The Green Mountain Boys

by Philip H. Smith

Matters were daily becoming more serious. Civil officers were opposed by the people of the Grants; the latter were in turn indicted for riot, and sheriffs were sent to apprehend the delinquents. These officers were seized and severely chastised with twigs of the wilderness; that is to say, they were bound to trees and treated to an application of beech rods on their bare backs, well laid on. Every day produced new events: the settlers resolved to form themselves into a military association for mutual protection.

Before the close of the year 1770, committees of safety had been organized for purposes of defense against the New York claimants. These committees afterwards met in general convention, when important issues were to be determined. 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 the Hampshire Grants any person, without permission given by the committees, or the military commanders. Surveyors of land under New York were forbidden to run any lines within the Grants; and transgressors in this particular were to be punished according to the judgment of a court formed among the military officers or elders of the people.

“Hugh Monroe, an old offender, was taken, tried, and ordered to be whipped on his naked back. He was tied to a tree, and flogged till he fainted; on recovering he was whipped again till he fainted; he revived and underwent a third lashing till he fainted; his wounds were then dressed, and he was banished the district of the New Hampshire Grants.” These severities proved a salutary lesson, and the Green Mountain Boys became a terror to their adversaries.

The convention next issued a decree forbidding all persons taking out grants, or confirmations of grants, under New York. This had the effect of uniting the settlers very much in the common cause. About the same time the Colonial Assembly of New York authorized the sheriffs to call out a posse comitatus in case of opposition to the execution of their office; and the Governor offered a reward of £150 for Colonel Ethan Allen, and £50 each for Warner and five others therein named, to any person that should take and confine them in any jail in New York. As a measure of retaliation, Allen and the other proscribed persons offered a reward of £5 for the taking of John Taber Kemp, Attorney General of New York, and published the same in the newspapers of the day.

The Supreme Court at Albany, having awarded a judgment on a writ of ejectment against James Breckenridge, of Bennington, the sheriff of Albany County summoned a posse to the number of seven hundred and fifty men to go and assist in serving the same. The officers collected about three hundred, and reaching Breckenridge’s house some hours in advance of the sheriff’s party, stationed their men in ambuscade in readiness to receive them.

An officer and eighteen men were placed inside the house. One hundred and fifty were secreted behind trees, in a wood, near the road by which the sheriff must pass, and where he would naturally halt his men while he went to demand possession of the premises. The other division was stationed behind a ridge of land, in a meadow, within gun-shot of the house, but out of sight of the sheriff’s men. This arrangement of the ambuscade enabled the Green Mountain Boys to have a cross-fire on the Yorkers without endangering themselves; and they were instructed to hold themselves in readiness to commence the attack in case the sheriff forced the door, the signal to be a red flag hoisted above the chimney top.

When the sheriff and his party approached, all was silent; and exultingly they marched directly into the trap without being aware of their critical situation. Mr. Ten Eyck, the sheriff, went to the house and demanded entrance as Sheriff of the County of Albany; and threatened in case of refusal, to force the door. The answer was, “Attempt it, and you are a dead man.” He repeated his demand; and was answered by “hideous groans from within.”

At this juncture, the two divisions exhibited their hats on the points of their guns, which made them appear more numerous than they really were. The sheriff and his men, realizing the danger of their situation, “and not being interested in the dispute,” beat a hasty retreat, without a gun being fired on either side. This affair served not only to cement the union of the people, but also to cause a higher estimate to be placed on them by the neighboring colonies.

On another occasion, an armed party of fifty men proceeded to Arlington, where they took prisoner Captain Remember Baker, one of the seven proscribed persons, severely wounding both him and his wife. Baker was put into a sleigh, and the party set out with all speed for Albany. An express was dispatched to Bennington with tidings of the occurrence. Ten men promptly mounted fleet horses, and after a ride of thirty miles, intercepted the kidnapping party at a crossroad. The ten horsemen impetuously charged upon the fifty Yorkers; and the latter, supposing them to be the advance guard of a larger force, left their prisoner and fled. Captain Baker was nearly exhausted with loss of blood; but he was kindly cared for, his wounds dressed, and he was restored to his wife and children, to their no small joy, and that of his friends.