Philip H. Smith

“ I am as resolutely determined to defend the independence of Vermont, as Congress that of the United States, and rather than fail, will retire with the hardy Green Mountain Boys into the desolate caverns of the mountains, and wage war with the devil, hell, and human [114] nature at large. ”

“ One can but be impressed with the spectacle of a handful of men accomplishing by policy what they could never have done by power—for years keeping at bay an army of British troops 10,000 strong, hovering over and in readiness to swoop down and devastate their exposed and unprotected frontier, at the same time the people were permitted to go on unconcernedly about their harvest.
The claims to independence on the part of Vermont were still unacknowledged by Congress, and New York was still importunate and vexatious. ”

“ Both Allen and Arnold were ambitious for further laurels, and each were anxious to lead an expedition into Canada. Allen wrote to the New York authorities in this strain: “If the Colonies would suddenly push an army of two or three thousand strong into Canada, they might make an easy conquest, except a reinforcement from England should prevent it. Such a diversion would weaken Gage, and insure us Canada. I wish to God America would, at this critical juncture, exert herself agreeably to the indignity offered her by a tyrannical ministry. ”

“ Allen to Bennington, the people met in convention, and passed a resolution to support their rights and property by force, inasmuch as justice was denied them by the intriguing land-jobbers controlling the civil power of New York. This was a bold stroke of one hundred men thus to oppose the most favored and influential colony under the Crown; but the Vermonters rightly conjectured their quarrel was with the governor of New York and a few land speculators only, and not with the body of its inhabitants. ”

“ Those who used to be enemies to our cause come, cap in hand, to me; and I swear by the Lord I can raise three times the number of our army in Canada, provided you continue the siege. The eyes of all America, nay of Europe, are or will be on the economy of this army, and the consequences attending it.”
Colonel Ethan Allen was on his way to St. Johns when he met Major Brown with his detachment. A conversation ensued, during which Brown remarked that the garrison at Montreal did not exceed thirty men, and might easily be surprised. Allen’s nature was instantly aroused. ”

“ This brilliant double victory at Bennington, by relieving New England from apprehensions, and enabling the patriots to concentrate their forces against Burgoyne, resulted in forcing that General to surrender, on the plains of Saratoga, as noble an army as was ever sent to subdue a country. The news spread through America and Europe, sealed the alliance between France and the United States, and so secured their independence. ”

“ If not to be governed at all is to be governed well,—and so it would seem to be in this instance,—the remarkable exemption of the State of Vermont from taxation at the close of the Revolution, as compared with other States, added to the fertility and cheapness of the land, attracted settlers from many of the older communities, resulting in large additions to population and resources. ”

“ The compliment paid to the troops of Vermont by General Burgoyne, was to this effect: “The district of the New Hampshire Grants, a [108] wilderness little known in the last war, now abounds with the most active, rebellious and hardy race of men on the continent, who hang like a gathering storm, ready to burst on my left.” ”

“ At a convenient time Allen observed that Congress was endeavoring to bring Vermont into subjection to New York, but that they, rather than yield, would see Congress subjected to the British government, provided that Vermont could be a distinct colony under the Crown on safe and honorable terms; and that the people were not disposed longer to assist a government which might subject them and their posterity to New York, under which they could never be safe in person or property. ”

“ In April, 1781, Colonel Ira Allen was commissioned to settle a cartel with the British in Canada for the exchange of prisoners, and also to procure an armistice between the British forces and Vermont. This was thought well-nigh impracticable, as the British troops numbered 10,000 effective men, which must remain inactive, not being able to annoy other States without first annoying Vermont, while the latter had only 7,000 men as [117] an offset. But an armistice must be had, or the frontiers evacuated until assistance could come from the States whose influence had rendered Vermont defenseless. ”

