Ethan Gyles

Ethan Gyles was a general for the Indian Stream Republic, a short-lived independent nation that is now part of northern New Hampshire in the United States. He was born in the small town of Stark, New Hampshire, July 25, 1804. The third son of Hilda and Glen Gyles, an exiled Swedish nun and an Irish brewer, Gyles managed to survive the wave of yellow fever which swept through the small town in 1808. With two of their sons buried in Stark, the Gyles family relocated to the newly-formed settlement of Pittsburg, New Hampshire. In his early years, the young Ethan struggled with frequent asthma attacks. His mother, now rather elderly and suffering from back troubles, educated him at home, where he was an avid reader and delighted himself with old war tales.

After his father was killed in a wagon accident, Gyles ran away from home and his overbearing mother (who died of pneumonia soon after). After joining and soon deserting the United States Army, in 1823 Gyles married his first wife, Maria Staggerri, an Italian milkmaid. During the three years of their marriage (which was rumored to have been forced by her father), the Gyles had no real home of sorts, but drifted from town to town on foot. Maria died in 1826 giving birth to their first child. Gyles left his daughter Maria (who soon died of the mumps) with an apple farmer and fled the state.

Gyles spent several years working in a blacksmith's shop near Concord, Massachusetts as an apprentice until 1832, when his old troubles with asthma arose. He returned to Pittsburg to live in the newly-formed Indian Stream Republic. He helped to form their first militia, and quickly rose through the ranks until January 27, 1834, when he was appointed a General. His days in the Republic, however, were marred by his addictions to gambling, whiskey, and women. His career as a general reached its climax in 1835 when the New Hampshire Militia staged on the border of the small republic. He famously declared to his troops "They can burn our houses, kill our stock, but by God they may not touch our women!". Although this caused a brief period of intense fighting, their troops were quickly outnumbered, and soon surrendered.

Gyles traveled west with his horse and his childhood friend Joeseph Shanois, to Mariposa, California, in hopes of striking it rich. After seven years of failed panning and three short marriages to various miner's daughters, he was eventually run out of town after impregnating his mistress, Patience McBride, the daughter of a saloon owner. He traveled back to the east, but his journey was cut short when he was killed in a gunfight in Chicago on March 20, 1844.

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