CHAPTER XXIV
THE GUNS OF OLD TI SPEAK
The fate of more than a brave man hung in the balance at that moment.The ultimate happiness and secure footing of a state was at stake whenthe sentinel pressed the trigger of his weapon. Had the ball reached itsmark, the establishment of Vermont as a free state might have beenpostponed for many years. Ethan Allen's diplomacy in later dealing withthe British agents who sought to wean Vermont from her federation withthe struggling colonies, doubtless saved the Green Mountains from beingoverrun by a horde of Hessians and Indians who would have brought deathand disaster to the patriotic settlers.
But Providence had other work for the leader of the Green Mountain Boysto do. The musket missed fire and flinging down the piece the sentinelturned and ran through the passage into the fort, shrieking that theenemy was at hand. With a cheer the little band of patriots followed,and before the garrison was awake to its situation, the Green MountainBoys had reached the parade. Instructed by their captains what to do,the men ran hither and thither to seize the guns whose threateningmuzzles peered through the embrasures of the walls, and to guard theentrances to the barracks where the garrison slept.
'Siah Bolderwood, seizing an axe, attacked the door of the ammunitioncellar; for the American spy who had spent the previous day within theworks had explained to the ranger the situation of this importantcompartment. The ringing blows of the woodman's axe doubtless awakenedmany of the sleeping soldiery. In half a minute the stout oak door wasdown. "There, Nuck Harding!" cried the long ranger, "I leave you toguard that 'ere. If they show fight, fire your rifle into the place. Ifso be, we'll all go up together; but Old Ti is ourn and if we're drivenforth we'll wreck the fortifications as we go."
Meanwhile Ethan Allen, knowing well the sleeping quarters of Captain Dela Place, having received his information from the same source asBolderwood, leaped up the stairway to the apartment of the commander ofthe fort. His shoulder burst in the door without the loss of an instant,and he found the astounded captain sitting up in bed. "What is this,sir? Who are you?" cried the British officer.
"I call on ye to surrender, Captain De la Place!" cried the GreenMountain leader.
"In whose name do ye make this demand, sir?"
"In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" repliedAllen, sternly. Then, describing a circle about his head with his sword,he added in a tone not to be mistaken: "I demand the surrender of yourfort and all the stores and goods it may contain; and, sir, unless youcomply with my demand and parade your men without arms at once, I'llsend your head, sir, spinning across this floor!" and the whistlingsteel blade was advanced until the British officer shrank in fear.
"I surrender! I surrender!" he cried, and word was passed at once toboth the garrison and the Americans on the parade below. And thus thestrongest British fortress within the borders of the disaffectedcolonies, capitulated to the American arms without a gun being fired.What if, when the news of the remarkable feat reached Philadelphia wherethe Continental Congress was in session, the act of Ethan Allen and hisbrave Green Mountain Boys was deplored, and a considerable party was forreturning the stronghold to the king, while others wished to withdrawthe American garrison, believing that the Champlain forts were too faron the frontier to be held successfully against the enemy? Thesesuggestions were but the result of over-cautiousness on the part of somemembers of Congress. Happily their wishes were overborne and Ticonderogaremained an American fort until the cowardly St. Clair abandoned itbefore the advance of Burgoyne.
At the moment, however, the satisfaction of Ethan Allen and his bravecompanions was unbounded. While the British soldiers were being paradedwithout their weapons before their conquerors, a second body of GreenMountain Boys under Major Warner entered the fort. The tall Connecticutman came to Allen with considerable chagrin expressed in hiscountenance. "Colonel, you have selfishly seized all the honors thistime!" he cried, yet congratulating his friend with a warm handclasp."You are a regular Achilles; there is nothing heroic for the rest of usto do."
"Nonsense--nonsense, Seth!" cried Ethan Allen, yet unable to hide hisdelight at the outcome of the attack. "There is glory enough for everyofficer and every man Jack in the ranks. There is yet Crown Point tocapture and you, Major, shall command that expedition. Take Bolderwoodand some of his scouts with you and approach the other fortress bywater--and good fortune and my blessing go with you!"
