ALLEN'S LETTERS TO THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS, TO THE INDIANS IN CANADA,
AND TO THE CANADIANS.--JOHN BROWN.
The letters to the Indians and Canadians to which Allen has referred
show still more clearly the vigorous policy and the adroitness which
Allen displayed in the preparations for the invasion of Canada. He
wrote to the Montreal merchants:
ST. JOHN'S, May 18th.
_To Mr. James Morrison and the Merchants that are
friendly to the Cause of Liberty in Montreal._
GENTLEMEN:--I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Lakes George
and Champlain, with the fortresses, artillery, etc., particularly
the armed sloop of George the Third, with all water carriages of
these lakes, are now in possession of the Colonies. I expect the
English merchants, as well as all virtuous disposed gentlemen,
will be in the interest of the Colonies. The advanced guard of
the army is now at St. John's, and desire immediately to have
a personal intercourse with you. Your immediate assistance as
to provisions, ammunition, and spirituous liquors is wanted and
forthwith expected, not as a donation, for I am empowered by the
Colonies to purchase the same; and I desire you would forthwith
and without further notice prepare for the use of the army those
articles to the amount of five hundred pounds, and deliver
the same to me at St. John's, or at least a part of it almost
instantaneously, as the soldiers press on faster than provisions.
I need not inform you that my directions from the Colonies are,
not to contend with or any way injure or molest the Canadians or
Indians; but, on the other hand, treat them with the greatest
friendship and kindness. You will be pleased to communicate the
same to them, and some of you immediately visit me at this place,
while others are active in delivering the provisions.
On May 24, 1775, Allen addressed a letter to the Indians of Canada:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, CROWN POINT.
By advice of council of the officers, I recommend our trusty
and well-beloved friend and brother, Capt. Abraham Ninham of
Stockbridge, as our embassador of peace to our good brother
Indians of the four tribes, viz., the Hocnaurigoes, the
Surgaches, the Canesadaugaus and the Saint Fransawas.
Loving brothers and friends, I have to inform you that George the
Third, King of England, has made war with the English Colonies
in America, who have ever until now been his good subjects, and
sent his army and killed some of your good friends and brothers
at Boston, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Then your
good brothers in that Province, and in all the Colonies of
English America, made war with King George and have begun to kill
the men of his army, and have taken Ticonderoga and Crown Point
from him, and all the artillery, and also a great sloop which was
at St. Johns, and all the boats in the lake, and have raised and
are raising two great armies; one is destined for Boston, and
the other for the fortresses and department of Lake Champlain,
to fight the King's troops that oppose the Colonies from Canada;
and as King George's soldiers killed our brothers and friends in
a time of peace, I hope, as Indians are good and honest men, you
will not fight for King George against your friends in America,
as they have done you no wrong, and desire to live with you as
brothers. You know it is good for my warriors and Indians too, to
kill the Regulars, because they first began to kill our brothers
in this country without cause.
I was always a friend to Indians and have hunted with them many
times, and know how to shoot and ambush like Indians, and am a
great hunter. I want to have your warriors come and see me, and
help me fight the King's Regular troops. You know they stand
all along close together rank and file, and my men fight so
as Indians do, and I want your warriors to join with me and
my warriors like brothers and ambush the Regulars: if you will
I will give you money, blankets, tomahawks, knives, paint, and
anything there is in the army, just like brothers; and I will go
with you into the woods to scout, and my men and your men will
sleep together and eat and drink together, and fight Regulars
because they first killed our brothers and will fight against us;
therefore I want our brother Indians to help us fight, for I know
Indians are good warriors and can fight well in the bush.
Ye know my warriors must fight, but if you, our brother Indians,
do not fight on either side, we will still be friends and
brothers; and you may come and hunt in our woods, and come with
your canoes in the lake, and let us have venison at our forts on
the lake, and have rum, bread, and what you want, and be like
brothers. I have sent our friend Winthrop Hoit to treat with you
on our behalf in friendship. You know him, for he has lived with
you, and is your adopted son, and is a good man; Captain Ninham
of Stockbridge and he will tell you about the whole matter more
than I can write. I hope your warriors will come and see me. So I
bid all my brother Indians farewell.
ETHAN ALLEN,
_Colonel of the Green Mountain Boys_.
Two days after the date of this letter Allen sent a copy of it to the
Assembly of Connecticut, saying: "I thought it advisable that the
Honorable Assembly should be informed of all our politicks."
Allen shows great shrewdness in adapting his letters to what he
considers the aboriginal mind. Addressing the Indians constantly as
brothers he appeals to their love of bush-fighting, and as regards
the question of barter, to their love of rum. By his reiteration he
recognizes the childish immaturity of the Indian. Far differently he
addresses the Canadians, to whose reason he appeals and whose sense
of justice he compliments:
TICONDEROGA, June 4.
