IM NATURAL AND CIVIL 



the spirit of despondency, now operated to rouss 

 up the public attention, and to produce more 

 %'igorous efforts for opposition and defence. 



The northern settlements in Vermont, were 

 already broken up, and the inhabitants, in dis- 

 tress and consternation, were looking- out for 

 safety, wherever they could find it ; Manchester 

 and Sunderland were now considered as the 

 frontier towns. The committee of safety for 

 Vermont, assembled at Manchester, July the 

 fifteenth, and agreed to raise all the men that 

 they could collect to oppose the enemy ; and at 

 the same time, wrote in the most earnest man- 

 ner, to the states of Massachusetts and Nevv 

 Hampshire, to raise a body of troops, and send 

 them on for their assistance, before the remain- 

 der of the inhabitants should be forced to quit 

 the state, and fall back upon their frontiers for 

 safety and bread. 



In a short session of three days, the assembly 

 of New Hampshire formed a very judicious plajm 

 of defence. They divided the whole militia of 

 the state into two brigades ; the command of 

 the first they gave to William Whipple, the 

 command of the second they assigned to John 

 Stark. One fourth of Stark's brigade, and one 

 fourth of three regiments of the other brigade, 

 were ordered to march immediately under Stark's 

 command, "to stop the progress of the enemy 

 on our western frontiers." Stark had been an 

 officer of much reputation in the French war ; 

 he had commanded one of the ranging compa- 

 nies, and had been so active and useful, that 

 lord Loudon had put him upon the British es- 

 tablishment and pay, In the campaign of 1775, 



