Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-11-15

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ernment to proceed any further in grant
ing lands before granted by New Hamp.
shire or moesting those who had settled
on lands granted by New Hampshire un-
til his majesty should further make
known his pleasure concerning the
! same" but the governors of New York
! ignored the last order of the King and
continued to make grants of large tracts
of land and to harass the settlers by legal
proceedings as before.
In one case in July I'LL, in Benning-
ton, the Albany sheriff appeared with an
| ejectment writ and a posse of over 300
armed men and was prevented from serv-
ing the writ and compelled to return
home, being threatened by number of
the armed settlers.
About the same condition of affairs
existed until April 10Th, 1775, when the
blast of the trumpet eff war was sounded
at Lexington and Concord and was
echoed among our Green mountains and
awoke the spirit of patriotism, which
has since never slept.
| How did this affect the hardy settlers?
| The British King had been nominally
their friend as were also the colonies of
! New Hampshire, Mass, Rhode Island
and Connecticut, while New York had
for many years been their persistent
enemy. They had before them the ne
Cessity of instantly taking taking one of
two courses-either adhere to the King
and antagonize all New England, or join
the colonies in the fight for liberty.
Events proved that New York would be
their foe in either case.
! Nearly all the settlers were natives of
the other New England states. There
/ ,,fU i,,f ef,,
gle. The country had been settled but
about dozen years and the boys were
not old enough to go into the fight, and
If they abandoned their New England
friends they had not a friend left in the
new world, but by joining them in the
struggle they at once became frontier
district, liable to invasion from Canada
from the north as well as along the
shores of Lake Champlain and constant
ly threatened by the forces occupying
Fort TicOnderOga, which was then gar
risOned by British troops who were con
stantly invited to forage on the fair farms
to he seen across the narrow lake from
the walls of the fort ,and the contest with
New York for their very existence still
! continued and required their utmost Wig
ilance with united action. to protect
themselves.
Did those men hesitate what to do?
Did they wait to negotiate or weigh the
| chances. or the relative advantages to be
derived from union with their country
men, or continuing their allegiance to
the English King?
Mo- Before the reverberation of the
guns at Lexington had died away their
choice was made and their course of ac-
! zion was not determined by the surround
ing conditions / have named, which
will explain later.
Immediately after the Lexington fight
both Massachusetts and Connecticut
made moves looking to the capture OF
Fort Ticonderoga. They raised money
and Benedict Arnold was commissioned
to raise men and capture the Fort, but
besore he had accomplished anything he
learned that the Green Mountain BOYS
already had the work in hand, so he has
tened on alone to the place where the
men for the enterprise were assembled
and claimed the command of the eXpe-
ditlon, but these men had been enlisted
by the personal efforts of Ethan Allen
and would serve under no one else, nor
would Allen listen to any proposition to
surrender his command but he succeed
ed in crossing the lake with part of his
trusty followers, surprised the garrison
and captured the fort with all its men
and munitions of war "In the name of
great Jehovah and the Continental Con.
gress." This occurred early in the morn
ing of May 10th, 1775, just three weeks
after Lexington.
The heavy guns then captured as we'll
as the other war material, were of great
service to the colonies. Some of the
larger guns were hauled overland across
the Green Mountains on the snow of the
succeeding winter by OK teams to BOs
ton and were placed by Gen. Washing
ton in the forts south of Boston and by
means Of them compelled the British to
evacuate the city, and we may make a
note here that of all the invasions in the
interior of New England, none have been
repeated.
Vermont was without any organized
government after the revolutionary war
commenced and SO remained fJT many
months, but early in l776 called con-
vention at Dorset, which adjourned to
July and on the 2jth of that month
passed a resolution pledging themselves
"under all the ties held sacred among
mankind" and ''at the risk of their lives
and fortunes" to defend by arms the
United States of America against the
hostile fleets and armies of the British.
This was just three weeks after the great
declaration of independence by the con-
vention at Philadelphia.
AS far back as l772 The settlers had or
ganized companies of militia to defend
them against the encrOachments of New
York. These were under the command
of Ethan Allen, Capt. Seth Warner COM
manding a company.
These men were called into active SER
vice from time to timo going out for
short campaign then returning to their
farms or shops. This continued until
1777, when in the spring rumors of Bur
goyne's invasion from the north began to
reach the settlements and early in July
an urgent call was made for men to assist
In the defence of TicOnderOga and Col.
Seth Warner with 900 men promptly
marched to their assistance, but on the
day of his arrival it was decided that in
consequence of tile British having es-
tablished a battery which commanded
the fort it must be abandoned immedi.
ately and the garrison moved out Sc
cretly the same night, moving rapidly
toward Castleton,
On the morning of the 7th, at Hubbard
ton they were attacked by the pursuing
British and Hessian troops and our men
being greatly out-numbered were or
dered by Col. Warner to take to the
woods and meet him at Manchester.
At this time the convention which had