_Countrymen and Friends, the French people of Canada,
greeting_:
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN:--You are undoubtedly more or less
acquainted with the unnatural and unhappy controversy subsisting
between Great Britain and her Colonies, the particulars of
which in this letter we do not expatiate upon, but refer your
considerations of the justice and equitableness thereof on the
part of the Colonies, to the former knowledge that you have of
this matter. We need only observe that the inhabitants of the
Colonies view the controversy on their part to be justifiable in
the sight of God, and all unprejudiced and honest men that have
or may have opportunity and ability to examine into the merits of
it. Upon this principle those inhabitants determine to vindicate
their cause, and maintain their natural and constitutional rights
and liberties at the expense of their lives and fortunes, but
have not the least disposition to injure, molest, or in any way
deprive our fellow-subjects, the Canadians, of their liberty or
property. Nor have they any design to urge war against them; and
from all intimations that the inhabitants of the said Colonies
have received from the Canadians, it has appeared that they were
alike disposed for friendship and neutrality, and not at all
disposed to take part with the King's troops in the present civil
war against the Colonies.
We were, nevertheless, surprised to hear that a number of about
thirty Canadians attacked our reconnoitring party consisting of
four men, fired on them, and pursued them, and obliged them to
return the fire. This is the account of the party that has since
arrived at headquarters. We desire to know of any gentlemen
Canadians the facts of the case, as one story is good until
another is told. Our general order to the soldiery was, that they
should not, on pain of death, molest or kill any of your people.
But if it shall appear, upon examination, that our reconnoitring
party commenced hostilities against your people, they shall
suffer agreeable to the sentence of a court-martial; for our
special orders from the Colonies are to befriend and protect
you if need be; so that if you desire their friendship you
are invited to embrace it, for nothing can be more undesirable
to your friends in the Colonies, than a war with their
fellow-subjects the Canadians, or with the Indians.
Hostilities have already begun; to fight with the King's troops
has become a necessary and incumbent duty; the Colonies cannot
avoid it. But pray, is it necessary that the Canadians and the
inhabitants of the English Colonies should butcher one another?
God forbid! There is no controversy subsisting between you and
them. Pray let old England and the Colonies fight it out, and
you, Canadians, stand by and see what an arm of flesh can do.
We conclude, Saint Luke, Captain McCoy, and other evil-minded
persons whose interest and inclination is that the Canadians and
the people of these Colonies should cut one another's throats,
have inveigled some of the baser sort of your people to attack
our said reconnoitring party.
Allen signed this letter as "At present the Principal Commander of
the Army."
A copy of it was sent to Mr. Walker at Montreal by Mr. Jeffere.
Another copy was sent to the New York Provincial Congress.
John Brown, a young lawyer of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was the
cause of Ethan Allen's long, terrible captivity. That alone justifies
our curiosity to know all about him. In March, before the war, he
made an eventful trip to Montreal, going along our borders, crossing
the lakes, visiting Bennington, engaging two pilots, contracting
with the foremost men there, spending days investigating the status
of affairs in Canada as to the coming struggle. Reporting to his
employers, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, he says that after
stopping about a fortnight at Albany he was fourteen days journeying
to St. John's, undergoing inconceivable hardships; the lake very
high, the country for twenty miles each side under water; the ice
breaking loose for miles; two days frozen in to an island; "we were
glad to foot it on land;" "there is no prospect of Canada sending
delegates to the Continental Congress." He speaks of his pilot, Peleg
Sunderland, as "an old Indian hunter acquainted with the St. Francis
Indians and their language." The other pilot was a captive many years
ago among the Caughnawaga Indians. This last was Winthrop Hoit, of
Bennington. These two men were famous for their familiarity with
Indian ways and speech, as well as for general prowess, and their
exploits in "beech-sealing" the Yorkers. Several days Sunderland and
Hoit were among the Caughnawagas, studying their manifestations
of feeling toward the colonists. Brown gave letters to Thomas
Walker and Blake, and pamphlets to four curés in La Prairie. He was
kindly received by the local committee, who told him about Canadian
politics, that Governor Carleton was no great politician, a man of
sour, morose temper, and so forth. Brown wrote Adams and Warren he
should not go to Quebec, "as a number of their committee are here,"
but "I shall tarry here some time." "I have established a channel of
correspondence through the New Hampshire Grants which may be depended
on." "One thing I must mention, to be kept as a profound secret.
The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible should
hostilities be committed by the King's troops. _The people on New
Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business._" This letter was
dated three weeks before the Lexington and Concord fights electrified
the continent.