A moment later the great guns of Old Ti began to speak. And they spoke anew tongue that morning. The Voice of Liberty as expressed by theresonant thunders of the old cannon echoed and reechoed from height toheight. The promontory which had been the scene of the bloody strugglebetween Champlain and the Iroquois, and the site of two fearful battlesof the British and French, was at length sanctified by the presence ofthis band of liberty loving men destined, through the next few years, tooffer their lives and possessions on the altar of their country.
Then Warner and his men again embarked in the boats and sailed down thelake. Enoch Harding went with the expedition and saw the bloodlesscapitulation of the other British stronghold. Later, Benedict Arnoldwith a small command captured a British corvette farther down the lakeand with that act the supremacy of the Americans on Champlain wasassured. A garrison was placed in each fortress and then the GreenMountain Boys dispersed to their homes having accomplished the objectfor which they had been gathered by their leader. Enoch and the oldranger returned to the ox-bow farm where their welcome can be betterimagined than narrated.
Yet the Widow Harding during the struggle which followed the capture ofTiconderoga made many sacrifices more noble even than that of allowingher eldest son to join in this expedition, but pioneer mothers werecalled upon so to do. Lot Breckenridge's mother had allowed her son tomarch away to Boston where, under Israel Putman, he saw most activeservice during the campaign which finally drove the red-coats out of theMassachusetts capital. Robbie Baker was with his father when, whilereconnoitering outside St. Johns, the Green Mountain sharpshooter waskilled by an Indian ally of the British.
Enoch Harding, too, joined that ill-fated expedition into Canada wherethe rash attempt of Ethan Allen and his followers before Montrealresulted in the capture and imprisonment of the intrepid leader. Enoch,returning with the broken columns of the American army, but with alieutenant's commission, was sent south and took no further part in thestruggles about Lake Champlain. But Bryce, two years after the captureof Ticonderoga, well sustained the family name and honor while fightingwith Stark at Bennington.
The girls and young Henry became their mother's sole support in her workof tilling the farm which Jonas Harding had cleared, and throughout theuncertain years of the Revolution the family continued to sow and reap,like so many other patriotic folk, that the army might be clothed andfed while fighting the King's hirelings. Perhaps the part played by the"non-combatants" in the Revolution was not the least loyal nor the leasthelpful to the cause of liberty.
The war between the confederated states and Great Britain did not endthe controversy regarding the rights of the settlers in the HampshireGrants; it simply postponed the vexing matter. But in the end thefreedom of Vermont as a state was brought about. After the war, andwhile the Thirteen States were endeavoring to bring order out of thechaotic conditions which had been the legacy of the great struggle, itwas really New York herself that urged the admittance of Vermont intothe Union. Even at that early date the supremacy of the South wasfeared, and when Kentucky applied for entrance to the Union, Vermont wasmade a state also to counteract the addition of another of southernsentiment.
During the war, however, the condition of Vermont was very precarious.It was due to Ethan Allen, as much as to any one man, that the GreenMountains and the Champlain Valley were not overrun with foes both whiteand red. While imprisoned in the hulks in New York Bay Allen wasapproached by agents of the crown who strove to buy his good-will bypresents and promises. They did not understand the rugged honesty of theGreen Mountain Boy; but he, knowing the exposed
situation of his friendsand neighbors, craftily led his captors to believe that they mightobtain Vermont and her sturdy people on their own side.
When Ethan Allen was exchanged and came back to the Green Mountains, hestill, with other leaders, carefully watched the British agents and thussaved the rich farming lands of the Otter and Wonooski from bloodshed,that the patriot farmers might continue to plant and reap the grainwhich was truly "the sinews of war." It is true therefore that fewleaders of the Revolution deserve greater commendation, for nonedisplayed more consecrated courage, nor was more beloved by hisfollowers, than the hero of Ticonderoga.