The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-03-31


their booty. Some of the funds, how
ever, were dropped on the way in their
hasty flight and returned. Most of the
raiders were arrested by the Canadian
officers, but, after remaining awhile in
jail, where they enjoyed the best of hotel
fare and every attention from the ultra
Tory element which formed so large a
part of Canadian society at that time,
they were brought before Judge Coursol
and discharged on plea of mo jurisdic-
ton" This unrighteous decision
aroused such feeling of intense bitter
ness in the public mind south of the
border, already sore from succession of
unfriendly acts perpetrated by our neigh
bOrs, that when Gen. Dix issued his
proclamation ordering pursuit and ar
rest of all future raiders, even if found
in neutral territory, it was hailed with
delight. But this was wisely revoked by
President Lincoln, in accordance with
his fixed policy to avoid giving any OPP
portunity for interference by foreign
Powers. 1t may be said, however, that
the Canadian authorities officially, at
least, recognized the justice of our claims
by rearresting the raiders and restoring
considerable portion of the plumber to
the rightful owners. The whole matter
was recognized afterwards as of sufficient
Importance to be presented at the Gene
va conference as an element for cOnsid-
Grafton in deciding the degree to which
England had violated her relations to us
as neutral nation.
The first impression upon the people
! when the news arrived at my hone in
Burlington, twenty miles distant, was
that of undisguised astonishment That
there should be possibility that in our
| quiet streets, a thousand miles from the
seat of war, there might come the clat-
ter of rebel cavalry and a forced levy
upon our valuables, with the threat of
the fate of Chambersburg if withheld,
was almost too much for credence.
What hurrying to and fro at the
ringing of the alarm bells! What rcsur.
recting of old pistols, ancient fowling
| pieces, hint-lock muskets, unused, per-
haps, since the days of the battle of
Plattsburg, nifty years before! What
anxious looks cast northward by some of
the more timid, dreading the advent of
the foe! Possibly there may have been
excavations made in back gardens, fol-
lowing the Southern example, into
which the family plate was hurried, to
be brought out again when danger was
over. There was hasty assembling of
1
ing nucleus of the organization, and a
hundred nen were soon in line. As
weapons but for forty-seven could be
found at the moment, these were dis
patched at once by rail, and as soon as a
supply of Springfield muskets could be
obtained from Vergennes, second de-
tachment started for the ''seat of war"
As events turned out and the minute
men" had no opportunity to test their
willingness to meet the enomy. Yet the
memories of past invasion had by no
means faded out and the spirit manifest
ed was worthy of the descendants of
those Green Mountain Boys of '7G,
whose bones lay buried along the shores
of Lake Champlain, and of their gallant
leader, Ethan Allen, whose last resting
place was on the heights overlooking
our city.
What was really but an incursion by a
predatory band over the Northern from
tier, as cOwardly in its character as a
raid by highWaymen on some of our
Western towns, might easily have been
an invasion greater and more perilous to
our liberties than even that of Burgoyne
in 1777. AS has already been stated pub
lie opinion in Canada was actively en-
gagged in the Southern cause so far as it
could without creating "casus belli"
Its refugees were feted and careSsed by
those high i'll influence and social life
and every encouragement given them in
| their plots againss the Union cause.
More than once during the progress of
the Civil War the gathering clouds and
the muttering thunder from across the
water portended an outburst that might
have eliminated in second Bennington
and Saratoga had not our Government
acted with the clearest judgement some
times in opposition to the public senti-
ment of the time. In no one thing was
the leading of Divine Providence more
fully show than by the wisdom of Lin
coin and his compatriOts as for four
years they guided the events OF the
greatest war of modern time avoiding
those almost inevitable complications
with foreign Powers that would have
perhaps brought disaster and ruin upon
the republic.
The consequences of the raid were far
reaching. To quote the words of Adju
tant General T. S. Peck: "Had not the
war Governor of that time, Hon. John
Gregory Smith of St. Adams, taken de-
termined and decisive stepin this matter
it would probably have resulted in the
withdrawal of the Vermont troops from
the Army of the Potomac and the plac-
ing of the same upon the Canadian Dor
der. But the Legislature of Vermnot
and the Governor were equal to the Occa-
sion, and within 80 days division of u
regiments of infantry, three batteries of
light artillery and regiment of cavalry
were raised and equipped, making total
of over 1000 officers and men.
To indicate the feeling that pervaded
all classes at this time, my own company,
G of the Second Regiment, was COM
manded by George f. Edmunds, who
contributed much by his personal atten-
ton to the efficiency of the organization,
and only resigned to take his seat as
United States Senator from Vermont. In
the spring of 1867, all further need of its
services having passed, the whole diVis-
ion was mustered out.
Thus the grand old Green Mountain
State, having already sent out over $4,000
of her gallant sons to the bloody battle
fields of the South, turned with the
fierceness of the panther of her native
forests to meet the danger that threat
ened her from the north, exhibiting a
splendid heroism that put new life and
vigor into the Union cause throughout
the Nation.
o. None
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