Posted on 10/19/2002 6:46:40 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
Fredericksburg, Virginia. Vicksburg, Mississippi. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Atlanta, Georgia. All of these were the sites of some of the bloodiest and most important fighting the Civil War had seen. If you know any Civil War buffs, they have no problem spouting off the names of dozens of battles of this war, most of which were fought on Southern soil. And the only military actions in the North that are ever mentioned are Antietam, Gettysburg, and the raid and burning of Chambersburg, Pa. I bet you didn’t know there was a small battle fought in, of all places, Vermont.
Following the loss of Atlanta to Sherman’s Union troops in 1864, Confederate morale was dropping, rations were low, and times were becoming more and more desperate. It seemed as though there was no hope left for the Confederacy. There were, however, some men who did not give up on their cause. In fact, there were a few who were ready to exact revenge for the loss of Atlanta; revenge in the form of capturing a Northern town in Atlanta’s place. That town was to be St. Albans, Vermont.
St. Albans, a quiet little town about 15 miles from Canada, welcomed three young men on Oct. 10, 1864. Claiming to be sportsman from Canada, they checked into a hotel, with the leader signing in as Bennett Young (Davis, 380). Over the course of a week or so, about 20 men arrived in groups of two or three. All were friendly, and no one in St. Albans suspected a thing.
One day while Young was conversing with a young lady that he met, he and his followers "threw off their overcoats to reveal Confederate uniforms" (Davis, 380). As Kenneth Davis puts it in his book Don’t Know Much About The Civil War, "the whole event seemed to take on an almost comic air as Young melodramatically announced, ‘This city is now in the possession of the Confederate States of America’" (Davis, 380). After robbing several banks in the town and stealing the townspeople’s horses, Young and his followers actually forced some of the bank tellers and officers to take an oath of allegiance to the South and Jefferson Davis. They then set the town ablaze and fled into Canada, forcing the townsmen to fight the fire instead of Young and his men (Davis, 380).
As it turned out, Canadian authorities refused to turn the Confederates over to the Vermont militia on the grounds that they were following orders. Though they had no such orders at the time, "Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin helped the raiders by sending along the military orders that would legitimize Young’s raid. Tried only for violating Canada’s neutrality, the raiders were acquitted and freed" (Davis, 381).
So, next time someone wants to strike up a conversation about interesting battles of the Civil War, don’t bother with the all-to-often mentioned Gettysburg or Shiloh. Go with the attack on and burning of St. Albans, Vermont. That will dazzle even some of the most diehard of Civil War fanatics.
Wow... so that puts Vermont with Texas, California, and Hawaii... any other states??
The 1783 settlement that ended the Revolutionary War set off a boundary dispute involving the U.S.-Canadian border. Here in northern New Hampshire, residents finally took things into their own hands in 1832 by declaring themselves the United Inhabitants of Indian Stream Republic. They drafted a constitution and created a militia – of 41 men. But they couldn't agree among themselves about whether to form an alliance with Great Britain or the United States, and civil war seemed likely. When the New Hampshire Assembly proposed the Republic become part of New Hampshire, it agreed. In 1840 the former Republic was incorporated as the town of Pittsburg.
This probably doesn't qualify, though LOL
And of course the 26-day foray into Indiana by Confederate Colonel John Hunt Morgan and 2400 mounted Confederate troops, a little more weighty force than that of the handful of Vermont raiders, which was probably better compared to the North's *Andrews Raid* also known as the *Great Locomotive Chase.* Deception was also to be found in Morgan's arsenal, as one of his brigade commanders set up a number of sections of stovepipe across wagon wheels and axles, convincing observers across the river to surrender before his *artillery* was about to commence a bombardment. He came to be known as Adam *Stovepipe* Johnson after that rather neat bit of trickery.
Push came to shove when New York sent sheriffs into Vermont to collect the property tax from those occupying the land, and the citizens formed militias to repel the New York sheriffs. Two of these militia leaders were Ethan Allen and John Stark who played significant roles in the Revolutionary War. In 1775, New York was preparing to go to war with New Hampshire to settle the Vermont question once and for all when Lexington and Concord intervened and showed that there were higher priorities.
Following the end of the war, both New York and New Hampshire were too tired and poor to start a new war over Vermont, so the citizens of Vermont became an independent republic. Vermont sent no representatives to the Constitutional Convention, and nobody thought Vermont would be an issue -- until the leaders of Vermont began negotiating to join Canada.
President Washington understood that a Canadian Vermont would be a British Vermont, which would be a British salient pointing like a spear into New England. With Britain's best military commander, Sir Guy Carleton -- now Lord Dorchester -- appointed as Canada's Governor General, Washington feared Carleton would create an incident that would cause Britain to tear up the 1783 Treaty of Paris and restart the war. (Carleton had commanded the British troops at New York just after Cornwallis' defeat at Yorktown in 1781, and he had begged King George to let him restart the war.)
Washington discreetly told the Vermonters that they could either apply to join the United States as a state or face a military expedition aimed at annexing them. One way or another, he would not let them fall under Sir Guy Carleton's sway.
Vermont took the offer in stride and joined up.
Sounds like this could be the subject of a book titled "The Real George Washington" :-).
The Confederates had hoped to move on to Colarado, and ultimately, California.
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