Between 1749 and 1764 colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire Benning Wenworth made about 135 land grants (now known as the New Hampshire Grants), including 131 towns, on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River. This area was also claimed by the colonial Province of New York.
From the 1760s until 1779 the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, controlled the area. Based at a tavern in Bennington, they evaded arrest warrants from New York State and harassed settlers from New York, surveyors, and other officials, often with severe beatings and destruction of their belongings.
On March 21, 1772 a posse of New Yorkers under John Munro (1728-1800) attempted to collect the New York bounty on Green Mountain Boys Captain Remember Baker at his cabin at what is now East Arlington, Vermont. Baker was a Connecticut native and cousin to the Allens and Seth Warner. He was a husband to Desire, a father to young son Ozi, and a miller and landowner.
Monroe had been a Scottish soldier who was granted lands at Albany after the Seven Years’ War. A prominent Tory, he was appointed as a magistrate and given land in the New Hampshire Grants in order to deal with the Green Mountain Boys movement.
Awakened in the night by Monroe’s Albany posse and dressed in only his nightshirt, Baker attempted to resist his arrest with an ax. In the ensuing scuffle, Baker’s thumb was severed by a New Yorker’s sword, and Baker’s wife and son also sustained injuries. Eventually, Baker jumped from the top story of his cabin but was captured and transported towards Albany. Some Green Mountain Boys managed to catch up with the posse and rescue Baker.
Baker’s story helped inspire resistance to New York control of the New Hampshire Grants. At a stand-off at the New York established court in March of 1775, two men were killed and Ethan Allen called for independence from New York.
That May, the Green Mountains Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, captured Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga, and Fort George from the British. Their cannon were taken by Henry Knox to Boston, to break the siege of Boston.
Remember Baker died fighting for the Patriot cause in the American Revolution in 1775. John Monroe, always a Loyalist, had his lands confiscated after he fought for the British during the Revolution. He moved to Canada, became a judge and was appointed to the first Legislative Council of Upper Canada.
The Vermont Republic declared itself an independent nation in January 1777, initially supporting the Revolutionary War, but eventually adopting a neutral position that provided a haven for deserters from both armies and set the stage for the Haldimand Affair, when some Green Mountain Boys, including Ethan Allen, secretly negotiated with the British to restore Crown rule.
A public ceremony was held in Arlington, Vermont in 2022 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the attempt to arrest Remember Baker.
Illustrations, from above: the Green Mountain Boys in Council by Benson Lossing; and Remember Baker memorial in Arlington Vermont.
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