| Object ID |
A6 |
| Object Name |
Painting |
| Dimensions |
H-19 W-13 inches |
| Early Date |
1925 |
| Late Date |
1926 |
| Description |
Allen now ordered lights to be brought, and, placing himself at the door of the building, he called to the company to advance and enter singly. Each man as he presented himself, and before suffered to pass in, was strictly required to give the watchword, which, as a precautionary measure to prevent anyone being present whose views had not been previously ascertained, had been confidentially imparted by Allen and his associate leaders since the meeting was in agitation. The word chosen for this purpose was Carillon, an appellation by which fort Ticonderoga was designated by the French while in possession of their government. After every man had passed this test of admittance, and thus proved himself entitled to mingle in the deliberations of the assembly, Colonel Allen called the meeting to order, and after stating that important business was in contemplation, the successful result of which might depend upon the secrecy with which it was conducted, proposed a sort of oath or affirmation, binding all present by a solemn promise not to divulge the proceedings of this meeting, and its consequent measures, till the reasons which made the secrecy necessary should cease to exist. This proposition was acceded to and the oath taken by rising. Allen then, as the acting chairman of the assemblage, declared the meeting open for remarks on the subject which they had met to discuss.
The dead silence which was now for a few moments observed by the expectant assembly was broken by Warrington, who, calmly rising, proceeded, after a few preliminary observations, to give a brief history of the commencement and progress of the quarrel between the colonies and the mother country. He then enumerated the wrongs and aggressions which the former had suffered, while meekly and vainly petitioning for redress, and closed by a vivid picture of the recent massacre at Lexington, and with an eloquent appeal to the settlers to join the inhabitants of the sister colonies in avenging the death of their slaughtered countrymen.
As he closed his harangue, which had been listened to with the most profound attention, a visible excitement ran through the assembly. And the hasty changing of positions, as they sat upon their rude plank seats ranged in rows round a small table, on which dimly burned a small taper, the glistening eye, the indignant glance, the firmly compressed lip, and the silent working of the muscles of the faces of these hardy mountaineers plainly told the speaker that he had been addressing men who neither lacked the intelligence to comprehend, nor the spirit to act, as soon as a definite object for action was set before them.
Remember Baker, one of the most shrewd, sagacious, and coolly calculating men of the settlement, next arose and addressed the meeting. With a few observations, for he was not a man of many words, going to confirm the statements and fortify the positions of Warrington, he told them that although he doubted not in the least that principle alone with them would be sufficient to excite them to action in the coming contest, yet their policy, as settlers engaged in a controversy with New York for their homes and property, demanded that they should take a bold and decided stand against the British; for by doing this they would at once enlist the sympathies of the other colonies in regard to their wrongs, draw upon themselves the attention and respect of Congress, to which, if backed by the considerations of a meritorious service in the common cause of the country, they could successfully appeal for protection against the aggressions of New York, and thus place themselves in an attitude in which they could not only command justice, but finally secure the privilege of becoming an independent State.
“Member is right!” exclaimed one of that class with whom this artful, and as the event afterward proved, by no means ill-grounded argument, was calculated to operate with particular force.
“Ay, ay!” responded another,” give me Member Baker for foresight! The more birds we can kill with one stone the better.”
Although the argument of Baker was not probably without its effect on the minds of all, situated as the settlers were with respect to their controverted rights, and when added to the manly appeal of Warrington to their patriotism and principles, had wrought up the assembly to a high pitch of feeling, yet Allen, conceiving that something more was needed to ripen them for action and raise their minds, as he was desirous of doing, to a level with his own high-toned enthusiasm, now rose, and, after looking for a moment fearlessly and confidently around him, as he stood towering with his giant form, like Saul among the people, began;
“MEN OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS:
“In the struggle in which you have been for many years engaged, you have won among the people of these colonies a name of valor and patriotism. But have you gained this proud distinction in surmounting the difficulties of the past, to lose it now by inaction in the more important stake of the present? Have you so long, so nobly, so triumphantly resisted arbitrary power in the shape of little tyrants near home, to submit, now, to the lawless dictations of great ones from abroad? Are you, who have just saved your homes and possessions from the grasp of these, now willing to yield them tamely to those? — to those whose despotic dominion will soon render them but possessions in name, to be transmitted to whom ? to whom I say ? To slaves in the persons of your own children! yes, your own children, who, if suffered to retain their own inheritance at all, must retain it with a foot of a lord on their necks and the hand of a priest in their pockets! Green Mountain Boys! could you who have drank in liberty from the very air of your green hills, never yet contaminated by the breath of a tyrant, could you witness this and live? And, above all, can you now look idly on and see a hireling soldiery swarming your country, enforcing the accursed requisitions of their masters at the point of the bayonet, shooting down your countrymen and brothers by scores, as if they were wild beasts, for exercising but the rights which God and nature have given them—can you look upon a scene like this, and lift no hand for your rights?—strike no blow to avenge the cold-blooded murder of your countrymen at Lexington? Great God forbid! No! no! my brave mountaineers, you were never born to be cringing slaves! Your bold hearts and sinewy arms were never made to be listless and idle at a time like this! Come, then, come on! follow me, whose heart is laboring and leaping for the work of vengeance, and whose arm is nerved and aching for the blow! Follow me, and I will lead you to deeds which shall cover the Green Mountain Boys with imperishable glory, and make their name the watchword of liberty while a tyrant shall remain to disgrace the image of his God, or pollute the earth with his presence.” |
| Credit |
Gift of Thos. Nelson & Sons |
|
