Vermont's Private War

Why was Vermont NOT one of the first thirteen states?

Nearly everyone remembers that the United States of America was born on July 4, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Most have heard of the Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775).

Fewer have heard of the taking of Fort Ticonderoga (1775) or the Battles at Hubbardton and Saratoga (1777). Not many know why the Vermont did not join the Union until 1791 as the 14th state.

Young Eb Hopkins lived the answers to that question. 

Six years before the American Revolution, Eb Hopkins and his older brother Martin traveled the narrow path from Stockbridge, Massachusetts to Pittsford in the New Hampshire Grants (now the State of Vermont). 

Three years prior, his grandfather had moved there. Having recently lost his wife, Grandfather Hopkins needed help. Eb’s father agreed that young Eb should move north live with his grandfather. 

Once living in Pittsford, Eb and Martin learned the harsh realities of frontier life for those who lived on the Hampshire Grant lands. 

The more urgent reality was their continuing battle against the wealthy and powerful men of the New York colony who wished take away the hard-won farms of the settlers in the Hampshire Grants, even though the owners had bought their land legally from the government of New Hampshire. The other threat was the ongoing battle of words between the colonists and the British Parliament over taxes. 

While the possibility of war with the British seemed far away, the war with the Yorkers brought daily threats to those who were being harassed by a Yorker sheriff and his posse. 

When the Yorker sheriff attempted to evict some farmers and their families, the other settlers quickly organized to fight back. Soon, the war with Great Britain also began. 

In the Hampshire Grants, all lines of justice were blurred; all loyalties were tested. 

Eventually Eb become a pawn caught in the chaos of war and politics.


Eb’s story is substantially true. It is based on historical documents available at the Pittsford (Vt.) Public Library and the Pittsford Historical Society. Much of the information was found in the book, “History of Pittsford” by A. M. Caverly, M. D., based on the remembrances of children and grandchildren of those who lived in Pittsford during the Revolutionary War. That book was first published in 1872. 

Only where history does not speak, has the author used contemporary resources for imagining what might have happened.