Scotch Highlanders hightail it back to New York,
as the Green Mountain Boys burn their houses.

Ethan Allen and his men made a quick trip to Rupert on this day in 1771. Word had reached them that a group of men were clearing land there to settle under New York titles.

As Allen, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran and a half dozen more men arrived, they came face to face with more than 10 families building homes.

These Scotch Highlanders had been granted land rights by New York. The Green Mountain Boys sent them scurrying.

Two Scots resisted, and were held, forced to watch in dismay as their nearly-completed log cabins were burned to the ground. Once released, they ran for New York.

Image courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.

October Archives | October 30