Haldimand Affair facts for kids
The Haldimand Affair was a series of secret talks in the early 1780s. This was during the end of the American Revolutionary War. The talks were between Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of Quebec, and leaders from the independent Vermont Republic.
Vermont was facing problems from British-supported Native American raids. It also had a long fight with New York State over who owned the land. The main idea of the talks was for Vermont to rejoin the British Empire.
In 1781, Governor Haldimand offered good terms for Vermont to rejoin Britain. But then, the British army lost the Battle of Yorktown. Vermont, surrounded by American territory, decided not to join Britain. Instead, it worked out a deal to become the 14th state of the United States in March 1791.
Because these talks were secret, some people accused leaders like Ethan Allen of treason. This means they were accused of betraying their side.
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Why Vermont Talked to the British
Vermont's leaders had good reasons to talk with the British. They were caught between different groups and claims.
Land Disputes in Vermont
In 1749, Benning Wentworth, the British governor of New Hampshire, started giving out land grants. These were for land west of the Connecticut River. This area is now the state of Vermont. However, the Province of New York also claimed this land.
In 1764, King George III said the land belonged to New York. New York then refused to accept the land grants from New Hampshire. People who had these grants had to buy their land again from New York at higher prices. Many people, who had land but not much money, did not like this.
The Green Mountain Boys Fight Back
In 1770, New York's court rejected the New Hampshire land grants. Some court members even owned land that competed with these grants. Because of this, settlers in the area formed a group called the Green Mountain Boys. They were led by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner. They resisted New York's attempts to control the land.
The Green Mountain Boys used strong methods, but usually avoided killing anyone. They sometimes removed New York judges and land surveyors. They also stopped people with New York land grants from settling. This conflict was getting very serious when the American Revolutionary War started in April 1775.
Vermont Declares Independence
Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys helped capture Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. They also took part in the invasion of Quebec later that year. During this invasion, Allen was captured by the British in September 1775. He was a prisoner of war until May 1778. While he was held, a British officer offered him a chance to join the British side.
In July 1777, the people who held the New Hampshire land grants declared independence from New York. They formed the Vermont Republic. Leaders like Ira Allen and Thomas Chittenden were in charge. Many people in Vermont did not like New York. But many also supported the Continental Congress. Vermont's leaders often asked Congress to let them join as the 14th state. However, New York and New Hampshire did not agree. They wanted the land disputes to be settled first. This stopped Congress from acting.
First Talks with the British
In 1779, Lord George Germain, a British official, told General Sir Henry Clinton and Governor Haldimand to talk with Vermont. They wanted to see if Vermont would become a separate British province. By 1780, they even offered military positions to Ethan Allen and Thomas Chittenden.
Early Messages and Meetings
The first message was a letter sent to Ethan Allen in March 1780. It was from Beverley Robinson, a Loyalist from New York. Loyalists were people who stayed loyal to Britain during the war. Robinson thought many Vermonters still supported Britain. He suggested that the British would help them raise Loyalist soldiers. Allen did not get the letter until July. After talking with Vermont's council, Allen did not reply.
Congress discussed Vermont's land dispute in June but put it off until September. Even then, Congress did not take any action. In July, Chittenden wrote to Congress. He said Congress did not have the right to decide their land claims. He also said Vermont could talk with the British if it wanted.
In August, Chittenden wrote to Governor Haldimand. He offered a truce and a meeting to discuss exchanging prisoners. Haldimand agreed. He chose Justus Sherwood, a Loyalist from Vermont, to be his main negotiator. Sherwood later became Haldimand's spy chief.
Sherwood in Vermont
In September 1780, Major Christopher Carleton led a British raid into the Hudson River valley. This worried Vermont. Fears grew when the British raided Vermont territory in October.
Justus Sherwood also traveled to Vermont. He met openly with Vermont officials to talk about prisoner exchanges and a truce. But he also had a secret meeting with Ethan Allen. Sherwood offered Allen a chance to join the British side. According to Sherwood, Allen said Vermont would need to become a separate British province with its own military. Allen also said the talks must stay secret. He added that the talks would end if Congress recognized Vermont as a state.
While these talks were happening, Haldimand learned that Benedict Arnold's plan to surrender West Point had been discovered. Arnold had fled to British protection. Haldimand ordered Carleton to stay at Fort Ticonderoga until Sherwood was safe. Sherwood returned to Quebec in November.
After the meetings, Allen reported to Chittenden and the Vermont legislature. His report raised many questions. Some lawmakers were suspicious and wanted more information. Allen got angry and resigned his general's position. The legislature calmed him down. Chittenden then asked Ira Allen and Joseph Fay to lead more talks with the British. They met with Sherwood and George Smyth, a Loyalist doctor. They did not trust each other. They only agreed that Vermont's leaders would meet Haldimand that winter. But this meeting never happened.
Chittenden wrote to the governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He suggested they unite against British threats if they gave up their claims to Vermont land. Massachusetts agreed to give up its weak claims if Vermont became a state. New York Governor George Clinton received a demanding letter from Chittenden. He showed it to his legislature in February 1781. Clinton called it "insulting" to New York. However, the New York Senate worried that Vermont might join the British. To Clinton's surprise, they voted to send people to Vermont to discuss giving up their land claims. Clinton threatened to close the legislature, and the idea was dropped.
New Hampshire's response was tricky. Towns on both sides of the Connecticut River wanted to be in the same state. In January 1781, a meeting in Charlestown, New Hampshire voted to join New Hampshire one day. The next day, after Ira Allen made some promises, they voted to join Vermont.
