- St. Albans Raid
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=St. Albans Raid
caption=St. Albans bank tellers being forced to pledge allegiance to the Confederacy
partof=theAmerican Civil War
date=October 19 ,1864
place=St. Albans,Vermont
result=Confederate States victory
combatant1=United States of America
combatant2=Confederate States of America
commander1=
commander2=Lt..Bennett H. Young
strength1=no military resistance
strength2=21 cavalrymen
casualties1=1 civilian killed
1 civilian wounded
USD 120,000 stolen, net
casualties2=noneThe St. Albans Raid was the northernmost land action of theAmerican Civil War , taking place in St. Albans,Vermont onOctober 19 ,1864 .In this unusual incident,
Bennett H. Young ledConfederate States Army forces. Young had become aprisoner of war after theBattle of Salineville inOhio endedMorgan's Raid the year before; he later escaped toCanada (then theProvince of Canada , part of theBritish Empire ) and returned to the South, where he proposed raids on the Union from the Canadian border to build the Confederate treasury and force theUnion Army to protect the northern border and divert troops from the South. Young was commissioned as alieutenant and returned to Canada, where he recruited other escaped rebels to participate in araid on St. Albans, Vermont, a quiet town 15 miles (25 km) from the Canadian border.Young and two others checked into a local
hotel on October 10, saying that they had come from St. John's inQuebec for a "sporting vacation." Every day, two or three more young men arrived. By October 19, there were 21 cavalrymen assembled. Just before 3 p.m. the group simultaneously staged a robbery of the three banks in the town. They announced that they were Confederate soldiers and stole a total of $208,000. As the banks were being robbed, eight or nine of the Confederates held the townspeople prisoner on thevillage green as their horses were stolen. One townsperson was killed and another wounded. Young ordered his troops to burn the town down, but the four-ounce bottles ofGreek fire they had brought failed to work, and only oneshed was destroyed.The raiders fled with the money into Canada, where they were arrested by authorities. A Canadian court decided that the soldiers were under military orders and that the officially neutral Canada could not extradite them to the
United States . The Canadian court's ruling that the soldiers were legitimate militarybelligerent s and not criminals, as argued by American authorities, has been interpreted as a tacit British recognition of theConfederate States of America . The raiders were freed, but the $88,000 the raiders had on their person was returned to Vermont.External links
* [http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/staraid.html The St. Albans raid]
* [http://www.wtv-zone.com/civilwar/stalbans.html St. Albans Raid: Spies, Raiders and Partisans]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047388/ The Raid, a 1954 movie about the St. Albans Raid]
* [http://www.raisetheflag.ca/ Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon, a historical novel based on the St. Albans Raid by Donald Davison]
* [http://www.chickasaw.ca Chickasaw, The Elixir of Love, a Canadian musical comedy about the St. Albans Raid, based on the book Raise the Flag & Sound The Cannon. Stage play by Roger de la Mare, lyrics by Graham Hardman, music by Donald Patriquin.]
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