"Ira and Ethan Allen and the Republic of Vermont" Topic

"Vermonters have always been proud of the fact that their state was an independent republic before it joined the United States. Ethan and Ira Allen are justly famed as the leaders who steered that independent course. But few are aware of how close the Allens came to taking Vermont right back into the British Empire 200 years ago, when the success of the new American nation was hardly a sure bet. And not until an American historian found a moldering handmade flag in a French museum did anyone realize how close the Allens came to creating a North Woods empire of their own, mighty enough to rival the United States.

In both these escapades, the guile of Ira Allen is apparent. Ira was 12 years younger than his more famous brother, and shorter in stature — his nickname was "Stub" — but according to a recent biographer, he was "without peer in his mastery of deceit."

Ethan Allen was also no stranger to chicanery, and the two made a marvelous team. One story from Vermont folklore tells how Ethan and Ira managed to postpone a well-attended sheriff's auction of a farm in Charlotte, Vermont, near Lake Champlain. In league with the sheriff, they announced the sale as rescheduled for "one o'clock tomorrow." The crowd dispersed, planning to return the next afternoon, but at one o'clock the following morning, the sheriff met at the farm with Ethan and Ira, and in the darkness asked for bids. From the shadows came Ethan's voice, bidding one dollar for the house, barn, and one hundred acres of fertile farmland. From elsewhere in the gloom came Ira's bid for two dollars. "Sold!" said the sheriff, banging down his gavel, "to the short man in the coonskin cap!"…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand