Ethan Allen, the Robin Hood of Vermont

CHAPTER IX.

ALLEN'S LETTERS TO THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS, TO THE INDIANS IN CANADA, AND TO THE CANADIANS.—JOHN BROWN.

The letters to the Indians and Canadians to which Allen has referred show still more clearly the vigorous policy and the adroitness which Allen displayed in the preparations for the invasion of Canada. He wrote to the Montreal merchants:

St. John's, May 18th.

To Mr. James Morrison and the Merchants that are friendly to the Cause of Liberty in Montreal.

Gentlemen:—I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Lakes George and Champlain, with the fortresses, artillery, etc., particularly the armed sloop of George the Third, with all water carriages of these lakes, are now in possession of the Colonies. I expect the English merchants, as well as all virtuous disposed gentlemen, will be in the interest of the Colonies. The advanced guard of the army is now at St. John's, and desire immediately to have a personal intercourse with you. Your immediate assistance as to provisions, ammunition, and spirituous liquors is wanted and forthwith expected, not as a donation, for I am empowered by the Colonies to purchase the same; and I desire you would forthwith and without further notice prepare for the use of the army those articles to the amount of five hundred pounds, and deliver the same to me at St. John's, or at least a part of it almost instantaneously, as the soldiers press on faster than provisions.

I need not inform you that my directions from the Colonies are, not to contend with or any way injure or molest the Canadians or Indians; but, on the other hand, treat them with the greatest friendship and kindness. You will be pleased to communicate the same to them, and some of you immediately visit me at this place, while others are active in delivering the provisions.

On May 24, 1775, Allen addressed a letter to the Indians of Canada:

Headquarters of the Army, Crown Point.

By advice of council of the officers, I recommend our trusty and well-beloved friend and brother, Capt. Abraham Ninham of Stockbridge, as our embassador of peace to our good brother Indians of the four tribes, viz., the Hocnaurigoes, the Surgaches, the Canesadaugaus and the Saint Fransawas.

Loving brothers and friends, I have to inform you that George the Third, King of England, has made war with the English Colonies in America, who have ever until now been his good subjects, and sent his army and killed some of your good friends and brothers at Boston, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Then your good brothers in that Province, and in all the Colonies of English America, made war with King George and have begun to kill the men of his army, and have taken Ticonderoga and Crown Point from him, and all the artillery, and also a great sloop which was at St. Johns, and all the boats in the lake, and have raised and are raising two great armies; one is destined for Boston, and the other for the fortresses and department of Lake Champlain, to fight the King's troops that oppose the Colonies from Canada; and as King George's soldiers killed our brothers and friends in a time of peace, I hope, as Indians are good and honest men, you will not fight for King George against your friends in America, as they have done you no wrong, and desire to live with you as brothers. You know it is good for my warriors and Indians too, to kill the Regulars, because they first began to kill our brothers in this country without cause.

I was always a friend to Indians and have hunted with them many times, and know how to shoot and ambush like Indians, and am a great hunter. I want to have your warriors come and see me, and help me fight the King's Regular troops. You know they stand all along close together rank and file, and my men fight so as Indians do, and I want your warriors to join with me and my warriors like brothers and ambush the Regulars: if you will I will give you money, blankets, tomahawks, knives, paint, and anything there is in the army, just like brothers; and I will go with you into the woods to scout, and my men and your men will sleep together and eat and drink together, and fight Regulars because they first killed our brothers and will fight against us; therefore I want our brother Indians to help us fight, for I know Indians are good warriors and can fight well in the bush.

Ye know my warriors must fight, but if you, our brother Indians, do not fight on either side, we will still be friends and brothers; and you may come and hunt in our woods, and come with your canoes in the lake, and let us have venison at our forts on the lake, and have rum, bread, and what you want, and be like brothers. I have sent our friend Winthrop Hoit to treat with you on our behalf in friendship. You know him, for he has lived with you, and is your adopted son, and is a good man; Captain Ninham of Stockbridge and he will tell you about the whole matter more than I can write. I hope your warriors will come and see me. So I bid all my brother Indians farewell.

Ethan Allen,

Colonel of the Green Mountain Boys.

Two days after the date of this letter Allen sent a copy of it to the Assembly of Connecticut, saying: "I thought it advisable that the Honorable Assembly should be informed of all our politicks."

Allen shows great shrewdness in adapting his letters to what he considers the aboriginal mind. Addressing the Indians constantly as brothers he appeals to their love of bush-fighting, and as regards the question of barter, to their love of rum. By his reiteration he recognizes the childish immaturity of the Indian. Far differently he addresses the Canadians, to whose reason he appeals and whose sense of justice he compliments:

Ticonderoga, June 4.

