page_title: Haldimand Affair
section_title: Sherwood in Vermont
hierarchical_section_title: Haldimand Affair / Sherwood in Vermont
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of British General Frederick Haldimand. See source for additional information.
context_page_description: The Haldimand Affair was a series of negotiations conducted in the early 1780s between Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of the Province of Quebec, his agents, and several people representing the independent Vermont Republic.
  Vermonters had been battling Indian raids, sponsored by the British, and engaged in a long-running dispute with New York State over jurisdiction of the territory. At issue was Vermont officially joining the British. Just as Haldimand offered generous terms for reunion in 1781, the main British army surrendered at Yorktown, and the United States would clearly achieve independence. Vermont, surrounded on three sides by American territory, rejected the British overtures and negotiated terms to enter the United States as the 14th state in March 1791. The secret nature of the negotiations, which excluded significant portions of Vermont's political power structure, led to accusations against some of the negotiators, notably Ethan Allen.
context_section_description: On September 26, Major Christopher Carleton left Quebec on a raiding expedition into the upper Hudson River valley, causing some alarm in Vermont. Fears in the republic were heightened further by a British raid into its territory in October. Sherwood and a small company of men also left Quebec; these headed up Lake Champlain for Skenesboro (present-day Whitehall, New York). They were eventually met by Vermont militia, and Sherwood was taken to Castleton. There, he met openly with Vermont officials to formally discuss prisoner exchanges and arrange a truce, but he also had a private meeting with Ethan Allen. Sherwood made offers of allegiance to the Crown in the meeting. According to Sherwood's report, Allen countered by demanding Vermont to be made a separate province with its own military command and insisted that negotiations on the subject remain secret and end if Vermont was recognized by Congress as a state.
  While that was going on, word reached Haldimand of the exposure of Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point, the latter's flight to British protection in New York City, and the hanging of Arnold's British co-conspirator, Major John André. As a precaution, Haldimand ordered Carleton, who was preparing to leave Fort Ticonderoga for Quebec, to remain there until Sherwood's safety could be assured. Sherwood returned safely to Quebec in late November.
  Following the meetings, Allen rode Bennington to report to Chittenden and the Vermont legislature. His report to the latter apparently raised more questions than it answered, and suspicious legislators demanded more information. Allen angrily resigned his general's commission and stormed out of the session. While the legislature was able to mollify Allen, Chittenden assigned Allen's brother Ira and Joseph Fay to lead further negotiations with the British. Both met with Sherwood and George Smyth, a Loyalist doctor who had fled north from Albany. Mutually distrustful, with the British wary over the safety of their agents in light of André's hanging, they agreed only for the Vermont representatives to meet with Haldimand that winter. No such meeting took place.
  Chittenden wrote to the governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, suggesting a united defense against British threats if they relinquished claims to Vermont territory. Massachusetts, with only weak claims to that territory, agreed to give up any claims when Vermont was granted statehood. New York Governor George Clinton turned a more demanding letter from Chittenden over to his legislature in February 1781 and noted that it was "insolent in its nature and derogatory to the honor of this state." The New York Senate, however, expressed concern over the fact that Vermont might ally itself with the British in Quebec and voted, to the shock of Clinton, to send commissioners to Vermont to negotiate the release of its claims. Clinton, threatening to dissolve the legislature, insisted successfully for the idea to be dropped.
  New Hampshire's response to Vermont's proposals was complicated by the desire of communities on either side of the Connecticut River to belong to the same state, either Vermont or New Hampshire. A convention of the communities meeting in Charlestown, New Hampshire in January 1781 voted on one day to join New Hampshire and the next, following diplomatic concessions by Ira Allen, to join with Vermont.
caption: Quebec Governor Frederick Haldimand
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