The pre-Revolutionary War history of Vermont centered on a border dispute between the colonies of New York and New Hampshire. It is a complicated but colorful history, one that has been populated through the years with stories of greedy royal governors, show trials by corrupt provincial officials, land hungry settlers, shady land speculators, lawless vagabonds […]
Transitioning from a complicated war footing to an organized civil society at the close of the Revolution proved every bit as difficult as the nation’s early leaders feared. Thirteen proud colonies surrendering aspects of their hard-fought independence in exchange for a new form of federal government generated significant hesitancy after the guns silenced. The placeholder […]
Despite the imperative nature of his unusual name, Remember Baker has garnered significantly less historical attention than fellow Green Mountain Boys Ethan Allen and Seth Warner. Baker seemed destined for an important role in the Revolutionary War, but his life was cut short in an August 22, 1775 incident across the Quebec border. As a result of […]
Ethan Allen’s prevailing reputation among the general population remains that of a daring hero, but has suffered in the eyes of recent historians. Casual readers, aided by the embellishments of nineteenth-century biographers, remember Vermont’s Allen as the leader of the rebellious but honorable Green Mountain Boys and the conqueror of British-held Fort Ticonderoga. As a […]
Those who study the Revolution in the northeast have some familiarity with the Crown Point Road that ran from the Fort at #4 in Charlestown, New Hampshire, to the forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Built during the French and Indian War, the road provided a route across Vermont for troops and supplies moving from […]
Jemima Howe (1724–1805) reflects the strength it took to endure the harsh realities of the Vermont frontier during the American colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Although recognized as the “fair captive” then and now, Jemima was far from a damsel in distress. During her full life, she outlived three husbands and five of her nine […]
Vermont’s Ebenezer Allen: Patriot, Commando and Emancipator by Glenn Fay Jr. (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2021) Ethan Allen, the militia leader who shares credit for taking Fort Ticonderoga early in the Revolution, is the most recognizable historical figure from early Vermont history. His brother Ira is also famous for his association with the Green Mountain […]
The phrase “fourteenth colony” describes a province in British North America that did not revolt alongside the original thirteen colonies. Such a province usually had one or more connections to the American Revolution. The phrase is misleading and has been thrown around freely in literature on the Revolutionary era. There have been at least eight […]
If the gunfire at Lexington and Concord was the “shot heard round the world,” the phrases in the Declaration of Independence were the words read around the world. In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson declared America an independent nation, rooting his ideas in political theory and justifying them with a list of grievances.[1] After the Declaration was […]
On November 21, 1789, the people of the state of North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution. On May 29, 1790, the people of the State of Rhode Island also ratified the U.S. Constitution. Yet, despite the good-faith acts of these two states and their citizens, the respective admission into the United States of both […]
The Rebel and the Tory: Ethan Allen, Philip Skene, and the Dawn of Vermont by John J. Duff, H. Nicholas Muller III, and Gary G. Shattuck (Vermont Historical Society: Barre, VT, 2020) Every polity requires a founding saga to help form its societal identity. Oft recounted, Vermont’s foundation story starts with a group of democratic, yeoman […]
Thank you to all of those who listened to the inaugural episode of our podcast, Dispatches. On this week’s show, host Brady Crytzer interviews long-time JAR contributor and Vermont native Michael Barbieri about the history of his state and the importance of the Champlain Corridor to the course of the American Revolution. Brady poses the […]
On the night of July 5-6, 1777, an American army under the command of Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair abruptly withdrew from the twin fortifications of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, abandoning them (along with a massive quantity of supplies and ordnance) to an advancing British and German force from Canada under the command of L. […]
Everybody has heard of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. On the other hand, mention Mount Independence and one usually encounters the puzzled lowering of eyebrows and cocking of the head to the side. Most will be quite surprised to learn how that rocky thumb of land on the Vermont shore opposite Ticonderoga actually played a […]
From the beginning, the American army knew south-facing Fort Ticonderoga did little to protect against an attack coming up Lake Champlain from British-controlled Canada.[1] To address the problem, they decided to fortify the north-facing peninsula, called East Point or Rattlesnake Hill, that poked out into the lake across from Ticonderoga. During the summer of 1776, […]
The legendary stories of Ethan Allen and Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys have long been part of American folklore. Their heroically described exploits are fabled in many fictional accounts and children’s books.[1] Allen’s name is synonymously linked with the Green Mountain Boys as if he was their sole leader. However, while Allen receives the fame, there […]
Lying between Vermont and New York, astride the border between the United States and Canada, accessible via canals from the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers, and 125 miles long, Lake Champlain is a major boating attraction. On any summer’s day, hundreds of watercraft displaying registrations from numerous states and Canadian provinces will pause for a […]
The Controversy In the region we call Vermont today land claims were vociferously contested between settlers from New York and from New Hampshire during the American Revolution. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys who aggressively protected their perceived property rights were ringleaders of the New Hampshire claimants. The New Yorkers were equally forceful in […]
These articles have, to this point, focused on reproducing the meals of our Revolutionary-era forefathers with all of the conveniences of the modern kitchen. However, it is important to remember that the cooks of those days prepared all of these wonderful foods using wood fires and cast iron. When Daniel O’Neil, Executive Director of the […]
A bit of time in the summer of 1777 nearly turned the conception of a United States into a stillborn notion. It is commonly accepted that the alliances with other European powers gave the American colonies the impetus to see their struggle through and those alliances resulted, in large part, from the surrender of General […]