Secret Deals and Delays
In February 1781, Beverley Robinson sent a second letter to Ethan Allen. He included a copy of his first letter, which Allen had not answered. Soon after, Allen's friend Seth Warner, a colonel in the Continental Army, talked to him. Warner was worried the talks might be treason. To deal with these suspicions, Allen sent the letters to Congress. He said he had never replied to them. Congress was busy with the war and did not deal with the dispute in early 1781.
Also in February 1781, Lord George Germain wrote to Haldimand. He seemed to think the alliance was almost done. He suggested Haldimand propose joint British-Vermont actions. This letter was on a British ship captured by the French. It was sent to Benjamin Franklin in Paris, who sent it to Congress. When Congress read it in July, there was a big uproar and cries of treason.
Meetings and Suspicions
The long-delayed meeting between British and Vermont leaders finally happened in May 1781. It took place at the British fort on Ile-aux-Noix. Justus Sherwood wrote about these meetings. He found Ira Allen, Vermont's main negotiator, to be very careful and unwilling to commit. Allen refused to sign any agreement. He said Vermont's leaders liked the idea, but the people did not. He claimed the people needed to be convinced first.
On May 11, Sherwood wrote that he thought Allen was just trying to gain time. He believed Allen wanted to scare Congress into meeting Vermont's demands. Sherwood also felt that Vermont's large landowners, like the Allens and Chittenden, were looking out for themselves. The meeting ended with a spoken agreement. The British promised not to attack Vermont. Vermont leaders would prepare their people for rejoining Britain. They would also try to get the assembly to appoint people to negotiate an alliance in June.
Allen's promises were never kept. The Vermont assembly did not appoint any negotiators. To annoy its neighbors, Vermont voted in June to expand its borders. It took in New Hampshire towns along the Connecticut River and some New York towns east of the Hudson. These new territories became bargaining chips for Vermont's talks with Congress.
To delay things with the British, Ira Allen wrote to Haldimand in July. He said Vermont was sending people to talk with Congress. He also said public opinion in Vermont would be better if Congress rejected their terms again. Chittenden also wrote to Haldimand in July. He said George Washington would not release British prisoners captured in Vermont. Justus Sherwood met with Joseph Fay for two weeks in July. Nothing useful came from this meeting. The British worried that Vermont's delays were on purpose.
Local Doubts and More Delays
When the Vermont assembly met in August, rumors about the secret talks were everywhere. The assembly demanded to see papers about them. Ira Allen showed them letters about prisoner exchanges. These exchanges were the cover for the secret meetings. Around the same time, Allen got the council to make a statement. It said Allen had pretended Vermont wanted a peace treaty with Britain. This was to stop an immediate invasion of Vermont. The council thought this was a necessary political move to protect the state.
Congress also discussed Vermont becoming a state in August 1781. On August 21, they agreed to consider statehood. But Vermont would have to give up all its land claims east of the Connecticut River and west of Massachusetts.
In September, Justus Sherwood met again with Joseph Fay and Ira Allen. This was in Skenesboro (now Whitehall, New York). Allen suggested that since the Vermont assembly had changed, it would take time to adjust. He asked Sherwood for Haldimand to prepare a statement announcing Vermont's new status. This statement would be shown to the Vermont assembly after it rejected Congress's latest offer.
Sherwood hinted that if the assembly did not act, the British might use military force. British troops under Barry St. Leger then moved to occupy Fort Ticonderoga in October. This was planned to happen when the assembly met. The British expected to be welcomed into Vermont. Sherwood reported that he believed a third of Vermont's people were unhappy with Chittenden and the Allens. He thought they wanted a change in government.
The Crisis and End of Talks
When St. Leger arrived at Ticonderoga, Vermont soldiers under Roger Enos were watching them from across the lake. St. Leger was told to treat any Vermonters in a friendly way. But during a scouting trip, St. Leger's men killed one Vermont soldier and captured five others.
St. Leger was upset and wrote an apology letter. But the letter accidentally revealed parts of the secret talks. Enos sent the letter to the assembly. The messenger was someone who had long suspected the Allen family's actions. He spread his suspicions widely. A crowd gathered at the assembly, demanding answers from Ira Allen. Allen avoided answering. He claimed Chittenden had the papers and would deliver them. Then, some less suspicious letters were created by Nathaniel Chipman and given to the assembly to satisfy them.
The assembly considered Congress's offer and rejected it on October 16. But they agreed to talk about their borders. People in Vermont who supported Britain had not done well in the election. Also, news of a French naval victory had made Loyalist feelings weaker. By mid-November, news arrived that Charles Cornwallis's army had surrendered at Yorktown. St. Leger returned to Quebec. Haldimand believed the talks were honest. Some Vermonters continued to write to him through the winter. But with the British in a weak position and Vermont looking strong, nothing important came from these letters.
Becoming a State
After the war ended, Vermont's statehood was still stuck. But the main agreement on borders was there. For a while, Vermont was not in a hurry to become a state. It did not have the war debts that other states had. In fact, Vermont's government made money from selling land taken from Loyalists.
The idea of statehood came up again in 1789 when the new U.S. Constitution started. Vermont's leaders liked it. In the summer of 1790, they talked with New York about their shared border. They agreed to pay $30,000 for land grants New York had given out.
On January 6, 1791, a Vermont meeting voted strongly to ask for statehood. U.S. President George Washington gave the request to the United States Congress on February 9. He signed the law on February 18. This made Vermont the first new state to join the Union after the original thirteen. Vermont officially became a state on March 4, 1791. Vermont celebrated its statehood in Rutland on March 8, 1791.
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