but this was, at least, a move in the right direction.
It used to be that NH was an exception to the rest of New England. My cousin that lives there used to say that New Hampshire is a lot like Mississippi only with a lot of cold weather.
*John Stark was a fierce fighter and a great Patriot.*
Very much agree.
some of my 5th & 6th great grandfathers served under him
in the Rev. War.
Why are they approving it since it has been this states motto since 1775?
It’s certainly much better than the slogan of the state to the south — “Live in Socialist Bondage and Pay Exorbitant Taxes”
LOL! So true. :-D
Another great post!
This is a SONG using it as a title, and it was only written the last few years.
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