BRJSummer25WebReduced - Flipbook - Page 39
Five years of unrestrained lordly pursuits were wreaking havoc on Stirling9s finances
by the time he was awarded his gold medal in 1767. When the Somerset County Sheriff
came for his house and assets two years later, he somehow managed to elude the auction
gavel and made a desperate attempt to sell off some of his land in a botched lottery that
left him even further in debt. For the rest of his life, he slashed and parried at a pack of
hounding creditors, and when a gang of ironworkers were sent by their boss to seize his
property, Stirling faced them down single-handedly with a pistol and a horsewhip. His
heroic status and rank during the war provided him temporary respite from his debt collectors, but a fatal combination of extravagance, failed investments, and bad luck had left
Stirling in ruin.
Battle-worn from hard campaigning and debilitated by gout and rheumatism that many
chroniclers blamed on his heavy drinking, Stirling refused to surrender to pessimism or
his rapidly failing health. He stayed in the field as commander of the army9s Northern
Department and fought on with his tenacious, good humor and what little sinew he had
left. When he died in Albany, New York on January 15, 1783, Stirling
