He declared that he alone was responsible for the foray, and doubtless his statement was a true one, though Allen did not believe it.
The district court condemned Edwards to death by hanging, for his act was one of high treason, and the sentence was sure to be confirmed by the king, to whom it had to be sent.
When Gov. Tryon heard of the fight and the capture of Edwards, and his subsequent trial and sentence, he resolved on two things. He would bring all the pressure to bear on the king that he could to prevent the sentence being confirmed, and he would capture Allen and his friends, no matter what the consequences might be.
A proclamation was printed and sent through all the grants, in which the governor of New York offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the capture of Ethan Allen, dead or alive, and a further sum of fifty pounds each for the bodies, dead or alive, of Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Sylvanus Brown, Robert Cochrane, Peleg Sunderland, James Breakenridge and John Smith.
When the proclamation had been well discussed the people got another sensation in a counter proclamation, signed by Ethan Allen on behalf of the mountaineers, offering two hundred pounds for the capture of the attorney-general of New York.
Both proclamations started out with a command to the parties named to surrender themselves within thirty days under pain of the forfeiture of all their property, of conviction of felony and sentence of death without benefit of clergy.
These proclamations placed the two sections on a war footing, and Ethan saw that it was necessary to organize on a larger scale than had been done.
He consulted his trusty friend, Seth Warner, and as a result a convention was called at Bennington.
"It is no use calling on New Hampshire to aid us. We must rely on ourselves," Allen told all with whom he came in contact.
A larger number gathered at the convention than he expected, and his heart was full of joy.