Countrymen and Friends, the French people of Canada, greeting:

Friends and Fellow-Countrymen:—You are undoubtedly more or less acquainted with the unnatural and unhappy controversy subsisting between Great Britain and her Colonies, the particulars of which in this letter we do not expatiate upon, but refer your considerations of the justice and equitableness thereof on the part of the Colonies, to the former knowledge that you have of this matter. We need only observe that the inhabitants of the Colonies view the controversy on their part to be justifiable in the sight of God, and all unprejudiced and honest men that have or may have opportunity and ability to examine into the merits of it. Upon this principle those inhabitants determine to vindicate their cause, and maintain their natural and constitutional rights and liberties at the expense of their lives and fortunes, but have not the least disposition to injure, molest, or in any way deprive our fellow-subjects, the Canadians, of their liberty or property. Nor have they any design to urge war against them; and from all intimations that the inhabitants of the said Colonies have received from the Canadians, it has appeared that they were alike disposed for friendship and neutrality, and not at all disposed to take part with the King's troops in the present civil war against the Colonies.

We were, nevertheless, surprised to hear that a number of about thirty Canadians attacked our reconnoitring party consisting of four men, fired on them, and pursued them, and obliged them to return the fire. This is the account of the party that has since arrived at headquarters. We desire to know of any gentlemen Canadians the facts of the case, as one story is good until another is told. Our general order to the soldiery was, that they should not, on pain of death, molest or kill any of your people. But if it shall appear, upon examination, that our reconnoitring party commenced hostilities against your people, they shall suffer agreeable to the sentence of a court-martial; for our special orders from the Colonies are to befriend and protect you if need be; so that if you desire their friendship you are invited to embrace it, for nothing can be more undesirable to your friends in the Colonies, than a war with their fellow-subjects the Canadians, or with the Indians.

Hostilities have already begun; to fight with the King's troops has become a necessary and incumbent duty; the Colonies cannot avoid it. But pray, is it necessary that the Canadians and the inhabitants of the English Colonies should butcher one another? God forbid! There is no controversy subsisting between you and them. Pray let old England and the Colonies fight it out, and you, Canadians, stand by and see what an arm of flesh can do. We conclude, Saint Luke, Captain McCoy, and other evil-minded persons whose interest and inclination is that the Canadians and the people of these Colonies should cut one another's throats, have inveigled some of the baser sort of your people to attack our said reconnoitring party.

Allen signed this letter as "At present the Principal Commander of the Army."

A copy of it was sent to Mr. Walker at Montreal by Mr. Jeffere. Another copy was sent to the New York Provincial Congress.

John Brown, a young lawyer of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was the cause of Ethan Allen's long, terrible captivity. That alone justifies our curiosity to know all about him. In March, before the war, he made an eventful trip to Montreal, going along our borders, crossing the lakes, visiting Bennington, engaging two pilots, contracting with the foremost men there, spending days investigating the status of affairs in Canada as to the coming struggle. Reporting to his employers, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, he says that after stopping about a fortnight at Albany he was fourteen days journeying to St. John's, undergoing inconceivable hardships; the lake very high, the country for twenty miles each side under water; the ice breaking loose for miles; two days frozen in to an island; "we were glad to foot it on land;" "there is no prospect of Canada sending delegates to the Continental Congress." He speaks of his pilot, Peleg Sunderland, as "an old Indian hunter acquainted with the St. Francis Indians and their language." The other pilot was a captive many years ago among the Caughnawaga Indians. This last was Winthrop Hoit, of Bennington. These two men were famous for their familiarity with Indian ways and speech, as well as for general prowess, and their exploits in "beech-sealing" the Yorkers. Several days Sunderland and Hoit were among the Caughnawagas, studying their manifestations of feeling toward the colonists. Brown gave letters to Thomas Walker and Blake, and pamphlets to four curÉs in La Prairie. He was kindly received by the local committee, who told him about Canadian politics, that Governor Carleton was no great politician, a man of sour, morose temper, and so forth. Brown wrote Adams and Warren he should not go to Quebec, "as a number of their committee are here," but "I shall tarry here some time." "I have established a channel of correspondence through the New Hampshire Grants which may be depended on." "One thing I must mention, to be kept as a profound secret. The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible should hostilities be committed by the King's troops. The people on New Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business." This letter was dated three weeks before the Lexington and Concord fights electrified the continent.

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