The Fourteenth State
A Biographical Novel of Ethan Allen
by
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THE COURIER - May 1791 A lone courier is riding his horse to deliver an important message through the beautiful Green Mountains and past the shores of pristine Lake Champlain.
It is nearing sunset and the courier enters a farm in Williston with a long fenced trail driveway and sees a farmer standing 100 yards or more from the distant farmhouse. Now the courier is in a full gallop and rears his horse next to the farmer who tips his straw hat in welcome.
The Courier dismounts.
"Here, take my horse, hold him until I return."
The farmer surprised, responds.
"All right".
The courier walks briskly up to the front door an knocks boldly. A servant answers the door.
"Yes!"
"I have a very important message for the Governor of Vermont. Is he in?"
"No."
Where is he?"
"He is over there, holding your horse!"
"Impossible! That's the Governor?"
"You betcha, Governor Thomas Chittenden, himself."
The Courier walks back toward the Governor with his diplomatic pouch. He is embarrassed as he sees the Governor smiling an obviously enjoying the charade.
"Your Excellency. I have an important message for you from the Continental Congress...(pause) ... I apologize for mistaking you for a farm hand."
Tom Chittenden smiles with consideration for the couriers feelings.
"Relax, that happens all the time. We Vermonter's are not pretentious...(lighting his pipe)... Who says what governors must look like? My name is Thomas Chittenden. My enemies, of which I have only a few, call me ...."One Eyed Tom", because I see only out of one eye. Tom, now laughing "Ha! I sort of enjoy it. As for the message there is no rush to read it. You look tired, would you like to have dinner and stay the night."
"Yes of course Governor, if it is not too much trouble."
"Vermont hospitality," Tom says. "We all do it." "You are very welcome. Let us go up to the house so I can read this message."
Governor Chittenden leads the horse to the house where a servant takes the horse to the barn. They are both laughing and enter the house together.
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About the Book
From Savages to Yorkers, to the surprise attack on Ft. Ticonderoga, to America's first Navy and its ambush of the mighty British Fleet at the Battle of Lake Champlain at Valcour Island, to the defeat of British outside Bennington and finally the turning point of the Revolutionary War, the decisive battle of Saratoga.
Our history books go into great detail about the Thirteen Colonies and how they declared their independence and referred to themselves as the United States of America on July 4, 1776.
The battles generated many new hero's that are either obscure, condemned or not mentioned at all in our history books probably because Vermont was not a state in 1776. This book is about Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys and their quest to make Vermont the Fourteenth State.
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About the Author
John P. Roach Jr., raised in Glen Rock, New Jersey made his first trip to Vermont to enter St. Michael's College, near Burlington.
He found Ethan Allen's name used everywhere by businesses, schools, parks and monuments and being a history buff became quite surprised that his previous education made little or no mention of this incredible hero of the American Revolution.
During the war, the first American Navy took on the mighty British Navy in the battle of Lake Champlain where they ambushed the British Fleet at Valcour Island. Both are neglected colossal oversights in our history books.
Taking his two children on many voyages on Lake Champlain, they visited Valcour Island, Ft. Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Button Bay and Arnold Bay, and many other historic sites of the Battles of Lake Champlain. The author has also traveled on his yacht "Rocinante" from Montreal on the St. Lawrence River, to the Richelieu River, to Lake Champlain, to the Hudson River continually fascinated by the historical significance of this water highway.
Before leaving Vermont in a move to La Jolla, California the author made a point to visit each and every town, hamlet and village in the State of Vermont. He traveled by car usually between September 20 and October 15 each year when the autumn splendor is blazing with color.
After spending 22 years in Vermont the author can relate to the life and times of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. Climbing to the top of both Mt. Mansfield and Camel's Hump with the kids in the spring and autumn and looking West to Lake Champlain you get a clear perspective of the vast properties once owned by Ethan and Ira Allen.
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