Vermont: A Study of Independence

by Rowland Evans Robinson

As all the Continental troops were withdrawn from Vermont, and as the State was unable of itself to maintain a force sufficient to guard its extended frontier, the frontier line was established at Pittsford, and Castleton, where Forts Warren and Vengeance were held by small garrisons. Fort Ranger at Rutland was more strongly garrisoned, and made the headquarters of the state forces, and the inhabitants to the northward on Otter Creek were directed to come within this frontier line. When a captain of militia was called upon to furnish a certain number of men for guarding the frontier or for other duty, it was provided by law that he should divide his company into as many classes as there were men required. Each class was obliged to furnish one man; and if it failed to do so, the captain was empowered to hire one, and each member of the class was obliged to bear his proportion of the expense. This method met with general approval, but in the southeast part of the State there were many malcontents, always unfriendly to the government of Vermont. They were in constant correspondence with Governor Clinton, who urged them to maintain a "firm and prudent resistance to the draughting of men, the raising of taxes, and the exercise of any acts of government under the ideal Vermont State." He issued commissions for the formation of a regiment, in which about 500 men were enlisted.

In response to a request from General James Clinton, commanding the Northern Department, the Board of War[82] ordered a levy of men "for service of the State and the United States in guarding the frontier." Writing to General Washington concerning this levy, Governor Chittenden calls his attention to the destitute condition of the families of the soldiers. In consequence of the late encroachments of the enemy, they had been unable to harvest the crops already grown, or to sow the "Winter Grain on which they have ever had their Greatest dependence since the first settlement of this part of the Country. They are therefore principally reduced to an Indian Cake in Scant proportion to the number of their Families, & by the destruction of their Sheep by the Enemy, their loss of them otherwise as well as their flax, their backs & their bellies have become Co-Sufferers. In this deplorable situation," he continues, "they remain firm and unshaken, and ready on the Shortest Notice to face their inveterate foe Undaunted;" but considering their circumstances, he hopes they may not be kept in service during the summer.

In compliance with the order of the Board of War, the captain of a company in Putney divided his men into classes, in one of which was comprised Captain James Clay and two others, all known to be active partisans of New York. They refused to furnish their man, or the sum required to pay the man obtained to represent them. Upon this the sergeant of the company, having the proper warrant, seized two cows belonging to these persons, and posted them for sale. On the day of sale, a hundred of the adherents of New York, under the lead of their colonel, rescued the cattle, and returned them to their owners. The colonel soon learned that news of the affair had gone to the council at Arlington, and apprehended that Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys might be sent to enforce the authority of the State, and he wrote to Governor Clinton for advice and aid. The governor gave the one, and made promises of the other, but never fulfilled them. Indeed, it would have been very difficult to raise a military force for that purpose among the inhabitants of the New York border, who were more in sympathy with the people of Vermont than with their own aristocratic government. The men who refused to submit to the rule of Vermont had not been called on by New York to render any military service, nor to pay for any. If they were exempted from service under Vermont, they would contribute nothing to the common cause, and their exemption would encourage all who wished to escape these burdens to join the opponents of Vermont, thus weakening it and the whole country. Vermont acted promptly in the matter. Ethan Allen was ordered to raise 100 men in Bennington County, and march to the county of Cumberland, there to join his force with the militia of that county under Colonel Fletcher, and assist the sheriff in enforcing the law. The order was duly executed. Most of the leaders of the opposition to Vermont in the county, and the principal officers of the New York regiment, were arrested, taken to Westminster, where the court was in session, and tried as rioters. Most of them were fined, and upon payment of the fines, which were light, and satisfying the costs, were soon discharged.

Complaint was, of course, made to Governor Clinton, and he in turned complained to Congress; and while New York was pressing upon that body its grievances, and its claims to the Grants, New Hampshire presented a counter-claim to the same region. Congress appointed a committee of five to visit the district, to confer with the people and learn their reasons for refusing to submit to the claiming States, and to promote an amicable adjustment of the dispute. Only two of the committee visited Vermont, and though they conferred with Governor Chittenden, and exerted themselves to bring about a reconciliation, their report to Congress was not acted upon, as they did not constitute a quorum of the committee.

Massachusetts now set up a claim to the southern portion of Vermont, founded on an ancient grant of the Plymouth Company. Congress urged the three contesting States to submit the matter to itself for adjustment, though Vermont, whose very life was at stake, was to have a hearing, but no voice in the settlement of the difficulty. Its unacknowledged government was enjoined to make no more grants of unoccupied lands, and to exercise no authority over those inhabitants who did not recognize it, while it patiently and silently awaited such dismemberment of its territory as Congress should decree. New Hampshire and New York promptly passed acts submitting the matter to Congress, but Massachusetts failed to take such action.

Vermont refused to submit to the jurisdiction of the three claiming States, and to an arbitrament that ignored her existence, but resolved to "Support their right to independence at Congress and to all the world," and to make grants of her unappropriated lands.

By direction of the governor and council, two pamphlets, strongly setting forth the right of Vermont to independence, were prepared and sent to leading men of the country, to generals of the army, and members of Congress. One was Ethan Allen's "Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New York, and their right to Form an Independent State." The other was "Vermont's Appeal to the Candid and Impartial World," by Stephen R. Bradley, in which it is vigorously stated that Vermont could not submit to a plan believed to be started by neighboring States; that Congress had no right to meddle with the internal government of Vermont; that the State existed independent of any of the thirteen United States, and was not accountable to them for liberty, the gift of God; that it was not represented in Congress, and could not submit to resolutions passed without its consent or knowledge when all of value to it was at stake; that it was and ever had been ready to share the burdens of the war, but after four years of war with Great Britain, in which it had expended so much blood and treasure, "it was not so lost to all sense and honor as to now give up everything worth fighting for, the right of making their own laws and choosing their own form of government, to the arbitrament and determination of any man or body of men under heaven."

Ira Allen was sent to the legislatures of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland to interest them in favor of Vermont.

Though Congress in September, 1779, had resolved to hear and determine the dispute in the following February, when the time arrived this business was postponed, and so on various pretexts it was for a long time deferred. In fact, Congress did not dare to take a decided step concerning it in any direction, fearing that by the one it might incur the enmity of the claiming States, that by the other it might force the warlike Green Mountain Boys into armed opposition to its authority. To lose the support of the first, or to be obliged to spend the strength that could ill be spared to subdue the latter, would alike be ruinous to the common cause.

There is reason to believe that about this time a plot was brewing by New York and New Hampshire to divide the bone of contention when Congress should decide in favor of the first, as was confidently expected it would. The line of the Green Mountains was to be the boundary between these States; but the plan fell through in the New York Assembly, where Mr. Townshend opposed it in behalf of those adherents of New York living east of the proposed line, who would thereby be placed beyond the limits of their chosen government.