“ The British troops were jaded with their long night march, but there was no rest or safety for them short of Boston. On their return march, the adjacent rocks and stone fences formed convenient breastworks, from behind which rustic marksmen sent the deadly bullet full into their ranks. Some were shot down: others dropped from sheer exhaustion; the rest hurried on with no care for their fallen comrades.
Before reaching Lexington, Colonel Smith received a severe wound in the leg. About two o’clock in the afternoon, they were met by a detachment one thousand strong, with two field pieces. ”

“ The people of these Grants, known to the world as the Green Mountain Boys, were worthy the wild and romantic country in which they lived, and the stirring times in which they acted. Vermont was never organized as a separate colony under England, and from the first that plucky little community refused to submit to the domination of the older colonies on her borders. Her people seemed to imbibe a spirit of independence from the free air and the everlasting mountains.
New York claimed a jurisdiction over her soil, and a like demand was put forward by New Hampshire and Massachusetts. ”

“ Accustomed from infancy to danger, dependent upon their own resources, mingling day by day among the sublimest works of Creation, their aspirations acquire a buoyancy, and their spirits an independence, that leaves an impress on their lives amounting to a national characteristic. ”

“ The work proceeded slowly; day was about to break when Allen and Arnold, with only eighty-three men, had crossed. To wait another day would lead to discovery by the garrison. Allen drew up his men and announced to them his purpose. “It is a desperate attempt,” said he, “and I ask no [65] man to go against his will. You who are willing to follow, poise your firelocks.” Not a soldier shrank from his duty.
Guided by a boy, they mounted the hill silently and at a rapid pace. Day was breaking as Allen, with Arnold at his left hand, arrived at a sally port. ”

“ The measure of retaliation was actually meted out to Prescott, of which Washington spoke in his letter to Howe.
The efforts of Washington and Congress to effect the exchange of Ethan Allen, “the brave, but eccentric captor of Ticonderoga,” were meritorious. The daring exploits of that chieftain had cost him a world of trouble. “Thrown into prison as a felon; threatened with a halter; carried to England to be tried for treason; confined in Pendennis Castle; retransported to Halifax; and now a prisoner in New York.” He writes: “I have suffered everything short of death. ”

“ There is no pretension, in the present pages, to giving what will be new to specialists in Vermont history. But to the general reader, and to the student of the philosophy of human events, there is much, we hope, both new and instructive. The firm bearing of the brave and hardy settlers of the Hampshire Grants, and the important part they played in the War of the Revolution, give to the material of this little book somewhat of a national interest. Indeed, but for timely services of the Green Mountain Boys, it is more than possible the cause of America might have been lost. ”

“ Ethan Allen had been passed by, and Seth Warner nominated a Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment. This was a crushing blow to the ambition of Allen. He said in his letters from camp: “I find myself in the favor of the officers of the army, and the younger Green Mountain Boys; but the old farmers on the Hampshire Grants, who do not incline to go to war, and whom I have saved from the encroachments of New York, have met in a committee [76] meeting, and in their nominations have wholly omitted me.” Allen repaired to Ticonderoga, where he was retained to act as pioneer on the Canadian frontier. ”

“ In the history of a country whose growth has been under circumstances like our own, every locality abounds in unrecorded deeds of moral heroism as worthy of notice as are many facts and events which have become fixed in the historic literature current among the masses. ”

“ Early in that year, Vermont, by a vote of her Legislature, adopted the policy of the States of New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, that had been laying claim to the territory of the Grants, and put in her claim of jurisdiction over a large part of each of those States. Thus Vermont was turning the weapons of her antagonists upon themselves. Numbers of representatives from the annexed districts took their seats in the Vermont assembly. At the time of extending her claims, she passed an act of general amnesty ”

“ Some one has truthfully remarked that the character of a people is largely determined by the natural features of the country they inhabit. The peasantry of mountainous Switzerland are proverbial for their bravery and hardihood, their strong and innate love of liberty, and their pure and exalted patriotism. ”

