The Story of Ethan Allen (1738-1789)

Chapter IV

Up to this point, Allen was able to unify those towns in the Grants west of the Green Mountains. However, the towns east of the Green Mountains were more difficult. Ethan did not have any family there or any other kind of connections. Furthermore, it had been expressed by Eastern settlers, that they favored New York rule. They preferred the more organized government in Albany to the loose governments Allen was establishing. Although, it did not take long for the outrageous government of New York to alienate its Eastern Grant supporters.42

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Many of these Eastern Grant Yorkers lived in Cumberland County, a county established by New York. In March of 1775, eastern settlers requested Cumberland County judge, Thomas Chandler, to postpone debt related court hearings until after the harvest. By that time, farmers would have more money to pay back debts. Chandler agreed to postpone the hearings, but Yorker hard-liners wanted to evict the settlers off their land so they could buy it up. Pressure was put on Chandler. On March 13, when the settlers heard of the change in proceedings, they seized the Westminster courthouse. Sheriff William Patterson and fifty Yorkers threatened the settlers to clear out or "by God he would blow a lane through them." When the settlers did not reply, the posse retired to the nearby tavern for a couple of drinks .(43)

That night, after Justice Chandler persuaded some of the settlers to go home, the posse returned, drunk. after demanding the settlers to leave the courthouse, the sheriff was thrown to the ground twice by a large settler. In response, the sheriff ordered open fire. after wounding ten and killing two, the posse rushed the courthouse "taking dozens of unarmed prisoners." The posse was just upholding Yorker law, reinforcing the growing tyrannical image of the government in Albany. Chandler, the Yorker appointed judge, joined the Anti-Yorker faction the following morning of March 14.(44)

By noon the next day, four hundred men crowded into Westminster demanding the release of the prisoners. They were released, and the posse was imprisoned. The following day, March 15, Robert Cochran and a group of Green Mountain Boys arrived to hold trial. The verdict was guilty of murder, and the prisoners were transported to Massachusettes for sentencing. The eastern settlers "appreciated the quick and effective reaction of the Green Mountain Boys.. to the Westminster Massacre." A convention of representatives from both east and west was held at Westminster. The convention concluded that the Grants as a whole should "wholly renounce and resist the administration of the government of New-York." In one night, with a little help from some rum, the Yorker authority lost its foothold in the eastern grants to Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.(45)