A Few Lawless Vagabonds

This surprising true story of Vermont’s collusion with the British “may be the best American Revolutionary War era book to come out in years” (Military Review).

This riveting work of political and military history provides an account of the three-way relationship between Ethan Allen, the Republic of Vermont (1777–1791), and the British in Canada during the American Revolution. Ethan Allen was a prime mover in the establishment of the Republic, then led the fight to maintain its independence from the “predatory states” of New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts; from the American Continental Congress; and from British attacks on the new state. In order to defend Vermont’s independence, Ethan Allen even went so far as engaging in secret, unlawful negotiations with the British in Canada, aimed at turning Vermont into a “separate Government under the Crown.”

The attempts of the Allen family to maintain Vermont’s independence from its neighbors were unsuccessful: Vermont became the fourteenth state in 1791. A Few Lawless Vagabonds is the first systematic attempt, using archival sources, to show that the Allens were utterly serious in their aim to turn Vermont into a Crown colony, a project which came close to success in late 1781. The portrait of Ethan Allen that emerges in this book is not of a warrior hero of the American Revolution but of a successful Vermont nationalist who is justly celebrated as the principal founder of the State of Vermont—a rare combination of patriot and betrayer of the public trust.