“ A new county was erected there, and a log court house [22] and jail was built in the wilderness, eight miles distant from any settlement. The Governor, by this stratagem, partially brought the eastern counties to coincide with New York, thus placing the western district in the interior of the government. He hoped in that way to compel their submission; forgetting that men, who had braved every danger and hardship attending the settlement of a wild country, would not tamely submit to be dispossessed. The contest now grew warm and serious. ”

“ The early colonists of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in their frequent expeditions against the French in Canada, and while traversing these woods as hunters and scouting parties, had become familiar with the fertility of the lands between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain. As soon as the danger attending their settlement was in a measure removed, by reason of Canada and New England coming under [14] the same King, swarms of emigrants from the adjacent colonies poured into the country, and the most available and valuable portions were immediately taken up ”

“ Ethan Allen was commissioned Colonel Commandant, and Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cockran, Gideon Warren and others, were appointed captains.
The Governor of New York had threatened to drive the Vermonters into the Green Mountains, which occasioned their taking the name of “Green Mountain Boys.” The committees of safety passed a resolution in general council, in 1771, that no officer from New York be allowed to carry out of [26] the Hampshire Grants any person, without permission given by the committees, or the military commanders. ”

“ The capture of those frontier posts impressed the American people with a sense of their ability to cope with the disciplined soldiers of England, and helped some to decide for independence who had trembled in the balance, and at the same time contributed to render preparations for defense more prompt and effectual. ”

“ The British were of opinion that the people of the Grants were opposed to the Revolution, and would join the standard of England the moment a force was marched into the territory. This belief was founded on the dissensions with New York, the unsatisfactory resolutions of Congress, and the charges of outlawry brought against the people of the Grants by their neighbors. ”

“ Baum set out from camp at break of day on the 13th of August, 1777. The state of the roads, the excessive heat, and want of horses and wagons, all contributed to render the progress slow and tedious. A few horses were brought in, and some wagons captured; but the inhabitants managed to remove most of their effects in time. The Indians killed or drove off all that came into their hands, unless they were paid in cash for their prizes.
Baum found the people of Bennington ready to give him a reception. The veteran Stark was there, with eight hundred New Hampshire militia ”

“ The main army remained in camp at the Batten Kiln, but Burgoyne forded that stream and pushed forward until he met Breyman and his troops, haggard and fatigued from hard fighting and incessant marching in the hot weather. Four brass field pieces, nine hundred dragoon swords, one thousand stand of arms, and four ammunition wagons were the fruits of the victory. Thirty-two [107] officers and four hundred and sixty-four privates were taken prisoners. The Americans lost one hundred in killed and wounded. The British killed could not be ascertained, as many had fallen in the woods. ”

“ The course of each led through the wilderness toward a central point near Bennington; and, before long, a motley array of mountaineers, in rough garb but of tried strength and valor, were gathered as though for some military exploit. Colonel Ethan Allen was placed at the head of the expedition,—James Eaton and Seth Warner being second and third in command: the troops arrived at Shoreham, opposite Fort Ticonderoga, on the night of the 7th of May. ”

“ Even were such deeds to find a place in local history, they will necessarily be circumscribed in their influence, and at best be so hidden among commonplace matter as almost to escape notice; while to attempt giving them the attention they deserve in a general history would be futile. ”

“ In the next chapter we will relate how this timely service of the Green Mountain Boys was requited by Congress. It is not within the range of human wisdom to say what would have been the effect on the American cause, had the demand of New York been complied with, and Stark and Warner been stripped of their commissions [109] before the battle of Bennington. The enemy would have been left to devastate the country at their pleasure, and by diverting the patriot stores in and around Bennington to the use of Burgoyne’s army, thereby rendered his position well-nigh impregnable. ”

“ One of the lessons herein taught is that positions of honor and trust are not always proof against cupidity and corruption; or, to speak more plainly, under color of law men have been known to perform the most lawless acts. The story of the Vermont troubles has one rare quality—the poor hard-working settlers were ultimately successful ”