The Astonishing British Terrorism in 1770s New England
Tory sleeper cells were ticking time bombs
England’s financial woes put pressure on the king to tax the colonies and this didn’t go over well in America. The Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the battles at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill escalated and solidified differences that pitted British soldiers against their own colonial citizens.
Loyalists Living Quietly Among Patriots
But not everybody wanted to rebel against the king. Plenty of Loyalist “Tories” lived among the Patriot “Rebels.” And the Tories received protection from the king if they pledged allegiance to the crown. The Patriot Rebels believed it was time to take up arms against the tyrannical king for the cause of freedom. The polarization in allegiance set up a glaring conflict in towns across the thirteen colonies that might make the red versus blue conflict of today pale by comparison.
Meanwhile, the British army in the northeast needed to be fed and supplied. The colonists’ farms and mills could do that and alleviate waiting weeks and months for food and supplies to arrive from Europe. But feeding the king’s army was the last thing Rebel farmers wanted to do, even if British pounds were more valuable than continental dollars. How could the British army ensure they would get the food and supplies they needed to fight an insurrection or even a war against its own colonists?
If the Rebels wouldn’t sell to the British, the simple solution was to take what they needed. General John Burgoyne, the commander of the northern British army in New York state and Canada enlisted the help of Native Americans to fight a campaign of terror against the settlers in the New Hampshire-Vermont area.
Although Burgoyne was known as “Gentleman Johnny” for his love of the theater and notable playwright celebrity, his military resume’ included the Seven Years War, raids, and battles on several continents. His actions against civilian populations in Vermont might be considered war crimes by some standards today.
Burgoyne easily found hundreds of Native American warriors who were willing to attack settlements in the small towns of New Hampshire and Vermont. The goal of the raids was to supply the army with much-needed food and demoralize the Rebels. And the raids were catastrophic to Patriot families and communities.
Devastating Raids
During the 1770s and early 1780s, Burgoyne’s British-led raids burned settlements, killed combatants, kidnapped men and boys, slaughtered livestock, and stole grain in many towns. The attacks ranged from Shelburne and Williston to Panton and Pittsford and were often augmented and planned using information supplied by the Loyalists living in the towns. They had intel if there might be militia nearby, where the food and livestock were stored, where the gunpowder was kept, and how to most efficiently carry out their raids.
In 1780, a British-led raid scorched and burned every building nearOtter Creek from Middlebury to Lake Champlain, including homes, barns, and blockhouses. Whole towns were burned and dozens of Rebels were taken prisoner. But the British didn’t have prisons to hold the prisoners or food to feed them. Instead, the captives were forced to live as servants for Native Americans or Canadian citizens. In 1780, a British-led raid on the town of Royalton, Vermont by several hundred warriors led to burning the town and the kidnapping of 27 men who were marched and paddled to Canada. Looking back from where we sit today, we cannot help but admire the resilience of the early settlers.
The silver lining to Burgoyne’s terror campaign, if there was one, was that he implored the Natives to not harm women and children. In fact, he offered special perks for fair treatment of prisoners, including not scalping victims, although Burgoyne seldom lived up to his end of the promise. Nonetheless, some towns, such as Neshobe (now Brandon, Vermont) were burned and rebuilt multiple times in a span of a few years. Captives who survived were released months or even years later when the Republic of Vermont’s leaders began negotiating and trading prisoners with the British.
During the raids, some of the Loyalist Tories dressed up with Native warpaint to disguise themselves so they would not be recognized by their neighbors. Others laid low, secure in the knowledge that they had protection orders from Burgoyne, and their wellbeing and property would be safe. Of course, Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys militia group, and later the official state militia and Council on Safety caught on quickly and knew full well what was going on with the Loyalists.
As we all know, the courageous Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts militias, under the leadership of General John Stark, defeated Burgoyne’s army of German, British, Canadian, and Native American warriors in the Battle for Bennington in 1777. This led to a surrender of Burgoyne’s northern army at Saratoga a couple of months later, which triggered France joining the war on the American side. But that didn’t stop the raids that were being directed from Burgoyne and other British governors headquartered in Canada.
The Remedy to Loyalist Subversion
In order to crush the Loyalist activities, the council began confiscating and selling Loyalists’ properties in Vermont. In 1778 and 1779, dozens of estates and tracts of land were confiscated, the Loyalist owners were ejected, and the properties were sold to willing buyers. This influx of cash and new taxes funded the state militia, prisons, and other initiatives. At the same time, the outflow of Loyalists solidified the Patriot cause.
A series of picket forts were built before 1780 to safeguard settlers, especially near the latitude of what is Route 4 today in Vermont. North of that line was identified as dangerous and unsafe by Vermont Governor Chittenden as late as 1780. Little by little, the raids subsided, and Vermont became safer. Most of the soldiers of the war were granted 64-acre lots in at least one town. Towns began building infrastructure and establishing stable government and community organizations.
By 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the Revolutionary War. But that doesn’t mean the hostilities ended, and northern New England was still a frontier that often seemed lawless and dangerous. And the British Navy controlled Lake Champlain, the major shipping highway. They were known for impressing sailors, taxing merchandise, and generally making life miserable for Americans, especially those living near the Canadian border. By then, Loyalists were free to work and live in the colonies again.
Some of the Loyalists returned and even petitioned Vermont to regain their former properties. Even though most were not successful, some lived in Vermont after all and traded with and alongside the Patriots of the United States. After the war, Burgoyne returned to private life in England and passed away unexpectedly in 1792, the year after Vermont was granted statehood.
