Thirty men associated with the Green Mountain Boys stopped court from convening on this day in 1770.

New York claimed Vermont as part of the Empire State, and most settlers were pleased. They wanted the laws and privileges of New York. Cumberland County, which covered the eastern half of Vermont, was known as a New York county with Chester as the shiretown.

But these thirty men didn’t want New York rule and kidnapped the only practicing lawyer. It wasn’t a popular decision. One-third of the men in Cumberland County signed a petition to the King warning him about these “lawless transgressors.”

Image courtesy the National Life Group.